Chapter 20 #2
“Ah, I can practically taste your desperation on the air,” he mutters as the larnuk swoops down to land.
My stomach rolls with the movement, and he grips my shirt tighter.
“Think about it. Let me know once we return to the ship. It would seem that maybe it would solve at least one of the issues.” Our larnuk touches down just outside of the village settlement.
He and I slide off as Lila’s and Zilla’s larnuks follow suit, landing gently in the sand.
Tirrian, on the other hand, practically dive-bombs into the desert, kicking up a wave of orange sand.
We watch on with varying reactions. I just shake my head, and Zilla smiles indulgently as he rolls around, taking a giant sand bath, using the coarse sand to rub his scales shiny, but Lila’s mouth is open in horror.
“Shouldn’t we stop him from doing that? Isn’t he going to attract a sandworm?”
“Yes, that’s the whole point,” Zilla says, unable to hide her amusement.
“What? Why?” Lila screeches, and Zilla rolls her eyes.
“Just watch,” I tell her.
Sure enough, in the distance, there’s a disturbance in the sand like something is tunneling underneath, burrowing its way toward us.
It’s fast and zigzags its way across the expanse, hunting for whatever is making the vibrations on the sand.
Tirrian just continues flopping around like he has no cares in the world.
“Tirrian!” Lila shouts and starts to step forward, but she stops and screams as the sandworm launches itself out of the ground at a rapid speed a few feet from Tirrian.
It howls a most ferocious sound and clacks its many teeth, its nearly blind eyes searching for its intended prey.
Lightning spears out from the two antennas on its head as a horrific smell wafts toward us.
“Ugh, I forgot how bad they smell,” Xavier mutters as Tirrian launches his body into the air, narrowly missing getting chomped on by the worm.
“Tirrian!” Lila screams again as she shimmers and her body changes to a lightning cat, her worry for the dragon eclipsing any animosity the two of them have.
She obviously wasn’t thinking about the type of climate her form is used to as she takes one step forward and instantly collapses.
I leap forward and catch her falling body as Tirrian roars his own challenge and banks around, beelining toward the sandworm, a stream of flames bursting from his gaping maw.
“Easy now, Lila, he’s okay, I promise. Now switch back.
Your lightning cat can’t stand the heat.
” Her body shimmers in my arms as she returns to her now naked Rilunese form.
Her intoxicating scent of freshly baked bread and petrichor hits my nose, and I feel my tongue dart out to lick the scent from the air, my snake trying to burst out of my skin, but I grit my teeth and hold him in.
“What is he doing?” she mutters, her eyes wide as he flaps his wings, holding his ground. His stream of fire kills the unsuspecting sandworm within minutes.
“He’s feeding this village for months to come.” The sandworm goes down with a ground shaking thump, and a roar of approval goes up behind us before the villagers start chanting, “Prince Tirrian, Prince Tirrian,” over and over again.
Lila just grimaces. “No wonder he’s insufferable.
Of course they are going to think he’s wonderful if he feeds them for months,” she mutters, and I just chuckle as Xavier conjures her the same outfit for her to cover herself up with again.
“What does it taste like?” she asks, not moving from my arms, and I find myself leaning in and sniffing her hair, my tongue darting in and out quickly, tasting her skin, but she’s so distracted by what the dragon is doing she doesn’t notice.
The warlock narrows his eyes and smirks at me. “Chicken,” Xavier says.
“When you’re all finished rolling around in the sand, I’ll be in my house waiting for you,” a dry, husky voice says, and when we turn, we find Zala standing there with one of her own larnuks peering over her shoulder.
The villagers stream past us now that the sandworm is down, each of them carrying swords and knives to start rending the now dead creature into more maneuverable bits as Tirrian’s dragon sets down again.
He roars triumphantly and slinks over to us, his big nose nuzzling into Lila’s stomach. She giggles and pushes it away.
“Such a clever dragon,” she coos, and it chuffs at her as she rubs a hand between its heavy eyebrow ridges. “Such a pretty dragon.”
“Hey, Zala,” Xavier calls, and she narrows her eyes at him, frowning.
“Xavier?” she asks, and he nods. She shakes her head ruefully and waves a hand before turning and heading back in the direction of the village, which Lila finally notices.
She drops her hand away from the dragon, which has him snorting with disappointment, and pushes my arm away. I reluctantly let it drop as she walks over to one of the buildings and runs her hand over it.
“This was not what I thought it would look like. I was expecting tents. How do they get these out here?”
The dwellings are dome-like buildings with round windows in them, and they are covered by foliage.
They are the same purple green color as the water and palm trees of the oasis.
There are probably twenty or so dwellings with larnuks of all colors wandering in and out.
On the other side of the water is the opening to the mine, where a large, looming cave exists.
“It’s a special technology. You just press a button, and everything folds down into a box small enough to slip into your pocket.” Tirrian has changed forms, and Lila goes to turn to look at him, but I stop her.
“He’s naked,” I warn her, knowing he was going for the shock factor, and he scowls at me. Xavier rolls his eyes and waves a hand, producing the clothes he’d given him before he shifted and tossing them at him.
“Come on. Maybe Zala will show you how it works.” The warlock takes Lila by the hand, and they start following after the girl. Zilla is staring hungrily at the naked dragon as he starts to pull his clothes on.
“Spoilsport,” he grumbles, and I shrug.
“For someone who hates the girl, you do like to stir trouble to gain her attention,” I mutter quietly so only he hears it.
“Stupid dragon is head over heels for her,” he mutters back, and I feel my eyes widen in shock as he admits it out loud.
“What are you going to do?” I ask him, and he shakes his head.
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, okay, sure. I’m pretty sure that’s not going to work, but you do you, bro.” I slap him on the shoulder and follow the other two. I have my own beast problems to worry about, and he’s a big boy, but I can’t see that ending well for anyone.