Chp.41: The lindworm

Haku drummed his claws on the floor, partly out of boredom and partly out of frustration. He had hoped to be able to resolve the situation quickly, but instead it seemed that the time for negotiations would last longer than expected.

It was his fault, of course. Or rather, of his ignorance. Haku hadn't factored in the possibility that newcomers might accept or even wish to have a dragon at their service. His world view was too limited and was based solely on a continuous conflict between the two species. Apparently, however, there were exceptions, many exceptions... even if Haku wasn't too convinced about each of them. He was sure that the situation for those dragons who had agreed to serve the newcomers was not as rosy as the king portrayed it. Otherwise, why wouldn't dragons all live with newcomers? Even if only a few of them had initially accepted, when they had to reproduce they would have told others of their advantages and would have had many children. Conversely, the 'wild' dragons would continue to decline. In a relatively short time, most dragons would have lived alongside the newcomers. The fact that this was not the case made Haku very suspicious of the conditions of the dragons who had accepted that pact.

In any case, his ignorance had prevented him from promptly replying to the king's proposal. This had brought him into the unpleasant situation he was in now. Haku was sure there would be room for more negotiations in the future, but he would surely have a bad time first. It was clear that the king aimed to lessen his arrogance in the hope that he would bend. And Haku knew that pain was a very effective method for this.

He remembered the king's last words. Apparently, he wanted him to meet a lindworm. Haku had no idea what it was: the only time he'd heard the name of such a creature was when he and Darbi had been captured by Ethan's fellow adventurers. However, it was clear that it must be some sort of beast. This meant that most likely the king wanted him to fight some monster.

Haku really didn't want to face another beast; even though it had been days he still had the hydra etched in his mind, and he would have preferred to stay away from the fighting for a while. Furthermore, he had almost never faced an opponent alone, not one stronger than him at least: he had always made use of the help of his siblings. He'd killed wolves, bears, ogres, fairies, a great basilisk, a hydra, even two dragons, but he'd always been helped. This time however he was alone... and he didn't even have any weapons with him: the humans had his dimensional bag, and with it all the objects he had painstakingly collected all that time.

This time, he could only count on his strength, his brain and his skills. Nothing else.

He didn't know how long he was alone in the room, but it sure was a long time. At some point, finally, some guards came to get him and told him to follow them. Even though they were technically watching him, they kept a safe distance from him. Haku followed them without making a fuss. The guards took him to another room, which however was very different from the previous one: it was also bare, but one of the walls was made up only of iron bars and through it filtered the sunlight and the noise from outside. The guards let him in and then locked him in, leaving him alone again.

Haku approached the iron bars. Through them he could see the outside of the palace where he was confined: it was a large sandy clearing completely surrounded by huge walls... no, they weren't walls, they were stairways. He squinted and noticed that the stairways were slowly filling up with people; most of them were humans, but there were also members of other races, many of which Haku couldn't identify. Haku didn't understand: why were everyone gathering there?

Haku waited patiently, trying to figure out what was going on, but couldn't comprehend much. After a while, however, a blast of trumpets sounded throughout the palace; the people on the steps rose to their feet and cheered so loudly that the air shook slightly with the noise. Haku didn't immediately understand the reason for that jubilee, but then he noticed that in one point of the stairways there was a much more decorated area, in clear sign of royalty, and on it king Marcus had appeared accompanied by several other richly dressed people. Apparently, exulting at the sight of their ruler was common among newcomers.

Marcus waved his hand as if waving to the crowd, then sat down and so did everyone else. Peace returned to that strange building for an instant, then something happened that Haku didn't expect: a little man ran in the middle of the central clearing, putting himself on display in front of everyone, and then pulled out a small circle-shaped instrument that he put it over his mouth. "Welcome!" he yelled, and his words echoed throughout the building.

That instrument must surely be magical, Haku thought. It probably served to amplify the voice so that even people far away could hear it. "Thanks to all of you for coming here today! I promise you a show that won't leave you disappointed!" the little man continued. "Let's waste no time and get started right away! Let's introduce the new arrival of the arena!"

Unexpectedly, the iron bars in front of Haku started moving upward. The dragon understood that it must be some sort of mechanism. Very soon, he was completely free to go out. He was reluctant, but he knew that if he hesitated he would show weakness in the face of the enemy; therefore, he confidently stepped out into the sunlight.

As soon as he was outside, he was greeted by a cascade of applause, boos, yells, exclamations, and various other verses that he couldn't have described in any other way than beastly. He was finally able to fully see the building he was in (what had the little man called it? Arena?): apparently it was a perfect circle completely surrounding the central plaza.

"What you see in front of you is what will one day become the biggest and most ferocious predator that can exist on this world!" the little man continued. "A natural disaster on legs! A monster like you've never seen before! But for now, this ferocious future ruler of the skies is only a few months old. But even so, don't underestimate him! He's over five meters long, he has razor sharp teeth and claws so powerful that they can rip through metal! Every muscle and fiber in his body is designed to hunt and kill! He weighs..."

The little man kept listing Haku's various characteristics for about five minutes, to the point that the dragon wondered how he knew him so well. Then, the little man pointed to the opposite side of the arena: "And now, let's introduce the challenger!"

