The Copper Dragoness by Carlo_Shannon
"Pfaugh! Another interruption! Can't these people see that Im busy?"
Still muttering to myself, I walk towards the front door, ignoring the piles of gems and the stacks of gold coins.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT? CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I'M BUSY?" I bellow, as I look down on the poor sod in armor that is all dressed up to visit me. He cringes at my loudness, but I dont care, this is the third interruption in as many years, and I am in the middle of a very sensitive project.
"I have come to slay thee, Dragon, so prepare to meet thy doom!" he babbles.
"OK, look, I have heard that same speech more than a thousand times over the last 2700 years. Don't they teach you to be more creative in knight school?"
Sighing, I gesture around the area, emphasizing the crushed, rusting armor laying around, wrapping the occasional bone. "Can't you see how pointless it is to come here? I have been killing knights just like you for the longest time. All I want is to be left alone."
"Thou art a foul beast and my king and liege hath declared thee anathema. I am the greatest champion of the kingdom, and my quest is thy death." He struck a wonderful dramatic pose with that, and waited for a moment for my reply.
Shaking my head I look at him and say, "You are the so-called greatest champion NOW, because I have killed all the ones better than you. Do you honestly believe that I won't kill you if I have destroyed your betters? I have a really simple solution for you and your genius of a king... How about you leave me alone and I will leave you alone. This is a completely futile repetitive circus. You see, what will happen is that I will kill you, then I will be forced to go devastate another part of your kingdom, maybe killing your family, then another idiot in a metal suit will come up and interrupt me, and I'll kill him and destroy more of the kingdom, and over and over again. Im TIRED of it. I just want to be left alone. If you do that, I will leave you alone, as well."
"Get thee behind me Satan! Thou tempt me with peace, when all know that a dragon can't be trusted. Prepare to meet your doom!"
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM! I engulf him in flames.
Hopefully just the right amount to leave the armor mostly intact and cook the idiot wearing it. I need more warning signs out front. Sniffing, I realize that this poor idiot doesn't even have any gold or jewels on him. No profit in this any more, and I am getting waaaaaayyyy too old for it.
Turning around, muttering to myself, I begin to work my way back to my lab. "I have spent twelve HUNDRED years researching and working on this, and these idiot knights and their stupid king aren't going to stop me now. Alas, I now must... ALAS!?! ALAS?!? Oh my, these morons and their screwy language are rubbing off on me! Now I have to go out and kill a bunch of them, their cows, pigs, horses, goats, AND burn their farms! PFAUGH! I don't have time for this!"
I was beginning to feel the ages. The centuries passed, and finally, I could sense my approaching death. I almost yearned for it, because this life had become an interminable torment of boredom, rage, fire and boredom. "All I ask, Maker, is that I have enough time to complete my project. I have wasted too many years on contemplation, and, now that I have completed my research, I feel deaths creeping footstep on my soul. Just a little longer."
Making up my mind, I turn and head out the front of my cavern, again. "I might as well play out this farce now, before I get so engrossed in my work that I will forget," I declare.
Launching myself into the air with my legs, my wings beat and finally catch enough air to lift me up and I am flying. "Flying. Why is it so boring, now? Have I lived too long? Have I seen too much? Pfaugh, maybe I am too focused on my plans and research."
Circling around, I begin to lay waste to a respectably sized area of the kings lands. Enough that he will feel the pinch in his taxes, but not so much that it takes me more than two days. "I DONT HAVE TIME FOR THIS!!!!!!" I continue to rage, over and over again, burning towns and guardhouses.
Done, I swing around and head for home. I need to rest and then get back to work. I have, perhaps, three or four more months of work left. I should get done just before Long Night. I don't think I will make it much longer after that, so I MUST be done by then.
Returning to the cavern, I curl into sleep, and I dream of whispers, "Wake me..." or is it, "Make me..."? Whichever, I awaken, restless, still tired, but unable to sleep. So I pull myself together and walk back to my lab.
Two months later, I hear that damnable noise again. You know... that sound of a horse wearing armor crashing about carrying another idiot wearing armor.
"I have come to slay thee, Dragon, so prepare to meet thy doom!" he babbles.
"You have got to be kidding. Your idiot king really needs to invest in some better speech writers, because that is word for word what the last fool said, and you know what happened to him. OK, lets cut to the chase.
"FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM." And he is engulfed in flames. "Pfaugh. I don't have time to destroy miles and miles of land again. Lets call it a draw, and I'll go back to work." I mumble as I turn and bury myself in my lab, once again.
I am so close, I can feel it. I don't have a moment to spare, so I begin the arduous task of carving the stone into the shape I want. Smiling ironically, I decide that it will be a female human form. "The king ought to like this," I chuckle. But the laugh turns into a hacking cough, and the cold is beginning to close around my heart, slowly cooling my fire.
Two and a half weeks later and the carving is done. She is beautiful, for a human. She has long hair; tall, graceful, curved instead of rail thin. Yes, I think that the king is in for a shock when she takes flight. I curl up to sleep, and, this time, even before I can close my eyes, I hear the whispering, "Wake me... Make me... In the image you give me..." The voice is too insistent, too loud. I cannot sleep, now, so I drag myself over to her, and begin the enchantments that will bring her to life.
Three days later, the enchantments are completed. At last I can rest. I curl up to sleep; exhausted almost unto death, not knowing, or caring whether I will wake up again. This time I actually do sleep.
I awaken to a light touch on my scaly forearm and that voice whispering in my ear, "Wake, Lord, it is time..." I look up and she is there, standing in front of me, beautiful, powerful, strong and sad. "One more enchantment..." I mutter, and begin the incantation. She senses it, and draws herself up, looking me directly in the eye. As I finish it, I can feel that it is Long Night, and my time has come. She looks at me and smiles sadly, knowing that I cannot teach her anything more.
"Touch me," I say, and she reaches out to touch one talon. Her back arches as all my knowledge and power pour through that touch, draining me completely.
She smiles, and my last sight is of her in Dragon form, taking wing.
August, 2003
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