Dragon Wars

by Raymond L. Weil

  “In the next few days,” replied Jennifer, glancing over at Collin.

  That was one of the reasons they were in the village today. They had loaded up the wagon with all the supplies they could find at the general store. Most of its shelves were now empty. Her mother and Clara were busy baking bread and other food to take to the cavern with them.

  “Do we really have to sleep in the root cellar tonight?” Jason grumbled, not happy about the prospect. The beds in the root cellar were extremely uncomfortable and lumpy.

  “Just to be on the safe side,” Jennifer said with a reassuring smile. “Look at it as an adventure; something new. We will be doing the same thing at our house.”

  “Yeah, we’ll all smell like onions tomorrow,” Jason mumbled quietly. There were a lot of onions and other vegetables hanging in the root cellar.

  -

  It was late at night. The moon had just risen in the east, casting its pale radiance on the quiet countryside. Inside the northern mine shaft, Gilmreth stirred. The dragon preferred to do his hunting at night. His eyes could see very well in the dark, and it gave him a distinct advantage when he was hunting. Tonight, Gilmreth was not hunting cattle or sheep. Tonight Gilmreth would feed on the humans of this valley.

  With a mighty beat of his powerful wings, Gilmreth rose into the air and let loose a torrent of dragon fire, signaling his appearance. His dark gray skin rippled as his muscles flexed. His long tail with its twin red barbs was poised ready to strike. After feeding on Fireheart, Gilmreth had returned to a measure of his former powerful self.

  Rising high up in the air, Gilmreth turned and flew in a southerly direction. Even from this distance, he could see the human village. It was quiet and peaceful, unsuspecting of the horror that was about to descend upon it.

  -

  Jennifer awoke from her sleep, feeling as if something was terribly wrong. She rose from her bed and walked barefooted across the cool stone floor of the root cellar. She was careful not to awaken her parents or Marten. She opened the heavy wooden door and climbed the steps until she was standing outside. She looked around, but everything seemed normal. There were no lights, the moon was just rising, and she could hear the small calf bawling down in the barn. It must be hungry, she thought. Perhaps she should go down and give it some hay so it would quiet down.

  For some reason, her eyes were drawn upward, and she was startled to see a massive shape flying high overhead. It was the dragon! She felt a cold chill wash over her. The dragon wasn’t going toward the meadows, it was headed directly for the village.

  “What is it?” her father asked from her side.

  Jennifer jumped. She hadn’t known that her father had followed her. He must have heard her open the root cellar door. “It’s the dragon. I just saw it. It’s flying toward the village!”

  “The dragon?” spoke Anson growing worried and turning to look toward the village. His eyes weren’t as good as Jennifer’s were. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” she replied, looking toward the village and straining her eyes as she searched for any sign of the dragon.

  Both stood in silence as they gazed toward the sleeping village, wondering what horror the dragon was bringing.

  -

  Gilmreth reached the village and flew several slow circles around his unsuspecting target. His aching hunger was urging him to attack now and gorge himself on the life-force of the humans down below. It was all Gilmreth could do to resist that powerful urge. Gilmreth examined the village carefully before choosing his target. He would feed well tonight.

  With a monstrous roar, Gilmreth landed in the village. There was a small family dwelling in front of him. Without hesitation, Gilmreth let loose a torrent of orange-red dragon fire, striking the structure.

  Flame licked hungrily at the wood and soon the house was aflame. Startled screams and yells from human voices inside indicated that the occupants had become aware of the fire. In other nearby homes, human voices were audible as they called out to one another. All wondered one thing; what was going on?

  Gilmreth waited, he knew the humans would try to escape the fire. When they did, he would feed.

  The door to the burning house flew open, and a mother and father appeared. The mother was carrying her infant son. To Gilmreth, age made no difference. He struck quickly and with precision, separating the male from the female. The man screamed in shock as Gilmreth folded his wings around him and began to feed. The man’s screams were quickly cut off as Gilmreth drained the blood from the man’s body and then proceeded to feed on the carcass. The tantalizing taste of human blood and flesh reinvigorated the dragon. Humans had always been Gilmreth’s favorite food source.

