Old - Chapter Two

"Dada!" I said to the man I figured to be my father. By Gods, even mana can't help my voice say the words correctly. I need to start actual training soon.

He ran ever closer without a torch. Ah good, a strong one. Using the mana in the environment to adjust to the dark.

The man came into view and what a man he was. Tall and built, blonde with hazel eyes, and a sword at his hip. Sharp, durable, and contained in a lubricated sheath. Now this man has good standards for war. I like him. He is fit to be my father.

He saw what was behind me, the carnage, the blood, the idiots. But he only glimpsed at it. With a speed any thief would be jealous of, he picked me up and cradled me in his arms. My cheek fell neatly underneath his chin. A prickled beard but smooth. It was warm.

"My girl, my sweet baby girl. What did they do?" he cooed at me. Though I don't know why, I couldn't answer. So I lifted my hands and grabbed his face. These fingers of mine are quite agile.

"Dada!" I said again while I buried my face into his neck.

Tears fell down his cheek and slightly dripped onto my temple. He turned my head over and planted a kiss right on my forehead. I may have slightly giggled, not that I will tell anyone about that.

Based my previous life, only weaklings cry, but father seems to be strong. Don't worry father, I'll keep it a secret.

...

Shortly after, the guards arrived, reminding of those footsteps I had heard much earlier, and gathered by father. A guard with a special marking spoke first.

"I see you have," the guard looked at the blood soaked stones, "dealt with the situation at hand Duke."

My father simply nodded, but then looked at me. For a brief moment, I felt the same energy as my previous draconian father would have had prior to a scolding. I don't where this is going, but I know I won't like it. I buried myself back into his neck.

"Yes, I have Commander Phillips. Listen, there was a servant, a mage, and I believe a noble. Burn the dead, imprison the rest, and ready them for interrogation." My father said.

"By your orders, Duke."

My father turned around and headed back towards the passageway leading to the library. He looked at me and smiled.

"Let's take you back upstairs before your mother kills me."

Mother would kill father? What? I haven't seen father's swordplay but his mana control is superb. By Gods, how strong is my mother?

...

My mother was ready at the doorway in the library essentially tearing me away from my father and began searching every portion of my skin for damage or blood. Obviously I know how to keep myself clean during a fight Mother. I'm not a heathen.

Finally, having found no injuries, she began to place a thousand kisses on each part of my face. First my cheeks, then my eyes and ears, and then the top of my head.

I struggled to stay still and my voice slipped a simple, "Mama," during the onslaught of love.

Then, the most angelic voice I had ever heard replied.

"Dear, what did she just say?" my mother spoke.

And speak she did, a voice smooth as honey with a timbre that tickled the ears. Oh I like this feeling. What is this feeling?

My father responded, "She called me Dada earlier in the tunnels."

Mother smiled so bright, I briefly thought that a new day had started.

"Is she supposed to be talking this early? She's only a month old?"

One of the maids that took care of me came forth and bowed slightly.

"Oh speak Gloria. Stop it with that nonsense." My mother told her.

"Thank you Duchess. I have yet to see a child able to talk this early, I believe her to be a prodigy."

My father's chest proudly puffed up as my mother held me gingerly.

"Well, of course she's a genius," my father started, "she's my child..."

He couldn't finish the sentence as my mother's hand quickly reached out and slapped him on the shoulder. She stared at him.

My father coughed, "She's our child. Of course she's a genius." he said, smiling awkwardly.

"Thank you Gloria," mother added, "Now let us go back to bed. Sarah you're sleeping with us tonight."

I could barely hearing the screaming as the Young Master and Mage woke back up. I could barely feel our footsteps as we made our way to our resting area for the night. I could feel something though. Something in my heart. It was warm.

Before I drifted off to sleep, I thought two things.

One, Sarah is a good name. Strong. Valiant. I like it.

Second, mother is the stronger one. By a wide margin it seems.

...

I woke up to some incessant snoring, vibrating my entire body. My eyes blinked as my father's arms came to view. I was asleep on top of them.

Looking over to father, I found the source of the obnoxious sound. There was this bump in father's throat, it kept moving up and down. Whatever it was, it would move no more.

I crawled onto the chest of my father. Then put one hand on his mouth and another on his neck. Suddenly I realized that this position was weird, as if I was trying to kill my own father.

