Travel notebook day 43. After a few hours overflying the Pacific Ocean I spotted through my left eye a big mass of land with a dense green forest. It seemed to be a decent place to land and make a stop before resuming my journey. At first I was just going to take a brief rest, stretch my wings and see if I could find some fresh water since my canteen had ran out of water already, but as soon as I could draw nearer the roof of the forest some of the trees and plants that there grew caught my attention, some because of their strange shapes, others because it was the first time I saw those species. And that was very rare
As I already explained in the autobiography of this notebook, I am a well-known herbalist who is looking for a very rare tropical accession of Batricum Oraliander a plant with amazing therapeutic properties. I started this journey six weeks ago, and since then nothing caught my attention like the vegetation of that island, maybe my luck was changing.
The dragon closed his notebook and stroked distractedly the cover of it where the title was carved on “A Journey to the World of Tropical Plants” by Arnilith Skyshard. He had dedicated all his life to the study of plants, trees, herbs and their applications for the traditional medicine, the diet and how plants also can stablish a complex atmosphere with the rest of the ecosystem and the plant he was looking for had to be in some corner of the huge Pacific Ocean, the tropical variant was meant to have a much stronger effect on the organism than its parental antecessor from the middle east lands. That plant had a lot of different uses, in the middle ages it was discovered by the first time by Roger Westnut who could cure many diseases and stop dangerous pandemics, but eventually new and more dangerous viruses appeared and the treatments with the magical plant were discarded and classified as “useless”, new substitutes and improved treatments started to rise. Since then, herbalists were criticized and slowly started to live in separate groups in forests or caves, they were called druids and sometimes visited from time to time by some who still believed in their remedies.
A grumble of his stomach brought Arnilith out of his thoughts, the long journey certainly did not only wear out his wings, also emptied his stomach. The fact that his knowledge about edible plants was an advantage he did not bring any food supplies as well so the frequent stops to rest and gathering resources was a must. The dragon stood up heavily groaning and stretching out his wings with an audible crack of his bones, then, with a swift move Arnilith turned around to face the entrance of the forest, leaving the seaside behind he stepped inside hoping to find something to calm his hunger.
The glade was dense, vegetation of the typical tropical jungle could be spotted left and right, trees with long trunks which seemed to want to touch the sky above them, all sorts of bushes with large leaves that tried to capture the few beams of light that got to pass through the first and taller layer of leaves, the colors of the leaves went along the whole green pallet, from darker ones, tones of turquoise, light green and lime. Arnilith was very aware of his surroundings mentioning some of the names of the most exotic species he was spotting, Erythrina caffra, Bombax ceiba, Ficus lyrata, those were rare species to see and all being in one place was simply fascinating and it made the trip more entertaining, however the roots and branches made the path quite narrow for the dragon and certainly not that pleasant. Luckily, it did not take very long until Arnilith found a very well-known tree, the tropical accession of Mangifera indica also commonly known as the mango tree.
Despite being a dragon Arnilith was very familiar to eating all kind of vegetables, fruits and berries and edible bushes. The fact of not being only meet dependent made his journey way easier since it was not always possible to find some sources of fresh meat.
Taking a look at the tree Arnilith spotted some mature mangos among the branches, judging by the size of the tree and the size of the dragon he wouldn’t be able to climb it safely, instead the dragon coiled his tail around one of the upper branches and started swinging it up and down making the branch shake and eventually drop the fruits. The plan worked as he could see some mangos falling from the tree, but it was not perfect since the fruits ended up splashed against the ground
- Mangos are soft fleshy fruits, damn it – complained Arnilith as he approached to the smashed fruits on the ground – Guess I was not very smart there.
It was at that moment when he heard bushes moving behind him, this made Arnilith tense up and stand on four legs sniffing the air. It was a self-defense pose which allowed to counterattack or run away instantly. At first, he kept the pose as it was his primal instinct, but then the dragon relaxed as he thought it would have been another indigenous animal of the island. Everything seemed to be calm again, Arnilith left the place and resumed his search of something to calm his hunger.
But once the dragon was gone, a pair of yellow eyes were still watching from the bush, they followed the path of the dragon until the leaves hid him entirely. A dark figure emerged from the bush causing yet more noise, it had a humanoid torso, but its neck was longer and seemed to be ended in a head of the same size with a long pointy snout, no ears at all and a long tail. The dark figure took a couple of steps forward to search for what the dragon left behind, the smashed mangos, that’s when it could be seen it was a reptilian creature with humanoid attributes, over all his body there were paintings and tattoos of war scenes, runes and maybe, gods. The reptilian was carrying a spear with him and a quiver on his back.
