Chapter 33: Zau considers eating his driver
Zau was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the masquerade of being human, of being an importer of fruits, vegetables and sundries. Visions of the new world order which would be created, one in which he once again reveled in his might, used his talons and fangs where he would, where humans knew what he was and cowered kept intruding into the present day.
However, it was still the old world order, the one that had killed his beloved Qi, the surprise result of his last true mating, no love letters exchanged, no soft caresses, just dragons coiled as much in battle as in lust, blood leaking into the water and creatures for miles around fleeing the thrashing titans. And in this current world order, he must oversee preparations for the coming transformation in his soft human form.
Today he was at the dry dock with his driver, looking at his beloved chûn once again being refitted, this time with traditional mats battened with bamboo rods, red flags coming soon to ironically request favour of a weather dragon for good winds. The previous sails, synthetic and false, had not been used for years, had been a simulacrum, not a working propulsion system. The electric motors and batteries would be left in, for now, but would soon merely be ballast, and eventually would be removed in turn.
And unless his driver proved better with sail than with horses, he too would have outlived his usefulness, become another component to be disposed of. The new stables Zau had had constructed on his lands were full of his new horses, his carriage house full of carts and carriages he’d had artisans reconstruct from the Arts and Crafts Handbook and his memories. The driver had liked the timber, rattan and leather carriages, but the horses were a different matter. They made him nervous and in turn his nerves made them anxious.
Zau looked his driver, Andrew, up and down. A bit fat and large enough to be an enjoyable snack, a dumpling that squirmed. Something to look forward to. But for now Andrew’s skin remained intact and outside of Zau’s stomach. He still drove Zau’s Tesla, he still ran the electric motors of Zau’s boat. It would not be optimal to consume him before electricity left this world again.
Come to think of it, he would need a full time driver of his horses, and a full time crew for his chûn, as he had had in the past. Something else to add to his preparations. His current driver’s blood would definitely stain his teeth. He had lasted quite a long time, twenty years or so, perhaps claiming title to longest surviving servant, Zau not being a miser with the flesh of humans, hoarding it against a rainy day. Like coin, he preferred to spend it when it still had value, and old human flesh was stringy and tasteless. However, Andrew had done his utmost to be a good servant, driving Zau uncomplainingly at all times of day and night, never questioning his lot in life, never demanding more than coin, never showing a pretense of equality, something the current generation was too wont to do.
Once again he drifted back to the days he was returning the world to, the days when humans simpered, expressed terror and obeisance in equal parts as he passed by, quailed when he so much as glanced at them, consulted him with deep and fawning respect, showered gifts upon him to gain his wisdom and avoid his wrath. Now the thick equator of humanity was disdainful of the old, disrespectful of the venerable, consumed with their rat race, their vision distorted by the electronic devices that they insisted on using instead of their senses. They were unaware of the magical and monstrous in their midst, insufficiently fearful of the superior beings which walked among them, their youth assuming that they were the equals of their elders and betters, thinking Google a replacement for the wisdom of those with white hair.
It was his remit to change that. He had not asked for the burden of changing the world, but when the cause had enlisted him he had embraced it, decided that changing the world would include changing it to one he personally benefited by, one in which he was again akin to gods, a power to be supplicated. Layoffs in this world would be more red than pink, endued with visceral terror, not anxiety about security. His urges would be met at once instead of tempered, suppressed, beaten down.
He would sit down with gods and demons and carve up this world. And he would feast. Starting with his driver.