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Chapter Nineteen

I still don’t know what caused me to open up to those people that day. Kylah urged me to tell them about myself, and I found myself telling them far more then I’d ever expected. And on the other paw, I don’t think any of them ever expected to hear a wrenching tail from a wounded old dragon, sunning himself in the middle of their town. I told myself it was just another way to get them to see dragons in a new light, but I knew there was more too it then that. I had connected with these people, and some hidden part of me was happy for it. As I’d unburdened myself with the tale of my son’s injury, the crowd had grown. I knew that story would spread from person to person like some sickly, sad virus, and soon, everyone in town would know what had pushed my mate and I apart, and why I had once hated humans.

It occurred to me, sometime after spinning my tale, that I no longer hated their kind. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I liked them, in fact I still intensely disliked the vast majority of the ocean of humanity that was slowly but surely drowning the earth. But here, in this little town, I didn’t dislike them at all.

I spent the rest of the afternoon sprawled in the sun, now and then shifting positions to warm other parts of my body, and when my stitches and joints got a little uncomfortable. The crowd was there for much of the day, people filtered in and out, passed my tales amongst themselves like currency. I felt like some festival attraction, everyone wanted to come see the amazing, talking dragon!

Contrary to what I’d expected when Kylah told the people I’d be willing to talk to them and get to know them, the rest of the day was not filled with inane questions and frustratingly stupid comments. It actually turned into more and more of a conversation. The people crept closer until some of them were near enough to touch me. The boldest among them did so, gently rubbing my scales a little, or touching a horn, or an ear. I even let one particularly bold little girl feel my claws, she was amazed at their sharpness, and I was impressed by her bravery.

Much of the afternoon was taken up by questions and comments from the humans that in turn spawned another long winded tale of mine. I told them stories from my childhood, I told them about friends I’d had, I told them about humans I’d raided in my angry youth. I even came out and admitted I’d once taken sheep from this town, and to my surprise, no one even seemed angry. That was good, I didn’t want to drown the seeds of goodwill I’d spent all day sowing.

They questioned me about my family, and so I told them about Niara and Venargravax and Reenasaurana. I told them about the festivals I’d shared with my family, about painting their scales in beautiful, bright colors, taking them to see the last of our kind dance in the sky. That led me to tell them about my own younger experiences, and the first time I was old enough to sky dance at Spring Festival. Which eventually lead me into telling them how I’d met Niara when I was a little older, and now that there were children in the crowd, I left out the part about what we did when I took her to the Moon’s Glow Cliffs.

Time passed swiftly as I opened myself up to the humans in a way I’d never imagined. Much as I would not have imagined how enraptured they seemed to be with my tales. Perhaps it was simply because it was such a surreal experience. It was likely almost as dreamlike for me to find myself sprawled in the grass and telling tales to humans as it was for them to have a dragon relaxing in their midst, telling them of his life. I felt like the kindly and talkative old elder who all the young would gather around to hear his stories when I was a youth. The difference was that instead of enthralled hatchlings, wide eyed and twitchy tailed, I had a crowd of humanity who wished not to strike me down, but merely to listen to what I had to say.

And so backed by the gentle splashing of the waterwheel in the distance, I talked, and talked, and talked. And the more I talked to them the more relaxed I felt. It wasn’t that I had doubted my decision to come here and help them, but the more they listened to me, the more they spoke to me, the more I was glad I’d done this. I had chosen the right humans to help. They appreciated me, and what I’d risked to come and free them. I would never have expected humans to appreciate anything a dragon had done, and yet here they were, right in front of my face.

I hadn’t meant to spend the rest of the day relaxing in the grass, but that was exactly how things turned out. It wasn’t as if I didn’t need the rest, though, even for a dragon recovering from that many wounds took a lot out of him. Eventually the setting of the sun and the rumbling in my belly told me I’d been here longer then I planned. It was time for dinner, and then it was time for sleep.

The crowd dispersed to go and find their own dinner and return to their families, and Kylah led me back to the market. The sun was just setting, and the entire town was painted in fiery oranges and reds. All the buildings seemed to glow as if with their own light, as if they too were happy to be free once more. Humans were walking the streets, lighting lanterns, lamps, and torches to keep the streets illuminated at night. Though their flames were barely visible at first, by the time I’d finished my dinner, once more provided by the generosity of the market, they stood out sharply, wards against the increasing darkness.

When I was full again, the orange glow had been replaced by a soft, dusky purple hue that ever so slowly faded into shadow. Pools of light now shone through many windows in the area, laughter spilled from open tavern doorways like soothing music that told me this town was once more happy. Kylah began to lead me back through the streets, and though I didn’t know where she was taking me, I followed. Full and for the moment happy, I was beginning to feel a little bit drowsy. Whereever she took me to sleep would be just fine.

We passed a tavern, and I took a moment to peer into the open door. I could see many round wooden tables surrounded people in chairs, all laughing and telling tales, smashing their wooden mugs together, golden liquid sloshing out upon the table. Plush booths at the far side were crammed with friends and family as well, everyone seemed to know each other. Firelight painted everyone’s face with same warm, friendly glow. I was glad to see they were happy.

I smiled to myself, and began to turn away, only to be stopped by a human coming from the tavern. He wore a tunic that had probably once been white, but was now stained beige with grease stains both old and new, his black breeches bore the discoloration a little better. His round face was flushed from drink, or from working the cooking fires and stoves, probably both. I took him to by a cook for the tavern who couldn’t be bothered to wear an apron and so just wore the same dirty shirt every evening. Hopefully he at least washed it, it didn’t smell as bad as it looked.

“A drink for the dragon!”

There was that phrase again. Still, I was in too good a mood to be truly bothered, and never in my right mind would I turn down free alcohol. He held up a rather large pitcher filled with some kind of golden ale, and I carefully took it in my paw. I tipped it back to my muzzle, and downed the entire pitcher in several long, satisfying gulps. Whatever type of ale it was, it tasted sweeter then usual, and it also left me feeling a good deal warmer. Any human who offered me strong ale was alright by me. I belched and handed him back the picture. He laughed and accepted my thanks before vanishing back inside the tavern.

“I think I could get used to this,” I said, following at Kylah’s heels once more.

She turned to rub my nose, a sly grin on her lips. “I’m sure you could. You look awfully tired, Vraal. You wanna get to bed?”

“Yes,” I admitted, feeling as old as I was. “Which way back to that little tent your people made for me?”

Kylah’s grin widened. “Oh no, we’re not going back there. We’ve got something much better for you now.”

“You do?” I said, cocking my head, and licking golden droplets of greatness off my muzzle. “What is it?”

“You’ll see,” she said, and once more took me from street to street.

I was glad she was leading me, because I certainly wouldn’t have been able to find my way around this place. Why did humans have to build their settlements like some sort of labyrinth? It gave me the distinct impression that they designed their towns just so they could confuse visiting dragons. Though if that was their logic, I imagine the idea was to confound attacking dragons. Whatever the case may be, I got the distinct impression Kylah had her people working on something behind my back while she had me out for the day. And possibly even earlier then that. I also got the impression she was a little nervous, hoping I would like whatever it was they’d made.