My mother, who was apparently wide awake and watching the whole ordeal, finally spoke up causing me to flinch at the sound.

"And what are you doing Sarah?" she asked me.

"Loud." I said, still not capable of full sentences.

She laughed heartily which woke up father. Only to raise an eyebrow as to why his one-month old daughter was trying to kill him. He looked at his wife quizzically. This only made mother laugh even harder.

Father gently pushed me away from his mouth and neck. He sat up and placed his back against the bed frame.

He asked me, "Since your mother is too busy to explain this assassin's behavior, maybe you could enlighten me?"

His voice carried sheer confusion, but I knew how to explain myself.

I pointed at his throat and said, "Loud."

Too which he began to laugh as well. Honestly this laughter business is getting on my nerves. I am a baby. I need my sleep and food. Neither of which I have been afforded yet you two laugh at my misfortune of being forced awake.

My mother noticed first how my face had turned to anger, or as much anger as a month-old baby could show.

"Aw, Sarah. Excuse us baby, but we didn't expect you to understand us yet. Not only that, you've already complained about your father's snoring," she placed a hand on his bare shoulder and looked into his eyes, "Which I've been complaining about for years and he never believes me."

Father stopped laughing and joined in, "Well now it's confirmed, I snore and our daughter doesn't appreciate it."

They both looked at each other when suddenly my stomach growled. Father handed me off to Mother and I attached myself to mother's more than ample breast. Father tried to look at first but then Mother slapped him gently across the face.

"Look away you beast. Our daughter's feeding." she grumbled. Only to blush when Father replied.

"I'll stop looking when you stop being radiant."

They giggled and kept flirting while I feasted. My hunger went away, but whether that was from feeding or a loss of appetite I couldn't tell you.

...

There were occasional intruders on our family time. Some asking about the incident, others asking about me, but it was typically governing the majority of the time.

I was left to my own devices, except for the fact my crib was moved to the room next to my parent's bedroom.

One of the more interesting things to happen was when the injured maid finally came back. She smiled and caressed me,

"I'm glad you're okay Princess." she said. It bothered me that I still didn't know most of my helpers names, but I'll get to it in time I suppose.

I knew she was still hurt as the wound I had closed hadn't healed well.

"Hand." I said to her, but she looked at me as if I was crazy. I sighed and reached out myself to grab her hand.

Once I held her fingers, I flung mana into her body until it reached her head wound and slowly the scar, and bump, began to fade until they disappeared.

"Good." I said and again she looked at me with a thousand-yard stare. I wonder if all humans are struck dumb after being hit in the head. I suppose they could be, but at least this one would heal better now.

...

After the incident, along with all the events after, I've used up too much mana. Not that it's an issue, simply that my body is drained and has to refill. Good way to increase my mana pool at least, though I wouldn't suggest it to anyone else.

For a few days, I could barely eat. Muscles wouldn't respond. Father send for a doctor, but couldn't find anything wrong with me besides my lethargy. If it was an advanced mage, then maybe they would have noticed but alas no such foresight on my father's behalf.

Mother and Gloria took extra care of me during these days which I will be eternally grateful for. Yes, they performed the usual tasks, but they would carry me around the premises or outside in the garden. It was calming, especially since otherwise I'd be lying face up in a crib with my face always facing one direction, but either way looking at wooden bars.

Once my body caught up, I restarted my training. After the maids put me to bed, or so they thought, I would begin vocal training. Working on my 'r' sounds mostly as they seemed to elude me. There is apparently also a rolling 'r' sound that I've heard a few of our maids make. But Gods know how that is made. Let's start simple for now.

"Hello. Hewo. Name. Bwain. Meat. Fwee." I said to nobody in the darkness. Sometimes, I thought I could hear something lurking in the dark, but nothing was ever there. My vigilance was up since the accident, but the knights would be in the corridor outside. Plus, occasionally sleeping in my parents room meant I could only whisper.

One night, as I lied there attempting to pronounce, "Maestwo," my mother woke up in a daze. I quickly silenced myself but she continued to walk toward me. I assume in her sleep she thought she heard me call for her and her body naturally came to feed me.

While I applauded the instinctual maternal instinct, the late-night snack made me late-night shit the bed. Forcing a late-night cry and a late-night leading into tomorrow morning of my father complaining how a infant can possibly release that much and why it smells that strong.

Needless to say, I began to only practice my mana throughout the day for sanity's sake. Much harder to hide, but that itself is a form of practice I suppose.

