by A. D. Adams
Fienna thought for a moment. “That is a beautiful name. Where does it come from?”
“I’m not sure, it just came into my mind,” Terra thought to his love.
“Very well, it shall be Cardana.” With that, Fienna's tiredness filled Terra’s mind.
“It’s time to sleep,” he thought to her as he led them back into the cave.
Their home was in a crevice, a crack in the world near the coastal cliffs. These coastal cliffs were where the dragons lived and where Terra and Fienna’s lives came together. The crevice was fifty dragon lengths wide, two hundred long, and at least a hundred deep. A small lake surrounded by woods sat at the bottom of the great crack. At one end of the lake was a clearing large enough for dragons to land. There was a dragon-sized hole in the wall of the crevice, which opened into a large cave. As the sun rose, light would filter into the cave, showing a beautiful and wondrous place of sparkling crystal fingers hanging from the ceiling. As the light struck the crystals, small shafts of light reflected throughout the large cave, creating a gentle glow. A small stream flowed through the floor of the cave with deep shelves on either side of the gently flowing water. The stream emerged from a smaller chamber in the rear of the cave and emptied out one side of the entrance. The water then flowed down to the small lake.
As they walked through the cave, Setilan, their sea nymph friend, handed Terra a basket of fresh waterweed for the newborn’s bed. He took it without saying a word and continued to their private place in the rear of the cave. The sparkling, multicolored crystal fingers hanging from the ceiling lit their path to the smaller rear cave. A waterfall flowed down the wall from the crystal ceiling and emptied into a clear pool at its base. He sat the basket in the corner and Fienna placed their newborn daughter into its soft warm interior. She lay next to the basket and Terra held them both with his great arms. Fienna and their daughter quickly fell asleep, but Terra could not. He lay awake, thinking of this day and all it held. He had saved his sister and mate from the Black Solan, killing her in the process. His first child had been born and a good friend had died protecting Fienna. As his mind swirled with everything, he noticed the crystals seemed to be glowing in a small cleft near the waterfall. Suddenly streaks of light seemed to branch out from the glowing rocks to form a small ball of multicolored light. The ball seemed to stretch and slowly formed the figure of an older woman, naked except for the flowing, crystal-like hair that reached her feet. Terra could see through her, to the crystal bound wall just behind the woman. He slowly got up, trying not to wake Fienna and walked toward the figure. When he was at the pool, directly opposite the woman, he began to hear multiple pitched hums. They seemed to be coming from the crystals. They slowly formed into a single gentle voice that matched the movements of the woman’s lips.
“I am Tone,” she said.
“You are the one who talked to me before?” Terra asked with his head tilted slightly and a wary look on his face.
“Yes, I talked through the stream last time,” she said.
Terra said nothing; he just stared at her.
“I can control the crystals much better than the water so I believe we can talk with greater ease.”
“What do you want from me?” Terra responded.
“Why do you think I want something?” Tone asked.
“All want something from me, except Fienna,” he answered.
“What I want is what you must provide, for without your help all will die,” she said in a grim voice.
“I don’t understand. Why will all die?”
“The Dark One has devastated a large part of my body,” She said in a sad voice.
“I still don’t understand,” Terra said with a questioning voice.
“This soil you stand on is fertile and full of life, but on the other side of my spine the land is mostly dead. What little life is left is struggling against the great storms of hatred and the dark sickness that tries to destroy all,” she said, seemingly becoming tired.
“Your body. You mean the life on Tone is your body and when some of it dies, part of you dies?”
“Yes!”
“What do you wish from me?”
“That you choose to defeat the darkness,” she said as her image began to fade.
“I will help you if you call upon me. You must destroy the dark one with the ninth,” she said as her image disappeared.
“The ninth. What is the ninth?” he said to nothing.
“It is the power that you possess, but he cannot,” a disembodied voice said.
“Why can he not possess it?”
“You cannot possess what you are not and cannot be,” the voice said in a fading tone. Terra somehow knew there would be no more talk that sunset and returned to Fienna’s side.
Fienna awoke before the sun rose and walked to the cave entrance, looking up to the sparkling sky lights. She had not been asleep the sunset before, when the vision of the woman had come to Terra. She was not going to tell Terra that she knew of the conversation. He would tell her in his own time. Fienna would not hesitate to do what the vision wanted to save her child, but Terra needed to think about such things.
She sometimes had a hard time understanding Terra. He did not like the hunt and the killing of prey, although he would do it. Fienna loved tracking the beasts and watching them run in fear. Even though she was only thinking about hunting, she could feel her heart beating faster and the excitement of flying over running beasts, pushing them toward an open area. She could imagine herself plunging down and sinking her talons into one of them. Then came the joy of the kill and the wonderful taste of the fresh meat and warm blood that flowed into her throat.
She knew none of this was pleasant for Terra. He had a reluctance to kill anything and he only killed to eat. Fienna knew that the world was in trouble. The dragons were finding less running beasts to kill and the land seemed less green. It was becoming obvious that things were changing for the worst. Based upon what Tone had said, Terra was the one chosen to correct the world’s troubles. She would have to help and travel with him along his path. A path she knew he had to take.
