Chapter Twenty One

I dozed off sometime in the middle of the night, out there on the river bank. I woke to find myself slumped over against the grassy shoreline, my neck stiff and aching. Just as I’d convinced myself I wasn’t so old after all, I’d fallen asleep on my haunches. Good work, Vraal. Way to maintain a convincing argument for your continued youth. Stiff and chiding myself, I limped back to my little shelter, and curled up atop the blankets. I was a little cold now, and I tried to drape some of them across me. But every time I tried to twist around to pull one over me, pain erupted along my side, and I felt my stitches pulling taut, threatening to pop through my skin and ruin my body’s hard work. So I tried to toss a blanket over me, and in the process nearly popped the other stitches in my shoulder and along my back. Then I tried to simply curl up tightly to warm myself, and once again hurt my injured side.

In frustration I finally gave in and just tried to go back to sleep in the chilly air. It wasn’t as if I was going to freeze or anything, I was just a little colder then I would have liked. I’d been spoiled by so many years in a cavern. Much as I complained about it, much as I longed for the days when my kind didn’t have to hide in damp tunnels and shadowy crevices, I had grown quite accustomed to living in a place where the temperature stayed the same all year round. Pleasantly cool in the summer and comfortably warm in the winter. Ironic, then, that I finally had the freedom to live where I wanted among humans of all places, and now I found myself missing my lair.

Bah. Lair indeed.

While I tried to get back to sleep, I lifted my head and peered around. Though the space was smaller then my home, it hardly felt cozy, or welcoming. Not that I didn’t appreciate Kylah’s efforts and those of her people to ready this place for me, I most certainly did. But this was the first time I’d lain awake inside it, and it simply felt empty. I missed my collection, and my paintings, and my drink, and my furs and hides. I missed the gentle sound of running water in the distance, the river beyond the treeline was too quiet for me to hear it inside my shelter. And until now, I hadn’t even realized that the gentle rushing hiss of my underground river was even audible from my sleeping chamber. Not till now, when I found myself missing it. And damn it, I even missed the gentle, steady dripping of water from the walls, and the high stalactites.

I didn’t miss the bat shit, though, that I could most certainly do without. Deciding I wasn’t going to get back to sleep as easily as I’d hoped, I got back to my feet and paced around the area. I wanted to make it just a little more like home. I spread out the blankets and pillows a little to make it more of a true, sprawling dragon’s bed. Then I took my helmet, and placed it near the wall opposite where I slept, facing me. It wasn’t as good as a stone dragon’s head, but it would do. I carefully placed the necklace from Niara’s family around the helmet, the black, silver and gold chain circling it and the mother of pearl dragon’s head at it’s front. I set the picture I’d painted on cloth of my family over at the side of my bed, and then I put one of my bracelets on either side of the blankets I slept upon.

Hardly a proper collection, but it was a start. I decided that as soon as I was healed enough to fly, I was going to have to make a trip home. If I was going to stay here for any length of time I’d have to fill this place up with a few more of my belongings. I hated to think of hauling that stone head all the way down here, but I knew he’d appreciate seeing what I was doing here for these humans. Bah! There I went again, thinking of the statue’s head as a real dragon. I’d show him, I’d leave his stone ass behind to watch my lair for me!

Wonderful, now I was calling my home a lair AND constantly thinking of the statue as a person. Even if I left it behind, I could still bring an easily transportable portion of my collection here to adorn my temporary sleeping chamber. That would make it feel a bit more like home, and I’d feel more comfortable in here. And I’d also sleep better at night.

I curled back up atop my bed, best I could with my wounds, and tried to go back to sleep. I lay awake a little while longer, struck by the quiet of the place. My own breathing sounded almost cacophonous where normally I never even noticed it. I tried to focus in on the other sounds around me, though after so many years in a cavern they were so foreign even normal sounds put a naturally paranoid dragon on edge. The hooting of owls, the yowl of a cat, and the distant laughter of midnight drunkards stumbling home. It merely reminded me I was curled among humans. For an unpleasant few moments, I felt like a traitorous viper coiled in the nest of my people’s greatest enemies. I reminded myself that I was doing this in part for my people! And I also reminded myself that Kylah had long since proven to me that humans could be more to dragons then mortal enemies.

Then it struck me. I knew what the temporary home was missing, and it was not something that I could go and bring home from my lair. It was missing Kylah. In the short few weeks I’d known her, I’d grown very accustomed to having her sleeping nearby. I’d gotten used to the sound of her breathing as she slept, the gentle rise and fall of breath across her lips. It reminded me of the times I’d spent, listening to Niara breath, watching her sleep. For a few weeks, it was nice to have a companion sleeping nearby, or even curled up against my warmth. Now, I was surprised by just how much I missed that.

And with that little personal revelation, slumber finally found it’s way back to me, and drew me once more beneath it’s wings. 

