The Dragon that Decides 4 (Patreon)

The Dragon that Decides
Chapter 4

-VB-

Oh, I did my own things, but I came daily to see how she and her khalasar fared. Unfortunately, I watched the khalasar slowly waste away. The Red Waste was uninhospital like that. Comparable more with the Atacama Desert than the Sahara, it was a plantless and waterless hellhole.

One group broke away during the night, leaving the rest feeling betrayed, then weak began to drop dead, and eventually, murmurs of munity began.

She grew more desperate each day, but there were no blood riders coming back to save her and her people. Aggo was already here, and I’ve killed one on a whim when I went to hunt that elephant-thing I ate.

Over the course of the week, her khalasar lost nearly all of the “elderly” and half of the children.

It was at this point that I appeared before them again.

Daenerys came out to meet me. She looked as gaunt as the rest of her people.

Without saying a word, she knelt and then prostrated herself before me.

“Please… save my people.”

“You know what that entails.”

“Yes.”

I opened a portal for them to walk through. “On the other side lies the lands I’ve promised you. I would advise, however, that you abandon any aggressive and violent actions against your new neighbors. You will certainly not be the strong ones.”

The dothraki moved on, but Daenerys stayed still and since she remained so did her wyvernlings.

I refused to call them dragons.

“Now then,” I hummed as I lowered myself on my four legs and laid down in front of her once the last of the dothraki moved on and I closed the portal behind them. “Let’s chat.”

---

Slowly, she pulled herself up, ignoring the way the sand and dirt clung to the parts of her body that had touched the floor.

She felt defeated, and worse, all of this had been her fault. So many wouldn’t have died of starvation and disease if she had just agreed on the first day.

She wasn’t worthy of being their khaleesi.

“What is there to chat about?” she asked, exhaustion and thirst kept her voice hoarse. “I am just a human, and you are a powerful dragon. I have surrendered myself to you.”

“Yes, that is what happened… But why did you allow it to last so long?”

She looked up. “Are you trying to mock me?”

“No. I’m trying to teach you.”

She laughed hoarsely. “Teach me? Aren’t I to be your pleasure slave?”

“Well, I certainly won’t be against it.”

“Even though my womb has killed a child before?”

“And that matters to me, a dragon, how…?”

She looked at the monster uncomprehendingly. “You don’t want children?”

“Oh, I do,” he replied - he, not an it, because she certainly saw his “mortal” form. “But you aren’t mature enough to take care of a child, so I won’t even bother.”

Tired and exhausted as she was, his insult made her glare at him. “Mature? Who are you to tell me that?”

“Yourself, of course.”

“Stop playing with words!”

“Then I will be blunt. You chose pride over practicality and allowed your people to suffer. If you have a child of your own, then your past actions point to future acts that may see you choose your pride over what is best for the child.”

His words knocked the air and defiance out of her.

W-Would she really do that?

“People are not that different from children. Some are smarter, some are dumb. Some are loyal, others not. Many are uneducated, however, which leaves you, the ruler, as their primary dependent,” the dragon hummed, staring at her directly in the eyes. “Not unlike a powerless child depends on its mother. A child cannot facilitate nation-feeding levels of trade. A child cannot truly decide for the good of the realm. A child cannot even take care of itself properly. Those are all the jobs of the mother, its parents. And you, Daenerys Targaryeon, have failed in your charge.” It looked around. “You have failed many of your charges.”

Guilt tore at her.

“So yes, a pleasure slave is all you are good for, little dragon. A pretty little trophy to show off. But a mother? Maybe you can call whatever child you give birth to your children, but you aren’t ready to be a mother. Perhaps in another life and another time, you might be. Perhaps even only a year from now under my wings, you will find yourself to be a great mother. You, as you are, however, need some work.”

She curled up on the sand and sobbed. She didn’t even notice it gently pick her up.

“Let’s go to your new home, away from the painful memories of your past.”

-VB-

I was officially a foot longer and half as that taller.

[Endless Growth] was one of the powers I chose, and after two weeks, they were showing results. Sure, it wasn’t much, but no one only lived a year; I was a dragon destined to live … maybe forever. I had an infinite number of days, months, and years to grow, and I don’t have to only grow in size.

Surprisingly enough, increase in size of my dragon self didn’t translate to my human form.

It would be awkward if I began walking around as a ten foot person or something like that, so this was a good thing.

It was with my human form, dressed and modest, that I walked through the portal with Daenerys in my arms and her wyvernlings fluttering around me. On the other side of the portal was a place different from where I sent her dothraki khalasar; they were sent to a prairie in an almost original Earth-like world while I brought us five to a planet in the Outer Rim.

See, I have been busy the past week or so.

What exactly have I been doing?

I’ve been out here in the Star Wars galaxy, setting up my own little fief in the Outer Rims. Unfortunately, the only planet I had direct access to had been Tatooine, and as such, I have been forced to make a home here.

Maybe it was my draconic instinct, but when I went to gain some resources to get myself what I needed to set up a small home, I felt … nothing. Killing people, eating them, and destroying the livelihoods of others.

Well, I actually didn’t consider killing pirates, bandits, would-be muggers, and others like them to be a bad thing.

Hell, most of them even tasted good.

But I would have never done half of that if I was a human. If I had still been human… Hell, I don’t think I would have even gone to meet Daenerys. I would have done my absolute best to find somewhere quiet and just … live.

Regardless of what would have’s, I was now here with a “house” to call my own in the only space port-town of Tatooine.

I laid down Daenerys, who fell asleep from exhaustion, and set aside a bottle of water and a bowl of food. I looked at the wyvernlings before setting aside their own bowls of food. I didn’t transform but made the motion to eat. The wyvernlings, skittish little babies that they were, hesitated and fluttered around like chicks except hissing and bleching bits of fire.

Now then, I should go about finishing the business I started in this town.