We ended up back near the river, near a long stretch of water that was lined with tall, leafy trees that like their kin over in the park, were stubbornly resisting the encroachment of autumn’s changes. There were a few tall pines that would never change, but there were also poplars just beginning to be edged in yellow, and oaks fighting against the growing tide of red. There was a large grassy swath there as well, between the road, and the trees, and the trees did a good job of blocking that section of river from view. A little path ran from the road through the grassy area to a large, if simple building constructed back near the trees.

Kylah lead me down the dirt path, towards the building. The trail was a little muddy, and had fresh footprints in it, as well as fresh hoof prints from horses. I lowered my head and sniffed at the ground, the scent of horses was still fairly fresh, perhaps a few days old at most, and maybe not even that old. Kylah walked all the way to the building, and came to a stop in front of it. She turned and smiled at me, and then waved her hand at the place behind her.

“Welcome home, Vraal.” She beamed radiantly up at me, her green eyes filled with hope. She really wanted me to like it. I’d tell her it was perfect no matter what I thought of it. “That is, for as long as you need it. I knew you’d need some time to heal, and well…I didn’t want you to be stuck under that tent all the time. I knew you wouldn’t want to be around people all night as well as all day, so I tried to find you a place that was set back away from everything else, at least a little ways.” She twisted round and gestured at the trees. “And I know you like the trees, and there’s enough of them to give you a little privacy when you have too, well, the same thing you do in the river back in your place. All the water is gathered up stream of here anyway, cause people have livestock downstream. It’s hardly as spacious and cozy as a dragon’s lair, but we’re trying to make it comfortable for you.”

Lair. Bah! She used that word just to tease me. I smirked at her, and stepped up alongside her, playfully bumping her just hard enough to make her stumble and acting as though it was an accident. I ignored her when she punched me on the haunch, and I looked over my temporary home. It was a simple but spacious building with a tall roof, and more then enough room for me to walk around and spread my wings if I wished. It looked to be of a simple wood frame construction, with walls and ceiling of hammered tin to keep the elements out, and insulted with bricks of straw and fired clay. The roof was covered in a layer of thatched reed to help keep down the noise when it rained, to avoid spooking the animals that had probably once been kept her. Though there were no individual stalls I imagined there had been not long ago, it seemed as though it had once been a simple horse stall, with the grasses beyond used for the animal’s grazing. But the building had been gutted, and left as spacious and open as possible.

I stepped inside to walk around, and lifted my head as high as I could. If I really tried I could just touch my nose to the ceiling but I wasn’t in any danger of bumping my head. The front of the building was open, I could see where they’d removed gates and the front wall to help clear out the stalls and other things inside, and hadn’t yet returned them. But they had nailed some thick blankets to the edge of the roof so that they could be pulled down to hang in front of the building and add extra insulation before they built new walls.

The floors had been completely scrubbed clean, and there was only a faint whiff of manure left. And to their credit, they had accounted for a dragon’s sensitive nose best they could by covering the floor in my places with pungent pine boughs. I liked the smell of pine, and in a day or two that would be the only predominant scent here as long as they kept the boughs fresh. At one side of the former stable was a sprawling pile of blankets of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Thick blankets filled with down, thin blankets one might wrap a child in, blue and red and black and brown, woolen blankets, silk blankets, and a whole multitude of pillows. Kylah had clearly gone out of her way to replicate my bed of furs back home the best she could.

“Where did you get so many blankets and pillows?” I asked, walking over to the pile and adjusting them a little bit, kneading them beneath my paws. They were soft, and warm, and while not as nice as my own well used furs, they would provide a pleasant substitute. And Kylah’s efforts to ensure my comfort would keep me plenty warm as well.

“From anyone who had one to donate! A lot of them actually came from the grand inn. The owners were so happy to get their inn back now that the soldiers using it as barracks are gone, they wanted to do whatever they could in return. I asked them for as many blankets and pillows as they had to offer.” She folded her hands together in front of herself, wringing them a little bit. “I hope you like it. It’s not home, but, it’s a place to say while you heal.”

I turned back around and nuzzled her face, then gave her cheek a lick. She laughed and pushed my muzzle away, and I grinned at her, perking my ears and crests. “I love it! It’s perfect. Thank you, Kylah.”

“Thank you, Vraal,” she said, taking my gray scaled chin in her hands. “For everything.” She leaned in, and placed a gentle kiss between my nostrils, then smiled and backed away. “You should sleep. I’ll see you in the morning, alright?”

I simply smiled, and nodded. “Alright. Good night, Kylah.”

“Good night, Vraal.”

I watched her slip back outside, and then she carefully pulled down the blankets to let them hang over the front of my new home away from home so it wouldn’t get too cold inside. When she was finished, I shifted and adjusted all the blankets and pillows until I had something close to what I slept on at home, and then I curled up atop it. There was a small, wrought iron stove in the corner of the place, probably used to warm it just a little on the coldest nights. I wondered if I might want to use that stove, but as soon as I’d gotten myself comfortable, I was already drifting to sleep.

Kylah woke me with breakfast; is there any better way for a dragon to be awoken? I’d slept all through the night and well into the morning, and woke ravenous. As I ate the large assortment of food she’d brought me, she changed my bandages again. I tried to eat slowly, she’d brought me all sorts of things I’d never tried, and all of them were delicious. Eggs that had been cooked and scrambled together with cheese, ham, and pepper, sausages both sweet and spicy, some part of pork she called bacon that was so fatty and delicious and crisp yet chewy I simply didn’t know how to describe it. Bread smeared with mashed berry jam, tomatoes lightly seared. So many things these humans could do with food, I was starting to wonder just what I’d been missing.

By the time I’d finished my food, Kylah had nearly finished my changing my bandaging. I waited as patiently as I could considering how itchy the whole process made me, and I was glad when it was finished. Less glad that I still couldn’t scratch at the damn stitches, but I supposed that was the way of things. According to Kylah my wounds were all looking good, and I was healing faster then anyone had expected. Which was good to hear, it seemed dragons were naturally faster healers then humans. Had I been half my age I’d probably already have been running and flying again. A shame getting older never brought me the sort of wisdom or patience I’d always imagined it would in my youth.

After she’d changed all my bandages, Kylah brought in a small wooden box and set it down nearby. She began to remove all of the things I’d brought with me into battle. She set the helmet down near where I slept, and then placed my bracelets alongside it. Then she draped the black, silver and gold necklace with the mother-of-pearl dragon’s head atop the helmet, and finally gently unfurled the soft cloth painting of my family I’d worn beneath my helmet.

“See?” She said with a smile, rubbing my nose. “I made sure to keep all your things safe.”

