Myth-Told Tales

What followed was a learned discourse upon the biology and habits of the Goldbug. Nunzio had studied far more about Genus Arthropoda Aureliphagus than I ever dreamed he could absorb. Guido listened carefully, his eyes narrowing more and more as his cousin expounded.

"That explains it all," he said. "Now all we have to do is work out a means of exposin' the culprit. Now that we know what we're lookin' for, it should be a piece of cake."

We huddled for the rest of the night to work out our plan.

King Petherwick was extremely displeased that more of the gold had been abstracted from the Treasury, and none of the Klahds could explain it to him.

"I swear, your majesty," the leader of the knight-shift said fervently, when the king and his entourage inspected the Treasury the next morning, "nothing got past us, yet gold is gone again. We all swear we had nothing to do with it You may search us. You will find no gold secreted about our persons. We will take a test of loyalty to you. The monster must have cast a spell upon us, and robbed us unaware."

Petherwick turned to my associates. "I take it that no spell was cast upon you. So, where is this monster?"

"We haven't found any evidence of a monster," Guido said. "At least, not a demon kind of monster, like you're thinking."

"What do you mean?" the king asked, aghast. "Of course, there must be something. The gold is gone! Men are dead!"

"Well, if a monster exists." Guido said smoothly, "then it never left the Treasury, because we've been watchin' it every minute. So, if it was here, it must still be here."

"But, where?"

I could not ask for a better cue. As the guards shifted and looked around nervously for a hidden monster, I crouched and began growling.

"Do you see it, boy?" Nunzio asked. He let go of my leash. The guards gasped and stepped backward.

I gathered my haunches and sprang upward, onto the roof of the Treasury, and clamped my jaws—half-open. I let out an eldritch wail from the depths of my chest, simulating the sound of another monster. My head twisted to the left, as if my prey was struggling, then I fell backward, flailing my claws.

"Gleeeeeep!" I wailed. I landed with a deafening jangle in the heap of money. The gold cushioned my fall. I was up in a moment, at bay, my eyes turned upward toward the an unseen enemy. The guards backed out of the small room in fear. I continued to do battle with my invisible foe.

It was a terrible battle, though the Klahds, and the customers looking astonished over their shoulders, only saw the half of it I tore at the air, batting as my opponent appeared to fasten its teeth in my stubby right wing. I rolled painfully on one side and rabbit-kicked. The grimace on my face showed what efforts I was putting out as my third kick dislodged my foe and sent him sailing across the round room, where he must have landed near the wall. I flung myself onto the spot I had chosen, and turned over and over, gnashing and clawing, and occasionally letting out a yelp to indicate I had been bitten or clawed myself.

I had to congratulate myself on a masterful performance. When at last I "bested" my foe, I stood atop the heap of gold. I took an invisible mouthful and shook it vigorously, let it drop, then turned my back on the "corpse." With my rear foot, I raked a few clawsful of gold over the body to show my disdain, then trotted obediently to Nunzio to have my leash reattached.

"What a good dragon!" the enforcer said, reaching into his pocket for some dried earthworms. I slurped down my treat.

"Gleep!" I acknowledged with pride.

The rest of the onlookers were silent in awe.

"There you go, your majesty," Guido said, waving a huge palm. "Gleep took care of your monster for you. It's dead. You won't have to worry about it stealing from you anymore. You're gonna have to move the body, but that should be no big deal."

"But . . but there is no body." Lord Dalhailey said. Then he realized his mistake. "I mean, I can't see anything. Ill have to get a closer look." He started toward the pile of gold. I slithered quickly to cut him off and sniffed him closely, from the toes up. I ended up peering into his face. He blanched. Klahds have said time and again that they do not like my breath, which if I may say, is rather sweet for a dragon. I did not like his smell, which reeked of Goldbug. He was the master of the metal-eating insects!

I growled.

Guido and Nunzio caught on in a trice (I told you that they were bright for Klahds), and surrounded him, two crossbows pointing at the daunted lordling's ribcage.

"So, there's no monster, huh? Just exactly how do you know that?"

Cornered, Dalhailey babbled.

"I mean, I don't see one, and though I've never heard of an invisible monster, I'm sure that maybe they exist in some dimension, but what is it doing here?" Terrified, he turned to Petherwick. "Help, my liege!"