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The bells rang across the mountain plain, as they always did whenever the banquet prepared in his honor was ready.
Tim rose, stretched his wings and arms, then hunched forward until he looked almost more like a cat than a fearsome dragon. He shook himself, dislodging the last traces of sleep. He had to look presentable when receiving his offering.
At the edge of his cave, he looked down over the mountain. From this height, he always had the strange sensation of flying among the clouds even while standing perfectly still.
Tim folded his wings, took one final step, and leaped into the void.
The wind tore past him, rushing over his scales as he plunged toward the earth. The fall never stopped being exhilarating.
Only meters above the ground, he spread his wings. The force caught beneath them at once, wrenching him out of the dive and carrying him upward again.
Ahead lay the garden his people had built for him, where they gathered to honor his magnificence, serve him, and pay tribute for everything he did on their behalf. Tim did not consider himself their god, exactly, but if they insisted on calling him one, he saw no reason to stop them.
As he drew closer, however, something about the garden felt wrong. There was no gold. No food. None of the finest fabrics in the kingdom, neatly arranged and waiting for him.
Instead, there was only one figure. A woman. She had been tied to a stake, dressed in beautiful white cloth, her body trembling faintly.
Nothing else.
Tim landed several meters in front of her. He stared for a moment, confused, before sweeping his gaze across the garden in search of some explanation for this blatant breach of custom.
How dare they tie up a woman and offer her to him like this?
“My dragon,” the woman whispered. “I fear we have disappointed you. There is no more gold, no more fine cloth, no more crops. The drought has destroyed everything.” She bowed her head, sobbing. “Please. Do not punish our people.”
A drought? That was bad news.
More importantly, it was news Tim should have received from an informant, not from a woman tied up against her will as though she were a tribute of flesh.
“Dear, I don't know what's happening, but you don't have to be afraid. Do you need help getting untied?”
Tim had no intention of lowering his guard enough to shift into his human form. Dragon hunters still existed, after all, and being caught by the oldest trick in the book would be both unacceptable and deeply pathetic.
The woman lifted her head and looked at him through tear-filled eyes.
“The great and imposing dragon isn't going to eat me?”
Tim opened his mouth to deny it immediately.
Then stopped.
Those blue eyes, touched with green, were familiar. Unusual among humans. Even more unusual among dragons.
Tim frowned and studied the woman's face. Beyond the eyes, he had no real proof of what he suspected, but giving the wrong answer would hardly make the situation worse.
“Jason,” he said. “What are you doing in my territory?”
Jason rolled his eyes and flashed him a toothy grin.
“Brother, your lands are dying, and you're not doing anything about it.” He shook his head, then snapped the bindings around him as though they were thread. “They've gotten to the point of offering virgins. Which is a bad sign.”
Tim stepped forward, shedding his dragon form as he approached. With every stride, his body diminished, scales giving way to skin until he stood before Jason as a man.
“What do you mean? My people are supposed to inform me when something like this happens.”
Jason looked thoroughly unimpressed. “How long has it been since you last spoke to them?”
“The last offering—”
“As a human, Tim. Not as a dragon.” Jason rolled his eyes again. It was a strange sight on him in this form. “To their leaders. Reminding them about all those agreements you made with the previous kings, why they give you offerings in the first place, and that they're not simply doing it because they're terrified of you.”
“I—”
Tim frowned.
Jason raised an eyebrow, visibly amused. “If that exceptional dragon mind of yours can't remember, then it's been far too long.”
“They have the documents,” Tim protested. “The contracts. The records. They should know.”
Jason rolled his eyes again, this time so dramatically that his entire head nearly followed the motion.
“They're human. They forget things. Then they rewrite half their own history to suit themselves.” Jason's eye twitched, as though he were already considering another roll. “You have to talk to them, little brother. Otherwise, you'll keep receiving women until a civil war breaks out because they demand that the king offer one of his own and he refuses.”
Tim narrowed his eyes. “Like what happened to you.”
“Different times,” Jason said defensively. “Now, something more important.” He turned around. “How do I look? I'm hunting predators to eat.”
“Jason.”
“Should I burn them?”
Tim sighed. “Jason.”
“You're no fun,” he complained.
Tim stared at him without blinking, thoroughly unimpressed.
“You have too much muscle to pass as a woman,” he finally said. “How did you even manage to get yourself chosen for the sacrifice?”
Jason's grin widened.
“Your citizens are stupid. It wasn't that hard.”
“Jason!”