“Thank you, Kylah.” I gave her fingers a lick, then gently ran my finger pads against the painting for a moment. A faint smile crossed my muzzle. Then I gently moved the painting away from the helmet so that I could touch. It still had a little paint left on it, though most of it was smeared, and Kylah had clearly washed away the blood that had likely stained it. Given the location of my wounds there was probably more human blood on the helmet after the battle then dragon’s blood. The same with my paws, from the way I’d torn some of those men apart. I brushed my pads against the dent where the helmet had deflected an arrow.

“It’s already saved my life,” I murmured, as much to myself as to Kylah. “When I took down the tower, an archer instead it leaned over and fired an arrow straight into my head. Thankfully, it bounced right off the helmet and I didn’t have to find out how good my skull is at resisting arrows.” I snickered to myself, coiling my tail. “Not as good as I’d it to be, I’m sure.”

“I know,” Kylah said, rising to her feet and stretching one arm over her head, probably so she didn’t have to look at me while she said it. “I watched you bring it down.”

“I thought I told you to stay put. And I thought I told Ravek to make sure you did so.”

Kylah just laughed a little, working her injured shoulder in a semi circle. “I didn’t want too. And Ravek can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do. I wanted to help you, Vraal, you told me to watch your back, remember? Besides, if I hadn’t followed you across the town, who would have lead you out of that building?”

I only murmured. That was a good point I could hardly argue with. I may as well change the subject a little. “How is your shoulder, anyway? Doesn’t seem to be limiting you too much.”

“Hurts like hell,” Kylah said, then chuckled, shaking her head. I noticed her hair looked calm and soothed today, she’d put the monster to sleep somehow. Probably because she’d finally gotten a decent nights sleep and a bath. “But it’s not so bad. Wasn’t as bad as I first thought it was, thankfully that chain mail you gave me took the worst of the impact and momentum away. Got down to the bone but didn’t really go into it. Doesn’t seem to have hit any major tendons or anything. Hopefully once it heals I’ll be able to get the full range of movement again.”

“I hope so,” I said, pushing myself to my feet, and stretching. “I’d hate to see you restricted to besting trained soldiers with only one sword.”

Kylah folded her arms under her breasts, likely as much to support her injured shoulder as anything else. “They aren’t that well trained.”

“Perhaps not,” I said, finishing my stretch with a deep yawn, my pink tongue curling in my black and gray muzzle. “I was thinking about that, while I was flying.” I had an image of myself bathed in my own blood and it made me cringe. “Right before I realized I was either going to help finish the battle or die trying.”

“Oh?” Kylah scowled, and looked away. I probably could have phrased that better, but after all, she was the one who told me how close I’d come to death.

“Yes,” I said, padding past her and playfully coiling my tail about her waist. I pushed through the blankets draped over the entrance to the old stable, and tugged her along with my in the crook of my tail. Outside it was bright and sunny, and surprisingly warm. I narrowed my eyes to glimmering blue slits while they adjusted, but spread my wings to enjoy the warmth of the sun. “We kept calling them soldiers. But they’re hardly that. They don’t seem to have any cause but their own fulfillment. And they’re not exactly mercenaries, either. Even mercenaries have honor, or so it’s seemed to me in my admittedly limited experience. These men we killed and chased out seem like little more then bandits. You mentioned before you had a bandit problem, right? I’d say someone got them all together, and organized them into their own private army. I’ve no idea why, probably in the hopes of impressing that lazy king you told me about.”

I let Kylah extricate herself from my tail, but only after she threatened to kick me in the particularly tender spot she was rather close too back there. She came around to stand near my head, and idly stroked the scales of my neck. With her other hand she adjusted the silvery tunic she’d worn that day, I could see the lilac ribbon of her mothers old necklace around her neck. I knew her mother was long gone, like mine, and it was nice to see her able to wear the pendant in plain sight without fear of having it stolen from her. Though at the moment, she kept the jeweled pendant itself beneath her tunic, perhaps a force of habit.

“You’re probably right. If they were able to take over all the towns and hold them a while, impose their will on us, they could probably get the king to recognize them as their own sovereign land. He’s got enough problems of his own with enemies at his door step, if they were strong enough to take all this land, he’d rather have them as his allies then his enemies.”

Interesting. Humans and their politics. It seemed as though it would be simpler if the strong simply ruled the weak. That was how it was in nature, wasn’t it? The strong preyed upon the weak, and as a result, only the strongest bared offspring and continued their kind, and the weaker species were pared away. Wait…what did that say about dragons and humans, then? I snorted, and shook my head. Foolish old beast. Can’t even abide by your own logic!

At least Kylah’s people had proven to be stronger then those that had oppressed them. At least for now. I glanced around myself as if to insure no one else would hear what we were talking about. We were alone, for now, even the street across the pasture from us was empty. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunlit, with just a little breeze rustling the leaves of the trees behind me, and the grasses on either side of the path I stood upon. The breeze felt good wafting across my scales, and I tightened up my wings a little bit.

“They have other towns, right?”

“Hmm?” Kylah had been lost in her own thoughts for a moment, her fingers still idly rubbing my neck.

“These people who had taken over your town. Have they taken over other towns the same way?”

“One, yes. The furthest away of the other four towns. There are five total. If you look at the entire area as a whole, we are on one side of it, and the other town they completely conquered is on the other side. The other three towns are in between, and they form a sort of triangle together, each town as the points of the triangle, and the roads between as the sides.”

“And which town is the largest?”

“Ours, I think,” Kylah said, though she rubbed her chin, scrunched her nose in thought. “Though I’m not sure. The far town may be just as large, and the one of the other three isn’t that much smaller. But the yearly five town festival is always held here, I think because we’re the largest.”

I folded an ear to the side of my head. “So they took the largest town first, then sent their men across the entire area to take the furthest town. Which traps the other three smaller towns in the middle, between the two locations of their forces. Do they have any men in those three towns?”

Kylah licked her lips, starting to see where I was going. “They have some men in all of them, trying to prepare them for the coming of the rest of their force. Basically trying to get them to just roll over and give in without a fight.”

“And their headquarters. I take it that it is on the other side of us, from the rest of the towns?”

Kylah slowly nodded, narrowing her eyes.

“Which leaves your town as temporarily free, but stuck in the middle of lands held by your enemies.”

“Shit.” Kylah cursed. I guess she hadn’t quite seen it that way yet. “I knew they’d try something again, but…”

“But you didn’t really think about the fact that they could send a division of forces from both sides, cut off your town, and do as they please.”

“Not exactly like that, no. We only just started talking about preparations. We have been thinking about sending some men to the smaller towns to see what the situation is.”

I began to walk towards the road, my paws leaving prints in the wet earth. I wasn’t sure why this trail was so wet, perhaps it had rained overnight, or maybe it was just lingering dew. I shook my paws to get the mud off them, then glanced back at Kylah. “Thinking? You haven’t sent anyone yet?”

“No. There are differences of opinions.”

“And which side are your leaders on?”

