A Journey Never Begun Pt. 07

"I slowed my breathing and began to map out a course of escape as fast and as far away as I could.

"Those plans came crashing down when I heard, 'Don't bother running, man. I can spit flame that will render you down to your burning fat before you get three paces.'

"Well of course it wasn't in the common tongue we use now; dragons only speak the ancient tongue. If I wasn't learned in the ancient tongue, the threat would have seemed like so much bellowing and I would have run and burned. I sat and shivered and bemoaned how I could go from the giddy heights of joy to the depths of fear and despair so quickly.

"Then something snapped. I stood up and called out to the dragon in the same ancient tongue, 'If I am going to die, may I at least come forth to gaze upon the countenance of my killer?'

"There was a noise that might have been a polite laugh and then the dragon responded, 'If you come forth unarmed, I will spare you, for now.'

"That sounded like the best offer I was going to get. I called back, 'I only have a small dagger and a hatchet for making my cooking fires. Is that unarmed enough for such a mighty thunder lizard as yourself?'"

The frog cocked his head and Muddle answered his unasked question. "There is no word for dragon in the ancient tongue, or at least none that I knew at the time. So they are commonly named as thunder lizards. Although the conversations I had were in the ancient tongue I am going to use the word dragon while I tell you the story. May I continue?"

The frog blinked slowly, which Muddle took as an assent.

"As I came around the boulder, I expected to be fried at any second. So I was quite surprised to make it all the way into the clearing. The dragon sat facing me with wings swept back.

"Trying to be nonchalant, I asked, 'So what brings you here to the mountains, Lord Dragon?'

"The dragon reared up and puffed out its chest and bellowed, 'That is LADY Dragon to you, pathetic human.'

"I was as good as toasted now. I bowed and said most sincerely, 'My apologies, Lady Dragon. I am afraid what little I know about your magnificent race is from a few books my Master had. None of them gave any help in telling lady dragons from gentleman dragons.'

"'Gentleman dragons,' she snickered, 'there is no such thing. They are braggarts and bullies and stomp about preening their scales and trying to sniff us out when we are in heat. Gentleman, my tail.'

"I bowed once more and continued, 'Again my apologies for my ignorance of the finer points of dragon lore. I see by the way the ground is torn up that you must have fought a terrible battle here.'

"She looked at me and I froze in the stare of those eyes. I felt like a mouse in the gaze of a snake. Just when I was sure she was going to lunge and snap me in half. She lay down and said, 'No, it is I who must apologize. I was flying too near one of your man towns and someone managed to shoot something into my tail. It is up to close to my rump for me to bite it off and I fear that it has become infected. I will die soon from the blood poisoning from it.'

"A look of horror crossed my face. 'No,' I cried. 'Someone as beautiful as you can't die.'

"She looked at me and said, 'Wizardling, know this. We all must die. No one is going to leave this game alive. If it is my time, then so be it. I just wish it wasn't in such an unremarkable fashion.'

"I felt despondent. I asked, 'Could I take a look at this object that is wounding you? Maybe I can do something about it.'

"She closed her eyes for a second and then said, 'You may. But you must leave your dagger and your hatchet here in front of me. I don't think they can do any more harm, but I have no desire to die before my time.'

"I did as she asked and placed my dagger and hatchet and the rest of my gear in front of her. I went around to her back and saw the bolt through her tail. It was a nasty thing. A steel head with large barbs on a wooden shaft with a steel cross guard on the other end. Even if she had been able to get it with her teeth, she couldn't have pulled it out. The barbs would not have gone back through the hole and the cross guard was obviously there to keep it from flying through. I walked back and described it to her.

"She dropped her head and said softly, 'Then I am well and truly dead. I will spare your life if you will grant me one favor. When I die, please use that hatchet of yours to pile up wood around me and burn me. The men that shot me will probably be looking for me. As I am sure you are aware dragon parts will fetch a pretty penny in the markets. At least you can rob them of their profit.'

"I looked at her and a germ of an idea came to me. I looked at her and said, 'If it comes to that, I will do as you ask. But before I give up hope, may I try something?'

"Her look bade me continue, 'I would like to take my hatchet and see if I can chop through the wooden part and then draw the dart out of you.'

