Sci Fi & Fantasy / The Truth of the Dragons - Chapter 2
Chapter 02 – A Life for a Life
Grafee Gendusfraune pumped her wing muscles hard; long, deep thrusts forced her wings to drive into the winds and pull her along faster, increasing her speed. The dark forest below her was indiscernible to her eyes for she could see no details, only a blackness that twinkled with the occasional glint of moonlight upon some wet feature.
Morning would soon arrive and by then she wanted to be a long way away from this place, leaving behind no trail that the humans could follow. She had altered direction twice during her flight, lest any human eyes had spied her journey in the lightning dressed sky.
Firmly and tenderly, she clutched her treasure; her eyes peering into the darkness ahead, fearful for any obstacle that may appear in her path.
Her eyes would occasionally scan the skies higher around her, looking for the sign of any other dragons in flight. There was none, and her minds eye took her back to a time when the skies where plentiful with dragons. That time seemed so long ago.
She recalled the time when, as a ‘Dragonling’ herself, she had first flown the skies in a parade of dragons. The sky, on that day, had been bountiful with dragon wings!
Over the years, the numbers of the dragons had fallen, as if the skies had cast them out into space itself!
Very few dragons now lived a complete life and died a natural death. Something evil was at work in the lands, and this evil seemed to be determined to remove all dragons from the face of the earth.
Grafee began to think of her mother, how she had taught her the ways of the dragons, how she had told her the joys of being a dragon; to be able to fly, and to cast fire, and to be fearful of no predators.
Grafee could feel tears begin to well within her eyes, and she tried to look deeper into her mind, trying to find a picture of the face of her mother trying to soothe her, but all she could see was the picture of her mother crying. A picture of her mother trying to tell her how her father had vanished and, though searched for by many dragons, there was no sign of him to be found, on land, in air, or in sea!
Through the misty picture of her mother in her minds eye, Grafee became aware of a blackness looming toward her. Her senses suddenly became wide-awake as she realised that she was plummeting toward the ground. She tried to wrestle with two realities; one was a picture of her mother, and the other was of the approaching ground, each was vying for her attention.
Grafee slammed her wings into a forward sweeping motion, trying to thwart her doom-facing flight; trying to give herself time to decelerate before she collided with the treetops of the forest. Pain wracked her wing muscles as see fought, and slowly she felt her flight path raise a little, angling upward toward the far horizon.
She angled her wings, holding them outstretched as far as she could, and felt her body begin to defy the gravity that was, so desperately it seemed, trying to pull her down. She felt the trashing of leaves and small branches as they tore along the underside of her body, she felt her tail almost being caught and snared between thicker branches, and then she was free, her body suddenly lifting higher into the sky. Only the night around her heard her curses for her own stupidity for allowing herself the luxury of relaxation.
She acknowledged the movement within her claws, and knew that both her treasure and the fawn were still there. Then, with long, sweeping wing beats, she angled her flight a little upwards, trying to get away from the ground, ensuring she would have more time to manoeuvre should she almost fall asleep again; however, this she swore she would not do!
The battering winds lessened in intensity, and the rumble of thunder faded into a destination that grew further away with every beat of Grafee Gendusfraune’s wings. Where possible, she would relax her wing muscles and allow the air current to carry her for a while, giving her weary wings a chance to rest, to gather strength from the short spells of inactivity, but she ensured she never relaxed her concentration, tiring as it was.
Her mad dash from the humans and the thunderstorm had drained her immensely, and now all that she sought was rest. Her tired eyes scanned the horizon, seeking out high hills or mountains, any place that she could land and rest, and feed, and most importantly, sleep.
The sun was rising on the horizon to her right and she could feel the warmth that it draped across her body, and her treasure. The land, below and ahead of her, was bleak and flat now that the Forests of Lavenseer where being left behind her. Scratches of plant life fought against the surrounding deserts, eager for their own share of life, and Grafee knew that as inhospitable as this land was for her, it would also be inhospitable for the humans should they try to follow her.
Where she was heading was not a good place to dwell within, for the land was almost barren of all life, and held an evil presence in its shadows. All who knew of its existence avoided this territory and only unwary, unknowing wanderers ever walked its soil. There were very few who had ever gone into this land and even fewer who ever came back. This region, which she now flew across – known as the Bad Lands -, was avoided by beast and human alike under normal circumstances; but these were not normal circumstances.
Subconsciously, this was the reason why Grafee had chosen to come here. There seemed to be no other place to hide away from the humans who were so relentless in tracking her down no matter where she went, and so her only option was to come to a place that she believed they would never dare follow her. If she could have been sure that they never knew where she was heading she may have chosen another mountainous region to go, but tiredness had driven her this way. Her only other option was to the west, and the Mountains of Gulthern beyond the Forests of Crozenth, but that was a long journey and she doubted that she would have the energy to reach that place in a single flight. Anywhere that she stopped for rest along the way, would be a place where the humans could attack her; as they had done so for the last three days. She had no choice but to fly hard for as long as she could into the Bad Lands, and endeavour to hide there for a small while. If she could but rest a little, regaining her energies, then she could quickly leave this land and go in search of a safer, distant place.
Inside, she hoped that the humans would believe that she had returned to Kistrark Mountain and to the cave from where they had taken her treasure. The longer the humans spent in trying to locate her, then the more chance her treasure would have to hatch in safety.
The land below had begun to fill with colour as the sun spread out its rays across the world, and Grafee could see high mountains far to the north. She would have to land soon, for these mountains where a place where she was not going to go. The Lesuth Mountains seemed to emanate the evil that pervaded over the Bad Lands and Grafee would land soon, staying far south of the Lesuth Mountains.
Grafee scanned the skies around her, looking once again for any sign of dragons on the wing but, as she already knew, there was none. She knew that only the most foolish of dragon, beast, or man, would ever knowingly enter the Bad Lands. Her gaze returned to the ground and she peered hard, looking for any area that held a little shade, a drinking place, and, hopefully, some vegetation that she could use to sustain her tired and hungry body for a little while.
She felt that she would have to land soon; close to one of the small patches of vegetation that speckled the sands and occasional rocky floor. She doubted she would have the strength to get airborne again, and so she kept on flying, hoping to spy a place of shelter that was near vegetation and, hopefully, close to a source of water.
She continued to fly, resting her wing beats whenever possible, using the warming air currents to keep her aloft. Her flight was not straight and smooth but up and down, as she pushed herself higher into the sky every time she felt that the ground was becoming too close. Her claw that held her treasure was beginning to suffer from cramps but she dared not flex her muscles for fear of damaging her treasure, instead she had to suffer the pain, ignore it as best she could, and wish that it would go away.
