A Valley Unfit For Dragons

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. In fact, there had never been even a single dragon in the Valley. Or anywhere near the Valley.

In the entire history of the Valley of Clarke, and the minuscule kingdom of Callaloo, dragons had never made an appearance. Now that didn’t mean the villagers of this out-of-the-way kingdom were unaware of the existence of dragons. Every now and again, a passing merchant or wanderer would stroll through the Kingdom and regale the children with stories of these ferocious and dangerous beasts. However, the fact remained that dragons, plural or singular, had been dramatically absent from the Valley as far back as anyone knew.

***

“There’s dragons in the valley,” Benji stuttered, finally believing now that he could see for himself.

Elise had brought him up to the wall for a second opinion. She had no idea what to do. It had been about thirty minutes since the dragons had landed, and her and her guards’ initial wonder had started to ebb against an incoming tide of fear. The dragons didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave, and they were lying very close to the road. It wasn’t a problem yet, but a caravan of supplies was due soon, and braving dragons was not something it would be prepared for.

“There have never been dragons in the Valley,” Benji continued in wonder.

“Benji,” Elise said, grabbing her superior’s shoulders. “I need you to focus. They’re practically on the road. What do we do?”

Benji’s mouth didn’t even attempt to offer an answer as he struggled to keep his eyes on Elise, and off the three reptilian intruders.

“I think they’re nesting,” one of the nearby guards called.

Two of the dragons, who until this point had been munching on some of the valley's plentiful deer, had begun to shoot jets of flame at the ground. The third, who was larger, but the same shade of deep green, was using his enormous spiked tail to fell trees around the area.

“Now they’re on the road,” Elise noted.

“They’re so big,” Benji breathed in amazement, “That big one’s got to be what, 6 horses in size? And that’s without the wings, or tail…I always thought the stories were made up, or exaggerated.”

Elise sighed. Benji was still experiencing the astonishment she and her guards had worked through in the past half hour. She decided to leave him alone until he did the same–in the meantime started brainstorming ways to deal with the situation.

“I always thought they’d be red,” Benji said somewhere in the periphery.

Alright, Elise thought, the road is no longer an option unless we can get the dragons to leave. I wonder if we could send someone along the edge of the Valley to warn the caravan and bring them along an alternate path. That would put some of ours in danger though…

“Not like a bright red, but like a deep crimson…”

How long do dragons nest for? Elise wondered suddenly, sidetracked by Benji’s rambling. Maybe we don’t need to take action and they'll go on their own. I’d hate to have to hurt them, they’re so beautiful…

“I’m not disappointed, it’s just, you know, not what I expected…but I guess green is nice too…”

Are there enough deer in the valley to sustain three dragons? Elise pondered further, How long will it be before they run out of food? Will they come eat us? What if we run out of food?

“Their nest is right on the road,” Benji said, finally starting to catch up. To his credit he had gotten through the wonder of the whole situation faster than Elise.

“Captain,” Benji said, turning to Elise, “This is going to cause problems for the caravan. What do you plan to do?”

“That’s why I called you here, General,” Elise answered, matching Benji’s formal address, but shying in front of her mentor, “I could use some guidance here, sir. I’m not sure what to do.”

The stern disposition that usually ruled Benji’s face returned, and he scratched at his ratty goatee. Elsie could tell by the way his slate grey eyes swept the valley, and sweat begun to bead at his balding temples that Benji was as lost as she was.

“We should probably find a way to get word to the caravan,” he said finally.

“I had the same thought,” Elise nodded, proud she had learned that much, “I’ll send someone to find a safe path along the side of the valley and lead the caravan back.”

“Two people,” Benji nodded, “In case they attract the dragons’ attention.”

“If they attract the dragon's attention, I don’t think two will be enough to fight it off?” Elise asked.

“No,” the General answered, “But if one is attacked, the other can use the distraction to escape, and the caravan will still be warned..”

“Harrow, Ivy,” Elise called out to two of the younger guards on the wall. Both came running up to her and the general. Harrow, tall, thin, and guant with short cropped dreadlocks, had an uncanny ability to move about in the shadows. And Ivy, short and muscular with heavy set eyes and close cropped hair, was fearless. Both were far too young, having just joined the guard in the last year. The first guards Elise had appointed herself.

