Chapter XVIII
I am Ladon
Nishga caught up with Achil, who was racing down the tunnel, she quickly grabbed hold of him so as to slow his progress, and her face took on a more stern resolute appearance than ever before.
“You must stop a moment and think about what you are doing,” said Nishga.
“Nishga you have made your feelings quite clear so let the matter be,” barked Achil, pulling his arm away from her tight grip, he was angered by her continued persistence on a matter he thought ended. “What would you have me do? I’ve seen death take those I love before. If I can prevent it from happening again I will, or at least die trying.”
Nishga was staggered by his inability to understand what she was trying to say. “I have sensed intelligence within this creature. I may be able to communicate with it. Why are you behaving like there is no other option than to fight.”
Achil turned to leave, “Because sometimes there are no other options.”
Nishga shouted behind him, “But this is not one of those times.”
Achil was irritated by her sudden bout of regret and so he left her there to struggle with her conscience. He took a turning down a side tunnel and felt a rush of air as he entered a wide chamber, then he slowed, drawing his sword in anticipation of what might be there, he was ready to strike out, but there was nothing there. In his haste to get away from Nishga he had taken a wrong turning, he heard Nishga’s footfall scurrying along behind him with her crystal held up, lighting her path oblivious to whether she would be seen or not.
“Where’s the Dragon,” said Nishga, staring blankly at Achil. “Ah! There you are.”
“I'm nothing like that beast, I do not indiscriminately kill,” said Achil.
He leant on his sword, more than a little exasperated that he had been so distracted that he had actually followed the wrong path. He turned round and was just about to move passed Nishga, when she stepped in front of him.
“Killing the Dragon should not be thought of as a means to getting even with whatever demons you have from your past. We have all lost those we love, what you're doing now, it's just wrong. It has more to do with vengeance than not. What happened to your wife and baby was beyond your control. You feel responsible for their deaths and therefore the pain you feel has never had a chance to heal, but that does not give you the right to punish this creature, by taking the anguish you feel for that terrible loss and attacking some creature with it. The reason seems clear to me why you are acting this way, it's because you feel there is something you can do to help the people of Dragon City where you could not help your wife and child, you‘re confusing redemption with revenge, and that is blinding you to your actions.”
Achil looked deep into her eyes. “When I strike, believe me my eyes will be wide open, and the only thing I will be thinking of is my duty to protect the innocent.”
“What! Don’t you see the Dragon was innocent once,” replied Nishga incredulously.
“Once, but not anymore, it’s a killer, there is real method to its malice, think on that before you judge me,” replied Achil sharply.
“I have seen its madness, and I am seeing yours, so tell me at what point do you become the killer that you wish to kill,” replied Nishga. "At what point do you become the Dragon. And don't forget this: you're the one that taught me that there is no greater burden than a vengeful heart, as it tries to destroy everything within and everything without!"
There was a fire inside Achil that Nishga had not realised existed. He sped back down the tunnel in his mind he saw the Dragon, people suffering as his wife had suffered, when she had given birth to a still born child. He remembered how the two of them had lain side by side, so still, at peace, how he had wished to be with them, to lose the pain, and join them.
Nishga stood alone in the dark her arms outstretched as if pleading with someone. The last words of Achil echoing in her mind, ‘it’s a killer.’ What sort of insanity made a person think like that, she turned and quickly raced after him.
Achil was getting nearer to the Dragon. He stopped a moment scanning the floor. There were the very fresh tracks of the Beast. With his shield over one arm he tightly clasped the hilt of his sword. He was about to meet it with all the blistering intensity of one possessed with the madness of every concealed demon he had never exorcized.