FSE

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Chapter Twenty Five

I spent much of the day scouring my collection. The first thing I had to find was my raiding bag. I’d long ago taken some of the largest, sturdiest furs I had and stitched them all together to essentially form a massive bag. I’d taken it with me whenever I went raiding and used it to carry back all my looted treasures and trophies. It had been a long time now since I’d been raiding though, and the bag itself had vanished into my collection, and gotten itself buried over the years. Some how it ended up beneath a pile of paintings with dark wooden frames laden with scratches, the thickly brushed paint that had once formed colorful ridges all across the canvas was scraped and chipped away. I vaguely recalled upending a wagon filled with works of art at some point in the past, though I couldn’t for the life of me remember why I’d kept them. Perhaps I’d been looking for inspiration for my own painting, or maybe I just wanted some nicer frames as none of the paintings struck me as particularly pleasant. And they themselves had ended up submerged beneath some silken scarves, a pointy hat with a bell, and a breast plate from some fancy ceremonial armor, images of knights and dragons carved in silver and gold. It looked too flimsy to ever go into battle, but I liked it anyway.

When I’d finally pulled the old bag out, I took it to the closet approximation of the center of the room, and laid it out. There was still something clinking around inside it, and after digging around I pulled out a couple of nice little silver flasks, both of which still had liquid sloshing around inside. At least I’d gotten something of value out of that particular raid. I tried to open it, but long as it had been closed the stopper was stuck. I handed it to Kylah, her smaller fingers would probably do a better job of un-sticking it then my clawed digits would.

While Kylah struggled to open the flask, and warned me that whatever was in there had probably gone bad, I picked up the white marble dragon’s head again and carefully laid it down inside my makeshift bag. I was hoping that whatever spirits they’d put inside the flask were strong enough they’d never go bad! Not that I didn’t already have more alcohol in my home then I could ever drink, but I always enjoyed trying new things. I laid a few smaller furs over the top of the stone head, I didn’t want anything else I put inside to chip it or damage it further, and then I began to take other things from my collection and place them inside as well.

I took one of my larger light stones and stuck it inside the bag. Not that I minded the dark, I hadn’t since I was a hatchling, but having a little pale blue light shining inside the stable would make it feel just a little more like home. I went to my drink collection and brought back large bottle of one of my favorite human wines, but decided the bottle would never make the trip.

So I searched out a few empty flasks, and with Kylah’s help, poured the bottle of wine into the metal flasks so it would better survive the trip. She told me she could get me all the wine I wanted from her village, and I told her this wine was older than she was and I rather doubted her village would want to part with anything that vintage without more coin then she could afford. To which she pointed out I had piles of coins sitting around not doing anything, and I told her that was exactly where they’d stay.

When we’d transferred the drink she went back to toying with the flasks. They seemed harder to open then I’d realize. Well, at least it kept her occupied instead of teasing me about how messy my home was the entire time I was searching things out. I wanted a larger picture of my family then the one I had back at the stable, but I didn’t want to break or tear the canvas, or risk any of my favorites. So I picked a medium sized painting that while I cherished it, it was not among my best works. But it did have Niara with one of our children under each wing, and it would brighten up the stable for sure even if it was damaged. I pushed it down into the side of the back after wrapping it up a few more furs for protection.

In the end I threw in quite a few things. I put in two of the toys my children used to play with, a wooden dragon I’d carved for each of them when they were still in the egg. It was sort of a tradition among some of the dragons that a hatchling have a small present among their hatching to welcome them to the world. Not that they were old enough to play with it right away, and I was always amazed that my young didn’t exactly break the little wooden dragons! I sniffed them each, a tiny trace of my son and daughter’s scent still lingered in the old wood, and then I placed them in the back with everything else.

I took several different vats of paint, though I had to get some water and some dye and work with them a little to get them back to a useful consistency. Once more Kylah reminded me that her village had plenty of paint, but I liked what I was used too. I took several books from my collection, all draconic in origin. They were sturdier then human books and would hold up the journey better than others. I made sure to take the book that I’d shown Kylah places of our history in, the one with pictures of our ruined cities and palaces. I thought perhaps I might like to show a few of the townspeople how great our homes had once been, and then I immediately cursed myself for wanting to show them anything at all!

I dropped a pawful of random, scattered coins into the bag, and then I added an old arrow still crusted reddish brown with blood I’d shed on it years ago, and a small axe with a crescent shaped bladed coated in the same. It was an old habit, much as I took trophies from those I’d slain or bested, I kept reminders of those who’d drawn my blood as well. I was far from invincible, and now more than ever I felt I should have something there to remind me of that. For now, my body still ached enough from healing wounds I could hardly forget, but it wouldn’t be long till even those wounds no longer hurt. At least I hoped it wouldn’t be long! I wasn’t looking forward to wading into another battle while still healing from the first.

I supposed I probably had enough already, but I shoved a few more random things into the bag as well, just so I could scatter them about the stable and give it that messy, lived-in-by-a dragon look. I would have taken even more, but already the bag was getting heavy as hell. I wrapped it all up and hoisted it up with my front legs, grunting at the effort.

“Heavy as the earth dragon’s balls, is it Vraal?”

Kylah’s attempt to utilize a dragon’s expression in a new way had me laughing. I set the bag back down and shook my head. “Quite a bit heavier, I should think. I don’t think even a dragon would want balls that heavy, he’d never get them off the ground when he stood up!”

“I suppose not,” Kylah said laughing. “I just figured he was a really big dragon! Size of a castle or something, or a mountain.”

I snorted, flicking my frilled ears, twisting one to the side of my head. “I never really thought of him that way, but it’s possible. I always just imagined him as the size of any other dragon.”

Kylah came over to try and pick up the bag as well, and found herself straining just to lift it. “God, Vraal, you’re going to hurt yourself carrying that thing all the way back.” She drummed her fingers against her chin a moment, and then turned a circle, looking around the room. “I guess you don’t have much else. Those packs we took last time weren’t big enough for this stuff. We really ought to make you some proper carrying bags though. Something we can strap around your body, and the bags can hang from your sides, like saddlebags. Really big saddlebags.”

“I’m not a horse, Kylah,” I admonished, licking the tip of my muzzle.

“No, you’re a stubborn old dragon who would rather strain his front legs then be geared up properly.”

“The very fact you used the term geared up means I don’t want to do it.”

Kylah reached out to scratch my chin a little. “So stubborn. The important thing is that it would distribute the weight across your body and be much easier for you to carry.”

“Be that as it may, unless you have such bags with you right now, I’m going to have to carry this the old fashioned way.”

“You know, with all the other stuff you dragons invented I’m surprised you didn’t already made bags to carry things like that.”

“We did, I just don’t have many of them here, and none that would fit that stone head. We used to make very long bags that rested against our backs, between our wings, and strapped beneath us, under our bellies and around our legs. Which works well for carrying lots of things as long as none of them are too big, and as long as you don’t have too many spinal ridges down your back.”

Kylah smirked at me, and ran her hand down the back of my neck, teasing some of those very spines and ridges. “Aww, spiny, frilly dragon.”

I shook myself, flaring up every spine I had. “I am not frilly. Frilly makes me sound like a female I’d want to mount.”

“Oh? Like the females with frills, do you?”

“Who doesn’t?” I chuckled a little.

Never one to pass up a chance to tease me, Kylah picked up one of the paintings of Niara’oraalous, one where the spines and frills around the back of her head and down her soft blue neck were all conspicuously visible. “Oh, she is a frilly girl, isn’t she. Looking at all those neck frills and spines I’m shocked you only made two eggs with her! I should have thought all those frills would have you on her back all the time!”

“Kylah!” I said, pretending to be shocked. “You dirty thing, you.” I closed up the bag, muttering to myself, and then flashed the woman a sidelong smirk. “Female dragons don’t go into season that often, anyway.”

“Aww,” Kylah cooed, setting the painting down and coming over to rub my nose. “So you only got to mate with her twice? Poor thing!”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. Perhaps she didn’t know me so well after all! “Of course not. Dragons can mate as often as we like, just as you can. It’s just that our seed really only quickens inside a female at certain times, that’s all.”

