Miriam

  “Show them Miri”. “

  “Finish them off Miriam”.

  “Show them what happens when you play with fire”.

  With the praise of her people behind her and several bottles in her arms, she walked, or rather staggered contentedly, towards Schlucht, stopping halfway where she was clearly visible to the people on the palisades in the moonlight but still out of reach of their arrows.

  Let them see who is tearing down their gate, she thought grimly, sat down and started with the next bottle.

  Before she drank another bottle, she began to concentrate and prepare herself for her task.

  No matter what the others thought, she was not an alcoholic after all, quite the opposite, she had worked very hard to tolerate as much alcohol as possible without getting drunk.

  Fire magic, or rather any kind of magic, did not go well with declining perception and a lack of risk assessment.

  Any flammable liquid would have done the trick, but oil was harder to come by and, as she had found out through her own experiments, it wasn't something you wanted in your mouth, hence alcohol.

  "Everyone listen up, we're going on, but don't worry, Miriam has come alone. They probably want to negotiate now that they've seen that they can't get through here. Gather together on the palisade again, I think you all want to hear that," she heard Albert's magic-amplified voice from the palisade.

  Oh yes, Mayor, no one wants to miss this, so gather together on your little wall, she thought with a broad grin.

  It was time to begin, so she started imagining a flame just above her midsection and began to feed this small flame with fuel.

  This fuel came in the form of her own life force, which she carefully diverted from other areas of her body, always being careful not to take too much away.

  In her mind she imagined a steady stream of orange-red energy coming from all parts of her body to her little inner flame, and how it was growing steadily.

  She mentally went through the different parts of her body that she could draw energy from.

  Head, arms, legs and everything in between.

  As she did so she felt the cold begin to spread through her body as a result of the energy she was redirecting.

  The hardest part was to muster enough energy for the flame to grow, but not too much so that you don't go into shock or pass out.

  She was cold, had goosebumps and felt a little weaker on her feet, but she could still stand and was sure she could still walk.

  She felt her face getting paler and she was starting to get a slight headache that was getting worse but not unbearable.

  She felt a very unpleasant pulling sensation that ran from the back of her head down her whole back, but it wasn't really painful yet.

  All of this discomfort was only peripherally noticeable to her anyway, pushed aside by the feeling of the fire she had created within herself.

  The small flame had now become a real fireball that shone inside her like a sun.

  It was an indescribably terrible but at the same time beautiful feeling.

  The inferno raged painfully inside her and she did everything in her power to prevent it from consuming her.

  At the same time, she was overwhelmed by an enormous feeling of happiness, euphoria and the power she now possessed.

  The power to change reality as she wanted. For example, by turning the annoying gate of her enemies and all those behind it into ashes, real power.

  For a while she just stood there. Alone and slightly trembling, in the moonlight and fighting for control of the fire inside.

  When she finally felt that she had it under control, she started drinking more bottles to keep the fire going.

  After each bottle she paused briefly to regain control and then continued drinking.

  She knew that since there wasn't actually a fire inside her, more like the idea of a fire, drinking flammable alcohol wouldn't help directly.

  Nevertheless, the effect was undeniable, and she felt the fire inside her growing stronger with each bottle, so that it soon felt like a compressed forest fire inside her.

  When dealing with Ideas faith was the most important part anyway.

  What did it say again in that book that I took from the Merchant back then? You're supposed to just concentrate on the fact that alcohol burns and not think too much about other stuff. I don't know anything about other magic, but I doubt they're as easy to learn as fire magic. Or maybe I'm just a genius, probably both, she thought excitedly and drained another bottle.

  Shit, yes, I am a genius, I taught myself fire magic from some book I bought from a travelling merchant , oh actually it wasn't so much a book as a booklet and still. Bartold said it himself, I'm so good that even Aodhan, a real dragon, acknowledges me, she thought with a grin, although the thought of Bartold briefly dampened her euphoria.

  Damn Bartold, because of him, who knows how many of us died miserably in front of that damn gate, or worse, got exposed to that hellish water and survived. Damn villagers, you're pouring hot water on us, well, I'm not just going to play along with that game, I'm raising the stakes and I'm going to set you dirty bastards on fire, she thought angrily.

  She could already hear herself growling, and she suddenly felt a burning pain in her throat. She fought for a moment to keep her composure and pushed the pain back to her inner fireball.

  Don't lose control now, first we'll take care of the village and then Bartold. Shit, since when is he actually the leader here? Aodhan's confidant my ass, he said himself that Aodhan sees me as his second in command. If I had gone to Aodhan with Bartold, we could have made that clear right away, damn self-doubt, she continued her train of thought, growing more confident with every moment.

  But not for much longer, when I'm finished with Schlucht, Aodhan will officially make me his deputy and student. Oh shit, I'm already so powerful that I can just tear down gates and walls whenever I want, what will it be like when a dragon teaches me? she dreamt to herself and already saw herself turning every potential enemy into a match with a simple wave of her hand.

