Brotaro expanded her old wings to eat the sun, “So they are conscious.”
Olimp rumbled, his eyes heavy. It was a hot sunny day. Perfect to soak up the light and put on some fat on his old bones. “The humans you mean?”
“The humans.”
“Yes. Evolution. They even have a society of their own. Conscious and not quite. Treading and battling with the other species.” Olimp adjusted his wings for the light to fall perpendicularly on them.
“And our foe and friend is a human,” Brotaro mumbled, her large branched antlers lowering like dried trees above her head. She was old. She lived through the war against the space invasion and led the dragons for many centuries. If she dies before him, then he will be the oldest dragon on Ganer. Something which Olimp didn’t feel proud about.
“Human,” Olimp confirmed.
“Why a human?”
“Maybe because they need more help than the other species.”
“Help with what?” Brotaro rumbled in a low tired voice, flattening on the rock like a jelly.
Olimp stared at her. It looked odd. People don’t relax so much. Their hearts need to pump sap, their cells need to work hard on propelling biosynthesis, and those chlorophyll need to move energy into the photosystem.
“Brotaro,” Olimp raised his head, his claws scratching the mountainside and rocks began rolling into the abyss below. “Don’t you dare die before me. That will be a nasty way to land Ramgan in my lap. I can’t stand that boy!”
Brotaro chucked from the depth of her chest, relaxing even more. “He will make a terrible dragon ruler, won’t he?”
“Terrible. Very terrible. There wasn’t a fire dragon at the helm since the old wars. You have to choose someone else or he will crush what we’ve been building.” Olimp raised on his front claws. He could not take more light. He was stuffed. He will throw up if he lingered more. Millennia of starvation reduced one’s stomach a great deal. He will not put back his flesh in a few decades anyway. “I am leaving.” He raised his wings. “Brotaro?”
Olimp narrowed his eyes at her. Sleeping?
“Brotaro!” he shouted and put his claws on her black scales. Brotaro’s claws released the mountainside. She began falling to the side. Olimp caught her arm, but it turned to dust at the touch. “BROTARO”
The old dragon ruler fell backwards with a serene expression. Before falling into the abyss, a gush of wind blew through her, turning the green and black scales into leaves. The insides spread like dust, and drops of golden sap rained over the forest below.
Olimp glared at the green dust left between his claws.
Ramgan was the new dragon ruler.
“I will make you a deal, Amadeus,” Harley whispered. “You come to have your favorite at my boutique every day for free. In exchange, I get all the college girls drooling after you as customers. What do you say—”
Amadeus jumped to his feet, slapping his palms against the counter. The bar chair squeaked against the floor. The two dozen customers from the small coffee shop glared.
“That’s discrimination!” Amadeus raised an accusatory index at Harley.
Harley puzzled at Amadeus’s index. “I gave you an opportunity. You look—”
“Title fourteen of the Interspecies Civil Rights Act of 3255 signed by the Council of Ganer’s Nation prohibits discrimination based on species, race, color, religion, sex, and national origin,” Amadeus cut Harley. “Supplementing or diminishing opportunities to an individual because of discrimination can lead to severe punishment such as public service, prison, and even death sentence.” Amadeus softened his tense shoulders and blushed under the baffled stares of the whole coffee shop.
He grabbed his overweight bag of books, that forced him to hunch under the weight and dashed out, dozens of eyes glued to him.
The coffee shop door slammed with the entrance bell, dinging in the heavy silence.
Katana adjusted the dead body on her back. A difficult task with her sword coming out of their chest. But she could not take it out without leaving a blood trail.
Now. How to sneak out of a heavily guarded palace with a dead body almost twice her size on the back?
