The Little Dragon

2

"Master of flame!" there are conflicting shouts. 'do not go in' 'he will burn you alive!' and "He will kill me if I do not!" the door bursts open. An aged man with sturdy armour stops and stares in shock. "I um...pardon me for intruding oh master of flame. There is an army at our border." He bows and scurries out.

He gets up and does his pants up. I clean myself up a bit before changing my clothes back into pants and jacket and accept his hand to pull me up. He engulfs himself in flame to change into his dragon form. "How did you find that you were a dragon?"

He turns his bright orange eye to me. "I leapt into the liquid flame of the great fire mountain." He turns back to the door. "Enter all."

The general that entered while we were naked enters and kneels with his head to the floor. "Oh all mighty, I dare not ask for forgiveness, only that you benefit from my obscenely obtrusion."

He stays perfectly still, even as Naithar lowers his head and breathes hot air that makes the man drip with sweat. "I trust you to keep what you saw private. Report."

He raises his head and takes gulping breaths of air. "There is a halted army at our southern border, aligned with the elven city. They wish to negotiate."

"That could have waited!" I snap in anger. "Surely your crippling age would give you the wisdom to wait even a minute."

Naithar opens his mouth and screeches as flames spew from his mouth, leaving a spot of red where the man once was, only flickers of embers flittering in the wind evidence of him. "Nameless child." I walk over to his summons, and he opens his mouth. I climb in and he almost completely shuts his mouth before closing the great iron doors and taking to the skies.

"I had a warrior with me!" I glance back at the quickly disappearing mountain castle.

He grumbles. "I do not trust him."

"You trust me though?"

"You have no loyalties." He is correct, and we are about to deal with an elven army, as revealed by the white clad warriors. The only species I can think of that would bother using spells to keep themselves clean in a sea of ash.

We pass a rocky sea that an army appearing to wear the stone they emerge from spill from unseen gaps in the rocks. He lands and glares at the elven queen as he lets me climb out of his mouth. She stares in shock at the both of us.

"I see you found your brother well." She nods to me. "And my soldier is to commend for that, where is he?"

"Ugh." I roll my eyes. "He's at the castle, and he was more of a hinderance than help. He kept whining about needing to sleep, and kept arguing with me about which path to take." I inspect my nails which are filthy.

"You have thinned my patience." Naithar snarls. "Get your army off my border."

"Give us our city back! That land is my birthright." She glares at the dragon.

"Oh come now, and who did your people take the land from to make it your birthright?"

She rears her head back. "We took it from no one! The ancients gave it to us and asked us to watch over the grinhiour, the fallen child god."

"gave it to who? Your parents?" I wave at her in dismissal. "Either way, I the Grinhiour don't feel very looked after. Not only did you fail to keep your city, you kidnapped me. You have no claim to this land, and it no longer has the promise of a prophecy."

"How dare you!" her eyes scan me up and down. "You may be a god but you are a child that knows nothing of this world."

I turn around and walk under Naithar. "I have lost interest."