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The Misadventures of an Unexpected Dragon

By Theo Winters

5:

We made our way up to the caldera, more dragons joining us along the way. When they had all been spread out across the mountain side it didn't really feel like that there that many around, but with all of them coming together I was quickly becoming aware of just how many dragons had actually shown up. The fact that I as the smallest one around didn't do much to help the growing feeling of claustrophobia. I had to force myself from hunkering down to make myself seem less noticeable.

Taura kept by my side the whole way, moving across the ground with a loping gate that seemed like it would be ungainly for any dragoness, yet on her it became a single fluid motion across the ground. Her stride sent a ripple down the length of her body with each step she took, causing her scales to glitter in the sun like crashing waves. I had no idea how she was doing it, maybe it was just something about being an Asian dragon.

Cheasequah was already waiting on the far side of the lava dome, talking with another Piasa Bird. As they spoke, small balls of light rolled off of his horns to splash onto the ground around him, making the stone glow for a few moments. With the pair of them together, I could tell that the other dragon was a bit lager then my new friend, yet at the same time seemed to be cowering under what he was saying.

I considered working my way around the caldera to be closer to him, but I quickly decided that it wasn't going to be a good idea. I was already getting a few looks from the dragons, and taking off just to fly to the other side would just attract even more attention that I really didn't want.

Thankfully, there seemed to be no logic to how the dragons were standing around, different sizes and species all clumped together at seemingly random. That meant I didn't feel too much at risk staying by Taura's side, as well as the other dragons I had been speaking with before.

The dragons formed a lose circle around the caldera, looking at the dome that rose up nearly in the center. The three that had called the dragons were standing there, talking with each other and ignore everyone else. Well, the gold and silver were talking, while the green dragon was slowly scanning across the gathering, a smirk pulling up the corners of his lips. It was the sort of smirk that made you want to try and slap it off of his face, but at the moment no one could do anything about it. It was clear that he was aware of that, which somehow made his smirk even smirkier then it actually was.

After a few more moments had passed, he took a step forward and slammed his tail hard against the lave dome. A wash of steam burst out from the point of impact, billowing up behind him and across his wings. I was sure he had done that intentionally, yet I don't think it looked as intimidating as he had hoped it would. Still, the sharp sound of the impact was enough to silence everyone.

"Is this really it?" he said with a snort. "We asked to meet with the strongest dragon on this side of the world, and this is what we get? It's no wonder that you're all running away from the self-important ants that think they run this world."

Yeah, I really did not like this asshole. Judging by the way many of the dragons were glaring at him, I wasn't alone in that.

The green dragon let out a deep chuckle as he rose up on his hind legs, his wings fanning out behind himself to help balance him as he clapped is forepaws together. "Things are going to change. I have a way to take back what is ours by right of power, and my friends and I are going to share it with all of you."

That brought a hush to the crowd, as every dragon looked intently at the trio. A few in the group actually seemed excited by what they were saying, but the rest of them just looked skeptical about it.

The green dragon smirked; this time joined by both of his friends. He seemed to be waiting for something to happen, the tension in the air growing by the moment, waiting to hear was he had to say.

Finally, after some unseen single had been given, he spoke. "We found the Eztil Hoard."

I didn't know what the Eztil Hoard was--and I could hear the capital letters in the way he said it--but clearly the others did as a stunned silence fell over the crowd. It lasted for only a few seconds before the Quetzalcoatl rose up and spat out a few words I didn't understand, the quickly switched back to Draconic, "You are lying!"

"Why would I lie about that?" the green dragon asked in mock offense as he dropped back down to all fours.

"Because the Eztil Hoard is just a myth," another dragon declared. This one looked more like a giant snake with a crown of horns then a dragon.

There was a general muttering among the crowd, some agreeing with the two that had spoken up, and some trying to state that it was real. A few of the lager dragons, including a huge one with layers of wet moss covering its scales, started to rear up, like they were going to attack.

Not really knowing how to react, I simply held my ground. I got the feeling that this was like someone claiming to have found the Holy Grail, or the Amber Room.

The green dragon looked back at the other two, then with a huge grin fanned out as his wings as far as they would go, revealing a satchel of green leather strapped to his side, hidden up until that moment. He reached into and fished out an oddly shaped piece of greenish blue stone, then threw it out into the crowd.

The Quetzalcoatl somehow managed to catch the stone with just the tip of her feathers, and lifting it up to peer intently at it, slowly rotating it around in her claws before lifting it to allow the sunlight to fall through, making the stone glow softly. As is started to glow her muzzled dropped open. "This is a part of the Tomac Seal," she said. The declaration brought silence back to the crowd, but this time it seemed to just go on for ages, no one daring to make a sound.