For my mana, I had to gauge where I was at. For dragons there are ten rankings for mana, a higher value corresponding to an ability to fine-tune and overall destructiveness. Since I have a mana heart and mind, I'm about halfway between the first two ranks.

Next should be to relearn chanting, but as that includes my voice again, I'll skip to a further step instead.

During the nights, I worked on deepening the connection between my mana heart and mind with the rest of my mana veins. Imagine a river, a small one can only carry a fixed amount of water at a certain speed. However, a much larger river can carry more, but, more importantly, can push more water.

As before, I would spread my mana thin and recollect it into a ball. Then I would place it into my mana heart, where it all begins. Then I would take a journey with my mana up to my mana mind, slowly pumping increasing amounts of mana. Not enough to burst the vein but enough to test its limits.

The first few weeks, this was rather difficult. My mana shines bright blue through my smooth, supple human skin which meant that during the night, there was a chance my parents could wake up if I pushed through too much mana. A wool blanket can only hide a limited amount of light.

Though eventually, with practice, this too became trivial. I could pass a mana stream as wide as my fist through the veins. It doesn't sound impressive when in the size of a baby, but this will do wonders once I become a human adult. As an adult dragon, I went with this route as well and gained my strength this way. Instead of my fellow brethren and sisters, I increased my mana veins until they were the size of my physical body. I could plow through entire lands with one fire. Additionally, as my mana would run out quicker, any training led to a larger mana pool. I'm quite proud of myself for the whole idea.

Not that it do much world of good. The five heros managed to kill me eventually. I guess I'm not technically dead. Hindered me? I'll figure out what they did once I'm older. I'll have more freedom and power then, especially as, for now, someone still has to wipe my ass.

...

With the night schedule underway, my life throughout the day had changed drastically after the incident.

Sleeping with my parents, the excess of maids and knights outside my room or simply just near me, it was all getting insane.

My father's retainers, or at least the ones he trusted, were all skeptical that I had done anything to help either. Or at least they did until they began to question my father and I.

"Duke, it cannot be that a mere child can attack anybody, let alone three assassins." said an older gentle with well-kept beard.

He looked as if he was to continue this thought but I interrupted quickly, as this was biting into my sleeping time.

"No." I said.

The old man flinched at my words. Not out of fear it seemed but confusion, rarely does a months-old baby talk.

"I see. She can speak. Princess Sarah, why did you," he looked around at the others, "do what you did?"

"Bad."

"And how?"

I sighed and climbed out of my father's lap where I was sitting. I crawled to the center of the table and began to use my mana to move the smaller objects. Quills, ink, paper all began to swirl in a small windstorm.

It is at times like these I wish I had the better mana control of my old days. If I did I could be able to immediately tell how each of these retainers felt about my magic power. Alas, I will have to train for several more years before I can do that. I will keep an eye on each of them though. Never know when they will strike.

Not wanting to show off my full capability, I dropped the assorted items from the air. The retainers were silent while my father smirked, full of pride.

Most began to speak softly amongst each other, though one other than my own father looked at me with pride: the older gentleman.

His look was strange.

...

After that, father's helpers seemed to stop showing up to ask about the incident. I never felt the mana of the Mage again and I would have remembered that weak shriek of the Young Master. I can only imagine the information had been sucked out of them and them now disposed of.

But one day, another man came in. Shorter and with glasses, but with the same blonde hair and hazel as as father. I was in my mother's arms when it happened.

"Euclid, you have come," said my father. They hugged deeply although it seemed that the man was out of breathe from it. Then, my mother bowed slightly and responded in kind,

"Wonderful to see you Euclid. And here to see you for the first time is Sarah, our daughter."

I was front and center of attention when the man said, "Hello, there Sarah. I'm your Uncle Euclid!"

He smiled and signaled at a servant. Suddenly, dresses, toys, cakes, and swords all came barreling into room.

"Listen kiddo, I didn't know what you'd like, so I brought everything!" Euclid said while mother and father shook their heads, but this didn't stop Euclid from continuing, "Just tell me what you want, pick anything."

I looked around the room, but nothing interested me. So I did the only sane thing and choose the two most important things.

"Mama! Dada!" I said.

Now the reaction to this was twofold and in either case unexpected to me. One, my parents nearly doubled in size and crushed me between their bodies. One side, soft and bouncy and the other muscles and sweat. It was weird, I would request a withdrawal immediately.

