Teuila and I resume our positions standing atop the lip of the bowl of gold, and Karn looks amused. Kozzurth just snorts, bored. She nestles down into the ground after lazily spearing an ancestor that ambled too close. She lifts it to her maw and sips it from her talon like a wet noodle. I nearly vomit at the sight. Teuila feels the same unease I do at the monstrous nature of their actions. We’re pretty familiar with one society eating another with no regard for their, well, anything. Ugh.
Karn gloats, “As you have probably guessed, whomever you’ve fought until now was nothing. Some flunkies, some perhaps even friends. I’m not sure how many you’ve slain, but that ends here. I do at least take some responsibility for my kind, and I’d like them to live. If you made it all the way to me, I assume you’re prepared to end more lives of my tribe?”
I nod uneasily. Teuila sets her face into a stern, unblinking gaze. She’s ready to get us out of here at a moment’s notice if either Karn or Kozzurth take hostile action. Or maybe she’ll try to kill them after knocking me to the side. Who knows?
Karn postulates, “Well, be that as it may, you won’t be winning this day.” He turns to the pair of Colossi behind us up the slope towards the exit and orders, “You two, leave us, you’ll have your deification ceremony later. “
Karn turns back to face me and Teuila, claiming, “Anyway, you two. Kozzurth here is the fiercest dragon to ever have lived. She’s lived so long and devoured so much, that she took on elements from two more dragons beyond her own. Three elements, can you imagine? Her acid complimented by their frost and flame. The Colossi may serve me, but, sadly, I serve Kozzurth. For now at least.”
I frown as I call back, “So, what then, you submit to and grovel before the dragon? She looks about as threatening as you, at best. You have an entire tribe. Why not end her?”
Kozzurth cackles and speaks in syllables I can’t comprehend. It honestly hurts my ears, brain, and stomach to even hear her speak. My stomach flips repeatedly as she continues a hissed monologue. Ugh, if I vomit, it’ll be like admitting weakness in front of them. They’ll capitalize on that. Keep it together Reggie. Breathe, breathe air, breathe. That, that phrase again. Right, anyway, no time to get distracted.
Teuila and I ask simultaneously, “So, what’s she on about?”
I stifle a chuckle as Teuila beams a smile at me. Karn picks up a massive spear and turns it over idly in his hands, inspecting it with a facade of boredom before answering. Ugh, villainous power plays in conversation. I could wipe that boredom from his face if he really wanted me to. Stop. Stop Reggie. Just stop. We’re not here to kill everyone.
Karn finally answers, “Well, her great lordship simply extols a reminder that her powers tell of our fall should she be slain. She has the sight after all. Back then, she said she knew we would arrive on this peninsula, and then we did. She was waiting, buried deep down. Just for us. She bleeds to grant us our strength. She knew it would make us strong and safe. We’re no longer pursued. We’re symbiotic at this point. So no. I won’t end her. Yet.”
I roll my eyes. She was probably trapped somewhere, and spoke sweet nothings to the first people that came near. She might have actually given them their size, by offering up her blood to strengthen them, but I’m almost positive the rest of her story is bullcrap. Something doesn’t add up though. How the heck is Karn supposedly the Dragonslayer, when by all accounts thus far, he has dealt with a grand total of one dragon, and submitted his entire tribe to her?
I query, “So how’d you get the name dragonslayer anyway? By the sounds of it, you were human-sized a few years ago, and ever since then, you’ve been groveling here to your great and powerful dragon overlord.”
Karn scoffs, “It’s true, my title is not quite yet earned, but it is a reminder to Kozzurth that we are not simply groveling subjects to be dominated. Nor servants to be expended. I demand the safety of my tribe, all of its lives. If that means accepting her power, and sending a few of mine out to gather her meat and spices, so be it.”
My stomach churns at his nonchalant attitude at calling people and their wealth meat and spices.
I glare at Karn and fume at Kozzurth as I ask, “Okay, once you’ve bled The Brook dry, and Kozzurth has eaten everyone in it, what then?”
Karn sneers, “When that day comes, we’ll return to being a nomadic tribe, and start over at the next nearest village, and the next. If some day every little person is gone, and Kozzurth’s hunger is still not satisfied? On that day I will earn my name.”
He’s talking genocide! Slow, painful, extortive genocide. As I’m having these thoughts, Kozzurth snorts, unimpressed by Karn’s threat. She raises her head to the top of the enormous antechamber, or whatever this cavern could be called, and speaks further alien syllables that sicken me to my core. I grimace and try not to clutch my stomach.
Karn translates, or so I assume, “She believes you to be a pesky annoyance, and desires to be rid of you while she sups. I however am not so crass as to believe you won’t go on killing my tribe if I shoo you out of here. Nor would you go peacefully, and you’d likely harm or kill quite a number of those in my encampment before I subdued you. Am I incorrect in my beliefs?”
I frown, deadly serious as I respond, “You’ve guessed correctly. The extortion of The Brook ends, its ancestors go free, or the two of us, the Valkyrie and I, decimate your society, quite possibly killing all of you. That’s before our Dragon, Bard, Hound, and Immortal even come into play. They’re off to the east in waiting. If you somehow manage to live through us, you won’t live through them.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Karn deliberates, stroking his chin. He shoots a glare at Kozzurth. He’s not quite so willing to let his followers be killed for no reason, to appease the dragon he intends to one day kill anyway.
Karn’s solution is fairly simple, “We’ll settle this in honorable one on one duels then, so none of mine are hurt in such a battle. To the death of course. What say you, two lords versus two ladies?”