“I need you two to find a safe path on the side of the valley to get past the dragons.” Elise ordered once they had saluted, “You are to find the supply caravan and lead them back through that path.”

“And if we attract the dragons’ attention?” Harrow asked.

“Prioritize the caravan’s safety.” Elise answered, leaving the interpretation of that up to them, “We’ll work on taking care of the Dragons.”

Without any more questions or comments, Harrow and Ivy saluted and left.

“Good choice,” Benji whispered once the two had left, “Using new recruits won’t leave us shorthanded if we need to mount an offensive.”

“I chose the two I thought had the highest chances of completing the mission,” Elise defended. She placed more value on the life of her charges than her mentor did.

“No, you didn’t,” Benji smiled, “But you made the right strategic choice either way.”

Mentor and pupil stared in silence for a time as the dragons continued to build their nest. The earth was glowing red from the heat of the flames the dragons had poured into the ground. The large dragon had dug a trench around the area to keep the flames from spreading. The two smaller dragons now lay at the centre of the fiery circle digging small holes.

“We can’t let them stay there,” Benji said after a while.

“And how do you propose we move them?” Elise asked.

Benji didn’t answer immediately. He walked down off the wall and over to one of the elite guards that had escorted him here stood. The elites were directly under his control, not Elise’s. The best of the best. Elise had been one until very recently.

The newly appointed Captain of the Guard watched as the two exchanged words and frowned as the elite guard mounted a horse and rode out of the castle. Benji walked back up onto the wall and together they watched the guard ride through the kilometre of farms and village outside the walls.

“Now, let’s see what we’re dealing with,” Benji said, eyes moving between where the guard rode, and the Dragons.

Elise knotted her jaw. Resorting to attacking the dragons so early seemed reckless and overly aggressive. While the Dragons’ chosen nesting location was an inconvenience, it was not causing the village any direct harm.

The guard dismounted not far from where the dragons had nested. He crept into a patch of forest nearby. Without seeing, both Elise and Benji knew he would attack from the high ground and watched for him to surface atop the most strategically sensible tree. In moments, he surfaced, and they watched him set up his longbow.

“This is too much of a risk in attacking,” Elise said finally, knowing Benji was unlikely to listen to an argument based on the Dragons real vs potential threat at this time.

“We need to know how impenetrable their scales actually are,” Benji dismissed, “Slaying them may yet be an option.”

Before Elise could question the necessity of slaying the dragons, the elite guard drew and fired his bow in one fluid motion. He was too far to see if the arrow hit its target, but Elise guessed Benji wouldn’t have sent someone who could possibly miss.

For a second nothing moved. And then the largest dragon raised to his feet with surprising quickness. He launched himself into the air, great emerald wings flaring. The Elite Guard was already down the tree and running back to his horse when Elise watched the Dragon dive towards him, jaws open. She closed her eyes.

“Damn,” she heard Benji swear, “Wait…what?”

Elise opened her eyes to see Benji more terrified than she had ever seen him, and then immediately realized why. The Dragon, who now had the guard dangling in his mouth, was careening towards the walls at breakneck pace.

“Draw arms!” Elise screamed to the guards on the wall, “We’re under attack.”

The guards scrambled into a frenzy. Arming themselves with bows and arrows. A couple immediately drew and shot as the Dragon came into range.

“He’s too fast,” Elise gasped.

The Dragon landed on the walls before more than half the guards had armed themselves. Two murderous claws grasped at the edge of the wall. Wings nearly the size of the walls themselves spread wide into the air. And then there was silence.

The Dragon dropped the still alive guard on the wall in front of Elise and Benji. It didn’t attack. It didn’t roar. No guard moved, either out of fear or confusion. The rasping of the dragon's breath from behind steel teeth was all Elise could hear.

Until it spoke.

“Who ordered this one to attack my brood mates?” the Dragon asked in a surprisingly calm baritone.

Silence answered him.

“Tell me who ordered the attack or I will spit flame all over this wall and burn all of you guards and such,” the Dragon threatened in a tone somewhere between mild annoyance and boredom.