Through half closed eyes, Grafee spotted a ‘darkness’ on the ground, away to her left and, once again, she altered her direction and headed toward it, hoping that this would be a place to land in safety. She hoped that the darkness was shadow and, if it where shadow, that would indicate large rocks, possibly a few trees, perhaps water.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on pushing her wings muscles harder, pushing her faster toward the dark area. She opened her eyes, and seemed no nearer to her chosen destination; she cursed, and drove her wings harder. Slowly, the distance began to recede and Grafee could determine that it was a large outcropping of stone, striking out against the barren flat land, looking as though nature had thought to start a mountain here but, for some reason lost to time itself, nature had changed her mind.
The Lesuth Mountains still loomed in the far distance and, for this, Grafee was grateful as she wished to keep as far away from those mountains as possible; and the evil that seemed to pervade them.
Grafee has already angled her wings so that she was on a long, slow, sloping glide path, which would bring her in near to the base of the little mountain. Her eyes began to discern a small group of trees near the base of the mini mountain and, for this, Grafee was grateful. Now she would have a chance to rest and to feed.
Safe from human eyes, another ‘Truth of the Dragons’ would remain a myth! At this thought, Grafee felt a small smile break into her tired and determined features. She began to think of Dragon History, and how it had been shaped so long ago; shaped to discourage man forever, so that man would be deterred from trying to destroy dragons, or trying to make them beasts of burden or, most of all, deterring man from making dragons into livestock!
The fast approaching ground caused Grafee to wail in despair, her concentration had betrayed her once again and, in pitiful desperation, she tried to slow her descent but her glide path was too steep, her speed was immense, and her strength was low. Grafee tried; tried with all of her might to slow her descent, but she knew that no matter what she did, it would not be enough!
Her body vibrated fiercely as her wings all but collapsed, and with the last desperate strength of a mother trying to protect her child, she threw her left shoulder downwards, and forced her right wing upwards, trying to force her body to roll over so that she was flying upside down. It was the least she could do to protect her treasure; collide with the ground with the dragon egg held safely out of the reach of the pounding that the earth would surely give.
Hurtling toward the earth, flying upside down with her back to the ground, Grafee could only see a few clouds crawling across a lightening sky. She could not tell how close the earth was until her back slammed into the ground, her body was bounced once into the air, lifted briefly, before being slammed back into the earth; and then she hurtled along the uneven ground, feeling the stones and gravel attempting to pulverise her armoured scales. Through all the bumps and jerks, she held her treasure safe within her claw, her mind trying to ignore her battle with the ground, trying to hold her treasure tightly and yet not too tightly.
Her passage across the stones and rocks came to a screeching halt, and Grafee was aware of a billowing dust rising around her, and then, in a morbid silence, slowly settling back to earth. In pain she tried to roll over, to get off her back and, in doing so she jarred her arm against the ground and, in horror, she watched her treasure fall from her grasp, land upon the ground and begin to roll slowly away down a small gradient. Grafee lurched, trying to grasp the egg, trying to stand, and she failed.
The pain of her landing engulfed her tired frame and her outstretched neck and claw fell to the floor, as strength left her and an invading blackness overwhelmed her resisting mind. Her last vision was of her treasure rolling toward a large rock, surly heading toward oblivion. If Grafee had had the strength to cry, then she would have done so.
A blackness receded from Grafee’s mind but not because it had worn itself out, but because Grafee fought against this blackness, trying to pull herself back into the light of day; the light of consciousness. Briefly, she succeeded and, fighting to open her eyes, she searched the ground ahead of her, searching for her treasure. Despair filled her as she saw no sign of the green-white shell that was the life-chamber for her child. She tried to raise her head but could not. Images of predators haunted her mind as she continued to search and then she saw something. It was not her treasure, but it was something she recognised. What was familiar about it? She questioned her tired, un-answering mind.
It the direction she recalled her treasure to have rolled, there was no sign of her treasure, but against the rock that she had seen her treasure tumble toward there was a shape, a colour. It was a shape and colour not of the rocks around this place, but darker, with light spotted patches. How did the fawn get over there? Asked Grafee to herself, as pain and sleep engulfed her once again, dragging her down into another deep oblivion.
For a second time, Grafee felt the darkness recede from her mind and, determined not to remain its prisoner, she raised her head even before she attempted to open her eyes. She would not succumb to this darkness again! She could not afford to, if there was any chance to save her treasure then it was up to her, and her alone!
She opened her eyes, and the brightness of the sun poured in, almost blinding her. She felt immense hunger, but the tiredness was not as great as before, and so she pulled herself to her feet, beginning to stumble toward the rock, toward the fawn, and toward whatever destiny had befallen her treasure.
Almost in a drunken stupor, she dragged herself toward the rock; the scent of blood and birth was strong in her nostrils. She halted and stretched her neck toward the ground, her eyes peering around the body of the blood-covered fawn, searching for her treasure. She gasped in horror as she cleanly saw the broken shell of her dragon egg! Stifling a cry, she used her snout to swipe at the body of the fawn, and cast it to one side so that she could better see what had happened to her precious treasure.
As she tossed the body of the fawn to one side, Grafee was surprised to see another movement from near the rock. A small shape darted out and then scurried away, racing toward the prone body of fawn. The body of the fawn soon hid the scurrying shape from Grafee’s view, and Grafee could see the fawn’s body move a little as the shape borrowed beneath it, trying to hide.
She had recognised that shape and joy filled her, reinvigorating her soul. She manoeuvred her neck so that her face was beside the body of the fawn and, as she did so, she became aware of a hissing, rumbling sound. She moved her head further over the body of the fawn and a small shape appeared, its fore claws placed upon the body of the fawn, and it hissed straight into Grafee’s face! Her treasure was defending the fawn! Grafee was surprised, and taken back by this development. The Dragonling continued to hiss, thrusting its tiny head at Grafee, warning her to keep away. Grafee smiled, her child was a fighter; and it would need to be to survive in this world!
There was a movement from the fawn itself and Grafee watched as the lethargic fawn lifted its neck a little, obviously in great pain, and raised its head, turning it a little, so that it could see Grafee clearly. Grafee looked back into the eyes of the fawn and saw no fear there. The huge round, unblinking eyes, continued to stare at Grafee for a moment and then the head collapsed back onto the ground. Grafee was aware of the amount of blood that covered the body of the fawn, and she knew that it was very weak and close to death.
Reaching out a mother’s claw, Grafee deftly grabbed her treasure behind the head, barely missing the frantic needle like teeth that sought to gain purchase upon her, and lifted her treasure clear of the fawn. Her treasure squealed its anger, writhing in her grasp, trying to break free, trying to get back to its… mother! Grafee reeled in shock, her treasure believed the fawn to be its mother! It was absurd, but Grafee could see how this had happened. Her treasure, on hatching, had first laid eyes on the fawn and so believed that was its mother.
Trying to keep tender purchase upon her writhing treasure, Grafee could not help but be impressed by the determination of the young deer. At every opportunity, it had always fought to get to her treasure. Grafee could only wonder why this was so.
