The Curse of Riding Dragons

The toddling princess lacked any expression as the king placed her gently on the historic Stone of Ora. King Dolant and his small host of 10 had ventured deep into Hankor Forest- the thickest wood on the island. The forest is filled with every type of creature under the sun. They can be small and harmless like buzzing cranes or riggals. They can be large enough to warrant some fear like a forest fox or impact mole. They can be an obvious threat like a grizzly bear, or they can be something so complex that they cannot be put into any specific category.

The Stone of Ora was carved over five hundred years ago by who the humans believe to be the first king of the dragon city. It is large enough to contain even the largest of dragons. Flat as the sliprock planes, it is filled end to end with carvings symbolizing their history with the humans. Each carving is etched in an ashy black- a side effect of the tool used.

The child did not try to crawl, she did not move a muscle. She looked towards the thick green wall of trees in front of her as if in a meditative trance. She did not flinch when the forest began to rustle. In fact, she smiled. The wind whistled through any crack it could find. The host from the human kingdom stood back behind their king, half with eyes on the treetops and half on the short ceremonial braids of young Princess Delyna.

A thunderous roar echoed its way to the ground. Through the miniature opening in the trees emerged a gargantuan shadow. He only took a few leaves with him. He would have taken more if he hadn’t made this trip so many times before. The beast overtook the sun with ease, his wings out in an effort to slow before reaching the stone. The light began to drip from his silhouette upon descent, similar to the moon during a solar eclipse.

The Dragon King Horin is an immaculate creature. He is as large as the princess’s bedroom- which can be argued is significantly too large for the three-year-old it houses. His light green wings could embrace the local tavern, shielding the entire building from the sun or, depending on his mood, taking it down before a patron could finish their grog. According to markings made by Ora three hundred years ago, Horin is his son, and by extension, he is the second known king of the dragons.

The great dragon landed with a quaking thud, shaking the earth in a way that no other force on earth could, even other dragons. The king’s host simultaneously fell to a knee at the sight of the more powerful king. His black eyes blinked their three lids. He moved his two winged arms to the side to reveal his dark green scaled body. His neck extended a full story and his mouth could fit eight men if he decided to exercise the power everyone knew him to possess.

Horin meandered toward the gleeful little girl, at least as well as a dragon could meander. Each step shook the earth below. Delyna was entertained by the shaking. She was equating it to a fun ride in the carriage in full sight of her favorite creature. He lowered his head to her, careful to stop before crushing the child with the strength of his neck. The girl looked into Horin’s left eye. He blinked one lid at a time. Each was green and wrinkled, taking a full second to reopen. Without moving his legs any further, he leaned up and made eye contact with King Dolant. Stoic, he nodded. The queen had not made a move since she went to a knee, her eyes on the grass below.

Horin raised his head, carefully stretched his neck in a circle, and leaned back down. What he was about to do took extreme focus. He formed his mouth into the shape that one would make while saying the word “broom”, and before Delyna could blink, he unleashed a precise stream of flame no wider than a feather.

It was over as quickly as it began. The dragon king had carved the likeness of the young princess in the stone just to her side. He’d made his mark directly after her older sister- Princess Janevene, who had gone through this same ceremony two years prior. Horin then allowed the king to come forward and place his daughter on the saddle the dragons had designed to fit on his back. She was off to tour the dragon city, like her entire family before her. It would be beautiful, an unimaginable sight to any living human. Members of the Royal Dragonrider Clan have been able to recount the slightest details about landscapes or dragon architecture, but the memories usually fade by the time they would be able to make any sense of them.

No one is really sure anymore why the Dragonrider ceremony happens. It could be meant to thank the dragons for their part in yet another year of the most bountiful harvest in the island’s history. It could be to keep humans’ thirst for magic quenched. It could even be just because the dragons like to brag about how great of a city they’d managed to build without any opposable thumbs.

Whatever the reason, the humans did not seem to mind the formality. They were better off every year living on the same island as the dragons. They were always the mindful protectors of the human kingdoms, and the humans were happy to keep it that way.