Kylah patted my nose a little more, grinning in perhaps the most wicked manner I’d ever seen from her. “That must be convenient for you!”

I gave her palm a lick, chuckling. “It certainly was!”

Much as I would have enjoyed remaining in my home a few more days, I was keenly aware that an entire village was awaiting our return. And though I didn’t like the idea of the humans depending on me when I thought they needed to begin depending on themselves, I knew for now I was going to have to bear the brunt of their burden. I sighed a little, flicking my tail, and looked around. After a moment, I waved my paw at the vast messy ocean of my collection, now washed out across the entire room thanks to my scrounging.

“See anything you want to bring? We might not be able to come back here again for a while.”

Kylah looked around the area, one hand on her hip. She brushed the hair away from her eyes with the other. The gesture made me chuckle under my breath, much as she seemed to battle with the dark brown curtain it always cascaded right back down in front of her face. “I wouldn’t mind one of those light stones,” she said, then added “If you have enough to spare.”

“I have legions of them, Kylah, take two if you want. Anything else?”

“Some Kraalgor?”

“Now that is a good idea.”

Together we filled up a few more empty flasks with spare Kraalgor from the opened vat, and tossed them into the bag as well. Then I helped Kylah pick out a few light stones to take home with her. She also selected herself some more clothing, this time to keep, and another pair of boots. She found a beautiful dagger with a dark blade that nearly shimmered in the light, and a handle carved from elk antler in a swirling design. She took that with her, and also took an axe and a sword to give to Ravek. After that she decided that she’d probably taken more then enough as well, and we decided to make that due.

It was already late in the day when we’d finished gathering things, and as we wouldn’t be able to make it past the higher, snow covered elevations before nightfall, we decided to wait until morning to return to her home. Which was fine with me, my wings were still sore from all the flying I’d done the two days earlier! And it gave me another evening to simply relax and chat and play with Kylah. And I mean that in the literal sense, as at some point we ended up down in the snowy valley, despite the fact the snow was nearly up to her waist in some places, bounding about and playing in the snow. We even had a snowball fight, one that I would have won handily if she hadn’t walloped me so hard right on the end of my snout it made my eyes water. And here I thought I’d been clever keeping my tail tucked to protect my testicles!

Once we were so frozen our teeth were chatting, we returned to our home, and built another small fire to warm ourselves up with, and for Kylah to cook some food. A bit of Kraalgor helped us warm up, as did the whiskey that turned out to be in those old flasks. Kylah finally got them open, and we shared the contents before we turned in for the night.

That night I had a strange and somewhat disquieting dream. I dreamt I was turning into a man, becoming human. In the dream it seemed a slow, gradual process and yet it took only moments. It was as though months and years spent with Kylah and her people were all compressed into a few thudding heartbeats. I had saved her town and all those around it, I had played with her in the snow and ran with her in the fields. I had given up my wings and become a man, I was a dragon no more.

A dragon no more.

And in the dream, when other dragons came to attack the village, to take revenge for all the dragon blood humanity had spilled, I flew not with the dragons but stood with the men. Fought not for my kind, but for hers. I had become a man through and through, I stood side by side with them and I fought against dragons just as they did. And as the dragons fell from the skies, and as the village burned to the ground all around us, I wondered to myself if I was slowly becoming that which I hated most. It was only a passing thought in the dream, but it haunted me when I awoke.

I must have more dreams then that, but it was the only one that stuck with me when I opened my eyes again in the morning. Kylah was already awake, eating a little leftover dried meat, and preparing her things for the journey. I pushed myself up to all fours, and with the image of myself twisting into a man still vivid in my mind, I looked over my body to make sure I was in fact still a dragon. I inspected and flexed each paw front and back, flared my wings and looked at them, even admired the multitude of fresh scars along the side of my body to make sure they hadn’t mysteriously healed, or changed from pink, puffy flesh to tanned, annoying hair ridded human skin. I lashed my tail a little, even peeked under my belly to ensure my mating tool was still properly hidden away within it’s natural sheath.

“Vraal, what on earth are you doing?”

Satisfied I was still as dragon as can be, I looked over at Kylah. “I dreamed I turned into a man.”

“As opposed to what, a woman?” Kylah chuckled to herself, she must have only caught the last part of my inspection. “It’s all still there, Vraal. Need to get you a pair of dragon pants or something.”

“Ugh,” I grunted at the idea. “But that’s not what I meant. When I say man, I meant, a human man. I dreamt I was turning into a human.”

“And…” Kylah arched a brow. “You thought you really had?”

I could tell she was trying not to laugh. After all it did sound awfully far fetched. It was just a dream of something that was never actually possible. “Just gave me the chills, is all.”

“Being a human’s not so bad,” Kylah said with a shrug, nibbling on the last of the dried venison she’d saved since, well, I had no idea when. “But I guess I’m used to it. If I was a dragon, I probably wouldn’t want to be a human either.”

“See?” I settled on my haunches. Unusually, I wasn’t feeling starved upon awakening. The dream had left my belly a little unsettled. “And as a human you probably don’t want to be a dragon.”

Kylah laughed to herself, shaking her head. She’d already brushed her hair and it sloshed back and forth across her face like rich brown syrup. “Not particularly. Though it would be nice to be able to fly whenever I wanted. Not so much the rest of it.”

I smiled a little, flicked an ear to the side of my head. She was trying to bait me, and usually I’d not only take the bait from her hand but take her whole arm as well. But the rest of the dream was still lingering in my head, and I wasn’t much in a mood to joke around. “I was fighting them,” I murmured.

“Fighting who?” Kylah asked, rising up to her feet and dusting off her brown leather breeches. She’d already been bathed and dressed, and along with the breeches she wore a long sleeved tunic probably sewn for a man, dyed the dark green of mountain pine. She wore green a lot, she must have liked it. I liked it too, it matched the sparkling emerald beauty of her eyes. After watching her a moment, I gazed down at my paws, and unsheathed my claws from the gray tips of each toe. I tapped a few claws against the stone floor before answering.

“Dragons. I dreamt I saved your village and all those liked it, and I played in the snow with you and we ran around in the meadows, and I turned into a human. Then the dragons came to get revenge on humanity, and I fought them along side you and all the other humans. And…” I wasn’t sure how the dream had ended, exactly, I’d woken up before It reached it’s conclusion. But the writing had been on the wall, as I’d heard them say in Kylah’s village. “I think we all killed each other.”

“It was just a dream, Vraal,” Kylah said softly, coming over to rub my nose with a hand. The gesture made me smile a little, and when she wrapped an arm behind my horns to hug my head against her body, it made me smile a lot. “Just a dream.”

“I know,” I murmured against her chest, closing my eyes. For just a moment I allowed myself to savor her touch, her closeness, her comfort and her concern. Like a hatchling cradled in his mothers arms, I clung to her and those feelings even if it was only my head she held in her arms. It made me feel a little better anyway. “I don’t want to be a human, and I don’t want to kill any other dragons.”

“Lucky for you, I don’t think either of those things are going to happen,” she said, and laughed a little. She rubbed my ear, and then realizing she’d sort of suggested I was the only dragon left, she amended herself. “That is, even if you do have to fight other dragons, I’m sure you can beat them without killing them.”

I rumbled a little laugh, and did not yet open my eyes. I lay my head against her chest for as long as I could, savoring her warmth and her touch. For a little while she just ran her hand against the scales of my jaw, and now and then let it roam down my neck. I had almost forgotten how quiet my home could be when no one was talking. I could hear Kylah’s heart beating in her chest, and faintly feel the gentle thud against the scales of my cheek. Beyond that there was only her breathing, and mine, and the irregular dripping of water here and there.

When I had taken up enough of her time, I pulled away. But not before gently licking her cheek in silent thanks. She tried to act as though she was disgusted, making a face and wiping her cheek with her hand, then rubbing it off on my scaled shoulder. But I could the hint of a smile that flickered over her lips when I’d licked her, and I saw the light in her eyes. As usual, neither of us said anything about the feelings which we may never actually acknowledge, we both knew it would probably be best that way.

