The manbear raises a magical cloak of silence, and then places up any
other counter to being overheard he had before turn back to the grim adventurers.....who
he has come to care for. An unexpected lump comes to the mages throat.
He hoped that this day would never come because.....his conscious is telling
him that keeping this truth a secret was somehow a betrayal of trust to
the adventurers....and to the Pack that was rapidly becoming a family to
the former dragon.
"I think I know why you decieved the Golems," Fred begins slowly. "It
was to save your race from extinction at their hands. However, I'm at a
bit of a loss......as to why you didn't tell us the truth of the matter
after they had left."
"I.....," begins the manbear. He swallows, and then tries again. "I
at first didn't know what exactly to make of you....and the Pack. It was
ran by you, Fred.....a dragonslayer. Dragons.....tend to not think positive
thoughts about them, and.....I wanted to see where and who you really were....in
case you actually posed a threat to what remained of dragonkind. In our
weaken condition, the Draconian race only needs a slight shove to tumble
into the pit of extinction......or so it seemed at the time.
"Latter I found I....liked being with the Pack," muttered the manbear
miserably. "Before I knew what was happening, the magic of the Pack had
worked itself on my heart. The magic of humanity also worked it's miracle
on me." The mage admits to what has been revealed to him by his stay with
the adventurers....and what Malachi believed (re: 1856).
"Wait," Alicia interrupts, remembering something odd Malachi had done.
"I seem to remember her saying that she had......mixed her Treasure Hoard
with the coinage of my land. Isn't that supposed to be....a bad idea for
a dragon to do that?"
"Yes, in most cases it is," nods the manbear. "In this case, it just
sealed the oath that she had made in protecting the people who had sought
her out and made her their leader.
"A dragon's Hoard is more than just a collection of pretty baubles,
it is also an extension of our power and.....our lifeforce. That is the
BIGGEST reason why dragons DON'T like anything to be stolen from them.
The more treasure a dragon has mystically makes the dragon more powerful....and
also lengthens his or her lifespan. Losing or stolen treasure......does
the opposite, and it hurts a dragon......mentally!"
The manimals blink at the fierce expression as Synizn relives his encounter
with a thief in his Hoard. Synizn shakes his furry head, and then continues.
When the spell that had changed him had fully....bloomed, all mystical
connections.....all mystical ties to his draconian heritgage......died.
"But when a dragon mixes his Hoard with the treasury of a nation," Synizn
says in a sad, solemn voice. "The dragon becomes permanently bonded with
the welfare and safety of the nation. A dragon lives as long as the nation......doesn't
age.....doesn't grow feeble....unless such happens to the nation. If a
nation dies....that dragon dies. Also, the dragon is magically bound within.....the
borders of that nation. He is part and parcel of the land.....and in a
sense it is part and parcel to him.
"Dragons tend to outlive human ruled nations, and so don't like the
idea of bonding with a human nation that way.
"As a nation's Leader.....now she's got a magical connection to the
heartbeat of the land. She knows what the general public feels for her.
She has a pretty clear idea what they think of her. When the ceremony was
completed....I looked into her eyes and saw......something close to a religious
rapture there."
"She's not a.....slave to the land?" Pall asks....nervously.
"No, she's no slave," sighs Synizn. "She's just now....what she always
wanted to be......a helper of humanity.....and bonding with the land....was
the best way she knew how."
"As for me," sighs Synizn. "Even if I am returned to my draconian nature
tonight.....I can never erase what has happened to me."
A silent, unspoken message is sent out from the rough figure before
them. It translates into something like this.
.....I am truelly sorry for betraying your trust......
.....I am now....and forever shall be a member of the Pack.....
.....Please.....forgive me.............................
Fred steps forward and then speaks for the gathered.
"There's nothing to be forgiven." Fred stated simply. Synizn felt like
his heart had come back to life and his eyes shined with joy. After a minute,
the spell was broken as Astra coughed at the......bizarre scene playing
out here.
For her, it was like she had only heard half of what had been said,
and understood a quarter of that. For a momment.....a brief momment she
was not looking at humans who wore the shapes of humanoid animals......but
something closely related.....but still alien.
Astra shivered. She had just seen what Willian had been talking about.
She'd seen glimpses of it before, but now.....
She had coughed to break the spell, and to shake herself out of that
silly train of thought! Manimals or humans, these were still people....and
her friends! A fit of xenophobia was NOT going be a sign of how she would
be from here on....especially if she followed Willian into the world that
held the only chance of his recovery!
"Well," Astra laughed nervously. "It must be.....difficult becoming
human."
"Yes and no," the mage explained. "I still look at things as a dragon
would, but now have can see it in human terms. Things like a week no longer
seem like an instant for me. The lifespan of a human seemed to be almost
a blink of an eye.....but now also seems like a long time at the same time.
It's a set of paradoxal views that I have to deal with in order to stay
sane, but......"
Synizn explains just why he's a manimal now(re: 1309), and the others
have a fuller understanding at the mage's feelings of.....distrust and
barely concealed....anger.
-
 "Well,"
sighs Astra. "To be frank....I still hadn't been sure about the sincerity
of these mechanical folk.....but if they can get us to someplace where
Willian can be healed......"
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