A Kingdom Of Dragons, The Dragon King and The Werewolf Princess

Chapter Two.

Chapter Two.

A film of sweat covered the shaking body, which lay in the school dormitory. The green covers twisted around Uki, the werewolf princess of the Snow Kingdom’s legs. Her long, wavy pure white hair stuck fast to her grimacing face, as her dry, rose lips parted.

“No!” she called out in her sleep, tossing back and forth, causing the bed to dangerously shake on the four small legs of the metal frame.

A loud gasp mixed with a tiny scream erupted from her lips, finally waking the tormented girl. Princess Uki sat bolt upright, her ocean blue eyes opening wide in horror. The beautiful princess had a look of annoyance, fear and grief on her beautiful face as she awoke. She still hovered between her nightmare and reality. She shook her head to rid herself of the past which haunted her sleep, bringing her hands to her face, moving her sweat-soaked hair back, as she let out a long breath to calm her fractured nerves. A knock on her dorm room door caused the princess to lower her head, already knowing who was about to enter, even if she did not grant her permission. But between friends, permission was never required.

Castella stepped inside the room, closing the door behind her, still in her night attire. Just like the princess, and all werewolves in the world of Mythicalia, she had white hair, although not quite as pure white as Uki’s. Castella wore hers shorter than the princess, who had never cut her hair in her life, in accordance with the customs and royal etiquette at the Ice Palace located in the northern territories, which housed the kingdom of wolves. Castella moved to the bed, sitting on the edge, before reaching out and moving some of Uki’s sweat-soaked hair from her face, giving her a small knowing smile. It was not the first time she had found the princess in such distress, and Castella believed it would not be the last.

“Again?” Castella asked the question as Uki took a deep inhale of breath, before nodding her head slightly.

“Uki, it was not your fault,” Castella whispered, not for the first time in the nearly three years since the war which haunted her best friend’s dreams.

“Oh, I know. It was that stupid Dragon King's fault… the father, not his appendage head son,” Uki sighed, yet even though she knew that her words were true, she still could not rid herself of the gut-wrenching guilt which consumed her.

“Uki, you need to make peace with yourself. These dreams are getting increasingly worse,” Castella sighed, hating seeing her best friend in such distress.

“I know, but whilst Lucias is still missing, I don’t think I can,” Uki sighed.

“Prince Appendage Head made his choice to push his father into your cannon fire; it was not your fault that his wing caught the back lash of the death waters,” Castella attempted to get through to her friend, who she knew blamed herself for Lucias, the dragon prince’s actions that day.

“Technically his is a king now, even if nobody knows where he is,” Uki said, shaking her head slightly.

“It was still his choice, though Uki,” Castella stated, hating how much the werewolf princess blamed herself.

“I know, but he did it to save me, and how did I repay him? By shouting and calling him names,” Uki sighed.

“Yes, but that was a normal occurrence between you two, since the first day you arrived here at school,” Castella giggled at the memory of the 14-year-old brave princess standing her ground against the golden, most popular, and handsome dragon prince. Ever since that day, the princess of werewolves and the golden dragon heir had developed a strange relationship, where they each hated the other. Yet Lucias had turned traitor against his kind to save Uki, and help the werewolves. He was able to fight the former dragon king’s compulsion and saved them all from his inferno.

“I cannot keep doing this, having my rest so disturbed because of him. I fear my brother will become aware of my struggles, and well, he has enough on his plate, running the Kingdom of Wolves, along with having two pups now,” Uki sighed.

“Plus, I really do not want Eliza to know. The queen will be so filled with compassion that it will cause her emotional pain. I want to save both of them from their concerns about me,” Uki added.

“You are still determined to find him once you finish your finals, and celebrate your coming of age then?” Castella asked, the idea of her best friend and royal princess embarking on a journey in search of the golden dragon, alone, filled her with dread. But no amount of trying to convince her not to do this would stop the stubborn princess.

“I need closure. To apologise for shouting at him, thank him for saving me, and see with my own eyes that he still lives. Then I will give him hell for disappearing for so long, making everyone worry about him, before leaving him to his own devices, and appease myself of the guilt,” Uki stated.