I woke again the next morning just after dawn had bathed the village in it’s warm, golden light. Kylah had not yet brought me breakfast, and so I rose and stretched myself out, working the stiffness from all my joints and my wings, and then made myself to the river. I emptied my bladder, and then walked upstream a good distance to get a long drink, quench my thirst and start the process over again.

I wasn’t yet comfortable enough here to walk the town’s streets without Kylah by my side, so I busied myself pacing across the grassy pasture that surrounded the little stable. A few people passed on the nearby road, heading to work or market for the morning. Some of them waved at me, though I was alone, and I made sure to wave back. I wanted to seem as friendly as possible. A farmer led a team of mules pulling a cart filled with fresh vegetables, and the two mules whickered and rolled their eyes nervously at the big, black and gray scaled predator prowling the fields. I chuckled to myself, glad to see I still inspired fear in prey even all bandaged up, and rolled my eyes right back at them as sarcastically as I could.

Foolish old lizard! As if prey could understand sarcasm. As if mules made good prey. True horses were better tasting and less stringy and sinewy, anyway. I idly wondered if Kylah’s people ever ate horse? It was a tasty enough meat, why shouldn’t they? For that matter, I wondered if they would be angry if I ate any of the cats and dogs roaming the streets. I had never had the chance to eat either species, and I wondered how they might taste.

Perhaps that was a question I would be best asking when I was sure no one would hear me but Kylah. Speaking of Kylah, I was starting to wonder where she was. Dragons were very impatient creatures when it came to food, and already my belly was rumbling so ominously I was afraid the shaking it caused my pop my stitches free. I looked back along my body, lifting a wing a little. None of my bandages seem to have been stained by the activity of the day before, with any luck I wouldn’t need to wear them much longer. Then I could have those damn irritating stitches removed and get back to the sky.

It had only been a matter of days since I’d last flown, and I’d spent most of those unconscious! Yet I already missed the sky. I longed to feel the wind caressing my scales, and pressing against my wings, pulling me ever higher. I yearned to see the beautiful sprawl of the world spread far below me, the ocean of colors painted by autumns brush before winter’s winds wiped them all away once more. Thinking about it only made me want to fly even more. I was getting tempted to spread my wings and leap into the sky, stitches or not. Of course in doing so I’d probably pop them all out and bleed all over myself again, and end up cursed with a whole body wrapped in itchy bandages for months.

It made for an amusing mental image at least, a dragon wrapped entirely in bandage. I doubted even the old mules would fear me then, shuffling down the street like a hobbled old hunch-backed beggar. I’d probably end up scratching myself to death, the bandages I already wore were itchy enough, and they were just stuck to my scales with resin. If they were wrapped around me I’d probably have torn them off at least six times by now.

Just as the ache in my stomach had me contemplating returning to the riverbank to see if I could catch some fish or even some frogs and turtles, I finally spotted Kylah making her way up the road. She was carrying a large, wooden platter absolutely heaped with freshly cooked food, I could see steam rising from it even at a distance. It made me wonder where she’d gotten the food from. Though I hadn’t thought about it the day before, she’d showed up then with a full platter, too, walking it all the way here from…well, I didn’t know where. I hoped whoever was providing the food wasn’t charging her for it. If they were, I’d have to have a talk with them, and remind them of just who’s idea it was to come free her people in the first place.

As I was enjoying the feel of the sun against my wings and scaly back, I decided to eat outdoors. I didn’t want to sit in the street and block traffic, so while she walked the last stretch of road between us, I walked a few circles in the grass, each slightly wider then the one before, flattening a section of pasture out so we’d have a place to sit. Then I settled down amidst the flattened grasses. They were cool and comfortable against my paw pads and my haunches. As long as I’d hadn’t settled my male bits anywhere near an ant hill I should be just fine.

I’d done that once before, and regretted it for weeks. The memory had me looking all around myself by the time Kylah approached to make sure I hadn’t done it again. She set the platter down on the flattened grass, and gave me a morning hug, squeezing my black scaled neck in her arms, and rubbing it a little.

“Good morning Vraal! What are you looking for?”

“Ants,” I muttered, then smiled at her. “And good morning.”

Kylah scrunched her nose as she moved down to kneel in front of me. Today she was wearing a pretty silver blouse, and breeches that seemed a little more typically feminine then the usual sort of thing she wore. It wasn’t a dress or a skirt by any means, but the dark blue breeches had a sort of loose flow about them. They looked nice on her, and beneath the silver blouse. And as if just to disprove she was feeling any more “lady like” then usual, she picked up a sausage with her fingers, and took a bite, then spoke through her mouthful of food.

“Why are you looking for ants?”

Sometimes, Kylah just seemed so dragon-like it just made me smile. Right now was one of those times. “Because the last time I sat in a big grassy field without checking for ants I sat dangerously close to an ant hill. Painfully close, as it turned out.”

