Chapter 33 #3
Alsen swallowed. Arleria glanced at him, her expression carefully neutral but her eyes communicating a very clear your turn.
“My lord,” Alsen said, keeping his voice level. “During the expedition, we encountered a massive sphere of concentrated magic. After we killed its summoner and destroyed it, it happened to produce a larger-than-expected explosion.”
“And yet you all live,” Verathras observed.
“I flung the sphere up into the sky before destroying it. As I, indeed, needed to not kill myself or my companions.” That was even mostly true. That he helped the orb explode with an unreasonably powerful spell was a detail best left out.
The dragon huffed, and turned the eye to the drakes.
Luna’s favorite bowed. “That is mostly what happened, Sire. There is, however, the issue of his attendant.”
“His attendant?”
The drake threw a side glance at Alsen. He understood the idea, we’ll go with your version, but you let us save face. He slightly nodded, moderately amused with the idea of how this could play out.
“Yes, sire. His unruly attendant, who was present at the invitation, but has not bothered to come.”
The dragon’s gaze moved to Alsen.
True. “I found it unnecessary for my attendant to be here, given that I have come in person.” He heard Derell’s snort and hoped the dragon didn’t. “If there is anything to be dealt with regarding her, I will do so personally.”
The dragon’s mouth twitched into the tiniest of smirks. “Well, then, what is the actual matter with her, Xiir?”
The drake raised his head, so the dragon could hear him better.
“She has committed an entire array of offenses against drakekind. She mounted me without permission. She kicked me. In the loins. Repeatedly. She slapped my ass as if I was her horse. She called us stupid, threatened us with unjustifiable violence, and made repeated, pointed remarks about making clothes out of us.”
The second drake of the duo stepped forward. “She threatened to make boots from our hide. She referred to us as equivalent to pets. She suggested keeping one of us as a heater.”
“She screamed in my ear for the entire flight,” Xiir, the first drake added, his voice rising. “She even threatened me with death over experience points. While I was carrying her. Against my will.”
The two older drakes watched this display with expressions that Alsen could only describe as deep embarrassment. One of them hadn’t moved since the audience began. The other’s eye twitched once. They both looked everywhere other than at their complaining brethren.
“We would, of course, never have suffered such behavior,” Xiir added. “But they used the mage as a threat against us.”
Silence passed through the air.
Verathras’s gaze moved over the drakes and back to Alsen. The amber iris shone with amusement, visible underneath the layers of authority and reptilian contempt.
“Is this accurate?” the dragon asked.
Unfortunately, yes. Very accurate. She even used him as a threat, back at the Oak Library, though that was a team effort. “My attendant might sometimes be a touch… disrespectful.”
Derell snorted loud enough for everyone to hear. “More than a touch…” he cleared his throat. “Apologies.”
“Disrespectful?” Xiir repeated, smoke curling from his nostrils. “She desecrated me.”
“Not just you,” Derell muttered from behind Alsen. A sharp look from Arleria silenced him.
Verathras huffed with amusement, blowing a cloud of smoke.
“However trivial this might seem, disrespect to my kin is never a matter I can overlook.” He did his best to sound serious, though he didn’t manage.
“Drakes serve me. An insult to them is an insult to my authority. I do not tolerate insults to my authority.”
The temperature around them climbed a few degrees. Not dramatically, but enough to make the difference between uncomfortable and concerning.
Alsen chose his next words with the care of a man defusing a bomb.
“Luna serves as my attendant. She is dutiful and dependable in her service, even if sometimes overly passionate toward others. While undeniably inappropriate, her behavior was motivated by the urgency of the situation. I will, of course, see to her being appropriately disciplined for her behavior.”
“Will you?” Verathras asked. “How?”
“Strictly and thoroughly. She is my responsibility, after all, so I will ensure she meets a proper punishment, so that she never does it again.” As if Alsen had the authority and the ability to control Luna. He could control weather with far higher reliability. But what else could he promise?
Verathras studied him. The pupil contracted again. “Why did you not exercise this authority over her before she committed the infractions then?”
“The urgency of the moment. In all the situations, we were under pressure from an imminent threat. I did reprimand her after the events.”
Xiir exhaled a puff of almost fire. “We should be the ones to discipline her ourselves for the crimes she has committed against our kin.”
“Perhaps,” Verathras rumbled. “But the master deserves the chance to discipline his servant himself. I will see if the punishment was thorough enough upon their return.”
Alsen and everyone around him froze for a split second.
“In three days, you will return here,” Verathras said. “All of you. I have a mission for all competent adventurers in my city. If the attendant isn’t appropriately punished when she shows up, I will let the drakes have her.”
Arleria bowed. “We will be honored to return, my lord.”
The dragon relaxed on the hoard, closing his eyes. “In three days, at noon.”