Dragon Wars

by Raymond L. Weil

  -

  On the sailing ship, the eight humans on board were beginning their night watch. Only two were on deck navigating the ship as they made for home. Their ship’s holds were full of fish. Over the years since the Worldfire, the fish populations of the ocean had finally begun to recover. There were now certain areas that were teeming with edible fish. They had set out from their village over a week ago to travel to one of their favorite fishing grounds. The people of their village would eat well once they returned to their home village of New Haven.

  -

  All through the night, Snowden followed the lone sailing ship. He moved closer once darkness set in and flew just above the water so he wouldn’t be spotted. The dragon could see large nets on the back of the ship, which were obviously used to catch fish.

  As the dawn neared, Snowden began to put some distance between himself and the ship. He didn’t want the humans to spot him and become frightened. On the distant shore, the dragon could see lights. It was apparent this was the sailing ship’s destination. Snowden felt a stirring of excitement. There were obviously a large number of humans here.

  Snowden turned toward the shore. He would find a safe place to hide during the day, and then once darkness fell he would investigate this human village and see what type of animals they might be raising. A few older cattle or even some sheep would make for an excellent meal.

  After an hour of searching, Snowden found some ruins he could hide within. Landing near some old walls that were all that remained of an ancient structure, Snowden settled down to wait. It felt good to be able to rest. He could feel his stomach screaming for food. This was a feeling that Snowden had learned to control; something that Gilmreth had never learned to do. Gilmreth allowed the driving hunger to consume him. His hunger made the great dragon a threat to everything living.

  Once Snowden felt comfortable, he closed his eyes to sleep. He had found refuge between two walls with a slight overhang that should shield him from view. After the sun went down, he would rise and see what these new humans had to offer.

  -

  Night had fallen, and there was a quarter moon out. Snowden took to the air with a powerful beat of his wings. He flew back toward the shore and the village he had spotted earlier. After a short time, a scattering of lights became visible below. Snowden slowly circled the village, surprised at its size. It was larger than the one in the green valley across the ocean.

  Using his keen eyesight, he searched the periphery of the village for any signs of the animals that humans normally kept for food. A few cattle and sheep were visible, but these were in small enclosures and would not be wise to eat. The humans would quickly become aware of his presence.

  Snowden noticed a well-traveled road leading away from the village toward a low grouping of mountains in the distance. The dragon decided to follow this road to see where it led. Perhaps he could find a farm where he could safely feed.

  For nearly four hours, Snowden followed the road until it began to twist and turn through the low passes of several mountains. More ruins were visible along the road, with very little evidence of anything green. The road finally straightened back out and descended down into a large, secluded valley.

  Snowden rose higher up into the air and slowly flew the length of the valley. Snowden could scarcely believe what he had found. The valley was full of life! There were three human villages in the valley. Not only that, but there were numerous food animals scattered about. He could sense some of the poison from the ancient Worldfire still in some of them. These would be the ones he would feed upon. This would remove this potential danger from the humans and help their stock to become pure once more. Snowden considered this a fair tradeoff for the animals he was about to take.

  However, this also raised another concern for Snowden. Gilmreth must not be allowed to feed on these humans. Snowden would need all of his strength to protect them. He would also have to make sure that Gilmreth didn’t fly back across the great ocean.

  Snowden carefully searched the lush dark meadows of the valley. Spotting an older cow in a meadow with signs of the ancient Worldfire poison, Snowden dove down, killing the cow instantly. Snowden slowly fed, relishing the meal and feeling his strength slowly returning. As the night wore on, he made more kills. Another sickly cow and several sheep with traces of the Worldfire poison died beneath his deadly talons. After each feeding, Snowden felt stronger and stronger. Then, as the sun began to rise in the east, he flew toward the mountains seeking a safe haven to rest. Snowden knew this would be his new home for many years to come.

  -

  Justin Andrews and his father were hunting up in the mountains to the south of their village. For the past several months, farmers had been reporting that some of their older and sicklier animals had gone missing. Justin’s father felt that it might be a bear that had come down out of the mountains and made the valley its personal hunting ground. Justin wondered about that since it had been many years since a bear had been sighted.

  Justin’s father, Richard Andrews, paused for a moment to catch his breath. Richard was forty years old and Justin was twenty-two.

  “Still no sign of any animal tracks,” commented the older man, leaning against a tree and gazing around. Richard had dark black hair, which was just beginning to show hints of gray on the sides. He was powerfully built from spending much of his time outdoors working their farm.

  “I just don’t think it’s a bear,” Justin replied doubtfully, his eyes scanning the immediate area. They were on a small, seldom used trail that led up and over this section of the mountains. “There hasn’t been a bear sighting in years. If any were still around, we would know.”

  “You may be right,” replied his father, nodding his head slowly in agreement. Richard reached under his shirt and pulled his amulet out. The green stone on the end of the finely crafted chain glowed dimly at his touch.

  “Are you going to use your powers to scan the mountain slopes?” Justin asked, intrigued. He was of similar build to his father, only slimmer. Both were of the same height and shared the same color hair and eyes.

