To Fashion a Dragon
Page 2
Off to her left was Candy Cane Forest where Gingerbread Men held hands with Gingerbread Ladies as they strolled down paths with such names as Licorice Lane, and Rocky Road, Road.
To her right was Mer Lake where mermaids and mermen lounged on sandy beaches, the azure hue of their flippers bright against the white sands. Just offshore, crimson snouted flying dolphins and blue whales casually floated above the water before diving into the Deep Blue for a refreshing swim.
High above it all was The Rainbow, a full arching glittering rainbow that went from horizon to horizon and whose seven colors sparkled and gleamed, dazzling the eye. At each end of the rainbow was a pot o’ gold guarded by green-suited leprechauns. No matter where you were in Fairyland, you always saw a full rainbow.
Muttering under her breath, Vay said, “I will have my golden dragon,” as her eyes fixed on The Rainbow. The more she stared the more of an idea built up in her mind until she whirled and called out, “I have it! Forget about your pixie colors, they are much too mundane. I have a better idea. Seven kinds of dragons, each a color of our rainbow!”
Her sisters turned and stared, hardly blinking as puzzled expressions grew on their faces. “Rainbow dragons?” Osa sputtered, crossing her arms, while one finger tapped on her upper arm.
“How odd,” Eskar said.
“Whoever heard of a green or yellow dragon?” Nadia stammered.
“No one, obviously,” Vay retorted, “because there aren’t any—yet.”
“I don’t know—” Osa began only Vay cut her off by saying, “Pixie colors are dull, and drab compared to our rainbow. Our dragons will be the most beautiful creatures ever created.”
“Hmm,” Nadia nodded, “she does have a point. Most of the god’s creations are rather drab until we come along and brighten them up.”
“That’s true,” Eskar agreed, “the gods can’t seem to get away from their grays, blacks, and whites with only a dab of color here and there. But nothing like we have here in Fairyland.”
“The gods will be more than dazzled,” Vay asserted. “One look and they’ll want us to help with even more creations.”
“Rainbow-colored dragons,” Osa murmured and began to nod, her head bobs becoming more and more pronounced the more she thought about the idea. “A dragon the color of a roaring fire, or the light blue of the sky, or tinted the color of a greenery—”
“Or the Deep Blue,” Eskar gushed, “or purple, the color of royalty, or—”
“Yellow and orange roses, my favorite,” Nadia clapped. “How wonderful!”
“Sisters,” Osa declared, “this is a wonderful idea that we’ve thought of. We must return to the Center of Everything and inform The Presiders at once!”
“What?” Vay protested. “Why?”
“Well, because,” Osa returned, “they only called for us to create one dragon, not seven.”
“One or seven,” Vay sighed, “what’s the difference? Once we present them with seven majestic beasts, they’ll forget they only asked for one.”
“I don’t know, Vay,” Nadia answered, “they could become angry and you know what happened the last time they got mad.”
“Yes,” Eskar replied, wagging a finger in Vay’s direction. “They locked up those poor Titans for a whole epoch.”
“Sisters,” Vay responded in a tired voice, “there is a difference between creating seven dragons and trying to start a war, especially one to displace The Presiders. We aren’t starting a war.”
“She does have a point,” Osa acknowledged. “Maybe if we create just one to start and present it to The Presiders to show what we can do with the next six.”
“No.” Vay’s objection was so quick and terse that the three turned surprised faces to her.
“If we do that,” Vay explained, “then we may well throw away our opportunity to create the other six dragons as some High God might convince The Presiders to let them finish the job. Remember, we have no voice in their council. The only voice we have is in our actions.”
“A rather good point, Osa,” Eskar nodded.
“They could take our idea away,” Nadia added.
“Our idea,” Vay mumbled to herself under her breath.