“Oh,” Kylah said, off hand, finishing off her sausage then leaning back onto her hands. “I wouldn’t think ants would be that much of a bother with all those scales.”

I smirked at her, and shook my head, cringing a little. “It is not the areas with scales they were biting, Kylah.”

Kylah peered up at my face, tilting her head to the side. For a moment she didn’t seem to understand, then her emerald eyes slowly wandered down my chest and belly, and eventually flicked down between my hind legs. When understanding finally dawned on her, her face lit up, and she burst out laughing. She put a hand over her mouth to try and stop herself, but the laughter bubbled out of her like a ceaselessly burbling spring. “Oh, Vraal! I’m sorry, that must have been terrible!”

“And yet you can’t stop laughing,” I said, only feigning anger. She saw right through it, so I dropped the charade. “That’s alright, if it had been another dragon I’d have laughed my scales off at him, too. So! What did you bring me for breakfast?”

Kylah leaned forward a little. She waved her hand over the platter, and tried to explain what the different portions were, but she was laughing so hard I couldn’t make out a single word she said. It took her a little while to finally catch her breath, and she gave a long sigh, wiped a tear from her eye. “Oh, Vraal, that’s hilarious.” She laughed a little more and shook her hair, brown tresses waving like little curtains in front of her eyes before she tucked them behind her ears. “Let’s see….umm, well lots of sausages today. That seems like a very dragon sort of meal! These are venison and garlic. These are lamb and mint, and I don’t know what these are. Wild boar, I think. And over here is sliced ham with a little honey drizzled over it, and then some thick, hearty bread with brambleberry jam spread nice and thick on it.”

About halfway through her explanation I already had a muzzle full of food. I couldn’t hear the phrase venison and garlic without immediately filling my muzzle with that very thing. And oh, Tail of God, where these sausages good! The casing was just thin enough to hold all the deliciousness inside, and it had a satisfying pop as soon as I sunk my sharp teeth into it. The sharp tang of the garlic matched the earthy richness of the venison very well. The lamb and mint sausages were something entirely new to me, as I’d never bothered much with lambs. Full grown sheep were much more filling! And I’d never had mint anything before, it had a very strange, intense sharp sort of flavor, but for some reason it matched the lamb very well. And while I’d eaten wild boar, I’d never had them made into sausages. It tasted like they took the boar’s meat, ground it up with some of the lovely entrails and blood, then put something sweet in there, maybe a touch of honey, and mixed it all up together before cooking it.

“Oh, Tail of God, Kylah, I should have come to your village ages ago!”

“I’ll take that to mean you’ve finally come to see that cooked food is even better then raw,” she said with a smirk, leaning back onto her hands again.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I replied, wiping sausage juices from my muzzle with the back of a paw, then licking them off.

“Mmhmm. Tail of God, hmm? I think that’s a new one.”

“It’s an old one, actually. Something a few of the elders used to say. Probably a remnant from when there were still enough of us to really believe in God.”

Kylah smirked up at me while I stuffed my muzzle with jam-smeared bread. “And you think God has a tail?”

I flexed my wings in a half hearted shrug. “Hell if I know. But you all believe God made you in his image, right? Why can’t dragons believe something of the same?”

Kylah mimicked my shrug. “Makes sense to me. But I wouldn’t go around town espousing that particular theory. We aren’t the most religious of towns as a whole, but most people still have their beliefs. They’re definitely starting to like you Vraal, but that doesn’t mean they wanna hear God is a dragon.”

That made rumble with laugh. As if I had any interest in trying to change some human’s religious beliefs. Let them believe what they mattered, what did it mean to me? Well, aside from when believing dragons were creatures of evil lead them to kill us, that is. No matter, I had no intention with discussing anything of the sort with anyone in this town. “It’s just a saying. Like Balls of the Earth Dragon.”

Kylah tilted her head to the side, her hair all flopping over in that direction. “I’ve heard you say that before, quite a few times. Like when you stubbed your paw back in your lair, and shouted it while you were shaking your foot. So who is this Earth Dragon and why do you talk about his balls so much?”

I was enjoying my breakfast far too much to let Kylah get to me, so I only paused in my feeding long enough to stick my tongue out at her. Or as close as I could get to the gesture I’d first picked up from her. I let my long pink tongue hang from my muzzle a moment, then pulled it back into my mouth to keep eating. Between bites and gulps of food, I attempted an explanation of sorts.

“It’s just a saying, I suppose. You’re not going to try and tell me that humans don’t yell vulgar things when they accidentally hurt themselves, or when something bad happens?”

Kylah grinned. “You mean like, Ow! Shit, an ant just bit me!” She lifted her hand and shook it, gasping. “Oh, tits that hurts!”

