A Study of Dragons

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. They had flourished for several millennium on this green and fertile area of the island nation Waekshere. Suddenly and mysteriously, over the last few decades, they slowly dwindled out. Or at least the sightings of them by any public accounts had. This made the continued study of this phenomenon a fertile ground for xenologists- but surprisingly only one of these researchers ever took up this challenge. That is why a local scholar and his hired band of dwarven mercenaries found themselves inside the entrance to an dusty aeolian calcarente limestone cave so late in the waning day.

Dravek was, by almost any examination, a very plain man who had some intriguing features. His intense grayish-blue eyes were sharp but hid by narrow squinty eyelids. A solid chin and tight facial grimace of concentration held the promise of interesting conversation, which usually never materialized. He never dressed in the common flaunting fashions of the university faculty of the day and instead appeared as a common laborer. His dry and graying hair peeked out of his frayed cotton hood as he bent over to inspect a fossilized red dragon's egg that was curiously melded into the rough hewn cave wall.

Although the egg was as tall as the top of a helm on a mountain dwarf, its hardened shell, partially cracked open to reveal the inorganic copies of the inner membrane, albumin, and chalaza, required an awkward movement by the tall human. He bent lower and peered down on the object with his magnifying glass. "Hey now," said a rough accent from nearby. "Are we gunna go deeper in this cave now, or what?"

Dravek started as if awakened from being mesmerized by the rock egg and turned to look at his companions. Jarrtok stood a few meters away in the fading light of the cave with his back to the twilight zone portion of the dark tunnel. The mountain dwarf's obvious irritation shown on his posture and continuous nervous twirling of his handlebar mustache with his free hand. Standing just under a meter and a half, the features of the strong man were almost like he was carved from the a single piece of corundum. If corundum was covered in solid plate steel armor and holding a large and nasty looking well-used battle axe. To make the nicked instrument of death even more intimidating, the weapon was adorned with several red ribbons holding goblin and orc skeletal parts, primarily teeth which tinkled softly when it moved. He strode closer to the human to make sure he was heard properly.

"The boys and I are waiting professor... ya thinking that this piece of stone rock was once truly a dragon egg?"

Dravek turned back to the fossil and nodded. "Yes. I am quite sure that this is a genuine fossil and not a concretion." said as he attempted to squeeze behind the petrified object.

"Now I know this ain't my place to say- but how could a dragon's egg be turned to stone rock so quickly? Dragons hadn't been left gone but a short time in dwarven years." The mountain dwarf scratched his scruffy bearded chin with dirty fingers. "Seems my people say critter creatures and people don't usually turn cold hard for two generations of a dwarf's life. Not a human's life mind you. That is not rightly long enough for a real egg to become stone rock."

Dravek put sensitive and nimble fingers to a indentation around the base of the fossil, then turned to look at his companion. "That is a common misconception! Permineralization can occur much more rapidly than what most think. Of course, depending on the local ecology, presence of microscopic organisms, and a complex mix of geochemical conditions."

He continued, "In some cases the calcifying, mineralization and petrification of organic material can be achieved through a process of instantaneous fossilization... within a short period of hours or days, according to some scrolls."

The warrior studied the human for a minute before his face slowly contorted into that of puzzlement. "Microsc... what types of critter creatures are those? Small, like smaller than fly fairies?"

The scholar quickly realized his mistake because the science of microorganisms was not widely known in this part of the world. Having only been discovered in the past decade through using advanced lense technologies and various magical transmutation & evocation methods. Very few humans, dwarves, and even elven tribes were aware of this emerging field of study. "Yes. Exactly like that."

The dwarf brightened as he rationalized this situation. "So, like small magical critter creatures that can't be seen?"

Dravek smiled kindly as he answered. "Of a sort!"

They were interrupted by Thoorp, Jarrtok's second-in-command, as he hurried over to them. From the same warren as the other dwarves. He was almost similar in appearance to the leader but seemed smaller and had less presence than his commander. Also, the dwarf wielded an impressive short halberd which bore less notches in it and fewer trophies, suggesting fewer battles.

"Sir, we have found a way low down and something else..." he seemed ruffled, if dwarves could be that.

"Well, out with it you sun-kissing rbaldensrawny!" Jarrtok spat as he used a familiar but only slightly friendly dwarven curse. "Ya waiting for us to guess your rhyme secret?"

"...It seems that, we found presence of pdurtbaages <spits>, sir." He glanced uneasily at the human. "Orcs. We found a former rest camp where orcs have been recently."

"Well professor, you seem to have brought us closer to a maul fight!" Jarrtok snarled with a grin on his hairy face.