  Justin and his father both had inherited the powers of their ancient ancestors. Those ancestors had been banished from the great mountain immediately after the Worldfire. People in the villages called them sorcerers.

  “Yes,” his father replied as he began moving his right hand in a series of complicated gestures.

  Justin knew his father was weaving an energy pattern in the air that he would use to search the surrounding area. Because he also had sorcery powers, Justin could sense as well as see the blue latticework of energy his father was constructing.

  When the spell was finished, his father listened intently as he cast the completed spell over the area around them. Justin waited patiently to see if his father had found anything.

  After a moment, his father shook his head, “Nothing,” he commented, disappointed. That’s how it was with sorcery. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t.

  “Let’s check the caves over on Beaver Mountain,” suggested Justin, knowing they were deep enough and large enough to hide a large predator. It had been several years since his father or he had been to the caves.

  “That’s another two miles over rough countryside,” commented his father, looking over to the east where Beaver Mountain rose high into the sky. Beaver Mountain was one of the tallest mountains that surrounded their valley.

  “If we don’t find something there, then I don’t believe whatever the animal is that’s killing the cattle and sheep is on our side of the valley,” commented Justin, removing his small canteen from his belt and taking a sip of water. “It’s just strange that we have never been able to find any tracks.”

  “You may be right,” replied his father, looking off toward Beaver Mountain. “It may be on the Sorenson’s side of the valley.” If it was, he doubted the Sorensons would do anything about it. “The lack of animal tracks has me baffled as well. There should be tracks of some sort.”
>
  The Sorensons were the other family of sorcerers that lived in the valley. The Sorensons lived on the northern end and the Andrews lived on the southern. Neither family cared much for the other and for the most part left each other alone. They had been competitors in the past, and there had been several serious and violent arguments about how sorcery should be used in the valley. Unfortunately, the Sorenson’s family sorcery was much more powerful than the Andrew’s family sorcery.

  For the next several hours, the two made their way carefully through the tall trees and over the rocky slopes toward Beaver Mountain and the caves. It had been several years since Richard had taken Justin to the caves. It was rumored that the people of the valley had taken shelter there during the Worldfire. Richard and Justin had done a little exploring in the caves but had found no evidence to support those old stories, though they hadn’t gone far into them. They were not very certain as to how safe they were. Even with their sorcery powers, they didn’t want to become trapped.

  -

  Snowden was deep inside one of the caves on Beaver Mountain. He had found the caves on his second night in the valley. He had made one of the small caverns off one of the larger caves his lair and had felt relief at finding such a good place to hide. Now he sensed humans approaching, ones that possessed some of the ancient powers. These were the very powers that had helped create the dragons so many long years ago. He hadn’t sensed the powers in any humans since fleeing the great mountain. Snowden felt uneasy at their approach. Maybe he had made a mistake in choosing this cave as his hiding place. If they entered the cave, there was no way he could hide from them.

  Snowden knew he should have been more careful and not taken so many of the older animals so quickly, But felt that it was necessary to replenish his strength in case Gilmreth showed up. Every few nights, Snowden would fly far to the north trying to pick up any sign of the other dragon, but thus far there had been no sign of Gilmreth. Snowden hoped that Gilmreth had flown farther to the west, perhaps even back to the great mountain where they had been created. He turned his attention back to the two humans he sensed approaching the cave. He stirred uneasily and waited.

  -

  Justin and his father stopped before the larger cave entrance. For some reason, Richard felt uneasy. Something didn’t seem right. It was as if some unseen force was telling him that what they were seeking was inside. He wondered if it was his sorcery powers warning him there was something unknown in the cave.

  “Do you sense it?” Richard asked Justin as he looked into the darkness of the cave.

  Justin concentrated for a moment. His powers weren’t nearly as strong as his father’s were. “I sense something, but I don’t feel as if it’s dangerous.”

  “Neither do I,” Richard agreed with a frown. This was perplexing. “I think we need to go into the cave and see what this is; I feel it’s terribly important.”

  Justin looked down at the ground. There were no signs of any tracks, and the ground didn’t seem to have been disturbed. “I don’t see any tracks here, either.”

  “I know,” responded Richard, glancing down at the ground. “But there is something inside this cave; I can sense its presence. Be ready to protect yourself with your sorcery if needed.”

  Justin nodded, and the two slowly walked into the cave entrance. His father paused and took a small globe out of his backpack. He concentrated briefly, and the globe began to glow with a soft radiance. With caution in every step, the two went farther into the cave.

  -

  Snowden sensed the two humans. The dragon was afraid that they had sensed his presence. He was trapped; there was no way out around the two sorcerers. Very soon, they would learn of Snowden’s presence. Humans had discovered his existence back in the green valley and had accepted his help. He didn’t know how these two would respond. Cautiously, Snowden rose up and stepped out into the main cave tunnel to await the approaching humans.

