And Ruin Followed Behind Her

Chapter 22-1

Chapter 22

We were on the top of a mountain, and I trembled at the immense cold of the snow hitting my face. I was used to the bitter winds of Colorado, but the raw cold that hit me when I rematerialized made even me ache for relief. It felt as if a million needles were piercing me at once, all over my body.

Still, the view was astounding. I looked out over a thousand mountains disappearing into the distance. Wherever we were, it was atop the highest peak for miles.

“Come, little one,” Aziolith’s gruff voice called to me. I turned around as he lit a great fire from his nose and burned through the mountains of accumulated snow in front of him. The fire from his blast warmed me, and I ran over to gather as much of the heat as possible. When the smoke cleared, a great cave stood before us.

“Is this your home?” I asked. “Explorers have searched for this cave a long time, but they never found it.”

Aziolith smiled. “They must not have looked very hard.” He strolled into the cave, his nostrils lighting the way for me to follow. We walked through the cave and then down a narrow passage filled with frosted stalactites and stalagmites. The tunnel dead-ended at a ledge overlooking an immense cavern. Gold coins were stacked from floor to ceiling, and gems sparkled throughout the cave.

Aziolith made his way down a set of stairs next to the ledge and toward the base of the cavern, lighting lanterns with his breath along the way to guide us. With every lantern, I felt my body temperature rise.

When we reached the ground level, I craned my neck up to the ceiling and still couldn’t see the top of the gold stacks in front of me. As we walked, I nearly tripped over a pile of jewel-encrusted swords strewn about the cavern floor.

In fact, everything was strewn about like a child’s room, except that the combined wealth in this room was more than all the wealth in Fort Knox and the Federal Reserve combined times a million.

He made his way to a clearing in the middle of the room, where there was a great pile of kindling set up for a bonfire. With another blast from his nose, the dragon lit a bonfire which stretched twenty feet into the air. Then, he curled up under it.

“Would you do me a favor, pixie?” he asked.

“If it is within my power.”

“In the chest across the room, there is a green potion in a glass vial. Please, bring it to me.”

I walked over to the chest, adorned with gold and jewels, and lifted it open. Inside were a hundred different vials, all filled with iridescent liquid in every color I could imagine. I sifted through the vials until I found one that glowed green and brought it to the dragon.

“Yes,” Aziolith said. “That is the one. Will you please pour it onto my tongue?”

The dragon stuck out his forked tongue, and I poured the liquid on it until it was empty. When it was done, he pulled his tongue back into his mouth and closed his eyes.

“What does that do?” I asked.

“It will heal my wounded wing, given time.”

“How much time?”

“Days. Weeks. Months. I am not sure. I will sleep until it my wing is mended. Meanwhile, you are welcome to anything you can carry down the mountain, as long as you promise never to tell another soul about this place.”

“What about my mother? I can’t lie to her if she asks where I’ve been.”

“Is she discrete?”

I nodded. “Very.”

Aziolith thought for a moment. “Then I suppose two pixies knowing about this place won’t hurt much more than one.”

I nodded. “Then I promise, but I doubt I can carry much. Besides that, I don’t know where we are.”

“The Alps of Switzerland, of course. The only place worthy of a dragon’s lair. Take a handful of gold. Once you are down the mountain, it will afford you safe passage to anywhere you would like.”

I looked down at the ground. I only wanted a handful of my pixie dust, and then I could go anywhere I wanted. I would have given anything for it, but I dared not say that and seem ungrateful for the dragon’s great gift.

“What has got you so down?” Aziolith said. “You are rich beyond measure now.”

“I—Nothing.”

“Mmm...I see it in your eyes, pixie. I know what you seek. I believe you will find it three mounds over on the left, assuming the mountain hasn’t shifted it over the years.”

His statement confused me, but I counted three mounds and turned to the left. I walked around the large heap of armor and weapons, until I saw it. A jeweled pouch, covered in moons and stars. My eyes lit up and I dove to retrieve it. I opened the pouch and found it full of pixie dust.

I screamed loud enough to shake the stalactites from their slumber. “Oh my god!”

“Quiet!” Aziolith said, sleepily.

“How did you get this?” I shouted, rushing toward him.

“Akta was not the only pixie to chase me. She was just the one that defeated me. I’ve collected a dozen or so similar pouches, from pixies of all types.”

My eyes grew even wider. “That. That is what I want. Those pouches.”

“Unfortunately, I only remember where that one is. Pixies were never much of a bother to me, until the last couple.” Aziolith yawned. “An inconsequential species, really. Except for two.”

I walked toward him excitedly. “Would it be possible to come look for it again, when I’m able?”

“You may return any time you wish, and take anything you wish when you do, as long as you only take what you need.”

“And my mother?”

“She is welcome as well,” Aziolith groaned with a contented sigh.

“Why are you being so generous to me?” I asked.

Aziolith let out a long, contented sigh. “You brought me home, which is all I ever wanted. It is the least I could do.”

I nodded to him as he drifted off to sleep. “Then I promise.”

My pockets filled with gold, I rubbed a pinch of pixie dust in my hands and vanished.

*