by Alex Sapegin
“You should train your wings by yourself, not through magic!”
It’s a festival! A merry fair for children! “They’re tired, the poor things, of holding on to your wings. Drop and give me twenty! Oh! What’s that? Dad pressing on your back with his tail, pushing you down? Why are you kissing the ground? Push up!”
All, while he talks about the harvest with the village people, about prices in the city, even about the women! Ahh! I can’t take it anymore! Hello, dirt in my face…
“Oh dear me. Your wings are tired? Ki-i-i-ids! Where a-a-are you? Get on his back! Twenty laps around the village, crawling on your belly!” I’ve plowed all the land around the village with my belly! “No big deal, you’ll keep on plowing…”
By evening I look like a squeezed lemon and crawl into the cave with trembling legs and wings, wanting to collapse and sleep the sleep of Napoleon after the Battle of Waterloo. But it’s not meant to be. With a snide smile, Jaga tells me it’s time to train my brain a bit…and it begins.
I gave the elf a pleasant surprise when it comes to numbers and math, but that only encouraged her. I don’t even know which of them is worse. Herbs, herbs, herbs. Names, where they grow, healing and magical powers. When to collect them and how to store and prepare them. Which can be used with other herbs and magical ingredients. Multi-component teas and potions. How to make poisons.
I don’t remember what the mountain climbers’ names were, who completed a trip with no safety nets across steep slopes using just their hands, but it doesn’t matter. All that matters for me right now is not to let myself fall from the 500-foot height of the steep slope a half a league (a mile) from the cave. Dad has a new obsession: chasing me up and down the wall. I have to crawl up and down it using just the fingers of my wings. The elf’s attached to my back in a special harness and is telling me the history of Ilanta, and I’m memorizing it as we go. She promised to tell me the tragedy of the dragons, and now she’s keeping her promise.
***
“Three thousand years ago, dragons and the embodied ones ruled western Alatar, and there were many thousands of them, not just a few loners here and a tiny handful there, scattered through the quiet nooks of the mountains.
“There are four continents in Ilanta. Alatar is the largest and resembles a stick with a crossbar at the top. Rold is located beyond the Azure Ocean, to the east of Alatar. Radd lies beyond the seas to the west, and Aria is the smallest continent, located in the north.
“Dragons came to Ilanta 30,000 years ago from another world called Nelita, which was the night eye of the goddess of Life, Nel. A network of spatial portals built by the dragons connected both worlds and allowed free travel between them. The secret of building portals was lost some 20,000 years ago when a group of builders researching dragons was killed, every last one of them, while activating a portal to another world. Not only did they die; but only melted ruins remained of the big city that was home to dragons and other intelligent creatures.
“In those long-ago times, there were no humans, gnomes or elves in Ilanta, just a few tribes of wild orcs roaming the steppes of Rold. Dragons brought elves with them and planted the first Mellorny trees, which were the start of the Great Forest and the Light Forest.”
Andy asked about gnomes and humans. Jagirra poked him in the spine and told him not to interrupt; she would get to humans and gnomes. “Be quiet please; it’s difficult to speak while pinned to a steep cliff wall, trying to feel out the smallest cracks in the granite monolith.”
Jaga’s fine, sitting there knitting away!
“Gnomes and humans both came to Alatar of their own accord. Fifteen thousand years ago in the Stone Mountains, a portal opened, and thousands of gnomes entered through it, refugees from a war in their own world. The gnome mages who opened the portal remained on the other side and passed away, once they had given the rest of the gnomes’ time to save themselves.
“The half-dead refugees were allowed to settle in the Marble Mountains. Twelve thousand years ago, in the center of Aria and the south of Alatar, practically at the exact same time, the gates to other worlds opened. The dragons didn’t explain their reasons for opening the gates and didn’t say whether or not this was the result of the highest form of magic. No one could say. But humans came to Ilanta and later to Nelita through the dragons’ portals. The gates that united worlds stood open for ten years, then disappeared. The dragons decided not to tamper with them. They set reinforced posts around the magical gates and removed all conceivable characteristics from the passages to the other worlds. The people who had settled in Aria and the north of Alatar became known as Ariates. A lot more people came through the southern gates and weren’t all of one tribe or nation, like Aria. There still isn’t a single name to describe them all.”
Daddy swung his head in from above and added, that during his youth, experiments had been conducted in Ilanta and Nelita on building and opening gates to other worlds. “Characteristics were taken from the Ariate gates for settings, and they were somewhat successful, but I had not had time to take an interest in the university news; there were more important things going on that were a lot more interesting…” At these last words, his eyes glazed over, and he fell into a bought of reverie. He grunted softly, and his black head disappeared.
Now, this was getting really interesting.
“Well, how did the dragons discover the possibility of incarnation?” The question made Jaga fall silent. For 10 minutes, Andy beat his wings on the cliff in total silence.
“There were experiments on elves and humans,” Jagirra finally answered.
“Okay. Experiments. That means…interesting, how many two-legged guinea pigs were dismantled by these doctor Dragonsteins?”