A clang was heard from across the arena, and there, too, iron bars lifted up, opening a passage. After a few moments, something emerged from it and screeched like a bird whose throat was afflicted with some serious disease. The people gathered in the stands cheered again, while Haku worriedly watched the creature.

It looked like a snake, but it only had two very long, very thin and bony front legs that ended in broad paws and short but very thick claws. The rest of the body was at least eight meters long and writhed continuously. The beast's head vaguely resembled that of a dragon, but it had no horns and the snout was longer and narrower, and the tongue was forked. The beast was completely covered in black scales, which, however, were strange: instead of remaining compact, every time the creature snorted or hissed they opened and moved, emitting a strange sound similar to a buzzing. 'Is that a lindworm?' Haku thought. 'Really did those idiotic buddies of Ethan mistake me and Darbi for that thing?'

In some ways the lindworm was very similar to a dragon, or at least a baby dragon, but from Haku's point of view the differences were more than evident. No horns, no spines on back, no hind legs, build too thin, muzzle too narrow. It seemed impossible not to notice those differences. He tried to justify Ethan's companions by thinking that they probably hadn't seen many lindworms and they thought they had found a rare variant.

While he was studying the beast, he didn't notice that the little man had finished describing it as he had with him. "I guess there's nothing more to say, so with your majesty's permission, let the fight begin!" he said, then exited the arena very quickly.

Haku looked into the lindworm's eyes. The beast was glaring at him with murderous fury, the primal fury of an animal, but in its eyes he could see a determination to fight it that went far beyond survival instinct. The lindworm also had a collar, and that was probably the only reason it still hadn't attacked. Haku got into a defensive position: it was clear that the fight was about to start. By now he understood why all those people had gathered in the arena: to watch the fight. He didn't know what they found funny about it, but it wasn't really his problem.

The king rose from his seat and raised his hand; on it, Haku noticed two rings with the black stone, identical to the one that controlled his collar. "You can fight!" he exclaimed, lowering his hand forcefully.

Haku felt a sizzle in his neck, and realized that the king must have removed the previous order not to harm anyone. At least it looked like she wanted to give him a chance to defend himself. He wasn't the only one who was freed though: the lindworm also no longer seemed to be bound, because it let out a screech and ran towards him with extraordinary speed.

Haku grit his teeth. The lindworm was clearly bigger than he was, and most likely stronger as well. The chances of beating him with muscle alone were low. To win, he had to use his brain. But first he had to stop his charge; it opened its jaws and let out the loudest cry at its disposal. His scream was heard throughout the arena, so that the closest people covered their ears with their hands. The lindworm stopped and shook its head, clearly annoyed by the sound. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have sensitive hearing like that of the great basilisk, but still the dragon's scream must have caused it a lot of pain. Haku wasted no time: taking advantage of his opponent's carelessness, he immediately charged against it. Now that it was disoriented, it was easier to hit!

He opened his jaws and aimed at the neck of the beast; if he could tear open the jugular, it would cause blood loss that would kill the creature in short order. He just hoped it didn't have rapid regeneration like the hydra.

However, when his teeth touched the lindworm's skin, they didn't sink in as far as he'd hoped; they bled the beast's neck, but they didn't break the bones and tear away the flesh and the muscles. Apparently the skin of the lindworm was very strong.

The beast squealed in fury and tried to grab him, but Haku obviously didn't charge with a single plan in mind. He hadn't been able to rip open the lindworm's neck, but he had other ways to kill it. Before the animal could raise its two paws he twisted its neck and forced it to turn ninety degrees; due to this, the lindworm lost its balance and fell to the ground, and one of its paws was buried by its own body. Haku didn't let go of its neck, but rather tightened his jaws even more, and in the meantime he put a paw on the lindworm's head to keep it still; with the other, instead, he held off the paw still able to fight. With his two hind legs he leveraged on the ground, maintaining a position of strength: even if the lindworm was bigger and stronger, there was no way it could free itself from the situation into which it had been forced. At that point Haku began to execute the last act of his plan: leveraging the powerful muscles of his neck, he began to twist the neck of the lindworm to break it.

He was about to succeed, when the lindworm used another tactic: suddenly, its scales started to fidget and sizzle, and heat began to emerge from them. Haku, being a dragon, was resistant to high temperatures, but after a certain limit he too couldn't stand them: in the end, he let his opponent go with a jerk, moving to a safe distance.

The lindworm was finally able to get up, but this time it became much more cautious and it backed away a few steps too. Haku snorted annoyed. 'I forgot this asshole could almost certainly use mana!' he thought furiously. 'If so, I'll have to use…'

But suddenly he stopped. A flash went through his mind, and he connected all the pieces. Finally everything was clear to him: it was so obvious, how had he not understood it before! Though it was a stupid move, he turned away from the lindworm and pointed at the king. Marcus was watching him with a thoughtful expression, but his slight smile was evident. 'Son of a...' the dragon thought. 'That's what you wanted… you wanted me to fight knowing I couldn't win by my strength alone… so I would use the runes! You wanted to deprive me of my advantage!'

He had underestimated the king. He expected him to only aim to make him feel pain… but instead his plan was much more subtle. He wanted to put him in a life-or-death situation so that he would be forced to use the runes, and thus reveal his knowledge without receiving anything in return, thus depriving him of his only means of negotiation. Haku gritted his teeth: 'If you think I'll reveal my secrets so easily, you're so wrong! Now we will play by my rules!'