  -

  Richard and Justin walked slowly down the center of the cave tunnel. The light from the glow bulb just casting enough radiance to light the tunnel walls around them and a short distance ahead. As they rounded a bend in the tunnel, they both came to an abrupt halt. A creature out of ancient legends stood in the tunnel before them.

  “A dragon,” Justin hissed in stunned amazement, his eyes growing wide. His left hand went quickly to his amulet, and his right was poised ready to cast a spell if necessary.

  “Get behind me,” Richard ordered in a firm voice, grasping his glowing amulet in his right hand and staring at the white apparition before him.

  He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. There was no doubt in his mind that they had found what had been taking the livestock. He wondered what type of spells he could use against the dragon. He had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that if the dragon wanted to harm them, there was nothing he could do. He just wasn’t powerful enough.

  “Wait, Dad,” spoke Justin with a stunned look upon his face as if he was listening to something. He reached over and put his hand over his father’s hand that grasped the amulet. “The dragon isn’t dangerous; it means us no harm.”

  “How do you know that?” demanded Richard, glancing over at his son and then back at the waiting white dragon. The dragon was enormous; it took up nearly the entire cave tunnel. It was staring directly at them. “This dragon has been killing our animals.”

  “The dragon says its name is Snowden, and he is sorry if he frightened us.”

  “The dragon is speaking to you?” Richard spoke with doubt in his voice. He hadn’t heard anything. He stared at his son and then back at the dragon. “How is that possible?”

  “In my mind,” Justin replied as he tried to understand the dragon. “It’s not actually words; it’s more like pictures appearing in my head and an occasional word to help describe what I’m seeing.”

  Richard paused for a moment, gazing at the white dragon. He had several ancient books at home that mentioned the dragons. Richard knew they had been created in Firestorm Mountain far to the west. Richard’s own remote ancestor had supposedly been involved in that fiasco. One of the book’s Richard possessed had brief descriptions of all the dragons. There was a white dragon in the book, and its name was Snowden. Of all the dragons mentioned, Snowden was supposedly the least dangerous and had at one time been friendly toward humans.

  “Ask Snowden why he is here,” Richard spoke, still finding it hard to believe that they were face to face with one of the legendary creatures created by their ancestors so many centuries ago. This seemed too unreal. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

  “Snowden says he can understand you if you speak slowly,” replied Justin, looking over at his father. “He says he followed another dragon here from across the ocean. The dragon he was following is named Gilmreth.”

  “Gilmreth,” Richard said with increased alarm showing on his face. Everything he had read about Gilmreth said the dragon was extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. “Where is Gilmreth now?”

  Justin was quiet for several moments with an intense look of concentration on his young face as if he was listening to a remote voice. “Snowden says he chased Gilmreth away from a human village across the ocean. Gilmreth flew farther inland and Snowden hasn’t seen him for days. He believes Gilmreth may have returned to the great mountain.”

  “Firestorm Mountain,” Richard said with a heavy sigh. He didn’t want to test his powers of sorcery against Gilmreth. He suspected the outcome would be very bad. “I hope so; we don’t want any part of Gilmreth.”

  “Snowden also says he has been clearing our herds of animals that still showed signs of the old Worldfire sickness.”

  Richard nodded his head in understanding. That would explain why it was only the older and sicker livestock that had been vanishing.

  “He is sorry if it caused us a problem,” Justin continued.

  “What is Snowden planning to do now?” asked Richard, releasing the grip on his am
ulet. He didn’t know how the rest of the people in the villages, as well as the Sorensons, would react to a dragon taking up residence in their valley. It was also interesting to hear that there were other survivors across the ocean. For years now, they had thought that they were the only ones.

  “Snowden says he will stay and make sure that Gilmreth doesn’t ever threaten us. He will only hunt at night and will not allow himself to be seen. Now that he has replenished his strength he doesn’t need to feed nearly as often.”

  Richard paused for a moment. He could see that having the dragon around could be useful. If this dragon could protect them from Gilmreth, then it would be worth the risk. He looked over at his son, indicating for him to continue.

  “The dragon means us no harm,” Justin reiterated to his father. “I think most of the time he will be asleep.”

  Richard walked over until he stood just below the dragon. He looked up and gazed into Snowden’s bright yellow eyes. All Richard could see was curiosity and a desire to please. There was no sense of danger imitating from the dragon. Closing his eyes, Richard nodded his head slowly. Then he opened them and gazed intently at Snowden. “If you stay in this valley, no one else can learn of your presence. It must remain our secret.”

  “He says he understands,” Justin spoke as he carefully listened to the dragon. “He will stay in the small cavern and only come out to feed at night and to make sure Gilmreth has not returned to the coast or ventured near our valley. He says we will not see him unless I summon him.”

  “Why you?” asked Richard, looking over at his son.

  “For some reason, I can hear the dragon’s thoughts. He can hear mine if I concentrate hard enough. Snowden says most of the time he will sleep. He is waiting for Cathy to awake.”

  “Cathy?” Richard said, surprised, his eyes growing wide. “Who is Cathy?”