Eventually more reptile-like creatures came along with the first one and stood behind him
- Finally… our day iz about to come my people – Said the chief, the one that went first – Our ritualzzz must begin
After that conclusion, the rest of the lizard men exploded in a chorus of hisses and battle screams, it was like if they were already celebrating their victory after a great catch or a war.
- Alright, let the hunt begin – Stated the chief rising his voice over the rest.
In the blink of an eye all the individuals left the area hiding into the bushes and disappearing in absolute silence, the rummage of leaves was the only trail they would leave behind.
Trapping big preys was always a challenge, especially if they were also intelligent like the case of a dragon, but luckily the tribe members knew the island, knew the terrain and the perfect spots to set a trap. A couple of sentinels were following Arnilith so they could locate the dragon and predict his next move, while the rest of the members were already setting the trap. Not far away there was a part of the forest where fruit trees grew massively, all sorts of fruits were edible and some of them could only be found in that island, that is where the tribe members collected their food supply apart from what they managed to hunt, surely it was a matter of time that Arnilith would bump into that place and carried by hunger he would take a bite of any of those fruits.


But Cheoloth the chief of the hunting scouts had a plan and commanded his acolytes to prepare a sleeping poison and pour it over certain fruits of the trees, of course the poison would make the fruit look different so they could distinguish the normal ones from the not poisonous ones and be able to still eat them. Before the dragon reached the place, everything was ready and set.
Led by his instinct and hunger Arnilith wandered through the forest, dodging branches, roots, stepping on mud made his paws wet, the high humidity of the ambience and the tropical heat was certainly making his trip a lot harder and more time and energy consuming. Finally, the forest opened again, and the dragon could see what he thought it was heaven.
Tropical fruits, colorful trees with big fruits, bushes with berries and some trees that he had never seen before. With big open eyes the dragon approached the trees looking with special attention at the ones he did not know about and to their fruits as well. Reaching up he managed to pick a blue and purple fruit with the shape of a banana, it was strange to see that kind of accession there. For a moment the curiosity of the dragon seemed to hide his hunger because instead of consuming the fruits Arnilith was fascinated studying them and picked some of them to keep them in his bag, but not only fruits, he even dug into the base of the trees to collect the roots since they could have medical properties.
Meanwhile where the dragon could not see them, Cheoloth and his men were hidden, remained in strategic spots around the dragon waiting for the moment to attack. Keeping absolute silence and without exchanging words, the chief made signs to the Kobolds to be ready, their language consisted in a bunch of cackles and hisses that could simulated the sound of the leaves moved by the wind, so Arnilith had no clue what was going to come over him.
Still Arnilith was immersed in learning the traits of those knew fruits, berries, roots and leaves, not being aware that some of the ones he was carrying were poisonous. As a very experienced botanist he knew that the last thing he should do was to eat any of the fruits he knew nothing about, so after some time the dragon sat down by the trunk of a tree with two coconuts which smashed against a rock to open them so he could drink their milk and eat them.
Still in the shadows, the cackles and hisses intensified as the kobolds started to get impatient seeing that the dragon would not eat the trap fruits.
- Ssssssir, ssssshouldn’t we attack now? Thissss dosen’t seem to be working – Hissed one of the kobolds that was next to Cheoloth
But the chief did not answer, he simply rose his hand demanding silence, his expression was serious but calm, like if he had everything under control.
- But Ssssir Cheol- - Replied the kobold but he was interrupted by the chief who shut him and pointed at the bag of the dragon
- Wait, our victory is clossse, the goddesssss will get her sssacrifice
The kobold did not seem to understand what his boss meant but he had no other chance apart from obeying. Following the direction Cheoloth pointed he could spot a black round fruit barely popping out from the dragon’s bag. What did the chief plan with that specific fruit?