"She looked at me hard again and then said, 'I will allow it. But remember, a quick spin and I can chomp you in half so be careful, human.'

"I nodded and picked up my hatchet. Going back to the wound, I measured the height above the ground to the where the dart was protruding. I called out, 'I am going to need a piece of wood to prop the dart on so that I don't move it too much and hurt you unnecessarily. I will be right back.'

"In her thrashing, the dragon had shattered a good sized tree. One of the pieces was just the right length. I dragged it back and slid it under the dart. I called out, 'I am ready to try chopping the dart. I will try not to move it while I chop it.'

"Not getting a reply, I started chopping. The wood was hard, but my hatchet was harder. I was able to chop through the wooden shaft and removed the barbed head.

"I went around facing the lady. I placed the hatchet on the ground by my dagger. As calmly as I could, I told her, 'Here is the head of the dart. I can pull the rest through, but I don't know how much pain this will cause you. I am sure it will be considerable. For that I am truly sorry, but it must be done.'

"She nodded and said, 'Do it quickly then. Pull it as fast as you can and then run. I may thrash about and my tail could hurt or kill you.'

"I nodded and walked to the other side. I took a deep breath and called out to her, 'I am ready. I will do it on the count of 3.'

"I grabbed the shaft tightly and yelled, 'One'. I paused and then yelled, 'Two' and pulled for all I was worth. The shaft came out cleanly and I followed her advice and ran.

"It was good advice. She thrashed for a couple of minutes and then her head went down on the ground. I thought she might be dead, but she was still breathing.

"While she was unconscious, I looked at the wound and it was bad. Pus was running out of it and I could see red lines beginning to run towards her body. The blood poisoning had begun.

"I decided to sit near her head and wait for her to wake up. It was nearly three hours before she began to stir. 'Thank you wizardling," she said. 'Your efforts were valiant but I am afraid they were futile. I can feel the poison that was on the dart inching its way to my heart.'

"I could not let her go so easily, I said, 'What if I were to cut off the diseased part of your tail and put poultices on the stump to draw out the blood poison, would you live?'

"She sighed and said, 'Perhaps, but you have nothing that could cut my scales or the skin underneath it. It would take a great blade as has not been forged in a thousand years or one of sky metal.'

"My ears perked up. 'Sky metal, you said. My dagger is made of sky metal,' I said.

"She swung her head and looked at me eye to eye. 'Let me see it,' she said. I complied.

"She groaned, 'It is as I feared. You have not been able to temper it sufficiently. It would be dull long before it cut through my tail.'

"So close, we were so close. I refused to give up. 'Lady Dragon,' I said. 'One of my master's books said that a dragon's fire was the hottest fire on earth. Would it be hot enough to temper my dagger?'

"She thought for a moment and then said, 'Possibly. But to do it you must hold the blade and you would catch fire long before the blade was hot enough.'

"I said, 'Unless I wedged it in the crack on that rock," pointing to the big rock in front of her. Continuing, I said, 'I would need cold mud because water would just shatter it.' Looking around I could see plenty of tree bark to hold the mud.

"I looked her in the eyes and asked, 'Are you willing to try, my lady?'

"It took an hour to get everything ready. I first undid the cap and unwound the sharkskin. We were both sure that it would burn. Next I wedged the blade in the rock. While she built up for a long continuous stream of fire, I went and got lots of cold mud from the nearby creek. I also found herbs to draw out the poison and some to help her sleep. I didn't want a wide awake dragon while I was cutting its tail off.

"Finally, we were ready. She breathed a slow thin flame on the blade until it glowed so white it was brighter than the sun at noon. When she stopped I slammed two big piles of mud on the blade from either side. It cooked the mud almost instantly, but it was wet enough that I could tell it was cooling. I grabbed the hardened mud ball and ran to the stream with it to finish cooling. The mud on the inside was baked into porcelain and I had to crack it off with a rock. But when I was done, the blade lay at the bottom of the stream glowing with a pure white light.

"I picked it up carefully and brought it back to the dragon. She looked at in and said, 'I have heard of dragon fired blades that glow like this before, but none have been made in the last 10,000 years. It needs a name.'

"She looked at me and said, 'Finstrl'. I looked at the blade and echoed her words, 'The Blade of Purity.'

