1061 New Era.
150 years before the birth of Geralt of Rivia.
Shaerrawedd.
One week later.
Nitaramulines, also known as Nimue.
In her small elven form, the golden Dragoness touched her chest discontentedly.
Beneath the mammary glands of these biped creatures lay a sizable bruise.
That damned giant had been too accurate, and her left side was also aching unpleasantly from another stone that had hit her, though not as hard.
Generally speaking, Dragon regeneration should have healed such wounds long ago — they weren’t even punctures…
But on top of that, she’d gotten a bunch of other minor injuries after engaging another giant in close combat…
And besides, Nimue herself hadn’t wanted to interrupt the mission or show weakness in front of the future father of her egg.
After all, what choice did a golden Dragoness have?
Between a big golden one like herself, even if he was a half-breed, or just a Dragon of a different color, like the mother of the aforementioned golden one?
And if she showed weakness, she might appear too weak to carry an egg with offspring…
No, no.
She couldn’t allow that…
So she had to lie about her injuries and keep flying with Merlin to scare the little people, not letting them stick even their noses out of their small settlements for several day-and-night cycles.
“Ugh…” she grimaced in displeasure, leaning back onto the soft featherbeds.
Merlin had been absolutely right about those — they were a very pleasant invention of the bipeds.
If only she could have some for her true form…
Ones that wouldn’t tear from her claws and the spikes on her body.
Involuntarily picturing such a sight, Nimue even forgot about her pain for a moment.
…But it shot through her again, making the supposed elf growl in displeasure.
The pain was less now, since rest was helping the wounds heal further, but it was still unpleasant.
And at that moment, a guest arrived.
Enid an Gleanna — that was the name of the biped who, by the standards of her kind, was considered beautiful, and…
Nimue knew quite well that Dragons in biped form could engage in a rather unusual kind of mating, characteristic of these very bipeds…
Not through magic and emotions, during which an egg is conceived, but through…
Additional organs.
What Nimue didn’t know was whether it was possible for a biped to have offspring from a transformed Dragon that way, or not.
But she really didn’t want to take the risk, and Merlin spent quite a lot of time in his small elven form.
About a third of all his time, if the golden Dragoness had understood and calculated correctly.
“What do you want, elf?” Usually the golden half-breed handled conversations with her, so Nimue responded rather rudely by biped standards.
And very politely by Dragon standards.
“Have you seen the esteemed Merlin, esteemed Nimue?” To the biped’s credit, she quickly understood the golden Dragoness’s emotional state and treated her with due deference, respect, and politeness.
“No.
I haven’t.” For a moment, the false elf’s mind flashed with a desire to tell her, but Nimue quickly suppressed it.
Let this riv-v-val get as far away from here as possible.
She wasn’t a Dragon, so she had no right to claim her Merlin…
And for the same reason, she didn’t need to know that Merlin had gone to his mother’s lair, who had summoned him through an elven messenger — the bipeds helped significantly lighten the load on the wings, not forcing them to fly back and forth just to invite a Dragon over.
In the Dragon Mountains, her kin lived close together, but on the rest of the Continent’s lands…
There, yes, the bipeds could seriously make life easier, even if they moved more slowly on their horses.
“Well…
Thank you for your answer.” Pursing her lips and darting her doe-like blue eyes, the elf turned and walked away, the hem of her dress slightly lifted by magic to keep it from hindering her brisk pace.
Despite all her disrespect for this biped, Nimue couldn’t deny that in many aspects concerning the peculiarities of her own kind and the nuances arising from them — she was good.
But a biped could never compare to a Dragoness, especially a golden one.
Soon she would surpass her in all those details too — the one who had dared not listen to the wise advice of Merlin, who was wise beyond his years.
She’d heard that last expression from her father when she listened to his opinion about the future father of her egg.
However…
To surpass her in what this biped was born with, unlike Dragons, would require some effort…
But not by sitting around on soft featherbeds for days and weeks, enjoying meat dishes made by a barely-found elven cook who actually knew how to cook meat, not that ridiculous greenery…
After all, elves, even if they live longer than short-eared humans, don’t understand a thing about real food.
And that was another point in Nimue’s favor, not this Enid’s…
Stretching contentedly and almost ignoring the slight flare of pain, the golden Dragoness rose from her spot and headed toward the father of this elven hussy.
He’d had a falling out with her, so she saw nothing shameful or unpleasant about continuing her training with this Simlas.
