Chapter 2 - The Sixth Curse
#2 of One or Two Necessary Sacrifices
This chapter is a bit on the short side and no actual sex...sorry.
For those of you just in it for the whacking material, stay tuned for chapter 3. There will be some sticky business between Wuphym and Hynaalis in the second half.
If you want a little back story and some hints on what is happening, read on...
Anyone wondering about the ages: Dragons age at normal human speed for the first 10 to 12 years. One puberty kicks in, things start slowing down. And the older the dragon gets, the slower they age. Wuphym, for example is 33 but has only aged about 20. After dragons get past 120 years (aged about 50), they are considered Elders and, provided they keep really good care of themselves, can occasionally live to be over 200 (aged 70).
Chapter 2 - The Sixth Curse
Seventeen months earlier...
"Name: Wuphym Va-Lerris; Age: 33; Clan: Blue Valley North; General Assignment?"
"Yes, yes, that's me," grumbled Wuph, "can we just skip the formalities and go right to the sentencing? Just add it to my collection of 'Community Debt Hours.'"
The middle-aged, green dragon behind the desk peered at him through thick reading spectacles. Everything, from the way she sat to her drooping crests, said that if anything tried her patience more than her clerical duties it was Wuph's attitude.
"This is just a suggestion Wuphym, but if you respected formalities once in a while, you might stop upsetting the elders so much."
"And miss meeting all these new people?"
She stabbed a claw at a bench by the wall then continued sorting small bundles of parchment.
Wuph slouched against the wall, appearing bored with the whole ordeal. However, inside he was wondering what exactly he had done this time to get him in trouble with Lord Guuryus. Wuphym wasn't violent or a thief. He just had no respect for anyone who had what he considered to be artificial titles of power. This covered just about everyone currently in power so he was often in trouble for something. Normally Wuph's attitude only got him in trouble with local authorities in the Blue Valley townships. This time he must have really messed up to draw the attention of the Elder who oversaw all of the mountain clans.
A very large, very old door opened and out stepped a very large, very old dragon. Guuryus was High Elder and Mountain Lord, by far the most politically powerful dragon for at least a hundred miles in all directions. His scales might have once been striped gold and orange, the kind of flashy colors you would find in the clans of the West Ridge. Now in his 144th year of life, his colors had faded to dull yellows. He was wearing a simple gray robe and a deep frown.
"Wuphym, get in here now," he said simply before turning to the green female, "I'm locking the door, no interruptions, for any reason. I don't care if the the whole mountain catches fire, am I understood?"
Well, I'm dead. Wuph silently shuffled through the door and onto a landing leading up more stairs. Lord Guuryus closed and bolted the door behind them.
Without a word the marched up the stairs through a tunnel that was bare, save for a heavily worn carpet and a few dim light crystals on the wall. They arrived in an office which reminded the younger male more of an old library archive than an office. Wuph sat in a small, plain chair facing a very large, ornate desk. Guuryus sat in the much larger chair on the other side. Even though he showed the signs of age, the Mountain Lord was still a very large and imposing figure. He looked intently at Wuph for a full minute before picking up and shaking a bundle of parchments.
"You have quite a history pup. Everything from pranks, to insubordination of elders to... gratuitous public fornication! With a Junior Healer's Assistant, no less! Given behavior like this, I should have you put in a stockade!"
Here it comes, thought Wuph, what was the big problem? It was great for a casual encounter, and I didn't hear any complaints form the other nine patients and Healers in the room at the time.
"You should have some sense of duty! Of pride in your clan! Disgraceful and shameful."
Not going to happen. Just get out the whipping cane already, grandpa.
"And I pains me to no end that I am forced to place the future of the clans in your hands."
Wuph heard the words, they just didn't make any sense to him. All he could do was stare blankly. He couldn't possible have said what I heard him say, I must be hearing things.
Guuryus folded his hands and took a deep breath, "No point in delaying. No doubt you know of the old story of the sorcerer Guil Muntrus and the curses he placed on the clans of Gale Mountain?"
The younger dragon's brains slipped back into place. "Um, yeah. He tried to destroy the clans with a bunch of curses. Weakness of body, blindness, blood rage, living nightmares and the wall of storms. Horrible stuff, even other human wizards were supposedly appalled. Didn't do him much good though. In the end the curses were dispelled and he was defeated. Had his mind erased or something."