Grafee became aware of the laboured, shallow breathing of the fawn and saw it kick its legs a little, trying to encourage itself to stand, trying to move toward the Dragonling; and failing miserably as its body strength let it down. Grafee looked long and hard at the fawn. This would be a difficult decision that she would have to make and circumstances, particularly her own lack of food in recent times, made the decision all the more difficult. She saw the fawn try to twist its head around; trying to see the Dragonling or trying to see the large dragon, she could not tell. Grafee was tired and did not know what course of action to take. Hunger was her problem, and the need to protect her child was her driving force.
Slowly, Grafee opened her huge jaws and, looking down at the fawn, she moved her mouth closer toward the head of the fawn. She saw the fawn panic; trying to struggle and move away, and failing.
When she had finished, Grafee moved away and sought shelter beside a rock face, the slight overhang would protect her from the sun, and hide her a little from any who could be trying to seek her out. She expected no one to be searching for her here but she could take no chances. In a little while, she would go and search for food, but first she needed to spend time with her daughter, she had to bond; her treasure needed to know that she was its real mother.
Grafee lay down in the shadowed overhang and curled her huge body around, bringing her neck around to the side of her body and, in the space created between her neck and body, she released her grip upon her Dragonling; allowing it to run free. The Dragonling was quick to race to her neck and try to burrow out beneath it, trying to escape. Grafee forced her neck into the earth, blocking any would be escape route of the Dragonling. After much frantic scratching, the Dragonling gave up and, instead, tried to jump and seek purchase upon the dragon’s neck, hoping to pull itself over the neck of the dragon. For a while, the Dragonling was failing but then, when Grafee felt tiny claws dig in between her scales, and she knew that the Dragonling had gained a foothold, Grafee reached out and grasped her protesting daughter, and held her tight against her chest. The bonding was going to take time, Grafee knew this, but hoped it would not be too long for food was an urgent requirement as she had used most of her remaining energies upon the fawn.
As an afterthought, and ensuring she kept a secure hold on the still struggling Dragonling, Grafee raised her head and looked in the direction in which she had left the fawn. The fawn was still there, lying silent and unmoving in the heat of the sun. Grafee pondered the fawn for a moment, recalling the arrow that had pierced the fawn, pinning it to her forelimb, wondering how the fawn had managed to get free after she had crashed into this rocky piece of land. She decided that the fawn had been thrown free of her grasp, during her collision with the earth, and she felt sympathy for the little beast. It had taken great strength and determination to reach the egg, as the fawn must have been so close to death. She knew that the fawn’s mother would have been proud of her for showing such spirit and determination.
There was a twitch of one of the fawn’s legs and Grafee hoped that she had been in time to save the little beast; it was least she could do, for she believed that the fawn had most likely saved the life of her own treasure.
Grafee thought about the fear in the fawn’s face as she had opened her gaping jaws, moving them closer toward the fawn, trying to get the fawns head almost entirely in her mouth and then, using the last of her remaining energies, she had summoned DragonBreath to breathe into the lungs of the dying baby deer. She knew that the fawn had been scared, but she had no way of comforting her; all she could do was to use her powers to try to restore the fawn to full health. Now it was a waiting game, a wait to see if she had had enough DragonBreath stored within her, a wait to see if the fawn had enough strength to fight for life.
She hoped that the fawn would survive for, in her own eyes, it would be fair… a life for life!
Grafee lowered her head and raised the little Dragonling toward her face. The Dragonling continued to squirm for a little while and then it stopped, its head tilting to one side, as it studied Grafee’s features. Grafee stared back, and began to wonder by what name she should call her little, determined, child?
The Dragonling emitted a long, tired yawn, closed its big eyes and its head fell limply to one side as sleep encompassed it and drew it away from this land for a while. Grafee gently lowered her forelimb to the ground and, still holding her treasure, she allowed it to rest a little upon the ground.
Grafee became aware of something touching her neck and, with sudden fear rising within her she raised her neck and looked around. A great sigh of relief swept over her for it had been no evil humans that had touched her but instead, it had been the wet nose of the fawn pushing against her. The fawn had not even startled when Grafee had swung her head up and now she raised her head and neck higher until the fawn could see the Dragonling, snuggled against its mother, in safety, and asleep. The fawn walked unsteadily forward, and moved up close beside the Dragonling and, snuggling as close to it as possible, quickly fell asleep.
Grafee was amused and grateful for this because she knew that her daughter would have no need to escape and search for the fawn now that the fawn was beside her. Grafee felt the pull of sleep upon her, and allowed herself to succumb to the insistent voice, a voice drawing her down into a deep and peaceful world.
In places, Grafee’s dreams where haunted by Dragon Lore, of the changes that had occurred even in her own life time, and memories that were not really hers but tales of the past when the dragons had been plentiful, and the world had seemed to have been a far better place.
Grafee startled out of her sleep, visions of humans approaching her had caused her to awaken suddenly. Her panic receded as see realised that she had only dreamt of approaching humans and, glancing toward her treasure, she was pleased that her sudden movement had not disturbed the slumber of her daughter, or of the little fawn.
Grafee lay there, acknowledging that she would need to find food soon, but not so importantly that the need should disturb the sleep of the young. Grafee raised her claw, which had carried the fawn, and saw a small piece of arrow shaft protruding from her skin. Though it no longer pained her, it had a persistent itch and so she tried to grasp the arrow shaft with her teeth, trying to work it loose. It was a boring and, at times, painful endeavour but, eventually, she managed to get a firm grip on the arrow shaft and draw it from her flesh. Pulling the arrowhead through her skin was painful, and immediately the wound began to bleed. Grafee gently licked at the wound, tasting the saltiness and sulphur content, and continued licking until the blood ceased to flow.
She cursed the humans who had caused her so much pain and aggravation over the recent days and began to wonder why they were so determined to fight against a dragon. She knew that, in recent times, humans had begun to be less afraid of the dragons but for the humans to openly invite attack… this was a new and extremely strange concept. She could not believe that dragons, somewhere, had carried out evil deeds, and this had led to retribution by the humans.
Grafee knew that human legends where full of stories of the deeds dragons had done, how they had fought against humans, how they had flown away carrying the cattle that the humans had herded and tended, how they had razed villages to the ground in retribution for attacks upon other dragons. She knew of these stories, and many more, and could find no reason for humans to become so suddenly determined to wipe the dragons out. And there, she realised, was the reason why the dragon population had diminished so, over the years. Humankind was responsible for slaying the dragons!
Grafee was shocked by this thought, for she knew that many humans and dragons had lived as friends, neighbours, or allies, over the generations. She had never took note before that it could have been the humans who were wiping the dragons from the face of the earth, she had merely thought that some small groups of humans killed dragons to ultimately prosper through selling dragon parts for medicines, or trophies. She had always thought that this would only account for a few of the dragon deaths; now it appeared that humans were the sole cause of driving the dragons to extinction!
She had always believed that because dragons had simply vanished, much as what had happened to her own father, then it must be a force greater than human kind that was at work! She now felt that it must be the humans who where responsible for the missing dragons, for who, or what else, could it be?
