Revenge of a Myth

Ah, now he had her! Erbrow returned her tight smile. "In that case... I will help you exact a revenge worthy of this... 'snake.' If you swear upon your delicate little life to help me exact mine once you are satisfied. It should be simple enough. Do you agree?"
 
As she had said before, she had nothing left to lose. She made eye contact with the man.

"I agree. Swear on my 'delicate little life'," she said. Why he had called her life delicate, she didn't know. "But please for the love o' anythin' good, put on some clothes if we gonna be workin' together."

***

Fellen Skynner polished his sword in the flickering glow of the fireplace. The bitch should be dead by now. Why she chose to lose her life instead of marrying him... well, not everyone was as smart as him. Either way, he had gotten the dragon farm. When the girl's father had passed, he had put on a facade of grief and offered to take the dragon farm as a favor to his "fellow dragon trader". The mini-dragons were useless, but somehow they had charmed the residents of the village.

He had added to his resources with the mini-dragons and had even sighted a large dragon flying over the forest earlier that night. He could go hunting as soon as his leg healed up. The last dragon he had killed managed to land a nasty gash when they were fighting in the ravine. Normally, it'd take at least a month for a wound that size to heal, but with a daily supplement of powdered dragon talon dissolved in his ale, it'd heal thrice as fast.

He smiled and caught his reflection in the shine of his blade. Who knew the weak little boy he had once been would have come so far? Fellen's father would be proud, a talented dragon slayer himself. Fellen reveled in his own strength and the pounds of gold he received from his rewarding career.
 
Erbrow's smile grew. "I told you. I did not bring any clothing with me, but I have something better."

He rose, but as he stood, his shape blurred, his very body taking of strange, eye-watering bends and twists as he grew several times in size. Wings sprouted from his back, and talons sprouted from his fingers. It took only seconds for the Change to be completed, but for someone watching for the first time, it was likely the longest seconds of their lives. The red dragon snarled, pearly teeth glinting in the moonlight as he shifted his weight on massive hind legs. His more lithe but no less powerful foreclaws grabbed the girl pole and all, easily wrenching it from the ground. A single talon sliced through the ropes with ease, and he took the girl in one claw, tossing the pole and ropes aside.

He turned, balancing on his hind legs as he looked up. He hated trying to take off from the ground, but there was nothing for it. Massive dark wings spread wide, hesitated, then thumped down as he leaped for the stars. His wings pumped hard and fast in shallow beats to keep his wingtips from slamming into the ground. His powerful body rose up higher and higher, leaving the ground far below. He did not stop until he was so far above the ground he was nothing more than a speck. Only then did he level off and adjust his hold on the human, clutching her in both foreclaws and holding her close to his chest to protect her from the freezing wind. His chest scales radiated heat, the muscles moving as he thumped his wings a few more times before he found a comfortable wind on which to glide along. He aimed for the distant mountains and home. For a human, it would take days of hard travel to get even close, but for him it would take only an hour. He purred softly in amusement as he imagined the human's face. Yes, she was supposed to be helping him, but he could not help it. Humans needed the occasional reminder of their place in the world.
 
HOLY. ASS. OF. A. SWINE.

Saffron had just made a deal with and been swept up by a dragon?! It certainly explained why he had no clothes, but still. A dragon?!

What have ye done, Saffron? Makin' a deal with a man is un thing, but a dragon is completely diff'rent.

Saffron was too shocked to do anything. She just hung limply in the massive talons. The dragon's scales burned as they pressed against her, but they weren't hot enough to injure her. She had a sneaking suspicion that he was enjoying freaking her out because he rumbled in a way that could be comparable to a purr. She felt the rumble more than she heard it, as everything was drowned out by the whooshing of the night wind.

On one hand, this dragon would be a good thing. Getting revenge on Fellen would be no problem at all. On the other hand, a dragon would be much harder to impress than a man. She did not have as much to offer as she had implied, and dragons were hard to impress. How was she supposed to help a dragon?! She had, in essence, fallen out of the frying pan and into the fire. Although she supposed the fire was slightly cooler than the frying pan. She was getting what she wanted in an entirely different way than expected.

