Only Now You Ask For Peace

The dragon was aware that he was flying into a trap. He was told that the tribe found about Borvin's friendship with him, he was told that the tribe learned that the man helped him, that he saved him from a certain death. He knew that the tribe was using the man to lure him into a trap, hungry for revenge for all the evil he'd done them in the past — but that didn't stop him. He knew that the man was just as likely to feel the tribe's wrath as himself, and he couldn't allow that. He decided to answer the call.

‘‘Stop!’’ the dragon sent a thought to everyone he could reach as soon as he landed in the shallow water near the shore. ‘‘I haven't come to kill. I've come to see him safe, I've come to make peace.’’

‘‘So you can talk, after all,’’ remarked the chieftain, signalling his men to hold off their attacks for a brief moment. ‘‘Ever since you showed up, you sow nothing but evil — yet now, only now that you stand to lose something as well, you want peace. You ask a lot, evil-bringer. Why should I listen to what you say instead of telling my men to fill you with arrows?’’

‘‘Because you pride yourself on being good,’’ the dragon replied. ‘‘I know you want to take revenge on him and me — but if you pick that path, you'll make the same choice I've been making for years.’’

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Side note: 10240x4320 is an overkill. 12 gigs of RAM used by the end, with GIMP being somewhat laggy at times. Took about 6 hours.