  The man’s wife ran away toward their neighbors in sheer panic, trying to save her infant child. The door to her neighbor’s house opened, and she darted inside. It quickly slammed shut.

  Gilmreth finished feeding and took back to the air. He watched and waited. Other humans came out and ran toward the burning house. Gilmreth could hear them calling out to one another trying to find out what was happening. Gilmreth darted down and grabbed a large man with his talons, then he settled down to feed once more.

  -

  Andrew hurried up the stairs of his root cellar. He could hear a loud commotion outside.

  “What’s going on?” Clara called after him.

  “I don’t know!” responded Andrew, hoping it wasn’t the dragon. “But I want all of you to stay in the root cellar.”

  Andrew reached the top and pushed open the heavy wood door, which protected the entrance. Stepping outside, he could see a flickering red glow from the northern side of the village. A house must be on fire, he realized. It was then that he heard a monstrous roar and the loud screams.

  The dragon, he realized with a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. The dragon is here! For several long minutes, Andrew stood still, gazing toward the north. He felt as if he needed to go and help his fellow villagers. But what could he do? They had nothing that could kill or even threaten the dragon. They were powerless to stop this evil creature from doing whatever it wanted.

  With a deep sadness, Andrew turned and descended back into the safety of the root cellar, shutting and securing the door firmly behind him. At the bottom, he shut and locked the other large wooden door. He would sleep little tonight.

  “It’s the dragon, isn’t it?” Collin stated from where he was standing in the dim light, watching his father. Collin had lit a candle so he could see what was going on. “It’s come for us.”

  “Yes, it’s here,” replied Andrew in an unsteady voice. “One of the houses on the northern side of the village is on fire. Probably from the dragon.”

  “It’s going to get us,” cried Jason with tears forming in his eyes. He was sitting up in his bed, his eyes wide open.

  Clara walked over and sat down next to Jason, pulling him into her arms. The thirteen year old was shaking in fear.

  “The dragon’s not going to get you,” Clara said, soothingly. “We won’t let it.” She looked over at her husband, wanting him to agree with her.

  “We should be safe enough in the root cellar for tonight,” replied Andrew, watching his family. At least he hoped they would be. “Tomorrow we will start our move to the cavern. We can’t wait any longer.”

  From above, they could hear the dragon’s relentless roar in addition to the frightened screams and voices of the village people in the area of the dragon. They sat down on their beds and listened. They hoped and prayed that the screaming would stop shortly.

  Clara held Jason, who was sobbing quietly. She rocked her son gently, knowing he was deeply terrified. She was also.

  -

  Gilmreth continued to feed on the frightened humans of the village. Ten times now he had descended on helpless humans who had ventured outside to see what was going on. Gilmreth’s unrelenting hunger began to fade. After draining the lifeblood out of his current victim, the dragon took back to the air. With a loud roar and a powerful je
t of dragon fire, Gilmreth turned toward the north and his waiting lair. His hunger for now was abated.

  The humans knew he would come for them again. But it would do them no good. There was nowhere they could go to hide. They would serve as his food source for many months, keeping his driving hunger at bay.

  -

  Down in the root cellar, Andrew heard the village begin to quiet down. Only a few shouts and nervous voices could be heard outside.

  “The dragon’s gone,” said Collin, looking over at his father. His mother was still holding Jason. “I don’t hear it anymore.”

  “I think you’re right,” replied his father, hoping it was true.

  After a few more minutes, Collin and Andrew opened the two wooden doors to the root cellar and stepped outside into the cool night air. The acrid smell of smoke was in the air, mixed with something else. Dragon fire, Andrew realized as he broke into a fit of coughing.

