Caveman Alien's Riddle - Calista Skye Page 0,83
those terrible insects, I can fire this blunderbuss right at their faces and hopefully scare them. The wick is lit, looking like a tiny firefly in the dark.
And hopefully I won’t knock myself out in the process. I’ll make sure to hold the blunderbuss in a different way, so if the barrel explodes, it won’t hit my face. It will impede my aim, but aiming with something as inaccurate as this is folly, anyway—
“There is one,” says a smooth voice from right in front of me.
“So there is,” another answers.
Dark shadows come towards me, towering over me.
Dragons.
“Where are you going, little female? Perhaps Uncle Emerak can show you the way? Or do you maybe want to be shown something else?”
One steps out into the light. An older dragon, but still beautiful and still scary.
I have to stop. “Get out of my way, or I will kill you,” I tell him, not easily frightened anymore. I’ve had much tougher dragons than this.
“Why such harsh words?” he asks with a soothing tone. “I simply want to help.”
“I don’t need your help, and I have no time for your crap. Get out of my way.”
“What shall I do with you?” says another dragon and steps forward, his hand stroking along my head. “It’s been a long time since I enjoyed the charms of a lesser female.”
“She’s mine,” the first one snarls. “Remove yourself, Bafinan, or I will tear you to pieces.”
“I know you will try, ancient and miserable as you are.”
“I am no older than you. But here I take precedence.”
“You do not, pathetic ogre. I will take her. And you can try to catch me.”
The dragon Bafinan reaches out to me. That’s all I need. I am not in the mood for this. I should have shot them already.
I point the blunderbuss vaguely in the closest dragon’s directions and pull the trigger.
The bang is deafening, and the gun kicks in my hand. But the barrel holds, while the echo resonates from the trees around me.
Bafinan just breaks into a smile, completely unharmed. “Fireworks! Oh, if only you knew what real fire is. I fear you never will. For now your pitiful life comes to an end.”
“Wait,” the other one agrees. “Let’s enjoy her properly before the extinguishing.”
He reaches both hands towards me, claws out.
I swing at them with the gun, holding it as a club. The dragon easily sidesteps, grabs the gun, and pulls it out of my grip, tossing it away.
He takes my face between his hands and squeezes, hard. “Shall I crack your skull, or tear your face off?”
“Fuck you,” I spit.
“You wish, female,” he chuckles. “You wish I would do that. And why not? Perhaps a dying wish should be honored when it is so sincere.”
The other dragon comes in closer. “Honored doubly, perhaps. Let’s see that soft body under the sackcloth…”
“Stay away!” a new voice says, booming through the jungle. “She’s mine.”
The two dragons spin around.
“Ah,” says one of them. “The dying princeling is hiding in the bushes. Yes, you can watch, I suppose. Gold almighty, you look like you need to see a good spectacle before you expire.”
The newcomer steps into the light from the moon.
And it makes me want to cry. He’s hunched over and clutching his chest. He’s bleeding a lot, his whole upper body dripping with golden ichor, even his beard.
“Caronerax!”
“Never fear,” he says, coming closer on unsteady legs. “Jennifer, I will protect you. Get away from her, pitiful ground-walkers with your rotting scales.”
The two other dragons shake their heads.
“This is almost sad,” one says. “Some sacrilege happened here. A dragon is shedding ichor. Tell me you murdered the one who inflicted this on you, Caronerax.”
His laugh is hoarse and wheezing. “She stands right there. She once had a weapon that was much more powerful than the one she used now.”
“Ah,” Emerak says. “And now you wish revenge. You may take your revenge on her after I take her in every other way.”
“I love her,” Caronerax declares out loud. “Anyone who threatens to harm her forfeits his life. Do you feel ready to die, Lord Emerak?”
“Don’t be silly, runt of the royal litter,” Emerak scoffs. “You’re bleeding to death. You couldn’t harm even this female right now. Stand back. I’m not done with her.”
The two others turn from him and back to me, one on each side of, their shadows casting me in darkness.
They’re not seeing what I’m seeing. A second later, they are in darkness, too.
Get down, my love.
He says it right into