Dragon, Silver Dragon

by M Arienach

  On the floor, in the middle of all the chairs, a projection of what I saw when I looked down appeared on the floor in full detail… including a stray cloud or two that lazily made it’s way across the map. There was a collective gasp from the group, but they held their silence. Once I had that figured out, I thought on the locations that they had given me and I asked them to show me where their trade towns were. One by one they showed me each city and I highlighted them in different colors depending on the colors they were wearing. That brought a murmur from the group.

  By this point, I had a base line to work from. Conjuring a crystal, I took the projection and linked it to that point in space I was viewing from. Holding it if front of me, I focused on the marble of the ceiling till it started to melt then embedded the crystal in it. The was another collective gasp and one little whimper as the stone floated into place. Then it lit up and the map on the floor returned. I glanced up at this point and everyone seemed to be rather pale. A few with their mouths hanging open.

  I left my seat and walked to the various cities, causing the crystal to zoom in for further detail. No one spoke.

  When I had studied it enough, I spoke. “I think I see a way to do this, if you do not mind river traffic. I need only reroute a few of the rivers and expand them and you can use them to carry your goods for you. I am sorry, but it will take about a week or so to do it.”

  One of them asked. “Which city?”

  “All of them.” I replied.

  One of them fainted. I wondered why, then shrugged. Turning back to my seat, I could see Dorvus grinning.

  “Aye, ya have a way of cutting to the heart of a problem, don’t ya Michael?”

  I shrugged. “At least it isn’t anything major.” Not understanding what the fuss was about.

  I looked up and all of the nobles were slack jawed staring at me. What?

  The Emperor’s Work

  I talked Shryke and Darhla into doing a little messenger work for me. They flew to each town to talk to the officials and make sure they knew that the dragon who was going to show up soon was not attacking. You see, I discovered after I made the first harbor outside of the elven town up north, the sight of an ancient dragon using an over-sized magma spell just outside of town disturbed them for some reason. After they calmed down a bit… and reentered the town, they crowded the walls to watch me alter the course of a local river to fill the new harbor. Then I started carving the access and making the spill gate to keep the harbor level. It was only the matter of an hour or so.

  Most of the others went quite easily. I only had one that I had to divert about thirty miles, so that one did eat about four or five hours. I noticed the river did run faster over the glass smooth channel I had cut for it. Something about spell enhanced dragon flame seemed to do that to mere stone. One river had to have tributaries added to it, but that was little problem as well and got rid of a nasty marsh that was stagnating in some low hills. All in all, it took less than a week. I did have to enlarge our north channel to handle the extra water flow and widen it all the way to Calalistos but it did seem to make traffic more convenient as larger draft ships could now travel it.

  Calalistos had more than doubled it’s size and Haladoria asked me to enlarge her harbor as well. It was tricky as I had to enlarge it without letting it fill or it would have steamed the whole area. So once the added area was done and fairly cool, I blasted the encircling ring of stone around it to let the water flow in. Wherein I found that the boats that were close were almost sucked in. I had to carry three of them to safety. Much to the shock of their crew. I did leave a peninsula that shielded it from the sea so it was a safe area.

  At it’s completion, I landed on my pad by the docks and was greeted by a very quiet crowd… and Haladoria.

  “Greetings Lord Dragon!” She grinned as she exclaimed.

  “Michael, milady.” I sighed as I shifted.

  “My pardon, Michael, but you are so fun to tease.”

  I glanced around and our little exchange seemed to shock the locals out of whatever was bothering them and a few greeted me as they went back to whatever they were doing. I smiled and exchanged pleasantries with them as best I could.

  “You do well, Michael. How is the rest of the channels doing.” She inquired.

  “Oh, I finished them up yesterday. I decided to enlarge the channel to here to provide an acceptable flow.”

  Her eyes widened slightly, then she laughed. “Somehow, the thought of what level you must be terrifies me.”

  I cocked my head in puzzlement. “Why should that bother you?”

  She shook her head. “That much power.”

  I laughed. “That much power is useless unless you can do something with it. While many may dream of it, it is a burden beyond reckoning.”

  She stared at me a moment. “Why would you say that?”

  We had been walking to the local pub… which had a new sign “The Dragons Rest” hanging over the door. I looked at it with a chuckle. After we entered and I had a sip of their most excellent brandy, I continued.

  “Think on this… What goal do you have when there is nothing that can challenge you? Where do you find drive when you have entire universes at your claws? What do you buy when you own the wealth of a thousand worlds? Where do you call home when you don’t even know the name of the planet you live on?”

  Her eyes were wide when I finished. I took another sip of brandy to let her think on it.

  “You are alone.”

  “Yes.”

  “Is there no one else that is of your level?”

  “Not even close. The golden dragon you saw when you first came to my harbor is the closest I have found and she holds less than half my power.”

  “My god.”

  I smiled. “No, just a very old dragon.”

  She chuckled and smacked me on my shoulder. “I see now why you are interested in our ways. To be blunt, you must be bored as hell.”

  I laughed, then thought how accurately she had summed it up. “Truer words have not been spoken, milady.”

