ENDS BEGINNING
Contingency plans. Fail-safes. Exit arrangements.
These are the things that I keep always at the ready. One does not go into a game of sava without such things. Thus even in the losing, I may win. Even if it is in some small way. Still I survive.
I will always survive. Of that I am certain. Even now when I could not have anticipated this particular event. When my sava board had been collecting dust from disuse. Here at the ending of things I had prepared for a different ending entirely. Now, I could only watch as it happened. This plan that was not mine would be successful, of that I had no doubt. The question was how was I going to mitigate the damage that it would cause me?
Rumbling laughter interrupted my thoughts. “I am awakened.” Sentinel said and I could picture him stretching and yawning in my mind.
“Ready yourself, great wyrm.” I told him.
The essence of the vain dragon made itself known. There was the obligatory wrestling for control as if this might be the one cycle I would be unprepared. I snorted at him. He rumbled a chuckle. He liked to think that it was a test for me instead of the fact that his will was not stronger than my own. He did not like to concede loss. And I did not mind giving the great beast that little bit of respect.
He was not complete. Just a small portion of what was once a great and powerful red dragon. Essence that I had been gifted by virtue of my wisdom and connection to nature. I knew other Walkers and druids that had dragon essence within them. But they carelessly used it as a tool. A trick for entertainment. Where I had done something different, something more. I had afforded him some sliver of life. I offered him sentience.
He did not remember his name thus gained one from another. And he enjoyed the irony of the name, using it to taunt me. Sentinel was the name of my sire. I did not have much in the way of positive emotions regarding my sire. The great wyrm having gained a name gained some small amount of power for it made him a tiny fraction more real.
“I suggest we leave these little creatures to their own devices and do more exploring of the caverns, Illuminating.” Sentinel rumbled so that I actually felt it in my very bones. He spoke my name as its meaning. Kalyin in my native tongue meant Illuminating.
To everyone else I was Kalyin. Perhaps some knew what it meant yet to them it was simply a name. To Sentinel the Great Red Wyrm, it was a declaration. The adjective made flesh.
There was much going on as I held the conversation with the dragon who resided within me. None were the wiser as I spoke in my mind instead of with my mouth. “That is exactly what we are going to do, right after this.” I lied.
The great red wyrm huffed for he saw no reason to wait one second now that he had issued his desires. No doubt he felt the lie. No doubt he knew it to be a way to buy time. I appreciated that he ignored it instead of calling attention to it. “We do not have the amount of time I would prefer.” I told him. “If you want to continue as you are, Great Sentinel, then you will do something for me.”
I had piqued his interest. I could feel his desire to do this thing I asked just to see what would happen. He understood that he was not like the trapped dragon essences of others before him.
At the speed of thought we recognized this, Sentinel and I. I had no doubt he would do as I asked. If… if he had time.
-------------------------------------------------
Sentinel crouched. Waiting. He was eager and it felt good. Through silver eyes too close to the ground he watched and he waited. Yet he was a predator and he was good at waiting.
He felt the burst of adrenaline course through the drows veins. The man they were watching fell slowly and their arms caught him before his head it the stone floor. There were strong emotions yet the wyrm ignored them in his anticipation of the battle of wills to take control from the drow.
Yet Sentinel met no resistance. None at all.
A great red dragon burst into being in the room. The others there held expressions of surprise and he reveled in that. For a split second he thought about reaching out and snapping his jaws around the closest little biped. Yet he knew her to be an ally thus he turned his attention to the body on the floor.
He scooped it up in his massive jaws and moved it nearer the door. He turned and hid what he was doing from those in the room. He took what the drow told him to then dropped the body back onto the floor and arm missing and chest a gory mess.
He didn’t bother to make sure his ally was clear before he issued forth a huge gout of flames. If she was not fast enough to avoid the fire it was not his concern. He managed two long breaths of fiery flames to bring the body close to ash. Then he suddenly felt odd. So very odd. Before he could roar his displeasure...
Golden Cobra shimmered into existence. The last place he wanted to be was in that room. So, he left.
// My thanks to those with characters that manage to provide the twists and turns that keep me coming back even while real life makes that difficult.