Page 86 of Gilded Lies

His stomach dropped faster than him. Cool air rushed by for a second, and all he saw was the dragon’s open mouth and gleaming fangs. Laughter rang in his ears as he hit something soft and wet that smelled disgusting. He was sure Aurelius shouted as the gap started to close, and the tongue shifted.

The dragon was going to chew him up and swallow him.

“Fuck!” The roof of Mammon’s mouth pressed on Jari’s back, and the tongue tried to shift him before he blindly stabbed with the sword.

Whatever he hit resisted but was soft enough for the sword to enter. The tip lodged against something harder, and Mammon’s sudden roar nearly deafened him. Jari lost his grip as his whole world seemed to shake. His shoulder slammed into something,probably teeth. The ground rushed up to the gap again, and the walls turned into a blur.

He was out, flying and free, and a wall of treasure slammed into him. His left shoulder and side took the brunt, and he couldn’t move for a moment as the pain snatched all of his attention. Never had he imagined that falling into a pile of coins and other shit could hurt so badly.

Mammon let out a sound of part rage and agony. He flailed his head and stumbled sideways into the wall causing the cave to shake again.

Jari scrambled to get to his hands and knees. Miraculously, nothing was broken, and Mammon had lowered his head before flinging Jari into his hoard. It still hurt like a bitch, but he’d felt worse pain. A loose scale from the dragon the size of a platter crashed near him, and Jari grabbed another sword.

With the soft resistance, he had a feeling his original one was stuck in the mouth of the dragon. By pure chance, he must have managed to ram it into the soft gum between a couple of teeth, and it was stuck now. If Jari had a sharp piece of metal jammed into a spot like that, he’d be howling too.

That wouldn’t do much for long, and it certainly wasn’t a killing blow. Jari wasn’t even sure if this thing could die, and Elira hadn’t managed to kill him. If a Goddess couldn’t defeat him the old-fashioned way, Jari’s chances were likely around zero, or maybe lower.

His main goal was to give Aurelius a chance to get through the wall since more tunnels probably ran through that side. Maybe he could escape.

He backed away on the pile and spotted a blob of melted gold. That must have been the items. Stone and ash had stuck to it, and he couldn’t tell what item was what anymore. Would Mammon still try to latch onto him if he touched it? Aurelius’s eye was gold, so they must have still had power.

He raced down the hoard as Mammon banged his head into the wall with a howl of agony. Jari skidded to a stop near the pile and reached down to grab the blob.

He hadn’t known just how bad the weight was that Aurelius had spoken of, and the power hadn’t left which meant they were still connected to Mammon in some way despite him being alive again.

Jari’s last coherent thought when his knees hit coins was to shove his fist into his mouth to hold back the scream threatening to burst from him. Ahead, Gullveig’s empty eyes and slack body vanished.

The weight of the realm smashed into him as something twisted into his brain. For a few moments, nothing existed besides the crushing pressure in his head. A single image of someone with pure white hair and four outstretched gold wings appeared and was gone as soon as it came. Vaguely, Jari heard something like a muffled scream before everything went black.

The sky reappeared as the ground beneath him shook, and he lifted his head. Mammon froze as if he’d realized something. Had he somehow felt that or had Jari screamed? The dragon growled as his eyes found Jari, and he lowered his head. His tongue worked as he tried to loosen the sword, and his wings twitched.

Jari grabbed the blob and hauled ass to reach Aurelius’s abandoned pack. He shoved the gold in, shouldered the pack, held onto his sword, and ran back to the pile to climb up. Mammon’s let out a roar as Jari slid down the other side and ran for the tail.

If the items still worked…

He had no urge to turn things gold, and when he focused on the dragon and willed it, nothing happened. On a whim, Jari tried to control it. Aurelius had made it look easy.

“Stop moving,” he commanded.

Something clanked, which probably meant the sword had come free and fallen out. Mammon froze in place as his mouth remained open.

Glee blossomed in Jari’s head. Total control. He could make anyone a slave.

“Stay still.”

Jari laughed as he climbed up onto the golden scales. Aurelius hadn’t said how good it felt to control someone, and maybe he’d been worried about making the items seem too tempting to Jari. No wonder he’d thought about using the crown to end the war so much faster despite the risk.

The Prince. That was his main goal. If he could get up to the head, maybe a sword through the skull would work to kill him. Or he could stab its eye. Or-

Mammon’s massive back rippled, and Jari had to cling onto the rough ridge that ran down the center. The thrill lessened, and the dragon grunted as if fighting the control. He should have guessed since Mammon wasn’t a common fairy. Jari kept climbing as he dug his foot into the scales and held onto the ridge to get up. The slope increased as Mammon lifted his upper body and let out a long, low sound in the back of his throat. Jari dared to stand and run as he pushed.

“You’re mine, bitch. You better stay still, you fucking overgrown lizard.”

The wings stretched, and glee grew when Mammon’s groaning cut off. Jari reached the neck. He was so close, and Aurelius was nowhere to be seen, so he was surely finding his way out of the wall.

Maybe Mammon's powers somehow split and divided, and that meant they didn’t work right. He also needed to feed like those demons from the Fallen realm. He was technically one even if he didn’t come from there, right?

Jari didn't fully get it, but he had a chance, and he was going to take it.

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