The Inquisitor Ch. 32

The princess sat back from her reading. In her mind, the terrible roar of the dragon sounded in her ears, and she stole quite a few glances at the great teeth of the dragon skeleton at the far end of the hall. She felt a moment of paralyzing fear, as if the beast would rear its head and come chomping for her. Though she chided herself for being so foolish, a nagging thought at the back of her mind gave her the strange feeling of being observed, though she knew she was alone in the chamber.

Shaking it away, and again wishing for some way to know the hour, she bent back to the text, hoping to find something within its pages.

- - -

Dragons! A scourge not seen in these lands for centuries. How could this be?

Of course it was drawn here, like moth to flame, after the treasure hold in my keep. Before my armies marched to war against the infidels, our halls gleamed with the spoils of conquest. How foolish I was to leave this place... so foolhardy was I to wage war on the Saracen, leaving home and hearth unguarded. Such easy pickings for a dragon... What a dolt I had been! And now my kingdom lay in the clutches of a dragon.

Dragons cannot resist the gleam of gold and the glint of gemstone. This is a widely known and accepted fact. Once they have sniffed the tangy scent of gold, they will hunt for it with all their cunning. T'was no wonder it came swooping down from the clouds to pounce upon my treasure stores. I left little defense against such as a dragon... why, no one had even seen one in over a hundred winters!

But the looking glass had shown what was left. Indeed, a great dragon had laid waste to my lands, and claimed mine own treasure for itself. My blood boiled within me as I envisioned it's terrible scaly shape, curled up upon a great mound of my gold.

A plan! A plan was needed. Dragons are not easily meddled with, and are most likely to tear you limb from limb, or burn you to cinder in the blink of an eye. One does not simply march up to a dragon and demand it hasten from its hearth.

I thanked the sisters with a soft kiss on each of their foreheads and bade them goodnight. I left them there in the firelight as the priestesses gathered round the sisters, cheering and congratulating their mastery of the looking glass.

I returned to my own tent and summoned Syr Va'ahl, who presently limped in, resting on his weathered staff. The winter months pained him terribly, but his eyes glinted. Though hardly any in the camp had not even heard of the dragon, the old man knew right away.

"Ah," said he as he entered my tent. "A great worm has decided it likes your castle, eh?" He cackled with glee and I shouted at him, to which a rock came flying in the open flap of my tent and struck me square in the forehead. I'd forgotten that little trick.

My head still smarting, I sat heavily in a chair, and glowered at my friend.

"Look here boy!" said Syr Va'ahl. "Shouting at me will not dislodge the monster from its lair, shall it?" I glumly agreed, and we set to work.

Whilst I still have the strength, I shall try to relate his words to me that night. Perhaps the soul who next reads these words may have a dragon to contend of their own.

On the subject of dragons, little was known in the lands of my realm. Old men recounted tales their fathers told them, but I could not name one living man who had ever seen one with their own eyes. All the knowledge of dragons in my land was merely myth and fireside tales.

But my wise companion seemed to know a great deal. Many times in our friendship have I wondered how many winters Syr Va'ahl has seen. Though his body tells the tale of at least eighty, the breath of his knowledge told of a much older being.

"Dragons..." he began, his voice still rasps in my failing ears. "were not always the minions of destruction they are today. There was once a time, so very long ago, when they live in peace among the creatures of the land. True, they were terrifying predators, and hunted in packs like wolves. But they did not fly, nor did they breathe fire. The stalked the woods and mountains and even jungles far south, and hunted as the wolf and the lion and the bear. They consumed meat, they mated, and they died, but they did not crave the gleam of gold. They had no use for such things."

"But that peace is no more. One by one, man hunted the great lizards, driving them with spear and fire. At last, men of strong will brought the great dragons under their heel. They bred them! They bred the dragons... this one with a larger one, this one with a faster one... Years and years and century upon century, the ancients bred the dragons together, taking the strongest traits and nurturing it to its fullest. Slowly, the dragons changed... They grew wings, they developed buds in their gullets which when their juices mixed together, shot forth great gouts of brimstone and fire."

"It was a terribly dark time. Men who controlled dragons controlled any realm they wished. Greedy men, who rode the winged beats and reigned from the sky. Gold! Always gold and gem they sought, adorning their scaly mounts with glittering magick stones."

"And then, the dragons broke free. No more would they live under the will of man."

"Hearken to me, boy!" he railed at me, as if I'd been dosing. "There is an ancient legend from the time when the dragons broke free. It tells of the last Dragon-king! An evil king, who commanded the darkest spirits of the night, and the wraiths of fire deep within the earth beckoned his call. T'was he who poisoned the dragon's soul."

"Power! Power he desired more than all others! And he summoned unto himself a great demon, and believed he could harness it... but instead it devoured him utterly. Loosed upon the world, the dark force found a home within the souls of the dragons, and it's evil poisoned them against man forever."

"This darkness that invaded the hearts of dragons lives on in this world. It is unending, and it hungers. It hungers and it craves, and it cannot be satisfied. That is why the dragons horde their golden treasures and glinting gemstones. It is all they knew before the darkness entered them, the gold and shiny stones which their master adorned their armour with, and this desire for more, more... it drives them from their darkened holes, and flings them into the air in search of more of it. Such a beast now lives somewhere below your stronghold, and has laid claim to your lands."

At last, I could hear no more, and shouted at him, demanding to know how all of this might help us in our present situation. This time I remembered to duck as another rock flew at my head.

"Ah!" he cried, cackling again. "Very good, boy! Perhaps one day you'll learn."

My strength ebbs little by little, and my sight grows dim, but I shall press on until the curse takes me over. My hope is that these words may come to aid after I have succumbed, and so I pen them with all speed I can muster.

We talked long into the night, Syr Va'ahl and I. Master and student once again, I listened to his tales and theories on dragons and their beginnings, of demons and their dark ways, and at last, we hit upon a plan.