I ate a light breakfast from my pantry. It was light be the standards of a dragon, anyway, I only ate a single haunch from one of the old deer hanging in the cavern, rather then nearly the entire carcass. I wasn’t really all that hungry which was very rare for me, but I knew I was going to fly hard the next two days to get back to Kylah’s village, and I needed energy for the trip.

By the time I’d said goodbye to my home once more, and we were in the air, I was feeling better again. Flight always helped me clear my head it seemed. The sky had clouded up again, but the winds were still light and breezy unlike the first time we’d left my home for Kylah’s. A few flurries flickered around us as we flew, but this time the clouds were gracious enough to hold off on the majority of the snowfall until well after we’d passed them by.

By the time we landed to rest of the night we were out ahead of the storm again. From it’s direction and the way the winds were blowing, it appeared this storm might reach Kylah’s home. I didn’t think it would be quite cold enough there for snow yet, but it would probably definitely rain on her town. That was alright, I wasn’t going to alter my plans for any rain. If anything, rain and gloom would make it easier for us to slip from town to town when the time came.

When we did land for the night, God was I ever ready to put that damn bag down. Though I wouldn’t admit it to her just yet, Kylah had been right. We should have developed a series of bags to drape across me and divide up the weight, because hauling everything in one big bag was killing my front legs. Not only after we’d left my home both front legs were aching, and soon my shoulders were burning as well. And my paws kept cramping up from holding tightly onto the scrunched up opening. Finally I hefted the whole thing up against my scaled chest and clutched it in my fore legs against myself like I was holding a trembling hatchling, terrified by his first flight. It helped a little bit, but my body still hurt like hell when I finally got to set the back down.

I walked around a little, shaking out each front leg, and trying to ignore Kylah’s jibes. She knew the bag was too heavy for me, and I knew the bag was too heavy for me, but that didn’t stop me from telling her my legs were just cramping up thanks to an old injury I’d sustained fighting humans years ago. She told me I’d probably sustained it dragging around a bag filled with ill gotten gains, and she was right. Didn’t stop me from scrapping up a wad of moss and earth from the base of a tree and tossing it at her as soon as she turned her back.

Kylah built a fire while I went hunting, and before long I was filled with fresh elk and Kylah was eating roasted elk from a spit she’d fashioned from a stick. Somehow she’d managed to cook the meat without catching the stick on fire too many times, and she was roasting more on a few flat rocks she’d placed around the fire so that she’d have some to eat for breakfast as well.

We slept around the fire, and I was rudely awoken by a few fat, cold rain drops that landed directly on my snout. I shook my head, hissing in discomfort. It might not yet be snow this low in elevation, but we were not far from the snowline, and the rain only felt a degree or two above freezing. I glanced up at the sky, and saw the clouds had once more overtaken us at night. It was only sprinkling now, but looking back the way we’d come I saw thicker curtains of gray hanging from beneath the churning cottony masses, slowly drifting in our direction.

I quickly woke Kylah, and we packed up and left as fast as we could. It didn’t particularly mind flying in the rain if I had too, but flying in a rain that might well have been snow just a little higher up into the clouds wasn’t a very appealing idea. Already there was a very cold breeze beneath my wings, enough to make me shiver as I rose into the sky. Kylah bundled herself up in her woolen cloak, and I flew as low as I could, just skimming the tree tops here and there, leaving them dancing back and forth in my wake as the wind swirling beneath my wings buffeted them about.

We did end up flying through the rain, but thankfully we were able to stay ahead of the worst of it. I ended up with a thin coat of cold moisture across my scales and my wings, and the bag I was carrying my belongings in got even more hellishly heavy as the water soaked into it. But I flew as swiftly as I could given all the extra weight I was carrying and the fact that days of extended flight had my arrow wounds throbbing all over again. Eventually I was able to push out ahead of the clouds and rains, and once in the late afternoon sunlight I warmed up nicely.

We made it back to Kylah’s town just before dusk, with the last rays of the sun painting her entire village in broad strokes of fiery orange. I circled her village a few times, and out ahead of them near sunset, the coming rain storms were strikingly beautiful. For now, anyway, the clouds were not particularly ominous. They were not towering thunderheads or spectacular storms, they were just bubbling rain clouds that stretched nearly from horizon to horizon. But the sunlight that hit them as the sun sank painted them all in brilliant tones of pink, red, orange, and the sheets of rain falling beneath then shone a strange sort of purple, with scintillating rainbows stretching out when viewed from just the right angle.

As I circled the village, I was pleased to see a large group of people dressed in a variety of armors from boiled leather and leather with metal studs, to iron breast plates and shirts of chain link mail. Not only where they dressed the part, but they were all gathered in the central plaza, drilling and training for the impending fight. Some of them were sparring one on one, others in groups, another group all practicing the same movements with sword and shield. Another set of men and woman were taking turns firing bows towards straw filled targets, vaguely shaped like men and wearing tunics with the red and gold triangle and sword emblem of our enemies. A few other men were walking around, barking out orders and watching the training. I could even pick out Ravek’s bald head from way up in the sky. It helped that the sunlight shone off it like a beacon in the night.

As I spiraled lower over the villages, I saw people pointing me out and waving. I would have waved back but I’d have dropped my belongings and probably crushed someone’s skull with that old stone head. But I did give a little roar now and then, and I even flew low over the whole village one time as if to announce my return. When I finally touched down in the pasture next to my temporary home, a whole group of people had come to welcome Kylah and I back. I didn’t really want to talk to anyone right now, I was tired as hell and I just wanted to eat, and then sleep. I’d put my things away in the morning, I was so tired of hauling them around I didn’t even want to look at them right now.

However, as many of the people who’d come to welcome me back came baring food and treats, I decided I could be social with them for at least a little while. After Kylah and I put everything we’d brought into my little stable, I joined the group of welcome wishers on the road out beyond the pasture. Though it was starting to get dark, with street lamps soon lit there was enough yellowy orange light too keep the affair from becoming too gloomy.

I settled down on the street, and soon found myself surrounded by humans. Even though I’d been gone for a few days, I seemed to have retained my growing tolerance for their species. It helped of course that must of them came bearing food or treats. And since I’d gone most of the day without a serious meal I was very happy to accept them! I ate roasted goose, baked fish stuffed with herbs and garlic, some sort of delightfully sweet pasty and all sorts of other things I couldn’t name. I warned them that if they kept feeding me like this I was going to end up too fat to fight for their city, but I certainly didn’t stop eating what they’d brought for me until I was painfully stretched inside.

Eventually, I waddled back to my home here in the city, and curled up atop my pile of blankets. Tired and full as I was, I couldn’t be bothered to retrieve the furs from the bag I’d brought them in, and just slept among the many blankets and cushions already provided. I think Kylah slept in there with me again, but I was so quickly asleep and I slept so deeply through the night I couldn’t be sure.

I was alone when I awoke, so if she had spent the night next to me she’d already gotten up. I suspected breakfast would be on it’s way soon, bright morning sunlight was already streaming into my home through the spaces between the furs that hung over the entryway. I could see little motes of dust flitting and passing through the yellowy beams, and even a few small insects. Hopefully not the sort that liked to feast upon dragon’s blood and pass onto him their many diseases.

Trying to put that thought out of my head, I rose up to all four paws and stretched myself out. My spine popped and made my grunt. I went out to empty my bladder, and when I came back I tossed all the hanging furs up over the roof to light some light into my home. Then I busied myself taking all the things I’d brought out of my bag and setting them up around my home.

I wasn’t really sure where to put everything, though. I thought the stone head would be easy. First I set it up in the corner, so that it could watch me the way it did back home. After all, I wanted it to be proud of me now! But from it’s initial vantage, all it could see was an old dragon curled up on some blankets in a horse stable. I may as well have been a prisoner of the humans from the way that made me look. So I moved it closer to me, to a corner where it would look across my pile of blankets, and out to the city beyond. That way it could see me interacting with the humans when they came to visit, and it would see that I had actually made friends here! Not that there was much city to see right away, first the pasture, then the road, then more grass, and finally the backs of some buildings. But it was the best I could do without exposing the stone head to all the elements. It had been weathered badly enough when I’d found it, the least I could do was keep it safe now.

