The legend of Brochmail and Xia

Once upon a time there was a boy. At three years old he did not know he would become the king of Wales. He did, however, know that he was cold and hungry and not too far from death. He accepted it, though he was scared; he had never seen a dragon in the flesh. He pulled his arms around himself, trying not to smudge the woad markings that covered his body. Each year a child from the village was picked at random, painted with symbols and images that were older than the village itself, taken to the forest, and left there as a sacrifice to the dragons. This year Brochmail was the chosen child. His mother had explained the ritual as she tucked him into bed. He was not to fight when the dragon came; he had to let it kill him for the village to be protected. The other children must have fought back because, as far as Brochmail knew from the few, small bits of history he had learned from his older brothers, dragons had been attacking people and stealing livestock from this village for as long as anyone knew. Their village wasn’t the only one that sacrificed their children for protection. In fact, every village and town in Wales was required to do it by order of the king. Brochmail was still cold, his skinny arms doing little to protect his flesh from the elements. He knelt by one of the ritual candles that sat in a circle around him, and stretched out his hands to the flame, making sure to not get too close just like his mother had told him. Without warning everything stopped. The wind stopped blowing, the birds stopped singing, the squirrels stopped playing in the autumn leaves. Brochmail felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck and his heart began to beat rapidly. The dragon must be coming.

Once upon a time there was a dragon. At twenty years old she did not know she would be exiled and raise a human as her own. She did, however, know that there was a child in this forest, and it was her job to kill it. The sacrificial children were painted in blue markings, and they fought with tooth and nail to survive she had been told. She was afraid; she had never seen a human in the flesh. She prowled through the underbrush, her dark green scales camouflaging her. Years of training had led to this moment, if she killed the child she would be put in the army and join the battle against the warrior race of humans. She had been raised on stories of weapons and strength, of huge men capturing and torturing dragons. Xia was ready, she had trained, learnt all the lore, done her share of patrols and, now that she was fully grown, was beyond eager to fight. In a clearing ahead she saw a flickering of tiny flames. Peering around the wide trunk of a yew tree she saw a tiny figure all white and blue with fiery red hair upon its head, crouched on the ground by one of the tiny flames. Its hands were held out to the fire, but it was stock still, it’s eyes wide and roving. Xia felt there must be a mistake, this small thing could not possibly be a threat. She thought back to the charcoal images on her cave walls, of hulking warriors, this thing just did not match up. But this was her job, and if the tales were correct it was going to be much harder than it looked. She took a deep breath and pounced.

Brochmail didn’t know how it had happened it had been so quick. It had felt like an invisible force had thrown him backwards. He felt his spine crush against a large rock, his limbs were pinned down and when he looked up, he met the huge green slitted eyes of a dragon. There was a long talon at his throat and as he swallowed, he felt it lightly pierce the fragile flesh of his neck. His bladder let go and a sense of shame flooded through him; he had only recently learned to control his bodily functions. His mother had given him a sweet bun when he had managed to sleep through the night without wetting his blankets. He had to just stay still; it would be over soon. He fought the instinct to wriggle, to pull that talon away and try to save his own life. He closed his eyes and raised his chin; he thought of his brothers, of his mother and father, his neighbours and the king. He had to let it kill him to protect them. So why wasn’t it killing him?

It wasn’t fighting. In fact, it had a look of resignation on its small face; and it stunk of terror and urine. How could it be so calm whilst quaking with fear? The skin beneath the blue paint was pale and blotchy. And smooth, hairless and smooth; very unlike the etchings she had seen of humans with their long facial hair and rugged complexions. She pushed her talon deeper into the child’s throat and it closed its eyes. A single tear ran down its cheek and its lip wobbled. She couldn’t do it. Not until she had some answers. Before she could change her mind, she grasped it around its middle and leapt into the sky. As her tail brushed the treetops the child let out a scream. The first outward sign of fear it had shown. She pushed on, upwards until she hit the clouds and the air currents above. With wings spread wide she tipped her head upside down to peer at the child in her grasp.

“Who are you?” She rasped out in a rough version of Welsh.

“B-B-Brochmail.” The child answered, his eyes bulging as he clung to her leg.

“Why didn’t you fight me?”

Brochmail glanced down at the fluffy clouds. “Don’t drop me.”

The pleading in his voice made Xia’s hearts sink. “I won’t. But you were supposed to fight me.”

“Fighting is bad, and I’m not allowed. Mama said I was going to die. I’m the sastifice. The sacfifice.” He began to wail, “I want mama.”

Xia lifted her head away, there was too much to think about. In the distance, rising above the clouds, was Dragon Mountain. Pocked with caves and with dragons of all colours swooping around its peaks, the Mountain was home to the entire dragon army. And the king. Which is where Xia was headed.