“Not sure what you just said, but I get your drift. In the end, they found out that dragon’s blood contains a lot of special hormones and when harvested during their molting period or during a time of stress, there is a universal healing balm that also counters the effects of aging in both humans and elves. In order to keep their research pure, orcs were brought in to work on the project. The potion had the same effect on the fanged ones. The gnomes didn’t take part in the tasting because they were different. But, in the university in Irga, the capital of the dragons’ state in Nelita, some interesting discoveries were made on the mutation of the human body. A few years later, the first embodied dragon flew into the sky.”
And how many never got to fly?Andy wondered.
“Problems began on Alatar 8,000 years ago,” Jaga continued. “There were fewer and fewer dragons. Many moved back to Nelita, while humans and elves populated the entire south and west. The Ariates built cities on their snowy expanses and in the north of Alatar. Green and white orcs from Rold settled in the east of the continent. For about 300 years, no one paid them any mind, until the good-natured residents of the west and the south noticed that the east was overtaken with fanged savages, called ‘The greenies,’ constantly attacked their neighbors, posing a threat to the peace of all the states that had formed in the west. In one fine instant, hordes of ‘greenies’ advanced on the west. They had been whipped by the ‘whities’ in the southeast and the ‘grays’ who came to their aid from the islands. The ‘mountaineers’ of Aria, who lived beyond the Marble Mountains and had never engaged in battle, were completely wiped out. The dragons had to get involved. They stopped the ‘greenies’ in the foothills. War had encroached upon the dragons’ peaceful world. They needed warriors, post-haste.”
“It was then that the dragons created the Snow Elves. The Rauu became the first warriors who managed to cast the orcs off the eastern foothills,” Karegar put in.
I can’t say I was surprised.
“How did they create them?” Andy asked.
“By magic, of course! How else? They took volunteers from the Forest Elves and the Ariates, added magic and got a new kind of being. Strong and fast, they resembled Forest Elves, with silver hair and light skin, and they could live in any part of Ilanta, not dependent
on nutrition from Mellorny, as Forest Elves are,” Jaga said simply, but Andy could tell something was eating at her.
“Only, the Forest Elves didn't recognize the Rauu as full-fledged elves and refused them the right to reside in the Forest. By that time, such snobs had come to power among the ‘woodies’, and even the dragons were nauseated. Naturally, the dragons pressured the ‘woodies’, who set aside some land for the Rauu on the edge of the Great Forest. Underneath the shadow of the Mellorny was no place for the Ariate degenerates. The first Rauu had a hard time tearing themselves away from the greenery of the woods, and the dragons took them under their wings. Then the first black cat ran between the two elven races.”
Daddy’s head once again appeared over Andy. “Here, too, they call those poor creatures monsters, bearers of bad news! And I’d always liked black cats. Five thousand years ago, the Rauu were asked to leave the Forest. The ‘woodies’ had refused to listen to the dragons. Then, they had to burn them to ashes…”
Playing with his wings, Andy almost lost a thought that had been bothering him since he turned into a dragon.
“Wait a minute. You talk about people becoming dragons, but have there been cases of the reverse incarnation?” Oof. If I hadn’t blurted that out then, my nagging thought would have escaped me again.
“Yes, there were,” Jaga replied. “It’s a different mechanism, but there have been such operations. In Nelita, among dragons at one time, incarnation was popular. For them, the change isn’t painful, and the nervous system doesn’t change. The entire process depended on magic. Incarnation in humans and elves can change the substance, the hypostasis; in dragons, it’s more complicated than that. Humans are not magical creatures from the start, and they have a harder time taking on different elements, but without doing that, you can’t become a dragon, and you can’t change the hypostasis.
“It’s all a matter of bodily memory. In those who were human first and dragon second, the human is not erased completely, and the two combine and they become a kind of third entity as it were. If the personal magic power permits, then the hypostasis is changed. It’s important to maintain the balance between the hypostasis and not stay in one of them too long, or uncontrollable switching from one body to another can result.”
Andy almost fell down. What! His tail twitched completely of its own accord, and his jaw hit the cliff wall.
“How can it be, what do you mean…?”
All of his thoughts seemed to whirl down a pipe; there was a tornado in his head. He was hanging on one wing and remembered where he was after the painful blow of a little fireball to the back of his head.
“Climb up to the top!” Jaga yelled.
Andy couldn’t remember at all how he had gotten up on the cliff. I can be a person again! He just couldn’t think of anything else.
“Daddy! Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Andy attacked him. “Well? Dad? Jaga?”
“Because you should become a real dragon first!” Jaga jumped from his back and tapped him on the nose. “You should have the ability to control yourself and your feelings, not giving in to the instincts of a predator, like with that ram in the cave! You should learn patience and be able to separate yourself from the world. You forgot about that too quickly once your changes were complete. You should be able to control your new body as if it were the one you were born with, or you risk becoming a horrible monster.
Jaga and Karegar fell silent. Andy was sprawled on the platform. He spread his aching wings and digested what he had heard.
“And 3,000 years ago, the dragons’ and embodied ones’ power over northern Alatar became pretty tentative,” Jaga went on, picking up the interrupted lecture. “In Nelita, the ruling dynasty changed. A portion of the dragons and embodied ones went back to their native worlds, and in Ilanta war broke out.”
