The Dragon that Decides 2

The Dragon that Decides
Chapter 2

-VB-

Flying.

Is.

Awesome.

I never knew how flying under your own power was just … intoxicating. It was a different form of power, and I mean that in a literal sense. To be able to fly under your own strength was to grasp freedom with your very hands. It was a form of power that was intricately tied to survival.

If I had to be cold about it, then flying gave me options I could never have as a ground-bound creature. 3D instead of 2D.

My train of thoughts came to a stop when I spotted land on the horizon.

I still had a long journey ahead of me.

-VB-

It took me a whole week to travel from northeastern Essos to the Lhazar.

I roamed the entire length of the Lhazar’s mountains, trying to find Daenerys. I spent a week doing that before I gave up and headed towards Qarth, where she was supposed to find shelter after she and her khalasar left Lhazar.

And that’s when I encountered a lone rider.

I dove down.

The rider saw my shadow and looked up sharply.

---

Aggo saw death.

It was a dragon just like the ones his queen birthed.

This one, however, was not young and certainly not of his queen’s. It was giant, bigger than anything he’s ever come across. It came for him like a bird of prey.

He knew his fate was sealed.

But he was not going to just die because some lizard wanted to eat him! He was Khal Drogo’s bloodrider! Hell with fate, he would ride til he had no strength!

“TARA, RIDE WITH ME!” he urged his stallion, and pulled at the reins while kicking it. The momentarily stunned stallion brayed and charged forward, darting forward as quickly as its legs could carry it.

The dragon swerved midair, making the air burst with its strength as it changed its trajectory mid-flight and chased after him.

Aggo glared at the reptile over his shoulder as his partner ran for their lives, because there was no chance in the Night Lands that he could outrun that!

“You’re doing great, Tara, just keep running!” he shouted even as the dragon closed in behind them.

And then the dragon dove in and landed on the ground, throwing up a huge dust cloud that obscured everything behind them. The earth shook but not a lot. Not enough to prevent Tara from running.

“Ha! Ran out of endurance, lizard?!” he laughed.

“No.”

Aggo’s heart lurched inside his chest.

The dragon jumped out of the cloud, moving faster than it had while flying.

No.

It hadn’t been flying. Aggo realized it now that he saw the wings flapping. It had merely been gliding towards him. Scaring him.

Playing with him.

He gritted his teeth before roaring when the dragon landed right in front of them and Tara. The crash sent the earth flying, and he and Tara flew briefly before they crashed independently of each other. Tara screamed as his hindlegs broke upon landing, and Aggo bit his lips as he felt something shatter, too.

“Now that you aren’t running away, tell me,” the dragon spoke like a person. “Where can I find the new mother of dragons?”

“I will never tell y-!”

“Even if it means the survival of your khalasar?”

Aggo’s jaw clicked shut. “W-What…?”

“I have no intention of harming your queen. In fact, I admire her! That’s why I am here to give her a way out. Observe.”

Aggo’s eyes widened as the dragon swiped at its side and tore a hole in the air that led to … to a paradise. Of green hills and flowing water.

“See? Now, tell me where she is.”

Even before this dragon appeared, he’d run out of food and water. He had been prepared to die.

But this?

He had to take it. He had to.

---

Daenerys thought that before her dragons were born the species had been all but extinct.

Seeing the giant flying creature in the sky - a dragon - far larger and mightier than any living being or even army that she’s seen, she knew that she had been an ignorant child.

Suddenly, everything she’s done so far felt small and meaningless. That leading her people through the Red Waste had been a mistake. Of course, the Red Waste had to be a waste for a reason! A dragon silently devouring that lived here? It made sense now that she saw it coming.

It was death incarnate, so brutal and efficient in its murders that no one saw it and lived and thus all assumed that the Red Waste was a result of the land’s own inhospitality.

As the dragon grew closer, she noticed something in its … hands? She looked at her children. They didn’t have hands. She looked back up, surprised. That dragon did.

And then she realized that the dragon had a horse in one hand and a man in the other. As the dragon grew closer, she saw that it was Aggo! He was alive and well, if a little thin.

The dragon came, and her people screamed in fear.

But the dragon … came to a soft landing, soft for its size, at the edge of her khalasar that was closest to her. It set down Aggo and his stallion and stalked towards her. The earth shook with each step it took. As it drew closer, she realized just exactly how big this dragon was.

Its mere presence made her knees quiver and all of her khalasar, even Aggo, trembled before it.

“So… you are Daenerys Targaryeon.”

Her jaw dropped.

Did-. Did the dragon just speak?!

“Well? Are you?”

She gulped. “I-I am.”

It took a casual glance at her khalasar. “Ah, the burden of leadership. I can offer to make it lighter.”

Immediately, she tensed. This was no ordinary being. It was smart and crafty. She could tell that just from the brief exchange so far. “What could a dragon give me, a human?” she asked. She also doubted that this dragon was like her children; she could feel it. Any attempt to “command” this creature would be …

It wouldn’t be wise.

“I offer you a way out of the Red Waste to a place that your khalasar will find refuge and perhaps even a new land to roam and call their own. But I have a condition.” It leaned in. “I’m a greedy being, Daenerys, and I find you to be a particularly rare and valuable person.”

She felt her shoulders ease.

That’s it then.

Her in exchange for her people’s well being and prosperity.

It glanced at her children, and she tensed again.

“Little drakes, starving like beggars. That won’t do.”

It opened its maw… and a half-digested creature came out. It looked like a fish but had proportions that were different.

Then it breathed fire.

The fish-thing turned crisp in moments. It smelled extremely foul.

“Eat.”

Her children stumbled and hesitated. They looked at her.

She gave in.

“Go on.”

They flew and jumped and then they were upon the cooked carcass.

She now knew that it wouldn’t harm her children - for now.

“I’m a greedy being, Daenerys, and I am stingy with my time. You’ll have to decide now.” It paused and then smirked. There was a swirl of something and then … the dragon morphed, folding into itself in impossible ways, and then a tall and black haired man with no hair anywhere but his head and with lean muscles stood in the dragon’s place. “If it makes the decision easier, then here I am as a man.”

Her jaw dropped again.