They landed on a platform jutting out from the mountain and Xia planted Brochmail on his feet. He instantly bent to throw up and when he looked up he was greeted with the stares of two hulking black dragons. Both had their teeth bared and were letting out a hissing sound.

“Why would you bring a human here?”

Xia lifted a wing and wrapped it protectively around Brochmail. “I need to see the king.”

Their hissing intensified. “You would dare to bring this child to the king?”

“I need to know what a child is. I need to know why I was ordered to kill this defenceless creature.”

The bigger of the two dragons laughed, a deep throaty sound; smoke curled from his nostrils. “You are as green as your scales. A child is the human word for a hatchling.”

Xia hissed. “Why would I be ordered to kill a hatchling? It didn’t even try to fight back; it was ready to die.”

“Then you should have killed it. You dared to defy a direct order from the king? Then you and this boy will face the consequences. Come.” He turned and walked into the darkness of the cave beyond.

Xia pulled Brochmail to her side, sheltering him within her wing as she followed the guard. Inside the cave, the path curled down and down towards the heart of the mountain. Brochmail tripped often, sobbing as they walked, his exhaustion and fear making him unsteady in the darkness.

They came to a huge set of wooden doors, carved with images of dragons in battle with humans. Brochmail whimpered as the guard blew flames into the scones of the walls, making the images on the doors flicker and dance. The doors swung open, and the guard gestured for them to enter, his snakelike tongue flicking out in amusement. Xia entered cautiously; her wing still tight around Brochmail.

“Who dares to approach the king with a human?” Hissed a voice in the shadows.

“I am Xia, training for the army I was ordered to hunt and kill this hatchling. I want to know why.”

Flames bloomed from the far side of the cavern and multiple torches caught fire, lighting up the space. The cavern was huge, the walls embedded with diamonds and jewels. On the far side was a dragon so dark he sucked the light from around him like a black hole, a crown of bones on his scaly head, seated on a dais with four more black guards sitting at the base. Xia bowed her head for her king.

“You claim you were ordered to kill him and yet here he stands, breathing and stinking up my throne room with his piss.”

“Sire, I apologise, only I did not know a child was a hatchling. I thought there may have been some mistake, and he did not fight back. I expected a battle.”

“There was no mistake Xia. Our new recruits must kill whatever they find in the forest, be it warrior or hatchling. You want to join your army in the fight against mankind, don’t you? You don’t want to throw away years of training. Kill it now and join the ranks.”

Xia looked at Brochmail. He was so small, so frail. Her hearts beat quickly as she tried to muster up the courage to kill a hatchling.

“If you don’t,” The king continued, sparks jumping from his mouth, “If you continue to disobey me, then we will be forced to do it for you, and you will no longer have the option to fight with your brothers and sisters. And if you dare to defend it, turn against your own kind, you will be exiled.”

Xia took another long look at Brochmail, his pleading eyes staring back at her.

“So be it. Guards.” The king clicked his claws on the ground and his guards began to slink towards Brochmail. Brochmail’s breathing quickened and he began to back towards Xia. Flames licked at his feet as the guards got closer and he jumped backwards, tripping on a ruby that jutted from the ground, crashing to the ground. The guards hissed as more flames spilled from their lips and they lifted their talons to strike. Xia lost her nerve. She chose exile. She threw her wing around Brochmail as the flames poured towards him, scooping him up into her talons. Pushing up from the ground towards the ceiling of the cavern she gathered up all her flame reserves and concentrated them into a razor-sharp ball and blasted it at the wall. It worked; she could see the sky through the hole she had made. Pink and purple hues, night was coming. And she had no place to go. She could hear the flapping of the kings’ guards at her back. Exile had she defended the hatchling but blasting a hole in the throne room ceiling and taking the hatchling with her? Death; they were definitely coming to kill her. She had something the guards didn’t though. With their size they wouldn’t be able to navigate the dense forest. Xia was sleek and quick and had the perfect colouring to hide amongst the underbrush. She couldn’t stay there, not while they were looking for her, but she would never lose them unless she got under cover.

She flew close to the ground, twisting easily around trunks and bushes. She had learnt to be silent during her months of patrolling and she could easily hear the hulking figures of the guards searching. She pushed on, using all her strength and speed to put as much distance between them as possible. When she could no longer hear the guards coming, she continued for as long as she could. It was full dark before she stopped near a brook, dropped Brochmail, and drank deeply. The water hissed as it hit the back of her scorched throat. The flashes of sparks as she breathed heavily were the only thing anyone hunting them would have seen. She turned to see Brochmail drinking next to her. He was shaking and crying.

“Are you alright hatchling?”

Brochmail shook his head. “No. I’m scared. I want mama.”

“I can’t leave you here, and I don’t know where you came from. Do you know the name of your village?”

“Tintern.”

“Well, I don’t know where that is but together we can find it.”

“No, please. I can’t go back.”

