A Dragon's Slave Ch. 00

I cough gently into my shoulder, struggling to keep oxygen in my lungs. I fail as a vicious deluge of coughs and spams find their way out of my chest, wracking my lungs and shaking my rib cage. I go to my knees, searching for a pocket of fresh air somewhere - anywhere. Much to my surprise, I find one, and gratefully gulp down the rich oxygen.

After several moments of regaining my composure, I realize that I'm no longer surrounded by smoke. I stand, able to see my environ in earnest now that my vision is no longer obscured. As I had expected it to be, the castle has fallen into ruin due to disrepair and damage from high temperatures. Cobblestone heaps lay on the floor, some of them still smoldering with heat and fire.

I look around at the tapestries, amazed by their beauty and grace, before I look at the treasure - the endless treasure! If I were a lesser man, I would be stuffing it down my pants and giggling in giddy joy. In any case, even if I were a lesser man, I would never have much use for the stuff anyway - I doubt they take gold in the afterlife.

I search for signs of habitation, and find that I need not look far. In fact, I don't even have to look for signs - I turn about, and find the inhabitant of the treasure trove watching me intently.

"Hello, human."

My heart catches in my throat, my fear palpable and undoubtedly noticed by the creature before me. Its voice continues to echo in my skull, and I find myself unable to identify any sort of discernible features consistent with any gender. I swallow a few times before I manage to barely whisper, "hello".

A lazy smile finds its way onto the reptile's lips. A forked tongue darts at the air from between two black lips, undoubtedly picking up my fear and apprehension. "Well...why have you come?" It begins to move, exiting the mound of treasure in which it had undoubtedly been resting. I gulp as the dragon comes out to stand before me, its eyes bright with amusement and its chest glowing with its internal fire. I feel beads of sweat on my forehead - some of it from the heat of the golden scales that are suspended no more than two feet away from me, and some of it from fear. Most of it from fear.

"I...I cam to see you," I admit, my voice a hoarse whisper as the dragon begins to stand. Within moments, it is at its full height - the equivalent of at least three grown men, with a midsection that is about half as wide.

Its shadow envelopes me, and I have a difficult time of discerning where the shadow begins and ends - its scales are as dark as night, bar its underbelly which is an assortment of soft and bright golds, the brightest of them burning with the intensity of the dragon's fire like a sun amidst the vast blackness of space.

"Oh?" It adopts a mocking tone. "And you have come to bargain with me so I will not hurt your loved ones?" I sense a faint, yet marked, pitch in the dragon's mind-speech that reminds me of my mother's own voice - but the dragons' words are harsh and venomous, rather than loving and kind.

"They're all dead," I respond. "You...you killed them all..." My shoulders slump a bit more as I say it aloud.

"And you have come for vengeance," it assumes. I'm scared by what sounds like boulders tumbling, until I realize that it is the dragon's light chuckling - a light chuckling that shakes the very foundation of the castle. "Truly, this is a pitiful effort - you come wearing the garments of a farmer, and with no weapons...do you expect to outwit me? To use arcane arts upon me?"

"I'm not here for revenge," I sigh, a bitter taste in my mouth as I speak. I've always hated the word revenge, and my denial of it is no exception.

"Oh?" This seems to catch the dragon's interest. It lies upon its stomach, its forelegs crossed and its chin resting on one wrist with a smirk and a cocked eyebrow. "Then, pray tell - what have you come for?"

"I'm here because...because I'm giving up," I announce, dejected and empty. I find my energy leaving me, and my legs begin to shake. "I'm giving up, and...and I knew you would kill me eventually, so I..." I sigh. "I decided that...I at least wanted to see you before I die - before you kill me..." My legs finally give out, the toll of the climb and my impending doom breaking the muscles in two as I fall onto my backside, my gaze directed at the dragon so I can take in as much of its breath-taking appearance as possible. The reptile remains silent as I hang my head in defeat.

"So...go ahead..." A mighty sigh escapes me, one carrying all the weight and emotion of my surrender. "Just...do as you wish..."

Several moments of silence pass - agonizing moments as I wait for my death to finally arrive at the claws of a dragon. Finally, after what seems to be a lifetime, the dragon speaks.

