Bagels

Chapter 11: Dragon Punishment

Gregory dragged his sorry dragon bum to the council and admitted everything. He painstakingly laid out every mistake he had made and every betrayal he had endured. He had no doubt that if left unchecked, Dick and Jezebel would tell the world of their secrets for a profit. They would probably even start a dragon hunting business on the side to benefit from the resulting frenzy. When he was finished his heart was numb. He had fallen for their con act hook line and sinker.

The council deliberated for a seemingly endless amount of time. In reality though, it was only about three hours. The humans must be dealt with, but so must Gregory for his own treachery in deliberately skirting the council’s order of silence. It was decided that the humans would be killed, by Gregory, in whatever fashion he chose, for it was him who suffered the greatest betrayal. Gregory was also responsible for getting the humans to the dragon cave and informing them of their fate.

Gregory dragged his sorry human form bum back to the village and found Dick and Jezebel at Dick’s home, thick as thieves, deciding how to best profit from this new dragon knowledge. Gregory knew he would need to prey on their greed and self-importance to get them to the caves without a fuss. He didn’t want to have to kill them before they stood trial.

“Since you two are so clever in worming out the biggest dragon secret, the dragons would like to create a closer working relationship with you. They have requested your presence in the dragon caves immediately to determine the parameters of your new contract.” Gregory launched into his spiel without preamble for he knew he would not be able to maintain the pretense for long in his current state of mental anguish. “What say ye?”

“About time they figured out what we can do for them. How have these dragons been around so long anyhow?” Dick replied with his usual self-satisfaction.

Jezebel was always more aware of subtleties however and took this opportunity to probe a little further into Gregory’s announcement. “The council wasn’t angry that you spilled the big dragon secret?” Of course she made sure to focus on Gregory’s wrongdoings, instead of her own.

“They were, of course, upset. I have been given certain restrictions and punishments because of my lack of judgment in spilling our secret.” Actually the council had yet to tell Gregory what his final punishment was and he was not optimistic for his own future.

“Well, we shan’t keep the council waiting then, shall we.” Jezebel replied. Conniving minx that she was, she was eager for Gregory to receive his fate, thinking they would then be rid of him. She had, apparently, forgotten her own betrayal of dragon kind and could not even conceive a punishment coming her way.

Gregory trudged back to the dragon caves once more, this time with the two humans in tow. As soon as they arrived, eight guard dragons in human form flanked them and ushered them to a waiting area. The guards did not leave. Jezebel was beginning to feel uneasy. Shouldn’t business partners have more freedom than this? Dick was blissfully unaware that anything was amiss. He really was a special kind of stupid.

Gregory slipped into the council’s meeting cave and transformed once again to his dragon form. He could finally breathe again, having successfully delivered his charges. He was still wrestling with the bitter numbness of his heart but he knew exactly how he would be enforcing the council’s death sentence. The humans were ushered in. When the guards didn’t move, Jezebel began to protest loudly about their terrible treatment. “Well if this is how you’re going to treat your business partners, like common criminals, then I just don’t know if this is the arrangement for us. Come on, Dick, we can do better than…” Her silence was as complete as it was sudden as every member of the council shifted to their human form.

“So you have finally noticed something beyond your nose young madam. You are correct. This is not how we treat our trusted business partners. Fortunately, for us, you are nothing of the sort. You are, in fact, in breach of contract and a common criminal.” The head of the council spoke in clear, measured tones. She did not want anyone to accuse her of ignoring the humans due process. They must be informed of their crimes and be allowed an opportunity to defend themselves before a punishment could be enacted.

“Your crimes are thus, you have broken a contract with the dragons, which the human called “Dick” signed personally. You have entered into a relationship with a dragon with the sole purpose of deceit, and you have used said relationship to further break the aforementioned contract and obtain, what is it called again? Ah yes, “dirt” on the dragon called “Gregory”. You then used this information to blackmail Gregory in order to increase your profits by completely disregarding your dragon contract. These are the charges laid against you, Jezebel, do you have any defense? Or perhaps anything you wish to add before we conclude with your sentence?”

“I uh, I would, uh never betray Gregory in this manner! I lo-love him!This has all been a misunderstanding! I only did what Dick told me to do! I am innocent! I had no idea he was using me to betray Gregory like this! This is an outrage! Dick, how could you do that to the dragons? To Gregory? My greatest lo-love?” Jezebel could not seem to spit that L word out clearly, no matter how hard she tried. It just wasn’t in her nature to actually have feelings.

“Me? Of course I always wanted to keep my end of the contract, but Jezebel convinced me there was nothing wrong with a little tweaking here and there. Surely, oh great dragon, you can understand my desire to improve what I have?” Dick finally figured out he was in trouble and was back-pedaling as quickly as he could.

“So, am I to understand that you are each declaring the other guilty, is this your defense?” the head dragon marveled at their lack of loyalty and sense.

“Yes, your greatness, it was all Dick’s doing. He is guilty, not I.” Jezebel, that slippery wench jumped on that escape as soon as she saw it.

“Wait, what? No, it was all Jezebel. She had the brilliant idea to seduce Gregory and get him out of the way.” Dick blustered belatedly.

“Excellent. We will use your testimonies against each other as evidence of your respective guilt and proceed with the sentence immediately.” The head dragon was pleased she could wrap everything up from this whole mess. “Gregory, please read the verdict and enforce the sentence.”

“You have both been found guilty and sentenced to death. Goodbye.” Gregory was so ashamed he allowed any of this to happen. He had such high hopes for this alliance. Now everything was ruined.

Gregory stepped forward, shifted into his dragon form, and bit off Dick’s head before Jezebel could so much as sputter in disbelief. As Jezebel had broken poor Gregory’s heart, he had a slightly different death planned for her. He raised one talon to her heart and pushed. That’s all it took. Gregory speared Jezebel through the heart. A broken heart for a broken heart. Thus ended Dick and Jezebel, two humans who really lived up to their names. Gregory wandered aimlessly back to the village. He needed something to wash this vile taste of death and blood out of his mouth. His feet knew what he needed more than his head did for he ended up in front of the bagel shop. A warm, fresh, chewy bagel was just what he needed. Thanks feet.