Fools and Sages

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. They arrived before I was born about three decades prior to my birth. Galya Farja was a peaceful place before that, or so I’ve heard. They say the dragons came because the people were too sinful, too self-indulgent, too savage. The Metanoia people were the ones who lived here before but now they are called Drearians by the Benin people. The Benins showed up a little before the dragons. The Benins blame the sinful savageness of the Drearians for the dragons’ arrival. This is what we are all taught in school from the first day to the last. I was raised by my father, the head of agriculture of the valley. My mother was a Drearian, and she was killed in an accident right after I was born, so they say. My father and her never married, he married his own kind and had my half-sister, Tamar. I’m a half-breed and there is only so much my father’s power can get me. I work at the pub in town. Alcohol is forbidden and I don’t mind that, we serve cider mostly and other drinks. It’s mostly just a place for all the Benin men to come after work to avoid their boring lives at home. The Benin women do not come to the pub. Drearian women do though, along with the Drearian men.

This is the only job I was allowed to have unless I lowered myself as a pure Drearian and worked on the farms or in the mines. Father wouldn’t even let me consider it, not that I wanted to. But there was something a little alluring to me about the weird sort of freedom that came with being lower class. There was nothing they had to fight to keep, no reputation to uphold. They started out as being considered trash so they could do what they wanted. I on the other hand being half Benin had to work twice as hard as other Benin girls to get even the smallest amount of respect. Benin men would never seriously consider dating me and my father would not allow me to date a Drearian, not after what he went through with mother.

Not that I needed to marry off, I was happy being alone as long as I had a job to support me. There is a Benin girl that works with me named Prisca, she’s my best friend. She has to work here because she got caught with a Drearian guy right after the graduation gala. Only Benins went to school, but the Drearians would come and watch our festivities, and some would drink the wine they made in secret out in the woods. The wilder of the Benins would buy it from them. Prisca didn’t drink, she fell in love, so she says.

“Aquila look who just walked in,” she said to me as I was lost in thought. I looked up at the door and a Drearian we both knew well sauntered in. He had the usual long dark hair and warm brown eyes and dark skin of a Drearian, he wore his facial hair scruffy from ear to ear and under his nose. In the mess of the scruff, you could still see his warm smile that he wore almost all the time.

I took a breath because he always took it when I saw him, it wasn’t a crush, it was something else that I hadn’t figured out yet.

“Nico,” I waved, and he came over and sat on a barstool.

“Quila,” he answered, I smiled at him, and he waved at Prisca who blushed, she did have a crush on him, but she’d never admit it being that she was a pure Benin.

I started to ask what he wanted but another man, a Benin walked up to him, “Nicholai Avna,” he said, almost cheerfully.

“Doe,” Nico responded almost rolling his eyes.

“How were the mines today?” Doe asked him. Doe was the absolute power of the town. He oversaw all the people in charge of all the departments and was a real huldah if you ask me. Not that I like cussing but that’s the best word I can use to describe him.

“Dark,” Nico responded. I stifled a giggle as I pretended to clean a glass so I could listen to their conversation. Nico must’ve heard me because he winked at me. I poured them both a glass of cider. Nico thanked me, Doe didn’t say anything he just hopped up on the stool beside Nico and laid his money on the bar.

“Both are on me, pet,” he said looking me up and down. I fought the urge to grimace as I took his coins and turned to put them in the till box. I heard Doe make a comment about my body and Nico sighed loudly.

“Do you know why I bought your drink Nicholai?” Doe asked, ignoring his sigh and obvious distaste.

“No, I don’t,” Nico said, I grabbed a washcloth and turned around to wipe the bar so I could keep listening to them.

“The mines, you’re the best worker down there I hear,” Doe said.

“I just do my job Sir, working hands can’t do harm, isn’t that what they taught us in Drearian training?” he asked.

Doe laughed, “I wouldn’t know but that sounds pretty good,” he slapped Nico’s back looked around him to make sure no one was around, and continued, “now listen, there’s something down there no one knows about, deeper in the mountains than the miners have gone before but I know it’s in a cave down there, so you won’t have to dig too much to get to it.”

