The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 14

MIDAS

Midas had very few memories from the time before his dragon awakened on the day of his 24th birthday many many years ago.

It wasn't like they weren't there or that they had disappeared.

They were just locked up in that box where old memories and painful memories go to wither and hide.

Blanketed under a fog of forgetfulness and eclipsed by the event that had made him immortal Ryder and marked him heir to the dragon throne.

But as he rode towards the dark forest, struggling to keep his rage and his dragon under control one of those forgotten memories slipped through the cracks and snuck to the front of his mind.

One minute he's riding his horse, galloping towards the forest at an unearthly speed and the next, the memory expands, filling his mind, blocking out the other sounds.

And he is little again, running from the monsters all around him.

An image of a small Midas swerving and stumbling blindly through the ebony shadows of gnarled ancient trees with mottled bark bubbling like a witches broth. The image of branches like bent and twisted limbs that slapped at his arms and face floods his vision until he can see nothing else.

He can feel the ghastly shrubs with their venom tipped thorns reaching out to tear at his shirt and skin until blood trickles down his leg in tiny red rivulets.

Then his small feet trip on a rotten, moss covered root and he's falling hard, landing on his chin and nearly biting out his own tongue.

As the oily taste of blood fills his mouth, the monsters finally replace him.

Their shadows falling over him.

The moonlight catches the glint of upraised steel seconds before it comes down.

Pain, instant and raw shoots up his thigh from the scar he had gotten that night and he jumps out of the memory, like a man who has been held under water. Gasping and dripping with sweat.

It's a miracle he was able to even remain on his horse and that the animal was still running at that same neck breaking speed.

The memory was locked for a reason.

And with his eyes still open he shuts it out, returning it to that old wooden box in his mind and locking it before it or anything else can escape fully. This was all her fault. How dare she?

Coming up out of nowhere, disobeying him and dragging up memories like that one. Memories of a time before his powers had awakened.

Of a time before his parents were cruelly and suddenly taken.

And now here he is, riding like a mad man towards the one place dragonkin knew well enough to avoid.

What in the gods had possessed her to hide here?

The Elder Forest, of all accursed places!

Dragonkin kept well enough from the Elder forest during the day unless it was an absolute necessity and even then, Ryders had to accompany them.

But no one would ever dare to cross the purple river of Emil and step within the boundaries of those dark trees once the sun had set.

When the ancient forest, rich and earthy during the light of day, transformed itself into a ghoulish nightmare filled with those who worshipped the shadows instead of the light.

It was then that those who preferred the cover of darkness came out to play, to hunt and kill, to slurp on the marrows of those stupid enough to be caught on the wrong side of the river at night fall. Stupid like her. Stupid like him.

"Let me out."

He ignores the growling angry voice in his head.

"I said let me out Midas."

"No"

"Why?"

"Because the last time I listened to you and let you take control you sent her to the cellars."

"And you brought her back. Now look where that has gotten us; riding like fools to the Elder forest at night."

Midas presses his lips tightly together and says nothing in response to that.

Mostly because he knows the voice is right.

His dragon did not speak often.

In fact it wasn't until 5 long years after the ritual that he heard Er'gan the Dark's voice for the first time. It was an event that had left him disoriented and confused.

Ryders were simply dragonkin who carried The Curse and possessed the ability to transform into dragons at will.

The dragons did not exist as separate entities in their heads or bodies and they most certainly did not talk.

So when he had first heard the dragon's voice in his head, his intial thought was that someone had placed a spell on him to perhaps drive him to insanity and when barely days later, Er'gan took control of his body while choosing to remain in human form, he had though his descent into madness complete.

It took many years for him to understand what exactly the ritual had done especially since his father, the only who could explain was dead by then, his mother with him.

Er'gan The Dark was the very first dragon and as such he could control and mind link any other dragon that ever or would ever exist.

And the ritual that had bound their souls together had inadvertently given him, Midas, that same power.

It is Er'gan who is truly immortal but as long as he remains bound and inside of the ruler of the dragon realm, so is he.

And now after many years, Midas and the dragon inside of him are separate and yet one.

Er'gan never took control without Midas' permission.

Choosing only to come out when Midas was in pain, on the verge of blind rage or in times like this; heading head first into danger. "Why won't you let me out?"

"Because you'll kill her."

"I thought that was the whole point to this mad rush. To punish her for her daring to disobey you. What use is a prisoner that escapes without consequence?" Midas struggled to come up with a logical answer. "I never said she won't be punished."

"You are making no sense. Your feelings on this matter are an even bigger mess I can't seem to comprehend. Is this simply because you wish to bed her?"

"Oh for f**k's sake Er'gan"

"It is not my fault you cannot control your fantasies. Anyway it doesn't really matter if she dies by our hands anymore. The sun has since set and she is in the Elder forest. If we don't kill her, they will."

A shiver runs down his spine, turning his blood to ice in his veins. He tightens the reins and pushes the horse harder.

"You...You are afraid... for her"

There is surprise in Er'gan's voice and somehow it irritates him more than the realization that it is true.

He clenches his jaw and hisses through his teeth. "I am not."

The dragon actually scoffs. "Why bother lying to me? I'm inside of you and I can feel your emotions even better than you can. You do not want her dead. Why?"

"I don't know"

"But she lied to you"

"I know."

"Well do you know, or do you not know. Pick one."

"Er'gan I am trying to ride us to certain doom here and you are being a big distraction."

"Well if you truly want to save that lying human, I suggest you ride faster dragon king. For all you know, she is already dead."

And with that Midas' dragon falls silent. Quiet but not asleep.

Choosing instead to simmer at the edge of his consciousness, beneath the haze of his anger and fear until he would need him.

Damn it!

He draws his horse into a trot and stops her at the edge of the stream lining the boundary of the Elder forest.

The artery of iridescent purple water, running in a circle around the tall dark trees that stood like watchful sentinels, is now a deep indigo in the moon's waning light.

It comes winding around the edge of the forest and thinning out so that when it gets to where he now stands, it is barely a leap across.

He ties his mare to a stump at the water's bank. If he dared to ride her in, she would not return.

The sounds of the forest, eerie and deadly, reach him from the darkness on the other side.

He had ridden at a speed beyond what any of his Ryders could keep up with but he also knows that Leo is not far behind.

If his Chief Ryder and best friend were here, he would tell him, even with the danger of risking his wrath, that he is being extremely stupid.

Then he would cross over the stream with him. Leo would never let him go into danger by himself.

But he cannot wait. Not when she is in there.

With Them and the gods know what else.

He crosses the stream in one broad leap to land softly on the mushy mesh of grass on the other side.

And with one last look behind him, he disappears beneath the dark canopy of the Elder forest.

He just hopes he is not too late.