Chapter 93: Tahr

I used my magic to put her to sleep because I needed time to gather my thoughts. With her awake the strange magical current between us intensifies. There is a similar connection between a dragon and his bride, but nothing this strong. No matter how crazy it sounds, she has her own magic and it resonates with mine. This should be impossible.
I remove my pants and jump from the bedroom perch. The imbalance I feel sends my thoughts back to the time before the curse. A time I rarely think of because it causes such deep pain.
My parents loved me and as the humans of the earth realm would say, I was raised with a silver spoon in my mouth. I was repeatedly told I came from the mightiest lineage of dragons and had to live up to my birthright. I was third in line to the throne-a royal child by right of royal birth.
My parents were protective and also spoiled me rotten. Bastian, Laryn, and Sarn were not in my life when I was younger. My uncle Drakon, who ruled the silver dragons, felt other, lesser dragons were not appropriate playmates for me. I never actually knew that anything was lacking in my privileged life until one day, while my father and uncle were off stealing treasure, I snuck away from my mother and accidently came across the three teens. They were older than I was and had no sense of what it meant to be superior.
"You should bow before me," I telepathically reprimanded them as we hovered hundreds of feet above the ground. They didn't so much as lower their eyes and that fascinated me. All dragons who came to our realm lowered their heads and spoke to my uncle and father with the reverence they deserved. I didn't want these three to know that I secretly admired the brilliant colors of their dragon forms. Or how they appeared so carefree. Each had a striking brilliance that intrigued me. Bastian, the blazing red dragon, blew extremely dark smoke from his nostrils, which captivated me too. My smoke was a light gray in color and not nearly as thick.
He easily huffed another cloud of the dark mist. "You're just a child. I'm sure your mother bows when she changes your underpants."
All three laughed and my fascination and admiration came to an abrupt halt. No one insults a royal silver dragon. I charged. Hitting Bastian was like slamming into solid rock. We both plummeted toward the ground in a tangle of wings and talons. Sarn used his claws and grasped where my wings met my body to stop us from crashing. Bastian twisted away and skyrocketed high into the clouds with a plume of smoke drifting behind him.
Sarn made a disgusted sound in his throat. "Don't listen to Bastian and ignore the smoke. He can't make fire, but he loves to show off that he's getting close." He released me and flew down to the ground to land in a large meadow. Laryn followed and my biting curiosity made me join them. Bastian flew down a minute later and the three of them stood watching me intently.
"You got a problem, kid?" Bastian taunted while his large tail made tight sweeps behind him.
I didn't like him. "I'm not a kid. I'll reach maturity in forty years."
Laryn, the brilliant blue dragon spoke for the first time. "We've got twenty years on you, so to us, you're a kid." He added a giant blue eye roll to accent his derision.
I was so pompous back then and knew nothing but obedience when I spoke to beings who were lesser than me. "The three of you should bow in my presence and kiss my feet if I demand it."
Sarn, the glorious purple dragon laughed the loudest. "I'll tell you what. If you can defeat us, we'll bow and I'll even kiss your dirty, smelly feet." His tail made a grand sweep and Laryn's mammoth head lowered to avoid it.
"Yeah make us," Bastian mocked. Fire showed in his blue gaze as he challenged me.
They were larger than I was and there were three of them. It didn't matter that I had no chance of beating them. I was young and prepared to conquer the world. I was smart though and knew there was only one way I had a shot of coming out of this with little damage. I shifted to human. "Do I take you one at a time or all together?" I said with the bravado of youth refusing to let them see how scared I truly was.
They all shifted and even in human form they were bigger than I was. Bastian came forward first. "If you can stand up after we each have a go at you, I won't bow, but I will give you my respect."
I charged as soon as the word "respect" left his lips. We fell to the ground with me throwing ungainly punches that did little damage. With Bastian's larger size he easily rolled so I was beneath him. He toyed with me and none of his strikes was enough to truly hurt. It was his laughter that made me angrier, though. I refused to give in and managed to land a good punch to his nose. It made a loud crunch. The pain brought brighter fire into the dark inner irises of Bastian's eyes. He got serious and I took a major beating for the punch to his nose. When I could no longer defend myself, Sarn and Laryn pulled Bastian off.
"You had enough?" Laryn asked.
My head spun as I breathed hard and blood ran from my mouth. I shakily got to my hands and knees and then my feet. This time, I charged Laryn. He twisted away and placed his foot out to trip me. I landed with a hard thud. I was winded, but Laryn was close enough so I kicked out. His legs buckled and he fell beside me. I grabbed him and we began rolling. A solid fist to the side of my head made me see stars. Laryn stood up and wiped the blood from his face.
"He's scrappy," he said to the other two dragons.
I was slower to get up this time, but finally managed to gain my feet. "You next," I nodded to Sarn.
"Hell no," he said. "I don't look good in red; that's Bastian's color." He gave me an ear to ear grin and stepped forward with his hand out. "I'm Sarn. What's your name?"
I looked from his hand to the grin on his face. I took his offered hand and we shook. "I'm Tahr, of the royal silver dynasty."
He squeezed a little too hard, but I managed to hold back a grimace. I looked to the other two boys and they were grinning too. Sarn assisted me up and we all shook hands.
Laryn spoke after introductions were concluded. "So what's this bowing shit you keep speaking of? We're all dragons; we bow to no one."
I realized he had no idea who I was. "The royal silver dragons are the mightiest dragons in all the realms."
Sarn laughed and spoke next. "Nothing personal, but besides a little shine, you have no color. What makes you think silver is the mightiest?"
How did I answer that? "It just is," I replied stubbornly. I don't think my uncle ever explained why we were mighty; I just accepted it because he said it was so.
Laryn leapt into the sky shifting to his blue dragon. "You are not prettier than this. Blue is the color of the sky and ocean. Blue is the color that should be bowed to."