Once he finished his poor meal Arnilith decided to rest at the shadow of the tree while examining the fruits he collected. The first one he picked was the black strange fruit, what caught the dragon’s attention was its color, that pure opal black, certainly it was beautiful, somehow there was something hypnotizing in it, how you could stare into the fruit and not distinguish any reflect of light, it seemed like it could absorb it all. Arnilith had his eyes darting on the fruit for a while, then rubbed the peel feeling how smooth to touch it was, there was not a single wrinkle, it was also consistent, you needed to apply a decent pressure to be able to deform it slightly, but the smell, that was the most strange part, it had no smell, Arnilith with the years had developed a very fine sense of smell but no matter how much he tried to detect any scent coming from the fruit, he simply couldn’t. Every fruit had it characteristic smell, all the plants could produce metabolites such as lycopene, limonene, ethylene, that gave them a unique smell. Due to this big mysterious the dragon felt the urge to take a bite, he needed to know if it tasted like anything or did not taste at all.
- What hazzzzz that fruit of special chief? – Asked one of the kobolds
- See? That wasss the plan, I supposed the dragon wouldn’t take a bite of something he does not know, instinct makesss you distrust of the unknown – Said Cheoloth with an evil smile – I took that specific one to our great shaman, The Wise Sennomor. I asked him to make the fruit irresistible to anyone who sees it. It can look like a normal fruit but as soon as it traps you, the spell will make effect and you will feel the urge to taste it. No matter how strong your will is, the glamour will make it look like the thing you would desire the most. And it seems that our future sacrifice has already fell for it.
And the thing that Arnilith most desired was knowledge, to know, to find answers for his questions, why didn’t it have any smell? Why was it pure black? What will it taste like? Deep inside the dragon knew that was dangerous, his subconscious was screaming but its voice got muzzled by another one, it was a soothing voice that was coming from the proper fruit, the words could be clearly heard “taste me” “bite me” “I can provide what you’re looking for” . Arnilith was disturbed by that situation but somehow his will was being slowly nullified, and he could only focus on that voice that was calling for him. As he was approaching that cursed fruit to his snout he could hear the voice clearer, he could feel the smooth peel of the fruit and get lost in that eternal black color, everything around turned fuzzy and blurry, his field of vision only had one thing spotted, his maw opened a bit instinctively, his breathing rate fastened…
A chilling hiss of victory came at unison from the trees surrounding the dragon, that terrifying scream threw Arnilith back to reality, when his vision came back to normal, he saw the black fruit aside of him. It had a bite.
A rush of adrenaline took over the dragon’s body who quickly stood up being aware of his terrible mistake, he had been tricked and now it was too late. He needed to get out of that place as soon as possible, so unfurling his big orange scaled wings Arnilith took off, the less dense vegetation of the tropical fruits trees allowed him to have enough space to take flight without obstacles in his way.
- Ssssssir! He’s running away! – Claimed one of the kobolds that stood next to Cheoloth
- Follow him, he won’t run far away – Replied the chief with calm and an enigmatic smirk upon his face.
Rising his arm up Cheoloth gave the sign and the rest of the members of the hunting squad started to move from tree to tree still hidden, except when their heads popped out from the cup of the trees to track where the dragon was.
Arnilith could not think clearly about what had just happened, all he could focus on was in escaping from there. His thoughts rushed through his mind trying to gather up the memories, but it was useless, it was almost like if that lapse of time never happened. Flying across the sky Arnilith kept a safe distance from the land in order to avoid any trees but still needed to stick close to find the coastline and get his small luggage and his books. But it did not took so long for the effects of that cursed fruit started to appear, as Arnilith was not aware he was flying in circles all the time around the same area, that is why everything looked so similar to him, also his flaps became slower and slower as the wings of the dragon felt heavier.
The orange and black scaled dragon kept his desperate flight since his strong will and his habit of taking long flights under the worst conditions allowed him to keep it up for quite a while. For the dragon the landscape was changing, seeing different trees and different parts of the island each time, he even could see himself going through a desert, high mountains with a beautiful waterfall, some things he doesn’t remember seeing in the island and doesn’t make sense to be in a tropical island. It never got to an end, Arnilith could feel how his lungs started to demand more air and his vision started to get blurred, some sort of mist was slowly surrounding the dragon sinking him in a state of uncertain and confusion, no matter how much he tried he never reached the coast. After some time, he even started to recognize some of the landscapes finding a pattern, the sequence of landscapes started to get looped which made Arnilith freak out.
That was what made the dragon descend and land as anxiety started to take over him, how could it be possible? All of that could not be real, it must have been hallucination due to the fruit he just bit.
- It was poisonous for sure! – Screamed Arnilith as he reached the ground – I should have never taken that bite - Tons of thoughts rushed his tired mind, he was afraid of being trapped in an illusion forever, since he knew nothing about the duration of the effects of that fruit – Where am I now?