The trio just watched this, smirks growing wider by the moment. Finally, the green spoke up again. "As I said, we found the Eztil Hoard, and while it is not as grand as the legends spoke of, it is still vastly larger than anything any of you have ever set eyes on!"

As he spoke, he reached back into the pouch. "Even if they were exaggeration, it is still a treasure beyond all measure, a treasure that us will grant us power beyond our dreams!"

"Why are you telling us this?" the moss-covered dragon demanded. Its voice was deep and shook the air and ground as it spoke.

The dragon started to laugh, the sort of laugh that grated deep against your ears and tried to dig into your head. "Because it is more than even the three of us together can hold," he declared, using his wing to motion back to the silver and gold dragons. "If it's split between us, each one of us getting our share... just imagine what each of you could do with even a fraction of it!"

With that declaration, he pulled his forepaw out of his bag, and swung it in an arc in front of him, opening his talons as he did. A shower of coins flew out from his hands, raining out across the crowd and over the dragons, bouncing off scales and stone. The other two did the same thing, scattering them to every dragon in the caldera.

One of the coins managed to bounce right off the tip of my nose, and dropped to the ground with a slight clunk. I quickly scooped it up, holding it gingerly between the tips of my claws. It wasn't very large, at least compared to me. If I was at my normal size, I would have said it was about the size of a half dollar, but with how I was now, it might have been three or four times that.

It weighed more than I had expected, making me fairly sure that it was actually made of gold. There had been some kind of writing pressed into the face, but it was worn enough that I couldn't even make out anything useful. Flipped it over, I saw an odd triangular shape made of almost perfectly straight lines had been gouged into the coin. It took me far longer than I would have liked to realized that it was supposed to me a mountain.

Taura had picked up one as well, flipping it over from side to side in her talons, just like every other dragon was doing. Even a few of the kobolds--Fern included--had picked up ones that had otherwise fallen to the ground unclaimed.

"They truly found the Eztil Hoard," the Asian dragoness whispered.

My eyes flicked between her and the coin, then to the other dragons. They were all looking at the treasure in what could only be described as awe. Whatever this lost treasure was, it was clearly something out of legend, and now the legend was real.

Rolling the coin between my fingers, I debated what I should do with it. I had no idea how much it was worth as gold, let alone as a historic artifact. Yet it felt wrong for me to keep it, I was here to help Cheasequah, not to go off treasure hunting. This was dragon gold, and no matter what I might have looked like at the moment, it was not for me to claim.

Sitting back on my haunches, I started to pass the coin from palm to palm. Whatever I might have thought, I couldn't deny that it felt good to have it in my hands, and I found I was having a hard time making myself put it down. It was probably some natural instinct that came with being a dragon, though I had learned over the years that those sorts of instincts could be hard to ignore at first.

"To find something as powerful as the Eztil Hoard only to give it away is the action of a fool," the three headed dragon said, though only speaking from his left head, causing it to lose some of its force. "And while you are foolish, I do not believe any of you are truly fools."

There was a general muttering of agreement around the caldera, though it was muted. Most of the dragons were simply looking at the coins, trying to processes what they had just been told.

The green dragon chuckled and took a few steps off the lava dome, his tail flicking back against the cracked stone. "No, we are not fools. A fool would want to keep it all for themselves, but if you're willing to think, there are far more choices then just to grown are own Hoards."

"So, what's the catch?" I asked. I had meant it to be muttered, but I ended up speaking loud enough that the green dragon heard me. His head swung around, eyes narrowing slightly as he turned his attention to me.

"It's not a catch, but a trade, to give us something in return for giving you this gift--" that hardly made it a gift then, but I wasn't going to risk telling that to a dragon's face. "--we want your word that you will not search out our share of the Hoard, and if someone does, you will come to our aid to protect it. Though as long as you all have a share, I doubt any one of you would wish to try to attack us for it."

I clenched my hand around the coin, closing my claws tightly around it as I reared up as high as I could. "And what happens to those that refuse?"

He scoffed a bit, and made a sweeping motion with his wing. "Nothing. You may keep what you have already been given, and we would be more than happy to allow you to leave."

Finally, one of the other of the trio spoke up, this time the silver. "Do not give us your answer now," he said, bellowing out the words as loud as he could. "Take your time and think about what we are offering you, and what we want to return."

"We will expect an answer for you by sundown tomorrow, until then we shall wait for your decision," the gold added. For being the largest of the trio, his voice didn't seem to carry the same force that the others had been able to project.

The green dragon smiled, and spun around in a circle to look at all the dragons, his smirk having returned, pulling back at the corners of his mouth and showing off a bit of his teeth as well. "We look forward to your decisions," he declared, then leapt into the air. His wings fanned out, slamming down and sending blast of wind across the caldera as he rose up into the air, the other two following only a few seconds later.