“I did,” Benji called. Elise was shocked. Not that he would claim responsibility. For all Benji’s coldness and faults, he would never let anyone else suffer for his actions. But for Elise, whose mind was blank and body was frozen, that he was able to speak at a time like this was incredible.

“Why?” The dragon asked, moving a giant yellow eye closer to the General.

“You...” Benji faltered, maybe thrown off by the Dragon’s casual tone, “You are blocking the road, and we were worried–”

“You attempted to injure my brood mates because we are inconveniently placed to you?” the Dragon asked, incredulously. “Did you not consider asking us to move?”

Benji’s mouth was open but he went completely silent as he fought for something to say. Elise’s mouth and body finally started responding.

“You can talk,” she said before immediately adding, “We didn’t know you could.”

“You thought us to be dumb beasts?” the dragon asked, shifting the eye over to Elise.

The insult in his tone stole the Captain of the Guard’s voice from her again.

“Where would be a more convenient place for our nest?” the Dragon asked when no one answered his question.

Elise and Benji shared a quick look. Benji shrugged.

“There’s a thicket of woods and a lake in the Eastern corner of the valley,” Elise offered at last, “It’s far enough from the village and the road that you’ll be left alone.”

The dragon nodded. Or at least did something that looked incredibly like a nod. It’s tongue flicked in and out as it looked over to where Elise was speaking of.

“Then we shall move our nest there.” he said, “Please do not attack us again. Besides being incredibly rude, it’s dangerous. And if by some miracle you succeeded in damaging my brood mates, their eggs or our children I would be forced to set your whole village alight.”

“We’re very sorry.” Elise called, genuinely feeling shame for the attack, “Is there anything we can do…as an apology?”

Benji’s head turned sharply at the question. He too would feel guilty for the attack, but being indebted to a dragon was clearly not something he was ready for.

“You have good manners, even if they’re a bit late.” the Dragon noted. “And a good heart, I imagine. Will you learn to act according to it, or discard it in favour of being more like the others of your kind?"

Elise, caught off guard by the comment said nothing, which didn't seem to bother the dragon.

"If you truly mean to make amends, bring us some gold and wine." he continued, "Gold has a special place in a Dragon’s heart, and its malleability under heat makes it a formidable children’s toy.”

“And the wine?” Elise asked, when the dragon offered no more explanation.

“I like wine.” the Dragon said simply.

“Dragon,” Benji called, re-finding his voice, “You mentioned children. How many do you have, and how can we be sure they will honour peace with our village?”

The dragon looked over Benji for a long time before addressing the general in what struck Elise as a very pitying voice:

“I have no children yet, human. That is why we are nesting. Our clutch will be anywhere from three to seven eggs in size. As for your question, the only answer I can offer you is that dragons are confident in our strength without needing to prove it in senseless acts of violence.”

Without another word, the dragon rose off the wall with a swoop of its enormous wings.

“Wait,” Elise called before it flew away, “What can we call you?”

The dragon paused for a second, studying Elise.

“My name is Elise,” she called quickly, correcting her impolite request for a name without offering her own.

“Good manners again, Elise,” the dragon shouted back, “I am Glen.”

And without a further word he flew back to his smouldering nest. No one on the wall said a word as the other two dragons received the larger one. The wall remained silent as everyone watched all three dragons relocate, and began the nesting process all over.

Benji, shaking his head and chuckling, left the wall without a word to Elise and she understood completely. What they had just experienced was impossible. Elise stayed on the wall, and with her guard, watched the dragons for the rest of her shift. Tomorrow, she decided, she would find some gold and wine to bring to Glen.

***

The supply caravan surprised everyone by appearing at the gates late that night. Elise, who was out of her armour by this time, had to quickly lash her long dark curls and throw on a pair of hunting boots, when Ivy came to fetch her.

As they walked down to the caravan, the short, muscular guard recruit explained how she and Harrow had used a well known scouting shortcut through the valley and then doubled back to the roadway some distance from the dragons, discovering the caravan already there. They had left the carts and some of the horses in the forest nearby and wasted no time bringing the supplies back. Ivy had led the procession and therefore arrived first, and Harrow who had not yet arrived, guarded its flank.