The small group of seven warrior dwarves and the hooded human packed up the leather packs full of scientific equipment and war gear and continued to move down the cavern into darkness. The torches flickering from hidden currents flowing in the air. Nervous anticipation filled the scholar as he now realized that this exploration may be a little more complex than he anticipated. However the drive to learn more about this mysterious cave gave energy to his steps.

As they party traveled further into the unknown karst geology formed limestone cavern they saw various examples of stalactites, stalagmites, and speleothem. In addition, Dravek was excited to see evidence of the type of creatures dragons would engage in carnivory predation with in their natural ecosystem, particularly fire toads and large vampiric bats. Several small grottos off the main tunnel smelled terribly of guano. 'All was promising,' He thought hopefully to himself. Still, something seemed off in the stygian gloom around them. Almost like the eerie feeling of being watched.

Soon they passed under a weathered natural arch and came into a grand open antre which had ceilings too tall to be reached by torchlight. Evidence of ancient water damage abounded all around them in the form of cave pearls, corrasion, and swirlholes in the dirty floor. Several of the warriors tightened their grips on their steel weapons, which did not escape the attention of the professor. He hastily drew his small elven-made dagger, a gift from a close friend at the university, from its sheath with his right hand. The dwarves subtlety and wordlessly began to draw around the human in a protective battle formation.

Jorrtok motioned to Thoorp with his axe hand to move closer to a large pile of rocks that appeared out of the gloom several meters from the group. It rose from the cavern floor like a ominous cairn. As the lieutenant began his slow ascent towards the structure Dravek gasped out loud. Jorrtok looked fiercely back at his charge.

"Thoorp!" Dravek hissed in excitement. "Hold your torch up and head to your right along the bottom ridge of those rocks."

The warrior seemed briefly paralyzed by the words and then complied. The other dwarves nervously searched the darkness. Thoorp slowly held the torch up using his shield hand and alit the rock cairn. He looked back at the professor and to his commander and back again to the human. Curiosity drawn across his bearded face.

"Wut is the interest in these particular stone rocks professor?" he asked in a loud whisper.

The scholar held his dagger out like a pencil and pointed to the base of the structure. "That looks to be a dragon's scale!" He said in a much louder voice than he had planned.

The warrior dwarf turned slightly and bent slowly down holding the torch above his head. Even from a short distance away, the professor saw the narrowing of his eyes and parted lips as if in growing disbelief. Laying on the smaller gravel towards the curvature of a large rock at the base of the pile was a scale glinting brightly under the light of the flame. Almost lost amongst the dust. The scale appeared somewhat metallic in its form. But clearly had an organic wholeness that seems to permeate all living things. Like a leaf or a feather. It was a light rosy red and yet looked to be hard as stone. Brilliant, beautiful and a wonder to behold.

Throop felt like his fingers were slightly shaking as he gently and cautiously laid the halberd flat on the ground. He deliberately pulled his heavy leather gloves off gnarled knuckles. As he reached for the shiny scale, time slowed and his heartbeat pounded in his ears. Dragons had been rare, even before recent history. His ancestors had both befriended and battled the beasts for countless ages in the past. Their lack of presence in the world made everything less than before. Both dragons and dwarves considered themselves fursterthburne or some of the first creatures to pull themselves out of the primordial mud created by the God Wars. Here was perhaps the presence of the very history of all his people held dear, within reach.

Suddenly the veil of silence was broken. 'Clink' went a small pebble nearby as it fell from somewhere and bounced off the rock pile to land near the dwarf.

The next thing Dravek noticed was the creeping stench of evil. A smell of rotten flesh and dead things. It seemed to rise from the very floor of the cavern itself as if by mannequin strings. As he looked to Jorrtok, the dwarves all moved in unison as driven by force, instinct, and a shared mind. Weapons began to raise and they maneuvered on the balls of their feet. Startled by the hasty change in their tactics- the human found himself behind a shield wall of muscle and steel in mere seconds. Dark swirling shapes began to appear around them from the shadows.

The first orcs straightened up in front of the dwarves cutting off any retreat for Throop with a speed that was inhuman. Larger than a human at two and a half meters, powerfully built, and wearing numerous grotesque trophies on their savage bodies including what appeared to be dangling leather cords with ears, noses, phalanges, and metatarsals hanging from them. Some even appeared to still have dried bits of flesh still fiercely attached. The largest orc muscled through the crowd of the front dozen almost directly in line with Jorrtok.

In broken common tongue he spit out. "Smulpreck and humon why com now MaulKill's rest camp?"

He was humanoid in shape but animalistic in nature. Large canines that dripped saliva hung above a large and study mandible. Yellowish bloodshot eyes partially covered by heavy black eyebrows. His arms had varicose-looking veins surrounding impressive muscularity. Physicality was evident across his frame. A creature that was designed by nature to hunt man, elf, dwarf and other beings. He and his pack appeared to be a dark green color and covered in spots by dried mud. Most of their weapons were wooden, hardened by fire, although various man-made iron and steel items were present. None wore armor.

