Chapter 3
- Vyrathion -
I snatch the knife from the male and bend the blade so that it can never be used. That silly weapon would be no threat to me, but the female is soft and round and delicate.
The male grabs the handle of his sword and tries to draw it. I allow him to draw it halfway out, and then I grab both it and him and fling both out the door.
“Such a nuisance,” I sigh. “Are you the female I deigned to entertain on top of that mountain? I see they allowed you to come down from there. Just so you could meet that ludicrous male and his sophisticated seduction technique. Is that the mating ritual for your species? It’s just, I saw you resist.”
“I…” the female tries, flustered.
I raise one hand to shut her up. “It’s of no concern. Now answer me this: Where does that damned Praxigor keep his hoard? Plainly not on that mountain. Is it one of these laughable straw huts? Is it buried? Is it elsewhere?”
She looks up at me with big eyes, breath going fast. “I… he… he doesn’t have gold.”
I smile and take hold of her throat, just hard enough to make a point.
“Lying to me is so dangerous. I’ve seen Praxigor in the sky.
He flies, in full dragon form. But he has been on this planet as long as I have, and I’m near death from weakness.
I can’t even Change without gold to strengthen me.
Plainly Praxigor has a hoard with gold. Or at the very least, gemstones or silver. Where is it?”
The female grabs my wrist with both hands. “He’s married,” she gasps. “He doesn’t need gold!”
I let go of her. “You see, a simple ‘I don’t know’ would possibly have been smarter here. Making up insane lies is not the path to take. It makes me think you do know. So where is it?”
“It’s… in the jungle!” she exclaims.
I suppose she could know something I need. “Try not to force me to handle you again. It may kill you, seeing as you bruise easily. How do you know that his hoard is in the jungle?”
She breathes deep and fast, clutching her neck protectively. “He goes out there. Sometimes. I just guessed.”
I hear men with clanking weapons approach, their eager voices echoing from the wooden wall. “You guessed. I see. Well, your people are coming and I can’t be bothered to deal with them. Enjoy their seduction technique.”
I step out of the hut and sigh as I consider the tall palisade.
If I were in my dragon form, I could simply fly over it and then burn this silly village to the ground, wait for Praxigor to arrive, trick him into telling me where his hoard is and then kill him and take it.
As it is, I must climb like a mud-dragging ground-dweller.
Something I hear makes me frown and turn around. “What was that?”
The female looks up at me with big eyes. “Can I come?”
The idea is so silly that it genuinely surprises me. “You want to come? With me?”
“I can help you look. For gold and hoard!” She stares towards the sound of the approaching swordsmen.
I suppose it makes sense that a lesser creature such as this would want to help, but I’m confused about why she’s not cowering in a corner. “You’d be an inconvenience.” I start climbing the wall.
“Please.”
The noise of eager males is getting louder. They’re almost here.
I grab the female’s wrist and pull her to me. “If you intend treachery, there will be pieces of you hanging from every tree in the jungle.”
She whimpers. “I don’t!”
Well, I suppose I can sort it out later. For a non-dragon, she is somewhat attractive, and females occasionally make good servants. And of course, it may prove useful that she knows Praxigor.
Without a word I grab her around her little waist, throw her over my shoulder and easily climb the wall. I simply drop down into the jungle while the silly swordsmen yell and bang their weapons on the other side.
The woman is too light to weigh me down much, so I stride into the jungle. I can continue her interrogation in some calmer place.