He tried to calm down by sitting next to the trunk of a tree trying to recover his breathing from the long flight, looking around to distinguish his surroundings but his vision was still too blurry and the mist seemed to come from every direction towards him, soon the dragon couldn’t see anything around him apart from a white screen of fog. The tiredness intensified as his eyes started to close, what he could last spot were some shadows running through the fog, that also alerted the dragon, but it was too late, he could not stand anymore. He fell off fainted.







First day: Initiation
Where Arnilith would meet his terrible fate
- Chief! Chief! It’s over here! – Cried out a voice from the bushes – The dragon is here!
- Finally! This cursed one lasted more than I expected, he is certainly a tough one. We will have fun breaking him – Said Cheoloth as he approached the bushes
Once he crossed them, he could spot the dragon laying on the ground next to the base of a tree curled up in position of self-defense. Cheoloth ordered his men to bring the ropes and the chariot with the cage, they needed to hurry up or the sleeping scaly could wake up in every moment.
Soon the kobolds surrounded the body of the dragon and proceeded to move its limbs, since the dragon was three times a size of an adult kobold, they needed to use hoists they rudimentarily constructed. Two of them went to the dragon’s ankles and other two went for the wrists tying them up together with thick ropes made of esparto. They could not be done yet since dragons were strong creatures and could break the ropes if they had a good angle to pull from them so to prevent that the kobolds managed to turn the dragon back and tie his wrists on his back securing them firmly with another cane that joint the ankle ties with the wrists ones.
Arnilith groaned in his state of semi-trance and swayed his tail hitting one of the kobolds who got tossed against a tree trunk.
- Sssssshaize! – Yelled the kobold as he tried to get up again – It hurtssss damn creature you’re gonna pay for thisss – With a loud and chilling scream he rushed towards the dragon handling his spear up
But all that reached the dragon was a splash of blue blood. The torso of the kobold fell onto the ground with a dry crack rising the hisses and screams among the other members of the squad.
- Nobody, I mean nobody will harm this dragon – Cheoloth rose his voice over the rest as he stepped forward towards the dragon shaking off the blood from his scimitar leaving the lower body of his subordinate behind – If you attempt to touch a single scale of his body you will go through a ten times worse peril than him. The goddess will have you as a sacrifice…. if my sword is not faster
The other kobolds resumed their tasks and quickly carried the dragon onto the big chariot locking the cage made of wood. Cheoloth sat on the pilot’s place and the chariot started to move forward being pulled by some of the kobolds. The chief kept staring at the dragon for a while
- You will be the greatest gift we’ve received; you have no idea how grateful we will be for this. Our greatest treasure. – Cheoloth spoke to the dragon as he used a bit of the blood that remained on his hand to paint a cross onto the dragon’s snout – Hurriiiiiiissssseeeee!



He desperately needed to escape, run away from there, Arnilith was being chased down and tried with all his might to find a way or a hiding spot. Terrible noises could be heard by Arnilith as he was running down a strange dark and never-ending plateau, apparently there was nothing surrounding the dragon, who was already on all fours running and flapping his wings as his instinct took over him and the most primal impulses were leading him to run aimlessly from an unseen threat. But eventually the floor underneath his big orange paws disappeared and Arnilith found himself free falling down completely consumed by a growing darkness, even if he tried to fly upwards he was still being dragged down, a thousands of scenes of his past life rushed through the dragon’s mind as he was desperately gasping for air.
Suddenly in the distance, in the end of that bottomless pit he could spot a source of light, something bright, was shining through the void. Was it the light at the end of the tunnel? Did it mean Arnilith was dead? This made him panic even more and try even harder to turn back but it was useless. The light was growing bigger as Arnilith approached it, accepting his fate and blinded by the light he closed his eyes and let himself be consumed by the light.
- He’s awakening – Cooed a hissy voice
- I see I see! – Replied another excited voice – Go and call the chief, we shall proceed the initiation
Arnilith felt numb as he opened his eyes and started to become aware of his surroundings, slowly he regained his senses and one by one they sent him information of where he was, first that came back was his hear, the murmur of steps and echoing voices filled his head but couldn’t really distinguish what they were saying, secondly his sight cleared a bit and he could see big columns at both of his sides that led to a big stone door on the front, ornamented with some kind of paintings and carved figures and wavy shapes, the illumination was very dim, only being supported by the flames of the two torches of the main entrance and the narrow windows that the side wall had from where the sunset light made its way into the room, third he started to feel, his numb body was able to sense again, it somehow felt fresh and wet, when he looked down he found his body being in a bath carved into the floor filled with water. Confused, the dragon tried to move and get out of the pool but something blocked his way, he attempted again only to realize that his wrists were chained, the clinging sound of iron chains made Arnilith fully open his eyes and tug from his restrains but there was no use. Feeling how his anger grew inside him he started to call out for help.