“Why not my hatchling?”

“Because I’m the safricice. I need to be killed. They will send me back to the forest.” He looked down at his painted body and shuddered. His eyes were rimmed with red and his exposed skin was covered in goosebumps.

“Are you cold?”

He nodded numbly and Xia looked about her. She gathered some stones and logs and sectioned off a part of the brook. Then she gently breathed her flames onto it until the water began to steam.

“Come and take a bath, little one.” She said kindly, urging him forwards with her wing. He climbed into the water gratefully and began to rub away the paint. When the water was tinged with blue Xia removed one of the logs to let the water be replaced with fresh. Brochmail began to shiver again so she heated the water once more. She could not believe how fragile this human was. After all her lessons about the warriors who slay dragons, she had assumed they were as tough skinned as she was. She watched as Brochmail’s eyes began to close. He was truly exhausted. Gently she lifted him from the water and placed him on a bed of moss, covering his damp body with a blanket of leaves. He would need some cover if he was going to survive the cold night. Once she was certain he was asleep she slunk away into the trees until she found a clearing where she could leap into the sky. Looking down she made a note of where she had left him sleeping and flew into the darkness.

The next morning Brochmail awoke to find Xia curled around him, the warmth from her scales pressed against his bare flesh. She wasn’t quite green anymore, there was a red glow that seemed to be coming from within her. He eased himself up to go and relieve himself. He had gone another night without wetting his blankets, he ached with hunger and the thought of the sweet bun he should have had made him want to cry again. Xia stirred and saw him. Her hearts softened and she lifted a pile of fabric gently in her talon.

“I brought you some coverings.” She said.

“Thank you. What’s your name?”

“I am Xia. And I’m going to look after you. Okay?”

Brochmail nodded, a small smile on his face. “Everyone is scared of dragons. But you are nice.”

“Well thank you, everyone I know is scared of humans, but you are nice too. Once you are dressed I’m going to take you up in the air again, I need to find us somewhere to live until I can think what to do with you. Okay?” Brochmail nodded again. “You can ride on my back this time, you just have to hold tight. But if you slip don’t worry, I’m very fast and I can catch you.”

It was sunset before they found a suitable resting place. It was another mountain range and Xia scoped out a small cave, just the right size for them both and sheltered from the elements. It was dry and, once Xia had lit a small fire, it was warm. Brochmail was weak and exhausted still, trembling a sick. Xia asked him what was wrong.

“I’m so hungry.”

“I can get you some food. I don’t know anything about human hatchlings, so you are going to have to help me. When you are hungry you need to tell me alright?”

Brochmail nodded and Xia flew off, returning swiftly with a large fish in her jaws. She cooked it over her fire and Brochmail felt as if it was the best thing he had ever tasted.

Years passed. Brochmail had insisted on staying with his dragon, his mama Xia. Xia hadn’t minded, now that she was exiled she didn’t have anyone else in her life. Within days she found she loved her little human hatchling, and to her surprise her scales glowed with happiness. Together they spun a tale of a better world. A world where dragons and humans could exist together. They plotted and they planned. As Brochmail grew their plots and schemes began to seem like a reality. If only they could confront the king of Wales and the king of Dragons and make them see. When Brochmail was eleven years old Xia felt he needed to go back to the humans, learn from them, prepare him for a time when he could re-join his kin. She also hoped he could find out if other humans were open to the idea of mixing with dragons. If they were as kind and gentle as Brochmail she felt certain some would. Talking with the dragons would be a much bigger challenge. So once a week Brochmail would ride on Xia’s back down to various villages and towns to meet with professors and bakers and blacksmiths and parents. He spoke to many people over the years but all he learnt was the terrible effect the dragons had on humankind. Every village he went to had destroyed buildings, mourning families and famine. Every town was ordered to send out a sacrifice once a year. If he ever happened upon the sacrificial ceremonies, he would follow the child into the forest and rescue them, sending them to a village far away, leaving them with a kind-hearted family. He dearly loved Xia and yet he felt his heart hardening towards dragon-kind. When he was sixteen he stayed with the humans for over a week, hitching rides from town to town until he got to Machynlleth, the home of the king.

“Sire, thank you for granting me audience.” Brochmail stood in the throne room, not so different from the dragon throne room; cavernous and jewel encrusted with an angry ruler on the dais.

“What do you want?” He drawled.

“I wish to speak with you about dragons. I have spent my whole life wanting to ask you to consider co-existing with them, to put an end to the battles, to stop the killing.”

The king leaned forwards, resting his head lazily on his hands. “And why would I do that?”

“You wouldn’t. Since talking to people all through the land I’ve realised that the real solution would be to kill all the dragons. And I’m the person who can help you do that.”

The king raised his eyebrows in surprise. “What makes you think you could help? I mean, look at you.” He gestured to Brochmail’s slim frame and then to his warrior guards, all beards and muscles.

