The Valley of the Dragons

The Valley of the Dragons

“There weren't always dragons in the Valley. But of course, you know that don't you. That is to say, obviously, there have been dragons in the valley since the dawn of time but that’s hardly the same thing, is it? Anyway, what’s important now is that you are here… now, quite silly of you to have been here next week, you would think a candidate of your qualifications would not make such a clumsy error but we won’t hold that against you. You brought your bonafides with you I am sure, may I see them?”

A small gesture was made and acknowledged and shortly thereafter the doddering old proctor of the interview nodded assent to himself and returned to the conversation.

“Well well then you do travel in high company, don’t you. Of course, we would expect nothing less but I do not believe a Jinn has deigned to endorse a human candidate in waking memory. I don’t guess you could tell me what transpired for a being of such infamous reclusivity to be in your debt?”

Another gesture was made in the negative and this time the proctor was not as sanguine in his response.

“It is certainly your right to refuse but I would remind you that this interview is more than a formality. You may be the brightest candidate we have had in aeons but we still have our standards and there is more to holding the staff of this sacred counsel than mere talent and ability.”

The candidate spoke for the first time since arriving and said simply.

“I do not possess talent sir, all that I have and have accomplished I have worked tirelessly for and I started from nothing. The word you are looking for is skilled; I am the most skilled candidate you have had in aeons.”

“And possessed of no shortage of arrogance either I see. All fine and good sir but all of that is as dust in the face of what the dragons are capable of when their back is up, and I can tell you their backs are in a fine state just now. If it were not so critical to the future of our order and, indeed, the entire world I would say I’d like to see you knocked back a peg or two in a face-to-face encounter.”

The proctor rarely let himself get flustered in such a manner, he was approaching his 12th century of life and while he had been known for his fiery passions in his youth the last 300 years had seen his reputation change and mellow to one of even headed sobriety. That was the primary reason he had been chosen to conduct this critical evaluation and here he was allowing this young man to get under his skin and rile him up. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for several moments, letting the disciplines of silence and contemplation return him to his center before speaking again.

“Bah, I apologize young man. It is the failing of great age to assume that those different than you must by definition be a threat to you. Perhaps I am misjudging your confidence as arrogance and that is a failing on my part, not yours. We are indeed in dire straights, the dragons threaten us all and we must find in ourselves the ability to put aside silly squabbling and look to rational solutions lest the darkness overtakes us and leave us cast adrift in chaos from which we cannot return.”

The affirmative nod of the candidate was no more nor less enthusiastic or emotive than the previous gestures but it was an assent to the point and the proctor chose to move on.

“You are as qualified as anyone, that is obvious. Are you qualified enough? We will only know that when the time comes and I hope you will accept the proffered alliances before that day to bolster our chances. We have never even considered one as young as you as a candidate for the order but these are dark and desperate times and all are in agreement that tradition cannot be allowed to be a barrier to good sense. So, I retract my former statement, this interview is indeed a formality and we offer you a seat on our council and a handhold on the staff. Will you accept?”

The face of the candidate was stone and ice, impassive and unmoving but behind that wall, there was movement and consideration. The arrival at the place a week in the future had not been a rare mistake but a necessary and calculating confirmation on his part. It was not by chance that the interview had as its setting the ledge overlooking Dragon Valley, a place that could only be seen on this plane and at very specific points in time, and he was not immune to its dramatic affect. He had slipped ahead in time to the next available viewing to acclimate himself to the effect and to consider. The Dragons were formidable and their impact on history was as far-reaching as it was subtle, they seldom ventured from their Valley in time but when they did epochs ended and were forged anew. What he had to consider now was whether this was an intended end of his epoch and that of the order or if it was the intended end of the Dragon’s and their Valley. In all the known timelines there had never been one who could challenge the Dragons until him and while he would need the support and resources of the order to do it he sensed he could overthrow the Valley and erase the Dragons if he chose. That fact alone had to mean something, didn’t it?

The tension of the moment stretched out and expanded from their meeting place, rippling through the chamber of the order where its other 10 members sat watching through the eyes of the proctor and feeling through his abused senses. Being in proximity to the Valley and the Dragons would try the nerves of the most stalwart of men and the added weight of the candidate's decision was causing the bones of their collective emotions to creak under the weight.

The candidate finally blinked slowly and turned his head toward the Valley. As his eyes fell upon the seething cauldron of dark cloud that masked the entrance to the domain of the Dragons it stirred and began to coalesce into a familiar shape. Over the course of anxious minutes the form of a large slitted eye ringed by tough pebbled flesh emerged and stared back at the candidate and the proctor. It is not fair to say that there was great menace in that eye, it was too disinterested for that. Instead there was a sense of superiority that acknowledged the insignificance of those its gaze fell upon. The proctor shrunk back from this scrutiny but the candidate did not. Forgetting that they should not be visible to the entities in the Valley from their vantage point. For one it was outside of the pocket of time the Valley existed in, and for the other they were shielded from prying eyes and ears by the combined effort of the 11 most powerful beings in existence apart from the Dragons themselves. The candidate knew this but was not surprised nor was he moved by the intrusion of this all seeing presence. He rose slowly and walked to the edge of the cliff overlooking the steep descent into controlled chaos below and matched the eye glare for glare for long moments.

Finally, without turning or breaking eye contact with the force before him he said,

“Yes, I guess it is required of me that I accept your invitation and see where this road takes us. Either we will be victorious and the outcome of that victory will ripple backwards and forward through known time wreaking havoc on all that we think we understand; or we will fail as fated and our epoch will come to an end as all others have done before. Perhaps ours will be the final epoch and there will not be any that come after to know and tell our story but either way I am decided and prepared to embark at your earliest convenience sir.”

The proctor rose without hesitation, the relief rolling off him like an early morning fog and moved toward the doorway standing behind his seat extending a hand to usher the candidate along. The candidate, known as Uke son of Mar, finally broke his gaze with the eye which followed him as he stepped through the door and into the chamber of the Order.

The Dragon, which called itself the name given to it by the oldest humans of this epoch, Tiamat, sighed and retreated from the entrance to the Valley. Time was not the same concept to her and her cohorts but for the first time in her remembering she was uncertain of the future.