I nearly chocked on ham, and just as nearly coughed it back out! And I had to stop myself from peering around for ants just as she no doubt wanted. When I’d cleared my throat and swallowed, I glared at her, and then chuckled just a little. “Yes, Kylah, like that.”

“Yes, humans say things like that all the time. So I guess that makes sense. So who’s this earth dragon?”

“The earth dragon is an old spiritual tale, a myth that’s lingered with us for longer then any of us can remember. It’s probably been a creation tale among my people since before we even had an empire for your kind to wipe out. I think it started when even dragons were young, and even if most of us don’t believe in it anymore, the idea stuck around. It was believed that there were four primal dragons, one for each of the four main elements. Earth, wind, fire, water.”

“I know what the elements are, Vraal.” Kylah shifted around till she had her legs stretched out in front of her, and leaned forward a little to pluck a few blades of grass and roll them between her fingers. “Go on.”

Nearly finished with my meal, I took a moment to lick juices and jam from my paws. “The earth dragon was male, and the other three primal dragons were female. It was believed that these four dragons had the power to create through their elements, and that the earth dragon made the world, and then the others brought the fires to cleanse the land, winds to spread the seeds, and water to nuture it. And then the earth dragon mated with…”

“Why did I know this was gonna lead to mating? Do you dragons have any stories that don’t end in mating?”

I was about to eat the last bite of ham, but instead I tossed it at Kylah. She laughed, and ducked, and as it landed in the grass somewhere, probably to attract ants, I wished I’d just eaten it. “Quiet, you. The story went, that the earth dragon as the only male mated with the other three to produce three different races of dragons, who became the original clans. All of whom where then nurtured by the primal dragons, who in the end, gave their own lives to become spirits in order to protect their children. The Earth Dragon gives us the world on which we live, The Wind Dragon lifts us and carries in the sky, the Water Dragon nurtures us and gives us life, and the Fire Dragon gives us the power to protect ourselves.”

“That’s actually a pretty good story!”

I smiled, licking my fingers. Then I lifted the platter to my snout and licked it clean as well, only setting it down when I could no longer taste anything but wood upon it. “It’s not that any of us really believe that stuff any more, but the general myths have stuck around. I suppose as it was seen that the earth dragon first gave our species life, we picked up that particular phrase.”

“Or maybe you dragons are just proud of your balls.”

I waved at myself, as grandly as I could. “Who wouldn’t be?”

Kylah just rolled her eyes. “You know, men of all species are exactly the same. And doesn’t that story mean you’re all actually inbred, since you all started with the same father?”

I had to admit, I had never thought of it that way before. I huffed, and flared my crests in irritation, folded my fore legs across my chest, and rustled my wings. “No!” I coiled my tail. “Besides, it’s only a story. It’s not true.”

“Aww, don’t be grumpy just cause you’re inbred, Vraal.” Kylah rose to her feet and patted me in the nose. “You seem to be functioning just fine to me!”

“Hmmph!” I growled a little after I snorted. “I’m going to step on you, Kylah.”

“Oh?” She picked up the platter off the ground, and then started to walk off through the grass, glancing back at me. “Are you sure you have the depth perception to do that with those crossed, inbred eyes?”

“You’re bad,” I said, though I found myself laughing anyway. “You really should have been born a dragon, you’re merciless.”

“Perhaps!” She grinned, and tucked the platter under her arm as she returned to the road. “You coming, or you gonna sit in the grass waiting for ants all day?”

I pushed myself up to my feet. Though my full belly was begging me to just lay in the sun and nap, it hadn’t been that long since I’d woken in the first place. I forced myself to follow after Kylah, I’d try to work off my meal walking around her town again. Though as I came up behind her, I lifted a paw and swatted her on the rump. Rather hard this time, enough so that she’d have a paw print beneath her breeches for a little while.

Kylah yelped in surprise and jumped into the air, which made me burst out laughing. “You brat! I oughta break this platter over your head.”

I just grinned at her, perking my ears and trying to look as cute and innocent as a wicked old dragon could. “You were asking for it and you know it.”

“Yeah, well, maybe those inbred remarks were a little over the line.”

I nodded, lashing my tail. “They were! I’m not telling you any more of my stories.”

“That’s alright, I already know all your histories and myths end with dragons mating, and all your personal stories end up with you hurting yourself somehow.”

I moved up to walk along her side, and unfurled a wing to gently wrap it around her and hug her to my uninjured side. “See? You already know all my stories anyway.”

Our growing camaraderie was a pleasant start to a day I was a little worried about the ending of. I had set myself up to speak to the people of the town, and I still wasn’t sure what I was going to say to them. I knew the general ideas I wanted to get across to them but I wasn’t really sure how to put it into words. I told myself once I started speaking, the words would come easily enough. The other day when I laid in the sunshine and opened myself up to the townsfolk, when I told them of my past and my sun, the words were hard to find at first. But not long into my tale they had poured from deep within myself and ran across my tongue like storm-swollen stream, running from my mouth faster and faster and easier and easier the more I spoke them.