We all watched them as they flew off to the east, growing smaller by the moment until they finally vanished behind some clouds. When they were finally gone, I turned to look back at my paw, slowly unfolding it to look at the coin again. I wasn't sure what I should do with it, I didn't want to risk losing it, but I didn't exactly have any pockets like this.

A quick glance to the other dragons revealed that many of them were tucking their coins under their wings. They probably all had bags hidden under them, made to blend into their scales, just like with the trio. I didn't have that, the most I had was Fern's pouch and she would be happy to hold onto it for me.

Turning my head slightly, I glanced towards her. She was standing a few feet away, talking with another kobold. This one was colored dark greys and green, like a moss-covered stone, and was wearing clothing far nicer than I would have expected, clearly, he didn't work in a mine.

I turned my attention back to the coin, feeling it's weight in my paw. I could give it to her to hold, but it felt wrong simply let it go like that, even if it was to Fern. Instead, I closed my paw around it, feeling the smooth edges digging into my scales.

Dropping back onto all fours, I looked around, the other dragons were milling around, some flying off, others searching the ground like they were hoping to find any more of the scattered coins. A low grumbling sound was rolling over the mountain top, like no one wanted to say anything, but everyone was trying to make some sort of noise to fill the void.

Without warning, Taura jumped back and nearly slammed into me, only pulling her long body around at the last second in order to land just inches away. I pulled away, a growl starting to build up deep inside of my chest, starting from someplace lowering then I had ever felt before, which made my stomach churn. It built up in the back of my throat, growing stronger as my next flexed in a way I had never felt before, following by a growing pressure in the back of my mouth. It felt like I had belched up a mouthful of acid, yet at the same time it felt nothing at all like that.

The asian dragoness gave me a sharp look, then snorted and pulled away, moving quickly above the crowd, almost like she was running across the top of the other dragons, yet wasn't touching any of them. With her departure, the strange pressure started to fade.

"You will come with me," Cheasequah ordered, now standing just beside me. My head snapped around to glare at him, wanting to protest his sudden intrusion, but the constant glowing of his antlers made me think better of it. He didn't even wait for my response, he simply leapt into the air and started flying.

I debated calling to him to stop, but decided that right now was not the time to piss him off. I glanced back, spotting Fern still talking with the strange kobold. "I'll be back," I told her as I fanned out my wings and leapt into the air, flying after him. One by one the other dragons were taking off as well, going in what seemed like every direction of the compass.

Cheasequah headed to the east, and I followed close behind him, across the top of the mountain and down the baren slope, gliding towards the tree covered mountains. I kept as close to him as a dared, followed him as he banked and started descending down into a wide ravine between two of the hills, landing on the stone covered shores of a rapidly moving river. I landed a few body lengths away, my still tightly closed claw skidding over the stones.

I rose up to all fours as Cheasequah turned around to face me, the glow on his antlers had started to fade, leaving the felt shining slightly in the afternoon sun. He was looking at me with narrow eyes, shifting his weight from foot to foot. The constant fidgeting made it fell like he could leap upon me at any moment.

Slowly, I rose up my paw, unfolding my fingers to reveal the coin once more. The gold seemed to be shining even brighter than it had been just moments before. "What is going on?"

"I do not know," the big dragon replied. "This is nothing like I had expected it to be. I do not know what this is, but this is not the sort of meeting I had planned to bring you too. You shouldn't be here, not for this, not for whatever this is," he said. As he spoke a coin drop from someplace in is antlers to land in his outstretched claws.

My tail flicked against the stones, sending one rolling down into the river. It was hard to read his expression, but the word that came to mind was pensive, and as such I wasn't sure what the best way to respond to him was. "Do you wish for me to go?" I asked. Being sent home would probably put an end to all of this, or at least allow me to pretend like it did. Whatever was happening here, whatever it really was, I knew in my gut that it was bad for everyone involved, and I didn't think there was a damn thing I could do about it.

He slowly shook his head. "No Theo. You have made yourself known, every dragon has seen you, has heard you. There is no way you can simply vanish now; it will cause more problems."

I wanted to put my face in my hand, but my current position wouldn't allow for it, so instead I just shook my head as my ears sank. "I'm sorry that I spoke out of turn. I just..." I struggled to find a good explanation. "It was something I just had to ask," I said, hopping that it sounded better to him than it did to me.

"You were right to ask it, because it was a question that had to be asked, yet no one else spoke up. A gift like this comes with.... Obligations, but at least they were willing to admit it to us," he said, his eyes looking back down at the coin held in his claws.