- Where am I? Why am I chained! I demand answers! You have made a mistake! – Yelled out the dragon splashing the water of the bath.
That din scared the pair of sentinels that were guarding the dragon, when they were about to cross the stone entrance a figure came through it, it was about 5 ft high, with a prominent snout and wearing a golden necklace around his neck. It was Cheoloth, in his battle suit.
Silence reigned for a few seconds as the presence of the chief seemed to freeze air. Both Arnilith and Cheoloth exchanged a deadly stare at each other and finally the dragon was who broke the calm
- Who are you? I don’t know what you want to do with me, but I won’t tolerate this kind of trea-
- Yes yes, I am sorry that we had to take some serious measures of containment – interrupted the kobold as he stepped into the room, behind him five young other kobolds came in, these ones were shorter and with a thinner body they had necklaces around their necks and were carrying pots, towels, pieces of cloth, a nest and some sort of ornamented chest – Not every day we have the pleasure to take care of such a majestic creature. Forget my manners and let me introduce myself, my name is Chandir Landur Behemoth, but everyone knows me as Cheoloth. And your nam-
- Shut up and release me at once! – Arnilith growled showing his fangs at the chief, one of the things that annoyed him the most was condescension and apparent calm – Who do you think you are to take me against my will! Bunch of savages!
- Oh, so you don’t want to tell us your name. I was just trying to be kind with you Sir – He snapped his fingers, and the other kobolds came over the dragon who watched them with narrow eyes. – Then I guess we will have to give you a new name.
After saying that Arnilith could feel how the chains started to pull from his arms stretching them out as the chains were being dragged to the columns of the side. The other kobolds shily approached the dragon whispering among them and unsure of how this one would react. Among them Arnilith spotted one whose color was slightly lighter than the other ones, this was a lighter tone of green, it was turquoise deep as the ocean, they exchanged a brief glance before the kobold looked aside embarrassed. But this look did not go unseen for Cheoloth.
- Ah yes, she is Shelaila, my daughter. Sweet, isn’t she? – He spit the words half amused and half disgusted that his daughter was the point of attention. - They will take good care of you. Meanwhile I will call our shaman, he will start your initiation.
By the time the chief left the main room Arnilith had a brief moment to put his thoughts in order as his eyes ran in every direction scouting the room he was in, then tested the strength of the chains by pulling violently from them but they didn’t move in the slightest, only let out a loud crack that was followed by the scared screams of the kobold maids. Those screams caught the dragon’s attention who look at them, they didn’t seem to be willing to face the dragon.
- Alright Sir, here’s the deal – One of them stepped forward, it was Shelaila – We are supposed to clean you and serve you and all but that’s something we clearly aren’t very keen of doing. So how about if we make it easier for both of us. – The young kobold defiantly stared at the dragon as she approached the edge of the pool and poured the content. – Come on girls, let’s make our goddess proud of us.
The dragon was shocked from the braveness of the young Shelaila and how her words encouraged the others to approach the dragon. It was true he couldn’t use his arms or wings to attack or cover himself and the way he was sitting didn’t allow much rotation angle to twist his torso.
- You… Shelaila right? – Arnilith tried to stay calm as he spoke – What am I doing here? And why? Could you please answer me?
- Ah ah I’m afraid I’m simply a poor innocent maid who’s meant to only serve and please great and brave warriors – Sarcasm of her words was sharp as knives – So I guess I can’t give you the answers you’re looking for – After that she laughed and stepped into the bath with the dragon.
The water started to move creating light waves on the surface, Arnilith became aware of what was in the water apart from the young kobold and himself. Small fish were now swimming freely in the pool and they seemed to be gathering around the dragon’s and kobold’s body specially around their paws, it seemed that those fish were scavengers.
- Let’s begin with this – Shelaila smirked and got herself on the dragon’s lap placing her soaped hands on the dragon’s sides and started to trace random shapes on his torso
The rest of the maids also took their respective positions, two of them were at the dragon’s back and applied a gel-like oil over the neck and wings massaging them, the two remaining stood aside waiting their turn.