God’s claw, I really was taking this too far. I laughed at my own folly, patted the stone head’s muzzle and grinned. “If you’re going to keep judging me, you can at least acknowledge I’m doing something good here.” I snapped my jaws, and after a moment, smiled at the statue. “That’s better.”

Yes, definitely too far.

I was glad to see that the painting of my family had made the journey intact, frame and all. I set that up near my bed of furs as well. I leaned it up against the wall so that anyone entering would see it and so that I could easily see it from my place of slumber. It was just far enough away from me and from the entrance that it wouldn’t be in the way and wasn’t likely to be damaged.

The light stone I put near the center of the stable so that it would cast pale blue light across the entire interior of the building. The coins were strewn about the floor so that everywhere I looked there was something of mine glinting. Half the stable was empty but putting a few coins to shine in the light stone’s glimmer made it feel as though I lived in the place and wandered about it the way I did at home. I did the same with a few more random trinkets, I placed a little figure of naked human woman stretching her arms above her head carved from crystal in the farthest corner, along with another figurine of a very detailed and menacing looking dragon carved from black stone, setting them up so that they both shone just slightly in the light, and it looked as though the dragon was threatening the woman. Kylah should get a laugh out of that, I thought, and hopefully the rest of the town wouldn’t get the wrong idea.

As if to counter that image with one of our softer side, I took the two little wooden dragon toys I’d carved myself for my children, and set them up near the entryway. Close enough to be noticed but far enough away so that they wouldn’t be trampled and broken. I held them each in my paws for a few moments, turning them over, running my fingers across the wood I’d so carefully smoothed down to insure my young never got splinters in their paw pads. I wondered briefly if my children had missed those toys growing up away from me. Probably not. By the time my son had started to fly he’d nearly outgrown such children toys, and my daughter had not been far behind him. I sighed to myself and set them up so that it looked just like two young dragons playing and chasing each other around in a circle.

My vats of paints I set up on either side of the painting of my family, as if to say “yes, a dragon painted this.” Later I’d have Kylah bring me some of the same sticky resin they had used to affix bandages to my body, and I’d use it to stick the painting to the wall of the stable, along with the smaller cloth painting I’d worn under my helmet. I took the helmet and set it next to the stone head. I didn’t want to put it atop the statue because I wanted visits to see the white marble, to see what beautiful things we’d once crafted.

I had no shelves to store my books upon, so I just carefully lined them all up next to each other against the back wall of the stable. I hadn’t brought many of them, and I’d carefully selected books I was sure would make the journey without falling apart. Still I had a book all about dragons and our anatomy, I thought some of the humans might find that interesting. I also had a book of our history as a people, a book of fictional tales told amongst our kind including the legend of the Earth Dragon, and the book that featured spectacular images of the soaring cities and elegant palaces we’d once carved from the mountains themselves. I put them alongside the smaller book I’d brought earlier, where I showed Kylah the pictures to use as a reference when she painted me before the battle.

With everything set up, and Kylah still not bringing me breakfast, I busied myself picking up all the old pine boughs that had first been placed in my stable. By now they were dried out and not smelling so fresh, so I ferried them all out and dumped them in the pasture. Then I went to the line of trees along the banks of the river to fetch myself a new layer of boughs for the floor. Only when I reared back on my hind legs and stretched my front legs up the trunk of the tree did I realize just how sore and stiff my legs and shoulders were. Dull, tight pain ached up and down my front legs and all the way into my back. They’d been stiff all morning but only truly began to complain to me when I stretched them out. I’d clearly brought far too much junk.

Gritting my teeth I snapped off a few larger limbs from the tree and dropped them to the ground. I dragged all the limbs back to the stable, and just as I was starting to strip off the smaller boughs from them, Kylah finally made her appearance.

“Look at this naughty dragon tearing down our village’s poor trees! Quick, someone get a knight to come and save us!”

I didn’t even bother to look back at Kylah if she was going to tease me like that. I just snorted and kept stripping off the boughs. “Go get mounted by a horse.”

Kylah laughed as she walked up alongside me, running her fingers across the scales of my body just beneath my folded wing. “You’re unusually descriptive with your insults today.”

“And you’re unusually teasing with your morning greeting, and my front legs are unusually sore.”

“Ah, so that’s why you’re even grumpier then usual.” She rubbed one of my frilled ears, and set a basket that simply oozed delightful aromas down in front of my muzzle. “Let me do that Vraal, while you eat breakfast.”

That sounded like a good deal to me! “Have you already eaten?” I asked, sitting back on my haunches and carefully opening the basket. It was filled with several wooden containers heaped with food from the café that was quickly becoming my favorite source of food in all the world. Before Kylah had even responded I’d already filled my muzzle with hot venison sausages.

“Yes, I had breakfast with Ravek and the other leaders you so thoughtfully appointed.”

I smirked, licking juice from my muzzle before filling it once more, this time with some kind of bread that seemed to have late season berries baked right into it. “And?”

Kylah set herself to stripping the boughs from the thick limbs I’d brought down. “And, everything seems to be ahead of schedule! Ravek says between all the black smiths working day and night, all the weapons and armor they took from the soldiers, and all the leftover weapons and armor they’d taken from us when they first conquered the town, almost everyone has equipment. It’s not all the best equipment, but it should suit our purposes.”

“Excellent,” I said, genuinely happy and impressed they were working so quickly.

Kylah wiped her hands on her breeches, greasy, sticky pine sap leaving little smears along the black leather. “Did you have to defoliate half the tree, Vraal?”

“It has plenty more limbs,” I muttered, plucking some sort of flaky pastry filled with meat from the basket. I popped it into my snout, purring in delight as the thick gravy oozed out across my tongue. I had to admit, humans certainly knew how to make things taste delicious. “What about other preparations?”

“The drill master seems to think things are moving along very well,” Kylah said, stripping boughs from the last limb now. “As you know, many of the people in town had already trained to fight, and if they hadn’t trained to fight, they’d trained to hunt. So we have a good assortment of men to work as soldiers, and men to serve as archers. We won’t have much of a mounted Calvary, we used to have a decent amount of horses in the city, but they bastards took most of them with them when half their force left.”

“With any luck, after we’ve been to the three towns we think are still relatively free, you won’t need them. We’ll have enough men to take back the last town, and after that, we should have enough to repel any counterattack, and take the fight to them. Especially if we act swiftly enough to keep them reeling and catch them off guard.” I waved a paw, which meant I was gesturing with a handful of roasted mutton. “Much like this town, the longer they have to prepare for any attack, the harder it will be. Speaking of which, how are our defense plans coming along? That is…do we have any defense plans yet?”

Kylah pulled the last pine bough away and added it to the pile we’d made. She grabbed the end of one of the large limbs, and began to drag it over to the side of the stable, then came back for another. “Those plans are shaping up as well. They already deployed some scouts and sentries while you and I were away to make sure we don’t get caught by surprise. We’re using the watchtowers they built, fortifying our gates and walls. Drawing up choke-points to use against any invading force, ambush points, storing supplies in case of a siege, and so on. They’re going to build some smaller watchtowers beyond the city too, at areas of high ground that overlook all the approach routes to our city. They’re going paint that damn red and gold triangle on them too, so if any of our enemies see them, they think it’s their own people putting them up.”

“Smart,” I murmured through a mouthful of salted fish. “That will take time, though.”

“Yeah, they won’t be done before we start moving, but they’re going as fast as they can Vraal.”

“Good.” I licked my muzzle a few times, then wiped it with the back of my paw, having emptied the basket. “I certainly don’t expect everything to be finished and perfect before we move on the other towns. We don’t have time to wait for that. Soon as they find out what’s going on, they’ll come to take this town back. We need to have freed the others and strengthened our army before then.”

Kylah gathered up an armful of pine boughs and walked into the stable to start distributing them across the floor. “They’d all love it if you went and watched as they work through their drills. Heard their defense plans, told them your plans for the next cities again. They’ve got ideas and suggestions they want to run by you.”