Ugh, I want to roll my eyes at this jerk. Instead I just give one solemn nod. Great, once a-friggin-gain I’m going to be murdering some leader of some faction somewhere. Well, if I survive. They are enormous, and I’m not sure which I’d rather fight. Honestly the dragon is less threatening to me. I can resist pretty much whatever elemental breath it has. At least to some degree. Karn though? He’d just have to step on me, or swat me once with a large weapon and I’d be paste. He also might be able to catch me with some of that earthmoving magic that I’d seen the other Colossi used. If I was caught in that, there’s nothing I could do about it. Teuila though, she’s strong enough to bust out of a ton or two of dirt and stone. Especially water-weakened as all the surface of this entire planet is.
Karn attempts to convince Kozzurth, assuring her that he’s unwilling to budge, for the sakes of the lives of his tribe. Also that he’ll double efforts to gather further spices after we’re dealt with. Kozzurth greedily agrees after that last yielded stipulation.
I grimace and turn away so they can’t see me clasping my stomach as it flops repeatedly. I’m so exhausted, as if I’d been running marathons. Well, technically I did sprint for quite a few hours. So I kind of did run a marathon. Ugh, that doesn’t matter right now. My head’s swimming from exhaustion and disgust. Also perhaps a bit because of those weird intrusive memories. Ugh, I hate that they’re so mysterious.
I barely notice as Karn takes his leave of us to find four attendants, observers for the duels. Pft, he has some sort of reasoning like, so that we don’t flee the battle. Honestly, if he’s as honorable as he seems, odd as that is to say, their presence might be the only thing guaranteeing a fair fight. I doubt the dragon cares enough about their presence though to wait until someone says go or anything like that though. I think Karn’s more likely to duel honorably with witnesses, especially his own tribe that he’ll have to live with if he somehow beats us.
I huff, heaving a heavy sigh. Teuila looks at me with a worried frown drawn across her face. She aches to console me. I can virtually feel it. As if our psychic connection is still somewhat alive, even if only in the weakest, hardest to detect form. We dare not show weakness as we stand here alone in front of Kozzurth though. She spears another wandering ancestor on one of her talons, and pops it into her mouth like a snack as she hungrily eyes the gold we stand guarding.
I’m about to offer her a rude gesture in response to her stare when I hear laughter of disbelief from outside. The laughter is quickly silenced. It sounds like whoever laughed was made aware of how deadly serious the situation is. I find myself thinking about times when Teuila and I found ourselves in serious situations that we could barely keep from laughing, or breaking character.
Teuila is here with me, on the journey of a lifetime. Hah. The journey of a second lifetime. Wow, that’s not an everyday thing you get to say, huh? Regardless, she’s true to her word about not wanting to part from me for more than long enough for a private conversation.
She mumbles a plea, almost begging, “I could take them both out, maybe, probably. I don’t want to let you out of my sight, my, my dink. You can’t die. If you think you’d die, just say the word, and I’ll go to town. Please. Just, just don’t die. You’d tell me, right? If you’re not up to it? You can handle this, can’t you?”
She’s nearly as quiet as can be, to avoid Kozzurth overhearing her fears. She’s trembling, which we can play off as rage for now. I so badly ache to comfort her. I honestly don’t know though. Do I get to choose my opponent?
My answer is my best guess, “If we get to choose our opponents, or if they appoint Kozzurth to me, I’ll probably be fine. If they try to get me to face Karn, well. I’m toast. I can’t lie to you Te. I love you. There’s no way I can handle a giant whose only attacks would likely kill me instantly. He might trap me in stone and then obliterate me. But, well, you know me.”
I stop myself just shy of saying me and dragon’s breath. I let out the softest chuckle under my breath, and I could swear that Kozzurth raises a scaled brow. Is she overhearing this? Crap, her auditory sensory organs are probably massive, they can probably pick up a mouse’s fart a mile away. I’d swear Kozzurth is laughing under her own breath at the moment. Maybe she thinks I’m too cocky for my own good? Hopefully she’ll want to face me.
Teuila starts to respond to my comment about dragon’s breath, or what I can handle, but I flash her a frightened look while shaking my head. I mouth the words no more talking, dragon listening. Te gasps and clasps her mouth momentarily. As long as we don’t give away that I’m nearly immune to several of the dragon’s strongest weapons, I might stand a chance at surviving.
Karn returns with four giants in tow, two pair, each a man and a woman. What’s with this weird pairing stuff going on? Well, I probably already guessed it with the symbolism of their two lords. Still, it weirds me out.
Not willing to lose the advantage, I call out cockily, “I’d like a crack at the dragon if I get to choose which lord faces which, but the Valkyrie wants to take you both on. I’m obviously not going to let her do that alone. Would you care to make it two on two?”
Karn’s about to respond when Kozzurth begins her alien rumblings again, sickening me to my core. Her expression is intensely indicative of her desire to single me out. The giants listen to her raptly. Karn laughs and shakes his head before turning to me.
Karn’s statement seems somber, but it’s great news, “Sadly, you’ve outgrown your britches, and Kozzurth wants to deal with you personally. You two, guide them to the empty field, the south one. You two, with me. Valkyrie is it? Come along for your chance to challenge me.”
Teuila grins at Karn’s request, knowing it worked out the best for us. But still, she steals a sad glance back my way. It aches being apart, even for a short while. After all, we’ve already lost our psychic bond, losing physical closeness on top of that is an ever-deepening wound. Plus, she’s fearful for my life. She has every reason to be. This dragon is easily twice, maybe three times the size of the giant that I thought was Karn in the first place, or even larger. I’m horrible at estimating sizes. No wonder the entrance to this place is so cavernous.
I’m led to the south, and I can hear Kozzurth licking her scaly chops. She’s salivating at the prospect of eating me it seems. I wonder if undead Aasimovians taste different than live, or well, recently dead adventurers. We arrive, and no one explains any sort of rules to me. I expect the battle will begin as soon as one of us takes a hostile action.