Yet that night I would have more to say, and much of it might be harder for the town to hear. And no doubt I would have a much larger crowd, as well. There was also the possibility that they might not want to listen to what I had to say. Telling them about my past was one thing, telling them what I thought they had to do was quite another. Kylah had playfully mentioned that I should lead their town, but I knew in my heart that even if I wished to have that position, humans would never let a dragon lead them. I wondered then, if they would even listen to me?

Would they even come to hear me speak? Uncertainly twisted in my fully belly knotted itself around my food. All those sausages and slices of ham now sat like cold stones, gradually weighing my stomach down against the scales of my belly. My bowels twisted and ached as if struggling to attain the food they expected to be delivered but unable. The worst of the feelings passed, with a little help from Kylah’s gentle attentions and assurances that not only would her people come, but they’d listen.

Even if we had to make them listen.

In part, that was what I was afraid of. Kylah seemed to think that if I wanted too, I could force them to listen. I supposed that was probably true, I was a dragon after all. But that was exactly the sort of thing I didn’t want too do. So far it seemed I had been winning these people over far faster then I’d ever dreamt possible. Yet I had done so by showing them there was more to me then the powerful beast who had helped them free themselves. If I acted too much like the monster they expected a dragon to be, just to get them to listen, what would stop them from turning on me?

I just had to hope they would actually listen to what I had to say.

The rest of the day seemed to take ages to pass. Around lunchtime Kylah changed my bandages, and beyond that, the hours seemed to pass as slowly as the grinding years I’d spent alone. I found myself both longing for the night to come so I could get this over with, and wishing it would never arrive so I’d not have to face so many humans. Kylah tried to help me prepare myself by taking me to the most crowded areas of town. I talked to men and woman in the market, I watched children play noisy games in the central plaza, I even spoke with a congregation of people working to rebuilt one of the churches damaged by their former occupiers. They made me a little nervous at first, especially when they openly admitted to thinking dragons were evil. Thankfully, they also admitted that they’d had that particular belief shaken by my arrival. Upon questioning, it seemed to be that they know believed God had helped guide me to Kylah, and then to their town to save those in need.

One of the humans even so much as said that dragons might be among those in need, and God was trying to give us a chance to redeem ourselves. While I didn’t think we had anything we needed to be redeemed for, unlike humanity, I was pleasantly surprised by his sentiment. I thought about that idea for the rest of the afternoon. While I still wasn’t sure I believed in any particular entity, or liked the idea that some divine being had simply let my people by wiped out by his own followers, I did find myself enjoying the idea of being lead to Kylah. And more so, I liked the idea that the humans believed it.

Kylah and I ate an early dinner in the market, I was given some especially large fish caught in their nets just that afternoon. The fish were large, with golden scales, and opened them up along their bellies to stuff them with spices and herbs, and then smoked them above a fire pit. The fish tasted heavenly, gently kissed with the aroma and flavor of the wood smoke, along with the flavors of all the mingled spices and herbs. I thanked the fish woman I found myself liking more by the day, and headed to the plaza.

I tried not to get too nervous, I didn’t want to end up retching up the wonderful fish I’d just eaten. Besides, I was a dragon! Even injured, I could tear my way through half this crowd without a problem if things got ugly. Yet, it wasn’t battle I was afraid of. It was simply talking to such a mass of humanity.

I paced around the plaza a little. It had been cleared out, all the stalls and signs and everything had been moved as far back as possible to let people gather. The stone workers I’d seen carving earlier had covered up their statues with drab gray tarps to help prevent damage to the unfinished stone. I saw a few people walking around with polished chain mail draped atop dark blue shirts. I wasn’t sure why they all dressed the same until I realized that they must have been people retaking positions as the town’s guards. Good, good! They were going to need those guards and a lot more.

People began to file into the plaza before the lanterns that ringed it were even light. The sun was sinking, but not yet out of view, and it cast the entire plaza in a strange sort of hazy orange light that made everything glow like polished bronze. I decided I had enough pacing, and settled myself at one end of the plaza to wait for everyone to arrive.

As people filtered in, many of them came to say hello to me, some of them even patting my shoulder or my neck like I was an old friend, or more likely, a prized horse. Though I did not like them thinking of me as some mere beast that protected their city, for the moment I was willing to look past it. I greeted those I was starting to know, and tried to greet those I did not. In truth I was surprised by how many faces I was already coming to recognize, even if I didn’t yet recall the vast assortment of short little human names I’d heard. Honestly how many names could you possibly make from a single syllable or two? Apparently a whole hell of a lot. No wonder humans so often needed to give themselves multiple names, what foolishness. Dragon names were much better, long and elegant and beautiful and unique.