I looked down at my own coin, feeling the weight of it in my paw. A dragon's coin from a dragon's hoard. It made no sense for the three of them to share like that, not for something like this. This was part of a hoard, and you just didn't give that away, even with strings attached.

In the end, I was just a lion trying to help a friend, even if it was a friend I had only just meet. I wasn't a dragon, I just happened to look like one--like a kind of dragon that was probably extinct--but it wasn't who I really was. The coin, and the hoard that had come from belong to dragons.

And I wasn't a dragon.

"I will think of something," Cheasequah said with a chuff.

Closing my eyes, I just ignored the other dragon as I tried to work out what I should be doing next. I could feel the coin weighing down my paw, and it felt like it was growing heavier by the moment. Whatever this Eztil Hoard was, whatever it meant to the dragons, it meant nothing to me. I had no part in it, and I had no say in it. Whatever the three wanted in exchange for this coin wasn't something I could ever give them.

Cracking one eye open, I tilted my head down, looking at the coin through the curve of my glasses, not that it helped me see anything better. "This doesn't belong to me," I said, the words coming out in almost a whisper.

"What?" Cheasequah asked, taking a step closer to me.

I lifted my head, looking the dragon in his dark yellow eyes. "This isn't mine to claim," I said, the words having a bit more conviction behind them. Even so, I had to force myself to turn my claw, the coin starting to slide along the rough scales towards the edge of my palm.

But before the coin could fall away, Cheasequah's claws shot out and grabbed my wrist, the tip of his talons sinking into my scales. He wrenched my palm around, turning it back to keep the coin from dropping to the ground. "What do you think you are doing?! This is not something that you just thrown away!" he snarled, a deep growl underling his words as the glow returned to his antlers, growing brighter with each passing second and washing out everything behind him.

Twisting my wrist, I tried to break free of his grip, but that just caused his claws to dig in even deeper into scales. My tail started to lash against the stones as my wings flared out over my back. I'm sure it was impressive, but it did nothing to pull myself free of his grip.

"I don't have the right," I growled as I stopped fighting him.

Small balls of lights started to drip from his points, raining down around him to splash over the stones, staining them different shades of black with every drop. His glare was drilling into me as he squeezed my wrist again. My anger started to drain under the wight his stare as my wings starting to wilt.

"You are correct. You are here to help me, not to amass a hoard of your own. You do not deserve this treasure, not even this small of a piece of it," he nearly spats the words out at me, the claws on his free paws carving furrows into the stone under him.

"Then we are in agreement," I replied, letting out a sigh. I was relieved that he understood what I had been trying to say. I felt the tension start to fall from my body, my wings dropping so low that the tips started to brush the ground. Yet when I tried to pull my paw away, his grip tightened once more.

Cheasequah kept glaring at me, his jaws grinding from side to side as his antlers danced with light. I was waiting for an answer, but as time ticked forward, I realize that one wasn't going to be coming.

"What now?" I finally asked, hoping to prompt a useful response from him.

He let out a deep snort, revealing a soft glow from his nostrils as bluish smoke started to rise up from the tips of his antlers. Then he yanked hard on my arm, forcing me to stumble a few steps closer to him. "What done is done. You do not deserve this, but I do not have the right to claim the treasure from you. For good or ill, it is now yours, and you will treat it with the respect it deserves."

I suddenly felt his magic wrapping around me again, lifting me off of my feet and throwing me onto my side, at the same time he grabbed the coin from my paw, ripping it free as I crashed into the ground. He finally let go of my wrist, only to grab the base of my wing and pull it back, almost to the point of pain. He slammed his paw, and the coin, into the scales under the base of my left wing, followed by a momentary burning feeling that lanced through the roots of my wing muscles before vanishing as fast as it had come.

Cheasequah stepped back, letting go of my wing as the felt on his antlers started to burn away. "You will stay your tongue and know your place, is that understood?" he demanded, his wings fanning out as he glared daggers at me.

I found myself starting to cower under the force of his display, my upraised wing falling down over my side as I curled my tail up against my belly. Though my eyes never left his. When he made a small movement towards me, I curled up even smaller, lowing my head down until my chin rested on the stone ground.

With one last snort, "You're a dragon, start acting like one," he said, then felt into the air, flying only inches above my head before rising up and flying up over the trees.

I didn't see which way he went and I didn't even risk moving for another ten minutes, just in case he was still watching me. Even then I didn't actually get up, I just rolled back onto my belly, tucking my head under my wings, and let out a heavy breath. "What the hell is going on?" I asked, but the only answer was the sound of the water rushing down the river next to me.

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This story was written and copyright 2020-2022 by Theo Winters, reposting and archiving are allowed as long as this copyright notice and the author's name are not removed. This story cannot be published without permission of the author, violators will be given to the dragons.