15 Years Later

“Delyna, would there happen to be a more interesting lesson being taught out there?” Asked Capister Laurenti. Delyna had been staring through one of many glass panes in the palace classroom. The kingdom was always prettiest after a rainstorm, and as far as Delyna’s memory was concerned, they’d never gotten one as powerful as the previous night. Marylou’s tavern used to sit just outside the south gate. That was until the violent winds took it away.

She shouldn’t have been in school. She should have been helping Marylou rebuild. Her brothers were out there. They would certainly do great being the master carpenters that they are, but Delyna felt useless cooped up in Capister Laurenti’s classroom. She barely even needed to be in the classroom in the first place. She had completed every course in the capister’s collection at the age of 14. The last four years were dedicated to staring out the window at the dragons and using her photographic memory to answer any question the capisters asked about a rolling wheel of finite subjects.

The dragon Volarin was flying by at the time of Laurenti’s interruption. At least, that’s what Delyna named her. They’d never actually met. She always noticed Volarin appearing after things go wrong. She acted like a scout for the dragon city. She was likely checking the kingdom for damage caused by the storm. Her yellow-hued tail disappeared behind the trees the moment she was interrupted by her monotoned instructor.

To Delyna, there had never been anything more important than dragons. They had been the center of her life since before her trip to the dragon city. She’d tried to speak about them with others in the kingdom, even her own family, and no one else would ever show the same sort of enthusiasm for the kingdom that actually ruled the island.

She knew why, but the reason never really made much sense to her. It was centuries ago when the dragons outlawed magic in the human kingdoms, and not without cause. Magic is by all accounts, poison to humans. According to all the history books, any attempt to perform a spell has resulted in catastrophe. The Capisters now believe this to be a result of our size relative to actual magical creatures. Even the slightest bit of magic will create an energy burst that if not controlled can impart irreversible damage to the world. The most powerful magical creature obviously is the dragon. The capisters have recently come to believe that due to their massive size they are able to contain the full blowback all on their own, or perhaps they only perform magic in groups to share the burden. No one has ever actually seen a dragon perform magic (no one alive has ever seen anyone perform magic), but the capisters are rather confident in this theory. If a single dragon would lose control attempting a spell, then it would likely take hundreds of humans completely focused and confident to even have a chance at containing what the textbooks call the “curse”.

“Fine, princess, if you are not willing to pay me any attention in class, perhaps there are other ways to get through to you. I would like a ten-page report due in ten days' time. You can even base it on what is obviously your favorite subject- the dragons, and how their magic has affected our society.”

“Capister, do you not see what’s going on down there? You know I can help. It’s going to take weeks to rebuild Marylou’s tavern and I can’t relax the burden on the workers from inside the library.”

“Delyna, you are an exceedingly bright child. That much is not debatable. I am quite certain though, that you can do a lot more good this week from inside the walls of the dragon library.”

“I just don’t understand, Capister.”

“Delyna, this is not up for debate. Trust me.”

It wasn’t the first time Laurenti did something like this. A month or two ago, the dragon king flew through the kingdom while the capister taught about the importance of water to wildlife. One is obviously more exciting than the other. She ended up handing in a paper about how pine trees stay healthy and green throughout the year. She then helped the capister end the barbaric tradition of yearly voyages through the Hankor Forest- the point of which was to clear away as much forest as possible in order to make a path between the kingdom and the fabled dragon city.

This seemed to Delyna a bizarre subtopic for him to choose. He usually kept away from magic. It is a sore subject to some in the kingdom. There was a large group of detesters who were arrested a few years ago for attempting magic in the town square. It did not work of course. Magic in the human kingdoms has been outlawed for so long that everyone had forgotten how to do it. All spellbooks in the kingdom were hidden long ago somewhere in the palace. The king is the only person who can know where.

If Laurenti was going to assign any paper, she was happy that it had to do with dragons. That gave her an excuse to enter her favorite room in the palace- the dragon library. As a child, she would spend hours a day in the library trying to learn what she could. She would write stories and draw pictures of what she imagined the dragon's lives to be like. Every time a new dragon flew by the castle, she would give them a name and write their backstory.