“Great work,” Elise commended, genuinely happy that nothing befell her star pupil.

As Elise met with the Caravan leader to inspect the goods, sign off on the delivery, and arrange for payment and lodging for each member of his band, Harrow’s absence became much more pronounced. All of the goods had arrived, and as far as Elise could tell, all of the regular caravan members had been accounted for as well.

“Has everyone arrived?” she double checked with a passing Ivy.

The caravan leader, overhearing the question, took a quick look at his men and flipped through a page of his manifest to double-check.

“There were travellers,” he answered before Ivy could, “Four of them. That we picked up near the base of the mountain. Everyone appears to be here but them.”

“They offered to guard the rear with Harrow,” Ivy said, “Should I go looking for them?”

Elise had a bad feeling. She used a barrel to step up on a nearby cart.

“Hear me, men and women of the caravan,” she yelled into the crowd of milling workers, “Did any of you spend time with the four travellers who joined you at the base of the mountain? Did anyone see where they went?”

“I didn’t see where they went, but I did chat with them a bit,” one man called back, “Bunch of liars, I wager. Said they were Dragon slayers. Claimed to have been hired to kill dragons all over the world. But I reckon they were mercenaries by the look of them.”

Elise jumped off the cart and ran up the wall. She grabbed a telescope from a nearby guard and looked off towards the now cooled and scarred earth of the Dragon’s first nesting attempt. Nothing. It was too dark.

“What are you looking for?” Ivy asked from behind, apparently having followed her Captain up the wall.

“Harrow and the ‘Dragon Slayers’” Elise answered, using the telescope to follow the path from the cooled nest to the eastern side of the lake where the dragons now nested.

“You believe them?” Ivy asked, incredulously.

“Seems like a coincidental time to have visitors claiming to be Dragon Slayers,” Elise grimaced, “Damn, I can’t see anything. Ivy, do you think it’s possible Harrow and the other four went to try and slay the dragons?”

“I suppose,” Ivy considered, “Harrow does have a tendency to go beyond orders if he thinks he can do more to solve a problem. “

“Exactly my thought,” Elise agreed. It was one of the reasons she had picked Harrow. He had an intense sense of duty, little interest in self-preservation and a strategic mind that allowed him to extrapolate on orders where he deemed necessary. It made him the perfect soldier for dangerous missions. Unfortunately, in this situation, it was the worst possible combination of attributes.

Harrow hadn’t been there to speak with Glen. He had no idea how reasonable, and peaceful the Dragon was. He didn’t hear the intelligence and thoughtfulness of the green giant's voice. To attack him now was unconscionable to Elise, and she wouldn’t be responsible for it directly or indirectly.

Further, an attack on Glen and his brood mates, should it fail, would end in the entire village being reduced to ash.

The Captain of the Guard looked down at her hunting boots and tied the lash around her hair tighter. Without the telescope she traced a line from the front gate to Glen’s nest. It was unlikely that, even at top speed, they would catch Harrow and the dragon slayers before they got to the nest.

“Ivy come with me,” she ordered, “We’re going after them.”

***

They could smell burning and blood before they climbed the final escarpment leading to Glen’s nest near the lake. Elise looked back to check on Ivy, who was lumbering behind her. The run here had exhausted both of them. At first they had set a reasonable, if brisk, pace, but the first lance of fire they had seen shoot through the sky had prompted them to all but sprint the remaining kilometres.

Rising above the escarpment, Elise found herself eye to eye with the lifeless body of a dragon. Cold, dead eyes stared out of the head of one of the smaller green dragons that had been one of Glen’s brood mates. A broken wing was folded beneath the body, and blue blood ran the length of the corpse from a number of slashes, and holes.

“What type of weapon could do this?” Ivy asked behind her.

During the run Elise had explained the interaction with Glen in full to Ivy. The smaller guard had immediately recognized the horror of attacking the intelligent creatures, and that horror was now painted all over her face.

Further ahead, the second of the smaller dragons lay. Though it was not as easily recognizable. This one had been beheaded. And a wing had been severed and thrown into a nearby thicket.

