by V. M. Sang
`You are on the side of my volcano, near the sacrifice stone.' replied the dragon. `This valley and the one beyond are my territory. No one comes here except to sacrifice. Perhaps that's why you're here. Are you the sacrifice, or is it this beast with you?'
Pettic swallowed hard. Sacrifice? This creature wanted a sacrifice and thought that he or Cledo were it. How was he going to talk his way out of this one? It would have to be talk because there was no way he and Cledo could fight this creature and win.
`When I fell,' he began, `the sacrifice must have escaped. I apologise and will go and find it.'
He turned, but the dragon said, `Not so fast, human. Do you think I'm stupid? As soon as you get away from the range of my fire, you'll run and try to return to your people. It will do you no avail, though, because I can fly and toast you from the air. If the other sacrifice has escaped, then you and your animal will have to do instead.'
He reared up on his hind legs and took Pettic in one claw and Cledo in the other, then with a powerful thrust of his hind legs he leaped in the air and flew towards the summit of the mountain.
The air rushed around Pettic as the dragon flew to its lair. Its claws dug into him and he felt he could scarcely breathe. As they flew higher, the sulphurous air grew thicker and that added to his problems. By the time the dragon settled down before a cave high on the side of the volcano, Pettic was coughing and so was Cledo. He could scarcely breathe. The dragon, however, seemed quite at ease.
`You seem to be having some difficulty,' the dragon said, making a sound a bit like laughing. `It seems your kind can't tolerate the volcanic gases. Never mind. You won't be alive for long enough to worry about it. Usually the people kill the sacrifice before I bring them up here. They seem to like to do the blood shedding themselves.'
The huge creature shook its head before continuing.
`Their priests, or whatever they are, come up here and make a big ceremony of it. They think it will keep me from killing their cattle and sometimes them. It doesn't, of course. I do what I like.'
Pettic could believe that easily. The creature continued talking.
`What they don't realise is that I don't need to eat like they do. One large meal will suffice me for quite some time. So I go and steal a few cows, or some of them, they come up here and sacrifice. I take the sacrifice and eat it when I need to, thus I don't need to raid their cattle. Sometimes I eat the wild animals too. Then they think their sacrifice has appeased me. When I need more food I start again.'
He laughed at the thought of the ease with which he fooled the people.
Pettic thought quickly. What could he do to stop the dragon from killing him? It seemed to like talking and so he had an idea.
`Look, before you kill me, why don't you let me tell you about the places I've been? I can tell you about my world and about the worlds of Terra and Aeris.'
`Well, I suppose you will keep better alive than dead. Dead things go off quickly and I prefer things fresher. I ate a deer yesterday so I'm not very hungry at the moment. Alright then. I'll allow you to live as long as you can keep me amused with your stories.'
Pettic and Cledo were both then overcome with coughing.
`Perhaps we could talk out of this air that is so hurting to our lungs?' Pettic asked the dragon, and the creature complied.
He once again picked them up and flew down to lower slopes where the sulphurous gases were less apparent.
The flight was another terrifying experience. Pettic closed his eyes until he felt himself touch the ground once more. Cledo, remembering his flight on the Pegasus on Aeris, and the near disaster when he slipped from her back, whined and struggled, but to no avail. The dragon held him tightly.
Although the gases where they landed were no longer choking to Pettic and Cledo, the air still smelled of sulphur, but at least they could breathe.
Pettic could see buildings below them now they were lower down the mountainside and the sun had begun to rise. He decided to ask the dragon what world they were on, although he did have a strong inkling.
The dragon replied that humans called this world Ignis, confirming Pettic's supposition. He could see very little water, so it could not be Aqua.
Then the dragon spoke again.
`If we're to converse with each other for a while it's only good manners we introduce ourselves. My name is Monarlisk and I own, as I said these valleys. What is your name, human?'
`I am called Pettic, and my dog is Cledo.'