I pushed myself back to all fours, grumbling under my breath. I twisted my ears down to the sides of my head in annoyance. “Of course they do. From what I can tell, you’re the only human in the entire village that seems to be able to work autonomously.”

Kylah came back out for more boughs. “That’s an awfully big word for a dragon who didn’t grow up speaking my language!”

“Actually, I did. My parents taught me quite a few languages and made sure I knew them all fluently.”

“A shame they didn’t teach you manners, as well,” Kylah said through a smile, rubbing my nose. “And the people here work autonomously just fine. But they’re starting to see you as a leader, of a sort, and they like to know what you think of things.”

“Balls of the earth dragon,” I muttered. “How did that happen?”

“Probably has something to do with saving their town and making a rousing speech to convince them all they have to fight for their freedom.”

“I was trying to convince them to take matters into their own hands! Not to follow everything I say.”

“Just help them along while they’re getting on their feet, alright Lovely Dragon?”

I rolled my pale blue eyes, and snorted right into her face, blowing her dark brown hair around. “Very well. Now, put the rest of those pine boughs into my home so it smells nice and fresh when I come back tonight.”

“Yes, Master,” Kylah said, her voice bubbling with even more sarcasm then usual. She gathered up the last of the boughs, walked into my home, and dropped them all atop my bed of furs and blankets. “Happy?”

“Hey!” I growled, walking in after her to start redistributing them. “I’m gonna get pine needles in my privates!”

“Serves you right for being so old and grumpy,” Kylah said, smirking. “And bossing around poor defenseless girls.”

I shook out one of the blankets, then swept the boughs and needles aside with my tail. “I can’t help being old, I’m only slightly grumpy today, and you are the least defenseless girl I have ever met. Speaking of which, how’s your shoulder?”

When my bed was cleared, I walked back outside into the warm sunshine, and spread my wings a little to absorb some of the heat. I might not be cold blooded like many humans thought I was, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the warmth of the sun against my scales and wing membranes after a nice meal. I looked back over myself to watch Kylah work the shoulder in question a little, wincing slightly.

“Still healing, and sore as hell. Getting better, though. Not everyone heals as fast as dragons do.”

“Don’t over do it, then. I don’t want you swinging around two swords at once any more until your shoulder is perfectly healed, and only if it heals up properly.”

Kylah just smirked at me. We both knew she going to take that advice about as well as I took her advice not to fly until my injured wing had healed completely. But if she ruined her shoulder at least I’d absolved myself of some guilt by telling her what not to do. I chuckled a little, shook my head and scratched at the grass with a front paw.

“I like what you’ve done in here, Vraal.” Kylah was peering around at all the places I’d put my belongings. When she saw the human woman being menaced by the dragon in the corner, she couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re a dirty old lizard, you know that right?”

“Mhmm,” I growled playfully. “That’s going to be me chasing you around the next time you’re naked.”

Kylah walked back out of the stable and around to my head to wallop me on the nose hard enough to make me yelp. I held my nose in a paw and whimpered, and she just grinned at me. “You just try it, Dragon.”

“I will, now!” I growled again, baring my fangs.

“Big, mean dragon, menacing the helpless human. You do that around here and people will get the wrong idea. How many more arrow wounds you want anyway?”

“I’ll just have to do it in private then. Then I’ll have to devour you so you can’t tell anyone what an evil beast I really am.”

“Yeah, you’d better, cause I know exactly how evil you are.” She reached out and scratched under my chin. I tilted my head back, soon purring as her fingers worked the soft gray scales there. “Do you dragons ever think of anything besides food?”

“Not if we can help it. Once in a while we think about flight, and mating. But that’s about it.”

“So did you and Niara ever try flying, mating, and eating all at the same time?”

“No, but now I wish we would have! Probably would have been fatal, but what a wonderful way to go! Never even see the mountain coming right before we flew into it!”

Kylah laughed and wrapped her fingers around one of my ridged horns, giving it a tug. “Come on, dirty old lizard. You’ve got a town to talk.”

I sighed, pulling my head away from her grasp but following along at her side. “Haven’t I done enough talking to the town?”

“I know you’re curious to see how well they’re coming along. It was your idea anyway, you ought to see them drilling with weapons, and see how accurate our archers are getting. And they have invasion plans for each of the towns they want to go over with you. We don’t expect much resistance in the first three, but there’s always the chance they might have caught wind of what we’re up too. Or they might have recently taken over the towns completely without our knowledge. And of course there are supply convoys to think of, routes for our men to take through the forest if possible. You’ve got eyes in the sky, right? Those are going to be invaluable to the plans. And of course battle plans for our sister city.”

I sighed to myself, and licked my nose. That all sounded like a lot of work. What the hell had I gotten myself into, anyway? Not that I wasn’t glad to see the people were actually taking the initiative, more so then I’d realized they were doing at first. It sounded more and more like they were planning everything out on their own, preparing for their own battle and they simply wanted my advice on their ideas. That was good! The whole idea had been to get them to realize they had to fight for themselves. I would be there fighting alongside them, but I couldn’t do it all. I did not want to end up making myself into their leader, but I was happy to act as an advisor. Though for the moment, it seemed I was going to end up performing both roles for at least a little while longer.

A dragon’s work was never done.

Chapter Twenty Six

It was only a matter of days after I returned from my home before we moved on the first town. Kylah told me the name of the village was Croglin, which was a strange word for a dragon to say. Every time I tried to pronounce it, it made me feel as though I had some wriggling creature stuck in my throat that was trying to escape. The village itself was a few days walk from Kylah’s town, though we did not follow the main roadways that had long ago been cut through the forested hills. Rather we trekked through the forests themselves to keep our force of men as well hidden as possible. We did not know what sort of resistance we might encounter, and if it came to an attack on the town, we wanted to maintain the element of surprise.

We took about one third of the force we’d gathered in Kylah’s town, and left the rest behind to continue protecting the city. Once we had secured Croglin we would send for more if we were not able to add enough warriors to our ranks from among Croglin’s population. We did not expect any serious resistance from Croglin or the other two smaller towns, but it was impossible to say. Rumor held that only Kylah’s town and it’s sister city had been taken by force, and the three smaller towns had been less forcibly occupied. It would make sense, at least to a dragon, for the bandit army to conquer the largest and most dangerous towns first. Then the smaller towns would realize they certainly had no chance and simply surrender peaceably.

For at least Croglin, that rumor held true. Several days before we began our trek we sent scouts ahead to sneak into Croglin and determine the town’s status. They posed as traveling merchants and spent a couple of days shopping their wares about the town, gathering all the information they could. And when they left town again they knew where we’d be and had plenty of information for us.

Croglin was surrounded by rolling hills that were carpeted in thick forests. And though the air was turning colder and the lush, verdant green of summer was swiftly giving way to the fiery hues of autumn, the forests were not yet so bare as to be unable to hide an old black and gray dragon and a small army of humans. To be safe, we kept several hills between our people and Croglin so that any hidden sentries would not easily spot us. We made our camp in the small vale between two hills, where there was some flat land between them cut by a small but swiftly trickling stream.

Kylah, Ravek and I had taken the lead in this little operation. I’d already put the two of them in just about the highest positions of power I could without coming out and saying so, and much as I hated it, I found myself leading our little army through the forest. I hadn’t meant too, but all the assembled warriors looked to Kylah and Ravek to lead them, and I walked along at Kylah’s side, and before I knew it I was forging our way through the forest. I would have preferred to fly, but during the day I forced myself to keep my wings folded. Let the men see I was marching alongside them, and let them see I was not so foolish as to give away our positions by indulging in my own selfish enjoyment of flight. At night I flew reconnaissance, circling in the dark skies and scouring the ground for any sight of movement. And just as before I scouted out the town we were advancing on in the middle of the night, and came back to report my findings to Kylah and Ravek.