Grafee became aware of a stirring beside her neck and looked and saw that her daughter, and the fawn, where both beginning to awaken. This was good, for the sun was settling toward the west and night time would soon be upon the land.
To expose the two children to the openness around them Grafee raised her neck and head. Her daughter was the first to take advantage and ran out toward the rock and the eggshell that had been her home for a little while. The fawn followed slowly, on trembling legs, trying to steady itself. Grafee was pleased that the fawn was able to make this progress for it seemed that she had had enough DragonBreath with which to save the injured creature. Grafee raised her huge frame and stretched aching muscles, always her eyes upon the two young ones.
The fawn stood silent and still, while the Dragonling ran around it, and under it, sometimes lifting itself onto its back legs and trying to push the fawn. The fawn seemed to be too tired to join in the frolics of the Dragonling but did not try to move away. Grafee wondered what bond had formed between the two.
Grafee looked upwards towards her left-hand side and saw the steep slope of the little mountain rising high into the sky, the top lost in the glare of a setting sun. To her right she saw the slope than ran downwards from where she was to the flatness of the barren land. Ahead of her was a small outcrop of rock that, though only about sixty body lengths in height, would be too steep for the youngsters to climb. Beside it, was a smaller outcrop of rock and this, also, was too steep for the Dragonling and fawn to climb. Beyond the smaller outcrop, Grafee caught a small sight of a lush green, as something slowly moved in the slight breeze. Grafee hoped that this was where she had spied the green when she had flown in, approaching this place; before her disastrous collision with the ground. If the vegetation where out of reach for the youngsters, then she would have no choice but to leave them to fend for themselves while she sought out a food supply; though this was something that she did not want to do.
Lurching determinedly, and hopefully, forward, Grafee headed towards the nearest outcrop and began to walk around it, heading for the second outcrop. It was with great relief that she heard the screeching of her daughter as she raced to follow behind. Grafee turned her head and was saddened to see the young fawn struggling to keep up with her. ‘Food can only help the fawn!’ Grafee acknowledged to herself, and though it was important to find food, she did slow down her pace a little to make it easier for the fawn to keep up.
As Grafee went beyond the first outcrop and began walking along the second outcrop of rock, she lost sight of the greenness that she had seen earlier. She began to doubt that she had seen it at all and, though she wanted to increase her pace, she refused to.
Looking behind her once again, she saw her daughter beside the fawn, walking beside the fawn, keeping the fawn company.
I think my daughter believes that she has a sister! Thought Grafee to herself, and then, Or maybe her mother thinks she has two daughters! Grafee smiled at this thought, for it seemed such a strange thought to be having when, in truth, this was such a serious and worrying time. If she could not locate a food source, then her daughter, and the fawn, would surely perish, and then she would have no daughter at all!
Grafee’s speed increased a little and she detected a screech of annoyance from her daughter behind her. Grafee wished, as hard as she could, for there to be at least two or three small bushes in this area, so that her daughter and the fawn could obtain a little sustenance.
Grafee began to come around the side of the outcrop and stopped still in relief as she saw the site of at least four or five bushes clumped closely together. She stood waiting for her daughter and fawn to draw close to her before she started moving forward again. She had only travelled a few body lengths around the outcrop when she came to a sudden halt once again, her breath taken away as she gazed in awe at the scene spread out before her.
There were bushes, trees, and lush grass nestled behind this outcrop and, with the relief of seeing it – knowing that it was real – she finally allowed herself to acknowledge the pains in her body that were a result of her crash landing earlier that morning. She had ignored the pains as much as possible, not even thinking about them because if they had to leave this place to go in search of food elsewhere she did not want to admit, to herself, that it might have been a task that she could not complete.
A long, sleek shape darted past her and raced headlong toward the grassy area ahead of them. Grafee smiled, as she saw the pink-purple shape of her daughter race around in circles in the grass and, occasionally, roll around in it.
Grafee turned her head, and looked down and saw the fawn beside her, striving to move as quickly as possible but being let down by a body and legs that were very weak. Grafee remained standing still, watching the fawn, and, when the fawn stopped and looked up at Grafee, Grafee gave a small nod, acknowledging the small creature. The fawn stared at Grafee for a few moments, and then began to make its way forward once again. Grafee watched the fawn as it hobbled slowly to where her daughter romped in the grass, and then watched as it stood for a little while and began to chew on the grass. Grafee smiled to herself, for this was a good sign that the fawn was going to survive.
The fawn continued eating as Grafee’s daughter raced back to Grafee, ran between Grafee’s legs a number of times and then darted back to the location of the fawn. Grafee began moving forward once again.
Grafee watched the fawn as it lay down upon the grass, resting, and she wondered how she could have considered eating the fawn. She knew that she was hungry at the time and, although dragon’s can eat meat, it was not their preferred choice of food. This was another myth of the dragons. A well-kept secret, passed down from generation to generation of dragons, a secret whose design was to ensure that the humans remained forever wary of the dragons.
Grafee recalled the time when, just a young adult, her father had taken her on a trip, taking her the furthest she had ever flown up until that time, and they had landed in a land that was strange to her. They had landed beside a small wooded area and had made their way through the wood until they had almost emerged on the other side. On the far side of the wood were large, roaming fields filled with the cattle that were shepherded by the humans. Her father had stood beside her silent, only once speaking to her, saying, “Follow me, and keep up with me, when I move.” Grafee had wondered what was to happen but she remained quiet and patient beside her father until, when a number of humans came into view, her father had raced out from the shade of the trees and raced toward one of the human’s cattle. Grafee had followed, racing to keep up with her father, and was amused by the sudden scattering of the human’s cattle as she raced along the field.
Suddenly, her father spread his wings, leapt into the air and, racing along at ground level, he headed straight toward one of the cattle and then grabbing the squealing, protesting beast he had lurched higher into the sky. Grafee had smelt the blood of the beast and saw it struggle as it tried to break free of her father’s claws. The struggle was in vain.
Grafee flew beside her father and they flew off across the fields, with angry human voices shouting behind them. Her father never looked at her once while they flew and then suddenly he was on a descent, sloping down toward the ground and Grafee had to suddenly bank to one side and start downward, trying to keep her father in sight.
Her father suddenly started back-flapping his wings, almost coming to a complete halt in the air just above the ground, and she watched in awe as she witnessed the most gentlest of landings that she had ever seen. Grafee landed a little awkwardly, and with a bump, close beside him. She could not understand what was going on! Why had her father taken one of the human cattle?
As her father moved to one side she saw the bloodied body of the beast lying upon the ground. “It strikes fear into their hearts, and it hurts them to be carried, and the more they squirm the tighter you have to dig in with your claws, wounding the beast!” her father said, looking directly at her.
Grafee moved closer toward the beast lying prone upon the floor, she saw the blood covering its body and the fear in its eyes.
Suddenly, her father moved his head forward and said, “This is where we use the DragonBreath!” His gaping jaw surrounded the beasts head and Grafee could see her fathers ribcage expand and then shrink as he blew DragonBreath into the beast.
