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(Page 4 of 4) The Unfortunate Slave Master by Phillip Hill
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Fire spewed past the entrance of the pit accompanied by a roar that caused a loss of hearing in one of Enos' ears. The slave slipped between two boulders and made himself as small as a newborn babe. He felt the heat from the drakes nostrils as it searched the entrance of the pit. Fear stretched seconds into an eternity. The nostrils tested the entrance again and again. With a shriek of rage, the drake launched itself into the air and disappeared over the hills.
Ibri walked onto the edge of the plain where he had left the limp body of Enos and stared. It had been three days since that filthy slave had disgraced his daughter. His family name was ruined and he had lost his valuable slave. He cursed the gods of fate and spat on the ground. A black dot appeared on the horizon. The unnatural pace at which it grew frightened Ibri. His mouth became dry like the dust in the fields. He stared at the approaching firedrake and wished that he had not cursed the gods.
The turbulence in the wake of the firedrake pushed Ibri to the ground as it passed overhead and continued on to the village. Fire took the marketplace first. Next came the granaries. Afterwards, whole sections of the village fell. Ibri stood open mouthed as the great worm wheeled in circles overhead, its shrieks alone drove many to their knees. A young man came running towards the slave master. The drake crushed the fleeing youth with its claws and dropped his body three lengths from Ibri. Ibri looked into the eyes of the firedrake. He tried to flee. He very consciously tried to step off with first his right foot and then his left. It was as though his mind were awake and yet his body asleep. Ibri had seen the eyes of beasts before: mindless, savage beasts. But these eyes were different. These eyes were intelligent, and he could not stop looking into them.
A part of Ibri separated itself from the gibbering remainder of his mind. It watched the drama on the edge of the plain with impassionate curiosity. It noted that the eyes of the beast could look into the soul of its victim, that they invaded and violated what should never be seen by any except the gods. It heard the screams of Ibri as the flames consumed him.
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