Obsidian
“No.”
He stopped in his tracks, more out of sheer surprise at the arrogance of the human than any effect the word itself had upon him.
“Excuse me?” He spoke in a low, dark, threatening tone, pulling himself up to his full height and looking down upon the little human, inspecting her as someone might an ant.
She was a finger or three above five and a half feet tall, which was a little less than a foot shorter than he was. He noticed the way she carried herself, comfortable with the mass, but also aware of the muscle she had underneath it. For a human female he determined her to be stronger than the norm, though that meant little to him. If he wished it, a flick of his arm would clear her from his path. Permanently.
But curiosity got the better of Obsidian, and even among the naturally inquisitive dragons, he’d always been more so than the rest. Besides, he couldn’t get over her hair.
“What happened to it?” he asked bluntly, ignoring whatever it was she had been saying. Surely something inconsequential.
“Huh?” she blinked several times before her eyes refocused on him. “What happened to what?”
“Your hair. Did you lose it somehow? Did someone shave it and now you’re growing it back out?” He tilted his head to the side. “Fascinating, really. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone wear their hair quite like that. And we won’t discuss your attire either.”
The woman shook her head. “What is wrong with my hair? It’s called a pixie cut and it’s currently in style. Not to mention it works well with my helmet.” She suddenly patted her head. “Which I appear to have left back there in your den. Damn.”
“A pixie cut your hair? I didn’t realize they actually existed. Even to us they were considered legend.”
The human woman cradled her head in her hand. “No, a human cut it, you metal-brained idiot. The term for the style is a pixie-cut. Sheesh. Could you be more rude?”
He smiled. She had some fire to her, that was for sure. Perhaps he wouldn’t kill her after all. The others though…they would have to die. He hated being disturbed, and that was twice now in just a few days!
His legs started forward again as he headed up the tunnel, wondering what the metal construct was. Some sort of statue, perhaps? He wasn’t sure.
“I said no.” The woman stood in his way and crossed her arms.
He reached out, grabbed her shoulders, and set her to the side like a chess piece before moving onward. Another three strides and he jerked as something bounced off the side of his head.
Turning back, his hand flashed up as he caught the next rock thrown by the woman in midair. Then he ground it to dust in his hand, sprinkling it across the ground in front of him. Instead of being intimidated, the woman simply picked up a bigger rock and threw that at him. He batted it from the air with contemptuous ease, swatting it into the tunnel wall where it exploded.
“You cannot stop me. You are not capable of it.”
“You are not going to do that! You can’t do it.”
He cocked his head at the feisty female. “Why is that?” There seemed to be little harm in humoring her before he carried out his vengeance on the would-be conquerors once more.
“What? What the hell do you mean why? Let’s start with the fact that you can’t just walk around MURDERING PEOPLE and think it’s okay? That’s not the way it’s done, you oaf.”
Obsidian frowned. She seemed rather adamant about that. Did she not know that that’s exactly how he did it? If they had come looking for him, he was going to kill them all as a lesson to the next group, so that in time eventually they might just leave him alone to let him keep his watch in peace.
“What is murder?” he asked, suspecting he knew the word, but wasn’t positive. It had been a while since he’d spoken this language.
“What? What is murder? It’s when you kill someone on purpose, particularly those who do not expect it or deserve it. There is no war on, we’re not fighting anyone here. So you can’t just go kill whoever you wish. That’s murder, and it’s a crime.”
“But they do deserve it,” he countered.
“Oh really? And why is that? Go on, tell me. I bet you have a real good reason.” She crossed her arms in front of her.
He could smell the fear on her, and yet still she remained defiant to him. He was coming to like her spirit. She knew that he could kill her with ease, without even trying, and yet she still was working to stop him, even going so far as to throw rocks at his head. Now that was either bravery or stupidity.
Often that was determined whether someone survived or not.
“They disturbed my sleep,” he grumbled angrily.
