A Bronze Rising: The Offer
#5 of A Bronze Rising
The Bronze makes an offer to the human stooge
By the harsher scent, I could tell that the human was male. However, the scent of the human male was as meek as a drop of milk diluted in a bucket of water compared to the musk of another male dragon which capable, by pure biology, of filling me with an intense, uncontrollable anger and bloodlust. I felt not the slightest threat from the unfledged male cowering barefoot against the sheer wall of the mountain.
Uncertain of what to do, I withdrew my head. This alone seemed to ease the boy's sobbing. "Why do you cry so, Human?" I asked because I was honestly confused in regards to his behavior. "I told you I am not going to eat you."
The young man lifted his head and removed the shoulder length black hair from around his face with a sweep of his hand. The tears left clean tracks down his dirt-stained cheeks. His voice cracked as he spoke, "T-then I'm to become... a slave? T-they do that from t-time to t-t-time. Collect new slaves."
I deduced instantly that the boy must mean that dragons came over the mountains periodically to collect fresh blood for those dragons who decided to keep slaves in the lands beyond. That was important news in itself. I'd have to figure a way to stop them doing that if this land was to be my new territory... or at least charge them for it. But I'd have time to dwell on that later. I seized the moment, deciding to try to assuage the human's fears despite the fact that the word "slave" was fairly appropriate for what I'd like him and his people to become. "No, I am not going to take you over the mountains." I said, trying to avoid the whole 'slave' discussion. I tried to phrase an idea as I would to a young drakeling, "I brought you here for a very important reason. I want your help."
The human's eyes widened and I interpreted the expression as shock. "M-my help? W-what could... I possibly do? I-I'm just a simple farmer's son. I d-don't know how to do... anything." The words tumbled clumsily out of the boy's mouth, his voice cracking again. It was all I could do to understand the strange inflections and slurs the boy used in his speech.
I paused for a time, deciphering the human's words and making sense of them with what I knew of the slave language. A mountain wind gusted and though I felt its pleasant coolness against my scales, it seemed to have an adverse effect on the young man who curled up tightly, clutching his rags about him. I studied the way he reacted as if observing a bug through a glass. When the wind finally stopped - though the human kept shivering - I said, "All things in time, Human. Tell me, would it please you to become a very powerful man...?"