Vraalasothinox. It just rolled right off the tongue, didn’t it? Well, the tongue of a dragon, anyway.

When Ravek arrived, he came over to greet me and check on my wounds. I’d spoken to him a time or two since the battle, and I was starting to like him as well. He peered beneath the largest of my bandages, and like Kylah he seemed very pleased with what he saw. I was a little less pleased then he was when he decided to show a few other curious humans just how my wounds were healing. Just how many humans needed to see that yes, dragons had fragile flesh beneath their scales just as humanity did?

When he was done I had Ravek stand near me, and as other people of importance within the village arrived, I had them stand near me as well. Everyone else could stand or sit wherever they liked, but I wanted to make sure and keep track of those who might be making decisions for the villagers. Kylah, of course, stood at my side, with a hand against my shoulder to steady and comfort me.

Before long, I found myself facing an ocean of humanity. I would be the first to admit, it was an image I usually saw only in my nightmares. At least in the nightmares, they were usually baring weapons and rushing towards me. Here, there was no steel drawn, and the people were merely milling about, speaking softly to each other, occasionally gesturing and pointing at me. Still, seeing so many humans restlessly shifting about just in front of me had my heart pounding so heavily in my chest I could feel my ribs rattling, I was afraid scales were going to start falling from one by one like a shadowy rain clattering to the ground. The rush of blood had my minor heart beating with extra force as well, I wouldn’t have been surprised if my tail began twitching in time with the pulse of my blood.

The hush of so many gathered whispers grew in my mind until it was like the ceaseless rushing hiss of a towering waterfall, or the waves of the ocean pounding against me in cold torrents, tides of ice rushing down my spine one by one. All my neck spines and frills flared out, my crests fanned out, and without realizing it, I had unsheathed all my claws.

“Vraal,” Kylah whispered softly, leaning up to speak into my ear. “It’s alright, Vraal. They’re only here to listen to you.” In full view of everyone, she gently stroked my throat, and while that might have made me seem placid in front of them, I didn’t care. It calmed me, brought me back to reality, and that was all that really matter. “Whenever you’re ready Vraal, go ahead and speak. I’m right here with you.”

My ear twitched as her breath teased it, and her voice soothed me just a little. My heart still rattled my ribs and I was still breathing much harder then usual, but her touch and her words helped to begin untangling the knot woven into my bowels. I worked my claws against the wide gray flagstone, first tapping them then dragging them against the stone surface. I scratched miniature valleys through the layers of dirt, and beneath the grit, the stone looked white. It might have once been beautiful marble, but generations of daily travel had long since cloaked it’s colors in grime.

Kylah kept stroking my throat, and I peered out across the assembled crowd. So many humans, all gathered in front of an old dragon. In the glow of all the lamps and lanterns now lit around the plaza, the increasingly restless crowd looked like a bobbing sea of flickering orange specters. I supposed it could have been worse. At least they weren’t hoisting pitchforks and torches.

Deciding I had to say something, I licked my muzzle once, then forced myself to find my voice. “Hello…”

Good job, Vraal.

A few of them returned the greeting, and for the most part the rest went silent. Now all their eyes were on me, boring a thousand tiny holes through my scales and into my heart. Into my soul, if a dragon had a soul. What did they think of me? Was I a monster? Was I dark, and twisted? Or was I a good person inside? I shook my head, and snapped my jaws in frustration with myself.

“Vraalasothinox,” I muttered to myself. “You cowardly old lizard. Get over this nonsense!”

“Tell them you’re scared,” Kylah whispered into my ear.

I twisted my triangular head around to glare down at her. Why on earth would I tell them something like that? She just smiled and rubbed the soft spot around my nostrils, then waved her hand at the crowd as if silently telling me to get on with it already. I huffed a sigh that fluttered her dark brown hair around her face, and turned my attention back to the crowd.

“I’m scared,” I announced, as if that should explain exactly why I’d called them here and why I was making such a fool of myself now. A wave of laughter rippled through the crowd, starting just in front of me and slowly washing it’s way all the way to the back of the plaza. I wasn’t sure if they were laughing at me or if they simply thought I was making some sort of joke.

Either way, it helped me strengthen my voice. “I mean it! I’m terrified right now, to be standing in front of all of you.” I lifted a paw to my chest, I could feel my heart pounding steadily. “My heart is like a hammer, and my sternum is the anvil! If it pounds any harder I’m afraid it’s going to bash itself to pieces, and I’ll drop dead right here in front of you!”

“Don’t be afraid, Vraal!” Someone in the crowd called out.