Arnilith let out a gasp and looked aside when he felt Shelaila’s embrace and her thin soft fingers massage his chest, it was an odd sensation, on one side he wanted to push them aside and break free, it was all so weird, so unlikely that a treatment like this was for free, it made the dragon unsure and untrusting; but on the other hand some part of him didn’t want it to stop, because he certainly was tired, he didn’t have a single break since he reached this island, the expedition to look for food, the chase, the capture, so after all he thanked this relief.
Not to mention how he also felt quite embarrassed for being surrounded by females, Arnilith was not used to this interaction since as a botanist during all his life, he hadn’t had much social skills, plants didn’t speak and of course didn’t tease you like this. He could hear the giggles of the ladies as he tried to avoid eye contact, as his sight wandered through the room, he spotted the fish, and how they were munching on the dragon’s big paws, they were removing the dead scales and thanks to the water the scales of the dragon was softening, he realized how he was turning more sensitive there. with those fish biting his toes, his beans, swimming around the soles and between the toes made the dragon smile trying to hold in the laugher, however gasps and chuckles came out every time he tried to take a breath. Two of the kobolds reached a spot between Arnilith’s wings that made him jump slightly and shiver, his lips curved up and soon he found himself giggling quietly.
- Oh look someone is ticklish~ - Shelaila remarked while her hands slipped towards the dragon’s exposed armpits, being covered in a kind of soap they were slippery and moved with easy around the curve of the dragon’s torso – That’s great! It means you will be a perfect subject for the ritual
- R-Ritual? Wha…Whahat kind of ritual are you talkihing about! – Claimed Arnilith as he tried to hold in the urge to giggle
- Oops looks like I spoke too much! – Mocked the kobold – Come on girls let’s hurry up and finish with him soon
The rest of the crew didn’t say a word, only started to speed up as their fingers moved down the dragon’s back all the way down the spine, the soap mixed with the nails of those kobolds made a nasty combination that made the scales of the dragon soften even more causing a strong ticklish sensation. Arnilith was starting to get a bit red but couldn’t tell if it was because of embarrassment or due to rage, his struggles and his funny smiley face made the dragon look less scary.
Eventually he could cope with those caresses and gathered enough energy to push backwards pushing the kobolds back and making them fall onto the stone floor and cross his legs which were not restrained crushing the young female kobold between them, trapping her. Arnilith glared with rage at Shelaila who desperately tried to struggle and break free, luckily for her it was not very difficult since the soap he had on her hands allowed her to move a bit.
- I will ask you one more time…or else I will have to crush your cute face – Arnilith breathed heavily and tightened the grasp on her making Shelaila let out a gasp for air.
- A-Alright I will… huh it hurts – She pretended to be hurt as she slipped her hands behind her to reach the dragons knees – Just p-please let me go…
But Arnilith knew that sudden change of personality was fake, he didn’t give her the chance to escape his trap.
- T-The ritual will be… a ti- - Started to state the kobold as she managed to plunk her fingers into the dragon’s knee pits. – Gotcha!
Arnilith frowned heavily as soon as he felt those thin fingers poking into the top of his calves making him yank his legs back trying to escape them. But Shelaila wouldn’t let that happen, the soap on her hands allowed her to run her fingers all over those hollows getting the dragon to shake his legs. However, the dragon was determined to keep the grasp even if it meant enduring those pokes
- I am n-nohot… hah! I won’t let you go that eahasy! – claimed between fits of giggles as he tried to tighten the grasp – Tehehell mehe already AAAH! – The dragon screamed.
- We g-got this Shel! Keep going! – It was one of the maid kobolds that Arnilith pushed back
They were digging their fingers into the dragon’s armpits and wingpits, trying to make him release their friend. Running up and down they poked and scratched causing Arnilith to shake more and more.
- Y-you’re not in position to…to demand anything winged lizard! – Shelaila tried to resist to gain as much time as possible, but the effort she was putting in tickling the dragon was draining her energies. – Fuck! I can do this all day! – But she was obviously lying.
- Fihihine! I’m sohorry for you then~ - The dragon swallowed and tensed up trying to hide his vulnerable flesh and reduce the tickling sensation but also allowed him to make the space even narrower for the young kobold
- The ritual…the ritual will be a tick… - She cut the sentence, she was almost out of breath.