`I'm not very fond of dog meat,' muttered Monarlisk, almost to himself. Then he continued. `I have another cave at lower levels over on the other side of the valley. We can go there if you wish.'
Pettic told the dragon that although a cave would be good, he would walk there rather than fly in his claws.
`Oh, no you don't,' replied Monarlisk. `If I let you walk you will go to the town and escape me. No, you will fly. If you wish you can ride on my back. You can hold onto my spines. It's ride or be carried, but I won't allow you to walk.'
Pettic agreed that riding might be preferable so he clambered onto the dragon's back and positioned himself as securely as he could between a pair of spines, gripping hard with his hands on the pair immediately in front of him. Cledo would have to be carried, of course, a fact that the wolfhound hated just as much as Pettic had.
Pettic felt a sense of tensioning muscles as Monarlisk bunched his legs in readiness for the take-off, then a leap into the air and a flap of the huge wings and they were airborne. Pettic heard a yelp from Cledo as they took off, but if the dog made any more sound, Pettic did not know. All he could hear was the rushing wind and the creak of the dragon's wings.
Monarlisk found a thermal, and, using it, he spiraled upwards without any flapping of his wings. Pettic risked a glance down. Below him he could see the valley in the light of the rising sun. A river flowed down its centre and about halfway down another smaller river joined it flowing from the mountains in the east, towards which they were now flying, Monarlisk having gained enough height to satisfy himself.
At the confluence of the two rivers, Pettic could make out a town surrounded by fields. He thought people would soon be getting up to go about their daily tasks, and as he did so a column of smoke rose up in the town, followed by another and another.
Monarlisk glided with very few strokes of his wings. He seemed to unerringly find the thermals he needed to regain height when he was getting a bit low in the sky. Pettic could not help but feel exhilarated by this flight, but he did feel sorry for poor Cledo.
The speed at which they crossed the valley and then the next one amazed him. The sun was still quite low in the sky when they began to descend.
Pettic felt almost sorry the adventure was over. What a tale he would have to tell Lucenra. She would never believe him. Then he remembered. He had to find a ruby in an artefact and escape from this world. The gate was now a long way away and he had no idea how long it would take him to return to the dog head rock on foot. That was if he could escape from Monarlisk. That was not going to be an easy task, either.
As soon as Monarlisk landed, Pettic scrambled down. Cledo leaped at him, delighted to be once more on solid ground.
`It's alright, boy,' Pettic reassured him. `We're down now.'
Monarlisk looked at the pair.
`This isn't my preferred cave, you know,' he said. `I prefer to be near the Mother Volcano. We dragons believe we were created by the Mother Volcano many, many eons ago. Although we live long, there are no dragons alive today who remember the creation, so long ago was it. Still, this cave is warm and dry. I use it to keep things I find on the sacrifices.'
He waddled towards the cave entrance and called to Pettic and Cledo, `Come on in. There's lots of room in here for all three of us, you being so small. There's actually enough room for two dragons.'
They followed him into the cave. Pettic thought briefly about making a run for it, but then he thought about what Monarlisk had said about toasting them, and for all his apparent
friendliness at the moment, Pettic had no doubt the dragon would not hesitate to do so if they tried to escape. Somehow, he would have to negotiate their freedom.
Days of living in the cave with Monarlisk began. The dragon was quite good company in a strange way. He liked to talk and was fascinated by Pettic's adventures. He talked of dragon magic, which was dissimilar to human magic.
Dragons could not make the gestures that humans did to imbue gems with magic. They had developed a way of making the magic work without gems. They did not need to mutter words either, just think of what they wanted to accomplish.
Monarlisk thought perhaps humans did not need to make the gestures, mutter words of magic, or use gemstones either, but believed they did, and so the magic did not work for them unless accompanied by these gestures, words and gems.
At the end of the first day, Monarlisk brought a lamb to the cave, and after Pettic had skinned it and given its entrails to Cledo, Monarlisk breathed his fire onto it and cooked it for him. This was the first time that Pettic had actually seen Monarlisk using his fiery breath, and he was impressed at the finesse with which the dragon could use it.