“If no one knows it’s there, how do you know?” Nico asked him.

Doe laughed again, “thought you people were supposed to be dull of wit.” I bit my lip to keep from defending him and exposing that I could hear them. Doe must’ve thought I was pretty dull or hard of hearing to talk about something so private with me so close to them. Nico didn’t respond at all; he didn’t even show emotion at the insult.

“So, if you come to my house I can give you more instructions, there are many rewards in it for you, as long as you keep quiet,” Doe said. I had hoped he would give more details so I could know what was going on, but Doe wasn’t as oblivious as I had figured, he looked up at me and smiled with his mouth only, and I felt a terrible shiver go up my spine. It was almost like he could read my mind. I almost ran off to find something else to do because I was scared but I thought of Nico and stayed to see if he would oblige. This sounded like a dangerous and almost sinister mission, and I hoped he would turn it down. Then again saying ‘no’ to Doe could also come with consequences.

“What kind of rewards?” Nico asked him.

“Your father, he’s pretty sick, isn’t he?” Doe said.

Nico’s face faltered a little from his stoic expression, he cleared his throat, “and what can you do about that?”

Doe laughed, “I have your attention now huh? Well let’s just say there are a few things I can do but I can’t talk about them here, too many ears,” he glanced at me, and I kept my eyes down like I didn’t hear him, he continued, “my carriage is outside, I can give you a ride back to my house and we can discuss your payment.”

Nico looked up at me and I looked at him in his eyes, there was something there, a warning? A question? I wasn’t sure but I felt scared for him, he was stuck because no matter how he answered, he was in danger.

“Alright Doe, I’ll come with you but I’m not agreeing to it until you tell me exactly what is going on,” Nico said.

Doe laughed, “of course.” He stood up and slapped Nico on the shoulder and walked away. Nico got up slowly never taking his eyes off mine.

“Don’t go,” I whispered.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said dropping a few more coins on the counter as my tip. I felt my lower lip tremble a little as he turned and followed Doe out the door. I didn’t tell Prisca about it, but I thought about it all night. I tossed and turned wondering if Nico even made it home last night. I couldn’t send postage all the way to Penumbra, our letters didn’t even get delivered to that part of the valley. Sometime near dawn, I couldn’t take it anymore. My sister was fast asleep, and she had school in the morning so I knew she wouldn’t notice that I wasn’t in bed if I piled some clothing in the bed and covered them with my blanket. I got dressed and grabbed my cape and boots. I crept quietly out of our room and through the kitchen and out the back door. I put my boots on outside and threw on my cape, it was freezing at this hour. I had no idea how long it would take on foot to get all the way to the other side of the valley. I had only been there once by carriage and that’s when I was a baby and my father had taken me to my mother’s funeral at her parents’ house.

No one was out this early which was a blessing to me, and I gave thanks under my breath. Still, I knew I would be traveling well into the day, so I took off through the woods. Instead of going by the carriage road. This was a lot more dangerous route and not many Benin people went into the woods alone. The men hunted animals in teams sometimes but never alone. I looked down and saw that I had thrown on my red skirt. That wasn’t going to help matters at all. It was a good thing my cape draped the ground and was dark brown and covered most of me, including the hood which I pulled up around my face to keep the cold morning wind from my ears. My boots were cheap but made of cowhide, so they were thick against dangers and came up to my knees underneath my skirt. I didn’t know which direction to go but, in the valley, you can always see the Achaia mountains looming in the west, which was the way I needed to go to get to Nico so I just stayed facing them as best I could. I heard the morning birds start to sing as the sun started to come up from behind me. I could imagine the sea shimmering with the golden flecks of reflected sun. An image I always kept near to my heart since the first sunrise I got to see when my father took me to watch it at the fisherman’s boat docks. I asked him what was on the other side of the sea, and he told me there was nothing there but the sun. I believed him at the time but as time goes on, I’m starting to wonder what is true and what isn’t.