- DON’T YOU DARE
A voice came from the entrance, it was Cheoloth, followed by an ancient one, dressed up with long cloths dyed in purple and green stripes, a long white beard fell from his prominent snout, he walked stooped over leaning on a wooden staff which had a strange red gem on the tip. Those two were not alone, six more kobold guards came along with them.
- Release my daughter, if you please Sir – Cheoloth said politely but with a tone of superiority
- I will not, until you release me! – Growled the dragon snatching his fangs
Cheoloth laughed loudly and approached to the restrained dragon, none of them stopped staring at each other with pure hatred in their eyes, the yellow ones of the kobold pierced the green ones of the dragon. The rest of the room remained in silence
- I thought you were smarter… You are clearly not in the position to demand anything scaled friend. You’re still trapped and will be trapped for a while, so please, make things easier for everyone.
Deep inside the dragon knew he was right, and he could only gain some time to think about something, but it seemed almost impossible to escape from there. No matter how much he pulled from the chains they seemed to be too strong for him, he could stand up and try to kick the kobolds, but he would still be in clear disadvantage, he wasn’t experienced in close combat. A drop of sweat slipped down the dragon’s forehead but before he could do anything a voice claimed
- Ugh can you guys JUST STOP looking at each other trying to decide who is the alpha male? It is me who is being crushed! Why am I only an excuse to start this? – Shelaila complained as she simply slipped her hands under the dragon’s knees pinching his kneepits.
That made Arnilith bring his legs to his chest and open them enough for Shelaila to jump out of there easily. Dedicating a disgusted look at the dragon and his father she left the room
- I can’t believe you were going to let me die just like that, this is why I hate you
Arnilith was puzzled and shocked for what had just happened, he just lost his hostage and his only chance to bargain. He was now against Cheoloth, alone and chained. Showing a toothy smile, he knew he couldn’t do anything else.
- Oh, someone has daddy issues – Mocked the dragon – Looks like someone is not the ideal father figure. What’s the matter? Going out hunting instead of playing with her while she was young? - Arnilith knew he was already dead, just wanted to fall doing all the damage he could.
And it seemed to work because when he looked at Cheoloth he was red and tense with all his muscles ready to attack. The passive attitude of the dragon really got him on his nerves
- You are so dead…
But instead of attacking Arnilith with the dagger he was already wielding he turned around, shaking with rage and left the room. It was a small victory for the dragon which made him feel released, he certainly needed that victory.
After the Chief’s departure, the rest of the members started to leave the room one by one, in silence, until only the old man and two hooded kobolds remained. Approaching to the pool the old man knelt in front of it and started to pour a red powder inside, right after that all the fishes swum to the opposite side of the pool and the water started to turn a dark red color.
- What? What are you doing? Oh, screw I’m done with this – He didn’t even wait for an answer. He bent his knees to get up and take his lower body out from the pool
But the liquid became very thick, thanks to the red powder the pool was slowly getting solid, the area around Arnilith quickly solidified as well making it impossible to get out, frustrating the dragon’s attempt to stand up, his lower body was sunk in the pool. After a few more struggles he gave up on trying and glanced at the quiet Chaman who hadn’t spoken a word since he appeared. The two hooded kobolds remaining started to light up the rows of candles that hung from the pillars of the room, their dim shines lit the ambiance and the smoke coming from them left a strange lavender scent, the little flames danced and consumed the wax of the candles slowly, creating a weird atmosphere that Arnilith didn’t like at all. He was carefully following the Chaman with his eyesight.
Eventually the air was full of that soft and sweet scent, the dragon watched the silent kobold move his hands as he hummed something. Arnilith was about to protest but something interrupted him, he yelped in surprise when he felt something brushing down his spine. He was focusing on the Chaman so much that he totally forgot about the other two acolytes, who were wielding some sort of big sticks with a kind of fur at the tip. The kobolds started to ink the tips of those sticks into the pool, surprisingly the tip dipped into the pool like if it was still water.
- Wait what… is this some kind of…- Arnilith had already seen something like this before, he studied about non-Newtonian fluids that would act as solid if punched or received too much kinetic energy but would be totally liquid when treated gently. So all he had to do was to move slowly and with calm and he would be able to get out.
- Heh your lame tricks don’t sca-HARE mEhE! – He was interrupted again.