Osa pursed her lips as she thought, it would be a shame not to have the chance to create seven different dragons instead of only one. After a bit, a smile grew on her face. “Let’s be bold, sisters. We’ll do it! Using our brilliant idea, we’ll create seven distinct, wonderful, lovely, dragons for the whole cosmos to admire.”
“We’ll be the talk of the gods!” Nadia clapped.
“Our names will be on everyone’s lips,” Eskar laughed.
“Why,” Osa beamed, “perhaps they’ll even elevate us to Low God status.”
Nadia and Eskar sucked in a breath at Osa’s bold statement, while Vay turned away and walked to the window. Her eyes became as hard as the castle granite she walked upon as she stared at The Rainbow. “Low god?” she whispered to herself. “Perhaps for you, sister, but my ambition is a bit higher.”
Several decades later, Osa, Nadia, and Eskar bustled about in their creation chamber checking and rechecking to make sure everything was ready. In the very center, Vay slowly stirred a boiling mixture of clay, the bones of any number of creatures such as elephants and whales; eagle, hawk, and falcon feathers, fish scales, wolven fangs, and rhinoceros horns in a large pot.
It had taken the fairies quite some time collecting the materials they needed as they were very picky, choosing only the most perfect of ingredients. They visited dozens upon dozens of creation worlds in their exhaustive search and of course, never sought out anything from the unclean underworld.
But now they were ready to begin. Osa clapped her hands. “Sisters! Is everything in order? Vay, is the mixture ready?”
“Yes, Osa,” Vay replied with a sigh, “as I mentioned several times already, it is the right temperature and consistency.”
“And the parts,” Osa queried, “of each animal measured precisely?”
“To the clip of a fingernail and tip of an eyelash,” Vay answered. Under her breath, she mumbled, “As I’ve repeated for the tenth time.”
Osa placed her hands on hips, smiled wide and declared, “Then let us start. Nadia, you have the enchantment ready?”
Nadia picked up a scroll and unrolled it so that shiny, golden letters appeared on the parchment. Satisfied that she had the right spell, she nodded to Osa.
“Perfect,” Osa said and turned to Vay. “Ready with the Elixir of Life?”
Vay held up the tiny, golden vial, presented to them by Zule himself not long ago.
Osa nodded and in hushed tones, said, “Remember Vay, be careful, Zule himself blessed the elixir and I don’t know how we were so fortunate but he gave us just enough for seven drops, the exact number we need—no more and no less.”
Vay gave Osa a curt nod, slowly tipped the vial’s tongue toward the mixture. A single drop appeared and rolled down the lip. However, just at the edge, unnoticed by her sisters, Vay jerked the vial just the least bit, cutting off a tiny piece of the mixture.
The less than a drop hung for a moment before it floated down into the simmering mixture. As it touched, there was a great eruption of steam and mist that hid Vay as she tipped the vial ever so slightly to let the tiny amount of elixir flow back into the bottle.
Osa then nodded to Nadia, who tossed the scroll high in the air while commanding, Spell of dragon green, appear!
The parchment erupted in flames, leaving behind brilliant golden letters that floated just above the simmering kettle.
The four sisters gathered around the cauldron and began chanting,
Green your scales we set to thee
Green to match both leaf and tree
Created to wander the forest and dale
Given to roam over hill and vale
Come forth now into our world
Open your eyes, your wings unfurl!
They paused for an instant and then clapped their hands,
the sound resounding in the room as they called forth: Great Dragonus Emerald, Appear!
Above the simmering mixture, a tiny whirlwind appeared. It grew larger and larger sucking up some of the brew until high above the vat, a shape began to form. Talons, fangs, horns, wings, scale and tail appeared. The figure spun around in the whirlwind, growing larger and larger.
The spinning air whipped the fairy’s silver hair about as if the strands were alive and billowed out their silvery gowns like ship’s sails. Slowly, the shape became firm, solid until the whirlwind set the form on the floor. For a moment, the beast remained still, without breathing, its eyes closed.
