The dragon awoke with a start. Something was out of
place, or worse, missing. Being such large and heavy creatures, gold
was the only thing that made for a suitable bed. It was firm and
therefor didn't crumple completely beneath their weight, but also
malleable so that it could conform to their bodies. Also, whenever
changes were made to that bed, it was painfully obvious to their,
relatively, tender underbellies.
He scanned the cave. There was no sign of any natural
shifting in the gold bed. He listened. Nothing. He sniffed the air.
Humans.
“Thieves!” He cried and spit a line of fire into the
mouth of the cave to prevent anyone from being able to escape.
Several mounds of what looked like gold shuddered as
their enchantments failed and the five exposed humans began
scrambling to draw their weapons.
“Why have you come here?” The dragon demanded,
circling the men and positioning himself between them and the exit.
The humans looked well equipped, if not terrified. Their
armor shone with magical protections and their weapons gleamed in the
firelight with a sickening green aura that made the dragon's scales
tingle.
“Speak!” The dragon bellowed, showering the men in
fire. Their armor burst with color as it protected them from the
heat. When the fire was extinguished, their armor did not shine so
brightly as before. The dragon smiled.
“We came,” Said one of the braver men, “For The
Sword.”
The dragon nodded. The Sword. Whatever name its creator
had given it was long since lost to time and only the tales of its
power remained.
“And why would you be wanting The Sword?” The dragon
asked and he moved himself closer to the men. Their armor and weapons
glowed all the more brightly as he approached and the men eyed one
another nervously.
“The dra...the dra...” Another of the men stammered,
“The dragons–
“What about the dragons?” Another gout of flame
escaped his mouth and again the men's armor shone to defend them
against the fire. Again, their armor did not shine so brightly
afterward.
“They're destroying our land,” The man said.
The dragon huffed and rolled his eyes. “And I thought
the fool of a knight who came before you was just an idiot,” He
said, more to himself than to the men. “It turns out it must be a
racial thing.”
He swept one of the men up in his claws and bashed him
into the wall of the cave. The man was dead before he knew he was
even under attack. His armor had flashed out feebly against the
dragon but succeeded only in singeing the rock face.
One of the men struck his blade against the dragon's
side. It bit into the scales but before it could get deep enough to
do any real damage the magical aura surrounding the sword faded and
the sword turned to dust. The man died in a focused gout of flame.
“Tell me,” The dragon said in an amused tone, “Did
anyone ever tell you my name?”
The three remaining men seemed to weigh their options
and decided to answer if for nothing else than to buy more time.
“Grau the Unmaker?” One ventured.
“And why do you think I have such a name?”
The men looked at their failing magical wards and their
two fallen companions.
“You see,” Grau went on without waiting for the men
to answer, “We dragons are not given our names at birth like you
humans, no. We are given our names when we have shown our talents.”
Grau exhaled on the remaining men and their armor faded
into nothing more than mundane slabs and ringlets of metal hung about
their bodies. Another breath and their armor and weapons turned to
dust, leaving the men in their leathers.
“We dragons have much more interesting things to do
than go about destroying stabbed, “That is the work of your foolish
king who lusts for our golden beds, now go and educate the rest of
your people before I decide to Unmake your souls.”
The men moved slowly at first as they edged around Grau
toward the mouth of the cave but as soon as they had a clear shot
they all broke out into a run.
Grau settled back down on his bed, shifting the stolen
pieces of his bed back into place. The Sword, he'd known from the
beginning, was still safe in its hiding place. Those men would have
to have been quite the explorers in order to find where he'd placed
that sword.
Still,
Grau thought, The humans were looking for it. And that was never a
good sign.
No comments:
Post a Comment