Chapter 16 Hold Still.
“Dragon! Scatter!” The first member of the caravan to see it exclaimed at the top of her lungs. Men and women, caravanners and bandits alike, scattered into the trees while leaving the horses to fend for themselves.
“Isaac, I’m basically blind, describe the dragon to me.” Lenna instructed her mate while she waited to decide if a retreat was in order.
“Cherry red, twenty foot wingspan give or take, already looking at us.” Isaac told her with a grin. “I’m gonna fight it.”
“No.” Lenna spoke calmly. “Let me fight it.” She told him and handed him their Bottomless Bag.
“What?” Isaac questioned in surprise. “You can’t see.” He reminded her as he took the bag without thinking.
“I have a plan.” She explained. “Wait for it to land.”
Isaac side eyed his wife. “If you’re sure.”
The giant flying flame lizard flew around them in a circle before it finally descended and landed right in front of them. The landing was powerful and measured, a show of force more than a graceful touchdown. Each of the dragon’s scales were the size of Isaac’s palm and a heat haze filled the air around it. Its burning crimson eyes shifted back and forth between Isaac and Lenna. As it did so, its head shifted slightly back and forth so it could keep whoever it was looking at directly in its sights. The majestic creature’s back swept horns and eyes that sat between side facing and front facing made Isaac wonder what creature could force a dragon to have defensive and prey-like features.
“Honored dragon.” Lenna began in the language of the dragons without even a nod. Lenna straightened a bit as she let the tip of her adamantine blade rest on the ground in front of her. “I was not informed that this was your territory.”
“Fallen Elf.” The dragon’s voice crackled and rumbled through the mana between them as it spoke without opening its mouth. “Though you speak well enough, I am not here for you.”
“What do you want with my mate?” Lenna questioned directly.
“You cannot make demands of your betters.” The dragon snapped and locked in on Lenna with nearly all of its focus.
“That would require you to be my better.” Lenna replied evenly. “That has not been proven one way or the other.”
“Yet.” The dragon promised and lowered itself to launch at her.
“If you want to destroy the caravan, then we can fight here. If not, then we can fight somewhere else.” Lenna enlightened the dragon.
The dragon paused right before it would have launched itself at Lenna. The mythical creature’s perfectly crafted instincts must’ve warned it about the folly of what it was about to do. “Explain.” The dragon demanded.
“We can wait for the caravan to leave, or we can go back a few miles to the other clearing. If the forest gets pushed back around there, no one will complain.” Lenna replied with the same practiced, perfectly even, voice that she had been using with the dragon since the beginning of their conversation.
“You are blind and slow. I will not wait for you to stumble to a clearing before I squeeze your meat out of your armor.” The dragon scoffed.
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Lenna sighed. “Then, in order to not wound your fragile pride, we will trade blows one after another. Right here, right now.” Lenna taunted the dragon and started walking towards the side of the road so only trees and corpses would be behind her.
The dragon’s growl was a deep rumbling hum that caused the rocks on the ground around it to bounce and vibrate. The temperature around them suddenly spiked to a midsummer’s day instead of midwinter like they were. “You will cheat.” The dragon accused Lenna.
“I will not cheat, my mate and his shadow will not help, I will not dodge. The same must be true for you.” Lenna declared.
“You think the armor will save you from my fire. I will liquify the treasure if it means ending you faster.” The dragon went on talking down to Lenna.
“Isaac, it is about to get hot.” Lenna told him. “I will handle this mighty child.”
Isaac eyed his wife up and down. “Fine, but if I think you are going to die, I will step in to save you and see what the dragon wants with me.” He told her.
Both Lenna and the dragon’s gazes focused in and narrowed on Isaac. “The fight is to the death.” The dragon argued with Isaac.
“It doesn’t have to be. I would like the opportunity to talk with a dragon, once the arrogance has been beaten out of you.” Isaac told the mythical creature before he vanished. A moment later, Isaac was standing in front of the two horses in the front of the caravan. They were unconscious. The horses and probably a dozen mortals had all fainted at the repetitive hits to their cores from the dragon’s words. The dragon cared little when it came to collateral damage from its magically concussive speech. The fact that their very words could shock weaker beings into unconsciousness meant that dragons were actually pretty bad at hunting in most cases. At least as far as hunting for food was concerned.