Then, its emerald eyes popped open, it drew in a raspy, shuddering breath and struggled to its feet. It unfurled its great wings, shook them several times and then unleashed a mighty roar.
The four sisters hurried over to stand in front of their creation. Nadia clapped in glee. “Oh, what beautiful emerald scales!”
“Its wings are much bigger than I imagined,” Eskar observed.
Osa took a step forward and called, “Dragon! Do you know who we are?”
The immense emerald dragon lowered its muzzle so that it was eye to eye with Osa. “You are my creators,” it growled and bowed its head.
“Yes,” Osa giggled and ran a hand over the dragon’s muzzle, “we are your creators.”
She turned and ordered, “Sisters, let us inspect every part. Make sure it is perfect in every detail, we don’t want to disappoint the Most Highs.”
As Osa, Nadia, and Eskar swarmed over the colossal beast, carefully inspecting their creation, unseen by her sisters, Vay paced up to the dragon and whispered, “We are your creators, dragon. What does that mean to you?”
The creature lowered his head until its muzzle was close to Vay’s face. “That,” he rumbled, “I am yours to command.”
“In all things?”
“In all things, mistress.”
Vay let a smile lift one corner of her mouth. “Excellent, beast. Most excellent.”
It didn’t take long for the sisters to pronounce their creation nearly perfect in all details. “Now, shoo,” Osa said to the dragon, “spread those wings and fly around, but don’t leave Fairyland and no dragon fire. Understood?”
“Yes, mistress,” the emerald answered. He turned, crouched, and then sprang through the nearest full, tall window. Moments later, he was winging away from the fairies’ celestial castle.
Watching him go, Osa chuckled and said, “There will be rumors and whispers galore in Fairyland tonight, but we’ve only just started.” She clapped her hands and ordered, “Let’s get to it sisters, we have six more to go.”
However, before they could begin, Imb, Jer, Mor, and Dun, the Pixie Domins of their Clans rushed through the door, their little legs churning as fast as they could make them go, squeaking and waving their little pointed hats in the air.
“Mistresses!” Imb squealed, pointing out the window. “A monster in Fairyland!”
“He gonna eat us!” Jer shouted.
“That didn’t take long for the rumors to start,” Vay dryly muttered.
Mor danced around, biting the brow of his tiny hat, while Dun tried to hide behind Osa’s flowing gown.
“Now, now,” Osa said, bending down and bringing Dun around before putting him with the other three pixies. “Nobody’s going to be eaten.”
“But,” Imb protested, his little finger shaking as he kept pointing outside. “Him so big and we so little.”
“We not that little,” Jer countered, “him just bigger.”
“Him make us even littler,” Mor added.
“Me littlest of all,” Dun moaned, “get eaten first.”
Jer patted Dun’s ample paunch that hung over his waist belt. “This say you not littlest. Not get eaten first.”
“Not so,” Dun pouted. “Me definitely get eaten first.”
“Me get eaten first,” Mor retorted. “You watch, you see.”
“No, me first!” Dun insisted.
“No, me!” Mor bawled and then before Osa could react the four pixies were swatting each other with their hats, rolling on the floor, all claiming that they would get eaten first before the others.
With the help of Nadia, Osa separated the four pixies, dusted them off and set them on their feet. Wagging a finger in their faces, Osa said, “No one is going to be eaten first or last. That’s a dragon and we created him so of course he’s not going to eat anyone or harm anything in Fairyland.”
“You be makers?” Jer asked scratching at his head.
“Yes, indeed,” Osa beamed.
“Me thought only gods be big makers,” Mor said.
“How ‘bout that,” Imb said, “they be makers.”
“Everyone bow to makers!” Jer ordered and the four little pixies swept off their hats and bowed low from the waist.
“Tsk, tsk,” Osa said, “no bowing. The Most High Ones allowed us this privilege and we have more work to do so off you go. Please explain to all the pixies that they needn’t be afraid.”