When the scouts met us at our camp sight, the news was good. Just as we’d heard, our enemies had not sent any sort of sizable force into Croglin. I suspected that the majority of their number had been split into three branches. One of which remained in Kylah’s town and had been wiped out or captured by us. The second remained in the other larger town, and the third was assigned to guard their own home fortress. That left just enough extra so-called soldiers for them to maintain a small presence in the three remaining villages. Those smaller groups relied on intimidation and the threat of an all out attack to keep the people oppressed and quiet. Rumors circulated among Croglin that Kylah’s village had been burned down for opposing these people, that half it’s residents had been marched off into slavery, and that every adult in the town had been conscripted into this new army. None of which were true, obviously, but it was enough to keep the people bowing to the soldier’s whims. Though that last one was half true, most of the adults had joined a new army, just not the one the people feared.

Thanks to our scouts, we knew they had only two dozen or so soldiers occupying the town, and that most of them slept in the same barracks at night. Just like in Kylah’s village, they had commandeered the village’s inn, in this case, it’s only inn, and used it for their own purposes. At night a few other sentries walked patrol, but only simple and easily predicated routes. They were not expecting trouble to come to this little village, and as best the scouts could tell, had not yet hard that Kylah’s people had already cast their brethren off their backs and onto the ground.

In the darkness of the hours just before dawn, we slunk through the forest and made our way towards the town. The town itself was spread out across a few hills, and down into the valleys between them. It was a very picturesque little village, sprawling amidst the woods with houses and businesses built between the trees. The village itself had already built a sturdy wall around it’s outer edges to help keep bandits out in the days before they’d organized themselves into an army. There was only one road in and one road out, and only a single sleepy looking sentry posted at the wooden gate. They did not have any watch towers, and if they had hidden sentries posted in the hills around the village, by the time we’d made ourselves known to them we’d already have taken control of the town.

I’m not sure which surprised the sentry more, the large black and gray helmet-wearing suddenly gliding forward out of the forest in the dead of night, the bald man with the arrow nocked in his bow and pointed at the sentries throat, or the smirking green eyed woman with a finger pressed to her lips for silence. Or the fact that those two humans stood on either side of the dragon.

The sentry, wearing armor of paddled leather with little bronze studs in it, reached for his sword the moment he saw me, but as soon as he saw the arrowhead pointed at his throat he thought better of it. He slowly lifted his hands up above his head, fear shining like moonlight in his dark eyes. I could see the sweat beading on his ruddy brow beneath his short cropped brown hair, and I lowered my own head down until the pebbly scales of my muzzle were practically brushing his face.

“Make a single noise louder then a whisper, and my friend here shall silence you.” I waved a paw at the arrow, unwavering in Ravek’s steady grip. “It shall be an immediate and permanent silence, but not an immediate death. Understand?””

The human now looked more then ready to piss himself, his knees and hands trembling a little. I should have thought they’d put a more hardened man on sentry duty. Then again, even a hardened warrior was probably not often faced with an arrow at his throat and a dragon’s teeth in his face. He opened his mouth to reply, and either thought better of it or more likely, could not find his voice. So instead he slowly nodded.

“Good,” I said, careful to keep my own voice down to a threatening whisper. “I shall ask you some questions. The truth will ensure your survival, and but a single lie will ensure your death. Understand that as well?”

He nodded once more, the acrid stench of his fear getting stronger. My nostrils flared, and I scrunched up my muzzle a little. At least I hoped that was only fear I smelt on him. It wouldn’t be the first time a human had pissed himself in front of me, and it was starting to smell that way now. I ran through a few questions with him, and we soon determined there were no more sentries on the other side of this gate, none in the hills, and only four of them on patrol inside the town. With one more standing outside the far gate with no idea what was going on. This was really the last town the bandit army expected to have to defend, and as such their defenses were expectedly lackadaisical.

I waved him to the side, and Kylah grabbed his arm, dragged him off the pathway, and began to bind his arms behind his back. She put a cloth gag in his mouth to keep him silent as well, and then simply tied him to a nearby tree. As she made sure her knots were secure, I flared my wings out, and sharply flapped them once. The signal for the rest of our forces to prepare to invade the town.

It must have been quiet the sight for the single sentry we’d so far captured. Though Kylah had gagged him, she had not blind folded him, and he was able to see the dozens of men and woman all in armor and dark clothing, some with black grease or paint on their faces and on their blades sliding out of the forest like shadows come to life, born on the spirits of vengeance and liberation. All following a dragon as though he were a life long ally. They fanned out behind me, some of them throwing up ropes with metal hooks to start scaling the sides of the walls. While the first wave climbed the wall, I walked up to the wooden gate. I looked it over a moment, and decided against ramming myself through this one, helmet or not. Instead, I grabbed the top of the gate in my paws, shifted my weight to my hind legs a moment, and simply tore the gate from it’s hinges.

The loud, splinting cracks might have alerted the few sentries roaming the town, but by then dozens of our soldiers and archers were already pouring into the village. I tossed the gate itself aside, and entered the village along with the rest of our men. Though I wore my helmet, my warrior bracelets and my necklace, I hardly needed too this time. Thanks to the reports of our scouts and the look I’d already had at the town’s layout from the sky, we knew exactly where to go to neutralize any resistance before it got started.

Half of our group headed straight for the inn turned barracks. There were a few arrows exchanged with the two men standing guard out front when they first caught sight of our forces. Then the moment it became clear just how overwhelming our numbers were, they quickly surrendered. The doors were kicked in, the barracks flooded with our men, and everyone inside captured. Not exactly the most thrilling sort of victory, capturing men who were either still sleeping or groggy reaching for weapons at best, but to take the entire town without losing a single man was after all, the best possible outcome.

While one half of our little army was taking control of the barracks, I had already given orders for the rest of the men to secure the rest of the town. They were to hunt down and capture the patrolling guards and to secure the far gate and make sure none of them got away. To that end I’d sent a group of men around through the forest before we’d even entered the town, and as soon as they heard the commotion inside they were to neutralize the other sentry at the far gateway, and ensure that no one got through that passage.

The entire attack had taken less the an hour, and it was still completely dark outside by the time we’d seized control of the city. We hadn’t lost a single soldier, and only one man had been injured. He’d taken an arrow from a guard but it was only a minor wound, the arrow ended up in his shoulder, and his armor had taken much of the force from the blow. Likewise, one of their men took an arrow in his thigh, and though he might walk with a limp for the rest of his life, he’d survive. I felt surprisingly good about that, very little blood had been shed and no one on either side had been killed.

The people living nearest the scene of the minor skirmish were the first to come see what was going on. Lamps were being lit in houses, curtains and shutters peered through, though I didn’t think anyone beyond a few blocks from the inn would even know anything had occurred yet. Good. They would wake to Kylah and Ravek telling them they were free. For now, I slipped away into a wide, but shadowy alleyway. I did not wish for people just rousing to the sounds of yells and cheers to look out and see a dragon first thing, they would get entirely the wrong idea.

Though the people of Kylah’s town had come to trust me implicitly, or so I hoped, they had also seen me risk my own life and shed my own blood to help free their city. The people of Croglin had not seen any such thing, and it would take them a little time to come to accept the idea that not only might a dragon not be evil, but he might even want to help them.

To that end I made sure that Kylah and Ravek would be the ones greeting villagers and explaining what was going on. I hoped some of the villagers might even recognize the two of them. Familiar faces would make things easier on everyone. I spoke briefly to Kylah and Ravek in that alleyway, but as soon as lamplight was shining out onto the cobblestone of the main street, and people were cautiously creeping forward from their homes I sent the two of them off to start meeting with people. I did not want a panic, but I wanted everyone to know what was going on as soon as possible.

I hadn’t yet decided what to do with all our prisoners. Short of executing them, I would probably let Kylah and Ravek decide. We’d need somewhere to house them, and I damn sure wasn’t going to keep them in the inn. We’d give that back to the village as soon as possible. In fact to foster goodwill I had planned to pay Croglin to allow our people to rest in their inn while we stayed here and made our case.

For now, the men were being lead out one by one, all bound one way or another. Some with their hands tied with rope, others with leather bindings, and a few with shackles. I couldn’t recall bringing any shackles with us, so I suspect my men must have found some hidden away inside the inn, no doubt for any one the bandit army deemed to be a problem. Ugh, had I really just called them “my” men? I had to be careful or I was going to start taking this whole leadership thing far too seriously.

