The Accursed Mountains

“There weren’t always dragons in the Valley.” Edon’s voice boomed over the field. “That’s what your children and your grandchildren will tell each other.” He held his sword up to the cloudless sky, the sunshine an indicator that there was still ample time before the fighting would begin. Rovena, standing near the back of the army, worried about the pleasant weather. “In rotted castles and lifeless towns, they’ll whisper to each other the tales of the golden days. Of the days when the sun shone, and crops still sprouted-”

Edon’s voice was joined by Drita in the distance, giving a similar speech to the next regiment over. There were two regiments past that as well, and a dozen more scattered throughout the farmlands around the city. Rovena caught a fragment of Drita’s speech, about “the land melted by venom, and the people of Scodra along with it.” Rovena had always had keen hearing, and she listened to bits and pieces of the two speeches melting together. Edon mentioned “the Wyrms that had outwitted the collective efforts of our whole city” and she wondered if he truly did think they’d put in their best efforts, or if he was just trying to boost morale because of how many in the crowd worked in the forests.

Near the end of her speech, Drita said “Many of you have been waiting your whole life for this battle, dreaming of being a hero since you were a child. Now is your chance to fulfill your destiny.” That part resonated with Rovena, but she knew there were many in the crowd who did not want to hear it. George, the baker, had been worried sick during the past months’ training about how his children would get on without him. Paolo, a young ranger who Rovena knew well had confessed to her on patrol the other day that he’d thought about hopping on a ship at the harbor and getting out of the city.

The armor in the crowd was a good indicator of who had been dreaming of being a warrior, and who had been reluctantly pulled from their homes for the duty that all of the Drauge are bound to. Many in the crowd wore the traditional gold-plated armor that Drauge in the valley had worn in antiquity. Rovena had opted for this option, she liked the idea of wearing what ancient warriors would have worn when they were protecting the city. Many of the others were wearing what looked to be historic garb from the South Isles, some sporting elaborate wooden plate armor, or sweeping and brightly colored robes. But the styles and types of armor varied beyond that still, evidence of the seaport city’s diverse nature. Rovena spotted one girl, just barely of age to be fighting, wearing heavy-looking grey metal armor that covered her head to toe. A boy to her left wore just colorful shorts and face paint.

But those in the crowds wearing no armor showed the changing times in a way that the diverse warriors did not. Many had opted to wear only their street clothes, making it appear as though they’d been dragged from their homes on a whim, and reluctantly placed in the field. Rovena supposed that it could have been for practical reasons too, as armor was worn largely in the name of religion and tradition. When it came time to actually fight the beast, there was no armor in the world that would stand up to a dragon’s acid. Rovena remembered seeing drawings and paintings of Drauge battling dragons back in school, and everyone in her class giggling at the naked warriors. Rovena remembered worrying about that as a girl, thinking she would just die of embarrassment if she was unclothed in the middle of battle. That worry seemed so silly to her now.

Armor or no armor, and, perhaps soon, clothes or no clothes, they were all still united by their gift. Rovena had never in her life been in the company of only Drauge before. She knew other Drauge of course, and always took note when she spotted someone with slitted pupils who she didn’t know. But to be surrounded completely by other Drauge was a whole new experience. Everywhere she looked she was greeted with the same strange cat eyes she possessed.

Rovena tuned back into the speeches just in time to hear Edon end his speech by holding up his sword once again and yelling “Drauge, today is your day!”

After a brief silence, there were the beginnings of anxious banter bubbling up in the crowd, but Rovena was too wound up to participate. She kept her posture straight and focused on the mountains in the distance. Despite the sun, the mountains were hazy today, even before the usual cut off where they vanished into the clouds.

“Do you see anything?” The voice came from her right, and it took Rovena a beat for her eyes to adjust. Edon had made his way over to her.

“Not yet,” Rovena answered “Do you think it will show today?”

“Who knows?” Edon answered “At the battle of Illira, the Drauge had been waiting for weeks, posting up every day around the farms. I wouldn't bet on it, but-” he shrugged “We’ll see” Edon took off his helmet, the same frilly red kind that Rovena was wearing. “We could be in for quite the long haul here.”

Looking out over the crowd, Rovena said “I didn’t think there were this many of us, I know we’ve got help from the east, but I’ve never seen so many Drauge in one place.”

“We’ve got a bit of help from Capet, yes, but not much.” Edon pushed his sweaty dark hair back from his forehead, “We both spend too much time in the mountains, Rovena, most of these Drauge are local.”

And as if on cue, sensing that they were being spoken of, the cloudy mountains crackled with the first clap of thunder. Heads turned and voices hushed. The sound both startled and relieved Rovena, the lack of storms had been giving her troubling thoughts.

Edon made his way back to the front of the regiment, and Rovena once again turned her eyes to the mountains.

“That means the dragon is coming to do battle, doesn’t it?” The girl in the metal armor had come closer to Rovena during the idle chatter. She had light brown eyes and gold fringe, peeking out from a sharp helmet. Rovena wondered if she was old enough to be on the battlefield.

“It may, but there are storms on the mountains all the time. If the clouds move to meet us, then we'll know for sure.” Rovena adjusted her armor, the shoulders chaffing, and privately thought the girl would likely ditch her clunky metal suit after a few days of waiting around. “Where are you from, child? I’ve never seen armor quite like that.”