On the second day, Pettic prevailed on Monarlisk to tell him something of his life. The life of a dragon was alien to the young man and he was interested to hear how they lived.
`My story is long, young man, but we have time. I came from a very long way away. I had a beautiful mate and we had five eggs. Dragons are getting scarce on Ignis. Our fertility is low and there aren't as many females as males. Pressure for mates is very high.
`Crinilisk, that was her name, was a beautiful young dragon. She was red as the sunset and her eyes were yellow as the sun itself. When the sun shone on her scales it could dazzle the eye, so shiny were they. She laid only five eggs though. Once, queen dragons would lay at least a dozen eggs. Still, they were coming on nicely.'
A sadness seemed to enter the dragon's eyes as he spoke of his brood, and he paused in his tale. Pettic wondered why.
Monarlisk continued his story.
`One day I saw a speck in the sky. Another dragon approached. He landed just across from the cave entrance and sang his challenge. Of course I had to answer. He was a young, virile dragon; much younger than me.
`He was another red, like my Crinilisk, but lighter. We flew into the air and circled each other singing our challenges and each boasting of how we would defeat the other and what we would do when we won. Each of us tried to get above the other, and then I succeeded. I dove down and raked my talons across his back. Of course, his scales prevented much damage to him, but he was humiliated that I'd got the first strike and he roared his anger.'
Monarlisk smiled a dragonish smile at the thought of hurting his rival.
`We broke apart and began circling again. Then he came in at me without getting above me, and we grappled each other, turning over and over in the air. Oh, it was a mighty fight. We bit and clawed at each other, each of us trying to damage the other's wings. We're rather heavy beasts to fly, you see. We glide whenever we can, and damage to our wings is serious.
`Anyway, we fought and I seemed to be getting the better of the fight. He was younger and stronger, but I had wisdom and experience and I used it against him.'
Monarlisk paused again and sighed.
'Then he had a lucky break and managed to claw my left wing. I lost my balance and found it hard to control my direction. He took advantage of this and soon I had to retreat or be more seriously hurt. As I flew slowly away I heard first his victory song and then soon after, his mating song.
`After mating with my Crinilisk he would have gone into the cave and eaten the eggs that Crinilisk had layed. My eggs. My babies. They were so close to hatching too.'
Here Monarlisk hung his head and seemed to have difficulty in continuing. Pettic was taken with sorrow to see the gigantic creature so laid low and he went over and put his hand on the dragon's neck and stroked him gently between the spines.
`I am so sorry, Monarlisk,' he said softly. `It must have been hard to know your children were dead.'
Even Cledo picked up on the mood and whined his sympathy.
The big creature raised his head and looked at the pair of them.
`I would never have expected understanding from lesser creatures such as you,' he said. `I think I might like you. I would prefer to continue my story tomorrow, I think. Now can you continue your tale? I'm interested in this world of Terra where there's no magic. How can people live without magic?'
`They seem to live quite well without it,' answered Pettic. `I suppose if you don't know about something you can't miss it. There the people have never known magic.'
This first day passed with Monarlisk asking questions about the world of Terra and Pettic answering. Some questions he could not answer, of course, such as whether there were any bigger towns in Terra or if all the people lived in small primitive villages.
Pettic told of how he and Klondor killed the boar that had been terrorising the neighbourhood. He told of the whirlwind courtship of Klondor and Beline, then of the betrothal gifts and how he had given the white boar skin to Klondor for his betrothal gift. Monarlisk sat and listened in fascination.
Eventually, Pettic became increasingly hoarse with talking.
`Is there somewhere near here where I can get some water?' he asked.
`There's a stream just a few paces to the east. I'll show you the way.'
As he led the way out of the cave, Pettic wondered at how the dragon, so graceful in the air and so beautiful in repose, could be so clumsy on the ground. It was not a creature of the land. No wonder dragons were only myths on the world of Terra.