“I’m going to the top ground,” Daddy turned to us. Somehow, I knew deep in my heart that he couldn’t stand hearing this part of the history. “Kerr, when Jaga’s through, come up and see me.”
Jaga’s eyes followed him for a long time. “The ‘woodies’ killed Karegar’s daughters, cut their heads off. Dragons can get their paws, wings andtails cut off and lose half their body mass and grow it all back later. It takes a long time; it hurts, but dragons will return to their normal life. But they can’t grow their heads back.
“The elves beheaded the dragon elite, which consisted of embodied ones. Disguising their trap as an invitation to a great feast, His Lordship and some human kings sought to cast off oversight from the skies. The lordships of the Great Forest headed the conspiracy. War broke out; the carnage was terrible. In the end, the embodies went back to Nelita and sealed the portals behind them, and the elves attacked the dragons’ settlement, finishing off most of the women and children.”
Jaga spoke facing no one; her voice sounded like she was speaking from inside a barrel.
Andy lay on the hay listening to the elf, but he knew without a doubt that Jaga was not telling the whole truth. There were other reasons for the war besides the Lordships’ dissatisfaction, and she knew it. But she wasn’t talking about them, and Andy got the feeling it was exactly what was left unsaid that made up the main driving factors for the war.
Why didn’t they tell me about reverse incarnation and about turning back and forth like a werewolf right away? Why is it that Jaga and Daddy pin such importance to real dragons’ changing form?
“After that killing, the dragons destroyed the Great Forest along with all its inhabitants,” Jaga said.
“I would have done the same thing.”
“And they put a spell on the Mellornys. These sacred trees no longer bear fruit. Since then, it’s been hard to find a dragon who doesn’t hate Forest Elves or vice-versa. The portals between Nelita and Ilanta haven’t opened once in 3,000 years; it’s safe to say they’ve forgotten about us. The north was demolished, and the orcs struck through the mountains. The Rauu and the gnomes were able to stay in the mountains, and the Ariates retreated to their ancient lands. The ‘greenies,’ who had been forgotten by everyone, seized all the northern steppes from the Marble Mountains to the western seas. Two centuries later, a horde of gray orcs settling into the coastal areas forced them to relocate. And in the south, the Empire of Alatar came about, named after the continent. The emperors invested a fair amount of effort into conquering the neighboring lands.
“Two thousand years ago, the Imperial fleet with troops on board was sent to conquer the Ariates, who flooded all the vessels and used the highest magic against the Imperialists. Due to that uncontrollable release of energy, all the Imperial ships and the island were swept away. A portal opened in the sea, and a dozen ships with humans came into our world. They called themselves Norsemen and Vikings. The Vikings settled on new, far-away lands, and soon, a dozen shiploads of humans had become hundreds. After the news that the fleet had been destroyed, there was a coup in the empire, and a new ruling dynasty came to power. As is always the case with these things, a civil war broke out, and the empire collapsed. Imperial legions were called in from the wild provinces. The Rauu, the gnomes and the ‘woodies’ remained unconquered. Special squadrons of warriors created by mages from the Rauu remained in the foothills of the Marble Mountains. They became the ancestors of the vampires.”
Then she told Andy that the far-off provinces became kingdoms and principalities; the borders were regularly re-drawn depending on the winners of these wars.
“And human mages made attempts to conduct incarnation?” he asked.
“They tried, but the most serious thing they ended up with was monsters that killed everyone in their path. The other mages like me who knew how got their heads cut off in the castle where they staged their trap.
“Now, go to Karegar. We’ll continue the history lesson this evening; then you can ask your questions.” Jaga patted Andy on the neck and sent him to the very top of the cliff. She sat down on a big boulder and stared into the distance. She didn’t notice Andy hadn’t left…
“One more thing?” he asked.
“What is it?”
“Jagirra, how do you know all this? Your knowledge of thousands of years?”
“I was born in Nelita and studied at the University. Go on now.”
Wow! How the heck old is she?
***
“What is it, Father?” Andy asked Karegar, who was looking at something on the steep wall.
“Have you finished?” the black dragon turned his gigantic head toward his adopted son. He had been standing on the very summit for a long time, considering. This wasn’t the first time Kerrovitarr—the Crystal Dragon as Jaga had named Andy—called him Daddy or Father. Subconsciously, the boy was looking for his own father in Karegar—the one he had lost in his own world. The flexible psyche of a teenager, now a dragon, tail and all, simply switched the images. Karegar had dreamed of a son for thousands of years and finally had one. He was now justifiably proud of himself for what he and Jagirra had done. It didn’t matter that a human woman had brought Kerr into the world with a human man; he had come back to this world through the efforts of an old dragon and a senile elf. “Come here. I want to show you something. You’ll like it.”
Andy walked up to the edge of the precipice. If he were to fly straight down, it would be 2 miles to the ground. Karegar stepped back.
“Look at the boulder sticking out from the left side of the wall.”
Andy hung his head downward. A powerful blow by the tail sent him into a free fall…