"Are yu seeking to being dindin?" He chuckled an evil throaty gurgle. A blacked blade of iron raised in is left hand and was aimed at the pack of dwarves.

Dravek stood up to his full height from behind the dwarves and said loudly. "Let us be orc! We are an expedition from Waekshere University. Many warriors support us above and it would be best if you let us go free so they don't descend upon you." He stopped to catch his breath. The orc leader turned slightly and leaned in glaring at him. "If you allow us to leave in peace I will guarantee you silver as a wergeld. Otherwise, this dwarf legion will be forced to slaughter you all."

"Would be our fun pleasure!" Muttered Jorrtok between clenched teeth.

"MaulKill is me tribe. Don't need silver or gold. Death and flesh is we wantin," said the leader a wide smile growing on his face. "You is dindin good..."

Almost as if the rest of the orcs had forgotten the lone mercenary behind them, there was a loud yell and then the tip of Throop's steel halberd appeared through the thigh muscle of an orc to the far right of Dravek and the dwarves. Captured by the torch light, blood splattered in front of the group, then came the combined cacophony of the howling from the hurt orc and the roar of dwarven lieutenant. Springing into action, Jorrtok and the other five warriors rolled almost as one to flank the orcs in front of the human.

"Go back to the entrance of the cave while we maul fight!" Snarled Jorrtok loudly to Dravek without even looking his way.

The scholar glanced around the flame lit battle area and realizing that he was not going to be much help to the well-armed dwarves by entering the melee with his robes and dagger, bolted back the way they had come. As he did not himself carry a torch he soon struggled against the rocky path heading back up the winding cavern. The stones bit and gouged him at almost every step. Bruised, bleeding and quickly becoming out-of-breath. Stopping briefly for a gasp of air, he turned to peer down into the flickering area of the fight. It was obvious that the formation and armor of the dwarves were initially proving themselves a match to the power, numbers and agility of the orc attacks. It wasn't so clear whether Throop had regained his place with the other mighty fighters.

On second glance, looking down upon the siege he was now becoming aware of how outnumbered the dwarf squad was becoming in this fight. Dozens and dozens of dark shadows were moving up to surround the dwarves as they marched slowly backwards trying to keep the savage creatures from advancing up the tunnel towards the human. Worse yet, the orcan spear strikes and crude swords were slowly cutting through armor and inflicting bleeding wounds to the brave warriors. Dravek drew in a deep breathe and stopped in his tracks. Racking his brain for possible solutions.

Assailed in his mind by the noise, the clash, and the fears that his brave mercenaries would die protecting him if he ran away. In a daze, he watched the dwarves step-by-step take damage and fall to a knee only to be propped up by their comrades. Dark blood dripping from multiple wounds. Never crying out. Occasionally sending a foe failing backwards with a strike. Then, above it all, the violence and clamor, a scent nearby brought him some small bit of clarity and a spark of hope. What was it?

The small troop of dwarves were getting closer to him but did not appear to be able to fully dissuade the fearsome frothing, aggressive, and increasingly furious group of orcs. Scanning for the smell, he searched rapidly. Drawn to his right side, Dravek noticed a deep depression that stood out even in the blackish gloom of the tunnel. The flickering light of the dwarven torches showed it to be true. He had made his decision. Now to put it into action. Slamming his dagger back into his sheath he sprinted back down the cave towards the struggling dwarf troop.

Jorrtok had just taken a powerful direct hit in the chest from the leader of the orcs. "Now I feast shortn beardy's soul!" Laughed the leader of the savage band.

Although the sword had pierced the dwarf-made plate and plunged several centimeters into his flesh and between the rib bones- the commander of the dwarves growled aggressively and painfully yanked back hard. The black iron sword covered in blood was wrenched from the orc's hand and clattered to the ground. Surprised, the orc had only a second's reprieve before the hardened battle axe swung by mighty dwarf landed on his head. As the orc fell inert to the ground with a groan, Jorrtok turned sharply in the direction of incoming huffing sounds to see the human, he was pledged to protect, running frantically towards him.

"Wut now you damn ingration, <groans> git to safety..." He spit out bile. Blood dripped from his deep wound onto the cave floor.

Coming up behind the leader now, he put his hand out to the dwarf's shoulder. Leaning in, Dravek whispered loudly into his ear, explaining that he should spread the plan to the other mercenaries. Both looked up in unison and dodged a badly thrown wooden spear. The dwarf slipped backwards in lockstep with the rest of the warriors and yelled at him over his shoulder. "This better damn work scholar!"