  “That’s the fire from the dragon we smell, isn’t it?” asked Collin, trying not to gag.

  “Yes,” his father answered in between coughs. “Let’s go and see if we can help. The dragon’s gone and won’t be returning tonight.”

  The two then hurried toward the still burning fire. They would help their neighbors as much as they could. Andrew would also use the current frightening attack by the dragon to try to persuade a few more to vacate the village and to go to the safety of the cavern. After tonight, Andrew suspected that many more would be open to that suggestion.

  -

  Gilmreth returned to his lair in the large mine and lay down to rest. For once, the aching hunger was nearly quenched. Gilmreth was extremely satisfied with his feeding. There were no humans of power in this valley. It had been centuries since he had found one. There were enough humans here to feed him for a very long time. A few moments later, and the dragon had fallen into a deep, contented sleep.

  -

  “Do you think Collin’s family is okay?” Jennifer asked worriedly, looking toward the village.

  Jennifer and Anson had both seen the dragon fly overhead as it flew back to its lair after leaving the village. Even in the moonlight, the dragon was a frightening sight.

  “Their root cellar is very well built,” replied her father, placing his hand on Jennifer’s shoulder and squeezing gently. “They should be safe, but I don’t know about the rest of the village. As soon as the sun comes up we’d better go and see what happened.”

  Jennifer could see a red glow on the outskirts of the village. Something was burning. She hoped Collin and his family were okay. Jennifer knew she wouldn’t sleep much the rest of the night until she knew Collin and his family were safe.

  After a few more minutes, they went back down into the root cellar, shutting the doors behind them. As Jennifer lay back down, she knew that tonight would be the last night in the root cellar. Tomorrow they would move to the cavern. They would return to the very location that their ancestors had fled to during the ancient war. It would now be their protection from the dragon.

  Chapter Seven

  It was early the next morning. Jennifer and her father were standing in front of the burnt out house where the dragon had struck the night before. Collin and his father were with them.

  “It was horrible,” said Collin, shaking his head, recalling the horror that had occurred here. “We could hear the dragon and people screaming.”

  “There was nothing we could do,” Andrew said, his eyes focused on the ruins of the house. Even now, nearly twelve hours later, the acrid smell of dragon fire was still in the air. The house was still smoldering in places.

  “At least you weren’t hurt,” replied Anson, looking around. Many people were walking around still in shock over the terrifying events.

  “We need to get people moving to the cavern immediately,” spoke Andrew, knowing they only had a few days before the dragon returned to feed again. “The dragon will be returning, and this one is feeding on people. This won’t be the last house he destroys.”

  “How many people did we lose last night?” asked Anson, looking at Andrew and fearing the answer. All the work that had been put into building this community and now the dragon was threatening to destroy everything.

  Andrew looked down toward the ground. It was covered in a thin layer of blackened ashes. It was a stark reminder of the terrible events that had occurred during the night.

  “Eleven, at the last count. We lost eleven. This new dragon is dangerous and deadly. We have to get to the cavern!” Andrew kicked the ground angrily, watching the ashes fly up.

  “Surely the people will listen to us now,” Collin said not wanting to experience another night like the previous one.

  He would have nightmares for weeks from the horrible sounds he had heard. The human screams and the roar of the dragon as it hunted was something Collin would never forget. Those sounds would haunt him for a long time. He hoped Jennifer would never have to hear or experience such horror.

  “They should,” Anson replied with a heavy sigh. Eleven people had died, but he knew it could have been much worse.

  “They have seen what this new dragon can do,” Collin said in an even voice. “How can they not see that the cavern will be so much safer?”

  “It’s terrible,” said Jennifer, still finding it hard to believe what the dragon had done. There were tears in her eyes as she realized what the dragons had taken from them. First Brendon, and now eleven more. “So many people in one night.” Everywhere Jennifer looked she saw frightened faces on the people who were standing around talking.

