Dragon Sorcerer 2- Chapter 72 (Patreon)

Chapter 72- Back to the Stables

After a quick stop at the dining hall to find something to wash the taste out of my mouth, I was finally able to snicker. Something called lemonade worked wonderfully for washing the taste of vomit from my mouth. Honestly, that taste had been a good reminder of the less obvious threats I faced in this form.

Now, though, I was able to laugh about her reaction. She had seemed rather crestfallen, which was nothing less than she deserved. Even if she truly wanted to help me, she also wanted to use me. I needed to remember that. Something for something or nothing for nothing.

Speaking of something though, I’d need to get a supply of that lemonade for my lair. Humans might be ugly, short-lived, weak creatures, but they were definitely good at coming up with a variety of foods. That was when I got my brilliant idea. I’d have a lair built with human kitchens in it and then recruit servants who could create for me an endless stream of delicacies. Yes… I like that idea very much.

I had upset Lisella enough that she said I could go to one of the training rooms and test the scrolls out myself. She was simply going to meet me at the stables in an hour. When I made it to the training room, the attendant hadn’t been happy to see me. Maybe she was mad that she had to clean up the mess from the last time I was here.

Then again, maybe she was just upset because she wasn’t a dragon. Who could really blame her for being dissatisfied with her mundane life? I could only imagine having to wake up each morning only to see a flat human face looking back at you in the mirror. The only way I got through it was with the knowledge that this was only temporary.

Using the scrolls worked just like I’d expected. The process of learning them was simple. I cast the spells from the scroll. It was fascinating to see how mana had been stored in the paper, in jewel dust worked into the paper and into the very ink itself, which was no doubt derived, at least in part from the blood of a monster.

It was a reminder that my true form had a great deal of value to mages for parts, but I was beginning to feel safe at least on that front. Not that the idea of slavery was better. I pushed that aside though and appreciated the fact that I now had three new spells.

Once I’d read the scrolls, they became regular spells in the air. They didn’t have any connection back to a caster and, if I had to guess; they were only about eighty percent as powerful from the scroll as they might have been when cast. None of that mattered, though. I now had three new spells. I had been hesitant about each of them. They took up some of my limited spots and I knew it would cost me DKP to swap out other spells in the future, but for now, they’d work.

Both Tripping Vines and Thunderclap seemed to be crowd control type spells. I almost didn’t get Tripping Vines till I remembered that most of my battles were not going to be fought on the ground. I couldn’t think about it as an aerial creature. Thunderclap seemed too much like Draconic Roar, which I had just paid value DKP for, but my breath weapon had a variable cool down. It would take me anywhere from half a minute to two minutes to store up enough power in the gland on the top of my mouth in order to cast it again, so having a backup was reasonable.

Burning Sphere was even harder for me. It seemed perfect for use as a monk, but fire was the weapon of the reds. They were the laziest and fattest of dragons, always trying to claim that they were the most powerful of dragons just because they were a bit larger. It was preposterous.

Some of them would lie around eating in their layers till they were too fat to fly out. At least, that is what some of the memories of my ancestors told me about. One of them supposedly used to slide around on mountains of gold in his lair whenever someone would be foolish enough to sneak in. Supposedly, he had even rolled his body side to side just to crush offending creatures. It sounded unlikely to me, but then again could there really be any honor amongst thieves?

Now that I had the spells learned and had performed a test cast of each without the scrolls, I headed for the stables. I could admit that I’d been avoiding this place. Seeing Matilda was painful. A part of me simply wanted to kill her as an abomination, but there was something for me to learn here and if I completed Temulara’s quest, I’d get a lair of my own.

While I was still walking there, I reached out to Cami, “Are you on your way?”

“We just got here, Modessa was supposed to introduce me to Matilda yesterday, but the other dragon riders wouldn’t let anyone in to see her. I would have thought that Modessa would have bullied her way past them, but she was odd yesterday. I even caught her humming a song to herself. I think she and Galbrecht talked about things between them.”

“Oh, how fascinating, more monkey love. Just what we needed, further complications.”

“Nico, don’t be like that. It’s sweet, and you might have helped it happen by bringing it out in the open.”

“As long as they don’t try mating in front of me. I’m not sure my eyes could bear such a sight.”

“Ugh Nico, people don’t do that.”

“Well, thank the ancestors for small favors. What are you doing now?”

“Just playing with Rollie and Patch. Modessa is speaking with Lisella and Liam. Apparently, he’s going with us today since Galbrecht was called away for other duties.”

“Okay, well, I’m almost there. Don’ t go up to Matilda without me. I need to check on something first.”

“I’ll try, but Modessa doesn’t exactly listen to me.”

“Hmmph.”

Cami needed to be stronger. If she was going to be associated with me, we couldn’t have people disobeying her commands. Maybe I could share some of these spells with her.

When I got there, I went right past the guards, who must have been expecting me. Inside, I found the three adventurers speaking in low tones. Lisella looked up and made an odd expression. If I had to guess, she must be having a toothache because she smiled, but it looked forced. “Did it work?”

“Easily. Was there ever any doubt?”

Modessa chuckled. “Just remember you asked for this.”