Kylah stopped a moment to give me a hard stare. “We have no leaders, Vraal. We used to have a mayor, a Militia Captain, and a Trade Minister. But…they were all executed while I was away.”

“Oh…” I cast my eyes down to the muddy path, tracing a single claw through the dark, wet earth. “I am sorry to hear that.” I lifted my head again, turning around to face Kylah. “Then someone needs to take charge. You and your people will not have time for petty bickering, or struggles for power. If you want your freedom to last, you need to take steps to ensure it, and you need to take those steps immediately. Sooner or later these people will come back to avenge their defeat, and I would imagine it will be sooner. You should strike at them first, instead.” I grinned. “At least that is what a dragon would do.”

Kylah gave me a little smile, and patted my nose. “Then perhaps a dragon should be our leader.”

That made me laugh as I walked back to the road. “As much as your people may be starting to respect me, I rather doubt they would accept a dragon as their leader. And I wouldn’t want the position, anyway.” I looked down at her, hoping I’d not upset her by getting too serious so early in the morning. “I do not mean to sound so glum or gruff, I just…” I licked my muzzle, folded my ears back and sighed. “I simply do not wish to see your hard won freedom taken away from you again because your people were too busy arguing to plot a proper defense.”

“Neither do I, Vraal. And I don’t know for sure what the plans are, or if there even are any. Other then organizing the militia again to defend the city. I’ve only been to a single meeting, the rest of the time I watching over you. Some of my information comes from Ravek. I’m not sure many of them like my idea.”

“Oh?” I rustled my wings a little. “And what is your idea?”

“That we should send people as stealthily as possible into the smaller towns, take out our enemies, and from there launch a nighttime assault on the other town, and free it the same way we freed our town.”

Ooh, I liked that idea. It was so much like what a dragon would do it sent shivers running down my spine. My scales all clicked and my spines all flared up. I even purred a little. Kylah playfully grabbed me by an ear, rubbing the sensitive frill in a way that made me shudder even harder. “Vraal, all your neck and head spines are sticking out. You either like my idea or you’re getting aroused.”

“A little of both, I think.”

That made Kylah laugh, and she swatted me on the neck. “You naughty dragon! But I’m glad you like my idea.”

“Of course I like it. It solves one of your problems. Look at it this way. You face an army. As a single town with merely a militia you do not have enough men to defeat this army, and they stand on either side of you. But liberate your sister town, and protect the towns in between, and you have removed the army behind you. Now you only face the army in front of you, and between all the people in your five towns, and all their militias, you have an army of your own. Take that army and defeat your enemies, and you are truly free. Show this lazy king that you are the ones he should be worried about, that you are the people he should ally himself with, not these worthless bandits.”

Kylah backed away, beaming, her eyes glowing like radiant pools of green fire in the sunlight. “That’s perfect, Vraal! And that’s almost exactly what I was thinking we needed to do. We have a little time, I think, but the sooner we can get all that done, the better.” Then her expression darkened like a storm cloud was passing in front of the sun. “Though I don’t know if the town will listen. Or if the other towns would really ally with us that way even if we did free them. We, that is, our towns, have always been staunchly independent. That’s been one of our guiding principals for generations after all.”

“A guiding principal that nearly got you all enslaved,” I gently reminded her. “No one is asking them to give up their independence. Only that each town pledge men to this army in order to defeat the threat you all share.”

“You probably make it sound a lot better and a lot easier then I do.” Kylah folded her arms again, and chuckled to herself. “I’d lose my temper and start yelling and calling them all names, and that wouldn’t get us anywhere.”

“Perhaps…” I said, starting to put my foot over the edge of a cliff I really didn’t want to topple off of. Then again, as deeply as I’d already mired myself in this, what was one more cliff going to hurt? I took a deep breath, and hurled myself over the edge. “Perhaps I should talk to your people. Do you think you can get them all together somewhere, tonight?”

“Vraal, you don’t have too…”

“Hush, Kylah,” I said, trying to be as gentle as I could. “You know I’m a stubborn old beast, so don’t argue. I came here to save your town, I may as well stay here until the job is finished. Now, do you think you could get all the people of your town, or at least the important ones, to come together and listen to me? Tonight, or…” I lifted a paw to scratch around the base of a horn. “Perhaps that is too early. I may want to think about this, a little. Tomorrow night would be alright, too. The point is, do you think that your people, at least most of them or those trying to take charge, would be willing to listen to me?”

Kylah unfolded her arms to crack her knuckles, a smirk twisting her lips. “I think I could get them to convene somewhere, yes.”

“Good, good,” I murmured. I wasn’t sure I really knew what I was getting myself into. I’d come here to help save this town, and I’d done that. And yet, what good would that have done if I let them take it back? Though I felt as though I should be nervous about speaking to the entire town, I found myself in an oddly good mood instead. As though opening up to the town the day before about what had lead me to them had somehow left me confident I could talk to them about anything. Like I could bear the weight of their entire town upon my wings and never even flinch. It was a rare feeling for me, and I would take it for as long as I could get it.

“Now,” I said, smiling at Kylah. “Why don’t you show me around the rest of your town?”

Chapter Twenty

We decided it would be easiest if I spoke to the town the next night, and so we spent the day doing little more then aimlessly wandering Kylah’s town while she showed me the sights and gave more and more people a chance to get to know. Such as it was. Quite a few of them were still wary of me, which was alright, I was still wary of them too. Any time one of the bolder humans came and touched me without me knowing they were there, I tensed and had to fight the urge to whirl away from them, lest they plunge a blade through my scales and into my flesh.

Despite the lingering caution among many of them, many others were eager to approach me, to speak to me and even touch me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to feeling so many human hands on me, but I did not deny any requests. The more comfortable they were around me the better, I thought. I also realized that quite a few of them seemed to know my name already. The tales I’d told and the things I’d spoken up had spread like the plague throughout her village. How are you wounds healing, Vraal? How old would your children be now, Vraal? What do your children look like, Vraal? Thank you for saving us, Vraal!

It was that last one I’d have to work on. If the town felt as though I had personally saved them, I doubted they would ever stand up and do the work themselves. If they wanted to remain free, they had to continue to fight for it. Yes, I had come here and I had started their rebellion along with Kylah, but it was their people’s own blood and strength that saw it through. And it was that same blood and strength that would ensure their lasting freedom, or the lack thereof. They needed to know I was going to be there to help them, but this would be there fight, their freedom at stake.

I found it hard to concentrate on the things Kylah was trying to show me. It was a little disappointing, I wanted to be interested in her town, wrapped in her world. It wasn’t that I was not interested in her world, quite the opposite. It was just that my mind was wandering, roaming the fields that held the questions I was going to ask the people, drinking from the streams that flowed with the answers I was going to give them. I still wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to tell them, or why I’d even asked Kylah to have them all get together.

