Okay, since there was some interest in seeing this short story, here it is. The working title is Foot Quest but I might change that lmao
— — —
The Dragon cracked open an eye at the distant sound of footsteps echoing faintly down the halls of its cavern. A group of several people, accompanied by hearty squabbling and crass insults. Hm, it hadn’t had visitors in quite some time. Perhaps these ones would be entertaining before being eaten.
It closed its eye and curled deeper into its golden hoard. It would find out soon enough.
— — —
Another sound roused it shortly after, the sliding click of coins and jewels being displayed. Whether from a not-so-sly attempt to pocket a few of its gold pieces or to scale its prodigious hoard, the Dragon did not care. It cracked open a different eye. It was always better to observe one’s meal a bit before consumption, after all.
The figure below (rather far away, at nearly the bottom of its hoard) appeared to have sat down for a moment, possibly on one of the treasure chests that stayed down there. The wooden boxes were always a bit too odd and lump-like to do anything other than inhibit quality rest. From the Dragon’s best guess, it was likely a human. No beard, ears too small to be one of its cave goblins, and none of that insufferable stench elves carried with them wherever they went. That made it edible.
The biped shifted a bit, then jumped off the chest completely, flourishing what appeared to be a tiny dagger. It was too far away to truly tell. In any case, they seemed to realize rather quickly how ineffective their speck of a blade would be, and lowered it shamefacedly.
“... …. ……. ..?”
What was that? The Dragon tilted its head at the human’s distant mouth sounds. Given that such things were distinctly less worthy of its attention than sounds like footfalls or clicking gold pieces tended to be, it wasn’t used to attending to such tongues. How did human speech go again? It hadn’t tested its vocal cords in some time.
“Ahem. Speak louder, puny thing.” It freed an arm from its bed, glittering jewels cascading down the hills of hoard. Pity, it would have to pick those up later. Preferably after a snack.
The human took a step back. Then raised their hands to their face, cupping them around their mouth. “I apologize for the intrusion!”
Not the typical first words of a prospective breakfast. “Do those companions of yours offer the same?”
The biped made some small motion with a hand. “I think the goblins got to them!”
Well, good. That was what the Dragon kept them around for. Cleaning out the tunnels.
“You realize you shan’t leave, morsel.” The Dragon flicked a few eyes open and shut, blinking away the sleep-grime. “Intruders are only welcome if they become… long-term guests.”
A rather clever way to put it, if it said so itself, but if the human agreed they were unfortunately too far away for it to tell. Instead of answering, the two-legged thing displayed a tremendous amount of stupidity by beginning to climb up the steep slopes of the hoard, even daring to come closer to the side with the Dragon’s head clearly visible. A deliciously foolish endeavor.
The human stopped once more over a small rise in the glittery piles, still rather far for the Dragon to reach unless it really stood up and stretched its neck out to catch them. Perhaps not so unintelligent after all? “There! Can you hear me better now?”
The Dragon stretched for a moment, the gold covering it slowly giving way to its limbs. Ugh, this was a most encumbering way to have fallen asleep. “You must be exceptionally stupid or desperate to approach me.” Evidence pointed to the latter, but of course the former would be the tastier option.
Their face moved strangely, an awkward display of baring small, flat teeth. “Oh, I just came to ask a question. Care to share a small amount of your wealth with a humble orphan?”
“Not a chance.”
“...perhaps a loan?”
“Mm… no. Loans are for goblins only, which you clearly are not.” The Dragon shook its head, shiny objects spinning away with loud crashes as they tumbled downwards and smacked against things. Its neck was that much more mobile with the gold around it lessened.
“And at any rate, little thing, you’ve interrupted my sleep. And so—” it worked the other forelimb free, its tail almost there—“You are to be my dinner, as is the way of things.” Unless they did something worth its attention, but it was rapidly growing bored.
“Wait wait wait, please, I beg you, don't—your arm,” the human babbled. “Leg. Limb?”
It spared a glance for its stump, the limb most likely visible from the human's current location. “Yes, that. Staring is not appreciated, insect.” The last human to make it this far had said something annoyingly rude, and had needed to be eaten immediately as a result. A pity, wizards never tasted too good. All the thick wooly robes got caught in its teeth.
“No, I mean—” quite unexpectedly, the human sat down again, this time on a rise in the piles of gold, and did something to one of their lower limbs that appeared to involve undoing numerous straps, then held the limb out towards the Dragon.
…It didn’t know the smaller races could do that. It had never paid them much attention, to be sure, but weren't their limbs supposed to stay attached to their bodies?
“Here, my prosthesis. I lost the leg as a girl, it was some sickness the local apothecary couldn’t cure. Better limb than life, I think she said. And a while after that, I got another one to help me walk, but I’m still—we’ve got that in common.” the human explained breathlessly.
The Dragon lowered its head (interesting, how this ant-like creature barely flinched at its approach) and turned a set of eyes towards the thing. A facsimile of a leg, carved of wood with fabric and that cow-skin two-leggers were so fond of hanging off in thinnish bits and pieces. It even had a shoe to match the other one the biped wore.
It huffed, a gentle stream of smoke escaping its jaws to envelop the small figure. “Mildly interesting, I suppose. But why should I care?”
“The people outside haven’t seen you in over a century. It would do them well to remember your presence here,” the human said. Some small expression, too quick for the Dragon to read, crossed her face. “And… I know what it’s like. Losing a limb, figuring out how to live afterwards. Besides, the gnomish craft cities aren’t too far from here, and you know they love a challenge. You’ve got plenty of gold to spare, and they’d think it an honor to craft something for you.”
The Dragon reared its head back. “I have no need of gnome workmanship, you little asp. I am a great thing, powerful and fearsome! There is nothing here that needs to be fixed!” Its wings were yet buried, or it would have beat them dramatically for emphasis. Perhaps the brat was back on the menu.
“Please, it’s—it’s not—it wouldn’t be for fixing!” The human yelled, her hands lifted to shield her face. “It would be a tool! To make things easier!”
It stared down its nose at her. “And why should I bother with such a… tool?”
“You don’t have to,” came the answer. “Lots of people don’t. But I know the merchants from here to Ocean’s Crest, I know the metalsmiths and leather workers and tailors, and there’s dozens of ways that a leg can be built. And look, I can tell you it won’t fix things all the way. It might create other problems. But I can tell you this much—it works for me. And it might be able to work for you?”
The human held her hands outstretched above her head, a gesture something like a plea. For mercy, perhaps, or more time, or some other petty human desire.
If the Dragon was already awake, it might as well move around a bit.
The Dragon blinked three eyes at once, snorted and began to stand, gold slithering over its scales as it shook itself free of its hoard. “You have piqued my interest, ant. I shall embark with you on this journey of yours. Now put back those coins you have in your pocket.”
31 notes
·
View notes