A dragon?
Chapter 4
The beast had great bat-like wings sure, but it had no scales. It had yellow fur instead and three horns crowned its head. The monster flapped its wings and drew itself out of the ice. Giving out a cry, it took to the air. But it had barely risen a few feet that it fell chest first into the lake. Apparently its skinny wings were too weak for flight. But it flapped its wings harder and somehow made to solid ground.
Captivated by the monster, only now Xuhn remembered about Ritika and Ruponi. He looked towards the spot where they and the four men had been last. They were gone, probably into the woods.
Oh boy.
What was he to do now?
The dragon—or whatever it was— meanwhile turned its head this way and that, as if searching for the person who had awoken it. Xuhn didn’t know it was instinct or what, but his arm shot up on its own and began waving at the dragon.
“Here,” Xuhn’s voice shouted on its own.
The dragon saw him and moved towards him fast on its four legs, each of which was at least thrice the girth of Xuhn’s torso. Xuhn’s heart nearly stopped beating when the monster reached him. Would it help him now, or was it going to eat him? There was a very angry expression carved onto the dragon’s face and the second idea seemed to be playing in its mind.
Then the dragon spoke. It sounded like a male human voice all right, only abnormally gruff, but Xuhn could make no head or tail of the language in which the dragon spoke. It was gibberish to Xuhn. All he understood from the voice’s tone was that the dragon was agitated.
Xuhn shook his hand in a gesture to indicate that he didn’t know dragon-tongue.
At this the dragon bent and touched Xuhn’s forehead with its own. Xuhn felt like his soul would abandon his body out of fear.
The dragon drew back its head.
“So, do you understand now?”
“Yes,” Xuhn replied in awe. The dragon had learnt human-tongue just by touching his head?
“What was your purpose behind awakening me?” the dragon said.
“To fix the war between vampires and werewolves,” Xuhn said and then curiosity got the better of him. “Why do you have fur, Mor- Mortugal, isn’t that your name?” Normal dragons have scales, don't they?
Mortugal gave out a wild cry.
“You dare to ask me about my fur? You imbecile!”
Xuhn took half-a-dozen steps back in fright. The question seemingly hurt Mortugal’s sentiments.
“N-No, you don’t have to answer that,” he said quickly. “Actually it wasn’t I who needed your help, but two vampires. I just helped them awaken you. Some men took them away into the woods. I don’t know what they will do to them. You must help me find them.”
“I don’t care,” Mortugal yelled at his face, making him shiver.
“You must understand, the men might kill them,” Xuhn said. But clearly the dragon was least interested.
Xuhn wondered if he should leave Mortugal and search for Ritika and Ruponi himself. Having the dragon with him would definitely help though.
“I am going back to my sleep,” Mortugal said and he turned his huge body towards the lake.
“You can’t do that!” Xuhn said, despair growing within him.
“You will not even be a memory when I awaken next,” Mortugal said and plunged into the water. “Besides, a weakling like me wouldn’t be able to help you even if I wanted to.”
In moments the giant beast had entirely disappeared under the water.
Xuhn clutched his hair. This was just plain stupid. He decided to try and find Ritika and Ruponi himself. He went to the spot where he had last seen them and searched in the woods nearby in vain. Who were those men? And why had they wanted to stop Ritika and her mother from awakening Mortugal? These questions went round and round his head as he searched for the two vampires.
After an hour of futile search he gave up and returned to the lake. Far away he saw people coming out of their houses and getting along with their morning chores. Had they seen Mortugal?
The dragon had been out of the lake for such a short while that it was quite unlikely. It was possible that the villagers might notice the absence of the ice sheet over the lake though. But even as Xuhn watched, ice began forming on the surface of the lake again. It wouldn’t be long before the lake would be frozen as before.
Xuhn had woken up so happily that morning, thinking he would meet Mayesha. Now he felt like the world had ended. Two villagers had been taken away by unknown men and Xuhn felt like he was solely responsible for it. He hadn’t really made any fault as far as he could think, except perhaps with Mortugal. He shouldn’t have asked him about his fur.
