Gold's Lair

The floor of the cave was muddy, leaving side-by-side footprints of Airi and Mildred. Mildred held Tale of Flight, and Airi held a candle.

“Why Tale of Flight and not another spell?”

“It’s versatile.”

The candlelight illuminated a figure ahead. Airi and Mildred slowed, but it was only a lifesized gold statue wearing a necklace. They passed more statues as they walked, all wearing jewelry. One woman’s hands were raised to a diamond crown on her head, as if she were trying to take it off.

The golden glow led them to a glittering cavern. The floor was embedded with coins, and there were more statues than ever, arranged around an enormous pile of diamonds in the center of the cavern. Even the stalactites on the ceiling looked like solid diamond.

The mound of diamonds moved, and Airi’s eyes recognized legs, wings, snout—the form of a dragon. It bore a distant resemblance to the black dragon she had encountered beneath the Wrath Mountains, but this one was diamond-scaled and twice its size.

Gold the Dragon opened intelligent golden eyes, like gold coins in a sea of diamond. It rested its head on its claws and regarded them languidly. “Have you come seeking treasure?”

“We’ve come to kill you,” Mildred said. She nodded at Airi, who threw the star shard she’d hidden in her hand. Mildred cast Tale of Flight and the star shard sped up, zipping through the air—only to clink harmlessly on the dragon’s scales.

“A spear of mana,” Gold mused, sitting up like a cat. “That is rare indeed. However, the mana in my scales is far denser. Even with your mana, Distinguished Mage—” Mildred flinched. “—your spells will only bounce off my scales.”

Its eyes slid over Mildred and landed on Airi. “Besides, not many people will recognize solid mana. You’d be better off with gold or diamond.”

“We don’t need any,” Mildred interrupted.

“Oh, but you do,” Gold said, amused. “Especially you, Airi. With enough gold, you could have your heart’s desire.”

“Yeah? What’s that?” Airi said. She knew she should be alarmed that the dragon knew her name, but deep down, a part of her was curious. What was her heart’s desire?

“Freedom,” Gold hissed. “I know that is what you wish for. If you wish it, I will not conjure any more gold for anyone else. Not the people of Stonecliff, not anyone. Only you, by your command. You alone will control the kingdom’s economy.”

Mildred was saying something to Airi in the background, but Airi heard only a faint buzzing. “Go on,” she said to the dragon.

“You will be the richest in the world. You will never have to beg or bow down to anyone ever again,” Gold purred. “Even the king will be powerless before you.”

As he spoke, tantalizing visions appeared in Airi’s mind: a thousand pillowcases full of money, rooms bathed in coins. Rows of nameless people bowing down to her. Some of them looked like Dad and Kazuko. Others looked like Nestor’s mother and Snow White. They pressed their faces to the floor as Airi smiled, her wrists and neck gleaming with gold and a crown atop her head.

“Aren’t you tired of bowing down, groveling? Don’t you deserve to be on top?”

She was tired. She did deserve to be on top, didn’t she?

The dragon opened its jaws, revealing a stunning ruby necklace in between its jagged teeth, and lowered its head. “Take it. This is only the first of many. As many as you want, you shall have.”

Airi reached for the necklace, vaguely annoyed that someone’s hands kept getting in her way. The rubies were beautiful. So shiny, and surely valuable, too. When she clasped it around her neck, the gold clamped around her neck, searing into her flesh. She had to bite her mouth to keep from screaming.

The pain cleared away some of the fog. Mildred was shouting at her side and prying at the necklace, but Airi forced herself to focus on Gold.

It was smiling at her. She would have to control her expressions.

Careful not to show her pain, Airi said in a dreamy voice, “Can I have a bracelet to match?”

“As you wish.” The dragon opened its mouth wide to spit out the bracelet, and Airi lunged, reaching her right arm into its mouth.

The dragon’s teeth slammed together onto her arm with a dull clunk, tearing her sleeve to tatters. With her arm lodged firmly between its teeth, she couldn’t move as the dragon thrashed its head, trying to dislodge her.

She slammed into the wall—CRACK, CRACK, CRACK—and the world flickered black with each thud against the wall. Her left hand gripped one of its scales for dear life as Gold swung her through the air. All she knew was that she had to hold on, or her right arm would tear right off.

Her right hand was the only part of her body that didn’t hurt. Curling her right hand into a fist, Airi punched around blindly inside the dragon’s mouth, feeling its tongue slide around, until she punched straight through its eye.

The pressure on her eased, and she no longer felt like she was being split apart. Lying in a heap on the ground, she watched Gold roll around in pain, half-blinded. Its underbelly was smooth, without diamond scales.

“Mildred...” Airi slurred, frustrated at how slowly the word formed in her mouth.

The dragon soared into the air and impaled itself, belly-first, onto the stalactites on the ceiling.

Airi blinked up at the winged corpse, dripping golden blood like a gruesome chandelier. She heard the snap of a book closing and saw Mildred tuck Tale of Flight back into her pocket.

The last thing she remembered before passing out was the dragon’s body bursting into golden mana.