Her father stopped, walked toward Grafee and then, saying, “Come with me.” He walked past her and moved away from the area that the beast lay.
Grafee remembered being so confused by the event, that she did not know what to say to her father, she did not know what questions to ask, but she knew she had just witnessed something important.
“This is something you must learn to do, Grafee!” her father had said. “I was not going to eat the beast; there was no intention of that.”
“But why did we take it?” Grafee had asked.
“To convince the humans!” Her father had replied.
“Of what?” Grafee had asked, puzzled.
“Humans believe we kill beasts for food, and it is best that they always think that. It makes sure the humans do not try to make us become their cattle!” Grafee’s father had said this with a small grin upon his face. “Why do you think I waited until humans came into that field? They had to see dragons take one of their cattle, it makes them wary of us, and they certainly think twice about attacking us!”
“Oh, I see…” Said Grafee, comprehending what she had witnessed. “And then you used DragonBreath to revive the creature, to make sure it recovers from its wounds!”
“Exactly, I always knew that you were the clever one in the family!” her father had said.
Grafee and her father had stood awhile, watching over the beast until it awoke and, when it did, her father had moved toward it. The cattle, in panic, turned and fled in the opposite direction.
“And in that direction he’ll find some of his friends! An addition to another herd, though I doubt the human masters will complain,” said her father, and then, “Come on, best be heading home!” and then he raced across the field, launched his self into the air, and began climbing higher. Grafee raced along behind him, leapt into the air and had to push herself very hard until she eventually caught up with him. She knew that really he had slowed down to allow her to catch up. She remembered that they had talked about many things on that flight home, how he had explained the ‘Truth of the Dragons’ to her and now, soon, it would be her turn to pass this knowledge on to her daughter.
She remembered that there was only one more time after that flight that she had flown with her father again before he had disappeared, and she had never seen him again!
Grafee realised that she was looking at her daughter through tear-filled eyes, the image of her father still etched into her minds eye, and she moved forward knowing that she too must eat.
As Grafee approached the small clump of trees and bushes, noting a further outcrop of rock beyond them, something wonderful caught her attention, and stole her breath away. So much relief pulsed through her body that she almost collapsed!
Further to her left there were more trees and bushes than she had first spied, hidden securely between the various outcroppings of rock, hidden from prying eyes, growing with nothing or no-one to disturb them. Tentatively, she moved forward, her eyes firmly fixed on thin yellow-white sticks that she could see protruding beyond and above a small clump of bushes. Dare she hope that they were reeds, and that they were growing in water?
Grafee moved across a lush grassy area, moving between trees that, though not tall trees, had a thick canopy that would provide shade and shelter, and they would hide her from prying eyes. Even before she saw the water, she knew that it was there. She had became aware of a bubbling sound and, as she passed her head high and over the bushes, she saw the rays of the setting sun reflecting in a small down-pour of water cascaded down a rocky outcrop, to splash serenely into a pool below.
Grafee could not believe her luck; she had never dared hope for such a find in this desolate place. If ever the perfect scene could have been prepared then this was it. All that was missing was… and even as Grafee thought this, a scent hit her nostrils, strong, hard, pungent, and welcoming. “No?” She gasped, in disbelief, lowering her head and pushing the bushes to the side and there, in all there glory, where mushrooms and various fungi… the ultimate dragon food!
Greedily, her head pushed forward and she tore into a clump of giant mushrooms, savouring the taste, feeling the concentrated sulphur pour into her frame, empowering her energies.
Over-whelmed by what she had found, Grafee ate hungrily, determined to restore her energies as quickly as possible, just in case the humans did follow her into the Bad Lands.
Mushrooms were one of the most powerful sources of food that a dragon could eat. Most plants, even animals, had a sulphur content, but non where as high as that which was contained within the various types of fungi, and those that she ate now where indeed heavily laced with the life giving ingredient.
Grafee sensed that something was watching her and, turning her head quickly in the direction from where she felt that eyes cast their gaze upon her, she smiled as she saw her daughter and the fawn standing beside her, watching her in curiosity. She had plainly caused interest by the way that she had torn into food.
She chewed slow and thoughtful, looking at the two little ones, and decided that the fawn had been a lucky charm for her. She knew, inside, that she would protect this baby creature as fiercely as she would protect her own daughter.
Grafee returned her head to the area where the fungi grew and snatched up a group of them, turned her head back to the two young ones, and deposited the mushrooms in front of her daughter. Her daughter looked at them for a moment and then moved closer, sniffing the strange offering, and, using her head, she pushed one of the mushrooms to one side, whilst taking a small leap backward. Her daughter’s eyes remained fixed upon the strange light brown objects upon the floor in front of her, watching to see if they did anything.
Grafee smiled again, her daughter was cautious, and that was a great strength to have in this world!
As her daughter moved forward once again, toward the offered food, Grafee turned away and continued to eat, hoping her example would lead her daughter to follow her actions, and trust her. A moment later, a small squeal of delight caused Grafee to turn back toward the two youngsters. Grafee watched in amusement as the fawn tried to sniff at the mushrooms but could not help but sneeze and jump away from them. Grafee smiled, noting the pleasure in her own daughter’s voice, and for seeing that the fawn seemed stronger, its legs holding it steady.
Grafee suppressed a small laugh, as she watched the fawn try to approach the mushrooms and, again, leapt backward, sneezing, and shaking its head. She heard the playful laughter in her daughter’s voice and felt that suddenly, from being alone, she had gained a completely new family, which, in truth, she had! All her fears of losing her treasure had now evaporated. She felt secure and safe for the moment and, for that time, the youngsters would have time to feed, to rest, and to grow stronger.
Grafee pushed her head further forward, carefully dipping her open lower jaw into the small pool, feeling the coolness of the water rushing into her mouth and over her tongue. Raising her head, she swallowed a deluge of liquid, enjoying the sensation of the water as it ran the length of her neck. Sated, for the time being, she returned her mouth to the pool and allowed a second wave of water to rush into her open mouth, where-upon she gently raised her head, turning back to face the youngsters, and lowered her head nearer to the ground, her jaws held wide open.
Grafee was surprised that it was the fawn who was the first to place her head between her jaws, and drink the water that was offered. Grafee felt the needle-like claws of her daughter as she gripped her lower lip, obviously following the fawns example, and began to drink.
Grafee held still for a little while and then began to slowly, raise her head. She heard the fawn bleat its annoyance at losing the water, and she felt her daughter release her grip and drop back to the ground. Grafee swallowed the remaining water, and began to move backwards, away from the trees and bushes and back onto the lush grass. She looked around and, in the fast fading light of day, she chose a small group of trees to her right and moved toward them, watching her daughter and the fawn leap out of the way of her travelling bulk.
Once beside the trees, Grafee slowly lowered herself to the floor and looked at the youngsters. The youngsters watched for a moment and then, with the fawn leading, they made their way toward Grafee and lay down beside the base of her neck.
