The Search for Dragons

"There weren’t always dragons in the Valley, but we were faced with a desperate situation." I raised my voice to capture their attention. Now, the patrons of the pub were hanging on my every word, with curious, eager eyes. I ate it up. I had come to the village of Sumax, halfway up Desert Peak Mountain. I continued, "Our land, Morax, of the Salovian Valley, is the most fertile on the continent, no offense to you fine people." I looked around the room, mostly seeing shrugs or vacant stares. I heard a few snickers. Fairly certain I hadn't truly offended anyone, I went on, "As you probably know, most of our neighbors trade peacefully, but we must be vigilant for those who wish to take Morax by force. A month ago, marauders came from the south with ill intent. We fought them off at great expense.

“To make matters worse, a mysterious disease started killing off our citizens. Our healers were powerless. Once a person developed hives, they were as good as dead."

This is where I went wrong. I don't know why I babble on the way I do. Perhaps the mead had something to do with it. I said, "My father, Lord Kalven, is our beloved ruler. My oldest brother, Felias, is captain of the guard. My middle brother, Tolvan', was taken prisoner and hauled to the south, presumed dead. My little sister, Verianna, is sick, perhaps with the illness. Then, there is me, Joran'.” My eyes lowered to the wooden floor. “I'm not good at much of anything. You can see how scrawny I am,” I shrugged, “…and I'm prone to daydreaming. But father, in his wisdom, sent me to seek the power of the mountain dragons."

Now, there was downright laughter. Some covered their mouths. Some held their bellies. Some were pointing at me. I felt my face heat up.

The bartender took the coins I had placed on the counter, shook his head, and said, "It was nice to meet you, Joran’, son of Kalven. I suspect we will not see you again." He turned his back and laughed loudest of all, sparking yet another round of chortles and guffaws.

I gathered my things and left. I hadn't taken 30 steps down the road, when I was surrounded by young men. Their leader, a burly, bearded man who had been in the pub, said, "I'll bet Lord Kalven sent you with plenty of coin for your travels - maybe even enough to bribe a dragon."

I said, lamely, "I don't want any trouble. You can have my coin bag." I dropped it and started forward.

"That is hardly enough," he snarled, grabbing my shirt. "You are hiding the best loot. Hand it all over, and we may spare you."

I whistled, and a screeching answer sounded overhead. Within seconds, a dragon five times the size of the buffoon, landed behind me. All of the goons ran off except for the leader, who was slowly backing up. I aserted, with my eyes staring straight into his, “I think we’re done here. If you leave now, I will have Char, MY dragon spare you. It would have been wise to listen to the rest of my story. You see, there was a reason I started with, ‘There weren’t always dragons in the Valley.’ Because, now there are, and this one is my friend.”

The man, noticing his cronies had fled, took off as fast as his legs could manage, but I noticed a dark spot growing between his legs.

I patted Char on the snout and laughed. “That’s a new one. You made him wet himself!”

I heard chuckling coming from a nearby shrub. When I looked in that direction, I heard a gasp. I called, “Come out, or I’ll have Char burn the bush down.”

I heard a plaintive voice, “No! I’m sorry. I just wanted to see a real dragon.” A girl about two rotations younger than me emerged from the bush, brushing off her plain cotton dress. She was quite pretty, even with her disheveled mop of brown hair. With eyebrows raised, she asked, “Is he really your friend?”

I said, “Yeah, Char is great, aren’t you?” I patted his head and he made an odd warbling sound - half purr, half coo.

The girl asked, “Will you tell me the story of how you found him?”

“Sure, but how about a ride first?”

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. “A ride on a dragon? Oh, boy, I’d love that!”

“I’m Joran’. What’s your name?”

“Sorry, I’m Sylva.” Her cheeks reddened like a tender rose in spring.

I turned to Char and asked, “Is it all right with you if we give Sylva a ride for fun?”

Char’s head nodded once, and he squatted as flat as he could for us to climb up. I got on first and held out my hand to assist her. Sylva sat in front of me. She smelled of wildflowers.

I called, “Hold onto the leather straps.”

Char leaped up and Sylva shrieked in delight, “Weeee!”

Char circled around the area several times. Then, he landed in the clearing from which he had taken off. Sylva and I climbed down. She patted Char and said, “Thank you so much. I will never forget this day as long as I live.”

Her smile made me grin warmly in an otherwise cold world. I knew I had met someone I wanted in my life for a very long time.

I looked into her deep, brown eyes and stated, “I’m ready to tell you how I met Char now. Are you still interested?”

”Oh, yes, Joran’, please.”

We sat under the shade of a warbary tree, and I began, “There weren’t always dragons in the Valley…”.