“Before we begin, I am Lenna V’Nova, what is your name, dragon of fire?” Lenna questioned and squared her shoulders even more. The stance was a declaration that she would not even attempt to block the incoming attack.
“Cha’toh’sha.” The dragon spoke. “I will attack first. You challenged me.”
“You had better make it count.” Lenna threatened. “And you had better say your prayers, to your god, that I do not get back up.”
The dragon, Chatohsha, growled in indignant fury at Lenna’s insolence and complete disregard for how powerful a real dragon was. The daughter of might and fire, the adolescent red dragon, Chatohsha, dug her claws into the packed dirt and stone road. If the fallen elf wanted her to make the first hit count, then she would. Chatohsha just hoped that her gear would still be mostly intact afterwards.
Lenna stood resolute in the face of the immature but powerful mythical being in front of her. She had seen dragons and a mere twenty foot wingspan, even on a female, put them at about the same age. If it were a male then Lenna was sure that the dragon would be half a century her junior. On one hand, they were lucky that it was a young and inexperienced dragon that wasn’t used to prey not just fighting back but entirely changing the rules of engagement on her. On the other hand, an older dragon wouldn’t have come knocking just because of a strange mana event. The risk of more dragons of the metallic variety showing up and ganging up on them would be too high.
Chatohsha took a deep inhale and then seemed to grin. “You thought that I would steep to your level and attack physically, you were wrong.” She declared before opening her jaws and sending a torrent of fire at Lenna. The fire was projected forwards strongly enough that stones were tossed in the same direction as the flames. Any dust was burnt up before it could even be properly stirred under the immense amount of heat.
Lenna weathered the geyser of flames that washed over her with perfect stoicism. It was hot. The flames burnt her skin, which was actually a little surprising. After Lenna’s level up she felt her body become tempered with her aura, which she was currently using as a buffer between the fire and her armor, so she expected the fire to affect her a good bit less. It took her a moment to realize that the reason the dragon’s fire was still hot enough to lightly burn her skin, through her armor and aura, was that it was actually just that insanely hot. Dragonfire was far more intense than she had expected, which clashed with her near immunity to most fires and heats. Lenna could reach into a campfire and shift the logs around without burning but even just five seconds of a true dragon’s fiery breath was enough to cause her actual damage.
Once the flames were gone Isaac walked towards Lenna with their Ocean in a Bottle in his hand. “Can I spray you down?” Isaac asked Lenna.
The dragon looked at Isaac in shock and then back to Lenna. Her mouth actually hung a few inches open. Nothing that Chatohsha had ever fought before could survive her fire. Everything just turned to ash when confronted with the true power of a dragon.
“Yes.” Lenna spoke loud enough for both of them to hear. “I have survived the first hit.” Isaac immediately began spraying her with water to cool her armor down and it billowed off of her in waves of steam. The ground and flora were burnt to a crisp for fifty feet behind Lenna with only the space directly behind her heels unblackened.
“How?” Chatohsha demanded.
“It’s simple.” Lenna began as Isaac stopped spraying her and closed the distance so he could just pour the water over her instead. “You are not my better.”
“Impossible.” Chatohsha stated as if Lenna had just told her that the sun they were standing under wasn’t real.
“Lenna, end this in one hit.” Isaac told her.
“That’s enough.” Lenna said to get him to stop pouring water on her. “If I don’t, then Chatohsha and I will be at this for a while.”
“Make your attack, mortal.” Chatohsha ordered Lenna. Dragons could not die of old age, as far as anyone knew or would confirm which was why they were mythical creatures in the first place. They were not divine, as far as anyone knew, and yet they could live forever.
“Say my name.” Lenna shot back. “I am usually very patient, but obviously no one has ever punched you in the mouth before. Now hold still.”