Duty Chapter 9
#9 of Duty
Duty
Chapter 9
By: David C. Henry ("Ahndeleck")
Cellista couldn't shake the sight of Motungo after his Attunement. His gray face plates and horns had turned into a flashy iridescent dark blackish color. It looked terrible to her, such a wonderful, beautiful, hansom dragon marred by something unspeakable. Her rage returned then nearly blinding her as she flew.
The laws are wrong, I know they are. I just know it. The thoughts plagued her every waking hour. She flew for the covenant's ziggurat, the house of the covenant's laws. I will make him change the laws, I have to, for Motungo.
Her rage blinded her to the passage of time, in what seemed to be an instant, she was beating her wings over on of the covenant's ziggurats. Azerzan would be inside. She folded her wings and landed heavily at the entrance to the judge's chamber.
Several dragons looked surprised at her blatant disregard for courtesy. The hunter at the door drew a breath and shook her head at Cellista.
"Let me through." Cellista stormed past the hunter, and she offered no resistance. "They can just fly off, I have words with Azerzan."
She stormed down the short tunnel to Azerzan's chamber, and heard voices. Some sort of judgment she was sure. She could preside over these in the future, and even looked forward to it for a few days. Now she wasn't sure she wanted to uphold laws that would banish her partner for the color of his horns.
A large beam of sunlight poured in from the open ceiling. A large, thick, fat dragon mumbled in the center of the light towards Azerzan as he sat in the shade. Another, much smaller dragon sat on the opposite side of the room and glanced in Cellista's direction, then hung his head back down to the ground. A hunter stood near the doorway and looked round at Cellista after the small dragon looked away.
Cellista barely held onto control enough to sit at the entrance to the chamber and wait. She didn't even pay attention to what was happening, she kept a hot angry glare pinned to Azerzan's chest. The blood in her neck and head pressed harder and harder as she waited. She wanted to scream and lash out at Azerzan, but managed to wait until the judgment finished.
As the two dragons left the room, Cellista stood and marched to Azerzan. He locked his eyes with her's with a sorrowful expression.
"Why haven't you called it off?" She shouted, "He's done nothing to deserve being banished. He's the best dragon I've ever known, more of a dragon than you are I'm sure. He'd never throw anyone out of the covenant, he'd give them a hearing, give them a chance. You though, you just threw the judgment of the Great Thief upon him as if he slaughtered hundreds in the square just below. How can you do such a thing you gods damned ignorant-"
"Cellista!" the hunter at the door stepped forward, but Azerzan held up a wing and hunter stepped back.
"She has a right," Azerzan said, "to speak her mind."
"I have the right to scream in your face for what you've done. You've ruined so much of my life, and you've completely ended Motungo's. That you had no right to do, so don't you tell anyone what right they have or don't have. You've over stepped your position, and-"
"Cellista, its the law."
"I don't care about any damned dusty laws. Look what they've done to me. Look what they've done to Motungo. All those laws have done is ruined everything. How can such a law exist Azerzan? Why can you allow such a law? How?"
"Because that law has been with the covenant since before the Sacrifice Cellista. Who am I to counter genera-"
"They are all dead Azerzan, you're the one in charge of the laws right now. Your word is the law, and-"
"My word, dragoness, is the law only so far as the covenant allows it to be. You should know that."
"You're wrong! You can tell them to bring him back. You can tell them it was all wrong. You can fix this Azerzan. You have to fix this."
"I can't Cellista."
"Because you won't. You care more about a bunch of old dead bones and their-"
"Our ancestors."
"-old laws than you care about others living now. You turn a blind eye on a good dragon, a dragon that will help the covenant grow and-"
"A dragon touched by Mixcoatl."
"I don't care about that. He's a good dragon and deserves to be here with me. I don't care if he's been touched Quahi or Killian. I don't care if he's been raped by Mixcoatl, he's my dragon Azerzan, and you've taken him away. You've killed him, damn you." Tears welled in her eyes and begin to flow. "My closest friend, my companion, and my mate, and you've killed him you damned old snake. You've killed him!"
The blanket of utter loss returned and wrapped around her. She had lost her greatest joy, and brightest future. She felt wronged, she felt attacked, and she felt betrayed by everyone around her. She felt sorry for herself. Through the tears and her gasping sobs she barely heard Azerzan.
"Cellista, since time beyond the Sacrifice, we've fought against Mixcoatl, you know that. You know how dangerous the Thief and his virtues are. Anything touched by Mixcoatl can be used against us, and you know that he has coveted our kind from beyond memory. We can't let his reach endanger us for any reason."
"But he's a good dragon."
"I know Cellista. He was a good dragon, but I can not overrule the acts of the gods themselves. Motungo has been taken by Mixcoatl, there is nothing any of us can do."
"There's nothing you want to do, damn you." Her rage began to burn again, "Your rules just don't want to see who he is. I know him, Azerzan, and I know he's not touched by Mixcoatl."
"Despite the obvious in his horns?"
"Gods damn the horns, what you're doing is wrong. Can't you see that?"
"Can't you see what you're doing is wrong Cellista? Mixcoatl-"
"But I don't care about-"
"Silence you whelp and listen to me."
Azerzan's face grew wrathful. She had rarely seen him snarl, and despite his age, it looked wicked. He stepped closer to her, building frustration pouring down from his face.
"I don't like the outcome either. I know he would have been a wonderful dragon in the covenant, but now he is an agent of the Thief. He might not ever mean to, or ever try, but every dragon touched by him has always aided the advance of the Thief. Even he could tell you that, and I'm sure he would too. You though, you are simply blinded by your passion for him. You can't let that passion hide your enemies. He's a gateway to Mixcoatl now, if he likes it or not Cellista. Forget him, mark him as dead in your mind if you have to, but heed this, he now aids the Thief, it is the way of the gods."
"Damn the gods," she screamed, "and damn you!"
Cellista whipped at his face with her wing as she turned to leave. Fury and tears blurred the hallway. Everything was just shadow, light, and anguish. She stormed to the edge of the temple and kicked herself up into the air. Several hard wing beats turned her on a quick path back to her home. I'll never study these laws. I'll never help these laws. My whole life ruined, the gods ruined it, our laws ruined it, Azerzan ruined it. Gods I hate them all.
The End
(Notes from the Author)
Yes, this is the end of this short story series. However, if you've enjoyed it this far and don't want it to end, please check my journal entry here: http://www.sofurry.com/page/225963/tab/Journals
It shall give you hope for a better, more satisfying ending.