"What is your name, human?"

I don't question it - if the dragon wants to know my name, it wants to know my name, regardless of whether I'm going to die or not. "Peter," I respond, unable to bring myself to look up for fear of what I would see - the gaping maw of the dragon, flames billowing out about to consume me; my death arriving on the cold wings of the night.

"Peter," it repeats. Another silence spans for several moments before the dragon begins to shift. Out of the corner of my eye, I see it raise its head as it speaks again.

"My name is not a name - it is an endowment of meaning in images and sensations, which you cannot convey through any form of language, and which you will not understand with your limited experience. As such, you may refer to me as Nightwing - Nightwing the Dragoness."

I look up, thoroughly confused by the naming, as well as the identification of gender. "Why are you telling me your name?" I ask, a chill running down my spine. "Why bother when..." My voice fades.

"I am going to spare your life," the dragoness announces. "Under one condition."

I remain silent as I wait for the condition to be announced.

"You will live out the remainder of your days as my prisoner, and my slave. I am in need of a human that can travel with me so that I may gain proper sustenance from the cities."

I stare at Nightwing the Dragoness in a profound lack of comprehension. "But...I don't understand...why not just attack the cities?"

"The humans have grown strong," she informs me. "Strong enough to kill dragons - and I dare not risk attacking one of the greater strongholds. Attacking this village was a risk in of itself - if a city had been alerted to my presence, I would undoubtedly be dead by now; slain by the might of one of their so-called 'pneumatic cannons'." She scoffs at the name, clearly disgusted by the sound of it.

"So why do you need me?"

And more importantly, why am I questioning her choice to spare my life? I came here because I gave up, and life wasn't worth living anymore - I might as well live a new life while I can.

"I need you because some human cities will entertain the presence of a dragon." She narrows her gaze. "So long as the dragon is the companion of a human."

I'm about to ask another question when she begins to explain what she means by the term "companion".

"In order to ensure my safety, to all but ourselves I will appear to be a domesticated dragon - one that is devoted to her human compatriot and friend. I will do as you say, and I will not question your orders.

"However, the orders you give me will be my own. I will tell you what to tell me to do, so that it appears as if you are in control. However, you will not be in control - by any means." She emphasizes the final few words, carrying with it a definitive message: you will never be in control of your situation, in the slightest of ways. All decisions you make will be based upon my discretion.

"Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah," I respond, my throat dry and my hands sweating. I'm still fearful of what the dragon holds in store for me, but not as much as when I was going to die - somehow, this seems preferable to death. To be the slave of a dragon would be demeaning, yet somehow it seems to be...distinguished; privileged, even. It seems fanciful, but just being in the presence of a dragon without having my life threatened is a privilege in of itself.

"In that case, I suggest you rest," Nightwing informs me. She moves over to one of her gold piles, and I instinctively cover my ears as gold cascades like a stream, letting out tinkling and clanging loud enough to deafen a giant.

After a bit of digging, and more ear-splitting noise, she pulls out a golden-laced pillow. I'm surprised by how gentle she is with the artifact, and gratefully accept it.

"We will depart tomorrow," she announces, curling up atop a mountain of gold. She begins to sink into it, and I can't help but chuckle lightly at the sight. She cracks open an eye.

"Does that amuse you, human?"

I shake my head. "No, it's the way you're sinking into the gold - you look like a sleeping cat in a pit of quicksand."

She glares at me before snorting derisively. "Do not think that you can jest with me, human. I may have spared your life so that you may be of use to me, but you would do well to remember that I can easily fetch another human." She glares at me. "And that I do not have need for all of your limbs."

I gulp as I nod. "Duly noted..." Sweat trickles down my back, and I rest my head on the pillow in an attempt to comfort myself.

"Good. I will wake you at sunrise, and we will depart immediately."

I nod, and mumble a quick goodnight. I use her name for the first time, and find that it rolls off the tongue well. I smile wistfully, hoping - nay, praying - that it will not be the only positive aspect of this undertaking.

After clearing my mind of all thoughts pertaining to anything that might result in my death, maiming, or injury, I close my eyes and try my best to drift off. Within a half hour, I've fallen asleep.