In her mind, these stories and pictures never seemed to be based solely on her imagination. She felt close to the dragons. Even though she hadn’t technically met one since Vorin, she knew that her relationship with the magical beasts was more intimate than anyone else’s. Her mind every so often would show her glimpses of either memories or her mind’s own fables concerning the dragon city. Each time one appeared she would grab her quill and pastels.

She crossed the behemoth of a door that matched every other in this extravagant castle and regarded one of her favorite drawings on the near wall. Most of her stories and drawings were lost throughout the years, but this one was her first. Her father was so impressed that he had it framed and hung up to mark the dragon library. It portrayed only the Dragon King Vorin in a background of green. His mouth was puckered in a small ‘o’ as he prepared to mark something off the paper. She believes that her young mind was thinking of the Stone of Ora. It is, after all, the only thing routinely marked by Vorin.

After several hours of reading books she had already read at least once, the latest candles were nearly burnt out. The castle servants would usually change them if a member of the royal family was in the room, but the dragon library is so rarely visited that it tends to fly under their radar late at night.

The light had nearly dissipated. There was a low white hue coming in from the unblocked hallway, and the light from the moon was not visible that night so the light from the windows was nearly nonexistent. That’s when something strange caught the princess’s eye. Halfway through the room, the light from the hallway looked to be reaching its end. It weakened to near blackness only to gradually grow brighter and brighter leading all the way to a crack in the bookshelves.

A light was emanating out of a shelf on the opposite corner of the room. Delyna put her book down and investigated. The light from the shelf itself was enough to illuminate what she needed. The shelf was dedicated to the history of humans and magic. It was information that would probably come in handy in her project. But that was for later. The pressing matter was the question of where this light was coming from.

The books had all seen better days. No one in the castle would study the human's history of magic as long as the dragon’s laws were kept in place, especially with the capister’s new theory of the curse. There was one book, however, with not a single speck of dust on the pages. She swiped her hand along the spine and found no new particles. She tried to take it out, but it wouldn’t budge. It was somehow stuck on the shelf. She strengthened her grip but still, nothing happened. She then lifted upwards, downwards, anyway she could think to get this book out. She pulled only from the top, and it worked. The book leaned over using the visible bottom corner as a fulcrum. That’s when the bookshelf opened.

Delyna had never seen anything like it. The bookshelf was attached to some sort of gear system that would open it like a door if that book was tampered with. The opening led to a hallway that emanated light. There were no visible torches though. She decided to enter the mysterious hallway, closing the door behind her.

After about a minute of heedful walking, she came to the source of the light. It was a windowless room, covered wall to wall with parchment, there were shelves full of books she’d never seen before, and reading in the corner of the room was none other than her father- the crowned king.

“Father?” He looked up from his book. He had been so enthralled with the pages that he didn’t even notice the footsteps of his youngest child.

“Delyna,” he did not seem very shocked. It was as if he expected this to happen. He smiled sheepishly for a fraction of a second before noticing that Delyna was scanning the walls.

“Father, what is this? Are these all my drawings from when I was a kid?” The walls were covered with them. Pastel drawings, and long lines of prose depicting the dragons going through some sort of challenge and coming out having learned some sort of lesson.

She walked over to him and lifted one of the books on the table. The First Dragonrider’s Book of Spells. Her stomach dropped, and her heart beat like it was trying to build up the energy to fly away. He was the source. The storm happened because of him. The bastard had broken the most fundamental rule of his own kingdom.

“Delyna, listen to me.” He was trying to keep a calm demeanor so that she would do the same. It did not work.

“Father, how could you?” She was red all over her face, tears were forming in her eyes. The sound of her bellowing bounced throughout the walls of the hidden library. “You’re the reason Marylou’s tavern was destroyed! You brought so much destruction to your own kingdom! How could you?”

“Delyna, it’s more complex than you realize.”

