Chapter 22
- Vyrathion -
I march through the jungle, furious but not walking as fast as I can. I must give her a chance to catch up with me.
“Silly little female,” I seethe as I pass by trees and bushes. “Can’t she see how irrational she’s being?”
The Plood that follow me have no reply. I would chase them away, but I may need them for when I get the gold. Perhaps they can be trained to at least create a diversion while I get inside the palisade and search for the gold.
I should be planning it, but Morgan annoyed me more than I can accept. “Such nonsense. Shirking her duty as a servant. I should go back and grab her. She would see sense after a while.”
Was it betrayal? Was this her plan all along, as an agent of Praxigor and a witch with magical powers?
But I must admit none of those things are probably true.
Praxigor clearly didn’t need her as a spy, and she has no magical powers.
I simply let her come along because I somehow knew that she could be useful in the future.
Yes, that’s it. The dragon in me knew that I needed her to assist me in getting the gold.
She could have made the diversion. Or been the diversion.
Surely the entire tribe would have gathered around her while I found their gold.
Yes, that’s why. I was going to use her.
“And now she’s ruined it all,” I hiss, kicking at the ground as I walk. “Everything would be fine if she’d simply obey. I was too mild with her.”
Earth females may be fundamentally irrational, I conclude.
I walk on, sometimes stopping to check that the Plood aren’t doing stupid things. It’s both annoying and somewhat satisfying to have a hundred servants follow me.
And behind them… nothing. Well, not yet. She’ll realize the trouble she got herself into when the jungle starts showing its true nature. Even I can see how scary it must seem to someone from a less dangerous species.
I walk on. The jungle seems strangely quiet. Or perhaps it’s just the lack of inane questions about hoards and monsters and gold and such. And the lack of jokes and crazy fantasies.
I stop once more and check on the Plood. They stop too and stand as if frozen.
I peer into the jungle behind them. Is there someone else coming, perhaps… no. Perhaps I’ve been walking too fast for her.
I decide to stand here for a moment. Not because I need her. No, not at all. It’s peaceful to not have to deal with her bright voice and her clumsy way of walking through the jungle. But it would clearly be better if I could use her to make a diversion for the gold tribe.
“It’s your loss,” I grumble as I turn and walk on.
“You could have seen me as a full dragon, and perhaps I would have favored you with… well, with something. A trinket, perhaps. A pot of some useless substance from that tribe’s stores.
Or a thousand of those. All the meat you can fry.
All the fruits you can peel. And who says that it had to be over–”
My mouth snaps shut. I must be losing my mind from the lack of gold. It’s making me speak to people who aren’t even here.
Or maybe she is?
I stop and turn. The Plood freeze in place, as usual. And behind them… just the jungle. No movement at all.
I frown. She couldn’t be dead already, could she? Those creatures, while easily defeated by a moderately combative dragon, are plainly more than a match for a small female.
“And you do tend to attract them,” I mutter as I stare into the jungle. “I suppose it’s suitable as a punishment for disobedience if one of them killed you as soon as I left. It would be poetic justice of the best kind.”
No, now I’m talking as if she’s here again.
I snarl to myself as I turn my back and walk on. Surely I would hear it if she had been attacked. Her thin squeals might carry through the jungle.
Or would they? What if she were taken by a tribe?
The thought is unreasonably unpleasant. A tribe, using my servant for purposes that I would prefer not to think about?
Another of those blasted rivers crosses my path and I stop.
The Plood freeze again, and I stand there for a while, staring into the jungle behind them.
A tribe taking her would be a severe insult to me. An affront of the highest order.
Perhaps I should go back and prevent that, at least. And perhaps I should clear her way of other dangers, too. Just to make sure she doesn’t get herself into more of the endless trouble she keeps attracting.
I fidget with the little cup. It’s not the best workmanship.
The metal may be pewter or lead or something similarly devoid of value.
But the two rings of gold leaf… just running my fingertips over them, I feel the warmth and the soothing light that emanates from it.
It’s too thin and too small to be what I need, but it is gold.
I bring the cup to my face and rub it against my cheek. “Mmm.”
Oh, I need more of this! I can be whole, I can be me, I can be all dragon! I can show Morgan my true self and strike awe into her as I destroy her enemies with all the force I have.
“Yes,” I promise the gold, stroking the rings with my finger. “I will get more of you. And you will be all mine.”
I turn again and walk right into the river.
As I reach the other side, I knock down a tree and place it across the stream so that she can use it. Then I walk on, noticing that the Plood are also using the tree bridge.
As night falls, I stop and lean my back to a tree. Morgan can’t walk in the dark, and I suppose I can wait for her here. At least until morning.
I rub the gold leaf on the cup. “Yes. Soon now. Soon there will be more. There will be a hoard. A true one.”
I stand beside a tree and place some dry leaves on the ground beside me. The jungle floor is damp there, and she prefers dry ground to lie on.
I stare at the spot for a moment.
Then I snarl and kick the leaves into the darkness.