«No, I don’t!» Graymore felt herself burning from within. If she did not set out to catch the dragon, she would go mad with searing pain.
«Then why do you ask, when you already know the answer?»
The skeleton’s squeaky voice was very insolent. Graymore didn’t like the dead wizard’s self-confidence. She wanted to challenge him, and she didn’t dare. To behave boldly with him was to call trouble on the whole kingdom.
«Perhaps the dragon would come here instead of settling near the mountains.»
«I don’t think so. It would wait there.»
«Is he waiting? But for whom is he waiting?»
«What if it’s you, Princess?»
«Don’t joke!»
The skeleton fell silent.
«Why do I suffer pains of fire when dragons approach?»
«It is because you are a true dragon hunter.»
«No, I’ve been bewitched, so I can’t stand the pain of being near raptors. You probably did it. And the goal was to turn me into a dragon myself, but it didn’t work. Instead of being attracted to their nature, I feel the excitement of war with them.»
«Or perhaps you burn from their proximity, waiting for one of the dragons to become your lover?»
«Will he be my lover? Don’t joke! They are monsters!» She remembered the dream – an elf with fiery breath.
«What if it’s destiny!» insisted the dead wizard.
«It is better death in battle with dragons than such a fate.»
«Then kill the next of them! Perhaps this way you will change your fate. Lover or corpse, the choice is yours. After all, you are the ruler of these lands.»
«But I feel I am under a spell, as if they’re throwing me into a fire to make me fight the dragons,» Graymore complained again.
The skeleton hummed. There was something he wasn’t telling her.
«Would you like me to wipe the mirror so it can show us what’s going on in my domain? Perhaps it could show us the future, too, if you ask it?»
«Ask it yourself. I don’t have to,» the skeleton protested.
«You mean you won’t help?»
Graymore was angry. In his lifetime, this wizard must have been insolent and cowardly. Even her father had worshipped his skeleton as a deity to ask for advice. Now it was her turn to beg. It’s awkward for a princess to beg the advice of a dead man, but what can you do!
Graymore took a precious hoop of emeralds, rubies, and sapphires from the folds of her cloak. It resembled a royal crown. A skeleton needs an offering, or he will lie and twist rather than give a straight answer. Such is the wicked nature of every soothsayer. You don’t bring the gift, you don’t get the right prophecy.
«Is that enough to make you kinder?»
Graymore handed the dead mage a crown, which he promptly snatched from her hand and placed on his bald skull.
«Perfect! I am like a king of wizards!» The skeleton gazed in rapt fascination in the mirror, where the cobwebs slid off and the dust vanished. «I am a beauty! I look like death with a scythe! That’s what I always wanted to be!»
How can you be glad to be a skeleton! Graymore did not understand it. The only creatures she liked were those that were pleasing to look at. It was except perhaps for dragons. Though they looked as magnificent as jewels, they were not to be admired. They had to be hunted before they crushed her entire kingdom with their raids.
«I was born in a bad country,» Grahamor complained, rubbing her long dark curls. «There are predators everywhere! There are dragon nests on every border! In the south of Livellin, no one has ever heard of dragons. An envoy from the Southern Kingdom last year reported they had never been raided.»
«Perhaps his king has a pact with dragons,» the skeleton said thoughtfully.
«Is that possible?»
«It is if you pay tribute.»
«Are there goats, sheep, buffalo, cows, partridges, and young virgins?» Graymore exhaled noisily. This was a trap she had fallen into before, as had her father. «Once they’d had enough, they’d still fly to scorch the cities they’d sent tribute from. Dragons are dishonorable!»
«But there is one thing they do respect.»
«And what is that?»
«It is treasure!» The skeleton’s eyes gleamed with the empty eyes that held two tiny diamonds. «Offer them gold and jewels, and you will buy their favor.»
«For how long is it?»
«It all depends on the portion of the jewels.»
«And once they decide there’s not enough treasure, how will they break the agreement and attack again? Better to fight them with steel than to offer them gold.»
«An agreement built on gold they will not break.»
«Are they that greedy?»
«When it comes to precious metals, it’s not just their greed that becomes excessive. A hypnotic attraction to gold and jewels awakens in them. Give them more and more precious trinkets, and they go into ecstasy, poring over them and counting to infinity.»
«So they’re attracted to Livellin’s coffers!» Gryamore guessed. «That’s why they come here all the time.»
«It is not only that! There are more treasures in other realms than yours. There is another treasure,» the skeleton became tense and clutched at the armrests of the chair he sat on. «It is you!»
He pointed his bony hand toward Graymore.
«Why is it me?» the princess struggled feverishly to remove her precious rings and bracelets. «Is it because of the abundance of jewelry on me? It is etiquette to wear them, so that all the ambassadors can see how rich Livellin is by my example.»
«Leave the trinkets! Whether you take it off or not won’t make any difference. Dragons will still be drawn to you. It’s as if there’s a vein of gold inside you. Even I can feel the gold shining through your skin. There are creatures with gold blood, you might be one of them.»
Graymore wasn’t about to take a dagger and slash herself to find out.
«And what explains the dragon’s fondness for gold and gems?»
«It is an ancient legend. Legend has it that dragons are servants of a solar deity who rebelled in the heavens. As soon as it fell, the light of the sun fell to earth with it and turned into gold-bearing veins and deposits of precious stones. So gold reminds the dragons of their period of greatness. They were not yet monsters then.»
«It is interesting!» Graymore looked at the magical mirror. It was trying to show something. In it glimpsed dense forests and strange creatures galloping through the thicket. It seemed to be fairies. Graymore had never yet communicated with magical creatures. She ruled the land of humen. Only rarely did she get to see fairies, nymphs, and mermaids from afar. In the old days, there had been more of them in Livellin than there had been people, but now almost the entire population was human.
«If you see a golden statue of a dragon god in the forest or mountains, flee from it! It’s probably alive and bloodthirsty, though very beautiful,» warned the skeleton in an admonishing tone.
«Is it a statue of a dragon? Or of a man covered in scales?»
«It’s a statue of an angel.»
Graymore exhaled in amazement.
«So the appearance