I smiled a little, my fangs glinting in the lamp light. “I wish it where that easy! I know you are becoming my friends, now, but natural instinct does not die easily! Rather like an injured dragon I suppose, it battles and lingers until the very bitter end. All my life I have feared humanity as the great destroyer of my race, and all my life that is what your people have been to me! Your people think of us as monsters, and we think of you as hate-filled slayers who shoot us from the skies, hang our heads upon your walls, and wear our hides as armor. I can honestly say that even now, there is no creature in all the world I am more afraid of then humans. Especially a very large group of humans.”

I trailed off for a moment, there was a smattering of laughter among the crowd. Some of them thought I was being sarcastic, others were probably feeling a little offended. Oh, how dare this dragon who came and saved our city ever admit he thinks humans are killers! Sure, we owe him out freedom, but that doesn’t mean some monster is allowed to speak his beliefs to us.

“My point is,” I went on, my voice growing stronger, and louder. “That though I fear you, that does not mean you are monsters to me. Much as I would like to think some of you no longer see me as a monster. And more importantly, though I am on the verge of pissing myself in front of the entire town…” I paused there as that had been intended as a joke. Sort of. “I faced my fear, and I came here anyway. Because I know all of you have a fear as well, a fear that you must face down yourselves to keep your town free! We have won the first battle, but there is a war going on whether you will admit it to yourselves or not.”

I was sure most of them knew what I was talking about. I let that settle in, let them murmur about it to each other as I tried to relax. I had broken the ice in a manner of speaking, and my heart was beginning to relent upon my nearly cracked sternum at least a little bit. Which was good, the added pressure of my blood was making all my wounds ache again. Kylah kept her hand upon my neck to keep me steady, and I took a few deep breaths, my black scaled flanks slowly rising and falling along with my recently gray tinged chest.

“How many of you know my name?” I asked the crowd, getting their attention again. I was pleased to see an entire ocean of hands rise into the air, not everyone knew it, but far more then I’d expected. Some of them even called it out. I smiled and nodded, even pointed at one of the nearer humans who had called it. I glanced down at those nearest me, the ones Kylah had directed towards the front, they all seemed to know my name as well. They were not as old as I’d thought. A few had flecks of gray in their hair, and wrinkles ridging the areas around their eyes and mouth, but I’d expected potential leaders to be even older. Though, I supposed the original leaders probably had been older, and had been executed.

“And how many of you know the story of my son, the one I told some of the people the other day?” To my surprise, even more hands lifted into the air. More people seemed to know what had happened to my son then knew my name. Nearly the whole village seemed to know that tale by now, and it had hardly been long since I’d recited it. I shifted my wings against my back, lifting the right one a little to scratch at the side of my neck with a wing tip talon. “Good! Good, I am glad to hear that. I have many other tales I suppose I could tell, if people were interested.”

Several of them called out that they’d love to hear them. One even asked which tale I’d called them here tonight to tell them. That made me laugh a little, I almost wished that was the only reason I was here. I licked the very tip of my snout, and took a deep breath. I held it as long as I could, and let it out in a long sigh, and then slowly shook my broad head as much for myself as for anyone else.

“That is not why I’m here. Tonight I have called you here for something more important then that.” I surveyed the entire crowd, letting my pale blue eyes fall into as many human gazes as possible. “I came here with my friend Kylah as you all know by now, to help save your village.” People began to cheer at that, and I held up my paw, pale gray paw pads facing the crowd. They quieted back down, and I went on. “When I first awoke, after the battle, I promised the crowd there that I would protect this village, and I meant it!” Again they tried to cheer, and I decided just to let them do so. I set my paw back down, and waited till I could go on. “I do not lie when I say I am your friend. Despite the fact I still find myself instinctively afraid of you, I would rather have you as my friends, then my enemies. After Kylah, you are all the only humans I have even come close to trusting, and certainly the only ones who have ever taken me in, and invited me to stay in their home.”

I looked down at Kylah a moment, and she rubbed my nose again, though she held her tongue. She knew there was actually one other time I’d trusted humans, though I’d not actually told her the whole story about the scar across my chest, near my heart. About the first time I’d nearly died, the other time I’d been so covered in blood. I didn’t want to tell her about it right now, and I didn’t want to blabber it all out to these strangers, either. But I would tell them about as much as I’d told her. They should know, it would help them to understand my fear.

“Before I go on, I should tell you a little about this.” I lifted my paw, and traced a single finger against the old gray scar marking the black scales of my chest. “Long before I met Kylah, there was one other time I had trusted humans. I still don’t know why I did back then, perhaps I was just young and foolish and hoping the world was not as bleak as I thought it was, nor humanity as cruel and cold. I know now that is not the case for all of you, but things seemed so different then, when I was watching my people fade from existence.

