Free The Dragon Griaule by Lucius Shepard

Feelys?’
    He made a disparaging noise. ‘Harmless creatures. They pass their time copulating and arguing among themselves over the most trivial of matters. Were they not of service to Griaule, keeping him free of certain pests, they would have no use whatsoever. Still, there are worse folk in the world, and they do have moments in which they shine.’ He shifted impatiently, tapped his cane on the chamber floor. ‘You’ll meet them soon enough. Are you with me or not?’
    Grudgingly, her hook at the ready, Catherine followed Mauldry toward the opening at the rear of the chamber and into a narrow, twisting channel illuminated by a pulsing golden light that issued from within Griaule’s flesh. This radiance, Mauldry said, derived from the dragon’s blood, which, while it did not flow, was subject to fluctuations in brilliance due to changes in its chemistry. Or so he believed. He had regained his lighthearted manner, and as they walked he told Catherine he had captained a cargo ship that plied between Port Chantay and the Pearl Islands.
    ‘We carried livestock, breadfruit, whale oil,’ he said. ‘I can’t think of much we didn’t carry. It was a good life, but hard as hard gets, and after I retired . . . well, I’d never married, andwith time on my hands, I figured I owed myself some high times. I decided I’d see the sights, and the sight I most wanted to see was Griaule. I’d heard he was the First Wonder of the World . . . and he was! I was amazed, flabbergasted. I couldn’t get enough of seeing him. He was more than a wonder. A miracle, an absolute majesty of a creature. People warned me to keep clear of the mouth, and they were right. But I couldn’t stay away. One evening – I was walking along the edge of the mouth – two scalehunters set upon me, beat and robbed me. Left me for dead. And I would have died if it hadn’t been for the Feelys.’ He clucked his tongue. ‘I suppose I might as well give you some of their background. It can’t help but prepare you for them . . . and I admit they need preparing for. They’re not in the least agreeable to the eye.’ He cocked an eye toward Catherine, and after a dozen steps more he said, ‘Aren’t you going to ask me to proceed?’
    ‘You didn’t seem to need encouragement,’ she said.
    He chuckled, nodding his approval. ‘Quite right, quite right.’ He walked on in silence, his shoulders hunched and head inclined, like an old turtle who’d learned to get about on two legs.
    ‘Well?’ said Catherine, growing annoyed.
    ‘I knew you’d ask,’ he said, and winked at her. ‘I didn’t know who they were myself at first. If I had known I’d have been terrified. There are about five or six hundred in the colony. Their numbers are kept down by childbirth mortality and various other forms of attrition. They’re most of them the descendants of a retarded man named Feely who wandered into the mouth almost a thousand years ago. Apparently he was walking near the mouth when flights of birds and swarms of insects began issuing from it. Not just a few, mind you. Entire populations. Wellsir, Feely was badly frightened. He was sure that some terrible beast had chased all these lesser creatures out, and he tried to hide from it. But he was so confused that instead of running away from the mouth, he ran into it and hid in the bushes. He waited for almost a day . . . no beast. The only sign of danger was a muffled thud from deep within the dragon. Finally his curiosity overcame his fear, and he went into the throat.’ Mauldry hawked and spat. ‘He felt secure there. More securethan on the outside, at any rate. Doubtless Griaule’s doing, that feeling. He needed the Feelys to be happy so they’d settle down and be his exterminators. Anyway, the first thing Feely did was to bring in a madwoman he’d known in Teocinte, and over the years they recruited other madmen who happened along. I was the first sane person they’d brought into the fold. They’re