“Ok, then explain it to me. I’d love to hear a rational answer.”

The king took a deep breath and motioned for his daughter to do the same. “Think about it, Delyna. The dragons are off in their own little world with access to every tool known to man. They decided centuries ago that they would rule over us, and we had no say in the matter. Do you remember what happened with King Yorkene the 7th?”

“Of course I do. Yorkene the 7th was the last of the Haymaker kings. He was deposed by the farmer’s revolution.”

“Exactly.”

“Father, you are no tyrant. Yorkene the 7th was an unapologetic monster. He would put his own citizens to death on a whim! You lead the proudest kingdom in the world. A group of subjects that have dubbed you Dolant the wise. They love you. Your subjects pray to the dragons for your health each night while you are here secretly plotting against them!”

“That is not what I’m saying Delyna,” he waited briefly for her to figure it out herself. He thought very highly of his daughter. She had always shown a propensity for academics and an incredibly quick wit.

She did not say a thing. She just looked at him, looking to make her disappointment known to the man she had looked up to her entire life. He continued down the path she could have never expected before this day.

“The bulk of the Tyrant Yorkene the 7th’s life was full of love and respect from his subjects. It wasn’t until the end of his life did they decide that he was unfit to rule. Disease affected the man, pushing him further and further towards the point where sitting on the throne was a danger to the world. Vorin is clearly a kind king now, but he is the only dragon king we’ve ever known. We don’t know enough about dragons to know how long they live, how they take care of each other, or even what sort of diseases affect them. What happens if the dragon king loses his grip on reality? What if he suddenly decides that he sees all humans as enemies? What are we to do to defend ourselves?”

Delyna couldn’t help but allow a tear to drip down her cheek. She didn’t acknowledge it, hoping that in the dimness of the candlelight that her father had not noticed.

“Father this is a hypothetical question. The dragons have never done anything to cause us to harm in the past. Vorin has lived for almost three hundred years and has never once shown a hint of violence towards us. Ora probably lived even longer, and according to the histories, likely died with whits so sharp they could cut a redwood tree in two. You are solving an inexistent problem by creating a massive one!”

“It doesn’t need to be a massive problem though,” he said in his convincing tone. “Why do you think the dragons outlawed magic in the first place?”

“Because it’s dangerous for humans! Because they are proud to have us in their lives! Are you paying attention to anything that’s happened? You destroyed Marylou’s tavern! The storm put three of your subjects in the infirmary and nearly killed one of them!”

“Yes, but that storm only happened because I couldn’t control the curse alone. Now, if the whole village teams up”

“FATHER STOP,” she was tired of it. She was shaking trying to keep in the rest of her emotions. She had never before realized that the human body was capable of feeling this strongly about a topic. Not only was someone trying to find a means to destroy her favorite part of this world, but it was her father. The man who raised her to believe in the good of this world, terrified of losing his crown to an inexistent problem. “THIS IS OVER. We are enjoying unprecedented peace and bounty every single year. The dragons are our friends and most likely the reason it is all happening.”

Delyna swallowed. She managed to get through it all without letting her lip quiver. The thought of saying things like this to her father had never crossed in 18 years. She looked down and blinked out a tear. “And if I hear anything about this again, I will be invoking the right of citizens article 3. If the people hear what you are planning they will be on my side. We will all leave this palace together. If you try to go to the people to perform any spell from your illegal tomes, I will make sure they know the truth and they’ll kick you out themselves. I love you father, but this is a non-negotiable matter.”

The king had no response. He simply looked at her plain-faced. She felt strong. She had just spoken down to her father, to the most powerful person on the island.

“Goodnight father. And in the morning, I would like to think you will forget about all this.”

“Goodnight Delyna.” It was all he could say. He watched on as she exited the chamber.

That night, as the sun hovered behind the eastern hills, the entire island began to shake. They hadn’t seen a natural disaster of that magnitude since before the days of human kings. Five of King Dolant’s subjects were killed in the shaking. They lost the southern building of the palace. Even if the king decided to give up on his quest, the kingdom would never be the same.