Chương 30: The Pride of a Dragon

Unless the dragon was considerably older than I was, dealing with it should not prove difficult. That was the conclusion I reached as Adrian drove us as far up Mount Crystal as the new car could endure before the road finally ceased pretending to be one. At first, he handled the ascent with his usual steady patience, guiding the vehicle along the narrow mountain path without complaint.

Before long, however, the packed earth gave way to loose stone, then to a broken trail that only vaguely resembled something meant for travel, and finally to terrain that seemed personally offended by the existence of wheels. The suspension groaned beneath us, and my patience deteriorated with it. Every jolt tossed the car hard enough to make it feel as though the mountain were trying to shake us loose and claim our bodies as tribute. Celeste, naturally, found the entire ordeal delightful.

Each violent lurch pulled an undignified sound from her as she clung to my arm, apparently convinced that poor road construction was somehow my responsibility.

"I hate this machine," I muttered as the car slammed over another jagged rise and sent all three of us jolting in our seats. Celeste tightened her hold on my arm, still smiling far too brightly.

"I thought you liked it."

"Only when there is a road beneath it." In the mirror, the corner of Adrian's mouth twitched. When even he found the situation amusing, I knew all dignity had already been lost. A few minutes later, he finally brought the car to a stop. Ahead, the path narrowed into a brutal stretch of broken stone, steep slopes, and knife-edged ridges that looked barely suitable for a mountain goat, let alone a polished machine that had cost me an unreasonable amount of money.

"This is as far as we can drive," Adrian said.

"Wonderful. I was beginning to think the mountain intended to eat the car before we reached the dragon." We stepped out. The wind was thin and cold, though neither condition bothered any of us. It swept down from the peak with enough force to tug at our clothing and carried the scents of stone, old ash, and smoke. It clung to the mountainside despite the cold, buried deep within the rock like the breath of a sleeping furnace. Whatever lived above us had not merely arrived recently.

Something vast had claimed this place and steeped it in its presence for a very long time. Far below, the road wound back toward civilization in a thin, pale scar. Near the base of the mountain, several blackened patches marked where watch stations and smaller buildings had once stood before fire reduced them to memory. The dragon had been busy. I lifted my gaze toward the peak.

Great crystal formations jutted from the mountainside like shards of pale blue and white glass, catching the sunlight and scattering it across the surrounding stone. Some were taller than buildings, their sharp edges glittering beneath layers of ice and ash. It was beautiful in a severe, overly dramatic fashion. I supposed that if one intended to become an oversized lizard with delusions of royalty, a place called Mount Crystal was an appropriately theatrical choice of residence. Then the roar came.

It rolled down the mountain with enough force to disturb the snow and send loose stones skittering from the cliffs. The sound was deeper than thunder and far more alive, carrying fury, warning, and ancient confidence in equal measure. The mountain seemed to answer it. A flock of distant birds scattered from the lower ridges. Somewhere beneath our feet, the stone vibrated. Most people would have frozen where they stood. Others would have fled downhill while praying to whichever god they had most recently neglected.

I released a sigh, unsurprised that even the dragon's roar had to be dramatic, before we continued the rest of the way on foot. A vampire's walking pace was closer to a human sprint, while Adrian and Celeste kept pace with me effortlessly. The mountain blurred beneath our feet as we climbed, with sharp currents of cold air rushing past us. Within minutes, we reached the upper slope just below the peak, where the mountainside leveled into a broad shelf of blackened stone.

Ahead, an enormous cavern had been carved into the rock. Its entrance was absurdly large. A manor house could have fit through it comfortably. Perhaps two, if the owners were willing to sacrifice their gardens. Scorch marks stained the stone around the opening, while old claw gouges cut deep lines through the rock. Some were wide enough for a person to lie inside. Heat rolled steadily from the darkness, carrying the scent of molten metal and something dry, ancient, and reptilian.

Deeper within the cavern, reflected light flickered across the walls, revealing the unmistakable gleam of an enormous hoard of gold. Of course there was. We had barely come to a stop when something shifted within the darkness. At first, I saw only the faint gleam of scales moving between the shadows. Then the cavern erupted. The dragon charged from the darkness with enough force to crack the stone beneath its weight.

Loose rock burst outward beneath his claws, and a wave of heated air rushed across the ledge as he emerged into the sunlight. He was immense. The guild's estimate had claimed he stood as tall as a three-story building, but seeing him in person made numbers feel inadequate. His body was long and thick with muscle, every movement carrying the weight of something built to crush fortifications. His scales glimmered in shades of gold, bronze, and dark amber, overlapping like plates of heated metal.

Crystal dust clung to his hide, sparkling between the ridges of his scales as though the mountain itself had dressed him for the occasion. Heavy horns swept back from his skull in the shape of a jagged crown. Smaller spines ran along his neck and down the length of his back. When his wings unfolded, they stretched wide enough to swallow the sunlight and cast all three of us into shadow. The rush of air from them sent dust and loose fragments of crystal racing across the ground. My expectations were piqued.