  When I've learned everything from Aodhan, I might just leave the Dragon's Man, which is a misogynistic name anyway, I have no idea who came up with that. I'll just found my own kingdom or conquer one, who's going to stop me, I'd be something like a fire goddess! Yeah, screw armies, weapons, alliances, negotiations and all that crap. Aodhan's right, I'm more like a dragon than a human and dragons just take whatever they damn well want! the realization exploded in her, and she prepared herself for the final part of the spell.

  Emptying one last bottle and throwing it onto the grass, she moved slowly towards Schlucht again with almost hesitant steps.

  The future God Queen of Flames was so lost in her euphoric dreams that she didn't even notice the warning shouts calling her name behind her, nor did she notice the smell of burning grass that grew stronger in the air with each step she took.

  Finally, she looked at her outstretched hands and looked down at herself.

  A part of her still registered that she was on fire and screamed in pain and panic somewhere in the back of her head, but couldn't penetrate the cloud of euphoria, power and self-confidence that had settled around her mind. I am unstoppable! I am your end, for I am a dragon! she thought to herself before she unleashed hell.

  So, this is what it feels like for humans to walk in the forest at night, Aodhan thought uneasily as he walked towards the mountain.

  Unlike in the city and the fields that immediately surrounded it, the forest provided little moonlight due to the trees, so the path ahead was mostly shrouded in darkness.

  Fortunately for him, however, even in the dark, it was almost impossible for a human's limited senses to miss the mountain, the sight of which flashed in the distance every few steps between the forest canopies.

  A distance that, he consoled himself, grew smaller with each step he took.

  What he missed most, of course, was his size and strength, but now he also realized what excellent vision his species had compared to humans.

  A fact that became more apparent with every root he stumbled over and every low-hanging branch that hit him in the face.

  And although his hearing had also deteriorated significantly as a human, it was still enough to let him hear all kinds of threatening noises around him, although he never managed to figure out where the noise was coming from.

  Accompanied by the nighttime sound of the forest, he was suddenly very glad of his time having chased or eaten the worst monsters from his lands.

  Back then, of course, only to prevent his subjects who paid tribute from being eaten. Or, even worse, his subjects who demanded tribute from being eaten along with said tribute on their way to him.

  No, as a wise and practical Lord, he could not have allowed such a thing to happen.

  Just the thought that he could be devoured by some filthy monster as a result of this cruel joke of fate sent a chill down his spine.

  After all, dragons were the top of the food chain. They ate whatever they wanted and were not eaten.

  Regardless of his current situation, the very thought felt wrong, almost blasphemous.

  Crickets, owls, some other birds, cracking branches, but what's cracking the branches, he thought suspiciously as he continued to try to identify the sounds of his surroundings. Stay calm, you've made sure it can't be anything too dangerous. Deer, foxes, wild boars, normal wolves, he mentally ran through a list of possible animals.

  However, he realized that both wolves and wild boars could probably pose a serious threat to a human if they really wanted to.

  Although he knew that attacks were extremely rare, his luck hadn't been the greatest recently.

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  If only I had a little fire at my disposal! It doesn't have to be a whole torrent, just enough to defend myself, he thought to himself with rising panic and now walked through the forest with much more tension.

  Every unexpected noise made him flinch slightly. As he continued to walk, he stumbled over roots less and less. Whether it was because his senses had become as accustomed to the darkness as humans could, or because he was slowly reaching the end of the forest, he couldn't say.

  Some bipeds can manipulate the elements and other things with magic, just as the Damned Wanderer always dodged my attacks. No human or anything else would be fast enough otherwise, and there are probably a few of them who use fire magic or something like that. Surely only a small imitation of what a dragon can do, but still better than nothing, he mused to himself.

  He liked this idea more and more, and since he was probably trapped in this body for an indefinite period of time, he should also make sure that he could defend it.

  And if there was one thing he knew, it was that most problems could be solved with enough fire.

  A little flame breath and people do what you want, then a few small, more human fire games should ensure that at least nobody messes with me just like that. Yes, for naturally magical beings like dragons, it is certainly no challenge to learn magic, after all, the lesser races can do it too. It goes without saying that I will be a natural talent, I just need to get hold of a few books or a teacher for the basics somehow, then the rest should be a piece of cake, he dreamed to himself.

  But he was suddenly torn from his thoughts when he heard a huge bang from some distance in the direction of Schlucht, which seemed to drive all the birds from the treetops in panic and silenced the other wildlife around him.

  He knew instinctively what it was, after all, he himself had been the cause of such a noise in the past.

  Impossible! If I can hear the explosion from Schlucht all the way here, the fireball must have been huge, nobody but a dragon can do something like that, could that mean... oh shit, it shot through his mind in panic.