I ignored them and walked over to where Cami was. She, at least, was a decent human. In some ways, I was starting to think of her as not quite human. That might explain why she didn’t seem as ugly as the others. She was on the ground, pushing a ball back and forth between her and the two bears. They’d grown.

As soon as the bears saw me, they stood up and rushed over. Licking ensured. Dragon hatchlings licked too, so I wasn’t overly bothered by it. Finally, though, I pushed their heads back. “Sit down. You’ll never amount to good servants if you can’t keep from licking me all the time.”

Behind me, Lisella gasped when the bears did exactly as I instructed. Cami said, “You’ve got a way with them. They only listen to me half the time.”

“Well, I did save them. Mammals tend to be very attached to their mothers, I believe. It’s possible that they think of me as a surrogate mother.”

Modessa snickered. I turned my head and stared at her. “Something to say?”

She groaned. “My Erebin, god of the night, how I want to tease you about becoming a mommy, but I owe you. I promised Galbrecht that I’d be on my best behavior.”

Then she bowed her head before looking up at me again. The expression on her face looked like she had a very bad taste in her mouth. I could sympathize or I would have if it wasn’t Modessa. “I’m sorry, Nico, for how I’ve treated you. I believed you to be something you weren’t, and while it was my responsibility to look for threats, I never apologized to you once it was proven that you weren’t that.”

Silence reigned for all of five seconds. Even I hadn’t expected an apology from Modessa. In some ways, I could respect her dedication to what she believed in. Knowing you were right and acting accordingly was a sign of power.

Liam chuckled then. “I bet that burned coming up.”

Lisella elbowed the ranger and said, “Nah, she just all emotional now. That’s what getting laid will do for you.”

Modessa’s face turned bright red. “We didn’t umm… well not … I mean… we… but we didn’t…” Then she stared at the ground before stomping off and mumbling, “None of their business how slowly we take things.”

Lisella burst out laughing. Cami covered her mouth with her hand and even Liam seemed amused. I simply shrugged and ordered the bears back to their enclosure. Modessa was headed for the stairs up and called back, “Are you coming, Cami?”

I called out, “No, don’t go up there. Not yet. Let me go first.”

Modessa stopped in her tracks. “What? Why?”

“I just want to check on Matilda before she has to deal with all of you. Besides, I thought you were supposed to introduce Cami to her yesterday.”

Modessa was thirty feet away now, but I could still see the red on her faced deepen. “I got distracted. Besides, the other riders were here yesterday, and they weren’t letting anyone see Matilda. Now they are back out on recruiting missions and we’ll only have to deal with some low-level guard who were appointed to protect the eggs.”

“Yeah wouldn’t want to lose out on any slaves.”

Lisella snapped, “Nico, it isn’t like that. At least it isn’t for us. We know the truth now.”

“Now… well, whatever, I need to check on both Matilda and the eggs, and I need to do it without any prying eyes. So you can go up, but then I need you to take the guards away so I can talk to her alone and in my true form.”

The three adventurers looked at each other as though expecting one of the others to speak up. Finally, Modessa said, “I owe you enough trust for that. Fine, I’ll get the guards away one way or another, then call you up. I won’t approach the dragon until you say it’s okay.”

I stared at this new Modessa. She was much more compliant. It was very convenient to have her do what I wanted. If it was this simple to get humans to be compliant, I might have to talk to Cami about finding ways to get mates for the other humans or whatever else it was that each of them liked. Hmm… maybe they really were like pets of a sort. I’d have to think about this some more.

A few minutes later, Modessa called for me to come upstairs. When I got there, there were four armored guards and two humans in robes. I probably should start paying attention to whether they were men or women as the humans worried about that so much, but to me they were just monkeys. In fairness, though, I didn’t contemplate the gender of another dragon, only their power. That was what determined how things would go.

One of the robed humans demanded of Modessa, “Why him?”

“Because I said so. Because two instructors from the university are here. Because his mentor is the Princess of Forlay and heir to her uncle's throne as well as being among the most highly ranked priestesses in the church of Miseria. Oh, and because if you question me again, then me and the rest of my level twenty adventuring group is going to kick your asses so thoroughly, that you’ll wish you were only on dragon dung duty.”

The robed woman’s eyes grew wide, but I stifled my laugh. Modessa could be intimidating when she tried to be, for a human that is. The guards slowly packed up their gear and headed down the stairs. Just before they left, the other robed guard said, “Only half an hour and he better not try to touch the eggs or I can’t vouch for his safety.”

I didn’t care what they were saying, though. I kept hearing a faint whisper. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it called to me. I walked almost as though I was in a trance into the dragon area, past the gate and headed straight for where Matilda was sitting atop her three eggs. It was such a small number for a dragon clutch, but I suppose it couldn’t be helped.

As I got closer, she reared up her head and hissed at me. I had no doubt that she knew who I was, but a mother dragon will protect their eggs even against a vastly superior opponent. It was the one time that we were hard-wired to throw out our natural instincts of self-preservation. But there was no denying it now. The whisper I heard was definitely coming from underneath her. It was almost like a faint song that I couldn’t quite make out.