Dragonsphere by Richard Fierce

Author:Richard Fierce
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dragonfire Press

“I have always thought the actions of men

the best interpreters of their thoughts.”

- Kelros

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“If I am forced to eat another one of these particularly disgusting cave creatures again, I shall …”

“Peace, Kelron,” interrupted Kelros. “At least in the Tunnel’s darkness, we do not have to look upon them too much. Besides, by looking at you with the light of one’s fire, one could hardly say that your appetite has decreased significantly from this most undesirable fare.”

Kelron looked down into the darkness in the direction of the large lump of flesh, blood, and scales, the like of which having been the sustenance for the two hundred Serpentauri during their residence in the Tunnel. He belched, a ball of flame erupting from between his fangs, his forked tongue flailing wildly about his open mouth. For a moment, the small segment of the Tunnel lit up by the almost blinding flash and then returned to its usual darkness. “Your skin does not draw so tightly over your bones either, Kelros. How can you stand to eat these things anyway?”

“What else is there to eat?” replied Kelros, somewhat irritated at his friend’s constant complaining. “It’s a lot better than having to eat ourselves like the Cannibals of this Island. Did you know that if enough of these creatures band together, they could kill an unsuspecting Serpentaur and reduce him to pile of whitened bones within an hour? They even eat the scales and the coat. Quite a gruesome spectacle, from what Father Ean has told me. It is most important that we eat them before they eat us.”

Kelron turned his head to the invisible stench in front of him. “Even so, I still do not understand why you do not leave the Tunnelor at least allow the rest of us to do soand eat an animal that makes its habitat above ground and lives off something other than feces and rotting carcasses of its fellow cave creatures.”

“Because,” said Kelros, leaning his head down into the creature’s body, ripping a limb off with his massive jaws, swallowing it whole. “Father Ean has ordered that we stay in the Tunnel, where we will be unseen by men who would destroy us or attempt to use us for ill purposes. I might also have you remember that both you and I fare much better than our brothers in the center point of the Tunnel where the five branches meet. Father Ean has let us come this close to the entrance on the Red Island. At least there is some small chance of getting some animal strayed from its home on the mountain.”

“I would question the thinking behind his decision to keep us hidden. I feel no need for protection from men. As for stray creatures from the over-world, I have not yet seen one since we entered the Tunnel,” said Kelron, reluctantly biting out a large piece of flesh from the mess in front of him, hardly taking the time to chew it as he forced the seemingly resistant food down his throat, trying his bestunsuccessfullynot to taste it.

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