Greatshadow shook his ragged head as cinders fell from his eyes like dark tears. “More than lovers. Alone, we were incomplete beings; together, we were one perfect soul. Her cold balanced my heat. My wrathful nature was calmed by her grace, while my brash and sudden passions could stir her cool and logical heart. When we lay entangled together in our coupling, staring into one another’s eyes, there was no loneliness. We were a universe in total, beyond all cares. Or so I thought.” Greatshadow swallowed hard as the ground trembled beneath my feet.
Infidel cast a glance back at me. I studied her face for some clue as to why she hadn’t attacked. I longed for Relic’s telepathy. I didn’t know why she was taking this risk. And yet… and yet she gave me a slight nod, with her eyes locked on mine, and the message was plain. Trust me.
I nodded back, and waited.
Greatshadow’s voice was almost a whisper as he said. “Our universe was not so complete as I thought. There was… another. As I stared into the eyes of Hush, she dreamed she was looking into the eyes of Glorious, the dragon who was to become the elemental partner of the sun. My flames, it seems, were not enough for Hush. Her cold, logical heart judged that Glorious would be her perfect mate. So, she abandoned me, and flew to him, to profess her love.”
“I’m sorry,” said Infidel.
“What is there to be sorry for?” Greatshadow growled. “It proved a great stroke of good fortune, at least for those of us who were to become the primal dragons. Glorious rejected Hush; he was on the verge of merging his spirit with the sun, and had no time for such trivia as love.
“In her anger, Hush struck Glorious, killing his body, which freed his soul to fully merge with the sun. Such was the violence of Hush’s blow that fragments of solar material fell to earth.”
“The glorystones,” said Infidel.
Greatshadow nodded. “While I was not yet the dragon of fire, I studied all flame, and saw the blaze of the glorystones as they fell. I flew to investigate and found Hush standing over the mortal shell of Glorious. Hush tried to convince me that Glorious had attacked her, but my telepathy was superior, and I saw the truth. My rage was so great that I felt my soul burst into flame; I became the elemental embodiment of wrath. My first act upon wielding this power was to lash out at Hush for her betrayal. Even then, her mastery of cold helped protect her from my physical assault, but the emotional pain of that moment forever altered her. Understanding the source of my primal rage, her heart literally froze when she realized she had driven away the one dragon who had truly loved her. As her ice-bound heart shattered into a thousand sharp shards, the unfathomable chill that filled the vacant spot within her soul triggered Hush’s transformation into the primal dragon of cold.”
“I’m sorry you’ve felt such pain,” said Infidel.
Greatshadow let loose a low rumble that might have been a rueful chuckle. “We’ve become much greater beings as a result of her betrayal. Though I wonder, at times, if we aren’t also something less.”
He cast a baleful glare at the harpoon. “Just as everything I cherish eventually turns to ash, everything exposed to her cold heart will eventually wither and perish. Even I.”
“If I knew how, I would remove it from this place to stop it from hurting you,” said Infidel.
“I know,” said Greatshadow. “I see your thoughts so plainly. You have not come here with hatred in your heart.”
“No,” she said. “I set out on this quest to find comfort for my own broken heart, not because I held any animosity toward you.”
“You came to steal my treasure,” he said.
“Yes.”
“But you’ve decided you no longer want it.”
Infidel touched the band of hair on her finger.
“Gold and glorystones are wealth, not treasure. I can see that I was surrounded by genuine treasures all along. I just had to learn how to recognize them.”
“How sorrowful to find these truths only once you are in the realm of the dead,” Greatshadow said.
“But I’m not dead.” Infidel looked up to meet his gaze. “I arrived here by accident and I need to go back. You must possess the power to send me home. You have the ability to travel between the spiritual and physical worlds, or else Zetetic wouldn’t be so worried.”
“Traveling between the worlds comes at a cost,” said Greatshadow.
“Name the price,” she said. “Send us back and I promise that we’ll never bother you again. I promise to take the Jagged Heart as far away from you as possible, and I promise to fight anyone who even whispers of making an attempt to kill you.”
“You would kill my offspring? The one you call Relic?”
“Consider it done,” she said, snapping her fingers.
Greatshadow pondered for a long moment. “No. Tell the pathetic broken-wing that I shall have my revenge at the time and place of my choosing. The thought of the sleepless nights the young one shall endure pleases me. A swift death shall not slake my smoldering rage.”
“Consider the message delivered,” she said. “Just send us back.”
Greatshadow eyed the Jagged Heart. “You must take this weapon from this place. I cannot recover while its bitterness poisons the energies of this land.”
She gingerly lifted the harpoon, making sure not to point the tip toward him.
“Some people are worried you’ll destroy the world because of what we’ve done to you,” she said, softly. “I could have killed you as you slept. I chose mercy instead.”
“Mercy is not a quality often attributed to flame,” growled Greatshadow.
“Is it not?” asked Infidel. “Many a wound has been cauterized by fire. Meat half gone to rot becomes a safe meal once it’s cooked. Men could not survive harsh winters without your help. There is more to flame than wrath and destruction.”
“Too many men think this way,” said Greatshadow, sounding indignant at what I thought had been a compliment. His eyes began to blaze as he said, “Men believe they have tamed me, trapping me in hearths to bake their bread and in foundries to forge their steel. They forget that I am a wild thing that will not remain in a cage. I have killed many men to remind others of this truth.”
“Perhaps you need reminding, too,” she said.
The dragon tilted his head in a quizzical look.
Infidel said, “The wind, the sea, the frozen wastes… these elements are used by men, but none are worthy of the partnership that man has formed with flame. Thanks to mankind, fire is everywhere. In the middle of the trackless ocean, fire can be found in lanterns aboard a ship. On the most frigid, snow-capped mountain, you’ll find fires glowing on hearths. Right now, even at this moment when you are at your weakest, men are lighting candles, torches, and bonfires, all of which help to restore you. There is far more fire in the world due to the actions of men than there would be without us. You may be a wild thing that doesn’t wish to be tamed, but certainly, even the wildest beast enjoys being fed. We nourish you with coal from far beneath the earth, we cut down forests to fill our fireplaces, and sometimes we even offer you our dead.”
Greatshadow nodded grudgingly. “You are wise, Princess Innocent, though you tell me a truth I already know. Even in my darkest moments of smoldering anger, I dare not destroy mankind. In a world without men, I would be very hungry indeed.”
“I don’t know that I’m wise,” said Infidel. “I just think we’re alike in some ways. We both hate anyone who tries to tame us, but understand we sometimes must do things we don’t want to do in order to keep a full belly.”
Greatshadow lifted his head high, sparks flying from his jaws as he roared, a sound like a blast furnace in great, puffing gusts. The noise nearly deafened me, but I felt no fear. It was obvious from the expression in his eyes that he was laughing.
“That a mere mortal thinks she is in any way like me is an amusing notion, Princess,” said the dragon. “It has been many centuries since I laughed so freely. You have earned your journey home.”