The other reaction was my Uncle jumping out of his chair and yelling, "Sarah can speak?!?"

My father, with enough bravado to challenge a rogue, "Well of course she can. She six months old now."

To which my uncle, apparently significantly more intelligent, said, "The normal age for such speaking is around a year. This isn't one of your army marches brother. This doesn't just happen earlier, you dunce."

My father was so taken aback by this he stopped moving for a moment. This allowed my uncle to look at me and ask what must have been the prevailing question on his mind, "Could you say Uncle, Sarah? Uncle."

I sighed. I do not like being told what to do, but this is fine. He's family.

"Un-ky." I said again reminding myself that even after four months, more practice is needed. I already know all the words. It's the pronunciations that an issue. Why can't humans use normal sounds for Gods sake?

Before I could berate myself more, my uncle began spouting about how I'm the most adorable child in the kingdom while my father seemed to finally grasp that his brother had called him stupid. They were debating a duel.

I looked at my mother, pointed at them, and whispered, "Dumb."

She smiled, "Yes Sarah. My thoughts exactly."

We left them to their own devices and it was about two hours before they even noticed we had left.

...

I was picked up from sleep by my Uncle Euclid the next day, after feeding and cleaning of course. He took me around the premises. I had realized that our home was large, if it were completely empty it could have fit me when I was a draconian child. But as much as the castle was massive, the garden was even more so.

Plants I'd never seen more, in both beauty and toxicity. Uncle Euclid caught my face of awe and spoke,

"There are over 2,000 fauna here Princess. Some small, some big, some dangerous, though I won't show you where those are." he said with a smile.

At first I found that in poor taste. Poison comes in handy, but with how ingrained family is for humans, perhaps it's best that I...

Uncle continued, "You've seen the rooms and the garden. Now, for main attractions, we've got the training facility and the grand library left. Which would you like to see?"

This completely changed my thoughts as nothing else was as important as war and treasure. But as my tiny, infant body can't move for battle yet, the choice is obvious.

"Libwawy." I said, mispronouncing once more.

My uncle laughed and took me there.

...

I've always like the smell of books. Though my nose was much sharper back then. Now I needed to get close to the books.

But at least I could read them now myself.

Which excited, and freaked out, my uncle. He told a nearby maid to keep an eye on me as he rushed off to get my parents.

The maid sat me in her lap and watched as I read. I don't think she believed me but she smiled whenever I looked at her. Eventually, a page wouldn't flip with my dainty fingers so I looked at her and said, "Help."

Which is where the maid finally began to question me.

"Princess, do you know what this book is about? Or are you just copying what you seen the Duke do?" she asked me.

"Magic." I said. There were inefficient mana circles drawn throughout explaining how these circles had evolved over time. Then I repeated myself,

"Help."

Her smile wavered slightly but she helped me flip the page.

"Did anyone teach you to read Princess?" she asked again.

I didn't answer immediately as I was confused about what I was reading. How come humans chant? It's a stronger variation of the magic but it's much slower? Come to think of it, the human in the five I fought never chanted.

"Princess? Did you learn to read yourself?" She asked again.

"Yes."

It was then when my parents and uncle returned, and rushed over to me. The maid excused herself and now I was sitting in my mother's lap.

"See! I told you she was reading," said Uncle to my parents, "How is she reading?"

I chimed in, "Pwactice."

Father looked at me and pointed at a mana circle on the page, "Then what is this one for Sarah?"

"Fiwe." I answered, giving my father a look as if he was dumb.

"Honey," he said while grabbing me out of my mother's lap, "I think it's best if you ask her."

My mother got up and began inscribing a circle on the table in front of us, using her mana. Before she was half-way through, I laughed as I knew what it was.

"Eawth."

Mother glanced at me and smiled, though it was more a quizzical smile than an emotional one. She started on a different circle.

"Light."

Again, she erased and begun anew, barely starting the circle before I answered.

"Thundew."

She activated the thunder magic and cracked the table in half. At this point, my father, uncle, and I realized she was getting rather angry and she finally spoke.

"Oh so you read one book Sarah and you think you know it all?" a resonating anger in her voice.

Now I've only ever backed down from one challenge and this certainly is not my final battle. I looked my mother in her eyes and smiled,

"Yes!"

...