I’d given myself back to the healing sleep, but not before the soothing cold western wind had whispered of a powerful, immortal being who cared for the mortals. Who lived with them, and protected them. Loved some of them.
I had not understood. The short-lived things who hopped and skittered across the surface of the world were fleas. Perhaps they were amusing to watch, especially for the dragons and krakens who had overinflated pretensions of power. But to love a flea? I could not comprehend it.
Of course, possession was far easier to understand. My siblings all guarded their elements fiercely. I knew the satisfaction of owning the cold and all that it touched. I had touched my little enemy with my cold now, which meant she was mine.
I thought of my perfect, angry little enemy, who had also touched me with her jewel tooth. She had claimed me, too, in this way. The thought filled my cold heart with satisfaction. We belonged to one another.
But she had worn the kraken’s amulet as well. Would she be angry if I killed him now? When I’d found her, she’d been wrapped in his foul tentacles, covered with his briny scent, and had not complained.
Perhaps she liked him. She had mortal mates. The others were small, inconsequential ones, though. Unlike this kraken, they would die quickly, and leave her to me. As long as I was able to freeze out the influence of my brother…
Had he known the one they called Goddess, when She was in the world?
The thought of Edan had me lifting my snout to the wind, seeking her taste and scent. After a moment, I caught it: a hint of green and honey, with my own cold touch covering the taint of him. She was far out to sea. Safe for now.
Below me, the kraken groaned in pain. The large shell dissolved into the air, and the remaining tentacles drew up into him, leaving only two legs and two arms, though he had a small dagger in one hand that was covered in his blood.
I examined him, glad to see his lungs were working now. His battered, limp human form was smaller than mine. He also did not have two majestic knots on his rod, or long silver hair, or as many of the ridges on his stomach as I possessed. To be truthful, I’d added to them after my little enemy had admired them so.
He was less impressive than me in every way.
I caught him with one clawed foot before he slipped down into the crevasse, placing him on flat ground. When he stopped breathing again, I poked him with one talon. A spurt of thick, dark blue blood fountained out.
Hm. Weak.
I froze the wound, not wanting him to bleed out before I could give him a teaching on why he lost the battle. “I will admit you fought valiantly,” I said when he began breathing more regularly. “You were a worthy opponent. But you cannot fight a god and win, puny kraken.”
His lips moved, but I could not make out his words. I leaned closer. “I fight… for her.”
“For her? My little enemy?” I sniffed, tempted to crush him with my foot. “She is mine. You may not take her from me.” I found myself amused, remembering her words. “You did not ask my consent.”
“You took her… You abused her…”
My jaw dropped wide. “I did nothing of the kind. She stabbed me in the eye with her tooth. She attacked me first. She abused me!”
The kraken’s body shook slightly, as he wheezed. Was he laughing? At me?
“I do not lie. I admit, I did use my tail to enter her…” He went still now, and his face began to turn the deep purple-black of his carapace. Was he dying, or regaining his strength? It was hard to tell with some of the magical beasts. “She taught me of this consent soon thereafter. I graciously agreed to receive consent from any humans before I touched them. Unfortunately for you, you are not human.” Though hewashuman-shaped. It made me nervous. Would she think this counted? Would she consider it a promise broken, if I killed him now?
The idea of my little enemy angry at me for harming this being, if she did like him, bothered me. What if she stayedangry? What if she spurned me, as this Goddess had done to Her first consort?
Perhaps she would not put her little hand on my neck again, and play at stopping the wind. I had very much enjoyed that little game. I wanted to play more like it.
“Stab first…” the dying beast said at last, gasping at each word. “She taught me that.” He stopped breathing again, and I leaned closer, my snout a hair’s breadth from his odd face. When I exhaled, his eyes opened slowly and gazed into mine.
I waited, but he stayed annoyingly silent. “She taught you what?”
“Stab first,” he repeated, pushing up on one elbow. Then he lifted his arm and pricked my hide with the puny knife he held. “Ask questions later.”
LUSCA
After so many years, I’d believed I had nothing left to learn about myself. How wrong I’d been. I’d overestimated my strength, and didn’t know if I’d survive long enough to get to the sea and begin the long process of healing from my wounds. Battling the ice god had taught me one vital lesson that I feared might be my last.
Humility.
If it were to be my last lesson here, caught in the middle of the dry that sapped me of strength, I would be glad to teach it to this fool as well. This god, who now lay gasping with my beloved’s blade in his throat.
I had thought when I stabbed him that it might do no good, though I could follow the pulse of his blood, and knew where to strike. The salt and liquid of it ran in channels exactly like a dragon’s blood, the arteries and veins the same. Though this creature was no real dragon, he was close enough.