He followed Monarlisk out to a small, clear stream where he drank his fill and refilled his water skins. Cledo was as thirsty as his master and lapped at the stream with gusto.
Pettic stretched after his thirst was quenched. He was used to being active, not sitting around talking all day. He began to perform some simple exercises to try to relieve his stiffness. Monarlisk watched then asked what he was doing.
`I can't sit still all day. People are designed to be active. I get very stiff if I don't exercise.'
`Then we must build some exercise time for you,' Monarlisk said. `Every day you can come out here and I can watch what you do.'
Pettic sighed. He had hoped he could manage to slip away on the pretext of exercise. It seemed he was going to be watched at all times. He felt like a condemned man in the condemned cell, allowed to exercise in the prison yard under the strict eyes of the guard.
The next few days passed in much the same way. Pettic talked and exercised. He played with Cledo, throwing sticks for the dog to chase, all the time being watched by large draconian eyes. He told Monarlisk about Aeris and how he had fomented a revolution. The dragon's eyes opened wide when Pettic told him of the membrane stretching from wrist to ankle on the aerials.
`So there are humans who can fly?'
`Well, not fly exactly. More like gliding.'
When Pettic came to tell of his encounter with the wyvern and pegasus, the dragon said, `We have wyverns here, too. They are our distant cousins, but I suspect they are better off on Aeris than Ignis. They have no real affinity with the volcanos.'
Eventually, Pettic, after finishing his tale of Aeris, asked Monarlisk to continue his story and the dragon, complied.
`After the fight I couldn't fly with the rent in my wing. I walked—imagine the indignity—walked to another cave I had. It, too, had things taken from people I'd eaten. Hard metal and other things are not good on the digestion, you know. Anyway, I got there eventually and hid until my wing had healed, then I took off. I started my journey at night so my rival wouldn't see me. If he thought I was still near he'd have tried to kill me.'
`Really? Even though you were beaten?'
`Yes. Oh, I don't blame him. I'd have done the same. You see, we male dragons are very territorial. We'll try to drive a rival off, but if a beaten rival hangs around it means he's going to try a
gain. Then the winner must try to make it a permanent end.'
The dragon shook himself before continuing. The noise made by his wings nearly deafened Pettic.
`I flew away that night.' he said, 'I didn't know which direction I was going in. I grieved for my eggs as well as my mate, and for my wounded pride, of course. You see, I'd never been beaten before. Anyway, I flew until my injured wing would take no more and then I landed and found a cave to sleep in.
'Every day I flew. I passed over mountains and plains, rivers and lakes. I wanted to get far away from my pain and my humiliation. Then I came to a sea. Here I paused to feed myself up. You see, I'd determined I needed to get across that sea.
'Ha! That sea was bigger than I thought. I flew for days and days without rest. When I eventually landed I was a wreck. Even for a dragon I'd gone a long time without food. I was skin and bone and so weak I could scarcely hunt. I managed to catch a few small creatures and slowly build up my strength until I could catch a deer. Then I flew away from the coast until I found these valleys. Here I've settled.
`In truth, all these valleys are mine, not just the ones I told you. I haven't seen another dragon since I came here, about fifty years ago. It's so good to have someone to talk to, even a human with a dog.'
Monarlisk then made a suggestion.
`I've enjoyed talking to you, Pettic. You're good company. I'm not going to eat you as I originally planned, but would like to keep you here as a companion.'
Pettic thought for a while before answering the dragon. He said he would stay with him as a companion if the dragon wished, in exchange for some more freedom. Monarlisk frowned at first, but then said he would be agreeable to that, but to ensure Pettic's honesty he could not take Cledo beyond a hundred yards of the cave.
This Pettic reluctantly agreed to. He would have to try to rescue Cledo, but at least he could wander around a bit more. Perhaps he could go to the town he had seen and get help from there.
Monarlisk went out then and caught a small fawn for Pettic and Cledo and cooked it for them as before. It was approaching sunset and they re-entered the cave and settled down for the night.