Both kobolds were already working on the torso of the dragon spreading the painting down Arnilith’s sides, those tips felt terrible against his exposed ribs and sides. He couldn’t help but spit a smile and a few giggles as he tried to put his thoughts in order and control his body from the spasms, he needed to move slowly if he wanted to get out of there. But it was so difficult, one of the kobolds started to draw a rune on Arnilith’s left side, making slow moves and precise traces swinging the brush from the side to the ribcage, while the other kobold was reaching the dragon’s right underarm painting wavy lines from the elbow down the armpit and then crossing to the middle of the chest.
- S-Stop thihis at ohohonce! – Arnilith tried to complain, normally he wouldn’t response so much to simple brushes
But of course, they were not normal brushes, they were made by the finest of the animal furs of the island, sewed by hand by the best tailors, the distribution of the tips of each bristle was designed to point in different directions so no matter how it would move or the surface, there would be bristles reaching every inch, some bristles brushing following harmonically the direction of the move and some others would prick the scales. On the other hand, the red painting helped to lubricate the surface of the brushes allowing them to glide swiftly. That made the dragon unable to hold in the giggles and started to spasm around harder making the fluid to solidify more around his hips.
Eventually the brushes changed their respective targets, the left one started to run it down the scaled belly of the dragon while the other one stayed at the back of the dragon painting the runic symbols on his skin, that certain spot was especially bad for Arnilith and couldn’t help trashing around. He was so frustrated he couldn’t control his body; he knew the key to escape but still it was so difficult for him, that enraged him.
It was almost unbearable and Arnilith had no choice but laugh, however he never stopped trying to escape. But every time he seemed to get used to the spot the brushes were painting and started to calm down in order to get out of the pool, they changed spots, catching the dragon by surprise, and making him buck again and lose focus. He tried to pull down his arms or jerk aside when they got the armpits or the ribs, those spots were nasty ones to treat with brushes, because they felt quite itchy. Of course, the kobolds made sure to not only slid the tips of the brushes, they also made sure to deliver pokes all the way down the ribs and sides of the dragon.
Arnilith couldn’t really tell if they were following any pattern or wanted to make him laugh. Because they clearly succeeded in the second one.
The ambiance started to get darker, the light from the candles almost faded away, their light turned to a light purple one and the smoke coming from them started to spread. This smoke was being constantly inhaled by the dragon who couldn’t contain the giggles in and so he started to feel a bit dizzy, this smoke was product of a special substance in the candles wax, which came from the salvia of an ancient tree. It would make the ones exposed to those gasses experience dizziness, tiredness and in some extreme cases, hallucinations.
Arnilith would had sworn that he saw the Chaman smiling before he disappeared into the smoke, the dragon found himself still giggling but this time he didn’t see any of the kobolds tickling him, still he could feel those brushes like if they were still running along those marks that were all over his body. The purple lights of the candles turned fuzzy for the dragon and they started to move around, somehow, they seemed to be floating, dancing together coming closer and then away from the dragon. They were like curious little kids discovering something new, they approached to see and soon they ran away scared, then they gathered and seem to talk among them.
Arnilith felt tired, his vision got blurry and couldn’t explain what was going on around him, he didn’t find any kind of reasonable explanation for that. His muscles tensed up unconsciously, tugging from his bonds, everything around him was covered by the smoke, everything except those dazzling lights. Eventually they started to surround the dragon, there were six of them, all floating like will-o'-the-wisps.
- What are you? – Arnilith asked as if it would do anything
And it did something, the lights moved, they moved around the dragon, circling them moving faster and closer to him. This made alerted Arnilith as he felt them getting closer, they spread an odd warmth that he didn’t like. The speed of those lights increased until they couldn’t be followed or distinguished, Arnilith could only feel how they were almost choking around his neck. He closed his eyes and screamed with fear thinking that would be his end.
- Desoe naguili isop, Saleon Igligitus – Was all he could hear before he fainted.
The Chaman rose his arm and ordered the kobolds to unchain the fainted dragon, they obeyed and opened the locks. Cheoloth was watching the scene from the doorframe, with determined steps he reached the Chaman in no time.
- The giggly one? – The chief smirked – It’s a suitable name for this one. This one is the last one we need right?
- He will be the greatest sacrifice, if the prophecy was correct, our oracle will rise the 34th of Balacin, I need him ready for that day. – Concluded the curved figure of the Chaman before starting his way to the exist of the room, followed by the two kobolds carrying the dragon.
- Wait that is in seven days!... I will. – Cheoloth glanced at the dragon as he was being dragged away, with a purple glowing gem collaring his neck.