He looked exactly as a true dragon should. His enormous eyes settled on us immediately. They burned like molten gold beneath heavy ridges of bone, narrowing not with fear but with the casual contempt of a creature that had spent far too long without being challenged. The dragon lowered his head until his face loomed above us, each breath stirring our hair and clothing with furnace-hot air. He regarded us as insects that had somehow wandered into his throne room.

"Little humans," he thundered, his voice rattling the stone beneath our feet, "how dare you present yourselves before Aurelion Ashgarde, Lord of the Crystal Peak, Keeper of the Sunken Hoard, and Flame Above Mortal Kings?" I blinked once. Then I blinked again. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He continued, because naturally that hadn't been enough.

"I'm the fire that crowns this mountain, the terror beneath whose shadow kingdoms tremble, and the one being worthy of possessing all the gold beneath the heavens." Silence settled over the ledge. Celeste laughed. It wasn't polite or restrained. A bright, delighted sound escaped her and echoed across the mountainside with magnificent inappropriateness.

The dragon's eyes shifted toward her, and the insult spread visibly across his oversized reptilian face as Celeste covered her mouth for half a second, though the gesture did nothing to hide her smile.

"Mother," Celeste asked with flawless sincerity, though amusement still sparkled in her eyes, "do you think we should hire him as a comedian for the casino?" I gave a small shake of my head.

"No. He would be terrible for business." Aurelion's nostrils flared, releasing twin streams of smoke, but I spoke again before he could recover enough dignity to interrupt.

"Especially since he's foolish enough to burn the very towns he expects to pay him tribute." I looked up at him with open disdain.

"What kind of idiot destroys his source of income?" For a moment, Aurelion could only stare at me. The wind swept across the mountain, carrying away the last traces of Celeste's laughter. Then fury ignited behind his eyes.

"How dare you!" His jaws opened. Orange-gold light erupted within his throat, swelling so quickly that it resembled a second sun being born behind his teeth. Heat rolled outward in violent waves, distorting the air between us. The stone beneath his head began to glow, and thin veins of crystal cracked beneath the sudden rise in temperature. The sound gathering in Aurelion's chest was no longer a roar but the deafening howl of a furnace being torn open. Then he unleashed his fire.

A blinding torrent of gold and orange flame surged toward us, wide enough to swallow the entire ledge. It crossed the distance with terrifying speed, devouring the world ahead until nothing remained but heat, light, and destruction. Celeste and I didn't move, but Adrian did. He flashed in front of us before the flames could reach, body-enhancement magic surging through his frame. Power hardened every muscle in his arms and shoulders as he drove his feet into the stone and raised his shield.

Metal and condensed aura locked together before him just as the dragonfire struck. The collision shook the mountain to its foundations. Flames split around Adrian and tore past on either side, carving molten channels through the stone. Heat exploded outward, bathing the entire ledge in a glow bright enough to rival daylight. Crystal formations along the cliff face cracked from the sudden temperature change, and the rock behind us glowed red wherever the edges of the attack struck. Adrian held his ground.

The force of the dragon fire drove his boots several inches into the stone, yet his stance remained unbroken. His shield shuddered beneath the relentless pressure, its surface glowing white-hot as the flames split around him and rushed past on either side. At last, the torrent faltered and died. Smoke rolled across the ledge in heavy waves while molten stone hissed against the cold mountain air. The clean bite of winter vanished beneath the acrid stench of scorched rock.

Adrian lowered his shield and rolled one shoulder, looking less like a man who had endured a dragon's breath and more like someone mildly inconvenienced by an overly forceful shove. Aurelion stared at him, his massive head tilting in bewilderment. I smiled. Confusion suited him.

"You must be young," I observed, unable to resist.

"That would explain the stupidity." His attention snapped back toward me. The rage remained, but something new had appeared beneath it. Caution. It was faint, little more than the first crack in his arrogance, but it was there. I stepped around Adrian and moved closer.

"Tell me," I asked, genuine curiosity sharpening my voice, "is it true that dragons possess an exceptional resistance to magic?" The stories I had read in my past life almost always described dragons the same way. Their scales turned aside spells, their bodies endured sorcery that would reduce lesser creatures to ash, and only the oldest or most powerful magic could pierce their natural defenses. Whether those tales held any truth in this world remained to be seen. It wasn't an idle question.

If Aurelion could withstand Primordial Ruin, then stronger dragons might finally offer the kind of challenge I had been missing. If he could not, at least I would know how much faith to place in the legends. Aurelion drew himself upright once more, clearly eager to reclaim what remained of his dignity now that his fire had failed to impress us.

"You stand before Aurelion Ashgarde, Flame Above Mortal Kings, whose scales have endured the weapons of armies and the spells of…" I raised one finger. A point of violet light appeared at the tip. The dragon's words died in his throat. Primordial Ruin gathered around my hand, beginning as a spark before condensing into a bead of violent amethyst light. The air around it tightened and began to scream beneath the pressure. Violet arcs snapped outward, cutting through the smoke in jagged flashes.

