61 Queen
Yeah, he totally could!
Cael smirked. After many hours of trudging through the swamp and dealing with individually weak, but highly annoying because of the need to be constantly on alert of them, swamp dragons, this was actually promising to be fun.
And if Queen, drunk on Starspawn power, could become a threat to Oliveira lands and subjects, this was only a better reason to end her.
"Alright, Princess. Where is Queen?"
The dragon drew closer to Cael. Despite her size, she was graceful and didn't sink into the soft ground.
"Sit on my back, hunter. I will bring you there."
***
That was quite a ride. Princess ran through the marshes even swifter than the smaller dragons. Her feet carried her over the water and grass alike, no doubt thanks to the innate magic of dragons. Her presence scared all lesser dragons away.
In no time at all, a small hill appeared from the fog, and Princess stopped.
Cael, who was holding onto her neck for dear life, exhaled in relief. Despite the dragon's smooth gait, his backside was weeping with pain from the countless nubs and growths on Princess' scales.
"This is it—the Nest," Princess pointed at the hill with a wing. "Queen never leaves it. There will be male dragons inside, too, but they won't dare to interfere."
Cael looked at the "hill" again and found what he missed before—a relatively small, dark opening of an entrance. Barely big enough to fit Princess, not to mention a bigger dragon. And what Cael thought was a natural grassy mound, on a deeper inspection, was more akin to a beaver's dam. With more moss and grass on top.
"Can she ever leave the Nest? She won't fit through this door."
Princess let out a vaguely surprised grunt. "I didn't think of this. But this just shows what her mad hunger for power had reduced Queen to. She can't leave without damaging the Nest's walls! She will have to fight right on top of her precious eggs. I will have to lay many eggs of my own after we kill her to negate the damage."
Cael frowned. "Not too many, Princess. These dragons, when there's too many of them, attack the villages closest to the swamp. That's a big part of why they are hunted, you know."
Princess began to walk again, slower this time, towards the Nest.
"Of course, hunter. Hunger drives all of us. Queen's hunger for power made her so big that the males couldn't find enough food for her in the swamp. They hunt and their fish, and it's still too little for her! But this will change when I become Queen."
"It better!" Cael warned. "There are hundreds of legends about dragonkind, Princess, and almost all of them depict you as egoistic, cruel, and treacherous creatures."
Princess let out a barking noise. A scoff? A laugh? "Human legends! Made by humans for humans to picture you as the kings of the world and distract you from your real spot in the food chain. You are so used to huddling together into your tribes for protection that you need to tell yourself fairytales or you will spare your prey out of 'mercy' and starve."
"And what would YOU know about human legends? You are only a year old!"
"More than you know about dragons, definitely." Princess turned her head to give Cael a condescending look. "Our memories live on in our offspring. I remember the doings of my great ancestors, and even the time when the First Dragon himself walked the earth. Those glorious days, when the world was young and the blood of gods was strong in their children…"
"Regardless, all that you say still doesn't make dragons better than humans. Or any good at all! Just to think—you have all that great knowledge and hoard it to yourself, sharing it only with your children, like…"
Cael trailed off. This reminded him painfully of something very close to heart. But before he could finish this thought, Princess stopped in front of the entrance to the Nest.
"Here we are. Get off me, hunter. I can't fight with you on my back."
Cael jumped off the dragon, taking in his surroundings. This part of the swamp, excluding the Nest, looked as much as any other to him. There was no missing the dozens of lesser dragons scuttling away from Princess.
Even if Cael didn't notice their lean bodies cutting through the water in their haste to stay away, there was no missing their mana. They didn't go too far, though, creating a two dozen meters wide circle around Cael and Princess.
The combined mana of it all was nothing compared to the powerful mana Cael sensed from inside the Nest. It stank like the swamp, but from inside that mass, an eerie glimpse of something unearthly shone through.
Cael peered inside the Nest with his eyes, but it was too dark to actually see a thing. He read a Light spell and cautiously stepped forward, through the looming arch of wood and dirt. Princess followed right after.
Cael's spell wasn't big enough to light the entire building. The farther walls and the ceiling stayed cloaked in shadows. So did the massive silhouette in the center of the room. Cael could make out only the shape of a raised head on an elongated neck, a hint of a tail, and the size.
Queen was twice as big as Princess. That, if measured in horses stacked on top of each other, made her four horses tall.
Cael swallowed. This was going to be dangerous.
Queen shifted and leaned her head towards her visitors. Her voice boomed through the building, and more of the lesser dragons scuttled to the edges of the Nest.
"Well, well, well. Isn't that my cowardly daughter? Have you decided to make peace and brought this snack as a gift? Or have you united with a human just to kill me? Ungrateful!" She turned towards Cael. "And you! A mage with some power… What did she promise as a reward? What lies did she tell about me?"
*boss music begins playing*
Garessta
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