Page 89 of Consort's Dragon
“And then you’ll fly off into the sunset.Sounds great for you, but have you given thought to what will happen if Zhos is left to rampage unchecked?”
I’ve told you, not my problem.
“So you’re not worried at all about humanity being wiped out?”
Why would I care?They didn’t care when my kind was erased.
“I guess you don’t need servants, then.Because Zhos isn’t going to kill just the non-blooded.Everyone will die.And once there are no humans left, I imagine it will go after you.”
I will not be swayed.Humans wasted the chance we gave them.Now they reap what they sowed.
“You’re talking about people long dead.”
Not all of them.
“Meaning what?”
The guardians we seek were alive during that time.
“Impossible,” Griff scoffed.
Not when they did the most heinous thing imaginable.Argent paused before adding,I’d wondered why Spelix wasn’t among the others when Basil brought us down from Fraegus Spire.There should have been six eggs.Given the guardians have obviously been keeping themselves young, I can only assume they ground up Spelix’s egg to create an elixir of youth.
Griff whistled.“Shit.No wonder you hate them.”
There is no guarantee they wouldn’t do so again should we make ourselves vulnerable.
“I understand.”Much as he hated it, Griff couldn’t blame Argent.The dragons had been ill used.“Guess we’ll have to find another way to get rid of Zhos.”
It is not only dragon blood that can paralyze.The blooded share that trait with us.Of course, once you die you don’t get to come back.Hence why none ever volunteered themselves in the past.
“Good to know.”
Not that Griff grasped how that would help.During the flight to the volcano, he’d been privy to Starlight and Argent’s conversation.The pale dragon had been the one to come up with a hypothesis of the guardians’ plan.Freeze Zhos with dragon blood and when some kind of portal opened, have a dragon drag Zhos through.A dragon who most likely couldn’t return.
However, Griff wouldn’t give up.There had to be a way to ensure Zhos couldn’t ruin the world.
The soothing motion of flight lulled Griff to sleep, and he woke midday to bright sunlight and Avera’s excited shout.
“I see the ship!”
His ship bobbed offshore and, upon seeing the approaching dragons, a skiff launched with only two of the crew rowing.Understandable.When Argent had originally agreed to take Griff and a few friends to the volcano, Griff had the dragon drop him on deck where he’d been bombarded by his frightened crew.
“Is the dragon gonna eat us?”
“Why didn’t the dragon eat you, Cap?”To which someone replied, ‘‘Cause he’s tougher than that bread your mom makes.”
As expected, they’d figured out Argent’s secret.
“You mean to say we been travelling with a dragon this entire time?”
Griff did his best to assuage them, assure them that Argent wouldn’t cause them harm.That the dragon was his friend—of sorts.But he could see his crew didn’t entirely believe him.
Hopefully, now that he’d returned with Avera and the others, they’d calm down, or he might very well have a problem.Argent wasn’t the type to take aggression or insults without action.
The dragons landed on shore, disgorging their passengers.Griff stood waiting as the skiff rowed to shore, the rowers being Garth and Kelly and not the younger crew.
“Cap, good to see you,” Garth beamed.“And there’s that sneaky bastard.”Garth strode right over to Argent and gave his scales a slap.“Knew there was something different about you, boy.”