  He knew for sure that as a human he definitely didn't want to face another of his own kind.

  The thought of asking another dragon for help hadn't even crossed his mind.

  His kind wasn't exactly known for their strong social bonds, and even less for their compassion for anything weaker than them, and that was everything else.

  Admittedly, he hadn't had anything to do with other dragons in decades, but he was pretty sure they would either laugh at him or eat him.

  After all, he knew he would do that.

  I'm the only dragon here, I checked that several times before I set up my lair. Could it be that the stories of my wealth and power have attracted a dragoness who wants to mate with me? Now of all times! If I ever get that wanderer in my claws, I'll make him scream for the rest of his pathetic life, it flashed through his mind, his thoughts jumping back and forth between panic and hatred.

  After he had calmed down after a while, he thought about it again and looked up at the sky.

  It was now cloudless and empty except for the moon and the stars.

  He was now on the steep mountain path; there were no trees here to block his view upwards, and even before that, the canopy of leaves had become thinner and thinner.

  If a dragon had really appeared, it would now circle around Schlucht for a few more times after its first attack or threat.

  At least that's what he would do, and although he saw thick smoke rising from the direction of the city, he couldn't see a dragon anywhere on the horizon.

  Of course it can't be a dragon, but what then? Is this wanderer perhaps back to finish me off? he thought anxiously at first, but then dismissed this thought again.

  For one thing, it would make no sense to set Schlucht on fire, especially since he had said he wanted to free the inhabitants of Schlucht from his tyranny, whatever he had meant by that.

  For another, because the wanderer, as painful as this thought was for him, could have easily killed him after his transformation.

  Instead, he had told him that he would be trapped in this form until he achieved true selflessness.

  In other words, he didn't want to kill him, but to make him suffer, so he probably wasn't behind the explosion .

  The more he thought about how the explosion had happened, the more he realized that he didn't really wanted to know and that it was the right decision to leave Schlucht behind while he still could.

  Leaving thoughts of the wanderer, vengeful djinns and lost dragons behind him, he continued his way up the mountain path.

  The further up he went, the more comfortable he felt.

  Not only was he getting closer to his lair and thus to the solution to his problems, no, it simply felt good for him to walk up the rocky path.

  No more soft forest ground and no more trees blocking the open sky. Dragons belonged in the mountains, after all.

  As he marched up the mountain with his backpack, he noticed another strange peculiarity of the human body.

  Apparently, the human body produced water when he felt thirsty or physically exhausted.

  He asked himself if this had happened to him before or if he had only just noticed it; in any case, this discovery had initially filled him with positive amazement.

  Fascinating, people produce water when they need water. Impressive, dragons can't do that. That means they can't die of thirst - very good, I must have underestimated them, he thought hopefully as he began to wipe up the water, which seemed to be collecting mainly on his forehead, with his hands and then licked them.

  Salt? Why does it taste like salt? Damn it, he thought disgustedly as he pulled a face.

  He recognized the taste because he had once ordered one of his now presumably dead subordinates to salt his prey out of curiosity, but this had not been to his taste, any more than it was now.

  Shit why does their body water taste like salt, disgusting! Who can drink something like that? he continued to think to himself, before continuing on his way.

  After a while he turned around again and looked with a certain wistfulness at the surroundings that had once represented his principality.

  He saw the distant outlines of Westfold and Emmerstal; strangely, both villages were illuminated by light and thin snakes of light were moving out of them in the direction of Schlucht.

  Apparently, they really were sending reinforcements.

  From Schlucht itself he could now see not only the rising cloud of smoke, but also the ominous glow that was responsible for it.

  The sight gave him a certain pang. After all, his proximity to the three cities had indeed proven to be lucrative.

  But he knew when it was time to get out. After all, the thirty years he had spent here were not that long for a dragon anyway.

  Besides, after the first few years of my arrival there was less and less to get anyway. If I hadn't insisted that my servants empty each pillow individually and if we hadn't expanded our raids, my hoard would certainly not be anywhere near as large. When I'm myself again, I'm sure I'll find a better region to tax, he cheered himself up.

  Turning his back on his former principality for good, he continued on his way.

  The initial euphoria he had felt at the beginning of the mountain path had now given way to steadily growing exhaustion and aching legs.

  He also felt the backpack he had taken from the smithy more and more on his shoulders.

  The way down back then with his former servants had been a real torture for him. For one thing, he was still too inexperienced with his two legs at the time, and for another, his guards had roughly pulled him down the path. Now that he was no longer attached to anyone's leash and had significantly more experience with his two legs, it hadn't even occurred to him that the way up would prove to be so strenuous.

  Once again, he was negatively surprised.

  The forced march down had still been much worse, but with his increasingly sore back, stabbing legs and heavy breathing, he had to face another unpleasant truth about being human.