Looking around, Elise could see no sign of the ones that had killed the dragons. The ground, which had once been red hot, had begun to cool, leaving very little to light the area but the moon. Water seeped into Elise’s boots.

Before she could contemplate how, a spark of red flame coughed impotently on the ground ahead. Elise broke into a sprint towards the source.

“Don’t come any closer,” Glen’s voice rasped, “I may not have much left, murderer of mothers, but I know you are injured as well.”

“Glen?” Elise asked, making her voice as soft as possible, “It’s Elise.”

Another cough of flame spit from the dragon’s mouth onto the ground. Small bits of flame caught on quickly, drying earth and grass, before sputtering out. In the moments of light, Elise was able to see that the once great green dragon was missing an eye and a wing, and had a large spear jutting from his gut.

“The dark one with the manners,” the dragon spat, venomously, “You had me fooled child. I thought we had reached an understanding. In the end all you humans are alike.”

“What happened?” Elise managed.

“Don’t pretend.” the dragon growled, coughing another feeble spat of flame on the ground, “Your slayers came. Killed my beloved mates while they were weak from laying their clutches. Smashed all the eggs they could find. All with weapons forged of the scales, bones and claws of my kind.”

“I didn’t know,” Elise near-whispered, knowing it wouldn’t be enough, “Where are they now? Did you kill them all?”

“No,” the dragon growled low, “though before the night is out, I imagine their number will have at least halved. If it weren’t for that smaller one, I would have had all but one.”

“Harrow?” Ivy asked from behind Elise.

“So this was your work?” Glen demanded, coughing another cloud of flame on the ground.

“No,” Elise yelled, “I asked Harrow to take the caravan that was trying to reach the village around your first nesting spot. Before we met. He met the dragon slayers there and led them here. But he didn’t know what we had agreed on. Or how intelligent you are.”

The dragon puffed another jet of flame on the ground. Steam raised from nearby puddles, but the dragon said nothing.

“Glen,” she implored, “I truly did not mean for any of this to happen. Please, let me help you.”

Another puff of flame. And then that same grinding steel sound as Glen let out a deep, ragged breath. His remaining green eye constricted as it sat on Elise.

“This truly was not your doing?” he asked, some deeper thought creeping into his voice.

“It is my fault,” Elise answered truthfully, “But it wasn’t my wish or intention.”

Glen pushed himself from the ground, blood pouring from his wound in the process. A low growl vibrated out of his belly and when he spoke.

“You claim responsibility,” he spoke ceremoniously, “For the death of my loved ones and my unborn children. You are putting yourself in my debt?”

Elise faltered for a second. At the same time, the green dragon coughed and spat flame as hard as he could on the ground and for the first time Elise realized he was doing it on purpose. He was dying, but he was using his last strength to try and heat up this one specific area.

“Yes,” she answered him, “I am in your debt and I will do anything in my power to make it up to you.”

The dragon’s jaw split into what looked like a smile. Elise read relief in his eyes and was suddenly very nervous about what she had agreed to.

“Beneath this spot,” Glen started, “Are the last of my unborn children.”

“You said the dragon slayers smashed all your eggs,” Elise cut him off.

“They smashed all they could find,” Glen corrected, “These alone I was able to protect. And now, that duty falls to you.”

Elise gaped at the dragon. She searched for words but didn’t find any. What was she supposed to do? Was she to raise Glen’s dragons as her own?

“You will keep them warm,” the Dragon clarified. “Dragons are born in fire. And when they hatch, you will take them to safety and their kind.”

Elise floundered under a mountain of questions.

“But you–” she started, before the dragon cut her off with another jet of flame.

“I will die in a matter of breaths,” Glen wheezed, “And these eggs will be vulnerable. You are to blame for this. And you are the only one who can accept this charge. Do you accept?”

Elise could see the light in the once-great, dragon’s eyes already fading. For the first time she noticed one of the humongous claws was missing from his forelegs. She remembered him as she had met him earlier, on the wall of the castle: terrifying and foreboding. And yet, calm, intelligent and gentle. She felt sick.

“I do.” she vowed.

Glen let his body fall to the ground.

“Come closer,” he ordered, “I will tell you all you need to know. You have a long journey ahead.”