The golden and brown fallen leaves made crunching noises under my boots. It was a sound I usually loved but now it made me nervous, and visible. There were many types of wild animals in the forest, some were sweet like the deerlettes, they even came out sometimes and I would feed them berries out of my hand. They were not much bigger than a medium-sized dog and I loved petting them. Then there were the darwolves, which I had only seen one time, a full pack. I was a little girl then and they had gotten the trail of their prey and followed it right into town. I was in a carriage with my stepmother and sister, my father was just getting back into the carriage when they came right down the street. Their backs came up to the window of our carriage and their heads were as tall as the horse’s mane. They were said to be ancestors of dogs, but I didn’t see the resemblance to any dog I’d seen. Father jumped inside just in time to get out of their path, and they ignored all the humans they passed. Some hunters came out of buildings with their crossbows and swords, but they were gone before anyone could get one. There were tales about people turning into darwolves but those were just superstitions.

Thinking about them as I walk through the forest probably isn’t the best idea. At the time it was thrilling because they ran right past us. But now I remember their snarling jaws and coarse hair that stood straight up on their backs. They ran faster than any horse I’d seen. Their paws were the size of a man’s head and the claws were like knives. Then there is the sound, you can hear them faintly howling once a month. I start to shiver even though it’s getting warmer with each minute. I hear nothing but my own feet crunching the leaves underfoot, and the millions of birds twinkling out their morning melody. Putting myself back into the daylight and not in the dark memories of my mind stops my shaking a little. I can nearly hear or sense the creek that runs straight through the forest and opens to the waterfall pool under the mountains that Nico always talks about. He drew me a map when we were kids of the entire valley and labeled it. I had it memorized for a while but I’m well out of practice on the details. At least I remembered that the first creek west of my house is the one that leads to the waterfall. South of the waterfall is the mines but I’m not sure how far South. As long as I stay alongside the creek and keep headed West, I will find the waterfall and then go South until I reach the mines. Hopefully, Nico will have not gone down too deep like Doe asked him to, hopefully, he’s there at all.

Eventually, I find the creek and it heads straight west, just like Nico’s map said it would and I start to feel a little less anxious. The morning is starting to feel less chilly, and I am thankful as I stroll along trying to feel more comfortable. The trickling sound of the water in the shallow creek relaxes me and I start to almost enjoy myself. After about an hour walking, I hear a sound from the other side of the creek behind me. The rustling of brush, something is moving, something heavy. I start to quicken my pace but hold myself back from running. Nico told me once if I was ever in the woods and saw something dangerous to never take off running. I just walk faster and hope it hasn’t seen me, whatever it is. I glance back to see if I can see anything, and I stop for a second. As soon as I stop the rustling stops. I don’t see anything, none of the leaves or bushes are moving at all. I wait a few more seconds to see if it continues moving but it doesn’t. I take a few deep breaths. I know it’s stalking me. I turn back to my path and start moving again, this time it sounds closer. I want to run or scream or crawl into a hole and hide but I can’t do any of that, so I keep moving. I still don’t know what it is but the further we go along the closer it gets and the bigger it sounds. I see some big boulders near the creek up ahead, I will have to edge along between them and the edge of the creek bank slowly to get by or else divert way out of the way to get through. I can’t risk getting lost, especially not now.

As I come upon them, I turn to start edging around them, and then I see it, a darwolf. It is alone and it comes out of the brush about halfway. It’s taller than a man and wider than a horse. It is staring at me, the creek at this point is about five feet across, but I don’t know how deep. I know it could easily jump across the gap. I back up against the first boulder, but I can’t move. I know there is a small space between this boulder and the next, I could back into it. But I can’t move, I am frozen in fear. The animal is dark grey, without even a spot of other colors on it, except its yellow eyes. It stares at me and then starts to growl lowly, so lowly that I’m not sure if I’m hearing it or just feeling its vibration through the ground. Then it shows its teeth, white as rice but much bigger. Its canines are the length of a grown man's thumb but come down to a sharp point. It is snarling at me and snapping its jaws as it moves slowly further out of the brush. Each front step moving its shoulders high up and back down. The fur on its back is standing straight up and the middle of it is arched high in its aggressive stance. It starts to pace back and forth along the other bank, preparing to leap over at me. All I can do is stare back. My hands aren’t even trembling because they are frozen, gripping the boulder behind me. My breath comes out in short gasps as I try to breathe. It leans back on its back legs ready to pounce.