  They were not designed to walk up steep stretches for long periods of time, especially not with weight on their backs.

  No, this body will not ruin the mountains for me! he thought to himself with the stubbornness typical of dragons and defiantly continued up the mountain.

  After a while he finally stood in front of the massive main gates of the old dwarf city. Gates that had probably not opened for centuries, if not millennia.

  Despite all this time, however, he could still clearly see the picture that adorned the main gate and depicted the fight between a dwarven mountain fortress and an attacking dragon.

  And I took over your precious mountain without a fight because you ran away, he thought to himself with the same mischievous grin on his face that he had had when he first saw the picture.

  And even if you had been there, I could have conquered the mountain... but it probably would have been a bit more difficult., he admitted to himself as he looked up at the gate as a human and felt truly small for the first time in a long time.

  Like the wanderer and his escort yesterday, he took a small, easily overlooked side path further up the mountain.

  Dwarves are even smaller than humans and yet their buildings are big enough for dragons to fit in. In comparison Human buildings make you feel like being squeezed between a couple of Rocks and wood. Damn, why did it have to be a human! he thought annoyedly as he ran his hand along the rock wall of the mountain.

  They probably had complexes about their size and that's why they built so big, but either way, it's impressive, he thought, part of him wondering what it would be like to live as a dwarf.

  While he ran his hand over the cool rock to feel for any noticeable bumps or depressions, he also searched the rocky surface with his eyes, the moonlight continuing to be a great help.

  According to the old djinn scholar who gave him his information about the mountain, the hidden entrance was marked with a special symbol that had been carefully carved into the mountain. So, he examined the wall for possible depressions and looked for the rune that was supposed to resemble a dragon.

  Unlike the other side entrance, this one did not require a special key, but was only secured with the dwarven word for dragon.

  He did not really know how the mechanism worked that opened the secret door by saying a certain word, or how useful it was for the dwarves at that time to have such an unsecured entrance.

  According to the scholar, this was probably because only certain dwarves even knew of its existence, and due to their isolationist nature, hardly any outsider knew more than perhaps a handful of dwarven words.

  I was lucky that this old genie ran into my clutches and offered me knowledge in exchange for his life. It was his bad luck that he also mentioned that there was hardly anyone else who knew so much about dwarves. At first, I really wanted to let him live, but such knowledge becomes more valuable the less widespread it is, he remembered the fateful encounter that had brought him here.

  After a while he finally found the symbol, although he almost missed it despite the moonlight because it was lower than he had been looking.

  He had completely forgotten that dwarves were even smaller than humans.

  Groaning, he knelt down to take a closer look at the symbol. Since he had been told that the symbol was supposed to represent a dragon, he was a little disappointed because it seemed to bear more resemblance to a snake.

  He couldn't stand it when his species was compared to snakes or lizards. A comparison that was such a ridiculous understatement that you might as well say that a blade of grass was the same as a tree because both were green somewhere.

  “Niddh?grivir,” he solemnly said the old dwarven word for his kind and waited.

  But nothing happened.

  Pretty much every damn mechanism in this mountain still works, don’t tell me they messed up here, it shot through his head in almost hysterical panic.

  He leaned closer to the symbol so that his lips almost touched the rock and said again: “Niddh?grivir,” now in a slightly shrill voice.

  One agonizing moment led to the next before he heard the rumbling and grinding of a dwarven gate opening.

  As with the other side entrance, a crack appeared at the bottom of the rock wall, which first creaked upwards, then moved to the right and then went back down, drawing the outline of a door in the stone.

  This door now slowly opened into the mountain and revealed the tunnel behind it.

  The dragon just says dragon and all doors are open to him, he thought contentedly as he entered.

  He was reminded of the heigh difference again, as he almost hit his head and had to enter the tunnel slightly bent over.

  Shortly afterwards, the door closed behind him and crunched into the rock again.

  For a while he stood in the dark with growing panic, wondering how well dwarves could see in the dark.

  As it turned out, however, probably not as well as he had first feared, as after a while the ceiling, floor and walls of the corridor began to glow faintly.

  It wasn't much, but enough to see where you were going.

  The source of this glow seemed to be the moss that seemed to grow sporadically in the tunnel.

  As far as I know, this tunnel should lead me directly to my hoard in the central chamber, so I'm almost there, he thought determinedly and started walking slightly bent over.

  As he walked through the tunnel, he tried to distract himself from his increasingly aching back by thinking about what the purpose of the tunnel might had been.

  It was probably intended as an emergency tunnel for their nobility in case of a dragon attack or some other threat. Yes, that's right, Niddh?grivir means both dragon and catastrophe, their language definitely had a certain logic, he thought contentedly on his way.

  This contentment was not to last long, however, as he reached a crossroad, contrary to his expectations.

  Shit, what now? was all that came to his mind.