Dragon of Blood and Fire, Part 6

[tsaiko]

When the sun rose on the seventy-third day, the Sun God approached the dragon of blood and fire. The dragon eyed him warily.

"I have looked into the hearts of my warriors. You spoke the truth," the Sun God said. "At night, I descend into the underworld. While I was there last night, I spoke with my brother. I have come to make you a bargain."

"What kind of bargain?" the dragon asked.

"Since he died a warrior, Ilhuiti, is entitled to spend eternity in paradise. Instead, he wishes to be reborn and join you again. My brother has said he will allow this for as many times as Ilhuiti chooses."

The dragon of blood and fire went very still. "What is the catch?"

"He will remember nothing between each incarnation. You will have to gain his trust anew each time. In return, you will go back to your prison without causing further damage," the Sun God said.

"Agreed," the dragon said.

"Then return the seventh warrior's spear and armor and I will choose another to guard you."

"No." The smile the dragon of blood and fire gave the Sun God was all teeth. "I will keep the spear and armor in my prison to make sure you keep up your end of the bargain."

The Sun God frowned. "There must be seven warriors."

"I will choose the seventh," the dragon replied.

"How do I know you won't break free when the warrior you chose is watching you?" the Sun God demanded.

"You don't. Just as I trust that you are telling me the truth about Ilhuiti, you will have to trust me."

***

Tlazi saw Chimulua raise the knife and tried to yell a warning. It was no use. By the time he found his voice, he was already flying through the air. He heard Eztilinhuica's roar and felt the burning hot wind as the dragon rose up while he fell. This was going to hurt.

It burned.

He had forgotten that when Eztilinhuica was free, the volcano came to life. It was easy to do. Tlazi had never seen the volcano in all its fury. He'd only heard that it could happen, in legends and stories passed down through the generations from the last time the dragon of blood and fire had been free.

Pride kept him from screaming as everything burned away. The pain was intense. It engulfed his body, burned through his lungs, and peeled back his skin. Tlazi's mind went blank with pain as he tried to just exist through what was happening to him.

Pain quickly turned to rage. This was his fellow warrior's fault. Tlazi opened his mouth to snarl and felt heat pour into his mouth and throat. He would kill them. He tried to struggle to the surface, but the world seemed to have become filled with thick liquid. It clung to him and made moving difficult.

Wait. How was he still able to feel? To think? Shouldn't he be dead by now?

Tlazi forced himself still and opened his eyes. He expected more pain, but there was none. Instead there was light: white hot and fiery orange. The light seemed to be almost a liquid, thick and viscous. There was heat as well, blistering hot. It was everywhere, blocking everything.

Except… at the edge of his senses there was something. Something cooler and golden. Tlazi turned his head towards it, like a dog finding a scent. He moved through the liquid towards it by undulating his body and pushing himself forward.

His hand hit something first, nails (claws) catching on the edge of metal. It was large and flat. Tlazi hooked his nails (claws) around it and picked it up. Further on there was something else, and he moved toward it. This he found with his nose, rooting around blindly until he hit something.

It was long and thing and wooden. Which was ridiculous. Wood would have burned by now. Tlazi was surprised that even the metal he carried had survived. He tried reaching for the object, but couldn't reach it. So instead he picked it up in his teeth.

Now what?

The warriors of the sun god were still out there. Tlazi could sense them as well now. If he wanted his revenge, if he wanted to avenge Ilhuiti, he would need to find them. And Eztilinhuica. Everything else he'd figure out as he went along.

That decided, Tlazi pushed downward with his wings (wings? why do I have wings?) and headed towards the surface.

***

Necahuatl sighed when she saw the mess that was the remains of the lower temple. After the dragon of blood and fire had left, the bravest of the servants had come down here. Two of them had returned wearing the armor of the Sun God. A third had found Tlazi's armor in his room. The rest had fled the temple.

Except for her. There was nowhere for Necahuatl to go and work that needed to be done. Someone had to figure out what had happened. If she died doing this, then so be it. At least she could face the gods of the underworld and state that she did her duty.

Ilhuiti was the first slain warrior she came upon. Necahuatl paused, saying a funeral prayer over him. She'd liked the seventh warrior. He had a kind heart.

The next body might have been Yaoti, but was hard to be sure. There really wasn't much left. Necahuatl had to cover her mouth and breathe hard through her nose to keep from being sick. There was another body in much the same condition, close to the edge. She didn’t even bother trying to figure out who that was.

She retreated to back towards where Ilhuiti lay. There was something wrong. Necahuatl looked down at Ilhuiti's body. The other two had been torn to shreds, but not him. The dragon of blood and fire had not killed Ilhuiti. She was sure of it. And it didn't look like Ilhuiti had struggled much or fought back. So what had happened?

You! Stop!

The voice seemed to roll through Necahuatl, and she had no choice but to obey. From the roiling lava in the mouth of the volcano a dragon appeared. For a split second, Necahuatl thought that somehow the other had been mistaken. That this, here, was the dragon of blood and fire.

Then she realized that this dragon was the color of a night without stars. Molten lava trailed off the dragon's wings like fire. It back winged sharply. Bits of the lava flew through the air, cooling mid-flight, and hitting the temple floor with a faint clink. Necahuatl stood staring as the dragon lowered its head, and dropped a spear onto the stone.

"Who of the original Sun God's warriors lives?" the dragon demanded. Its eyes were the colors of malachite.

"I don't know exactly. Chimulua maybe and Mazatui. Eztilinhuica is free and everyone was running around…," Necahuatl's words trailed off as the dragon hissed. Each of its teeth was as long as her hand was wide.

"Traitors." The dragon took a step forward. The armor it held in its claws tapped against the floor. It seemed to have forgotten it was holding it. "I need you to stop them. The warriors of the Sun God

"But I'm just a girl. They are warriors. How am I going to do anything?" Necahuatl asked.

"Take the armor and spear. They have power in them. Watch the warriors of the Sun God and if they seek to destroy rather than protect, kill them." Necahuatl didn't even wait for the dragon to finish. She began to put on the armor as soon as he spoke.

Necahuatl found that the armor fit her as if it had been made for her. Maybe it had. After all, there was no doubt in her mind that the dragon before her was a god. She held the spear in hands and stared up at him.

"What about you? What will you do?"

"I am going to stop Eztilinhuica."


I am definitely going to have to rewrite this thing after I'm done. The style changes between the different parts are beginning to drive me bananas. But I don't dare start doing a re-write until I'm done with it. Otherwise, I'll never finish.