But dragons didn’t have fur, did they?
There was disturbance on the surface of the water. Seconds later, Mortugal emerged. He swam towards where Xuhn was sitting near the lake.
Xuhn stood up.
“Listen lad,” Mortugal said, a sadness playing in his tone. “I can’t help you.”
“Ritika and Ruponi said you could help them end the war between the vampires and the werewolves.”
“Now who’s Ritika?”
“She and Ruponi, her mother, are vampires. They were the ones whom the men took away. The men might killed them.”
“Hmmm,” said Mortugal. He crawled out of the lake to solid land. There was an air of dejection about Mortugal that Xuhn couldn’t quite understand.
“Look at me,” said Mortugal, “do I look like a dragon to you at all?”
“You do,” Xuhn said with some hesitation. “You are a dragon... with fur.”
Mortugal gave out a vacant laugh.
“Dragons don’t have fur, lad. They have scales thicker than the best armour men have ever fashioned. Once upon a time, I had scales like that, but… well.” Mortugal sighed.
“Can’t you help me find Ritika and Ruponi?” Xuhn asked. He was curious about how Mortugal happened to have the fur, but he needed to focus on the important thing at hand.
“I saw a short and ugly man lying dead at the bottom of my lake,” said Mortugal, “was he one of the men who took away the two vampires with them?”
“Yes.”
“In that case, your vampire friends have been taken away by Bnomes.”
“Bnomes?”
“Yes. Wait a minute.” Saying so Mortugal crawled back into the lake, leaving Xuhn pondering over who the Bnomes were. They had seemed human to him— just impossibly ugly. Were they a different race, like the vampires and the werewolves? Maybe master Mahendra would have told him about them if he had continued attending the lessons. Half knowledge really is a bad thing, he thought.
Chapter 5
Mortugal emerged from the lake shortly after.
“I have looked into the Bnome’s eyes. If I have read them correctly then he and his friends intended to take the vampires away with them and prevent me from being awakened. They also brought flying carpets with them and his friends probably took off along with their captives while you were looking another way.”
“So there is no way we could save Ritika and Ruponi?” Xuhn asked, his heart sinking.
“I know where the Bnomes reside. Far north. Even farther than Dragonland where water is always ice. They are likely to take them there.”
“And kill them?”
“Only they know that. It’s funny the Bnomes think I am worthy of being prevented from awakening. I mean, look at me! I am a joke for a dragon!”
“You just have fur,” Xuhn said. “It doesn’t look bad if you are worried about your appearance.”
“It’s not just the appearance,” said Mortugal. “You can kill me with a little knife because of this fur. And then, I am sure you have heard that dragons are capable of breathing fire?”
“Well, dragons are the only ones capable of doing that,” Xuhn said.
Mortugal opened his mouth wide revealing teeth that looked like daggers. But the smell wasn’t exactly a perfume. Mortugal’s breath stank worse than a rottin
g carcass.
Than Mortugal breathed out. Xuhn gulped, expecting for a fleeting moment that he would be roasted to death. No fire came out of Mortugal’s mouth. Instead a jet of water— or was it spit?— hit Xuhn right on the chest. He fell down, his chest paining.
“See?” Mortugal said. Xuhn massaged his chest and got up. Xuhn smelled his hand. The water— or spit, whatever it was— stank awful.
“You, er, can’t breathe fire?” Xuhn asked, his chest aching a bit. All he wanted to do at the moment was take a bath.
“I am a dragon no more,” Mortugal said.
“But you could before?”
“Aye. A very long time back.”
“How did you lose your dragon powers?”
“I fell in love. That was the root cause.”
Fell in love?
“I… I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to. Forget about it all. What matters is that I am useless to you and I can’t help you or the vampires or anybody at all.”
“But the scroll said you can end the war.” Or had it? There was the possibility that Ritika and Ruponi had deciphered the scroll wrong. If Xuhn was to believe his eyes, Mortugal might really be past his prime.
“What scroll?” Mortugal asked, the skin above his eyes drawn together in a frown.
“Ruponi found an ancient scroll that said only you can end the war.”