“Anais said he is okay,” Castella reminded Uki. Their other friend, a dragon/fae hybrid, who was a princess in both kingdoms and Lucias’ half-sister, was certain that the rogue golden dragon was alive and well. Although she was relying on her fae magic to know that fact, and had not seen him herself, as she had never set foot in the Kingdom of Dragons, wanting nothing to do with them, given their reputation. However, Castella suspected Anais had seen her brother, but he had sworn her to secrecy, probably just to wind Uki up, given they hated each other so much.

“I wish you would let me, Odin, Stephano and Anais come with you,” Castella sighed again, knowing she was fighting a losing battle with her best friend.

“It is not that dangerous, and after all, Boadicea is a strong wolf; we are more than capable of defending ourselves. Plus, you and Odin need to find us a house big enough for all of us, as we build our own little pack, right here in the Neutral Zone,” Uki smiled.

“Plus, I would never put Anais in danger like that. A royal Dragon and royal Fae hybrid is a powerful being, and you know those scaly beasts will wish to control her. After all, that is what Johan wanted. He didn’t love his daughter; he just loved her power, hence why she hid with us werewolves to escape him. No, I will not risk her safety for my little mission,” Uki added.

“Have you told the king about your plans for our pack yet?” Castella asked.

“Nope, but he will not fight me on it. He knows that I want a pack of my own, where werewolves, dragons, fae, and even humans can come and live together in harmony,” Uki shrugged. In her mind, it was the only way to achieve true peace and acceptance between the four species that roamed the world of Mythicalia.

“Plus, Odin has met his mate now, and Stephano is not the type to want to travel to the sand lands,” Uki giggled.

“Nope, he isn’t. He will complain bitterly about the hot sun drying out his soft skin,” Castella giggled.

Uki let out a musical laugh, nodding her head. She loved Stephano, her other best friend’s mate, but he was not built for adventure. Uki sighed; she needed to build a pack to help her friends. Odin’s parents were not at all pleased that their eldest pup was gay; they had hoped he would find a she-wolf as a mate, to ‘cure’ him of his s****l orientation. When Odin’s wolf shouted ‘Mine’ in the middle of his 18th birthday celebrations six months ago, the sound was so loud it shook the walls of his parents’ home, they had been ecstatic. However, their joy was soon quashed, as Odin’s wolf’s declaration was not aimed at the array of she-wolves they had invited parading them in front of him, but at the human waiter who was hired to serve at Odin’s party. His parents could not take the perceived disgrace of it, nor could they deny it was happening. Since then, Odin had been living in reduced circumstances, in a small apartment, located in the less-than-affluent area located in human quarter of Neutraliss, with his mate. He was a proud werewolf and had refused the offer of help from his best friends back at the school. Once his education was complete, and he had left the interspecies school, homeless and packless. He missed pack life, even though it did not exist in the traditional way in Neutraliss, unlike in the Kingdom of Wolves. But having werewolves around you, to rely on and them, was still the norm, and Odin had felt discombobulated since leaving the school. Moving to the run down area of the Human Quarter, which bordered the Metropolis, where the humans mostly resided. Unable to see his mate struggle so much, Stephano agreed to come live with Uki’s pack when she finally left school, and started hers up, knowing his mate loved the girls as if they were sisters, and wanting more than anything to please them.

“Right, time to get up, washed, and ready. I have my final test on Dragon traditions today. I cannot wait to not have to attend that lesson, the professor hates me,” Uki declared, as Castella giggled.

“To be fair, you did upset him,” Castella added.

“Well, he needed upsetting. His thoughts on werewolf traditions were not warranted, and I still say if he cannot teach without his own bias, then he shouldn’t work in an interspecies school. Just because I helped kill one of their kings, who was attempting to burn my brother’s kingdom to the ground. Like I told him, dragons started that war, but we finished it.” Uki shrugged, as she moved to her large closet, grabbing her traditional werewolf attire, a long thick velvet dress, embroidered with silver and golden threads. She was going to be hot, in the Neutraliss heat, but her clothing served to upset the dragon professor for some reason best known to himself, and she loved upsetting proud, arrogant, dragons. Especially the golden kind. She shook her head, determined to forget about Lucias, for now, but the truth was, the dragon was never far from her mind. She hated he affected her so much nearly as much as she hated the arrogant man himself.

“I have the history of Fae magic with Anais. Meet you after for lunch?” Castella smiled as Uki nodded her head, grateful for her best friend’s, even though none of them understood why she was so driven to find Lucias. But if Uki was honest, she did not fully understand it herself, she just knew deep in her soul, that something inside was driving her to find the golden dragon she hated so much.