The Villain Wants to Quit

A journey (2)

"So Scourge," Theo began speaking to the tiny dragon. Beads of sweat started to form on his forehead. He hadn't accidentally become a guardian to the tiny dragon hand he? "What's your home like?"

"My old home..." Scourge murmured.

Theo started to sweat more. Why did the tiny dragon emphasis 'old'? Did he not intend to ever go back? Theo was in no way prepared to be a father figure.

"It was like crash, boom all the time."

"Crash, boom?"

"Yeah. And the food was kind of yucky."

"Okay, so it was loud?" Theo attempted to decode Scourge's description.

Scourge bobbed his head up and down.

"Where is your home?" Theo asked.

"My home is in the really big mountain of fire."

Scourge's answers were not very helpful.

"You should just give up," Carrot interjected. "Marc's companions tried to grill Scourge about your identity, and it went about as well as this."

Theo waved away Carrot's comments. He wasn't about to give up.

"How do you get to the really big mountain of fire?" Theo asked.

"It's really easy." Scourge crunched on another crumb of candy that he found. "You just crawl through Mortal Theo's blood."

"Um...that's nice." Theo patted Scourge on the head.

Theo was wrong.

He was ready to give up.

"Hey, Scourge," Theo began to ask another question against his better judgement, "you aren't planning on going home anytime soon, are you?"

Theo was worried the dragon would slit his throat in the middle of the night in order to summon a portal home.

"Nope. It's way more fun here." Scourge hummed cheerfully.

Forget trying to send the dragon home. Theo better keep Scourge entertained.

But, just in case...

"If you start feeling homesick, let me know. I can just give you a little blood." Theo laughed nervously. "No need to slit my throat when my guard is down."

"What?" Confusion flitted across Scourge's face.

"Nothing." Theo rubbed a hand over his throat.

"Anyway, I have to be big enough to scare away anything that would want to challenge me for the right to use your blood as a medium."

Theo started to sweat again. Was this dragon going to use his blood to take over this realm as soon as he grew up? What a troubled child he would be raising.

"How long will it take you to grow large enough to scare away the others?" Theo asked.

Carrot smirked as he picked up on Theo's nervousness.

"I'll become a grown-up in about 1,000 years – not that I'm a little kid." Scourge glared at Theo.

"Sure thing, kid." Theo smiled. Theo should be dead in 1,000 years, so there was nothing to worry about.

"But I would probably be strong enough to scare off the others a lot sooner."

Theo's shoulders dropped. He should have known better than to get his hopes up.

"How soon is sooner?"

"I don't know."

***

After sleeping with Scourge curled up right next to his neck, Theo woke up and made his way to the Fount of Elain.

They arrived at the Fount of Elain earlier than Marc and passed the time by eating street food.

Theo bought Scourge whatever he wanted. Now that Theo thought about it, if Scourge really became strong enough, maybe he would fight Dullahan for Theo. Something like ~free my dad~ or at least ~give me my favorite pawn~.

Of course, who knew how long that would take. Dragons were supposed to be fearsome, powerful creatures, but the tiny creature in his pocket was a far cry from that.

Maybe the kid would just stay a kid Theo's whole life. That wouldn't be so bad either.

Theo patted Scourge on the head.

The dragon happily fluttered its wings, oblivious to Theo's complicated thoughts.

Before long, Marc arrived. He was alone.

"I wanted to see Giselle." Scourge poked his head out of Theo's pocket.

"Sorry, she was busy." Marc laughed. "Anyway, what'd you want to tell me?"

"I'll be around Sanain for a couple of months. I have to go fetch another piece of jewelry and terrorize the Sanain royal family."

"Terrorize?"

"Well, it'll be fine." Theo patted Marc on the shoulder. "It was a vague order, and I've gotten pretty good at managing similar requests. No big deal."

"Are you sure. Ascia doesn't have that good of a relationship with Sanain, but Lyresis does, and Ascia has a decent relationship with Lyresis."

"Huh?" Theo said. "Why are you talking about politics all of a sudden?"

"I could use my position as a member of the King's Guard to try to get Lyresis to send word-"

"King's Guard?" Theo blinked. The King's Guard was the most elite group of enchanters in Ascia, maybe even the continent. And Marc was a part of it. Wait Marie was also a member of the King's Guard. So that was why Marc knew so many high-level enchanters.

Theo felt a little stupid misunderstanding on his own.

"I thought you were a town guard." Theo rubbed a hand across his face in embarrassment.

"How did you think I arranged all I did?" Marc asked. "I was just helping out in Piederfort because they were struggling with that monster you killed."

"Yes, I feel like an idiot." Theo muttered. "But I guess it's better to know that I have a 'friend' with such a prestigious position."

"So should I try to get Lyresis to mediate between Ascia and Sanain?"

Theo shook his head no.

"There's no reason for you to talk to Sanain just because I have a small job there." Theo carefully chose his words around the oath.

Marc frowned but nodded. Theo wasn't sure if Marc was actually going to listen to him or not.

"One more thing." Theo said. "I wanted to let you know that Dullahan drew some of my blood. I don't know what he plans to do with it, but thought you should know."

Marc's expression turned from contemplative to horrified.

"He drew your blood, and you don't know why." Marc repeated.

Theo nodded.

"Does that kind of thing happen often?" Marc asked.

Theo shook his head no. "Normally Dullahan just cuts me on the spot when he wants my blood. The last time he tried to save my blood for later, it didn't really work."

"He just cuts you to use your blood?"

"Yes. I can't control my own magic, so that's the only way to summon anything."

"I need to do something." Marc pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It's really not worth it. I don't even know what the blood is for, and last time he couldn't use it to summon anything. So there's no point."

"I'm not-" Marc cut himself off midsentence with a sigh.

Once again Theo wasn't sure if Marc was going to actually listen to him.

Well, it would probably all work out.