"A bit oversimplified but yes. Every pup born to the Mountain Clans for the last 700 years has been told that tale. Everyone knows it. But only a few know that it is also an incomplete account. There were not five curses, young Wuphym, there were six. And that sixth one is why you are here."
Things were getting more confusing by the second.
"Wait, why doesn't anyone know about the sixth curse?"
"Because it was never broken. Its the 'Embarrassment of the Mountain Clans," boy. A deep, powerful spell of old magic woven into the very flesh of the dragons, written in the blood of Guil Muntrus. We shattered his power and took his mind but in the end he, as they say, had the last laugh. His mind was erased before we realized the curse was upon us. We will probably never know how he did it or how to undo it."
He could feel his crest pulling tight against his head. For the first time in many, many years Wuph was afraid of what he was going to hear next. This was crazy, he felt like a pup being told a scary monster story. He didn't want to ask but he had to.
"What is it. What is the sixth curse?"
"A curse of childlessness, of sterility. He condemned us to extinction by making an entire generation of dragons born without the ability to breed."
"Wait, wait, hold on. That can't be true. We're still here and pups are being born all the time. That can't be what the curse was."
"IS, boy," the elder dragon snapped, "I said the curse isn't broken, but we found a way to work around it. Old magics are strong but very fickle. They are dictated by language. The very words used in the spell are charged with power which impose the caster's will upon the world. The written word becomes literally real. Because of how he worded the spell, we eventually found a way to make the curse work against itself. To weaken it."
Guuryus reached out of sight behind the desk and produced a wooden tablet. It was expertly crafted, perfectly square and without a single scratch. On one side surrounded by a border of intricate, golden runes was a short paragraph of carefully carved words which gave off an eerie, red glow. It was almost painful to look at. Wuph had to force his eyes to read the words.
By the life blood in my veins
Which shall ever be opposed to my known enemy
I lay a curse upon them such that
They will be the last of their kind
Wuph's crests trembled as he read. Somehow, he knew everything the Mountain Lord told him was true. Not only that, but he was actually looking at the curse. The actual, physical words that the sorcerer used to curse the clans. Guuryus stowed the tablet out of sight.
"Every one of us carries this curse, because nothing that has ever been attempted has left a single mark on the carving. When the our warriors destroyed Guil Muntrus's memories, the knowledge of how to undo the curse was lost. And so was the true bloodline of the Mountain Clans. Every dragon born after was barren, childless, and no magic, medicine or alchemy had any effect. At the time, perhaps fifty of the thousands who live in our mountain knew the truth."
Lord Guuryus's features became even more grave.
"In the end, we were saved completely by accident. One who knew of the curse, an impulsive, vengeful little deviant by the name of Tyyfaala Va-Wyuun, decided to personally see to the extinction of Guil Muntrus's bloodline. You see, after his mind was erased he took the name Hammil Goud. He also took a wife and had several children, the descendants of whom can be found to this day. If you know where to look. Tyyfaala tracked down one of the sorcerer's spawn, Miles Falt, to destroy him. Using seductive illusions and lies she lured him away to where she could torture and destroy him in private.
Her plan fell to pieces soon after. After the initial lust passed, Miles fell hopelessly in love with her. She became friends with Miles. And then more than that..."
Wuph's crests flattened against his skull and he squirmed in his seat, "Hold on, no, no no no, she didn't. I mean she could possibly, not with--"
"She did."
Wuph's stomach gave a nasty lurch. She coupled with a human? What in the Eleven Rings of the Damned Inferno was wrong with her? Why not go courting in the livestock pens, while she was at it?
"Afterwards she confessed her whole plan to him. Told him everything: the dragons, the sorcerer, the curse, everything. And for good measure she revealed her trueform and confessed her love for him, right then and there."
"And then he ran."
"He stayed. The Elders refused to record their life-union and even banned them from the mountain, at first..."
Wuph's head was spinning. Why? Why did this happen? Why did they do this? Why was he being told any of this?
"Sir, I don't think I can take much more of this. Why are you telling me this? None of this makes any sense. What does a couple of freaks humping each other hundreds of years ago have to do with the curse? And what does it all have to do with me? Why am I here?"
"Because of your ancestor, Wraagrus, the first Mountain Lord, was the first pup of seven to be born from the union of Tyyfaala and Miles."