"Wasting no more time, I wrapped the handle and replaced the cap. The knife was ready.

"I came around to her face and said, 'I have the poultice ready for when I cut the flesh away. Here are some sleeping herbs. I don't know how well they will work on dragons, if at all. And if they work I don't know how much to give you.'

"She looked at me and said, 'Give me all of it. If it is not enough I will try as hard as I can to control my instinct to bite you. If it is too much, then I will go beyond without pain. Just remember to burn my body.'

"I nodded and gave her the whole batch of sleep herbs. A minute later she laid her head down and began to snore. I hoped I would live so that I could tell people that dragons snore. It would be a great tavern story.

"Once she was down, I began the dirty job of cutting her tail. At the point I chose to cut, her tail was about two feet thick. With the first slice I was really encouraged. The scales that I touched with the dagger just fell off. I was able to go quickly around and remove the scales exposing her skin.

"As I cut the skin I painted it with the poison drawing poultice. I also had been drawing mana in and started pushing mana and healing cantrips at the wounds Finstrl was making. Soon I had cut the skin most of the way around and I was now starting to cut through her muscles. I was running out of poultice and my mana was getting low. But I was just down to cutting the last few tendons and separating the bones of the tail.

"That's when it happened. I paused to wipe the sweat out of my eyes with my left hand and my right hand was down leaning on her tail. A blood vessel burst and dragon's blood splashed on the back of my right hand. It burned so bad I could hardly think. But I had to finish. I pulled mana and healed the blood vessel. Then cut the last two tendons and the tail dropped free. I grabbed the last of the poultice and held it on the severed wound.

"That was the last I remembered. I don't know how long I was unconscious but the sun was shining and it had been getting dark the last I remembered. I could see the sun through my eyelids. I felt something tickling my face and I opened my eyes and beheld a sight that would make any man crap his pants. The tickling was the tongue of my lady dragon licking my face with her teeth on either side of my head. If I had sat up quickly, I probably would have cut my head off on those razor sharp teeth.

"Instead, I quietly called out, 'I'm awake.' I still feared the worst and was not sure if I should have played dead. But the head receded and when I sat up I was face to face with her magnificence. But then knowing where that flame came from, that was still not much comfort.

"As I gathered what few wits I could, I asked, 'What happened?'

"She looked at me and said, 'Look at the back of your right hand.' As I did so, she continued, 'That dark mark is from my blood hitting your skin. The mark will fade in time, but you are now one with my blood.'

"I must have screamed and blacked out because when I regained consciousness a second time, she was licking my face again. All I could think about was, 'Am I now the familiar to a dragon?' I know it has something to do with blood, but my Master had not yet taught me about familiars other than chance remarks.

"Since that was on my mind, I blurted it out. That's when I found out dragons faces could look shocked.

"Seconds passed and then she spoke again, 'No, I don't think so. I am pretty sure you have to drink blood to become a familiar. No, this is even more special. My blood has changed you. It hasn't happened in a long time but you are now extraordinary among humans. Dragon's blood will kill most humans, even a drop. You got a big splash of my blood and it bonded with you. You are now one of the DragonBlooded.'

"I tried to remember if I had ever heard of these DragonBlooded. Coming up empty, I asked, 'So what does that mean that I am one of the DragonBlooded?'

"She sat silent for a moment and then sang the Ballad and Lament of Distrl the Magnificent. Her voice was as magnificent as she. When she was done, I said, 'If I could bottle that song and play it over and over again, I would never get tired of it. You have an awesome singing voice. I have hear bards and singers sing that tale as long as I can remember. I have even butchered it a few times myself. But none of them rise above the croaking of a frog compared to your rendition. I will treasure this gift forever. Thank you.'

"Her eyes twinkled as she dipped her head. 'Distrl was DragonBlooded,' she said. 'All of those deeds of his were made possible by that gift. My great grandfather was the one whose blood touched Distrl and it was only a few drops. I have never heard of anyone splashed by that much dragon blood and surviving.'

"At the word surviving, my mind clicked and I jumped up and started shouting questions, 'You survived! How are you feeling? Is your tail alright? You don't have blood fever? May I check your wound?'