Then out of seemingly nowhere comes the loudest most horrifying noise I have ever heard in my life. It’s something between a woman screeching and a hawk call. But much louder than both. The whole earth seems to tremble. The darwolf now leans back in fear instead of preparation. It cowers and whimpers at the monster much more terrible than itself. At once I feel relief and dread, a longing for the former challenger instead of this new threat. I know what it is before I even dare to glance up. A long and dark shadow covers the ground all around us and the darwolf runs in the other direction as quick as lightning. I look up and see the thing, it’s just over the tops of the trees and I see the ocean of dark blue glittering jewellike scales and I sink to the ground. I throw off my cape and drape it around me as I crawl backwards into the crevice between the boulders. The forest and even the boulders can’t really protect me much because even though they fold their legs to fly. The dragon’s legs are long and thin enough to extend down in between the trees, though the tallest trees are some fifty feet high. And they also sometimes use their tales to spear animals through like they are fishing. The pointed end of the tale could fit in between these boulders if it were to see me. I keep covered with my dark brown cape. Every inch of myself including my dark brown hair, it’s my only hope. The sharp eye of the dragons can spot the slightest differences in texture or movements from who knows how many miles away. Their vision is ten times that of a hawk.

I don’t dare breathe or move until I hear a loud cry of an animal, just one, one of the worst agonizing sounds and I know instinctually it’s the darwolf that had me cornered. It was my foe and yet I still feel compassion at the sound. I risk the smallest peek out from under my cape and see the limp body that now looks black with blood in the claws of the blue dragon flying overhead. It flies off swiftly back toward the mountains with its prey. I watch it in awe. From a safer distance, it is almost majestic, the way its wings rise and fall slowly like a dancer. Once it’s out of sight all my senses that were dulled to numb come rushing back and I start to shiver uncontrollably. I sob as I try and rise up, I fall to my knees and cry into my hands for a few moments. After I allow myself time to recover, I reach my hands into the cool water and splash it on my face. Then dry with my cape, which I throw over my arm because it’s too warm now to wear.

I won’t need it half as much now because the dragons only come out around once every two months. Not always the same one, they are all different colors. I’ve seen them flying above the forest near the mountains but never this close. This must mean I’m almost to Penumbra. I stand finally and though my legs feel like strips of flour dough we sometimes boil for dinner. I am able to make my way to the other side of the line of boulders. Still shaken up I walk slower than before but I know I am close. I can faintly hear the sound of louder rushing water and I wonder if it’s the waterfall or another creek. I can’t recall where the other creeks are on the map. Or even how many there are. I stumble along for I don’t know how long until I come to a clearing. Another creek, twenty feet wide, very deep, and rolling. This and the one I’ve followed, cross here. I look South and see a bridge. Not like the bridge I have heard about, made of stone and the pride of the Benin. This one is made of logs strung together. The logs are large and thick. I know the Drearian don’t like wasting resources so they probably all came from the same tree as they are only about four feet wide. There are no handrails, nothing to hold onto to cross. I can tell it’s old and will fall soon.

I move along hiking up the cape under my arm and grabbing my skirt to get a surer footing. I take a breath and take a step onto the first log; it creaks under one foot. I sigh and look up to the heavens. The water underneath is fast and bubbling, it’s about five feet below the bridge and I can tell it’s deep. I close my eyes and picture my dear Nico, I bite my lip and suck air into my lungs and lift my other foot. Slowly I take careful steps until I’m halfway across. I look up to the mountains and try not to focus on the water. The gaps between the logs are narrow at least so I don’t fear falling through. The creaking in my ears seems deafening along with the roaring of the water. My chest tightens, then a wind comes through. The bridge starts to sway slowly. The wind picks up and it starts to sway harder, I widen my stance to balance myself. I am whimpering aloud now, nearly sobbing. I feel my lip tremble under my shaky breath. My only choice is to move forward. I take a step and the bridge sways as I rest my foot and I lose my balance. I start to fall.