Grafee coiled her neck around, encompassing the two youngsters, and with a final look at the two, she closed her eyes and prepared for sleep, hoping that the youngsters would do the same.
After a little while, Grafee opened one eye to peer into the darkness, and listened for sounds in the incoming night, and she was rewarded by the sounds of the steady breathing of the two youngsters. As her eyes became used to the low light, Grafee was able to see the fawn lying semi-curled with her daughter lying with her back across the fawns’ neck. The two seemed not to have a care in the world.
Satisfied that they were asleep, and that they would be safe in this place for a while, Grafee closed her own eyes and allowed dreams to come and carry her away.
Whether it was the birth of her daughter, or because of the memories of her father and mother, Grafee began to dream of the birth of the Dragons. She dreamt of the tales passed down the ancestral lineage, tales that soon she would pass on to her own daughter. She pictured a great flying ship crashing onto this world; she pictured survivors, Dragons, and the ones that she knew of who where named the ‘Quareem.’ The Quareem were the race of people that had built the great ship and, taking their dragons with them, they had gone in search of a world abundant in Iron-Sulphur, a food that was necessary for the survival of both the Quareem and the Dragons.
The Quareem had left a world whose own sun was dieing and, taking the dragons with them, they had scoured space in their search for a new world that they could call home. They had discovered the Earth but, on trying to bring the gigantic craft down to the planet surface, a violent storm had erupted with such ferocity that the energy contained within the storm had caused the great craft to crash to Earth, forever removing its ability of powered flight. The Dragons and the Quareem where now marooned forever on a strange and deadly world.
There had been some survivors, propelled to safety within escape capsules, but the Quareem were not equipped to survive in the harsh environment of this new world without their technological machinery. The Quareem had been possessors of great knowledge, they were a highly intelligent race, but had long ago lost their ability to live with nature, especially a ‘nature’ that they knew nothing about! This new world that they had arrived upon was an inhospitable place and, with their machinery all but destroyed in the crash, they had only their own abilities to rely on in their endeavours to survive.
Their new home, at the time of the crash, was ruled by a species called Dinosaurs, and these Dinosaurs did not turn out to be the friendly, intelligent, dominant, alien species that the Quareem had hoped to discover in their journey through the stars. Without their technology to assist them the Quareem faced a huge battle for survival upon this world.
The Quareem had died out and their companions, the Dragons, had flourished; mingling with the beasts of this planet, and able to survive primarily because they could fly away whenever danger threatened.
The dragons had co-existed with the Dinosaurs until the day of ‘The Great Light!’ Legend told that the wreckage of the great craft had maintained a huge, working power supply, protected within the armoured plating of a large, intact segment of the spaceships wreckage.
Dragons had often visited the place of the wrecked craft, trying to find out more of their companions, the Quareem, and of themselves. The crash site was a dangerous place for any creature to be because of the vast amount of violent electricity that was randomly discharged from the crumpled, metal plates of the craft. Huge jagged bolts of raw energy had been seen to leap out from the remains of the ship, striking the area around the crash site, destroying anything that it touched; rocks, vegetation, or life! The crash site was not a good place to be on the ‘Day of Light!’
Legend tells that whatever had stopped the power supply of the ship from exploding in the past, had itself, failed. There was a sudden, huge explosion that tore a deep, wide, hole in the skin of the earth, throwing dirt and dust into the skies; blinding any creatures that happened to be looking in the direction of the explosion, who were far enough away not to be killed outright by the force of the blast.
The result was that the dinosaurs where all but wiped out; and a great many of the dragons died. The dragons that had existed on the opposite side of the world, at the time of the explosion, had survived; nearly all others were destroyed, or injured. If the dragons had not had wings, and had not been able to seek out high purchase upon mountaintops then, they too, would have succumbed to the same fate as the dinosaurs.
Through the ‘Time of Darkness,’ after the time of ‘The Great Light,’ dragons had survived by foraging within the black winds close to the ground, and eating the lichens, fungi, and hardy plant life that had survived and had fought against the call of death. In time, the black winds allowed their cargo of dust and soil to return to the Earth and, in doing so, allowed the sun to once more warm and give light to the surface of the Earth. Life began to recover and, in this time, the dragons flourished more than ever before.
In time, a new champion predator, an intelligent being, became the dominant species upon the Earth and, in order to survive, the dragons had learnt to adapt, and had created legends and stories that held this deadly predator at bay. The ‘Truth of the Dragons’ was only known to the dragons, and it was the responsibility of every dragon to ensure that mankind, the new predator, was to remain in awe and fear of the dragons. This was the method decided long, long ago that would ensure the safety and freedom of the dragons.
Grafee’s dream moved to a scene of the skies of Earth filled with the mighty dragons soaring through the air; with no predators to be fearful of, with abundant food to survive, and with a confidence that told them that they would surely last forever. In this dream, Grafee turned her head to look at another part of the sky and, where she had expected to see the sky full of beautiful, multicoloured dragons there was now only the blue of the sky, without even a cloud in sight! She turned to look at another section of sky and, it too, was empty. She turned her head to look behind her and saw that the sky there was also empty of any dragons. In fear, she turned forward again, looking for her father to ask him what was happening, and her father was not there. She was alone in the sky. In her dream, Grafee screamed.
Grafee awoke, her body jerking, causing the youngsters to awaken. They stood up quickly and looked into Grafee’s eyes. Grafee took a long slow breath and released the same breath slowly. She raised her head, her eyes blinking in the rays of the morning sun, and looked around at the pastoral and calm scene around her. The two youngsters ran from her, out onto the dew-covered grass, leaping around, and playing in the way that youngsters who have abundant energy, do! Grafee smiled at their antics, as the nightmare faded from her immediate thoughts.
Grafee had no plans for this day, merely to eat and rest, and remain hidden from the humans. She raised herself slowly, and moved across the grass to take a drink from the pool. Sated, she chose to eat some of the mushrooms, and chewed thoughtfully as she now pondered her next important decision. What name will she choose for her daughter? In addition, she realised, the fawn would also need a name. As difficult as this task now seemed, it was far more pleasant than having to fend off attacking humans. Grafee moved back onto the grass and lay down, allowing the warming sun to heat, gently, the scales upon her back; warming her blood, calming her, and relaxing her.
Grafee pondered the naming of the fawn, but she had no idea of the way that these creatures took names. Grafee examined what had happened since her first encounter and the main factor of change that she could see was that that her opinion of the fawn had altered tremendously. The fawn had evolved from being a much needed, desperate meal, into, almost, a family member. Grafee tried to think of something that was unsightly, but which turned into something that was beautiful and much prized. Her answer to herself came from an unexpected quarter. It came from her knowledge of humans. A pearl! A pearl was the result of an accident in an oyster. An oyster was not particularly attractive but was a favoured meal amongst the humans, which the fawn almost was to Grafee herself, and from this, there is sometimes within, a beauty discovered. The idea of a pearl representing the fawn was a good choice, in Grafee’s opinion. Pearl it would be! Now, if only my daughters name where so easy! She thought to herself. This thought pained Grafee because, although she was used to it now, she wished that her daughter’s father could be with her now. For ages since gone, Dragons had adopted and used the same time references as the humans, and that meant that her husband had been gone for almost seven months. He had never seen his daughter and now, it seemed his daughter would never see him. Her husband, Creevan’ay, had simply vanished in the same way that her father, and many other dragons, had vanished; without warning, without trace, and with no goodbye!