While most of our prisoners behaved themselves, a few of them struggled and spit and cursed and threatened us. The threats were of the usual half empty sort. Yes, yes, we knew who they were, and yes, we knew who they worked for! Why else would we have come here to depose them? Honestly, did they think we’d just arrived by accident, and decided to raid the local inn of whoever might be inside? I suppose it was possible they thought we were a separate bandit army, but we quickly set them straight.

Their local leader though, wouldn’t shut the hell up. Kept saying they’d burn the whole village down, and Kylah’s village too, just to make a point. I was considering revising our casualty report to include one enemy leader killed by a dragon, but Kylah eventually shut him up for me. With her knee. In his groin.

That made me cringe and smile at the same time.

By the time we had all the prisoners rounded up, dawn was beginning to break over the little forest village. It was not long before people began to rise for the morning, greeted not by the cold dawn of a fearful future, but by the warm light of hope renewed. Or so I liked to imagine. For a while, I kept myself hidden. Kylah, Ravek, and men they could trust spoke to all they could as they entered the streets. They spoke in groups and the spoke to individuals, and they did whatever they could to spread word of their rebellion, and to explain the town no longer had to fear the fate that had befallen others in the area.

For the most part, people seemed happy and excited by the news. A small portion of them was frightened; afraid that the bandit army would come crashing down on them in vengeance for capturing their men. We’d expected as much, and worked to convince everyone we could that we’d already thrown them out of Kylah’s village, and would soon do the same to every town here. At which point we would go after the army itself, and it’s leaders. Not everyone was easily convinced, but it had been the same way with Kylah’s people. I was confident that in time even people would fall in with our cause, and until then enough of them would join up with us to help swell our ranks from town to town.

As the town was small but spread out, it wasn’t that hard to keep myself hidden from the majority of eyes. The town had only one main street in which the majority of it’s businesses, shops and taverns were kept. And most of it’s population lived in the area just around that main street, so by wandering a few blocks away I was able to keep myself out of sight. I walked down a pathway surrounded by trees still struggling to cling to as much green foliage they could, though a faint yellow tint had recently taken hold of their dark green leaves. There were a few houses around, but most of them were behind the trees and I hoped that dawn’s deep shadows still lingering beneath the trees would help to cloak the dragon passing by their domiciles.

Most of the homes here were small and modest, with softly sloping roofs more often made of thatched reeds and grasses then anything else. Constructed of thick wood cut from the surrounding forests and wattle and clay laid over thin framework stretched between the heavier beams, or across thin metal latticework. Many of the homes were painted dark green, and with the brown earthen tones of the roof they looked like little upside trees and blended in well with the forest around them. I liked that, it was as if the humans of this little village did not want to make much of a mark upon the world around them. If only more of their kind shared that philosophy our two peoples might not have done so many terrible things to each other.

As I walked, I couldn’t help but admire just how quite and peaceful it was. Only a short time ago we’d been quickly and stealthily taking this town back and most of the inhabitants still had no idea! Now as sunlight was just beginning to filter through the trees, birdsong filled the air. A gentle breeze rustled the remaining leaves, gently caressed the myriad underbrush that crept up tree trunks and sprawled out beneath the larger trunks. It was a beautiful place to live, even for a dragon! If my plan ever actually succeeded and my kind was someday welcomed among humans in this part of the world, I might like to spend some time in this little village.

The pathway lead me down the side of one of the many hills in the forest. It was only a dirt path, and as it grew rather steep, it had been cut into steps and wooden beams laid into the earth to form stairs. The beams had clearly been there for ages, they were worn smooth and slightly concave in the middle where generations of human feet and boots had slowly worked their way down into the wood. Though I didn’t need to use them and my body was hardly built for descending human sized stairs, I walked them anyway. It intrigued me to find something made by and used by humans that despite being so simple was probably even older then I was!

At the bottom of the hill there was a little ravine with a pretty little stream trickling through it. It may well have been the same stream we’d camped near earlier, it looked about the same size. For now it looked no more then a foot deep, and only a few feet wide, gracefully snaking back and forth across the flat expanse between the two hills. Morning sunlight was just starting to stream through the branches that covered both hills, causing the water to sparkle a little where it rippled around a large smooth rock.

There was a little bridge across the creek as well, though I had no idea why humans felt the need to bridge it when even they could have hurdled the creek with a half hearted leap. Though I had to admit, it was a beautiful little bridge. I certainly couldn’t fit across it, it was barely wide enough for one human let alone a dragon. But it was covered by a gracefully arched top that kept the bridge sheltered from rain. The top of the bridge was painted a pretty pale blue that made it look as though someone had somehow bent the sky and perched it atop the little gold painted support columns that rose here and there from the bridge’s mahogany railing. These people certainly looked painting things in pretty colors, I had to give them that.

I walked down to the bottom of the ravine, and looked it over. I took a quick drink from the stream, the water was very cold and quite fresh, it left my whole body feeling so chilled I ended up shivering a little. Droplets fell away from my gray scaled chin as I lifted my head again, looking up and down the miniature valley. I wasn’t sure if they’d simply bridged it to avoid getting their boots muddy or if the stream actually flooded now and then. The trees jutting from the creek side did appear to have pale watermarks a few feet up their trunk, but nothing that looked destructive. I supposed humans just liked to build things.

I thought about jumping back and forth over the ravine to amuse myself, but I was pretty sure I could step across the creek without even jumping. Besides, the far side looked a bit muddy and I’d probably slip and fall in the mire if I jumped across it. Then I’d have to explain to Kylah why I was off playing in the mud while she was stuck talking people into joining our cause. Or at least convincing them not to try and kill the dragon roaming their village!

Instead of jumping, I decided to compare myself to the little bridge instead. I stretched my body out, and just as I suspected, I was able to place my front paws on the far side of the stream while keeping my hind feet on the side I’d been standing on. I had to stretch my body out a bit, and I probably looked as though I was in the middle of the biggest, most luxurious stretch a dragon could find himself in. I even stretched my tail out behind myself, my wings out to my side, and my neck out as far as it would go. As I looked over at the bridge, a very smug grin spread over my muzzle, and my frilled ears twisted just a little like a cat that was just so confident it could catch the mouse it was watching any time it wanted.

“I’m bigger then you, Bridge,” I purred to myself. For some reason being bigger then the human’s bridge amused my greatly. I spanned this creek even better then the bridge the humans built for the job! Granted, I wouldn’t want to hold this pose for long, and I certainly wouldn’t want humans walking back and forth across me all day long.

Just as I was about to extricate myself from the creek-spanning stretch before my paws slipped in the mud, a rock crashed sharply against my head! Thankfully I was still wearing my helmet, so while the rock didn’t hurt me when it struck me nearly directly between my eyes, it startled the fire out of me. Quite literally! The sudden impact and ear-splitting CLANG it made caused my whole body to jerk convulsively as I tried to leap into the air like a startled cat. And at the same time, I inadvertently made a sort of startled coughing yelp which much to my surprise produced a little eruption of roiling fire from my snout. It wasn’t often that happened without my consent! I felt the heat washing over the sensitive end of my snout as without a full breath and more powerful pressure on my fire bile gland, rather then spray the flame away from me it just sort of curled up over the end of my nose! I was lucky I didn’t burn myself.

I was not so lucky about the mud. As I’d have jumped up in the air, as soon as I landed again both front paws squelched down in the mud and slipped out from under me in opposite directions. My chest flopped right down against the muddy shoreline and splashed into the cold water. Immediately my black and gray scaled body began to act like a dam amidst the little stream, and water sloshed up against me, deepening and then running towards my head and my tail in it’s ceaseless effort to continue forward. Trying to catch my breath, I sucked in a mouthful of muddy water and immediately started coughing, my ears pinned back at the sides of my helmet. Whoever hit me with that rock was about to get eaten!

Up above, I heard a shrill and excited voice cry out. “I done it! I done it! I slayed the dragon! I’m a hero, wheeeee!”