“Really?” Mortugal said and there was some amusement in his voice.
“Well, they did show me the scroll. I couldn’t read it, but then it contained the procedure of awakening you with the nail that Ruponi had found with the scroll. Since the procedure worked and you were awakened, I guess the scroll was true.”
“Hmmm,” said Mortugal. He turned his head towards the lake in a thoughtful manner.
“I say you at least give it a shot,” said Xuhn. “It just might be your destiny.”
Mortugal went back to the lake. Xuhn wondered if he would go under the water again. He told himself that he would return to his home and that would be it. Xuhn was tired. He wouldn’t try to convince Mortugal anymore if Mortugal didn’t have the confidence in himself.
Mortugal didn’t go under the lake. He just kept looking at his reflection on the still water for a while.)
“So?” said Xuhn when a considerable time had passed.
“I don’t know lad,” said Mortugal. “I… I have forgotten a lot. I can’t spew flames and burn my enemies. A single arrow, if shot right, is enough to kill me. To be honest I don’t know how to end the war even if I wanted to.”
“You can start with saving Ritika and Ruponi maybe,” Xuhn suggested.
“The Bnomes mystify me as well,” said Mortugal. “Why would they be concerned so much about keeping me in my slumber? Why should they try to prevent anyone from awakening me?”
“Because you are important,” said Xuhn. The Bnomes mystified Xuhn too. Why should they bother to prevent the awakening of such a lousy dragon as Mortugal? Xuhn really hoped Mortugal was important.
“Hmmm,” said Mortugal. “You talk of saving your vampire friends. Those flying carpets are fast and they would reach the far north in a day or two. I can’t even fly, forget catching up with them.”
“Well, you have got these great wings,” said Xuhn. It wasn’t like Mortugal wasn’t special. He had learnt human-talk just by touching Xuhn’s forehead, and he had come to know the intentions of the Bnome that had drowned just by looking at its dead eyes. Xuhn was sure Mortugal had many such powers that more than made up for the typical dragon powers he lacked.
“These wings are weak,” said Mortugal. “Look how skinny they are!”
“Why don’t you just try?”
A silence followed. Xuhn repented why he had battled his urge to sleep and come out in the morning. No Mayesha, no Ritika. Just a stupid dragon that thought itself incapable of anything.
“I have forgotten a lot boy,” said Mortugal in his dejected voice once again. “I don’t even know how to flap my wings the right way.”
Xuhn gritted his teeth. Enough with this low confidence shit.
“Hey,” he said, allowing some heat into his tone. Xuhn had no intention of spending the entire day cheering Mortugal so he would finally make up his mind to help Xuhn. “Do you want to help me or do you not want to help me? If you don’t that’s perfectly fine. Just go and sleep again. Like you yourself said, by the time you wake up next I won’t even be a memory.”
Mortugal looked at Xuhn, his eyes swimming in a sadness. Xuhn wondered if he had hurt the dragon with his words. Then suddenly, a flash of determination passed over Mortugal’s face.
Xuhn’s heart soared as Mortugal began flapping his wings hard.
Finally!
Mortugal leapt towards the lake in an attempt to get airborne. The moment slowed down as the great beast rose from the ground. It seemed like Mortugal would remain in the air forever.
And then all hopes came crashing down as Mortugal fell onto the lake, splashing water on Xuhn. Mortugal returned to Xuhn, water dripping from his shiny coat.
“See?” Mortugal said, looking down. “I can’t fly.”
“Do it again,” Xuhn said. He surprised himself with the authority in his voice for he wasn’t making Mortugal a request, rather he was giving the dragon an order.
Mortugal nodded. Once again he flapped his wings and leapt towards the lake. Xuhn thought Mortugal would fall once he achieved the height of his previous attempt. That didn’t happen. Mortugal flapped his wings harder and went much higher to Xuhn’s glee. Eventually Mortugal could no longer keep flapping his wings, exhaustion clear on his face and his height declined. But Mortugal didn’t let himself fall into the lake, instead he landed on the ground just in front of Xuhn.
“See!” Xuhn said, smiling. “You can do it.”
