The Crown's Fire - Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Bluebell Flower
Eventually, Tarah managed to get enough sleep after she cast a strong spell on Vulcan to keep it still inside the cave. By the time she woke up, the dragon was still sleeping because of it. At least that worked unlike her attempts to coax Vulcan into telling her more about Hana and what happened in the past last night.

Staring at the dragon, she let out a sigh and muttered, “I wonder why Hana was executed and burned alive. Is that why you cursed and vowed to kill all Dragonriders?”

She had her speculations, but it was still better to hear the truth from the one who was actually there when it all happened. She could get it wrong, after all. As such, what could be the reason for the Dragonriders to execute Hana like that?

Once more, Tarah let out a deep sigh before casting a spell so Vulcan would sleep more while she was gone. With her spell in place, she then walked outside the cave to get herself and the dragon something to eat. This time, she covered herself with a protection spell. This forest was inhospitable, so it was no wonder then that there were a lot of poisonous and dangerous things in it. She wouldn’t want to repeat the same mistake as last night, after all.

Venturing out, she didn’t take long before quickly going back inside the cave and releasing Vulcan from her sleeping spell. Once she was done, the expected happened.

[You!] the dragon roared the moment it opened its eyes. [Just you wait! I’m going to burn you alive!]

Despite the threats, Tarah simply chuckled before offering it some roasted meat. “Here and eat!”

[I would rather eat your flesh!] Vulcan retorted.

“If you do that, then you’ll break your promise with Hana. No eating human flesh right?” she scoffed before munching on her own portion of meat.

[You’re such a nuisance!]

Tarah ignored Vulcan’s grumbling and focused on eating instead. Once she was done, she then stood up with a smile and said, “How about we go for a ride?”

[No!] the dragon denied. [You’ll just try to find his damn spirit!]

“It’s not like you have a choice.” Tarah scoffed back before uttering a draconic spell and quickly mounting the dragon. “Let’s go.”

With a single command, Vulcan flew out of the cave out of its own will. Tarah didn’t know how to find Ezekiel’s spirit at the moment, but she wouldn’t stay idle inside the cave just doing nothing.

Looking at their speed, she inwardly smiled at how swiftly things were moving for her. Surprisingly, she didn’t feel any fear while riding Vulcan. Maybe it was because she was more confident now in using the draconic spell and language against it. In addition, Ezekiel was right in that she would eventually overcome her fear of heights if she rode Vulcan more often like this. She also thought of how enjoyable it was becoming.

“Hmm… So tell me, you’re the mightiest dragon of all, right?” she curiously began. “What else can you spit aside from fire, lightning, and water? Can you show it to me?”

There was no response from Vulcan, and Tarah simply let things lie as she moved on to other things. Steering the dragon toward the western part of the battle where she spotted some ghouls stationed in the wilderness ready for a surprise attack upon their leader’s signal, she quickly thought of having the dragon kill them all.

“Can ghouls like that be killed by your lava?” Tarah purposely asked even though she already knew the answer.

[Hah! My lava can easily wipe out those scum!] Vulcan boasted.

“We never know,” Tarah nonchalantly shrugged. “It’s been a while since you used it, so we’re not sure if you’re as powerful now as you were back then.”

[Watch and see for yourself then!] Vulcan hissed.

Right then, it started spitting lava at the group of ghouls they saw. Predictably, they all got destroyed by his attack.

Tarah was inwardly smiling as she praised, “Wow, no wonder you’re the mightiest of all dragons. Maybe next time we can see how your hallucinogenic gas and your poisonous acid work.”

[Hah! The damn spirit is not letting me use the hallucinogenic gas!] Vulcan scoffed. [But I’ll show you now how my poisonous acid works!]

Tarah’s eyes widened when she then felt Vulcan ready itself to spit acid. However, it was doing so right in front of passing Ebodian soldiers. As such, she quickly commanded it to stop.

[Why are you stopping me!?]

“You’re attacking innocent people,” Tarah replied with a frown. “How about you just show it to me later? Let’s fly higher for now.”

[Who are you to command me!] Vulcan growled. [I should kick you off my back for this!]

In that instant, it then flew twice as high and faster than Tarah expected. She screamed as she tightly grabbed onto its back, hoping that she wouldn’t fall.

“Slow down!” she commanded in the draconic language.

Vulcan cursed her back, and she couldn’t care less what it thought. She was already used to this dragon calling her names and cursing her whenever it wanted. Instead, she just instructed it to fly towards the south to see if she could find more monsters and sorcerers marching to attack Ebodia.

Right then, she saw another group of Helion soldiers marching. This time, they were composed of monsters that had been experimented on by Devon. Those were the ones that were contagious in their plague-like powers…

“Vulcan, I’m sure those monsters are indestructible. I heard that Devon experimented on them back then,” Tarah mumbled aloud, hoping to bait the dragon with her words. “Some of them were already dead, but they rose back to life to bring plagues to those they bite scratch. I wonder…”

[What!?] Vulcan barked out in annoyance.

“I wonder how they could be killed?” Tarah hummed.

Right then, Vulcan attacked the group, spitting poisonous acid at the undead. However, they just easily got back on their feet after a while.

[These damn ugly mutts!] Vulcan roared. This time, it spat out blue flames, turning all of them into ash.

Tarah raised a brow at the display. Counting the earlier attacks, it would seem that Vulcan currently had blue flames, lava, and acidic poison. The only thing left for her to see was the hallucinogenic gas… and Tarah inwardly prayed that Ezekiel would be the one to get a hold of that power. If the prince managed to get a hold of it first, it could only mean that the dragon’s spirit was leaning more into Ezekiel’s soul now.

[This is not fun!] Vulcan complained with annoyance, especially as Tarah was currently restraining it whenever it tried to attack anything she didn’t want it to attack.

“Right. How about we go back to the cave then?” she casually remarked. “I think you scared the hell out of those we passed by for long enough…”

[Scared? I would have killed them all if not for your interruption!] Vulcan roared

Tarah was about to retort when she suddenly got another vision of what was about to happen. “We need to go back,” she insisted.

[I don’t want to!] the dragon insisted.

“Go back to the cave now,” she commanded before hugging the dragon’s back tightly.

‘They found his spirit!’ she gleefully mused while staring at the vision of the bluebell flower glowing on the palm of Queen Dana.