As expected, Meyara and Adriel failed to make any bargains they should have made in order to survive. What's more, the disabled little girl they had helped had thrown them under the bridge, quite literally. They had been dragged and thrown by Glimmerwall's people, and ended up in the middle of an unknown dying forest on top of a mountain.

"I can't believe she did that," Adriel whispered sadly. “I finally understand what it's like to nurse a viper in my bosom.”

"You didn't even raise her," Meyara retorted irritably. She kept trying to get rid of the hair stuck to her sweaty face by shaking her head, since her hands were tied. “We barely knew her.”

“But I trust her quite a bit. She's also cute, and I've wanted to have a little sister for a long time, you know, so I suddenly have the urge to protect her. Apparently, I was too careless.”

“At least now you know that you should look before you leap. Now look where we are. That little sister of yours must be enjoying time with her family right now, while we are here about to meet our own deaths."

"Stop talking!" said a man whom the Glimmerwall people addressed as their headman “We’re getting closer. You don’t want the dragon to discover our appearance prematurely.”

“Okay. But can you move the torch away from my face?” Meyara voiced her protest bravely. Her entire body felt hot and she couldn't stand it any longer. It seemed like the temperature on the mountain had increased significantly even at night, so additional heat wasn't really necessary.

“Oh! My bad. The heat is starting to get on your nerves, isn't it?” The headman grinned mockingly as he playfully brought the torch even closer to Meyara. The blinding orange light made the girl squint her eyes. “From now on it will get hotter and hotter until the dragon is ready to shoot fire at its prey, in this context, it is you and your cowardly little friend.”

“I am not a coward!”

"You are." The headman’s attention turned to Adriel who began to struggle in the hands of the people holding him. “Your steps keep shaking, disturbing my senses. I almost made the ground swallow you alive. Unfortunately, the dragon has more right to do that.”

The comments made Adriel shut his mouth tightly. To be honest, he was indeed scared to the point of almost losing his mind. He couldn't even control his nerves as they kept beating wildly. The silent conversations about dragons behind his back didn't help either. The citizens of Glimmerwall seemed very enthusiastic to see the sacrifice of foreigners, which apparently didn't happen very often.

He also didn't fully understand the customs of Glimmerwall residents which are often listed in Warren's history books. Despite never believing it, Adriel was pretty sure that there was no way to convince these people to let them go. The sacrifice of several people was necessary to ensure the survival of the Glimmerwall people who always depend on and worship dragon, land, and rocks. If this sacrifice was not made, they believed that the dragon would not only curse them, but all the people of the world.

A rebuttal was ready on the tip of his tongue, but Adriel found himself unable to speak. Maybe, just maybe, he was really just a coward all this time, who tried to appear braver by acting. He had thought too highly of himself by thinking that he could always do anything to protect Meyara, when in reality, he couldn't even defend himself.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"What did you say?"

Adriel snapped out of his thoughts when the headman was brandishing his bident to Meyara, who maintained her composure. She bravely stood straight with her chin raised. There was not a trace of fear on her face. “I was just telling the truth. You have been deceived by your ancestors.”

“How dare you speak lowly of them!”

“The dragon part is real, I'm sure of that even though I said I wasn't. I was just trying to annoy you,” Meyara continued. “But unfortunately, the sacrifice part is just a made-up myth. They deliberately spread this story, so that they had an excuse to reduce the population which was too dense at that time. You must have heard that there was a time when your ancestors were hungry and had no clean water to drink. Moreover, the volcano was very active at that time. The springs dried up, all the plants withered, and the animals migrated. Like now, but much worse.”

Meyara glanced briefly at the collection of rabbits and cats weakly tied to a thick wooden stick brought by one of the residents. The animals were caught all the way here in a state of panic. They definitely wanted to get off the mountain, but Glimmerwall's people captured them to use as food and spare toys for when they got bored.

Meyara felt sorry and wanted to help the poor animals, but she didn't have time for that.

"But until now, the methods of our ancestors have always succeeded in bringing prosperity to this place," the headman answered. “You're probably babbling right now because you're scared and dehydrated, so I'll excuse you this time, little girl.”

Laughter echoed and was reflected in the remaining parts of the forest that still survive. Meyara never counted how many people were behind her, but it seemed like there were quite a lot of people judging by the loud laughter she heard.

Suddenly, roars and vibrations were heard again, this time louder than before, and it was also accompanied by strong hurricane gusts. Meyara and Adriel failed to maintain their balance and ended up falling. They both laid down on their stomach, eyes closed, hoping that no stones would fall on them.

Meanwhile, the vibrations were apparently enough to make the people of Glimmerwall who were there run around in panic. They kept mentioning dragons and offerings interchangeably. In the midst of all this, the headman, who remained standing upright by relying on his bident which was firmly stuck to the ground, shouted loudly.

“It looks like it will be dangerous if we continue—”

Meyara was excited to hear that, thinking that they would finally let Adriel and her free.

“—so we'll leave them here. Dragon will come sooner or later. Just make sure the two of them can't escape until the dragon finds them!”

Adriel practically shrieked at that and tried to cast a spell, but failed. All the time they had spent on this journey had probably used up a lot of his energy. He kept ignoring it until his body let out a loud protest. He hissed in pain, feeling all his muscles tense but without strength at the same time. Meyara, who happened to see this, began to feel that perhaps this situation was actually much more dangerous than she had thought.

If Adriel couldn't use his magic, then there was almost no hope for them to escape from here.

Once again, they were in a tied standing position, the walls were erected almost all around them. Only left a little space in front so they could see outside. It seemed that even though they were going to be sacrificed to a dragon, the people of Glimmerwall still wanted to give them the opportunity to see the creature that was about to take their lives.

In a short time, the surrounding atmosphere became darker after people carrying torches started running down the mountain. Meyara and Adriel froze in place with their mouths agape, each having difficulty processing what had just happened.

Who knows how long had passed when they finally saw the shadow of an oval head with horns in front of them.

***