The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 17

HERA

In Averia, the mages say, no matter how it happens, either one of three things will occur when you're seconds away from breathing your last.

Your entire life flashes before your eyes, every bad decision and every good one.

All the people you love are suddenly there, surrounding you with a sense of inexplicable, overwhelming peace.

And lastly, you see what your life could have been...you see the future.

Well, either none of them knew what it was like to die at the hands or jaws of a fierce monstrous beast from the dragon realm looking to make you its dinner, or they were all a bunch of poppycock peddling charlatans. I am inclined to think it is the former.

But then again I am also about to die so I am not in a very tolerant mood.

Saliva, warm and slimy, drips from the jaws of the wild beast with the shining blue whorls writhing beneath its dark fur as it advances slowly towards me, shaking the tree and the branch I am clinging to for dare life.

The tree shakes even more as the beast gets closer, snarling and growling low in its throat and I wonder what will get me first. The snapping, hungry wild cat that is both a panther and not...

Or falling from this high up and breaking every bone in my body.

So maybe climbing this tree had not been my most intelligent idea but it is not the most stupid decision I have taken today.

It is not even deciding to hide in this cursed forest in the first place; that ranks second.

No, the most stupid thing I had done today was deciding to escape in the first place.

The dragon king is a cold heartless bastard who would send me to hang faster than I can blink but at least he would not have tried to eat me.

Crossing that river and stepping into the shade of this forest is the act I am coming to regret the most.

I should have known something was wrong when the villagers did not pursue me any further, choosing instead to stand in clusters opposite the fence separating them from this...place and watch me drag my drenched aching body out the stream. There had been something in the way they looked at me, a mixture of pity, surprise and amusement.

Something I had not recognized or understood at that moment.

I do now.

They had thought I was crazy.

And maybe they had no idea why a human girl was running around in their world but they knew it was going to be the last time they saw me.

And as the cat advances close enough for me to almost feel it's fetid, hot breath on my face, I realize they were right.

I remember running for a very long time after I first entered the forest, afraid that the dragonkin would change their mind and decide to come after me.

By the time I finally decided I had run far enough, the sun was already completing its day's journey through the sky, bathing the forest with thin arrows of orange red sunlight and tinting the edges of the broad leaves overhead a shimmering gold. I am not sure exactly when the forest started to change..

But somehow, between the moment when I decided to drop down and rest against an old gnarled trunk and when I woke up to a sudden chill in the air, the ancient forest had transformed into a dark, twisted nightmare filled with this horrible smell and a sense of raw, undeniable evil.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I had noticed was the silence.

It was like everything in the forest had died.

I dragged myself shakily to my feet, eyes darting around in fear of a danger I could sense but could not yet see.

I gingerly placed my feet on the ground, testing my weight on my bruised ankle.

A bolt of pain shot up my leg and I had to bite down hard on my tongue to stop from crying out.

I pushed through the pain and started walking. It was already dark by then and the only sources of illumination had been slants moonlight that managed to pierce the gloomy canopy of leaves.

My rumbling stomach reminded me that breakfast had been my only meal of the day but living on the streets and as a slave, you get used to hunger.

As such eating had not been my main or immediate concern.

But I knew I had to get off the ground or I would become dinner for whatever predators roamed this forest.

So I climbed up the tallest tree I could replace and sat on a branch.

Nothing would replace me here.

Now as I grip the shaking branch harder, salty tears running down my cheeks and into my mouth, I want to laugh at my own foolishness.

The cat had appeared seemingly from nowhere.

Growling and sniffing furiously at the base of the tree.

I drew my knees together and held my breath, hoping it would go away.

Then to my horror, it had begun to climb.

It leapt from branch to branch, claws gripping the bark of the tree and holding fast.

I scrambled to my hands and knees in panic.

I knew I couldn't go down so I did the next best thing.

I went higher.

Grabbing the branch above me and propelling myself up.

Another stupid decision to add to my ever growing list.

But the cat had been wiser and it came from around the tree and leapt unto the branch I was hanging on to; now effectively concerning me.

There is no longer any escape.

Overwhelming sense of peace my foot, the only thing I can feel in this moment besides blood curdling fear is anger.

It is not fair that I should die this way.