  “I do find you amazing, Michael. I cannot image such power.”

  I laughed. “I am only level 8764.” I said as I took another sip.

  Her eyes widened and her face paled. “My gods.” She whispered.

  I smiled. “Your harbor did not appreciably touch my mana. But that is not anything important. What you do is important.”

  “Us?”

  I chuckled. “Have you ever heard me sing?”

  She looked stunned for a moment, then started chuckling. The chuckle evolved into a laugh at which point I joined her.

  “You see, milady. You have something I do not. You have a drive, you have art, you have music and you have hope. The other dragons are much like me, but have not realized they are poor for all their power. We cannot sing or dance or make art. For all our abilities, we are far poorer than you and your people.”

  I noticed the room had grown quiet. Looking around it seemed that we had an audience.

  “Up until this point, my people thought they had everything. Not knowing what we missed. Shryke and Darhla were the first to come to me and it took them less than an eve to understand. Dragons have power that few can conceive, but they only know how to horde their wealth or destroy. They cannot even understand your art. Your lives may be but a moment of our life, but it is so much richer than what we have. This is what I come to learn from you. This is also what I seek to teach the others of my race. We need you to teach us how to use our powers, as we seem to have made a mess of our efforts up to now.”

  “But we owe you so much, Michael.”

  “No, milady, I owe you. You will find that I am pragmatic well beyond your belief. While I understand and appreciate your humor, I have yet to grasp it as my own. So far, as far as I am concerned, the only constructive things that I have done to date is dig a few ditches. What I wish from you, lady Haladoria, you and all the nobles of this land, is to keep bringing me problems. The larger the sc
ale, the better. I would also like to learn of your magic and see if it can be combined with what I know.”

  “Our magic?”

  “Yes. It would take but a thought for me to level this town, milady. I think you say, I wouldn’t break a sweat. But I cannot so much as make a flower grow. Nor, for that matter, paint a picture or carve a statue.”

  “Our magic. You do not seek it as a weapon, you seek it to make things.”

  “Aye, I would learn the subtle magic and see if I can refrain from just being nothing more than a winged bearer of destruction.”

  “You are not that way, Michael.”

  “No? Remember your return to your city?”

  Her face paled for a moment.

  “Do you know what took me so long to accomplish that?”

  She shook her head.

  “I had to figure out a way to do it without completely leveling the entire city. I wound up fashioning a sword of pure mana and doing it one orc at a time. Nothing else I could do would save your town.”

  She stared at me. “But….”

  “The harbor… well you saw how I did that. That was very hard for me.”

  “How so?”

  “I had to hold back as much as I could to cast that blast. This is not creating in my eyes, this is just controlling destruction.”

  She smiled softly. “But even in destruction you have made something that we needed. Your harbor and your channels? That would be the work of decades for even the strongest of the people of these lands. You did it in but a week. Do not count yourself short, for even a stone carver must destroy the stone that is in the way of his creation.”

  Her words hit me like a dagger. I had watched the dwarves carve and yes, it was controlled destruction if you looked at it like that. So what if I carved the harbor and the channels with dragon fire. A tool is a tool.

  “Milady, you have begun my education most profoundly. I thank thee.”

  Black Sails

  A month had passed since the channels were done. There were meetings with the nobles, who I had finally learned the names of and small side projects. I was given to believe that the lands were prospering under my rule… not that I ruled that much. I spent time in the libraries as much as I could now and speaking with the various races mages and shamans. Most of my experiments were not the greatest successes, but I learned from them as I could. Twould seem my greatest failing was at limiting my mana. I remember the growth spell I was taught by one of the local elves. It worked quite well. The tree grew so fast that it exploded. They tried to teach me how to guide the growth, but I found I was to learn better control before I could even attempt such subtlety.

  I had left the library and was making my way to the Dragons Head when I felt the summoning from Calalistos. Wondering at it, I made my way to my pad and shifted. Twas the work of minutes to take flight and port to the city, making sure this time to stay over land and not flood the place. Once I turned to fly to the dock, I was greeted by a very disturbing sight. It looked as if the harbor was in flames. I quickly flew to it and found three boats that were burning brightly and another that was smoking as it made it’s way in from the sea. I shifted my vision, as it was getting dark, and saw it being chased by a fleet of ships with black sails.

  As I passed over the smoking ship, I saw the sailors on board fighting to put out small fires. It was a moment and I was over them heading towards the black sailed ships. I was about to kite my wings, when a light on one of the lead ships grew bright and then was launched in an arc towards the fleeing merchantman. I jogged to the left and caught it. It was a sticky mass that seemed to burn quite hotly, so I figured it must be valuable and tossed it back to the ship that had lost it. Several of the other ships then noticed me and fired more of the sticky burning things at me. I ignored them and turned my attention to the fleet. There were thirty or more ships and it seemed to me that they were on less than a social call.