Let him keep teaching her, since it was practically because of him that she’d clashed with the giants…
Well…
Or she would have done it anyway if they’d tried to steal her prey.
That blue-eyed elf was lucky Nimue didn’t react to her the same way she did to other thieves…
Smiling to herself like a pleased cat, the golden Dragoness quickened the pace of her bare feet.
* * *
Kaer Morhen.
Merinelteratsin, also known as Merlin.
The ruins of the ancient fortress that came into view became my destination, and I steered my multi-ton body toward it.
Flapping my wings hard and sharply and moving my tail correctly, I accelerated my body to maximum speed and felt the air currents flowing around me much more strongly, even making my eyes water a little.
Where I predictably found her sprawled out on a whole mountain of gold and silver coins mixed with various trinkets and precious stones.
I see it every time, and every time I’m amazed at how much my dear mother must have robbed people to get all this?
And won’t my plan to mold golden Dragons into beings loyal to humans go down the drain because of this?
People should remember what color the fire-breathing reptile that robbed them was, right?..
“Merinelteratsin.” came Vivien’s growling voice as she opened her eyes and looked at me with elongated pupils.
“Mother.” I nodded my snout respectfully, lying down opposite her.
“What happened that you even used the help of bipeds?”
“Help…
That’s one way to put it…” the Dragoness snorted in displeasure.
“More like I granted a favor by allowing them to deliver a message to my son…”
“Yes, yes, yes, I know you’re a proud Dragoness who doesn’t fraternize with bipeds, and the elven Elder just happens to visit you for no reason.” I rolled my eyes as much as possible in a Dragon’s body, and immediately got a handful of gold coins and trinkets thrown at my face.
“Pfft…” I spat out some coins that had gotten into the skin of my mouth, hiding the row of large teeth.
“So what happened?”
“Bipeds.
The ones you’re playing around with.” A series of irritated growls came from her mouth, and her whole body tensed and bristled as much as possible for a Dragon.
“Elves?” I didn’t understand.
“But we have excellent relations with their elders, especially with aep Dabair.
They’re not in a position to provoke the mother of their ally…”
“They were never in that position.” Vivien bared her teeth, lashing her tail across the mountain of gold.
“But I’m not talking about the long-eared bipeds, but the short-eared ones.”
“Humans?
All the way out here?” I even thrust my neck forward in bewilderment.
“Exactly.” Another tail strike, another clatter of coins.
“But these humans smell unusual.
Herbs, meat, and…
Silver.
I’ve never smelled anything like it, but there were many of these bipeds, they were much more cautious and smarter…
And they also have elongated pupils, like us in biped form.
But of course, they weren’t our kin.”
“Well, well, well…” was all I could manage, freezing as I realized who might be roaming around here.
“You know who it is?” my mother bared her teeth, as if readying herself for a furious lunge.
“Mhmm.” I replied, frantically thinking about how to make my mother get the hell out of Kaer Morhen.
Because if the witchers of the Wolf School don’t set up their lair here, Geralt might not appear…
And I wouldn’t dare break the canon that badly…
I love this universe and those canonical characters who bring a smile to my face too much.
“And who is it?
Merinelteratsin!” Vivien hurried me immediately.
“Witchers.” I began, finally deciding to somewhat…
exaggerate the capabilities of these creatures.
“I fought one once.
Barely managed it…” Making sure I had my mother’s full attention, I continued to lie shamelessly, exaggerate, and prevaricate.
“He put several arrows in my body, even piercing my scales and damaging my wings a little.” I spread one of them slightly, showing the ti-ny holes of still-not-fully-healed damage.
Silver in the body somewhat hindered accelerated regeneration, which was also tied to magic, yes.
“Go on.” the Dragoness exhaled hot air from her nostrils, clearly hating the witchers by proxy.
“I had to burn down the whole forest, since I wisely didn’t land…
And even then, I’m not sure those witchers died.
They’re tenacious, fast, and swift…
Strong enough that a large number of them could kill even one of us.” I lamented, carefully ignoring the sight of the enraged multi-ton Dragoness beside me.
“Sorry for the bitter and unpleasant truth.”
“I’ll burn them.
Turn them to ash…” Vivien hissed almost like a snake, thrashing her tail against her gold vigorously.
Now a barely perceptible inhale and exhale, and we begin the riskiest part of my plan.
“Or they’ll kill you.” I said shortly, bracing myself for an outburst of rage and flame.
