Chương 128: Righteous Violence

Morning. Leah slowly awoke, her head heavy and her mind clouded. For several seconds, she remained motionless, staring at the ceiling above her. It was unfamiliar. She turned slightly. Beside her, Mason was still sleeping peacefully. Leah lowered her gaze and, looking beneath the sheets, realized that she wasn't wearing any clothes. A sigh escaped her lips.

"What the hell happened last night…?" Her memories began returning in fragments. The laughter. The glasses of mead piling up on the table. Mason's stories. His voice. Then…nothing. Leah ran a hand over her face.

"This isn't like me…" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"I don't do things like this with someone I just met…" She closed her eyes for a few moments, more irritated with herself than anyone else.

"I need to stop drinking so much". She looked back at Mason. He continued sleeping, completely at peace. Leah watched him for a long time. She felt something inside her. An inexplicable emptiness, a feeling she couldn't understand. Perhaps she had simply given in to desire too easily. Perhaps she had lost control.

"What would Felicity think of me?" She lowered her gaze.

"Her student being so undisciplined… I'm such an idiot". In another room of the inn, Ethan sat beside Agnes's bed. The girl was asleep. Her cold hadn't gone away yet, but at least her breathing seemed more regular, and her complexion had improved slightly. Ethan, however, couldn't sleep. He kept fearing that a fever might appear at any moment. He had spent most of the night checking her forehead and making sure she was all right. Then he heard a knock at the door. Ethan stood up and opened it.

Felicity was standing on the other side. She looked at him with her usual impassive gray eyes.

"May I come in?" Ethan nodded and stepped aside. Felicity entered the room and immediately turned her gaze toward Agnes. The girl was still asleep, her face pale but more relaxed than it had been the previous evening.

"How is she?"

"Better. At first, I feared the worst…but it seems that, in the end, it's only a cold". Felicity nodded.

"Good. Do you think she'll be able to travel tomorrow?" Ethan shook his head.

"No. She'll need a few more days". Felicity had already expected that answer.

"We don't have enough crowns to afford staying here with everyone". Ethan remained silent.

"We'll sleep outside the city. You will stay with her".

"Are you sure?"

"Yes". Felicity turned toward him.

"When she's better, meet us at the gates. We'll be there every dawn until we see you arrive. Understood?"

"Understood". Felicity nodded and headed toward the door. She was about to leave when Ethan called out to her.

"Felicity". She stopped without turning around.

"Thank you". Felicity remained still. Ethan smiled faintly.

"You're kinder than you look". For a few seconds, there was no response. Then Felicity spoke with her usual calmness.

"Kind? I'm simply using logic". And she left the room. Ethan remained there, staring at the closed door. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. At the goblin camp, the sun was already high in the sky. Teresa was still chained. The heat was relentless, and the air seemed completely still. The gnome was dragged from one side of the camp to the other like an animal. They forced him to move on all fours. They treated him like a little dog. No, much worse.

He had become little more than a small slave kept on a leash. His knees were covered in blood, and every step seemed to require an enormous amount of effort. At one point, he stopped. A whip came crashing down on his back.

"Move, you damned gnome!" The gnome clenched his teeth. He didn't answer. He began moving again. Teresa watched everything. The anger she felt was immense. And yet, as the days passed, even her hope had begun to fade. She didn't know how much longer she could endure. She didn't know if anyone would come to save them. Perhaps the green dragon would never return. Perhaps they had been abandoned. Teresa lowered her gaze. Then something happened. The sun disappeared. Not because it had set.

A gigantic shadow had covered the camp. Teresa slowly raised her head. She heard the beating of wings. Then another. A sudden gust of wind swept through the valley. Dust rose into the air. A gigantic green creature emerged from the sky. The dragon. Three hatchlings flew behind it. Two were green, resembling their parent. The third was completely black. Teresa's eyes widened. For several moments, she couldn't even breathe. The Green Dragon had returned. It hadn't abandoned her.

Perhaps it had returned because it could no longer sense Xarath. He wasn't there, and the dragon had sensed it. But whatever the reason, Teresa had no more doubts. It had come for her. Panic erupted among the goblins.

"What the hell is that?!"

"A damned dragon!"

"Where's Xarath?!"

"He's not here!"

"We're all going to die!" Some of the goblins began running. Their leader drew his weapon and shouted:"Don't run, idiots! We have to fight! If we abandon the camp, Xarath will punish us!" His words had the opposite effect. No one truly seemed convinced that they could survive. The dragon slowly descended. Its enormous feet struck the ground with a thunderous boom. A massive cloud of dust rose around its body. Then the dragon raised its head. Its eyes settled on Teresa. She stared back at it.

For a few moments, she said nothing. It was as though the creature were waiting for an order. Like an animal waiting for its master to tell it what to do. Teresa slowly stood. She looked into the dragon's eyes. There was no fear in hers. Only anger. And hatred. She pointed toward the goblins.

"Burn them all". The dragon remained motionless. Teresa clenched her fist.

"Burn them all!" Her scream echoed through the mountains. It could have been heard for miles. The dragon understood. It slowly turned its head toward the camp. Then it opened its jaws. An explosion of fire engulfed the camp. The flames devoured the tents, wooden structures, and everything in their path. The goblins were engulfed. Some didn't even have time to scream. The goblin leader was among the first to be consumed by the flames.

