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“Dragon, please! We are being attacked!” The peasant pleaded on his knees.
Belphegor was trying to nap for some time and the peasants of the village that he guarded were annoying him. He wasn’t really paying attention to what they were saying. He just snorted and continued trying to sleep.
“Dragon, they’re going to kill us!”
“We need your help!”
“We don’t have any fighters!”
“Dragon they’re barbarians, they won’t spare even the child!”
Bel was starting to get seriously angry. The peasants thought that just because they fed him, he was obliged to defend them.
“We fed you for years and that’s how you’re going to repay us?” Another peasant shouted.
Other shouts of discontent followed the first one, and Bel wouldn’t bother to get up and shoo them. Well, not until one peasant threw a stone at him. He barely felt it hit his scales, but he knew that a peasant threw it at him.
He rose from the ground; his golden scales shone with the fire of the peasants torches. His
wings threw ominous shadows behind him.
“Ushishishi…”
None of the peasants was sure if a dragon was supposed to laugh in this creepy way.
“You dare to disturb The Prince?” Belphegor said narrowing his bright red eyes.
All the peasants that were there lost their confidence and anger in a moment. Belphegor’s voice was saccharine and at the same time threatening. One of the elders that was among the group remembered hearing that voice once, when Belphegor was speaking with his twin brother, a few days before killing him.
Whenever a dragon dies, another one spawns from its lair. The newborn dragon hold some similarities with its predecessor, making some people think that maybe this new dragon was the spawn of the dead dragon.
No one was sure how it happened, but even being immortals dragons still died, and needed to be replaced.
When the last dragon that protected that village died, everyone knew what was going to happen. A new dragon would appear, and for the first days, they would have to take care of it.
What they really didn’t expect, was that when they went to the dragon’s lair there wasn’t a dragon there, but two. They were exactly the same, and the group of people thought that they were hallucinating.
Two dragons protecting a village at the same time? That never happened before.
However, they quickly brushed away their doubts and fed the dragons some meat. The same elder that was now watching Belphegor’s fury again, saw when the meat was placed in front of the little dragons, and they immediately started to fight for it.
This elder knew from the beginning that this new dragon protecting them would be trouble. His mouth was dry and he took a step back, even if he had to fight the barbarians that were about to attack his village personally, he wouldn’t disturb the dragon.
However, there was one in their group that was young, and didn’t know much about dragons.
“We have been feeding your lazy bitch for years! You have to protect us!” The young said taking a step forward.
The entire group took a step back because they knew that insulting a dragon meant death. Especially insulting an unstable dragon like Belphegor.
“Ushishishi… I am royalty, serving me is the least you peasants can do.”
No one really knew from where Belphegor had taken that idea of royalty, but no one could convince him that he wasn’t. He was a dragon, after all.
“You piece of shit!” The young shouted and threw another stone on Bel.
The moment Bel pulled his head back and inhaled deeply the group already knew what would happen. They ran for their lives, not warning the young that had insulted the dragon.
The elder silently prayed for their souls. Between the barbarians and Belphegor, he was sure that the barbarians would be much more merciful.
The night fell and everyone on the village knew that that was their end. The barbarians would come kill, and then pillage them.
They didn’t have any fighters among them, only the hunters that diligently hunted on the forests to feed Belphegor. Those were put to fight, while the rest of the village hid on the Elder’s house.
The old man held his hands together and prayed that they survived that attack.
When the barbarians arrived, the villagers could hear their terrifying shouts from the elder’s house. The children curled nearer to their parents and the women started crying. The elder started counting his people and when he heard a feminine shouting he noticed that someone was missing.
The woman was going to the elder’s house so late, because she couldn’t find the pendant of her deceased mother. It was important for her.
However, when she turned a dark street a man suddenly shoved her against the wall of a house.
“Look what I found here… A lovely woman.”
The woman widened her eyes and her heart beat fast. She knew what barbarians used to do with women.
She screamed for help and the man covered her mouth. She was barely able to breath.
“Shut the fuck up or I’ll…”
Before the man could complete the phrase, he coughed blood and fell on the ground. There were several knifes with weird shape on his back.
The woman stumbled away from the dark street and ran to the elder’s house. She didn’t know what happened, but she was certain that she wouldn’t have a second chance.
She entered the house and everyone noticed the blood on her clothes, but no one asked what had happened. She sat on a corner and silently cried.
The shouts of the barbarians were coming closer and everyone in the house shook with fear. That was the end.
When the hunters saw the first wave of barbarians, they thought it was the end for them. They
were certain of it, and when the barbarians charged at them, most of them closed their eyes.
The ones who didn’t close their eyes just saw a dark shadow on the skies. A few seconds later, the shadow landed on top of the Elder’s house.
“Ushishishi… Where is my food you peasants?”
The barbarians froze at the sight of the golden dragon. The hunters weren’t sure of how they would respond to that question.
“I asked a question peasant, answer your prince.” He said looking directly to a hunter.
“W-we couldn’t hunt today… We we-were preparing to fight to defend o-ourselves…” The hunter answered almost as if by impulse.
“Ushishishi… I should punish you right now, but I’m hungry and I might just eat these barbarians instead.”
The barbarians almost didn’t have any time to react before bell flew on them.
He ripped apart many of them and roasted many others. No one survived his relentless attacks.
When all the barbarians were dead, Belphegor returned to the still paralyzed hunters. He landed in front of them and growled.
“Ushishishi… The prince’s scales are bloody, and it’s all your useless peasants fault.” He said and then took a step forward, making the hunters take a step back.
“I should make you deliver me one of you for each meal…” He took another step forward.
“But the prince is feeling sated and happy, so you may live. For now…”
Belphegor flew back to his lair, leaving the shocked but grateful peasants behind.
Until that moment, all of them were pretty sure that dragons didn’t eat humans.
Now that they knew that they definitely weren’t averse to eat them, they had even more
reasons to never forget to bring their dragon his meal.