“Waking someone up is not a crime!” she shouted. “It’s not nice, I’ll admit. But it is not a reason to kill someone. I’m pretty sure you got back at them with that whole emitting fear thing you’ve got going on. They all ran away terrified.”
He snorted. “Weaklings. The last group who came pushed through that. These men couldn’t even stomach that as they tried to kill me? I will teach them the error of their ways.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” she shouted, looking ready to tear her hair out in frustration. “What other group? Nobody here was trying to kill you!”
That just wasn’t believable. She must be lying. They were of course here to finish up what their comrades could not. “They trespassed then,” he told her. “That is a crime.”
“Trespassed? Where? Onto what? Were there any signs telling them not to?”
Frowning, he shook his head. “This is my mountain. It has always been my mountain. I claimed it. Your leaders know that, I told them myself! How could you have forgotten?”
The woman was shaking her head. “How? Oh I don’t know, because nobody knows you exist! Try that for starters.”
Obsidian laughed, filling the tunnel with nasty laughter. “You lie, human. I know you lie. The ash from when I last erupted the mountain would have filled the sky for days. The evidence would be all around as you climbed up here. Unmistakable.”
Now she fell silent, which was the last thing he’d expected.
“This mountain is dormant,” she said softly. “It hasn’t erupted in five hundred years.”
Obsidian leaned backward in surprise, contemplating her words. That was an unexpected answer. Five hundred years? He had slept for that long? It didn’t seem possible. He’d expected a week, maybe two. Heck, even a year wouldn’t have truly fazed him. But five centuries worth of sleeping? He’d accidentally napped away half a dozen decades before, but this was a new record for him.
“Whoops. Would you believe I slept in?”
The human’s jaw dropped open. “Whoops? You’re telling me you slept for five hundred years, and that’s only worth a ‘whoops’ to you?”
It was clear she was agog with the idea that someone could lose track of that much time, let alone live for that long. Obsidian knew he was at risk of her finally snapping and believing she was having a break from reality, so he needed to treat this as calmly as possible. With this much time having passed, he felt the he might need someone to bring him up to speed on the changes in the world.
“Pretty much,” he replied with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. “I am a dragon, after all. It really shouldn’t be that much of a surprise to you that we like to sleep, or that we live for a long time. All of that was part of human legend before I took a nap. Has it truly been lost to the ages?”
The woman was shaking her head in disbelief. “Well, I mean, dragons don’t exist. You’re all just myth.”
“Would you like me to replay your memory for you of the cavern? I distinctly remember you seeing me in my dragon form.”
“Oh yeah, and that’s another thing. You can change forms? How is that even fair?”
He chuckled. “Who said anything about fair? And I can only assume human form or dragon. If you were expecting me to turn into a toad so you could find your prince, I’m sorry.”
“Huh,” she said, shaking her head. “Apparently that story is a lot older than anyone thinks.”
“Story?”
She narrowed her eyes, but Obsidian just gazed back at her, admiring her round face and bright, intelligent eyes. She really is rather cute, he mused. He continued to admire her form, hidden as it was beneath the brown…outfit she wore. He had no idea what it was, but it certainly wasn’t fashionable as he knew it. Why, it showed none of her bodice!
“You shall guide me,” he decided suddenly as they stood there in the tunnel facing each other.
“I’m not going to take you up there just so you can kill everyone because you’re having a temper tantrum about sleeping in,” she snapped.
Obsidian felt his lips trying to quirk upward in a smile, but he fought it down, a master of his expressions after all these years. Damn, she has fire at her core. What a dragon she would have made. Getting her going is just too easy.
“No, you are correct. After being asleep for so long, it seems I will have to reestablish my claim to the mountain. Once I have done that, anyone who trespasses will forfeit their lives.” He smiled at her. “See, I’m not all that bloodthirsty.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“No, what? You are refusing to guide me?” He let some anger slip into his voice.
“No, your plan won’t work.”
He shrugged. “Okay, then I’ll do it my way. Fire and ash, kill them all until people start getting the point.”
His footsteps began to echo in the tunnel once more as he walked forward.