The gods had decided to make my life so filled with misery and pain, to take everything away from me and the only way they can think to finish me off is by feeding me to one of their worst ideas? It just isn't fair.

And maybe that's why even though all I want to do is close my eyes and wait for it to be over, I replace myself screaming instead. Calling for help at the top of my voice, till my throat is almost raw from the effort. "HELP!!"

"HERA!!!"

I close my eyes tight and shake my head. No, his voice cannot be the last thing I hear before I die.

It just cannot be. Surely the gods would not be that cruel.

"HERA!!!"

"Stop please." my voice is tiny, broken...defeated. "No more... please."

HERA!!

For Hades sake Hera, answer!

The thought is so clear and sudden it almost doesn't sound like me.

But I do it, what else do I have to lose.

My mouth opens and my lips form the name.

His name.

"MIDAS?!"

"HERA!! Where are you?!!"

"MIDAS!!"

He sounds like he is barely a stone throw away but I still do not believe it. Maybe this is one last joke by the gods at my expense. "Hera!"

I do not think I will ever be able to truly explain what I feel in that second when he bursts trough the trees and my eyes meet his. But he is too late.

The cat senses it is about to lose its meal and leaps through the air to cover the short distance and sink its sharp jaws into my neck.

The sword cuts through the air in an arc of steel before disappearing into the side of the cat's neck, sending it hurtling from the branch.

Dead before it even reaches the ground.

"Midas..." My throat is too clogged up with emotions to make any real sound.

He walks up to the tree and cranes his head to look up at me. "Hera..."

This time there is no denying it.

It is in the soft way he whispers my name, his voice raw with barely concealed emotion, the way those golden orbs are flooded with what can only be described as relief.

I want to throw myself into his arms and have him hold me against him.

But it would be stupid and I have had enough of stupid decisions to fill a life time.

While the giant wild animal that had just tried to eat me may now be dead, the true danger is yet to pass.

Not while he is still alive.

Which is why when he asks me to come down I sniff and shake my head.

"What?"

"I said I will not be coming down."

Even this far up, I can see the incredibility of my words register on his face. He frowns.

"The beast is dead."

"It is not the beast I am afraid of."

"Hera, do not test my patience any further."

"I do not intend to test your patience my lord. I am only saying there is no way in all the 7 realms I am going to come down to you standing there, obviously livid and holding a blood stained, eerily sharp sword." He growls...he actually growls. "For Hades sake woman do you intend to stay up there the entire night?"

I clear my throat. "Are you angry at me for escaping?"

"Of course I'm f*****g angry. Not only did you deliberately disobey my clear instructions, you put yourself in mortal danger."

"Then yes I am."

He paces at the bottom of the tree. "And what makes you think I can't come up there and drag you down myself?"

Yes Hera you dumb broad, answer the man.

He tilts his head sharply as if listening to something. "What?"

"I didn't say anything."

"Not you" He snaps.

His head swerves quickly to the left. "I don't hear them."

I lean forward, arms still tightly hugging the branch.

Who is he talking to?

But before I can ask, his head snaps up to me again. "Hera, come down right now."

"To the crazy, livid king talking to himself? I do not think so."

"Hera..."

There's a strain to his voice that wasn't there before and I immediately know something is very...very wrong.

"My lord?"

"If they replace you, they will kill you. So come down now..." he stretches his hand towards me. "Please."

Maybe it's the way saying the word 'please' seems to take something physically excruciating out of him but I replace myself nodding.

I start to crawl forwards, towards the trunk.

Crack!

What was that?

It comes again, clear and unmistakable.

No...no...no...

The branch is breaking from the weight on it, about to drop tens of feet in the air, with me dangling helplessly from its end.

Oh gods not again. Are you not tired of trying to kill me?

But before I can move another inch, the branch snaps with a loud crackling sound.

And I am falling. The wind rushing in my ears, the ground and my death getting closer with every heartbeat. I close my eyes and brace for impact.

It never comes.

"I've got you."

My eyes fly open at the warmth of his voice, those strong, steel arms wrapped around me.

But isn't just nearly plunging to my death that has me breathing hard, clinging desperately to his neck and unable to believe my eyes.

No.

It is the gigantic black things protruding out his back.

Flapping gently, luminescent and breathtaking in the full silver moonlight and keeping both of us suspended in mid air.