4. Daring to Wake a Dragon.
Chapter 4: DarHe stood, watching her inhale and exhale. The place reeked, and for all he knew, he could die due to the stench coming from her breaths alone.
"Dragon!" He screamed. "Wake up this instant! Behold, the brave man of the celestial village has come to thy help." Right after he said this he shook his head at himself in amusement. That might have been the cheesiest thing he'd ever said.
Krystal, stirred slightly. It might have been the first time in decades that she'd heard a nuisance so loud and so close to where she resided. She opened her eyes, just a sliver, settling on the tiny man who stood before her with widespread arms. She fumed, her nostrils blowing huge, heavy gusts that almost knocked him off his feet.
How dare he wake her up, so rudely too?
Alexander stood before the dragon, fearlessly. It wasn't feigned bravery either, he just had a weird opinion on his own meaning of life. It didn't make much sense, his whole 'don't have anything to lose' sentiment. When you willingly faced down a dragon 20 times your size, could you possess much sense?
Standing face to face with the oversized reptile made him feel brave, like a noble warrior. However, the dragon didn't feel the same. She felt rather unimpressed by his arrival.
What made him think he could defend himself against her, and serve as a mediator between her and all the other tiny creatures who looked like him?
"Hey there..." Alex said. He even went and offered her a cranky smile. "I'm here to serve as your assistant."
The dragon roared, mostly out of amusement to see what he would do. She was mostly confused. Her breath caused Alex to shudder. Not in fright though, it was solely because it reeked. Decades and decades of eating without brushing.
"I don't expect you to brush, you're an animal." He murmured under his breath.
Krystal heard him loud and clear. She roared again, even mightier than the first, truly offended this time. Alex scowled. Then he remembered what he came for. He turned his scowl into an encouraging smile, sitting himself down on a nearby rock, extending his arms as if encouraging a hug.
"Oh beautiful dragon-ess. I don't know the formal terms here. That word probably doesn't exist, uh. But I'm here to help you! Okay, how about this? I will clean up your…excrement, make your humble little abode smell a tad better, eh?" Krystal didn't seem any happier that he was mentioning that.
Alex cleared his throat. "I'll brush off your shedded scales. I'll pack them properly and even dispose of them if you want. How's that?"
Krystal relaxed a little, still regarding Alex with confusion. What on earth were his intentions? This funny little man offered to service her a few odd jobs.
"I'll bathe you once a week, I could also brush your teeth. I doubt you even know what brushing is, your breath stinks so much honestly. I don't want you roaring away the pleasure of the celestial wind."
Krystal raised a wing, the tendons and veins running across it pulsing as she moved, and flapped just once in his direction, the gust from it so strong Alex flew into the wall of the cave, his back slamming into the rock behind.
He groaned as he toppled to the ground, arms staggering to push himself back upright. "That hurt!" She just stared, not even bothering to get up.
"C'mon, you can't be that angry because of a perfectly reasonable observation. I just said I was going to clean you up but you only focused on the fact that you're filthy." He chuckled, unsure why he was trying to rile up the dragon. Krystal roared even louder. She threw him backwards again where he fell with a louder thud. Alex groaned. He was losing blood and he was beginning to feel very light headed.
"Listen to me, you...dragon." He slurred. "You need me, okay? These humans, they're going to pester you a lot. And you need someone who can calm you down, or them, whoever goes crazy first."
Krystal whacked him away for a third time. Alex managed to sit up again. He was probably going to die anyway. There was nothing for him to hold onto in life. He was alone and had nothing to his name, so if he died by the dragon's hit, at least he died an honorable death.
"If you're going to kill me, I hope you understand that you are the one who loses. Yeah I die, cool. But, I have nothing to lose. Death is a gain to me." Alex smirked. "So even if you killed me right now, it still points to me."
Krystal stared at him, completely dumbfounded. She raised her wing again, about to whack him to the ground one final time when Alex raised his own hands, the grin on his face making it seem more like mock surrender. She waited for what he was going to say, slowly getting fed up.
"Also, before you pulverize me to mash, did you know that it's very unattractive, as a female, to stink? You need me to wash you clean! How will you get male attraction if you reek this much to even me, a human?!" Alex mocked, the reasonable part of him coming to the conclusion that the blood loss was making him ramble like an idiot. "Let me take care of you."
"I'll comb your hair, give it a little more treatment. It currently looks like a porcupine's thorn."
That was it, Krystal could no longer be patient. He continuously insulted her, and then implied that she had to take care of herself for the sake of men. Men?! Whyever would she do that in the first place?
She slapped her wing down, the wind flung him into a particularly uneven wall and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Then with the tip of her wing she picked him up and set him against a rock. After some fumbling she finally got him to sit upright, and then there was silence. She waited a few seconds, waiting to hear his irritating voice once more.
Seconds turned into minutes and she still heard nothing from him. She crawled over to where his broken body lay, lifeless.
His face was splattered with blood, a gash deep in his forehead. His stark white hair slightly red at the ends and covered in sand and dirt. Krystal stared at Alex's body for a while, then she nicked it with the tip of her tail.
Where did all his lively and bratty attitude go? She tried to shake him, but her talons kept tearing his clothing. The robe looked very beautiful but it was obviously made of cheap materials.
Why wasn't he saying anything more? Was he dead already? Was he that frail and fragile? Did she hit too hard?
Krystal stared for a few minutes longer, then returned to her spot, curling back into a comfortable sleeping position. She honestly couldn't care less, only finding his presence a mild inconvenience.
The villagers waited till dusk. There was no sign of Alex returning from the dragon's cave. Neither was there any sounds coming out of it. The only thing they could pick out was the labored breathing of the reptile.
The king faced his people. "Mourn, Celestials! The brave man is dead."
Everyone turned to return home, one after the other. A few peasants passed comments about Alex, how nice he was. The nobles were largely unaffected, but still whispered theories amongst themselves.
One question stayed in the minds of the people. If Alex was dead, then who else would dare to disturb the dragon?