The Villain Wants to Quit

Going to Town

Finally, enough time passed for Theo to wake Carrot and have a chance at sleep.

Theo nudged Carrot's flank. The unicorn kicked his hind leg in protest but squinted an eye open.

"Already?" Carrot mumbled.

The tiny dragon continued snoring peacefully.

Theo fluffed some hay into a rough pillow, placing his pocket watch open and face-up on so Carrot could check the time.

"Just give me an hour," Theo instructed.

Carrot whickered in displeasure.

"You're doing all the heavy lifting anyway." Theo squeezed his eyes shut.

"Your mother would kill me." Theo heard Carrot complain and stamp his hoof.

"She'd have gotten the both of us long ago," Theo said before drifting asleep.

It was a dreamless, peaceful sleep, but Theo was nudged awake all too soon.

He groaned as he rolled up and scooped an indignant dragon into his cloak.

Theo smiled as the extra warmth hit him. It was a good thing the little dragon provided much-needed heat because the creature was almost as annoying as Carrot.

"I don't want to get back on the jostly pony." The dragon nipped at Theo's fingers.

"We can leave you here. Maybe a friendly cockatrice would like lizard meat." Carrot snapped his teeth at the dragon.

Carrot was not handling the dragon's irritating tendencies well.

Theo suspected the dragon's chatter reminded Carrot too much of himself.

"Lizard meat. You mean-"

Theo scratched under the dragon's chin, causing him to lose his train of thought.

The dragon was almost like having a noble lady's lap dog around except more lizard-y, more fire-y, and much more chatty.

"What's your name, dragon?" Theo asked as he mounted Carrot.

He had almost addressed the dragon as "little dragon," but he had managed to stop himself. He was confident that moniker would have resulted in a bloodied finger.

"I am Scourge of the Night, Prince of Shadows, Lord of Darkness-"The dragon said as he puffed his tiny obsidian chest, but he stumbled when Carrot began a canter.

"Okay, but what's your name?" Theo asked again.

The dragon blinked his round eyes.

Carrot whickered, this time in laughter. "The Scourge of the Night doesn't have one."

"Names are for mere mortals." The dragon snaked his neck to glare at the back of Carrot's head.

Theo brushed the top of the dragon's head. Its scales were surprisingly soft. The dragon chirped with delight.

"I could give you one." Theo offered.

The dragon ducked his head out from under Theo's hand.

"A mortal name might be tolerable." The dragon said calmly, but his tiny body quivered with excitement.

Carrot snorted, "Don't get your hopes high. You'll end up like me."

"How about Scourge?" Theo asked while ignoring Carrot.

"Scourge." The dragon hummed.

"You literally just took part of his title. That's not how you name people." Carrot tossed his mane as he leaped over a stream.