The sun was now peaking over the edge of the crevice and the sky lights disappeared. Terra would soon awake with Cardana and they would start down their new path. Where it would lead, she did not know, but as long as Terra was with her, it would be the path she would follow. Fienna did not know where it would lead, but as long as Terra was at her side, she would follow it.
Chapter 2 - The Request
(What can a single man do? Change the world.)
- The Time of the Draman -
Terra and Fienna’s love expanded to include their new daughter. She was a strong and beautiful child. Her face was light green with a myriad of other shades of green patterned over her tiny body. She always seemed to be wriggling and a smile was forever present on her small round face. She rarely cried, instead, she seemed to laugh, especially when her father held her. Fienna, her mother, was a strikingly tall, beautiful and powerful- looking woman. Her hair, a bluish green, was almost to the ground. Her skin was as soft as water with small marks that looked like the scales that she once had. Her coloring stayed the same as when she was a dragon, blues and greens flowing across her body. Fienna, a dragon that changed into human form, had no idea how to care for a human infant. Terra’s mother, Reicka, and sister, Faray, were there to help. She quickly learned what was needed and how to do it.
Terra had been reunited with his pet slese cat, Suti, when he found his mother. He had tamed the animal as a young human when she was about to attack him. Suti was tri-colored with red and yellow fur and a black stripe down her back. She was as long as a man was tall, with teeth and claws sharper and harder than any blade. His dragon family had raised Terra to adulthood after he was taken from his parents during a trip. Suti was wounded trying to fend off the attack by the Averons who had taken Terra. She was old and hardly able to move when Terra came to his mother’s cave. Terra healed her old wounds and gave her back
the strength and health of her youth. Suti now stayed near Cardana, protecting her and Fienna. Her love for Terra had expanded to include Fienna and their daughter.
One sun-rising, Fienna was feeding Cardana, so Terra decided to take a walk. He stood two heads taller than any sea nymph. Terra had massive legs that supported a wide body. His legs, hips and body were the same width until they merged into a large chest and even larger shoulders. His arms were not much smaller than the rest of him. His head was oval-shaped and framed by brown wavy hair that went half way down his back. It was tied into a tail with a piece of old cloth. His face was typical of a human, except for his eyes, which looked like ancient pieces of wood. As he left the cave, his mother stopped him. She had been resting in the warm sun near the cave’s opening.
“Terra, you need to know some things.”
“What things do you think I need to know?” he said in a gentle, questioning voice.
“Well first, why have you not asked me about your father?”
“When I connected with your mind, I felt your pain about him, and I did not want to hurt you by bringing it up.”
“Thank you, but it's time you know. Your father was killed ten sets of seasons after you were taken from us. He was killed by a mound of rock and dirt he had built to hold back the river that flowed through our planting land. Without cause, the mound tore apart and the force of the water and debris killed him.”
“From your voice it sounds as if it was not an accident.”
“Your father built that mound and it would have never come apart like it did. I think Wistack, the one you killed, did it. He wanted the land and me.”
“He is gone and it is over now,” Terra said in an odd distant tone.
“There is more,” she immediately said, trying to keep his attention.
“Yes, what?”
“After you were taken, the planters began to notice a drop in how much food they gathered at each picking. It took many sets of seasons, but food slowly began to become less available,” his mother started to explain.
“What is a set of seasons?” Terra asked.
“I’m sorry you were raised by the dragons. They don’t measure time as humans do. Let me explain. There are three seasons in the valleys known as a set of seasons. The cold season starts the cycle and is laced with a biting rain that tears at the skin and spirit. The cold and wet season turns into a short dry period, known as planting time. Then, the long, warm, wet growing season finishes the cycle. The moon of Tone marks seasonal time passage. The great yellow moon goes from its full round shape to various crescents, finally ending with no moon at all. It then passes back through the crescents in reverse order until it reaches full roundness once again. This cycle takes sixty-two sun-risings. The people know time based on the light of the sunrise and darkness of the sunset and the seven full moons it takes to complete the three seasons. Twice during a single set of seasons, the great full moon turns an angry red color. This happens at the end of the growing season and at the beginning of the dry planting time. Does that help?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Let me continue explaining. The people, who had never had an interest in having any type of leadership, began to listen to various fools. These people promised more food and an easier life if they would just follow them. Now there are two groups that claim to be the leaders of all humans. One is a set of three sisters. They were healers and somehow they figured out a way of combining their powers. I have never seen them, but I hear they can do a bit more than healing when they combine. They have concentrated their powers in the northern part of the valleys. In the southern portion, a man calling himself the king has obtained control. I know little about how he did this or who he is. I do know that both groups have formed bands of men that do their bidding.”
“Have they managed to start killing each other yet?” Terra asked in a sarcastic tone.
“You do not like people, do you?” she asked.
“I have only met a few, and most of them have tried to kill me.” Reicka could not disagree with that.
“Most people are good; you have met the worst of us.”