…But contrary to my expectations, Vivien just snorted in irritation.
“True enough…
And why are you looking at me like that?
I’m not stupid…
I understand that there can’t be many of these…
these witchers…
And I saw that they weren’t so much interested in me…
As in these Ancient Ruins.” She suddenly calmed down, looking around the ancient walls of her lair.
“People build their cities on the ruins of elven settlements, right?”
“Mhmm.” I replied shortly, trying to understand the direction and flow of my mother’s thoughts.
“So, I should be sensible and just change my lair.
And don’t look at me like that again — the only thing I care about here is my treasure.
“If even you barely managed against one, several dozen would cause me problems too.
Besides…
It’s time to change these ruins for something more decent.
If even Borch has something like that, then I certainly should get something similar…
Or even go across the ocean to my mother.”
“Wha-a-at?!” I somehow even managed to squawk in surprise.
Though, considering that birds are relatives of various dinosaur reptiles…
“Right.” Vivien began in a more serious growl.
“You think too poorly of your mother, son…”
“Not at all.” I immediately put on a brave and goofy look…
Actually, as innocent and uninvolved as possible.
“That’s a very sensible decision…
But which one — a new lair or going across the ocean?”
“For now, we’ll go with the first.
I’ll fly around, look for places…
Someone to make me a beautiful lair…
And then we’ll see what we do.” After looking at me suspiciously for a while longer, the Dragoness finally made her decision.
“The only problem is my gold…” Vivien’s paw moved the coins lying beneath her.
“As you know, moving from lair to lair is difficult precisely because of having to move every single coin of my treasure.”
“Well…” I grinned at the idea that had sparked in my enormous brain.
“I have a way to solve that problem…”
“I’m listening.” The Dragoness perked up with interest, her golden eyes flashing.
“As you know, I studied sorcery with the elves…
And with its help, I can easily lift all the gold and move it…” I began, and seeing no fundamental rejection on my mother’s face, I continued: “But for that, I’ll have to be in my elven form, and…
Since I plan to lift the gold into the air, I’ll have to…” I shook my head on my long, flexible neck from side to side, avoiding eye contact.
“Sit on your neck…”
“What?!” Vivien immediately sprang up from her spot, scattering her wealth in all directions.
“But…
Hmm…” And just as quickly calmed down, touching her chin with a claw.
“That’s quite feasible…
I would have burned a biped long ago for such an idea and scattered their ashes over all the lands of their kin, but…
Another Dragon and a son…
Yes, that’s quite possible.”
“Hooo…” I couldn’t help but let out a relieved breath, closing my eyes…
And immediately opened them to meet the mocking gaze of the golden Dragoness.
“So…
You’ve been making hideouts where you could catch your breath in case of need, since you don’t have your own lair, right?” my mother asked in a half-statement, wagging her tail contentedly.
“My walls are the world, my ceiling is the sky…” I quoted some phrase from my past life, I don’t remember where from.
“Some homeless Dragon you are — tell anyone and they’ll laugh at you.
And rightly so…” Vivien grumbled, but didn’t stop scratching her chin with the right claw of her right forepaw.
“Here’s what we’ll do.
For now, we’ll move my treasures to one of your most hidden hideouts.
Then I’ll go looking for a lair, and if I find a suitable option, we’ll move them there…
If not…” My mother closed her eyes and exhaled hot air through her nostrils.
“Then I’ll fly across the ocean.
And no, don’t ask what’s there.
I don’t know.
My mother didn’t know either…
Or she didn’t tell me…
But in any case, consider it one of the few traditions we have.
And when your time comes, you’d better go across the ocean too, if something happens.
But it’s too early to talk about that yet…
Think of it as a blessing.
Because then you’ll get all my gold.”
“Bipeds also leave inheritances to their descendants.” I bared my teeth, not missing the chance to point out another similarity between Dragons and humans and elves.
And given my mother’s views, this was a jab at her.
Though, considering she was a Dragoness…
A full-on battering ram.
Or at least a spear…
“They do it always — we do it in exceptional cases.
Very exceptional.” The golden Dragoness pressed both with her gaze and the intonations of her growls.
“Yes, yes, yes…
I won’t argue.
Otherwise this will go on for a long time.” I rolled my eyes, twitching my tail.
“That’s better.
Now listen to what we’re going to do to move my treasures peacefully without these witchers of yours interfering…”