Jorrtok now barked orders to the dwarves in a loud ancient dwarven tongue. Dravek reached out and grabbed a torch from a dwarf guard who held the right flank. The warrior seemed relieved to be able to use his shield hand more readily and shoved a screaming orc backwards. A rock thrown from an enemy below grazed the human along his temple as he traversed back towards the deep indentation he had spotted earlier. The dwarves continued to alternate between shielding themselves from crude blows and pushing the enemy back with feints and shield slams. Several of the mercenaries were now appearing to be somewhat lethargic and blood flowed from multiple wounds. Even if his tactic worked, Dravek wondered if they would survive the cave. Dust and screams of rage filled the air.

He struggled forward. Ignoring the trickle of moisture he assumed was blood flowing from the wound down his head and across his cheek. Finally in place, Dravek shouted "Fire!" as loudly as he could muster.

Using his whole body, he launched the lit torch through the air towards the area he had sensed earlier. An area sick from the smell of thousands of years of bat guano. A particular stench that was made obvious because of its high concentration of nitrogen, phosphates, and potassium. Back many years ago in a biochemisty course at the university he had learned of the extremely flammable and combustible nature of these elements. The chemical ratios differed in various bat colonies, with sanguivores, particularly vampire bats, having higher levels of nitrogen than phosphorus- which could reduce is flammability. He was hoping that the bacteria that was also present in the waste products had produced large amounts of methane. Making it more likely to be a highly explosive mix.

Jarrtok using his peripheral vision, saw the torch tumbling through the air, yelled "Push and dive!" in ancient dwarven to his troop. To a man, they entire group exerted an enormous barrage of force to shove the frontline of orcs almost a meter back. Gathering themselves, the dwarves began lunging backwards in a clumsy and somewhat suicidal manner, landing in a large heap close to the spot of the human scholar. Most groaning in pain.

As the most agile of the orcs regained their composure they looked at their opponents scattered on the ground just a couple short meters ahead of them. Almost as a chorus, they snarled which turned to become a slow growing hideous pale of laughter. Raucous chuckling and lewd comments spilled out. This would be their easiest kill in a while. These dwarves are so very stupid. Fat, red, glistening meat would be in their fire pits and in stew pots before long! Stupid, stupid dwar...

A thunderous explosion roared out of the side tunnel created by the flames engulfing the noxious bat waste and sucking in all of the oxygen nearby. After it came the force of air particles flying at tremendous speeds out of its tight confinement of the grotto. This caused dust, gravel and even small rocks to travel at great speed towards the orc party. The shrapnel inflicting painful wounds. Next came the crashing of boulders, loosened by the force of the blast, falling from the ceiling. Finally, a cloud of dust and noxious vapors filled the main tunnel enveloping the hapless orcs.

A short time later, the wounded and struggling dwarven mercenaries and human neared the opening of the cavern. Dravek was helping Jarrtok carry a wounded dwarf. They assisted him over by the petrified dragon's egg to lay down. He sighed miserably. The scholar used his robes of his left arm to wipe the matted dust off his face. The entire party let out a collective groan.

There was silence for a few minutes. Then a sound of scrapping down the tunnel set the warriors and the scholar into a new state of apprehension. Those that could- rose from their places. Weapons were brought to bear but with considerably much less energy than before. Eyes stared into the dusty and dark gloom of the tunnel they had just escaped. Expecting the worst. Bravely preparing to die this day. Jorrtok strained to put his helmet back on.

Suddenly an imposing figure appeared.

Throop rose out of the dimness dragging his halberd on the ground. It appeared to have many more nicks than before. His appearance was ragged and burnt. A wooden spear broken in half appeared to be embedded somewhere behind and under his left clavicle. Wordlessly he slowly staggered over in front of Dravek. It was as he carrying the burden of the entire earth on his wide shoulders. Time seemed to slow. Falling to his knees he tilted his head up to the professor. A small tuff of smoke drifted up from his helm.

"I got ya something..." he muttered bravely in a gravelly voice.

In his outraised bare hands was a red dragon's scale. Covered in blood, sweat, and blackened by flames. He struggled to lift both arms up. Dravek reached out with shaking hands to grasp it. Here it was! The organic matter needed that might determine exactly what happen to the dragon population. Evidence of age, timing, and perhaps even the biochemical indicators for a mass extinction event. Everything. Right in his hands. Years of toil, research, studies, and field work. His life's purpose.

Dravek also went to his knees and looked at the warrior in his face. Moisture accumulating in his eyes. Emotion clouding his speech. "Thank you! This could mean so much, to so many. All the answers, just... everything."

**End of Chapter One**

Join Me for Chapter Two Very Soon!