“You were telling me about these groups.”
“Oh, yes. Well, they have not yet fought each other, because they have to pass over the Lake of Solan first.”
“The Lake of Solan, what is that?” Terra asked.
“The valleys that we live in run along the coast. About halfway, a huge lake divides them into two separate areas. Waterfalls that are fed by the melting snow and the rain of the Barrier Mountains feed the lake. On the opposite side, the water from the lake spills down into a deep gorge, which empties into the great water. Some say people live at the bottom of the gorge, but it is so deep you can hardly see into its depths. Once, there was a bridge that spanned the edge of the gorge and allowed people to go from one side to the other. The Solans created it before they were killed, but a few seasons ago, it collapsed. It was said that the sisters destroyed it to protect themselves until they are ready to kill those who control the southern valleys.”
“So they are separated by a lake and can’t kill each other?” Terra said in a questioning tone.
“Yes.”
“Which side of the lake are we on?”
“My village and this crevice sit at the most northern part of the coast. The Sisters control this side.”
“Why are you telling me this, mother?”
"Because I think it's time for you to take your place in our world. You have powers far greater than any I've ever seen. Our people need help and I believe you are the one sent for that purpose.”
“I was not sent. I just am. Whether I should help people or not is a decision I have yet to make. You are part of their world. I am not. I am a dragon, that is what I know and that is who I help.”
“Please consider what I have said. I am not asking for me, but for all,” she said in a sad and distressed voice.
“You are a good woman. I will think about it. I don’t know. I just don’t know,” Terra said as he walked away.
“Did you hear that, my love?” Terra thought to his mate.
“Yes,” Fienna thought back in a loving tone.
“What do you think I should do?”
“Your mother is right. You are the most powerful being anyone has ever seen. They are your people even though my mother raised us both. We now have a daughter and I would like her to know the ways of your kind, as well as the ways of the dragons.”
“I’ll think about it. I just would like to be with you and our daughter. Everyone seems to expect something from me,” Terra said with an odd, disturbing tone.
“Who do mean when you say everybody?” Fienna thought to him.
“ Well, Tone, my mother, and the Solans.”
“Tone - you mean our world?”
“Yes, it talks to me. It wishes me to stop the darkness.”
“What is the darkness?”
“I don’t really know what the darkness is or where it lives. I have to think about things, I’m just not sure.”
Fienna decided not to press the point; she felt a resistance in his mind and knew it was best to allow him to make his own decision. She had heard the woman that formed in their cave, but she did not truly understand how a world made of rock could be alive, or, for that matter, talk to those living upon it.
Chapter 3 - The Visitors
(Old friends, good advice.)
- The Time of the Draman -
Terra needed to be alone to think, so he decided to fly to a private place. Since the time he had changed to dragon form to save Fienna, Terra had been able to change at will. He stood before the lake in their crevice home and stripped naked. The sea nymphs that were patrolling the crevice watched in their normal amazement. Terra had met the sea nymphs in a dubious manner. The princess of the sea nymphs, Setilan, was challenged to entice Terra into the water in an ancient but barbaric practice. It consisted of her attempting to entice him into the water through her song, then
letting him swim or drown. Terra’s power protected him, causing her to fall onto sharp rocks. She would have died if Terra had not healed her. Later the King of the sea Nymphs apologized for his daughter’s action and promised friendship to both Terra and Fienna. The sea nymphs also owed Terra another debt. After a great ground-shaking, a number of nymphs were injured including many children. Terra healed them at the risk of his own life. This act not only cemented the friendship, but also created a bond of respect and some say love, between the dragon healer and the nymphs.
As Terra stood naked, he concentrated and began the change. The change, for those who had not seen it, was an amazing sight. First, small nubs appeared on his back. Then his neck elongated. His backbone started to protrude out and the nubs grew into wings. Terra’s legs expanded and he bent forward as his tailbone elongated. His fingers grew longer, as his nails expanded into crystalline talons. His face stretched out and changed into a snout with the teeth elongating and crystallizing at the same time. As the change completed, he became the white dragon.
Fienna knew his mind and understood he needed time to think, so she allowed him to fly off without her.
“I will be back soon, my love,” Terra thought to her as he left.
She had not been able to change back to her dragon form since she had been with child. Fienna had hoped that with the birth of their daughter, she would be able to change, but the full moon had come and gone and she had not. She dearly loved her daughter, but she missed flying for she was a dragon not a human.
Terra headed to a large flat rock on the edge of a tall cliff overlooking the great water. He landed and changed back to his human body. He lay flat on the rock, allowing the sun to warm him as he thought about what the image in the cave and his mother had said. He sensed something approaching and sat up to look. A long way down the coast, he saw a lone dragon fly towards him.
At first, he thought the dragon was just going hunting, but as he watched the creature became familiar. As it got closer, he thought it looked like Lowlack, the first dragon he had ever encountered and his greatest friend. The problem with this was that Lowlack had been killed in the attack of the Averons, and his body had been taken and given to the lava of a volcano - the customary burial in the dragon world.