I couldn’t pull out now, though. Everywhere we went she was telling anyone who came to see me that they should come to the central plaza tomorrow evening. That I was going to be there, and I wanted to talk to the entire town if I could. That I would speak to all came, and they should pass word on to those who did not. That I had something very important to talk to them about. Nothing like putting extra pressure on an old dragon who until the day before had never spoken to so much as more then a dozen or so creatures all at once.

No matter. I’d find my tongue somehow. If I could wade fearlessly into a throng of steel wielding humanity seeking my blood and strike them down, surely I could speak to those willing to listen. But I hadn’t been fearless. I had been terrified. Humans terrified me in large number, that was always their best bet to strike us down. I had simply smothered my fear in resolve, I had imagined what would happen to Kylah if I failed, and the fear I felt then greatly outweighed any fear for myself. I would not let anything happen to my friend while I drew breath, and she would not let anything happen to her town while she herself breathed. Which meant to protect her, I had to protect her town, and to do that, I had to get them to understand what they must now do.

What a quandary I’d found myself in. A dragon who’d hated humans his entire life, now resigned to protecting them. Even now I still doubted myself. Why was I here? Why was I risking myself for these people? Was it all for Kylah? Was it for myself, for me people? Did I really just want us to be remembered well? What did that matter, anyway. Whether the humans thought of us as monsters or not, nothing would change. We were still dead, one way or another. Even if the humans came to regret their actions, what would that chance? Nothing. It would not bring my people back. But perhaps…

No, even that didn’t matter.

Did it? I had half-heartedly come to accept the fact that I was probably the last of my kind. That my family and all the others from our valley had perished on their desperate attempt to find somewhere safe. Every day I told myself that might still be alive somewhere, and every day I hoped they were happy and safe. Yet, when I thought about it logically, it seemed so very unlikely. But I clung to that hope as I had for many years. There were times when the hope that my family might still be alive, and happy somewhere was the only thing that kept my soul from drowning in the sort of sorrow known only to those who had watched the last of their kind slowly die out. I clung to it like a fragile piece of driftwood just barely enough to keep my floating on the surface, and should it shatter, it would sink below the waves and never again rise.

Until Kylah came along. In my long solitude, I had almost forgotten how it felt to have a dear friend. She had re-awakened me in a way, she had brought out my playful side, my cheerful side, my happy side. She had re-taught me the value of companionship, and if nothing else ever happened between us, I would be ever thankful for her friendship. Perhaps the first human to ever truly befriend a dragon.

And with that renewal came the remembrance of just what else I hoped for. I had told myself many things in the days before I’d come to her town and the days since. I told myself I was doing this for the other dragons. I told myself I was doing it for our memory, I even told myself I was doing it for Kylah. But there was something else that I was almost too afraid to even put to thought. Despite my hesitation the idea lingered in the back of my mind like a faint, nagging headache. I knew it was there, I could always feel it, but I did my best to ignore it in the hope it would just go away. And yet, I know well enough it was probably just going to grow and grow. Of course, when a headache grew too bad I could usually just sleep it off. I wasn’t so sure I could just sleep off this idea.

It had occurred to me at some point that if by some miracle we were able to free all the lands that Kylah’s people and their neighbors held, and we were able to keep those lands free, that all the people in those towns would think of me as a savior, as a hero. I did not mean this in a vain sort of way, though the idea did appeal to my dragon’s sense of vanity. Rather I meant it in a practical sense. The people here already seemed to look up to me as such, at least those who had gotten over their initial fear of me. Why should the people in other towns not be the same? In only a matter of days I was increasingly welcome amidst the town’s populace, and should I help save the others towns, I would imagine I’d be welcome all across these lands.

And if that truly happened, if I was welcome to walk among humans as friend, and ally, then why not other dragons? In the back of my mind, that nagging headache grew just a little. Had I always considered that, was it part of my reasoning to come here? We had long ago failed to defend ourselves from humans, and failed to drive them back from our lands. We had no chance to survive the plagues their species brought upon us forever. Not unless we somehow became their friends instead of their enemies.

Without truly considering the possibilities at the time, I had done just that. Now, if I saw this through, I might well give our people a place to walk among humans, welcomed as friends, protected as allies. The soldiers and hunters and dragon slayers who stalked us would have no welcome here, they would be turned away by their own who would fight to protect us just as we’d fought to protect them. With enough space and enough friends to watch our backs, we might even have a chance to flourish, in some small sense. At least in the way our valley had flourished for a few isolated generations.

Of course, that was a lot to hope for. Yet not near as much to hope for as the fact that there might still be dragons alive out there, somewhere. And even if there were, how would they know we had a place where humans called us friend? They wouldn’t. They would never know, and this isolated land would die out with me, when my heart finally gave in to my age, or some human slunk past my friends and put his blade into my chest. I might very well have been able to create that mythical safe place my kind had always longed for and given their lives to find, and none of them would ever know it existed.

What sickening irony. The dragon who’d never believed in such a place helping to create it among his very enemies. Only to watch it go to waste because the other dragons were either looking in the wrong place, or long dead. Even if they were still out there, they’d never even consider looking for such a place among our ancestral enemies, among the very people who’d slowly but inevitably been wiping us out. Not unless someone told them, that was. Of course, that someone would have to be me. I wouldn’t even know where to start looking! Or would I? From my valley, I knew the general direction the survivors had gone to search. What would it hurt to try and find them? And if somehow, they were still alive, and I did find them…

Oh, God above, my hurt would probably burst with joy if I was able to find my kind again. And if by some miracle, my family was still alive, if I found my son, my daughter, my mate…if I could offer them somewhere safe. I tried to swallow the thought like bile creeping up my throat, but it wouldn’t go back down. My mind was filled with images of my son and daughter dancing in the sky, sunlight sparkling on the blue and black scales. Niara by my side…And Kylah…

…Kylah…

Would she be jealous if Niara took me back?

I growled to myself and slapped my paw against the road I’d been walking without paying much attention. It wasn’t as though I was going to find them anyway, hell I’d probably get myself killed securing Kylah’s lands. Why bother tormenting and confusing myself with twisted thoughts like that. Even if I did find Niara I was sure she’d have another mate by now. And my son, could he even fly? It wouldn’t matter if Naira was mated anew, if I could offer my family some place safe here among the humans, it would start to make up for letting my son be so gravely injured. Or so I told myself.

And Kylah and I were only friends, and would stay that way. Anything else was…I grunted and muttered under my breath. Anything else was not meant to be, it was simply that. But did she feel the same way? I would never forgive myself if I did find Niara and in the process hurt Kylah terribly. No, no, surely she knew. I had seen something in her eyes, but she must have known.

Not that I’d find them. But the idea that they might be out there, that I might be able to bring them somewhere safe would tease and haunt me until the day I either died, or found out what happened to them. I promised myself then and there that if I lived through this entire ordeal, if we succeeded, I would go and search for other dragons. And if there were other dragons out there who yet drew breath, I would bring them back here. Bring them somewhere safe.