Moments later, the fire reached those who had tried to fight back by firing arrows at the dragon. The arrows were useless. The dragon opened its jaws again. Another wave of fire swept through the camp. The flames rose toward the sky. Some goblins attempted to flee. The dragon followed them with its eyes. Then it breathed fire once more. One after another, they fell. No one managed to escape. But the flames spared many of the prisoners no more than they did the goblins.

The cages, ropes, and structures holding them captive burned along with the camp. Teresa watched the massacre without moving. This had been a place where suffering had reigned for far too long. A place where innocent people had been tortured, humiliated, and stripped of their freedom. Now everything was being devoured by an even greater fire. The fire of the green dragon. Several hours passed. A black portal opened among the ashes. Xarath emerged from it. He remained motionless.

There was no longer a camp before him. Only a charred wasteland. Corpses everywhere. Smoke. Silence. Xarath began walking through the ruins. He showed no emotion. He continued until he reached the goblin leader. He was still alive. Barely. His body was completely burned. Most of his green skin had been scorched away, exposing the muscle beneath. When he saw Xarath, he tried to lift himself.

"My lord…" His voice was little more than a rasp.

"Please…save us…" Xarath stared at him.

"Just as we saved you…" the goblin continued, desperately struggling to speak.

"Please…" Xarath didn't answer. He merely looked at him. Then he slowly raised one foot. He brought it down on the goblin's skull. The sound was dry and sharp. The skull shattered beneath the weight of his foot. Xarath remained motionless for a few seconds. Then he looked at what remained of the camp. He sighed.

"What a shame". He paused briefly.

"I had great plans for you". He opened a black portal. He stepped inside. And disappeared. Leaving behind nothing but death and agony. Teresa, Naomi, and the gnome were riding atop the Green Dragon. The wind struck their faces violently. The gnome clung to Naomi. Naomi held onto Teresa. Teresa, meanwhile, gripped the dragon's hide tightly to keep from falling. The gnome looked down. The ground seemed impossibly far away. Mountains passed beneath them.

"Tell me I'm dreaming…" His voice trembled.

"There's no way this is real!" Teresa smiled.

"It is". She pointed toward the dragon.

"This dragon is a descendant of the one Ugly saw! And now we're flying on its back!" The gnome swallowed. He still couldn't believe it. For the first time in days, he felt something other than fear. Freedom. The feeling that he could finally go anywhere. The dragon flew for hours. In just a few hours, they crossed hundreds of kilometers. Eventually, it found a vast plain and began descending. It landed gently. Its three hatchlings followed, landing a short distance away. Teresa climbed down first.

Then she helped Naomi. The woman had barely spoken since they had been freed. What the goblins had done to her had destroyed her mentally. Her eyes remained empty. But that brief experience of flying seemed to have restored a faint thread of life to them. Teresa looked at her.

"Naomi…" The woman barely raised her gaze.

"Let me help you". Naomi hesitated. Then she slowly wrapped one arm around her. Teresa supported her and guided her to a large rock. She helped her sit down. The gnome approached Teresa. He looked at her silently for a few seconds. Then he spoke.

"Thank you for saving us". Teresa turned toward him. The gnome lowered his gaze.

"But many prisoners died". Teresa remained silent.

"They were like us. We could have saved them". A small smile appeared on Teresa's face. It wasn't a happy smile. It was cold.

"I avenged Ugly". She turned toward the dragon.

"I did what he didn't have the courage to do". The gnome was surprised.

"That wasn't the moral of his story". Teresa looked at him.

"Ugly spared them because he didn't want to become the monster they claimed he was". Teresa fell silent. Then her smile disappeared.

"And he died". The gnome didn't respond.

"His story was censored. No one ever learned the truth. He gained nothing". Teresa narrowed her eyes.

"His kindness accomplished nothing". The gnome stared at her.

"Instead, by giving my order, all those goblins died. And we're still alive". She pointed toward the dragon.

"That is the difference". The gnome remained silent. Teresa continued:"At the beginning of this journey, when I saw that little goblin being executed, I almost felt sorry for him". She lowered her gaze for a moment.

"Now I understand that it was necessary". The gnome watched her carefully.

"Violence isn't inherently wrong". Teresa paused.

"There is wrong violence. And there is righteous violence". She looked at the green dragon again.

"The violence I used was righteous". The gnome couldn't find a response. Teresa, however, seemed perfectly calm.

"And now that I have the Green Dragon and its hatchlings with me…" She turned toward the sky.

"When I return to the palace, I'll regain the influence I had before". A smile once again appeared on her lips.

"In fact, it will be even greater". The gnome was speechless. At that moment, he realized that he had misunderstood Teresa from the very beginning. She wasn't a kind noblewoman. She wasn't a queen mother seeking redemption. She hadn't been searching for the Green Dragon to feel complete. She hadn't been searching for a purpose. She was exactly the same woman she had always been. The queen mother willing to do anything for the good of the kingdom.

The same woman who, not so long ago, had killed her son Oliver so that Oscar could ascend the throne. The same woman who had now ordered the extermination of an entire camp. Even when those flames had devoured innocents alongside their captors, Teresa hadn't hesitated. To her, it hadn't been a mistake. It hadn't been a sacrifice. It had been necessary. Righteous violence.