I push my body forward to keep from falling over the side. I land on the bridge and can almost reach the other side with my hand. I get on my hands and knees and crawl the rest of the way carefully. When I get on the ground on the other bank I roll over onto my back and let myself rest. I stare at the sky thanking the heavens for making it this far. The sun is up in the middle of the sky so it must be midday. Nico will be having his lunch. I again force myself into standing and moving forward. I walk a while and then see some other pathway much wider and made with purpose. It looks like it’s meant to be a road, but it isn’t made with bricks like the roads I am used to. It is only dirt, once I reach it, I look to the North and in the distance, I see smoke and figures. Shielding my eyes from the sun and peering closer I can see that those are the farms. The Drearian do all the farming for our entire society. Some of the Benins on the Southside of the East do farming but that is for personal use or profit. All our real resources we share and need that are distributed from the Capital are grown by the Drearian, for free. That is one of the requirements. I look South of where I am and can’t see the mines. I walk west a little more and see the waterfall, I wonder if I should take the road South to the mines to find Nico. But then I realize there is no need. I see him at the waterfall kneeling at the pool at the base of it.

“Nico!” I shout in haste. Then I realize I am here in secret and quickly check around to make sure no one else is around.

“Aquila!” he shouts back, rising to his feet. I start to run to him, but I must have hurt my ankle when I fell on the bridge because I limp as I run. He runs toward me. Once he reaches me, he wraps his arms around me and lifts me off the ground.

“What is wrong with your leg?” he asks sitting me back down.

“It’s fine, I walked on it fine, running hurts a little,” I breathe fast and shallow unable to believe I made it to him. Exhilarated that he is okay.

“Where did you come from, how did you get here, and why have you come?” he asks in quick succession. The weight of my day crashes around me as I burst into tears. His face twists up in pain and concern.

“Oh, I’m okay,” I gasp through sobs, “I just had to know if you were alright.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he says grabbing my head and pulling it to his chest. I hear him sobbing. It’s something I’ve always known him to do. If I start to cry, so does he, I’m unsure if he does it with anyone else. Once we both calm down, I tell him my journey beginning to end.

“Wow, that’s so dangerous, I’m sorry that it was all on my behalf,” he says.

“No, you are important to me,” I say. We are now seated by the water. Nico’s horse is drinking from the pool.

“I have to take you back, I’ll use the rest of my mealtime to take you,” he says.

“What if you are late getting back?” I ask.

He shrugs, “I’m in really good with Doe now, it doesn’t matter.”

“That’s what I came for, now that I see you are alright, Nico what did he say, what does he want, I have to know,” I hold to his arm tightly.

He looks around as if anyone could be listening even though he knows there isn’t, “there’s this book, called the Enchiridion buried deep in the mountains, not buried really but it’s down in one of the caves protected by a dragon…”

I gasp, “no, no you’re not doing that.”

He holds up a hand, “there was a gem inside it, he has that already, he showed it to me, one of his guards got it for him in the dead of night, I guess he thought the book was of no value, but he was killed getting it.”

“Nico you’re not going to go down there, I won’t let you,” I say.

“I’ve not agreed outright but I know I can do it, I’m just not sure I want him to have it, I don’t know what it’s for, it’s something to do with the gem… I need to get the book to hide it from him, I think it’s something dangerous, the way he held the gem, and he wouldn’t tell me anything about it. It glowed and changed colors.”

“Gems don’t change color,” I scoff.

“They aren’t supposed to,” he says. He started to say more but we hear distant shrieking, and both look up. An orange dragon flies out of the mountains in the south, we see it head toward the town in the east.

“Nico,” I gasped, “that’s the…”

“Second one today, that doesn’t happen, let’s go,” he says standing up and pulling me to my feet by my hands.

He runs to his horse and runs it over to me and then helps me up, “we are going now?” I ask looking up to the sky. I don't see it anymore, but I am frightened.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, we will take the dirt road to cross the stone bridge because it’s safer, a Drearian wouldn’t get you in trouble, but once we cross, we travel through the forest again,” he says mounting his horse. I don't know why but I know somehow that he can keep me safe.