  I flew up over them as they kept shooting, wondering if they had a clue that I bathed in lava and the balls they threw were barely warm to me. Since none seemed to feel like talking, I took a deep breath when I was centered over them. My flame blasted down on one in the middle and the flames splashed outward across the water in an ever expanding circle. The ships blew up as they were engulfed and the water steamed. I turned in the air and took out the lead ships with fireballs and started to work my way around to the back. I left one ship alone. It seemed more than happy to leave after having a taste of their own medicine. The steam and fog now covered the water where my flames had boiled it and what remained of the ships cast tiny flickering lights in the mist as what was left that could burn, did.

  I was sure that the surviving ship would relay the unspoken message that I sent. I made my way back to my pad and landed, turning to look out at the four ships. Or what was left of them. The one that I had saved looked to be in the best shape, the others had almost finished burning to the water line. I found myself less than pleased.

  “Ho, Michael. Grim day it is.”

  “Greetings Cornal. What happened here?”

  “The first merchant came in almost completely aflame about half an hour past. The survivors jumped ship in the harbor and swam to shore. Two others followed. Tween the three, there were less than a handful of survivors. They told the tale of coming upon that fleet and being chased. Only one was making it’s way here, but they knew of this port and tried to reach it. I suppose the rest you know. Thankee for coming as fast as you did, we didn’t know what we were facing till they told us of the fleet and we called as soon as we knew.”

  “Mayhaps I should have saved more than the one ship and brought one back with me. I am curious if this was an attack on this port or just a chance meeting, though those weapons they used seem to speak otherwise.”

  “You let one go?”

  “Yes, I thought to send a message that it wasn’t in their best interest to return.”

  “How many were there? The sailors said more than a dozen.”

  “More than thirty by my count. Having just one return may make them a little more cautious about attacking innocents next time.”

  “We can hope. But thirty ships? Sounds to me like it were an invasion fleet.”

  I looked out over the water and sighed. Then I shifted.

  “Lets go grab a drink. I need to think on this.”

  We made our way to the pub in silence. A few of the locals waved as we passed and I smiled and greeted them. We were seated no more than a minute when Haladoria entered with one of the nobles.

  “Greetings Lady Haladoria.”

  “Greetings Michael.” She said quietly. Tension showed in her posture and her speech.

  “Michael? Are you well?” The comment at least brought a smile to her grim countenance.

  “Lord Michael, would you tell of what you found?” The noble spoke.

  “Thirty plus ships all having black sails.”

  Haladoria glanced towards the docks nervously.

  I gave her a sad smile. “You need not worry, I left one to return home with the tale. It was the work of a moment to take out the rest of them.”

  The nobles eyes grew wide as his face paled. He whispered. “Thirty plus?”

  I looked up at him. “Yes. They had something that threw flaming balls of some sticky stuff that burned. Rather hotly as I actually could feel the heat through my scales.”

  “I will have a watch on the sea now. There is no other harbor along this coast for many miles and that would make them heading towards our harbor.” Haladoria said.

  “You have the stone. As long as they do not make landfall here, they do not stand a chance.”

  She cast a sad smile. “Still it is worrisome.”

  “Thirty ships is a high cost for no gain. To lose them all in a matter of minutes would give any sane man pause.”

  “Some are less than sane, Michael.”

  “Then next time, I will find out from where they came and see if I can encourage sanity.”

&
nbsp; We talked into the night. The mood never lightened. No one knew of ships that ran black sails, so no one knew of where they were from. Of course the black sails might have just been so they wouldn’t be spotted until they were almost in the harbor. I suggested patrol ships that could spot them and flee. A small ship that was fast and agile would be able to return with news.

  Then it came to me.

  “I have an idea.” I said as I stood.

  “What?” Haladoria asked.

  “The tool I made for surveying the lands.”

  The group looked at me with mild confusion. We needed to get back to Dragonhaven. Thinking for a minute, I opened a portal to the building and stepped through into the audience chamber. The others hesitated, but followed me. Upon arrival, I went back and activated the crystal and the land came to life in the middle of the floor. Using my planar sight, I brought the view closer and moved it over the sea where the encounter had occurred. I remembered the heading the ship was on as it turned away from where the rest of it’s fleet met their end, so I started to move the view in that direction. It took about an hour, the sea is a big place, to find the ship. Pulling back, I used the bearing to see it’s possible landfall. The most likely being a large island continent. I zoomed my sight in on it’s coast and discovered a very large seaport on it’s southmost side.

  Haladoria drew a deep breath. “Torgos.”

  I turned to her. “What does that mean?”

  She glanced up at me. “We call it scavenger island. There is a strange looking group of people there. They look almost like my people but they have stunted ears, almost like apes.”

  I snorted, remembering Arienach’s thoughts on scavengers. Still he did seem rather surprised when I knew technology. From history I knew that mankind was often not kind. Twould be ironic to wind up fighting my own kind it this, but in the end, it really didn’t matter. They were starting trouble. I was going to end it.

  The ship in the projection made a bee line for the seaport, so I took the view in closer. There were a little over a dozen of it’s brothers sitting at anchor and about half a dozen in various stages of construction at the dry dock. The construction make me curious so I zoom in a little farther.