The moment she stepped into the clearing, she loudly called out for Midas. There was no response. She called out again. Everything was so still, even the trees.
Then, finally, in the dimmest of light, she caught the glimmer of his gold-kissed scales. She let out a sigh of relief as she saw Midas looking down at the goat, still alive, not yet consumed.
“Midas!” she shouted. As she approached, he lifted his attention from the goat, and a low rumble left his throat that shook the trees. She could see it in his eyes, he was angry.
Elowen raised her shaking hands. “Please listen.”
His nostrils flared, and he inhaled deeply.
The moment he caught her scent and the poison lingering on it, the sound that left his throat was not a growl, it was a roar. It made the ground tremble, sent the gentle water of the lake rippling, and nearly made her lose her footing.
“Midas!” she cried. “Please, it’s not what you think!”
But he was already baring his teeth, and smoke began to build as the rage in his throat came alight.
You smell of this poison, he said in his language, though he knew she could not hear it.Do you take me for a fool?!
Elowen’s eyes filled with tears. “I had no choice. But I came to warn you, please understand–”
Lies, he roared back, and then he snapped his jaws, barely missing her legs. The sound was like thunder, and Elowen screamed with a fear she’s never known.Humans. Always. Lie.
Elowen tried to take a step forward. “I would never hurt you.”
He recoiled from her, wings flaring wide, the fire in his throat making the air around him glow orange.Go away!he shouted.
“Please believe me,” she begged, pressing her hands to her chest, her heart aching from a pain she’s never known.
He lunged forward again. He got close enough that the razor-sharp edge of his teeth caught the hem of her dress, tearing off a piece of the cloth.Go!
Though Elowen could not understand his words, she felt it in his actions. He did not want her there. He did not trust her anymore. She sobbed, ragged and helpless as she backed away. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry, Midas.”
For a heartbeat, she thought he might stop her, but he just growled again, orange light leaking from his mouth. Her tears fell freely as she walked lifelessly back to her village.
Her cries were so loud that she did not notice themovement in the woods around her. She did not notice the whispers.
Somewhere, deep in the woods, near the lake where they had met, Midas lowered his head, trembling with rage and grief.
The scent of her was still clinging to his nostrils, sweet, familiar, but beneath it all…
Poison. Betrayal.
Midas was no fool. He smelled the salve long before he saw the goat. He knew the humans had sent it to kill him, but he was too old, too strong for such weak poison to do much more than make him salivate sickly. He had intended to kill the goat and leave its carcass far away from the lake so that it did not poison the water Elowen drank.
But when she emerged, and he smelled that same poison on her, he had never felt as destroyed as he did in that moment. He trusted her. He…caredfor her. How could she do such a thing?
Midas stayed there near the lake, pacing in circles. He had half a mind to scorch her village for her treachery, to be rid of them entirely.
But he could hear her crying as she returned home. It was not a cry of deceit, it was real, from deep in her chest, as if she truly had lost something when he sent her away. It twisted something painful inside of him.
Then after a while, he heard something in the distance.
He raised his head sharply, golden eyes narrowing toward the east. The direction of her village. The air trembled faintly, carrying faint vibrations to his ears: shouts, muffled screams,and then?—
Crack.
It was not thunder. Not lightning. No natural sound he had ever heard. He heard it again. Again. And again.
Midas’ heart stuttered. His claws sank into the soil, curling until the ground split beneath them. He strained his senses, forcing his body to still, tolisten.