“Because I know dragons. I know their weaknesses. And I know where their king lives.”

During the next year Brochmail trained with Xia, their plan was for him to become a warrior and defeat the king, stop the sacrifices and join the humans and dragons. All the time, Brochmail was learning Xia’s weaknesses, a dragons weaknesses, and visiting the king secretly to pass on his knowledge. He drew maps to Dragon Mountain, pinpointing the entrance to the cavern in case they ever needed it. The army started training, creating new weapons to defeat the dragons. With some persuasion Brochmail convinced Xia to go back to Dragon Mountain, to seek audience with the king and to convince him to meet with the king of Wales on the battlefield. From everything Brochmail had learnt the dragon king would love the idea of confronting the human king on the battlefield. There was no way the dragons would entertain the idea of co-existing which is precisely what Brochmail was hoping for.

Xia returned safely the night of visiting the dragon king with a mountain goat. She cooked them a feast and they talked into the night. Xia glowed bright red, savouring this time with her son. She was nervous about the meeting of the kings. Brochmail seemed confident but she had a bad feeling that everything was going to go wrong.

They rose early the next morning and flew down to the decided upon meeting place. In the distance they heard the flapping of hundreds of wings and the marching and sword clashing of the human army. As the kings rode to the front of their armies Brochmail embraced Xia.

“You’ve been a mother to me. I love you with all my heart but now I need you to go. I’m sorry.”

“What do you mean my little one? I’m here to stand at your side, to show them that we can live together, that the war can end.”

“That’s not going to happen. I’m so sorry.” Brochmail raised his sword and yelled out his war cry. At his signal five huge soldiers raised their swords and pointed them at the king of Wales. “Sire. I was sent out to be sacrificed at your command. I have not seen my family since. And now you are going to pay the price.” He stalked forwards and with one strong sweep he beheaded the king. He heard the dragon army hiss behind him and heard Xia calling out to her human son to stop, to turn back and fulfil their purpose. Instead, he bent and lifted the golden crown. His warriors knelt before him as he placed it upon his own head. “I am your king now. King Brochmail. I will lead us to a better future, a future without dragons, without sacrifice and without death. Will you fight at my side?”

There was an overwhelming cheer from the troops he had helped to train, the troops whose heads he had filled with poison towards their former king. He had been preparing for this moment for a long time. As he turned towards the dragon army his troops raised their specially designed weapons. Weapons that would kill a dragon with one hit. Brochmail’s eyes met Xia’s and he saw a single tear run down her cheek before she leapt into the air and flew up above the clouds.

From above the clouds Xia could hear the shouts and screams from the humans, the hissing and roars from the dragons. What had happened to her sweet boy? She felt her hearts crumble as she flew to safety. There was nothing she could do now. She was not built for battle, and the humans did not know she was their new king’s adoptive mother. She would be killed instantly. By both sides. She had given her life for Brochmail, and this is how it would end.

That night she returned to the battlefield. There were corpses everywhere, human and dragon. She wept for them all. They had all been betrayed. She had been betrayed. She caught a scent in the air and turned eagerly to see her son standing before her. He had a deep gash to one arm, but he stood straight and proud, that forsaken golden crown on his head. The head she had kissed goodnight.

“Mama, you aren’t red anymore.”

“You broke my hearts my hatchling. How could you do that?”

“I ended the war. They were never going to agree to live together in peace. Isn’t that what we wanted? An end to the killing?”

Xia shook her scaly head sadly. “Not like this. I’m the last dragon my son, can’t you see how that hurts me?”

“I’m sorry.” His face hardened. “You don’t understand. The dragons were killing humans everywhere, they were taking their food, leaving their homes in ruin.”

“And the humans were doing that right back to the dragons. You just didn’t see that side of the picture. I should have never sent you down to the villages. I’m so disappointed.”

Brochmail straightened, the sorrowful look leaving his eyes. “I’ve ordered the forest out of bounds. You’ll be safe there. And if anyone disobeys and goes in there at least you’ll blend in.” He sneered. “I thought you’d be proud of me.”

“How could I be?” Xia replied in barely a whisper.

“I’m honouring you, you know.” Brochmail pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket. Drawn roughly on it was a rectangle coloured green and white, standing proudly in the centre was a bright red dragon. “Wales won’t forget you, or your sacrifice. This is to be our flag. Now you must go, the men will be coming to clear the dead soon.”

“And what about the fallen dragons? Will they be given a proper burial?”

Brochmail shrugged as he folded the paper. “I’m not sure mama, I’m pretty new at this.” He smiled and for a moment he looked like his old self.

Xia bumped her head into his before shaking her head sadly again. “Goodbye hatchling.”

“Goodbye mama.”

Xia turned and slunk into the forest, her dark scales blending perfectly into the underbrush.