Summer 75 123
In full dragon form, Caelum soared in the sky with Flora on his back. She hung on for dear life even though he wasn't going all that much faster than he normally flew in human form.
"I see a small village," Caelum said in a low rumbling voice that would be easily audible despite their speed.
"Is it suitable, master?" Flora screamed through the wind.
"I hope so." They had tried contacting several gatherings of humans in remote locations. Though, only when Caelum was in his humanoid form. They'd played nice and had absolutely nobody express interest in helping them, not women anyways. So, they wanted to try a new approach.
He circled up above, then swooped down, ultimately landing on the ground with a THUD that made the ground shake under his weight. He'd landed in the middle of the small village which was basically a clearing with some huts set up along the perimeter. He'd done his best not to destroy anything when he landed, but he was sure he knocked over a bunch of things, especially with his unruly tail that he wasn't that good at keeping track of anymore.
"Sorry for the intrusion," his voice boomed, "I mean you no harm." His dragon eyes darted between the people he could see. His entrance had been completely unexpected and not a single one was armed, aside from daggers at some of their belts. None looked equipped to handle a dragon of this size, however.
Flora slid down his back and waved at the villagers. "Hi, I wanted to have a quick chat!" Her first few steps were so wobbly that she fell to the ground and had to pull herself back up. She had absolutely no experience with riding any creature. The only reason she managed was because Caelum made sure he gave her a smooth ride without any hiccups.
One of the men bravely decided to approach. They'd likely never had an encounter like this with a dragon. The only kinds of dragons that might bother them were not the type to try friendly conversation.
"Hello, dragon rider," he said as respectfully as he could. "What brings you to our village? We haven't much to offer, but if you'd like to trade or hire our services…"
"Actually," Flora said in a very businesslike manner, "we have come to do a bit of trading. We are building a settlement up north of here and are in need of a certain kind of help. If you have people here willing to help, we will pay accordingly, of course."
A couple more villagers walked over, overhearing the conversation and realizing the dragon wasn't about to terrorize them. Flora went into her sale's pitch for how they were building a paradise for humans and that they need only come and help build it in its early stages. It was a wonderful pitch, though it was geared towards the business minded and not all that persuasive.
Pretty soon, all the villagers had gathered around though to discuss the opportunity. The most important point was the claim that they would be protected from the aelves. While these humans didn't dislike the aelves, not getting hunted was hard to turn down. Still, there was no way of knowing if the dragon was telling the truth.
"Alright," the leader said after a while to Flora, "we can send a couple of men to help. We would need some payment up front, of course. To be paid to their wives in case something goes wrong."
Caelum laughed in a booming voice. He had been silent for about an hour, just sitting there and watching the humans with mild interest. "We are only looking for specific people, with certain qualities that only I can sense. Of the lot of you there are only three that interest me."
"Oh?" asked the leader, temporarily losing his composure. The dragon looked intimidating and its words were quite matter-of-fact. Plus, the human didn't want to be the one to defy a dragon who could very easily kill the lot of them.
"Yes, and I determined which ones we will need the moment we arrived. Flora, my dear pet, fetch the one with the long black hair, and the twins." He rolled his eyes in the women's direction. They were, as all women chosen by him were, attractive. In truth, one of them was not very fertile at all but she was pleasing to look at.
"The twins are my daughters," the chief said slowly. "they only just became of age and are promised to men of other tribes. As their father, I must decline. The other woman, she's a widow so I'll leave the decision up to her, but I am sure she would decline as well. We were under the impression that you needed help with labor… we can spare manpower, but we will not send our women someplace else."
Caelum narrowed his eyes at the man. The human clearly understood that he was defying the will of a dragon, apparently in the face of potential death. "Do not worry," Caelum boomed, "they will be in no danger. No creature in the area can challenge me, not that I've seen. These women will be safe. Actually, we only require their assistance for a short while. We are merely testing out how our little settlement will function. We shall bring them back in one season's time. With any luck, they will convince you all to relocate."
"But why not take us all now then?" pleaded the leader. "I beg of you, do not separate me from my daughters." He looked a mix between angry and defeated. His hand twitched, as if he were considering trying to attack.
Caelum growled, feeling anger boil up. "You admitted that your daughters were promised to other tribes, no? You were going to give them away like property. I know how you humans are, as I embody the people of AElheim. Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
At that, Caelum slammed one foot into the ground, sending a tangle of vines out from them that slithered towards the three women. They all tried to flee, but it did not take much effort for Caelum to capture them. Some of the men looked brave enough to fight, but once smoke started billowing from Caelum's mouth, they fled as well. All except the leader of the village who bravely charged forwards only to get swatted away by a claw. Not with enough force to kill, but enough to make him regret his decision for the rest of his life.
There was silence after that, all except for the screams of the three women. Even those died down after several minutes of struggling, during which the vines pulled them into the open hand of the dragon.
"Great!" shouted Flora to break the tension. "One season and we shall return, well, that was the plan but my Master may not be so kind after your aggression." She clambered up onto Caelum's back, held on tight and shouted, "master, I'm all set!"
"Good," the dragon said with a heavy sigh. He wondered if things would have turned out differently if he had come in his humanoid form. Perhaps they would have been less scared, though he was glad that they were afraid. If they thought they could win then surely they would have all perished. He focused, lowered himself to the ground, then leapt up into the air with the assistance of nature. Within moments he was flapping his wings to gain altitude and soaring high into the sky.
"Do not worry," he said to the women in his hands as he held the in front of his face. "All will be well."
When the arrived at Paradise, Flora assisted Caelum in taking the women and putting them in a building together. Caelum hadn't intended for the building to be used as a prison, but the women were in no mood to cooperate so they had to be kept in there. He was glad that Abraia was not with them at this time, as surely she would protest to his methods.
"Listen," he said to the women, aligning his eye with the window. "I did not want to tear you from your families. But I could not think of another way to test our system without more women." He was fully aware of how fucked his logic was. He knew there was a better way of going about recruiting, but they had tried the nice way and everyone had declined. He was too stubborn to see that he was in the wrong, thinking that if people just gave the system a chance, it would work out alright. Sometimes he forgot that not all humans were perfect like his pet Flora. Some needed a little… conditioning. Like AEngie. She still did not exactly seem happy but she did what was asked of her and rarely complained.