The dragon carried her for about an hour towards the mountains before he began to circle. He flew in a downward spiral to the cliffs. Saffron's stomach had been in her throat for nearly the entire ride, but as they descended she had to fight to keep the contents of her stomach inside of her. The dragon would probably drop her if she pucked all over his claws.

Holy ass of a swine.
 
No humans lived anywhere near these treacherous mountains. It was the perfect place for a dragon to live. He angled toward the second tallest mountain and glided in low. A small plateau covered in sparse grass lead to a cave in the top of the mountain. The sides dropped away sheer on all sides, impossible to climb without any kind of equipment.

Erbrow slowed down then dropped the girl as gently as he could manage into the thickest patch of grass before landing on all four feet. He shook out his front claws then padded away, leaving her in the grass. He walked up to his cave and used a single claw to roll away the heavy stone blocking all but the top couple of inches of the hole. He had a few friends who would love to meet their new guest.

A small herd of about five she-goats and a single billy came galloping put of the cave and ran up to the human. Three sheep wandered out after the goats and moved off to the side to start their grazing. The human did not seem to be holding a bucket of food, so they did not care about her. The billy goat maa-ed challengingly and danced around the girl.

Erbrow ruffled his wings then laid them flat along his back as he coiled his tail around his feet. This should be interesting, he thought in amusement.
 
Man, billy goats stank. Saffron wasn't afraid of the dancing goat, though it's odor was horrific. Unless it was provoked, it wouldn't attack her. It was just making sure she knew who was in charge: the goat. She felt a little demeaned, but as she had just been saved from certain death by the dragon, she wasn't in any position to criticize his property. The goat was still dancing and challenging her. She turned to the dragon.

"Does yer goat want to fight me or somethin'?" she asked. "I never seen a goat act like this unless it feeled threatened, an' I don't think I'm threateatin' it. Is 'e always like this?"

The dragon had an expression of what could only be called amusement. Saffron didn't even know dragons were able to have facial expressions, but this one was watching the goat with obvious interest.
 
The tip of Erbrow's tail twitched. He supposed he could try to answer her, but a dragon's mouth, tongue, and vocal chords of a dragon were not suited to speaking English or any other human langue. Except for the one that was primarily whistles that originated in the Canary Islands. That one was managable.

He rose and arched his back, stretching. Then he gave a soft growl and used his tail to flick a small pebble at the billy goat. The goat bleeted indignatnly as the pebble stung his rump and bounded away from the girl. He snorted then started tearing up grass with a vengance.

Erbrow turned and walked into the cave. She said she didn't want to deal with him unless he was clothed, so he supposed he should find some. He left her out on the plateau to do as she pleased while he Changed. While the cave was plenty spacious for a dragon, the trunk holding the clothing itmes he needed was far easier to manage with fingers than claws. He settled for a pair of worn breeches and a loose white shirt that billowed about him.

"He has not seen humans before. He does not know what to make of you," he replied as he walked back outside.


((I know the Canary Islands are a bit anachonistic, but the whistle language is too cool not to mention.))
 
(No problem. It's very cool.)

Thank any and all holy beings he was clothed. That made things so much better in so many ways. And the goat wasn't crowding her anymore, so that was good. Saffron was starting to feel slightly more comfortable.

"I see. Makes sense," she stared at the goat and realized she hadn't thanked the dragon for saving her. "And thank ye. For lettin' me go. My name's Saffron, by the way."

Ha. She was speaking in sentences that were barely related to each other. The dragon would probably regret his choice to help her, as her mind seemed intent on making her appear an unintelligent beast. Saffron inwardly winced.
 
Erbrow moved his arm almost in the same way his tail might flick. It was a bit like how a human might shrug. "You are useful to me, vaguely interesting, and I have little to nothing to lose in helping you," he commented. "You may call me Erbrow, which is a proper name, not the name of an herb."

