Written in the Blood

~Prologue~

There weren’t always dragons in the valley, but had I not chosen this particular mountain rising above this particular town nestled between the hilly terrain just over 200 years ago, I would have never told this tale.

Dawn had just broken over the horizon painting everything a reddish hue… it was a bad omen. It meant blood had been spilled this night and death was close. I lifted my great head and yawned, the stones of my cave rattling in protest. My name is Obsidian named for the shiny black scales that cover my body and I… am a dragon. I’ve lived for just over 900 years which makes me the oldest of my kind on the entire continent, all 2000 square miles of it.

This is my domain and nothing happens here that I don’t know about, such is the intuition and resourcefulness of a dragon my age. I’m in no way considered old for my kind, in fact, I’m about half way through my life cycle. Another yawn escapes as I stretch out my legs and wings. Currently, I reside in a dead volcano surrounded by the stone with my namesake and watch over the surrounding villages and towns nearby. To keep me appeased they will send livestock such as cattle and sheep to sate my massive appetite. Today would be one of those days and I expect the man who normally makes the hike up the steep mountain to be here soon.

I don’t need to take their offerings, I can fend for myself, this is meant as a bargaining chip in exchange for my protection and guidance, I’ve even been a mediator for the more tenuous of situations. I step out to the mouth of my cavernous lair just as the scent of blood catches my nose and I open my mouth to taste the air. It smells like there’s a lot and it’s getting stronger, I assume whoever it belongs to is getting closer. So I sit and wait for the figure to stumble and wobble up the last few feet before dropping to its knees before me.

It’s a women carrying an infant and by the look of it, freshly born, the women’s stomach still protruding from only just having given birth mere hours before. She and her infant are covered in blood, all of it hers. It made her white nightgown cling to her figure like a second skin so it’s easy to see a sharp object protruding from her abdomen. At closer inspection I see the shaft of a spear broken mid hilt sticking awkwardly out of her back. She had quite literally been stabbed in the back and from the looks of it, if removed, she would bleed out in minutes. How she had managed a climb up here in her condition was nothing short of a miracle, going beyond the strength of a normal human.

Upon further scrutiny I find that she isn’t entirely human. She’s half wolf, which would explain why the child in her arms looks like a wolf pup. Wrapped in a shred of her white gown now stained red he sleeps soundly without a care in the world. She holds the infant for a while longer seemingly admiring his small features before she sets him down carefully at my feet. I clamp my jaw shut tight when she opens her mouth to speak for I know to respect what would be her last words.

“Great dragon…” she begins, the gurgling to her voice is most likely the blood filling her lungs, “I ask that you save my child, raise him until he is strong enough to fend for himself for he has no one else.” Looking up she continues, her gasps for air becoming ragged and strangled as she tries to speak through the pain. “I’m not long for this world, so for my dying wish I give my one and only son to you to protect and care for once I’m gone.” I nod, she had heard of me and of the one hobby I have to keep the boredom at bay.

When someone close to death comes to me they may have one wish granted. Most of the wishes are requests to kill a certain backstabbing family member or to make sure that their affairs were in order and maintained when they are gone. I even parlay messages to people too far away to reach in time before their demise. But this is unheard of… I’m sure the boy could go to an orphanage or church to be raised so then why me why a ruthless, meat eating, fire breathing dragon?

I have to know so I ask, “Why me? Why bring the child to me?” All I get for an answer is a hacking cough that sprays blood from her throat and mouth. She then takes out a locket from around her neck and places it on the child. “That…” she wheezes, “Should explain everything…” I let out a frustrated sigh through my nose, the hot air rising as steam. “Fine.” I say, “I shall honor your last request…”

looking down at the tiny creature before me I gently use my two fingers and pull the child closer. “What shall I call him?” She falls over in another fit of hacking and coughing and as the lights fade from her eyes she reaches out toward the child and whispers… “Luka.” I sit there for a while contemplating what I should do next. I have fathered children of my own but I was not the one to raise them that is the duty of the females of my species. I am completely out of my element and though I know what the child needs it will be difficult to care for him when he is still so small and fragile. One wrong move on my part and I could accidentally crush the poor thing. But a promise is a promise and I intended to honor it.

Looking at the lifeless body of the women I decide to give her a burial the only way a dragon knows how. Taking a deep breath in I keep my mouth shut and let the flames funnel out of my nostrils to keep them small enough to light a single body aflame. She is reduced to ashes in minutes and when the embers are just starting to cool I hear the faint sounds of footsteps coming up the narrow mountain path, breakfast is here.

A man with a couple of rams comes into view and ties them to the post a few yards outside of my caves entrance. When he is done I speak to him in the most intimidating voice I can muster. “Human, bring me a cow who can produce milk as fast as you are able or I shall have you and your family for breakfast instead.” It’s cruel of even my standards to scare the man to death like this. He is no more then a simple messenger, but if I don’t, and he takes his sweet time getting back the child may not survive. The man runs back down the mountain side like his rump had been set on fire and Satan himself was at his heels.

Panting and out of breath he’s back within 2 hours, I can’t help chuckle to myself, thats got to be a record, it would normally take a human 3 and a half hours to climb this mountain and back walking. To say he found a cow and came back in near half the time was impressive. “What’s your name human?” The man stands back up from being bent at the waist gulping in air to look up at me with a mix of confusion and terror. “Jeremy.” He says, “Please don’t hurt my family I did as you asked as quickly as I could.” I smile, though it probably looks villainous on me, and say, “Oh Jeremy, not to worry I was only testing you and you passed.”

His shoulders sag in relief and he lets out a breath he had been holding. “Thank the gods.” He breathes.“Jeremy, I will be needing blankets and other supplies to house an infant here with me can I count on you and your discretion to keep me supplied and to not mention this information to another soul?” He nods fervently and begins to head off but before he could get far I call out. “Oh and Jeremy as thanks I will let you keep your rams, in exchange, I’d like to count on you to babysit when I go out to hunt. Sound fair?”

His eyes light up, as a sheep farmer his livestock mean life to him and his family, the fewer he fed to me the better life would be, so of course he agreed. Snagging the ropes off the post he begins to lead the sheep back down the mountain, safe for another day. Once he’s out of sight I look down at the bundle in my claws and notice him start to stir, so placing him gently on two fingers I hold him up to an utter of the cow now tied securely to the post. The old girl doesn’t protest too much when the little wolf pup latches on and begins to suckle. I sigh again, this is going to be a long day…