Although saddened by this thought, Grafee was determined to remain hopeful. They were in a safe place for the moment; a place with plentiful food and water and, with the bonding with her daughter, this was not a time to dwell upon sadness, it was a time to be thankful for all that she now possessed.
Grafee eyed the two youngsters, watching the sun shimmer on the purple scales of her daughter as she raced around, trying to encourage the fawn to chase her. Grafee smiled, and returned her thoughts to deciding upon a name for her daughter, and because she was smiling as she returned to her thoughts, the name for her daughter came to her. Kolay’sha! Kolay’sha was a name meaning ‘light within the dark,’ and that was exactly how Grafee felt about her daughter, she was a light within a dark time. “Kolay’sha?” She whispered, listening to the sound of the name. “Kolay’sha.” She repeated, slightly louder and, when her daughter suddenly stopped running around and stood facing her, she knew that the name was right, and no further decision needed to be considered.
“Kolay’sha, come here!” Grafee spoke gently, and was rewarded by her daughter tipping her head to one side, and then come bounding across the grass toward her, her long purple tail swinging wildly back and forth as she raced right up to Grafee’s face and began to jump up, pushing her forelegs against the side of Grafee’s head.
Grafee licked the stomach of her daughter, tasting the newness of the skin, realising that, at last, her child was with her. Grafee began to cry. The tears were tears of sadness, but were tinged with sadness for the egg that she had lost seventy years ago; lost to a band of thieving humans that she was never able to track down; though she and Creevan’ay, and many other dragons, had searched for a very, very long time. She wept, as she wondered what her life would have been like if she had not lost her first egg! Would she have had a son or a daughter? What would they have been like? Salty tears fell down Grafee’s face, and she tasted them as they rolled into the side of her mouth. It was true when they said that there were no tears bigger than a dragons tear!
Grafee sensed sadness emanating from her daughter and, cursing herself, she began to lick her daughters back, rolling her upon the grass. Kolay’sha squirmed with delight. Grafee’s attention was momentarily taken to the fawn that stood motionless, staring at the mother and daughter, a lonely spectator in a crowd! Grafee felt sadness for the fawn and called out, “Pearl, come and join us!”
The fawn remain motionless, staring blankly, and so Grafee called out again, “Pearl, come and join us!” The fawn remained motionless.
Suddenly, Kolay’sha stopped her writhing around on the grass, and stood up facing the fawn. The two stared at each for a moment and then, suddenly, the fawn bounded forward and came running toward them. The fawn began to jump playfully up at the side of Grafee’s face and, at times, she felt the hot tongue of the young beast as it licked her face. I guess I am your mother now! Thought Grafee to herself, as she pushed the two creatures playfully aside, and tenderly rubbed her tongue and head against them. The two youngsters leapt and played in sheer joy and happiness.
The remainder of the day was a day spent in paradise. All three played, and ate, and drank, until it was time to sleep which, for the two youngsters, came before the sun had set.
For two more days, the three relaxed and enjoyed the peace and serenity that the niche in the barren land provided. To Grafee, it felt as though the way it was, was the way it had always been. She could not imagine a time without her daughter and the fawn, and found it hard to believe that it had only been days since she had last fought with the humans. Her joy increased as her daughter began to speak to her. Dragons passed on genetic information beyond that which the humans were able to do. Language structure was strong in the mind of a newborn dragon and it is a parent’s job to relate the words and connect them to objects, images, feelings, and senses. This still took time, but a young dragon had a command of its own language at a far younger age than that of any human child. This was another ‘Truth of the Dragons,’ which was kept hidden away from the prying minds of humans.
Long ago, the ancestors had decided that it was best that the humans did not know of the dragon language; that it was safest if the humans did not know to what extent the dragons used language to communicate, believing it ‘safer’ for the humans to regard the dragons as wild beasts, whose actions could not be easily determined. This would ensure that humans always remained a little wary of what the dragons may do. There had been stories, in times past, of dragons and humans that had formed special friendships and the dragons had communicated with the humans. This had eventually led to problems and, particularly due to the betrayal of a dragon by a human, the dragons tried to remain a closed community. There had been times when the two had worked together, when the purpose suited both their needs, but the need to work together had all but diminished in recent times. No longer would a dragon fight beside humans to force back a small band that was trying to take over a piece of land; a piece of land that had been shared equally between the dragon and humans previously.
Great human civilisations had grown up in all quarters of the world and now, whenever a group of humans decided that they wanted another piece of land, then it was no longer a small human raiding party that attempted the attack; instead, it was a huge, murderous, malevolent army.
There had been one sad event in Dragon history when two human armies had fought each other, each using dragons. It was the only time that dragon had fought dragon, and it had now become a shameful memory to all dragons; a mistake that would never happen again.
On the fifth night, lying in the darkness, Grafee was contemplating where she should take the youngsters to next, for safety. This rocky oasis was a paradise in the midst of the barren lands but she did not like being so close to the Lesuth Mountains and, for some strange reason, the food that she ate, particularly the fungi, did not appear to be re-growing; she was fast exhausting their food supply.
“Mamma?” came a voice, quiet and enquiring, through the darkness.
“What’s wrong?” asked Grafee, wondering what dreams may be keeping her daughter from sleep.
“Starlight!” replied Kolay’sha.
“Oh, I doubt you will see many stars tonight, little one, there are many, many clouds in the sky.” Replied Grafee, answering her daughter and, at the same time, trying to give her a gentle understanding of nature.
“Starlight!” replied Kolay’sha, insistently.
“Well, if you can see one, then make a wish, daughter.” Grafee’s eyes were now fixed upon her daughter, who was now standing upon her rear legs, her forelegs pushing up against the side of Grafee’s face. Grafee could feel the weight that her daughter had put on in the few days since birth. She is growing strong! She thought to herself.
“Ground, starlight ground!” said Kolay’sha, insistently.
“No, starlight, sky!” replied Grafee.
“Ground, ground, ground!” repeated her daughter, suddenly dropping her forelegs to the floor and racing off into the darkness.
Grafee tried to understand what it was that had her daughter so excited. Perhaps she could see a star through the clouds and had seen its reflection in the pool.
“Starlight, ground!” shouted her daughter’s voice, from a little way off.
Grafee raised her bulk, and began to move in the direction of her daughter’s adamant voice. She did not want her daughter running around when it was dark, for there may be dangers that they had not yet come across. She would bring her back and insist that she and Pearl both sleep beside her this night. Grafee made her way around the outcrop of rock that hid their little paradise, and she cleanly caught a scent of her daughter ahead of her somewhere in the darkness.