“The Angel-Lands” She answered, straightening up as if to better represent her home. “Some of us came over with the Capet ships. There hasn’t been a Wyrm in the Angel-Lands since my great grandmother's time. But we sill remember how to fight.”

“A dragon you mean?” Rovena asked, “We use Wyrm for the snakes here, the big ones, or Bolla too, the old word.”

“Dragons yes. We-” The girl cut off, staring behind Rovena, who had turned to shield her eyes on the sun, and in doing so, had turned her back on the mountains.

“God help us.” The girl said, pointing, but Rovena was already turning.

The beast looked remarkably small from their vantage point. The Accursed Mountains were half a day's journey from the fields they were in, though that distance did not apply to creatures who were not bound to the ground. The beast's presence hit the crowd in waves, casual chatter turning to excited murmurs and those who had turned away from the sun, were turning back to look.

As things quieted, Edon prepared to speak. “The beast will be here soon” He shouted. “Make our city proud!”

As the Dragon grew closer, it left the haze of the mountains behind. Moving down from the constantly cloudy peeks, to the green forested valleys, it hardly flapped its wings, gliding instead, like something unnatural. As it made its way past the foothills to the edge of the fields, the grey and green of its body became clearer, and the many heads easier to count.

There was silence in the crowd, save for a few prayers. Rovena did not join in on the whispers, preferring to pray to her gods silently. Next to her, the girl in the grey armor held up a beaded necklace as she whispered something to her god.

Swords unsheathed, and axes were drawn, all ivory white and jagged, and Rovena was reminded of what would become of her body should she die in this battle. She’d always found the idea of gracing the battlefield even in death poetic, sometimes even comforting, but today she did not. The weaponry, recycled from fallen Drauge, served only as a reminder that sturdy as they are, Drauge were not immortal. Archers with bone-tipped spears near the front prepared their bows,

As the beast flew over closer fields, it left a shadow like an impossibly fast cloud, and once again Rovena was troubled by the sunshine. She wasn’t the only one, Drauge held their weapons within reach, but many were looking around, or looking up at the sky away from the dragon, searching for signs of a storm. If the beast were truly coming to do battle, the sun should not be out. Rovena thought that perhaps it was too young to fight, and merely staking out the city it would soon terrorize.

"Shouldn't there be storms?" The armored girl asked, "in the stories, there are always storms."

"Yes there should," Rovena told the girl "perhaps it does not mean to do battle today"

The beast was close enough to count the heads now, numbering seven, and the Drauge stood at the ready, spears and axes and swords up. The creature buffeted with its wings, showing off the intricate lime green patterns on the membranes. It was coming to a stop just a few fields away in pastureland. The cows had been moved, thankfully. As it prepared to land, the wind from its wings made its way to the Drauge, ruffling hair, and causing the crowd to stiffen with the realization that the beast would soon be upon them.

Its four heavy limbs reached the ground, and it landed hard, still getting used to its new body. The beast took a few small steps through the field. But it wasn’t coming towards any of the Drauge soldiers, instead, it was stumbling to the olive orchard next to the pasture.

Rovena lowered her weapon with a chill creeping up her spine. Many of the other Drauge lowered theirs as well and exchanged looks. The sunshine, and what it meant, was bothering many of them, and the beast's dismissal of them was further proof of what many of them feared.

The beast reached the olive orchard and sniffed at the trees, the leaves sparkling under the cloudless sky. Edon watched with shoulders slumped, knowing he would not need to fight today.

The creature reared up, its body taller than any of the trees, and opened its mouths. Rovena was close enough to see the frills of its neck stand up. With a lurch, it sprayed something out over the trees. Rovena did not know the term for this substance, it had been noted so sparingly in history.

With a hiss, the beast finished its work. It spread its great wings, and took to the sky. In its wake, the Drauge watched the olive trees that the beast had hit begin to change. The trees grew taller before their eyes, though many of them were already mature. Though the leaves were a lovely gray-green already, they appeared to brighten and perk up. Had the Drauge been closer, Rovena was sure they would have seen olives ripen and grow before their eyes.

The chatter that went through the crowd was even more urgent than when the dragon had first appeared.

“What happened?” The armored girl asked Rovena. “Why didn’t the acid melt the trees?”

“That wasn’t acid” Rovena answered, “It was something else, I don’t know if there’s a name for it”

“Why didn’t the beast come to battle?” The girl asked.

“It came to thank us” Rovena answered solemnly.

“Thank us for what?” The girl asked.

“Someone is feeding it” Rovena answered, wondering when the girl came to Scodra. The legends about dragons must not have been as plentiful in the Angel-Lands. “That’s why there wasn’t a storm, the dragon never meant to fight us, someone has already… appeased it.” Rovena listened for a beat to the chatter among the crowds, the few outsiders who did not know what this meant were learning the same lesson as the armored girl.

“When dragons come, they destroy crops, and they burn down cities with their venom. They target humans because they’re made with magic, they don’t behave like animals. But if the Dragon is worshipped properly, and fed what it wants, it doesn’t destroy the city. It helps the crops, it chases away invaders. It becomes a protector.”

“What do you need to feed the dragon to get this?” The girl asked cautiously, afraid of the answer.

“The same thing that the dragon ate to become what it is.” Rovena answered. “It needs to eat human hearts.” The girls eyes widened “And if it left us alone, that means someone in this city has already been feeding it.”