He was actually curious to see how this little spunky human dealt with the clear superiorty of a dragon. Oh, he knew that if he spoke to another dragon the way he was speaking to her, he would likely get a clobbering, but what was this human going to do about what he saw as fact and she might take as an ofense.
 
"Is that a fact? What consteetutes a proper name?" she asked challengingly.

If you asked her, Erbrow was the odder name out of the two, but she wouldn't say that out loud. She would do her best to steer away from offending Erbrow, only defending herself against his insults.
 
Long, brilliant red hair fluttered around his body as the wind played with strands of it, winding it down to his waist. Smooth, powerful muscles rippled under skin marked with perhaps a hundred angular lines carved deep into his body. Glittering golden eyes pinned the girl where she stood for a moment.

"A proper name is a word or phrase that is not already currently in use labeling something else," Erbrow replied primly. He stepped aside and indicated the cave. "You may come in, if you desire." He did not bother waiting for her as he walked ahead. The cold wind whistled and curled about his weak human frame, urging him to the warmth. The goats and sheep saw where he was going and charged after him, crying out hungrily.

He made his way into the cave, which started out as a tunnel leading deeper into the mountain. The first wide cave was as big as a ballroom and clearly meant for the animals. There were little make-shift stalls along one wall with lots of bedding and even a small shed that held an assortment of grains. The main area was left most bare and seemed to be an area for the animals to mill about and enjoy themselves when they could not go out. A gate blocked the tunnel leading farther in and down.

The sheep moved to one stall, the goats to another, and they waited with impatient noises by their makeshift troughs. Erbrow ignored the human for a few minutes as he opened the shed and pulled out half a bag of grain. It didn't match the other bags laying under it, and one corner looked suspiciously singed. He poured out the grain for his pets and gave each one a pat before putting away the grain.

"Come along," he said to the human. "I assume you must be hungry." He opened the gate and tapped the top with one finger as he waited. The gate was dragon-sized, but it was so perfectly balanced, he could move it with one finger.
 
Saffron followed Erbrow into the massive cave. It was clearly sized for a dragon in its natural form, as the ceiling of the cave seemed miles above her head. It was much warmer in here, and the goosebumps that had erupted over her arms outside disappeared.

She was still a little disgruntled about Erbrow's jabs at her name, but she tried to push it aside. His definition of a "proper name" was not a law of nature. Her name was a proper name whether he liked it or not. She didn't have to listen to opinions about her name from someone whose own name was comparable to "eyebrow".

Inwardly grumbling about self-righteous dragons, she followed Erbrow through the huge gate he had moved with a single finger. He must retain his dragon strength even in human form. A gate that size couldn't possibly be easy to move. Her stomach gnawed at her insides, and she hoped that food edible by dragon standards would also be edible by human standards.
 
Below the animal cave, a second smaller cave with a firepit on one side indicated a living space. The "living area" was even bigger than the animal room, but shorter in height. A massive fire that ate entire tree trunks burned in a firepit against one wall, the smoke trailing up a chimney and disappearing. Three smaller caves led off in different directions as well as another tunnel. His eye turned toward the cave doorway on the right, and his frustration and ever-present anger dimmed a little. That entrance was only large enough for a human to enter, and a wooden door closed it off from the rest of the cave. He turned away, going toward the cave directly ahead.

"First, you will have to clean yourself. You reek more than the billy goat." He wrinkled his nose at that statement and walked into the cave.

This cave turned out to be a dragon-sized hallway, the short part leading into a dragon's larder. He turned down the other way rather than go into the larder, but stacks upon stacks of smoked meats and a few cribs full of vegetables were clearly visible. He tended to eat whatever he could catch fresh, but the weather in the mountains could be unpredictable, especially in the winter. It was wise to have a good selection of non-perishable food stored up, and despite its proximity to the main room and the fire, the larder was several degrees colder than the rest of his home. Almost like an icebox.