The stone beneath my feet darkened, its surface withering beneath the energy. Even the wind seemed to recoil from the concentrated destruction gathered at my fingertip. Aurelion fixed his gaze on the violet light gathering at my fingertip, and his confidence deserted him completely. His massive body shifted backward one reluctant step at a time as the ancient instincts that had preserved dragon kind finally screamed loudly enough to overpower his wounded pride.

They were excellent instincts, but they had warned him far too late. Before he could retreat any farther, I flicked my hand forward and released the condensed ruin. The blast tore from my fingertip as a narrow lance of violet destruction, crossing the space between us too quickly for even the dragon to react. It struck the center of Aurelion's chest with perfect accuracy, and for one beautiful, deeply satisfying moment, the entire mountaintop vanished beneath a flood of violet light.

Then the impact tore through him. The sound wasn't quite an explosion. It was deeper and more violent, a brutal tearing noise that made it seem as though the mountain itself had been ripped open. Aurelion's eyes widened in stunned disbelief as the force of the impact tore his massive body from the ground. A creature of his size should not have moved so easily. He was too heavy, too firmly planted, and far too imposing to be hurled backward like a stone from a sling, which only made the sight more satisfying.

He crashed through the cavern entrance with overwhelming force, shattering the stone beneath him. Gold burst from the darkness in glittering waves as coins, ornaments, and fragments of rock were thrown into the air. The shockwave ripped through the cavern and surged upward through the mountain until the ridge above the entrance split apart with a deafening crack. For a breathless moment, the peak seemed to hold itself together through sheer stubbornness. Then the upper section of Mount Crystal exploded.

Thousands of shards of blue-white crystal burst into the sky, catching the sunlight before raining down the far side of the mountain. Boulders tore free from the ridge and vanished into the clouds below. Dust billowed upward in a vast plume as the outer cavern wall fractured and collapsed inward. The roar of destruction rolled across the surrounding peaks. Far below, echoes answered from the valleys. Then silence fell. A few loose stones clattered down the ruined slope.

A single gold coin rolled from the cavern, spun in a slow circle near my feet, and finally toppled onto its side. I lowered my hand and examined the destruction.

"Well," Celeste said cheerfully behind me, "that answered the durability question." Adrian stared past me into the ruined cave entrance.

"Did you kill him?"

"No." A small smile touched my lips.

"Now he understands what he's dealing with." The dust had barely begun to settle when a furious roar erupted from deep within the mountain, louder than before and stripped of every trace of theatrical pride. Something immense shifted behind the curtain of debris. Stone split apart, and a pair of enormous wings tore through the haze as Aurelion Ashgarde came crashing back through the wreckage. He landed hard on the shattered ledge, his claws gouging deep trenches through the rock.

Dust and fragments of crystal burst outward as his wings flared wide, scattering debris across the mountainside. His scales were scraped and blackened, the center of his chest branded by a scorched violet mark where my attack had struck. The tip of one horn had broken away, and several of the crown-like ridges along his head were chipped. His pride, however, appeared to have suffered the greatest damage. Smoke poured from his nostrils as he slowly raised his head. I studied him with renewed interest.

He was battered but very much alive. So the stories had not been entirely wrong. Dragons did possess some resistance to magic after all. Most creatures struck by my Primordial Ruin would have ceased to exist, yet Aurelion had endured it with little more than scorched scales, a damaged horn, and a wounded sense of superiority. When his gaze finally found mine, the casual contempt from before was gone. Rage burned in its place, sharpened by caution and tempered by something far more satisfying. Respect.

Not much of it, certainly, but enough to make this encounter worthwhile.

"What," Aurelion growled, his voice lower now and stripped of its earlier performance, "are you?" I folded my hands behind my back.

"Helena Vaust. Owner of a hotel and casino, professional extortionist, SSS-rank adventurer, and apparently the first creature you've encountered today capable of teaching you a useful lesson." The dragon bared his teeth, each one long enough to impale a horse. Celeste leaned closer and whispered, "I still think we could use him as entertainment." Without taking my eyes from Aurelion, I answered, "Only if he learns not to burn the customers." His eyes narrowed further.

"Alright," I told him, my voice flattening with cold amusement.

"Now that I finally have your attention, you may start again. This time, try speaking like something intelligent." For several seconds, no one moved. Aurelion's chest rose and fell in slow, heavy breaths. Smoke curled from the corners of his mouth, though he made no attempt to attack again. Behind him, half of the mountain peak lay in ruins. Crystal formations that had stood for centuries were scattered across the slopes, and his once-grand cavern entrance had been reduced to a jagged wound in the stone.

His hoard glittered through the wreckage, and his pride was in an even worse condition. The dragon studied me in silence, no longer looking at an insect or an amusing trespasser. He watched me as one predator watched another, weighing strength, intent, and the possible price of another mistake. Something genuine had finally taken shape between us: a shared interest born from strength, caution, and the promise of a worthy challenge. His was reluctant and wary, while mine carried no such restraint.

At last, the dragon looked ready to set aside the posturing and have a real conversation.