“Vraal?” Kylah’s voice and her hand on my nose drew me back to reality.

“Hmm? Yes?”

Kylah gave me a little smirk. “You’re about to walk into the river.”

“I am?” I lifted my head and looked around. At some point I’d ventured off the road and began walking towards the river. Kylah probably thought I was going to get a drink or something until she realized I was so lost in my thoughts I wasn’t paying any attention at all. I hadn’t even noticed the cobblestone shifting over to grass beneath my paw pads. “Oh, I see what you mean.”

“You alright?” She rubbed my ear a little, and I leaned into her hand.

“More or less. Just thinking.”

“About what?”

I frowned a little, a few of my teeth glistening in the sunlight as they were bared. “My people, mostly.”

“Ah,” Kylah murmured, lifting both hands to scratch under my chin. “I can see how that would consume your mind. Maybe I should have just let you walk into the river, might have been funny to watch!”

“Only until I climbed back out and hurled you in,” I said, my scowl twisting into a smile. “Kylah, if we do this, if we free the others towns too…” I trailed off a little, pulling my head back. I looked down at my paws, unsheathed my claws from gray-edged finger tips and dragged them back through the grass, digging little ruts. “Do you think…”

Kylah took my chin in her hands again, pulling my muzzle up so I had to meet her eyes. I couldn’t look away, but I folded my ears to the sides of my head, let them droop a little. “Do I think what, Vraal?”

“Do you think we’d be welcomed here? Not just myself, but other dragons. Any dragon.”

Kylah ran her fingers up and down my finely gray scaled jaw, and then gave my soft, pebbly scaled throat a soothing stroke. “Yes, I do. As long as they were like you, and as long as they didn’t do anything to make the people fear them. You’ve already changed peoples perceptions here, Vraal, and I’m not just talking about myself. If we pull this off, well, I don’t see any reason why people wouldn’t want more dragons around once they start to see you as friends, and not monsters, not enemies.”

“Good,” I murmured with a smile, my frilled, gray tipped ears slowly perking back up. “Good.”

“How many do you think are still out there?” Kylah asked, perhaps not understanding the implications of her question.

“I’ve no idea,” I said, quite honestly. “Maybe dozens. Maybe none at all.”

Kylah’s smile faded, her eyes fell to the ground, staring at the same little earthen ruts I’d dug with my claws, down through the grass and it’s roots. She must have expected me to guess a higher number then dozens, assuming we were still out there, somewhere. But in truth, I had no reason to believe there may be more then a few dozen of us alive. Even in my youth, when the numbers in our valley were the greatest they’d ever be in my lifetime, there had been no more then perhaps fifty or so of us. Many of those had been killed, a few others died of natural causes, and the rest fled. Even if all those who had left to find that fabled paradise had survived, that still left no more then a few dozen dragons in all the world.

I supposed it was possible there were other clans out there somewhere, in other far flung corners of the earth. I’d heard rumors to that effect, after all, but I had never believed them. I’d never seen any evidence to suggest there may yet be other dragon clans. I guess it was impossible to know for sure. With a bitter chuckle, I told myself perhaps they’d all gathered in the same place and there were hundreds of us living somewhere safe already.

Kylah pressed her hand against my chest, her fingers pushed against the broad, slightly rough black scales that protected my heart and lungs. Her hand was directly over my heart, the warmth of her skin practically cradling it through my scales and my sternum. She lifted her eyes from the ground and stared at her own hand. For a moment, she just watched my scaly chest expand and contract with my slow breathing.

“I can feel your heartbeat, Vraal,” she said softly.

I smiled a little, flicking my tail tip. “That’s good to know. I’d be worried if you couldn’t.”

“I mean it, Vraal,” Kylah said, looking up at me, fiery, fearsome determination etched deeply into her sparkling green eyes, set across her lips. “As long as I can still your heartbeat, there are still dragons in this world. Don’t ever forget that.”

My smile widened, my heart beat a little harder. Kylah always seemed to know the right thing to say to me, and I found her sentiment touching. She was right, the flame of our race, though dim, was not yet completely burned out. I had survived this long, and I was far from the toughest of my kin. Perhaps the odds that there were others out there still breathing, still scratching out a living among the hidden caverns and the far flung mountains were greater then I thought.

“You’re right, Kylah,” I said, lowering my horned head towards her face a little. “When this is over, if we succeed,” I took a breath, thinking it over, and making up my mind. “I’m going to go and try to find other dragons. If this works, I want them to know they have a place among your people now. A safe place.”

Kylah smiled again, and patted my nose. “I’d expect nothing less, Vraal.”

Her words filled me with pride though I wasn’t really sure why. Regardless, I had to fight to keep my chest from puffing out of it’s own accord and my wings from flaring as if to show themselves off to the world. We were soon back on the roads and I spent the second half of the day in a much better mood then I’d spent the first half. As a result I was able to take a far more active interest in the things she showed me all around her town.

Kylah took me to the tallest of their many bell towers, where bells were struck in alarm at the sight of invading bandits, or in my case, rampaging dragons. The tower itself was impressively tall, and like much of the human architecture I’d seen in my travels, I was impressed with their abilities to build something so much bigger then themselves. I’d seen the tower before, but I’d never taken time to really pay attention to it. It was taller then any of the other buildings in town, and I wondered just how they’d managed to construct it so high. It had a rather elegant look to it, as well. A single, thin cylindrical looking column made of some dark wood, rising high into the sky like the smooth leafless trunk of a tree. Circling it ever higher was a winding spiral staircase with an elegant golden rail curved to look like waves on the sea, rolling over higher towards the platform that topped the tower like the tree’s canopy. Thick columns of wood, large as tree trunks themselves spanned the top of the structure and formed the supports of the massive gray iron bell to hang from. The structure was mostly open so the sound of the bell could ring out as far as possible, but it did have an arched roof of sloped, baked clay tiles to shield the bell and it’s supports from rain and snow. I imagined whoever rang the bell would have to put wax over their ears to keep from deafening themselves!

Nonetheless, it was an impressive structure, reminding me of just how industrious these little humans could be. And in the sunlight the railing shone like a brilliant glowing golden ribbon ascending towards the heavens. It was actually quite beautiful, though I was loathe to admit as much about anything created by humanity.

Kylah took me next to see Ravek’s foundry. Apparently the slender human was actually a blacksmith! That surprised me a little, I had always imagined steel and iron workers as large men, gruff and bearded and permanently scalded by steam. Though I supposed that was as much a stereotype as that of the rampaging, virgin devouring dragon. And far as I knew I’d never devoured a virgin in my life. As for Ravek though slender he was was lithe and tightly muscled like an adolescent dragon just coming into his own. And if a blacksmith wore too big a beard I supposed he might just burn it off, and his face along with it. No wander Ravek kept his head shaven.