The four pixies trooped off, tittering to themselves as Osa turned to her sisters. “No more interruptions, sisters, we have work to do!”
With that, they got busy and next came the creation of the sapphire dragon.
Blue your scales we set to thee
Quicker than wind and surely as free
To soar through cloud and azure sky
Low as the crawven, up to eagle’s high
To top the clouds and below to gaze
The joy found in the sun’s bright rays
Come forth now into our world
Open your eyes, your wings unfurl!
Then came the yellow and orange dragons and in deference to the pixies, the fairies made these dragons pixie-size and called them sprite dragons.
Yellow and orange your scales set to light
To mirror the sun so surely bright
Tiny in body, with wings so small
But courage without equal, and without gall
Whether stormy day or moonless night
Its warmth to give for pure delight
Come forth now into our world
Open your eyes, your wings unfurl!
Next came the purple.
Violet your scales are meant to be
And given to royalty on bended knee
Until that day when liberty rings
No more queens and no more kings
Able to soar across hill, meadow and moor
Spirit and life unchained forever more
Come forth now into our world
Open your eyes, your wings unfurl!
Next came the indigo, or sea-dragon.
Indigo your scales we give to thee
Never for the land, but always the sea
To sail high above, to sail far below
Into the sea’s darkness, or the sun’s bright glow
To skim above restless water and foamy wave
Quiet and serene but oh so brave
Come forth now into our world
Open your eyes, your wings unfurl!
Last came the scarlet, the great war dragon.
Scarlet its scales are meant to be
Given to none on bended knee
Great its wings are given to soar
Over dale, forest, and green-set moor
Large in body, with a soldier’s brave heart
Trained to battle in the warrior’s fierce art
Come forth now into our world
Open your eyes, your wings unfurl!
Through it all, Vay gave just enough of the elixir to bring about the creation of the seven dragons, each a color of the rainbow, but saved the rest for her so that after the last dragon came forth, there was one drop left in the golden bottle.
Vay secreted it away from her sisters and hid the vial in a place where she knew her sisters would never look: The Lost Forest, a dark and forbidding place where the gods placed their Cast Outs, loathsome creatures that had neither
a place in the upper or lower world.
For an eon, the dragons stayed in Fairyland, a happy, peaceful place and the three sisters, Osa, Nadia, and Eskar came to love their creations. Each day, they would take sky rides on the dragons, soaring high above Fairyland doing loops and spirals.
Of course, the little sprite dragons were too small to ride upon so each evening as Osa, Nadia, and Eskar sat in their cozy parlor doing this and that, they would have the two sprites glow bright and warm filling the room with a soft radiance that filled the heart and spirit.
Sometimes they would ride the sea-dragon above Mer Lake and then dive down into the Deep Blue to frolic with the Mermaids and Mermen in their underwater playground.
The most fun though, was sky racing, using the turrets of their castles as pylons that they had to race around. Sometimes they would add flying through the castle’s windows from one end to the other as part of the race course.
As they raced, the pixies and other creatures of Fairyland would clap, hoot, and cheer on their favorite dragon or fairy.
But as for Vay, she never took part in the racing or sky rides. Instead, she secreted herself away, made her plans, hid the things she collected in her secret place, and waited for her opportunity.
It came soon enough.
Vay flew through one of the high windows of the fairies’ turreted castle only to find her sisters gathered in their great room, sitting on cushy, plump chairs sniffling and crying.
“What’s wrong?” Vay demanded.
“Merc was here,” Osa began, sniff.
“To deliver a message,” Eskar said, sniff.
“From the Most Highs,” Nadia finished, sniff.
Vay waited and when none of her sisters spoke up, said, “Well? What was the message?”
The three blubbered some more before Osa replied, “We have to . . .” sniff, sniff, “deliver the dragons,” sniff, sniff.
“Tomorrow,” Eskar said followed by a sniff, sniff.
“To The Presiders,” Nadia added, sniff, sniff.