The hallway Erbrow led the girl - Chinny? whatever her name was - led back outside on the other side of the mountain peak. Stark, black walls rose up all around them, creating something almost like an outdoor room without a ceiling. Fresh water tumbled down one wall, sparkling in the moonlight that filtered over the edge of the walls and filling a huge, crystalline pool of water. The water was warmer than expected, about the temperature of the average hot bath, creating a faint mist of steam.

Erbrow stopped and pointed to the pool. "There."
 
Saffron waited until Erbrow had gone back inside to undress and get in the water. It was a little nerve-racking, and she kept glancing back to watch for his return. While he might be comfortable naked, she most certainly was not.

The water was warm and comfortable, and she was surprised how much dirt swirled off her in the water. She had been offended when Erbrow had bluntly told her she stank, but she forgave and agreed with him after seeing the mud and dust. She hoped there was some way of draining the pool because she was dirtying the water quite a bit. Erbrow would surely make a snide comment about that. Baths were scarce in her village, and she figured she'd feel ten times lighted after the shedding of all this muck.

She was about to get out of the pool when she realized there was nothing to dry herself off with. There was her dress, but she had to wear that, and nothing was more uncomfortable than wet clothes. She sighed as she realized she would have to wait for Erbrow to return and ask him for something to dry herself with. She was glad that her hair was long and thick enough to give her a little cover, but she wasn't chomping at the bit for Erbrow to come back.
 
Erbrow would have stayed to watch as he wasn't sure he trusted her alone, and privacy wasn't something that was necessarily a big deal with his kind, but there was food to be gotten. He went inside and found a side of a cow. She would need it cooked before she ate it, Erbrow knew that much about humans. He cooked meat mostly because he liked the flavor when it was hot, not because he needed to. Nothing could survive in a dragon's stomach. He set to work cooking it and soon had a dripping hunk of piping hot meat over the fire. He found a couple of knives and sat down to wait while he kept an eye on the meat.

And waited.

And waited.

It was a good thing this meat needed to cook slowly because this human was taking forever! He finally huffed and went in to check. What was taking her so long? Had she drowned? Surely it did not take half an hour and longer to wash such a tiny little body.

"What are you doing?" Erbrow asked as he walked in without warning.
 
Saffron jumped when Erbrow came in. She had been waiting, but she hunched over when he strode in. Her hair did not seem as modest as it had when she was alone.

"I have nothin' to dry on," she said angrily. "Did ye expect me to come in drippin' wet?"
 
"How should I know what to expect?" Erbrow asked indifferently. "I have not exactly had many dealings with humans."

He straightened and wandered off. He returned after a few moments with a thin blanket. It was not exactly a towel, but it would do. He dropped it next to the pool where Saffron would have to stretch to reach it then stepped back. Noticing her ruined clothing - torn from the rough treatment she'd received from getting tied as well as stained from grass and dirt - he scooped it up and wadded it in a ball.

"Is there anything else you require?" he drawled.
 
Saffron supposed that made sense. At least Erbrow didn't seem angry. He simply seemed interested in how humans worked. She felt almost like an animal being observed by a scientist.

"Clothes, if yer gonna take my dress," she said, eyeing her balled up clothing in Erbrow's hands. "Other than that, nah."

She hoped Erbrow wouldn't insist on staying while she dried off. She has discovered that dragons didn't care much for privacy.

"Thank ye," she added politely.
 
Erbrow's rather tart response in regards to her dress died on his tongue at her thanks. He paused for a moment then said, "Once you have dried, I will take you to where I have some selection of clothing. I do not know how much of it is for female wear, but it will do to shield your skin."
 
Alright then. He seemed intent on waiting for her. She would just have to deal with it. She reluctantly leaned out of the water, her cheeks burning, and clutched the thin blanket. She held it in front of her like a shield as she stepped out of the water, wrapping it around her once she emerged. She turned her back to Erbrow and rubbed herself, trying to dry off while still keeping some semblance of her dignity.
 
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