“May…be,” Mortugal said, panting. “I… I am exhausted. I am hungry!”
That made a question pop in Xuhn’s mind.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “What were you eating all the time you were under the lake?”
Mortugal rolled his eyes, trying hard to remember.
“I don’t think I have eaten anything since I first went to slumber.”
“Really?” Xuhn said. Sure Mortugal was a dragon— one with fur— but it was still astonishing that Mortugal had eaten nothing for hundreds of years and yet survived.
Mortugal closed his eyes, frowning. Then he opened them slowly, lost in thought.
“I remember eating a lot just before I went to slumber,” Mortugal said and closed his eyes again. “I- I remember being quite angry and sad as I swallowed quantities of flesh. Wait,” Mortugal opened his eyes, “I think I ate scores of Bnomes shortly before I came here to slumber.”
Xuhn’s mouth fell open. Mortugal had been eating Bnomes? It was one thing for Mortugal to eat deer or some other animal, but Bnomes? Bnomes looked too much like humans and Xuhn struggled to accept Mortugal’s food habits.
“You eat humans?” Xuhn asked. If Mortugal could eat Bnomes, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if he ate humans too.
Mortugal grinned.
“Why, are you afraid?”
Xuhn just stared at the dragon. He was afraid.
“No, I don’t!” Mortugal laughed. “Bnomes don’t have a lot of head so we dragons like eating them, besides other animals. We won’t put a human, or a vampire or a werewolf inside our mouth… unless we are really hungry.”
But Mortugal was really hungry, right? Xuhn kept staring with fear.
“Listen,” said Mortugal. “I am not going to eat you, don’t keep looking like that.”
“You better not,” Xuhn dared himself to say. Then he remembered, “Hey, there was the Bnome that drowned. Go, ease your hunger with him. No need of flying if you are hungry.”
“You know,” said Mortugal, “that’s not a bad idea.”
And Mortugal leapt into the lake and disappeared under the water. He looked so much at home in water. Xuhn didn’t mind Mortugal eating
the drowned Bnome. The guy had meant to kill Xuhn after all.
Mortugal surfaced after sometime and returned to land.
“That’s better,” he said.
“You ate the clothes too?” Xuhn asked, curious. “That was your first meal in ages, right?”
“Nah, I didn’t bother removing the clothes. I was too excited to experience the feeling of food making its way down my throat after such a long time.”
Mortugal flapped his wings slowly, testing how maximum lift could be achieved. Once satisfied, he said,
“Pray I make it to the skies.”
Mortugal took to the air. This time he flapped his wings in a slightly different manner so that he could climb higher by flapping less number of times. Xuhn cheered him as he went higher and higher, until the great Mortugal looked quite tiny against the backdrop of the wide blue sky. Xuhn wondered if anyone in the village was watching the dragon. He reckoned if anybody was then they were likely to mistake Mortugal for a bird— one with four legs and fur instead of feather.
After Mortugal had flown about in the sky for a considerable time, he descended down and landed gracefully in front of Xuhn.
“See, I told you that you can fly,” Xuhn said, feeling elated. Mortugal lowered his head and touched Xuhn’s forehead.
“I can only thank you,” Mortugal said, withdrawing his head. “I cannot believe all I wanted to do was return to my slumber.”
“So you think you can go and save the two vampires from the Bnomes?” Xuhn asked.
“I will go and save them— and feast on the Bnomes too. But you are coming with me.”
“Me? Coming with you?” Xuhn asked. Had Mortugal lost his head? It wasn’t possible at all.
“Hop onto my back, lad. If I am going, you are coming with me.”
“But it’s not possible!” Xuhn argued. He imagined being high up in the skies and already felt a shiver catch him as his heart beat faster.
“I did not see your vampire friends,” Mortugal said, smiling in his dragon way. “So you must come whether you want to or not.”
Xuhn took in a deep breath to calm his nerves. If he fell down from Mortugal’s back, he would surely die. But saving Ritika and Ruponi was very important. Otherwise he would be feeling guilty for the rest of his life. He made his decision and nodded.
The Banishment of the King Page 3