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| Original photo by Steve |
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Part 4
I looked up at the dragon Queen from my spot on the floor and blinked. Her golden eyes blinked back. One of the guards nudged me with his food. "Well. Answer her."
"There is no cure." I said. You don't cure a pregnancy like some kind of virus. That was the wrong answer.
The Queen sighed heavily in my direction, her breath was like the desert wind. "YOU LIE." She said, still lacking any kind of volume control. "I WILL EAT YOU FOR YOUR BETRAYAL."
Didn't you have to be in someone's trust first to betray them? "Wait!" I scrambled backward on all fours. "Wait, you don't get it. You're not sick. You're not dying." I didn't want to die either.
"I AM ILL"
"No, you're pregnant!"
The big black head drew back quite suddenly. I collapsed on the floor, breathing fast. My phone squauked. I held it to my ear. "Sorry, say again?"
"She has six. They are fighting inside of her. She will soon only have one."
"They're fighting? Like sharks?"
"Yes. The strongest uses the others for energy."
"WHO ARE YOU SPEAKING WITH?"
"Err." I pulled the phone from my ear. "Actually I have no idea. There's some ghost in my phone." I stood up. The guards didn't help. "Look, you've got six little dragons at war inside of you, that's probably why you feel sick. It'll pass. One of them will win and you'll feel much better after that."
"I AM LOOSING MY BABIES?"
Well that didn't sound very good in retrospect. "No! No, they're uh.... They're figuring out which one is the strongest and the others will er... yield to it."
"I WILL HAVE A SON."
"Well, I mean, you don't know that until you give birth, right?" Did dragons do birth or eggs?
"I WILL HAVE A STRONG SON." She said, swinging her head close again.
"Ok, yes." I agreed, hands up. "Yes, you'll have a healthy son. A good strong dragon, just like his momma." I couldn't decide if keeping eye contact was a bad thing.
"YOU WILL STAY HERE AND KEEP ME INFORMED."
"Uh... no." I began backing up. "I mean, it's been lovely, you're all quite lovely... people." Reptiles? Man-suits? "But, I've got an interview I need to get to and I really don't have any more information for you."
"YOU WILL STAY."
"Maybe we can work out some sort of twice-per-week system? Mondays and Thursdays work for you?" I hissed into the phone. "Help me out here, how do I leave?"
The dragon in my phone asked, "Why do you want to leave?"
"I have a life to get back to, thanks. Didn't you want to get out of this stuffy tower?" The two guards finally clued in that I was backing up toward the door. They strode toward me.
"It is true, I long to see the city." I heard her sigh heavily. "Very well tell our Queen that you will take the Oath of Death for her son."
"Oh, because that's not ominous. What does that even mean?" I debated between turning to run and continuing my shuffle backward. The guards didn't seem to be in a hurry, but then again, they had wings. They could fly. I couldn't.
"I thought you wanted to leave."
"I don't want to die, either."
"No one is going to kill you."
"I'm sorry, it's called the Oath of Death for a reason." The purple-winged guard fell forward to lope on the ground like an ape or... you know, a dragon. His green partner jumped forward with a huge push of his wings. I didn't stand a chance. I turned to run and a hand fisted in my hair. One of them grabbed my shirt, another hand, my belt. I was turned around to face the Queen. My phone squawked but I couldn't hear the words.
The huge, black creature that was the Queen of Dragons made a low growling noise that shook the building. Her head went up (and up and up) until it pulled her body off the polished floor. Her talons swept dragons-in-men-suits to either side. She only needed to take a single step. Her head descended from on high. "YOU WILL STAY."
I squinted into the sound of her voice. The volume really had to come down. My phone barked again but the guards held me fast. This was a really bad idea. "I will take the Oath of Death for your son."
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