  “Let’s spend the next few hours spreading the word,” said Anson, deciding quickly that they needed to get busy.

  “The sooner, the better,” Collin responded in agreement. “We have to make sure the people understand the danger they’re in if they remain in the village.”

  “All four of us will spread out through the village and try to get the people moving,” Anson continued. “We can take one group late this afternoon, and two more tomorrow. After that, it will be too dangerous. It will be nearing time for the dragon to feed again, and we don’t want to be caught out in the open.”

  “We don’t have enough time to get everyone to the cavern, do we?” spoke Jennifer, fearing the truth. It would take time to get the cavern ready to hold twelve hundred people.

  Collin looked over at Jennifer and slowly shook his head. “No, we don’t. But we can take as many as we can.”

  “We can meet at the blacksmith shop and leave from there,” added Andrew. “That also means we will be spending the night in the cavern. I don’t think we can risk coming back after dark.”

  -

  Jennifer was going from home to home, telling the frightened occupants what they intended. Some felt relieved at the idea of going somewhere safer. Others were still hesitant, feeling they could hide from the dragon in their root cellars.

  Jennifer tried to be patient and explain to them that the root cellars wouldn’t be safe. This new dragon was just too big. But many just scoffed at the idea of the dragon being able to dig them out of their root cellars. Dragons flew in the air, they didn’t dig in the ground.

  Two hours later, Jennifer met the others back at the blacksmith shop. There were already two large wagons out front that Jason and his mother were hastily loading. Jennifer knew that her mother and Marten were doing the same thing back at their place.

  “We’re going to the cavern today,” Jason said, excitedly. “Are you going today too, Jennifer?”

  “Yes,” she replied, bending down and helping Jason lift a large basket full of food items. “It will be safer in the cavern.”

  “Dad says it might be a long time before we come back home.”

  “Perhaps,” replied Jennifer, picking up a small chest and shoving it up on the wagon. She saw Collin come around the corner of the blacksmith shop carrying a large bundle of blankets.

  “Did you have any luck getting anyone else to go with us today?” he asked as he walked up and tossed th
e bundle up on top of the rapidly filling wagon. Most of the people he had talked to had been hesitant.

  “A few indicated they would,” replied Jennifer, wishing that more had been willing to go. “Most still seem undecided. They feel they are safer here in their homes or their root cellars.”

  “The fools,” muttered Collin, shaking his head in disbelief. “Even after last night, they don’t understand the danger they’re in.”

  “What do you think the dragon will do?” asked Jennifer, helping Jason lift another crate. “What will happen to those that stay behind?” She was very concerned that so many people seemed so uncertain about going to the cavern.

  “The dragon’s going to eat them,” Jason broke in, his voice quivering. “If they stay, he will eat them all! Just like he did last night!”

  Collin and Jennifer only stared at each other. Both feared deep in their hearts that Jason was right. To stay in the village was almost certain death. The village had become the dragon’s personal hunting ground.

  -

  Jennifer and her father finally returned home to help load their own supplies in their wagon. Marten and her mother had already loaded the essentials.

  “We will take the milk cow and the calf with us today,” her father said, looking down toward the barn where Marten had gone to feed the calf. “The milk cow and the calf are both tame enough that they should be easy to lead.”

  Jennifer nodded and then went back in to the house and to her room to finish packing. She looked around her room, knowing it would be a while before she slept here again. The comfortable bed, her mirror, all the things that made her room what it was would have to be left behind. With a heavy sigh, she opened a large wood trunk that was setting next to her dresser. She emptied its contents out on the bed.

  Going through her clothes, she carefully chose what she thought she would need. It was cooler in the cavern, so she picked clothes that were heavier and warmer. When the trunk was nearly full, she carefully placed a heavy quilt on top that she had inherited from her grandmother and a comfortable pillow. She also added several hairbrushes and some ribbons for her hair. Then she went to find Marten to have him help her load the trunk up on the wagon.