John can see the Dragon’s eyelid flutter for a moment and the woman pulls her spear back. John steps forward and removes his hood and mask shouting “SNIFF, LORD!”
Dragon’s nostrils flare for a moment. Then the Dragon's eyes go wide. Glowing veins of red and orange begin to glow along the Dragon’s body as it lifts its head from the ground. The Woman looks at John closely then yells “YOU’RE HUMAN!” John can hear murmurs all around him. The Dragon lifts its head high in the air and lets out a spray of embers as it yaws. John can feel the temperature rise by at least ten degrees and the area starts to smell like a volcano. The Dragon brings its massive head over in front of John. John locks eyes with the Dragon as it approaches. John can hear Kenta and Nasha trying to keep Papi calm and not fly away. The Dragon brings its head within at least ten feet of John. John does not flinch as the Dragon nears. The Dragon takes a deep breath through its nose with a force strong enough to pluck some of Papi’s loose feathers off of her and into the Dragon’s nose. John sees a slight fiery glow with the Dragon’s nostrils. John quickly takes a breath right before the Dragon exhales through its nose and covers the group in smoke and burnt feathers.
John can hear Nasha, Kenta, and Papi all coughing and hacking. John exhales soon after they stop coughing. John thinks he hears a chuckle coming from the Dragon.
The Dragon begins to let out some low-sounding growls, the woman next to the Dragon begins to speak “it has been some time since I have smelled your kind. I was thinking of searching for you if your smell had started to fade.” John can feel the heat from the Dragon's mouth like he is looking into an oven and can see a slight fiery glow in the back of its throat.
John pulls out the Traveler’s Amulet and holds it up to the Dragon. The Dragon adjusted its head to bring one eye closer to the Amulet to get a better look at it. The Dragon returns its head to its previous spot. “Ah, that Amulet.”
John says to the Dragon “Yes, it is why I am here. Though thus far it has translated every other tongue I’ve heard but yours.”
“That is because it only knows the tongues after its creation. My tongue is older than that.”
John says “Well I was sent here because I don’t know why I am here.”
“We all ponder why we are here at least one point in our life.”
John says “Let me rephrase then. I was told you know all about ‘The Traveler’ and maybe why I was chosen to be it.”
“I know a great many things, but I am not all-knowing. If you only seek knowledge, then you are welcome to look in…DEAR LORD!!!”
The Dragon turns towards the woman translating his words with a roar. The veins along the Dragon’s body glow brightly and the temperature spikes by twenty degrees. The Dragon lunges at the woman with open jaws. The woman barely misses the Dragon snapping its jaws around her. She quickly tries to scamper away, but the Dragon is hot on her tail.
John yells “WAIT…WAIT LORD. I would like to know her offense!” The Dragon stops. The woman has he back against the wall and is staring down the Dragon’s open mouth mere inches away. She is lit by a glow coming from within the Dragon’s mouth.
The woman looks into the Dragon’s eyes then says with a hint of fear in her voice “I did not translate his words.”
John says “What were they!”
The woman says while trying to keep away from the Dragon’s open mouth “He welcomes you to look in his horde of treasures.”
Kenta snaps “What how are gold and gems going to help us.”
The woman says “OUR LORD DOESN’T TREASURE METALS. THEY TREASURE KNOWLEDGE!!!”
John thinks about it for a moment then says to the group “it’s a library!”
The Dragon starts to back its head up to lunge again. John rushes to the Dragon saying “Wait, Wait!” The Dragon stops its head again mere inches from the woman and looks at John with one eye. John moves near the front of the Dragon, but off to the side saying “Thus far The Amulet has only translated what is spoken. I do not know if it will translate the written word and I don’t think there will be a script that I understand in your horde. I will need help understanding your treasures. I think it would be a more fitting punishment if she was forced to help me” motioning to the woman pinned to the wall.
The Dragon looks at the woman for a moment, then looks at John again for a moment, then looks at the woman. The Dragon pulls back its head letting out a series of growls as it starts settling back down on its platform. The glowing veins begin to dim as it curls back up and goes back to sleep.
The woman drops to her knees saying “He accepted your proposal.”
John holds out his hand to help her up saying “well first things first, introductions are in order. My name is John.”
The woman uses her spear to stand saying “My name is Draleen, and first you must take a bath before we go to the horde. His request” as she motions to the Dragon. Everyone gives themselves a quick sniff and agrees they all need a bath.
John and the group are being led by Draleen to the bathing area. John says to Draleen “I hope I didn’t offend you by stepping it. I just didn’t want you to be eaten for not translating something.”
Draleen laughs and then says “He wasn’t going to eat me. He was just going to grab me in his mouth, shake me around for a bit, and maybe breathe just enough to burn my clothes off, then spit me out. He wouldn’t eat his granddaughter.”
John stops for a moment at those last words. Then says “You said you weren’t the children of the Dragon.”
Draleen says “Only Lordborns can claim to be his children. I am a Highborn, his blood flows through me. But not as strong as my mother’s.”
John asks “are there any other types here.”
Draleen says “the Lowborn, the Lord’s blood thins in us after some generations. But the weakest of them are chosen to bare the next generation of Lordborns once that last Lordborn dies.”
They reach a cloth-covered entry, Draleen turns to the group saying “You may leave your clothes when you are done. I will find you something to wear while we wash your clothes.” John looks at the other then goes in.