"She laughed and said, 'I am fine little one. Your poultice pulled the poison from my body and your little magic healing spells stopped me from bleeding to death. They saved my life. I am in your debt. Yes, please come see how I am healing.'

"With that I walked slowly around to her tail. I was astonished to see almost two feet of new tail had sprouted from where the wound was. I turned to see her head alongside my shoulder and a suspicion that had been growing burst into my mind. I turned to her and said, 'You told me that you couldn't get to the dart, but here your head is right where you needed to be to grab it.'

"She smiled and said, 'I lied.' Apparently my expression betrayed my thoughts because she laughed again. 'I was embarrassed,' she said. 'I could grab it in my mouth but because the way it was made, I couldn't pull it out. I am afraid it was because of my thrashing that I did the damage that caused the blood poisoning. I am sorry that I lied to you.'

"I looked at her, shrugged and said, 'It is no matter. But how fast do you heal? Two feet of new tail in a matter of hours is truly amazing.'

"She blinked in surprise. 'Hours?' she said. 'You have been asleep for three days and I don't know how many days I was asleep.'

"Now it was my turn to be shocked. 'Three days," I repeated. 'I should be starving if I was asleep three days.' Just then my stomach grumbled and the dragon laughed. 'If you have food in your pack, you may want to eat some,' she suggested.

"I nodded and went to fetch my pack.

"After I had eaten a little, I felt much better. Putting the leftovers back in my pack I started stacking wood up for a large fire. The dragon came over to see what I was doing. When I explained about building a bonfire to burn the scales I had cut off and the piece of tail. She stopped me and asked, 'What were you doing in the woods before I nearly killed you?'

"I wasn't prepared for that question and stopped for a moment. I decided to tell her the short version of my whole story. 'My Master has tasked me with a quest to create my grimoire to prove that I am worthy of becoming a wizard. I had just collected the second set of the wooden pieces to create the covers of my grimoire and I was heading back to my camp when I stumbled into you and as you said, nearly died.'

"She looked at me and asked, 'What is left for you to collect before you have all that you need?'

"I thought and said, 'I would like to get one more set of wooden sheets for my cover, then I would have a set of oak for strength and walnut for beauty and depth of knowledge and I would like to find some aspen for purity and focus. I will need some hinges and corner pieces, but those I can forge out of the sky metal I have left. That only leaves a skin to cover the grimoire and bind it all together.'

"She looked at me and asked, 'Do you have a skin in mind?'

"I told her, "There is a buck near my camp. He is magnificent with a proud rack. That is the best I have been able to come up with.'

"She continued to look at me and asked, 'You would sacrifice such a magnificent animal for your grimoire?'

"I looked down at the ground because I could not face her. Shuffling my feet I said quietly, 'I would if I had no other way. The skin of a buck such as that would bind the book together and protect it. Many great mages have used deer skin for their covers.'

"I could tell she was still looking at me with those unblinking eyes. I was ashamed having to admit that I was selfish enough to kill just to get a skin for my grimoire. Finally, she spoke again, 'I know where you can get a skin that will be much better than any deerskin and you will not have to kill anything for it.'

"I looked up with puzzlement written large over my face. She continued, 'It is right over there.' With a flick of her head I looked and I just saw the pile of dragon scales I had collected and the piece of her tail that I had cut off. I looked again and then realized that sometimes I am really thick. I sputtered, 'You can't be serious. Were you talking about the piece of your tail I had to cut off?'

"She snorted the dragon version of a laugh, 'Of course I am talking about my tail. I have no need of it and you were just gathering firewood to burn it.'

"She bowed her head and said formally, 'Sir wizard, I bequeath you the remains of my tail to do with as you wish, but my hope is that you will use it to complete your grimoire quest.'

"I don't know why but I reached out and grabbed her head and kissed the end of her nose, then ducked as she reared back and sent out a 6 foot lance of flame. It passed over me, but it did scorch the hair on the back of my head.

"She put her head on the ground and said quietly, 'My deepest apologies Sir wizard. You startled me and I reacted instinctively. I know you meant no harm. Please accept my apology.'

"I picked myself up from the ground and said as calmly as I could, 'My dearest Lady. It is I who should be apologizing to you. That was a brash and impudent act on my part. That I did it with the purest of intentions does not excuse it. I too apologize.'