“Now, little one, it is time for sleep, not games!” said Grafee, commandingly, and yet motherly. Her daughter remained silent and motionless and, in the dim light, Grafee could just make out the straight tail of her daughters, slightly raised from the ground. Grafee moved forward quickly as a straight tail was a dragon’s response to danger.
Looming up beside her daughter Grafee heard her daughter repeat, “Starlight!”
Grafee looked out across the inky black distance, initially looking toward the sky, but something caught her attention and returned her gaze to the Bad Lands themselves. Far out across the darkness, Grafee saw the ‘Starlight’ that her daughter was referring to. It was not ‘starlight’ but was, she was sure, the distant flames of a human campfire!
Grafee stood shocked and in silence, for she could not believe that the humans had followed her into the Bad Lands. Perhaps, it is simply lost travellers. She thought to herself, not really believing that thought because everyone, beast or man, knew of the Bad Lands and avoided them completely.
Grafee knew that she had no choice but to go and see who was sitting around that fire, and she dearly hoped that it was not the ‘humans’ who had been pursuing her, relentlessly, for days.
Grafee became aware of the fawn moving past her and standing side-by-side with her daughter; the two youngsters were gazing together into the inky darkness, both sniffing the air, trying to determine what was there.
“Come, the two of you, move back to the trees. I will have to leave you for a little while. I will not be gone long, but you must remain hidden until I return.” Spoke Grafee, noting that neither reacted to her words, but kept gazing into the distance. “Kolay’sha!” Grafee said, louder, and with urgency in her voice. “There may be danger, you two must hide till I return.”
For a moment, Kolay’sha continued staring and then turned to face the fawn for a moment, where-upon the two, as one, turned around and made their way back around the outcrop; back toward the safety of the trees. At least, Grafee hoped that it would be a safe place for them while she was gone.
Grafee began to run swiftly down the gradient, which sloped towards the barren plain, hoping that, in the darkness, she did not stumble and fall because of some loose rock lying in her path in the darkness.
Pushing her wings downward fiercely, Grafee leapt into the air, held her wings extended for a moment, feeling the amount of wind available to her, and the direction of the wind, and then she began to beat her huge wings in long, slow, deliberate downward sweeps, forcing her bulk away from the ground and up, high, into the night sky. Grafee banked to the right, moving away from her shelter and away from the humans, heading toward the Bay of Ka’teal that lay far to the East. Grafee only flew a little way in this direction, so that she could turn around and approach the fire from the east so that, if she where seen by any pursuers, they would not truly know her exact base location.
The sky was dark all around her, and Grafee maintained long, slow, steady wing beats, trying to ensure that she made no noise while upon the wing. Grafee could hear the wind rushing by
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Flack my friend, I thought that once again you did terriffic. I really felt that even as much as I enjoyed chapter 1, this one was much better. I enjoyed it and did not think the pace suffered even with all of the introspection early on. I think you are proceeding at a great pace.
As always my friend, good luck on this and any future projects.
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The basis of the story is well formed with the chapter and the images that are described bring me to want to read more. However, there are to many sentences and paragraphs that begin either with the pronoun she or the dragons name, Grafee. You might want to consider rephrasing many of the sentences so that the context remains but the monotany is broken up. There is also a rule for creative writing that warns against starting connecting paragraphs with the same word.
Not having read the first chapter, this one truly excites my interest in reading the set up for this one and further on into the journey of what promises to be a beatiful and haunted dragon. One other big point would be that “wing beats” is used in the exact same fashion repeatedly which becomes rather redundant and can become boring. Maybe using other verbs to describe the same action would break up the sameness and add color to the imagery that you have written.
Overall it is an intriguing story and I look forward to seeing it on the shelves one day.
The introspection at the start kills a lot of the pace of the story, it might be better to spread the info dump out over a longer space, and if possible involve it in some action or dialogue.
“trying to thwart her doom-facing flight” Sorry – that’s just a bit too purple prosey for me – and I have trouble understanding it anyway – if you thwart something that seesm to imply that whatever it is has a will – did her flight have a will?
“felt her flight path” Perhaps too passive – is it the path she felt or herself?
Perhaps, rather than “she felt…she felt…” It would be more immediate to simply say-
Leaves and small branches tore along the underside of her body, her tail caught for a moment, snared between thicker branches, and then she was free, her body suddenly lifting higher into the sky.
I would avoid things like “This she swore she would not do” It just sound over pretentious and too dramatic. - perhaps restructure the sentence so that she flew higher determined to stay awake, but ensuring room for manouvre should weariness again overcome her.
Again you drop into info dump mode about the badlands and her reasons for flying there. And don’t simply be a narrator – telling us her subconcious thoughts. If you are writing from her point of view she doesn’t know her own subconcious thoughts.
I think I will simply suggest that you try avoid that way of writing wherever possible, and also rather than write that she felt this or that make it more immediate. There are a number of examples of both tendencies throughout the work – and for me to identify each one would cost you too many credits to be worthwhile.
You have a fascinating story going here, but you are making it a hard read with the way you project it. I seriously advise going back and trying to prune it – it is way too long, there is no real pace about it. The constant info dumps do not help. Cut them out – keep them for own reference, and try to pass on the data in them as part of the action.
You need to show us the story from what your characters do and say, not tell us as a disembodied and all-knowing narrator; and try to prsent the action directly – instead of she felt the branches – say that the branches whipped along her flanks.
I do lile the general plot and the world you are creating is fascinating, but you may find that less is more.
“She closed her eyes and concentrated on pushing her wings muscles harder, pushing her faster toward the dark area. She opened her eyes, and seemed no nearer to her chosen destination; she cursed, and drove her wings harder. Slowly, the distance began to recede and Grafee could determine that it was a large outcropping of stone, striking out against the barren flat land, looking as though nature had thought to start a mountain here but, for some reason lost to time itself, nature had changed her mind.” Excellent use of descriptives here.
“Long ago, the ancestors had decided that it was best that the humans did not know of the dragon language; that it was safest if the humans did not know to what extent the dragons used language to communicate, believing it ‘safer’ for the humans to regard the dragons as wild beasts, whose actions could not be easily determined. This would ensure that humans always remained a little wary of what the dragons may do. There had been stories, in times past, of dragons and humans that had formed special friendships and the dragons had communicated with the humans. This had eventually led to problems and, particularly due to the betrayal of a dragon by a human, the dragons tried to remain a closed community. There had been times when the two had worked together, when the purpose suited both their needs, but the need to work together had all but diminished in recent times. No longer would a dragon fight beside humans to force back a small band that was trying to take over a piece of land; a piece of land that had been shared equally between the dragon and humans previously.
Great human civilisations had grown up in all quarters of the world and now, whenever a group of humans decided that they wanted another piece of land, then it was no longer a small human raiding party that attempted the attack; instead, it was a huge, murderous, malevolent army.” Excellent character and plot development. I would definitely want to continue reading this story.
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