The foundry was small building set a little ways back from the main street, on a side road near the main intersection that formed a quarter circle between the two primary roads. It was made of blocks of gray granite flecked with black, all mortared together along with some red clay brickwork here and there. Kylah confessed to me that Ravek had previously worked in a more open building of wooden construction, but had inadvertently burned it down, and decided rather then rebuild he would move into an open stone building. I imagined it must have gotten terribly hot in there, but he was probably used to it. Dark gray smoke was pouring from the red brick chimney atop the gray building, and as the doors and windows were all open, I peered inside.

The heat radiating out from the door burned my nostrils when I took a breath and made my eyes water so badly I had to flick my flight membranes closed. I saw Ravek inside, stoking an immense fire inside the biggest hearth I’d ever seen. Made of stone that might once have been gray but was now so coated with soot and charred ashes it was as black as death. It was tall, open and wide, though it eventually tapered off into the large chimney. It was filled with some kind of fuel, though the flames were so bright I honestly couldn’t tell what he was burning. As if the fire wasn’t hot or bright enough already, he was working a huge bellows and stoking the nearly white flame ever higher, ever hotter. Sweat was pouring down his bald head, his blue tunic looked soaked and he had some sort of thick leather apron on to protect himself from the intense heat, though I was honestly surprised it hadn’t simply melted off along with his flesh.

I took a quick glance around the rest of the room. All sorts of metal tools hung from hooks embedded in the stone walls, covered wooden shelves and tables, and even lay up on the floor. It looked a little bit look home to me, actually, so messy and scattered. Several deep wells of water were placed at various points around the room, and I saw there were a few smaller hearths as well. Anvils of several shapes and sizes were placed near each hearth, and near each well. Swords and axes and spear heads were resting along one wall as well, they looked to be freshly forged, or perhaps in the process of forging. He was busy making new weapons. Good. At least one person in town was preparing for the inevitable. Hopefully he wasn’t the only blacksmith forging new weapons and armor.

I turned away, the heat was making my nose run. I lifted a paw and ran it over my snout, then sniffed. I blinked a few times and finally pulled back my flight membranes from my eyes, clearing my vision a little. For a few moments, all I could smell was fire and brimstone and sulfur and possibly, my own burned nostrils and muzzle. I had no idea how Ravek could take that heat, I didn’t want to spend more then a few moments at the door!

As we walked to our next destination, Kylah told me Ravek had been in awe of the dragon slayer’s sword I’d given her. Apparently he knew of the technique used to forge such strong, sharp steel, but had not yet been able to master it himself. She said Ravek had also explained to her how the blade was full tang, which meant nothing at all to me. From what she told me, that meant the metal of the blade itself was extended all the way into the hilt, and the dragon bone wrapped around it to properly weight and balance the sword. I just wondered what poor dragon had given his life to make that sword, and if he’d deserved it or not.

Bah! Of course he hadn’t. I’d been living among humans for merely a few days, and already I was starting to sympathize with them. As if any of my kind ever deserved to be made into a weapon. I hadn’t given it to Kylah because I felt some dragon had deserved his death, I’d given it to her because I thought it was fitting that such a sword be used to slay men, rather then dragons. And already it had, and that made me happy.

As we ambled along the many paths and streets crammed into her little town, I found myself continually amazed by the bevy of scents drifting everywhere. On one street alone I found myself confronted with ten times the number of intermingled scents then I’d ever smelled in a week as a youth back at the valley. There, I could smell several dozen dragons all interspersed throughout the valley. I could smell flowers and trees, and prey. Here, I could smell the scent of dozens of humans who had walked this same side street in the last hour alone! I smelled horses, I smelled dogs and cats, I smelled sheep. I smelled blood from something being butchered, I smelt leather from the saddle shop we passed, bread and cakes from the bakery, sizzling hot food and foamy ale from the tavern. I smelt men’s breath as they passed and spoke to me, I smelt tobacco from the pipes they‘d just smoked, I smelt earth from the ground they’d tilled that morning. I picked up every scent they’d never notice or imagine. I smelt human upon human upon human upon human, and I did not particularly like it.

I asked Kylah if I might see her own home, though I quickly regretted it. As it turned out, her own home was gone, burned down by the same men who’d nearly taken her life not long after they’d first sent her out of town to be put to death. Kylah had already told me that burning homes and businesses had been a common intimidation tactic, and she’d shown me several such places. Burned out shells that were little more then charred skeletons, or blackened walls were people had once lived, and worked. But never once had she mentioned her own home had fallen victim to the same fate, and I felt a little guilty for asking to see it when she explained to me why I could not. Especially when she told me it had also been her parents home while they were still alive.

She took me to where her home had once been, and I was all the more saddened to have missed it. It had been nestled among a copse of trees, one of the older homes in the village that had been passed from generation to generation. It hadn’t been particularly large, but it had been several stories tall and had once had a beautiful, winding wooden staircase outside the house, wrapped in vines and sheltered by myriad oak leaves, their canopies had formed the natural roof over the external stairs. She said that it had been painted bright blue and dark green, had been bright and cheery beneath the elegant old oaks.

All of which was now gone. The house that had withstood year upon year and generation upon generation of human habitation was burned to the ground, little more then a pile of wispy ashes. Alongside it a few thick, burned out stumps crumbling to charred bits were all that remained of the once proud and ancient oaks, trees that had stood there since long before the town was ever founded. Trees that may have even been old enough to have seen my kind soaring these skies, free and unafraid long before the humans ever arrived.

It was a sad sight, even for a dragon. I stared at it in silence, wishing to myself I’d met Kylah before all this. If I’d somehow befriended her before these men ever came, her house would still be here. I’d have helped her long ago, and her town would have resisted being conquered in the first place. Though, without those men dragging her off into the forest I’d probably never have even descended to the ground to meet her.

My spirits were lifted, though, when she decided our next destination would be the spot she planned to rebuild her home, when things were settled and peaceful again. Near the edge of town stood one of the largest trees to grow within the limits of their city. It was an ancient elm, almost as big around at it’s base as the tree I’d been so found of out in the forest. The thick, squat trunk only rose a short distance before branching out into multiple large limbs that were themselves as big around as many of the smaller trees scattered around the town. The canopy was unusually dome shaped, providing a natural umbrella of shade and shelter over the entire area. The way the tree branched out so suddenly and in so many directions at once was unique, it looked like the wriggling tentacles of some great sea beast reaching up to try and grasp at the rustling leaves far above. I wondered if some calamity had befallen it in ages past. Perhaps it had been struck by lightening, but rather then die off, it simply grew up again through each section of it’s splintered trunk.

Kylah told me she planned to honor the design of the original house by once more building several small, cozy stories. She even wanted to build the staircase outside again, and build it from the limbs of other trees to retain the natural look. She explained she wanted the first story to be set into a foundation in the ground, but she wanted to built the other stories into the tree itself. She might even have them set apart from each other so that she could have a patio on the roof of the first story, with a doorway there that lead into the second story build upon the many branching limbs of the tree. I told her I thought that was an excellent idea, so long as it wasn’t struck by lightening again.