Struggling to lift myself up to my paws, I managed to get my head up out of the muck, but not much else. I peered up the hillside, where more wooden steps along the dirt path lined the hill and eventually vanished over the top of it. Off to the side of the steps, standing amidst all the fallen leaves and underbrush that was slowly retreating for the winter stood a little girl. She was wearing a blue dress that was very similar in color to the roof of the bridge, blond hair waved in tangled curls in the breeze, and she held another rock in her hand.

So much for eating the rock thrower. She’d hardly make a snack, and I rather doubted I’d endear myself to the village by devouring their young. “It’s not nice to throw rocks at people,” I muttered, trying once more to push myself back to my feet.

“It talks!” The little girl gasped, apparently so surprised that she dropped her rock.

“I could say the same for you,” I said, growling. I managed to get back up to all fours, but now I had mud coating me nearly from my chin to my belly. I dripped off my chest in thick, sticky brown blobs, and when I lifted a front paw to shake it off, mud and filthy water flew in all directions, splattering my face as well. Worst of all, the top layer of mud seemed to have covered up some pretty atrocious scents. The older mud of the creek bottom smelt as though every fish in the creek had long since died and stuffed into a barrel to rot until it had putrefied, then poured back out and mixed with the sediments of the creek bed. “You made me fall in this disgusting mud, you little brat!”

“Hey, I’m not a brat! You’re a brat!”

“How can I possibly be a brat?” Ignoring, of course, the fact that Kylah called me that often. “I’m literally at least ten times as old as you.”

The girl stomped her foot against the ground. “Don’t call me a brat or I’ll slay you again you big mean lizard!”

I was about to do just that, but she bent down and picked up that rock again. My ears were still ringing from the last blow, and apparently the little girl was a pretty good shot. I didn’t want her bash my eye in with a stone or anything, so I just shook myself, relenting a little bit. “Alright, alright. I surrender, ok?”

“Cause I slayed you?”

“Yes, cause you’ve slain me. And it hurts to be slain, and dragons don’t like it. So please don’t do it again.”

“Peoples don’t like to be eated but dragons do that!” She held the rock up over her head. “Imma slay you! Imma hero!”

“Please, don’t!” I turned my head away to protect my eyes, half playing along with the girl, half serious! I didn’t exactly enjoy getting struck by stones after all. “I surrender, right? Aren’t you supposed to show mercy when someone surrenders?”

The girl hesitated, her hand wobbling as she held the stone over her head. “Even dragons?”

“Especially dragons!”

“Well….alright…” The little girl sounded unsure, but she slowly lowered the rock. She didn’t drop it, but at least she wasn’t threatening to hit me with it again right away. “But only if you promises not to eat peoples!”

“I promise, I promise! I’m taking my helmet off a moment, so please don’t hit me with rocks, it’ll hurt a lot more.” Which was true! When she seemed to agree, I pulled the helmet off my head, and examined it. She’d made only a small dent, not near as bad as the dent it had when I found it, or the one added by the arrow it deflected in my first battle.

While I was examining my helmet, running my paws over the dent, I heard the girl cry out to someone else. “Momma! Momma, come quick! I slayed a dragon and now Imma hero!”

“Sure you have, dear. And you’ve slain a dragon, not slayed.”

When I heard her mother’s voice, I very quickly put my helmet back on. If only I had time to run up the ravine the way I’d come before the mother reached the daughter. She’d think the child was just imagining things! At least for a little while.

“I slain him good!” The little girl hopped up and down, her blue dress fluttering around her ankles. “And then…and then he said mercy so I only slayed him once!”

“Oh, I see! Well, that was nice of you, dear. I’ve never heard of dragons asking for mercy, but if he did it was good of you to show it.”

I was trying to figure out how to turn around without slipping in the mud when the mother showed up. Just as I’d decided backing up would probably be the smartest option, the taller woman reached the edge of the ravine to take her daughter’s hand. She wore a darker, forest green dress, with long, well brushed blonde hair cascading over her shoulders. She smiled at the daughter, and when the daughter pointed down into the ravine, she glanced down at me.

And screamed like I’d never heard a human scream. The sound rattled inside my skull and I could have sworn it was going to crack my helmet in half! If I’d been wearing anything made of glass I’d have shattered shards of it embedded deep beneath my scales already. I put a paw up in front of my face and finally flopped back onto my haunches in the cold water so I could clap my paws over my ears, my tail twisting and coiling behind me. “Please! Stop screaming!”

The woman did, but only because she ran out of breath. She snatched her little girl up in her arms and turned away, sprinting back the direction she’d come from. “Dragon! Dragon!” She shrieked at the top of her lungs. “There’s a dragon in the village! Call the guards, get your weapons!”

That was exactly why I’d tried to remain hidden in the first place. But no, I had to show myself off to a bridge! What was I thinking, anyway? I know what I was thinking now. Get the hell out of there you foolish old lizard! You want more arrow scars? Run! And run I did! I got back up, water and mud dribbling down my scales and I turned away from the ravine. I galloped right back up the stairs, accidentally cracking one of them in half, and then I sprinted down the pathway back towards the center of town. Anyone peering out of their home must have gotten quite the sight, whatever was running past them certainly looked like a dragon, but probably a dragon made out of mud. I left muddy paw prints all the way back towards the center of town, angry shouts and calls to arms drifting up the path behind me.

“Kylah!” I yelled as I ran, hoping that by now she’d told most of the people that yes, there was a dragon here, and yes, he was on their side. “Kylah!”

Thankfully she heard my shouts and just as I was nearing the larger, two story building that was once more going to serve as an inn, Kylah stepped around the corner onto the smaller side street I was sprinting up. For the most part it had been just a dirt path, but for a few blocks beyond the main street it was still partially cobbled. It had probably once been intended to be a new business avenue, but that had never really materialized and now the remaining cobblestone was slowly giving way back to dirt. I skidded to a stop at soon as I saw Kylah, my claws scraping against dirt and stone. Thanks to the speed at which I’d be running and the suddenness with which I stopped, some of the mud that still clung to my scales ended up flying off me, and right onto Kylah.

“Vraal, what the hell!” Kylah shouted at me, trying to wipe a glob of mud off her face but succeeding in doing little more then smearing it. “Why are you so filthy? What the hell have you been doing? Why do you smell like dead fish and why do I hear people shouting behind you?”

“Probably because some little girl’s mother thinks I was trying to eat her child!”

Kylah balled up her fists, shaking one of them at my nose. “Now why would she think that?”

“Probably because someone I know wasn’t telling people I’m on their side fast enough!”

Smart idea, Vraal, try and shift the blame to Kylah. Not that it worked, as she suddenly yanked off my helmet and walloped me in the nose with it hard enough to make me yelp and sink back onto my haunches, my ears sagging and eyes watering. “You big scaly ass! I thought I told you to stay out of trouble.”

I had another acidic comeback in mind, but my nose stung badly enough already. She’d gotten my good enough to leave my whole muzzle throbbing for a few moments. I whimpered, and as the shouts behind me grew louder, I flared one of my wings and waved it in the direction I’d just come from. “If I may make a suggestion,” I said, my voice muffled through my muddy paws. “The next people you should tell about me are probably the ones charging up that pathway planning to slay me.”

Kylah glared at me a moment, her emerald eyes gleaming. After a moment, she relented, she knew I was right, they weren’t going to listen to me, but hopefully they’d listen to her. Just in time to be useful, Ravek came around the corner as well. As soon as he saw me covered in mud and holding my nose, he opened his mouth to say “What the hell happened to you, Vraal?” But before he could really form the question, Kylah grabbed him by the hand and yanked him down the path.

“C’mon, Ravek. Sir Stink-Lizard here has managed to piss off half the town. I’m gonna need back up for this one.”

While Ravek called and gestured for a few more men to come stand with him, and help them placate the villagers, I was left to ponder the very real and frightening possibility that I’d just earned myself a new nickname. Sir Stink Lizard? I think not! I decided to go and find myself a spot to wash up as quickly as I could. Preferably one that was far enough away to give Kylah time to cool down after she’d calmed the village so she didn’t break my helmet over my damn head next time.

*****

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