Dragon Assassin 12: Deathwings by Arthur Slade

Author:Arthur Slade [Slade, Arthur]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dava Enterprises
Published: 2022-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Endless Gems

"And how do we use this book to find her?" Brax asked. "Please be kind enough to elucidate this to us. And use tiny words. For Carmen's sake."

Being full of goats clearly made Brax full of himself.

"Traveling between realms," Corwin said, "as I explained earlier, is to picture that world and bring yourself to it. And, if possible, get permission to go there. To be one with that world."

"This is sounding kind of foofy," Brax said.

"Foofy?" I replied. "Is that a dragon word?"

"Yes." He let out a delicate burp as if to accent his explanation. "It means soft and unfortunate and silly. Foofy. A dragon would never ask to visit another world. A dragon would assume that the world would be lucky to have a dragon there."

"I think the word in that situation is hubris," I said. "Or ego."

Brax rolled his eyes. "Anyway, you are lucky to hear my words. Please continue, Corwin, who has the misfortune of being related to this mortal."

Corwin gave us both a look and smiled just enough to show his teeth. I could tell a part of him wanted to goad us on—there was a trickster returning to his soul. "So, anyway, this book is something that she holds dear to her heart. Even at her advanced age, of what? Fifteen? Sixteen? It matters to her. Naram-Sin would have read this book to Kali." He opened it and read a few lines. "The prince strode up the mountain, carrying the golden goose on his back. He thought of the power he would wield. The gold would pay for workers to fix his mother’s home. Gardeners to plant a garden. He could bring order to the town, to the people who were always bickering. He could buy armies. ‘My gold will poison you,’ the golden goose said. ‘It always poisons. Put it in water, drink the water, and you will die.’ The prince shook his head and continued to climb. ‘I have warned you,’ the goose said. ‘Just as I have warned so many others.’"

"I know that story," I said. "He takes the gold and fixes the house, and pays a physician to heal his mother, and then he moves on to hiring a guard because so many come to see the gold. And then he hires two guards and four and eventually he has an army to protect himself, and he builds a castle and fights the neighboring lords, which attracts the attention of the king who sends his army for the goose, and eventually the only living creatures are the goose, the young man, and his mother. She bids him to return it to the mountain and come back with a pig. He does so, and returns with a pig that coughs up gems."

"A pig like that would be hard to eat," Brax said.

"That's not the point of the story," I replied. "It's about endless greed."

Brax made a raspberry sound. "No, any story with a pig in it ends with the pig being eaten.

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