Funny, she didn’t seem to find the humor in that. I thought it was funny, anyway.

The sun eventually began to set, and she took me too a little café for dinner. It was a place that had been run by the same family for as long as she could remember, and now that they were aging, their children had taken over and learned all the recipies. While I might have been able to fit through the door if I sucked in my breath and squeezed my wings as tight to my body as possible, I was fairly sure I’d break approximately all of their furniture and decorations inside, so we simply ate on the patio. I felt a little self conscious as Kylah helped this elderly but surprisingly open minded couple move all of their patio tables and chairs aside save one. I would have expected the elderly to be the most stuck in their ways, but they were among the most openly friendly people I had yet met.

Without asking, the old woman came right up and began to pet my nose! I didn’t really mind, I even lowered my head to her hand and purred a little for her so she’d see that I didn’t mean her any harm. She later explained to them that of course she was normally as terrified of dragons as anyone else, but at her age things just didn’t scare her the same way any more. The way she saw it, she didn’t have much time left to try new things, and how many woman across the world could truthfully say they’d pet a dragon? She saw the chance to do something new, which was a rare commodity itself at her age, and she took it.

I decided I liked this old woman.

I liked her even more when she served me a platter so heaped with seared venison steaks that it would easily fill even my belly. They were all only lightly cooked, dusted with more of that garlic I was beginning to enjoy, as well as salt and pepper, and seared on either side. I purred throughout my meal, and though I was becoming painfully full, I finished off every last steak and then licked all the juices from the silver platter, polishing it with my tongue until I could see my reflection.

By then it was getting dark, but the café had lanterns hanging from wrought iron poles, curved to look like an upside down J. The flickering orange lantern light provided plenty of illumination across the patio, and while Kylah finished her own meal, fish and some vegetable thing I didn’t care to identify, I peered at my own reflection.

I sighed a little, I was grayer then ever. The gray that had started at the very tip of my chin years ago had now successfully crept all the way down across the my upper throat, my glossy black scales now had a splash of creamy gray along my throat to almost halfway down my neck. My frilled ears were now not just gray at the tips, but much further along the edges. There was a little gray creeping behind my pale blue eyes, as well. Ever older, I thought to myself. It made me wonder just how gray I’d end up before my death, if I should be lucky enough to eventually age myself into oblivion. I had little to compare myself too, not all dragons grayed as they aged. Often age simply lightened whatever colors were present, and on rare occasion it even deepened them or brought out new colors.

“So, it’s true that dragons are creatures of vanity, hmm?”

I blinked at the old woman’s soft, creaky voice, and turned my wedge shaped head towards her. She had a smile etched on her wrinkled old face, and a surprisingly youthful looking glimmer in her rather rheumy brown eyes as she brushed a stray strand of white hair away from them, the faded blue dress she wore rustled slightly in the breeze. The old woman was teasing me! For some reason, that made my smile. I was glad to see that the reveal of my fangs didn’t phase her in the least. I suppose if she wasn’t scared of me before, no reason to start now.

“Not everything they say about us is true.” I smirked a little more, flicking my tail tip. “But some of it is.”

“Well, you’re a handsome beast,” she said, patting my scaly cheek. “And you’ve survived where others have not. I’d say you’ve earned a bit of vanity.”

“Thank you,” I said, surprised by her outlook. In this case I certainly wasn’t going to take the term beast as an insult. I glanced back at the platter, wondering if she realized I’d been licking it clean. She might not be so happy with me if she knew how much dragon slobber she had to wash off of it before using it again. “I was looking to see how much I’ve aged, lately.”

“You’re no where near as old as I am, so I’d say you’re young enough, yet.”

I chuckled a little bit. I was probably far older then her, though I knew what she meant. In terms of our respective life spans, I was not yet near as ancient as she was. “No, I suppose not. But I feel myself creeping closer every day.”

“That just means you have plenty of time left, and your body just wants to remind you to enjoy it while you can,” She said, cheerful as ever. She picked up my platter, and shuffled back inside the café, her worn blue dress fluttering around her.

“She’s right, you know Vraal.”

I turned my eyes back to Kylah and licked my muzzle, shifting a little as I sat on my haunches. “So you say, but you’re the young one here, you know.”

Kylah laughed a little bit, spearing the last bite of fish on her shiny silver fork. She waved it in a little circle in the air. “You make it sound like you’re some decrepit old elder. Look at her!” She jabbed the fish in the general direction of the doorway, where the old woman was walking past with another platter of food for guests inside. One of them pointed at me, and she crooked her finger and shook it at him like she was scolding a naughty little child. I wondered if she was actually defending me as Kylah spoke again. “She’s got to be twice your age, respectively, and she’s still working here full time, and still full of life. So what if you’ve got a little gray in your scales? You can still run, you can still fly, you can still laugh, and you can definitely still fight! You’re still healing faster then any human could, and..” She ate the last bite of fish, swallowed it, and then smirked at me. “As far as I know, should some slinky female dragon suddenly show up, you could still climb atop her and give her the ride of her life!”

I don’t think I’d ever heard Kylah speak quite like that, and I found myself laughing. I also found myself enjoying that little idea and the mental image that came with it. I lifted a paw to rub my muzzle, flicking my ears back against my head, and flaring my central crest. “I should certainly hope so! It’s not as though I’ve had the opportunity to test that particular function of my body lately, but I have no reason to doubt it’s effectiveness.”

“See?” Kylah beamed at me, her green eyes glittering in the lantern light. “You’ve nothing to complain about, Vraal. You’ve plenty of life left in you.”

That made me smile. And long after the smile itself had faded, the warm feelings that came with it remained. They followed me long after Kylah had paid the woman and I’d thanked her for her hospitality, and long after Kylah took me back to my temporary home, and bid me good night. I was unable to fall asleep right away that night the way I had the night before, but I wouldn’t exactly say that it was an unpleasant sort of restlessness. I thought about what the old woman had said to me, and what Kylah had said to me. In a way, they were probably both right. I could still do all the things that Kylah said I could, and that was more then a truly decrepit dragon would have been able to do.

Eventually, I got up out of bed and made my way outside. I pushed my way past the blankets hanging over the front of the stable, and out into the cool night air. It was not yet so cold I was uncomfortable outside, though the nights were definitely getting progressively cooler. The sky was mostly clear, and the moon was growing in size from the crescent sliver it had been when we’d first attacked the town. Though not yet full it was large enough to shed more mercurial light then a dragon’s eyes needed, and I easily made my way down to the river. For a while, I just sat at the water’s edge, listening to the sounds it made as it gently lapped at the shoreline, and the current ran up against rocks who’s time-rounded edges just barely crested the surface, their earthen colors hidden beneath layers of green algae below the water and thick moss above it.

I lifted my head, stretched my wings a little. For a time, I simply peered up at the moon and imagined the faint shadowy clouds that lazily drifted across it were dragons soaring freely in the night.