“Foolishly, I trusted humans, not knowing they were merely using me, not knowing they thought of me as some monster not deserving of his life. They convinced me to trust them, and when they were done with me…they plunged a blade into my chest, and left me to die, writhing in pain, terrified by the river of my own blood, and begging them to help me. It was a shameful moment for me, they had just betrayed me, tried to kill me, and still I found myself begging for their mercy, their help. They scorned me, called me monster, and they left me to die. By some stroke of miraculous luck, they had missed my heart. Though, that tale and that of my survival is not one I wish to share, right now.” I rubbed at that scar thoughtfully, my mind drifting back to that terrible day. I whimpered a little, and closed my eyes, pinned my ears back. I could still feel the pain of that knife, and the deeper, longer lasting agony of betrayal. I had only come to trust humans, and then they had shown me the folly there. My voice was a little softer when I went on. “So you will please forgive me if I am slower to trust you then you seem to feel I should be. If it takes me longer to get over my fear of humans then it ought to, it is because of what they’ve done to me in the past. I do not think any of you have any such intentions, but, the fear is still there.”

Kylah leaned to whisper into my ear, tell me it was alright. Her own voice sounded a little hoarse, even as the brush of her lips against my ear frill was like soothing nectar. I knew she had come to deeply regret lying to me at first, especially as she’d come to know how I’d been betrayed in the past. As she’d learned why I was first so torn by what had seemed like her own betrayal when she’d first admitted how she’d asked me to take her home just so she could talk me into helping her village. That was behind us now though, and I didn’t want her to feel any guilt. I turned my head, and in front of everyone, I gave her a big, sloppy lick across her cheek and face.

“Ew, Vraal!” Kylah made a face and pushed my muzzle away, and much of the crowd burst out laughing. Sure, it was the same sort of laughter I would have heard if it had been any other big beast licking her face, but I appreciated it just the same.

“But as you can see, I have come to trust Kylah with my life. In time, I hope to be able to trust the rest of you the same way, as any friends trust each other.” I coiled my tail, then uncoiled it and flicked it’s tip against the gray stone I sat upon. Then I coiled it once more, and finally wrapped it all the way around my haunches and hind paws. “But I have not called you all here to talk about my past or who I trust or what I hope. I have called you here to talk about what we must do.”

I waited for a few moments, expecting someone to ask what it was we must do. Wasn’t that the way this all worked in the tales we were told as children, when heroes rallied their people for the great battle? No? Perhaps that was just me, then. No one asked what we should do, they simply sat there waiting and in some cases murmuring to each other. Probably wondering what the crazy old dragon was babbling on about now.

“We must fight!” I called out, waving my paw in a grand sweeping gesture through the air. Instead of cheers, I got plenty of confused looks, several people scratching their head, and in one case, someone even called out that they “didn’t want to fight me.” Which was smart on their part, because I’d have flattened them. Literally. But that was beside the point.

“Perhaps I have jumped to the end and skipped over the middle.”

“And the beginning,” Kylah added playfully.

“Hush, Kylah,” I muttered, flicking one of my wings against her. “Would you rather do this?”

“You called them here,” she said, grasping that same wing and yanking on it.

“Ow!” I quickly pulled my wing back against my body. “Don’t do that.”

“Keep it to yourself then, Lizard.”

I hoped that our interactions were winning over the crowd, or at least amusingly endearing. If I came across as giggly hatchling with his mind on play, or a grumpy, befuddled old elder they might not ever listen to me. And then they might find their village so deeply buried beneath their enemies boots that they’d never crawl out of the muck again.

Once more, I addressed the village. “You’ll forgive me if I hardly seem an apt leader, or a great speaker. Until yesterday, the only tales I’d ever spun had been for my children. The only battles I’d ever fought had been for my family, and for myself, save for the one I fought to save Kylah. And until I met her, the only creatures I’d ever cared about in all the world were dragons.” I curled my paw into a fist, and pressed it against the ground, growling a little, frustrated with my own inability to say exactly what I felt I should. “That has all changed! You see, I met her, and…” Damn it, they already knew this part. I just needed to tell them that…well, they had to stop bickering, and start leading. They had to understand they were not safe. Why not just tell them that, then? “You’re not safe!”

That got their attention alright! Probably because they thought I meant they weren’t safe from me! That I’d decided I didn’t like them after all and any moment I was going to go on a rampage and kill as many of them as I could before I took to the skies, laughing about the chaos and death I’d just brought to the puny mortals.

And that was another thing! Since when did dragons become immortal? I’d heard that humans thought we were considered them “mere mortals”. What a foolish sentiment. Every dragon who lived knew we were just as mortal as they were. Sure, we lived longer if we were lucky enough to avoid being murdered in our sleep or shot from the sky, but sooner or later we died just like they were. Immortal my scaly ass.

God, did I babble sometimes.

Forcing myself to focus, I growled just loudly enough for the sound to float across the crowd like ominous thunder rumbling across the plains ahead of the coming storm. Just as intended, the growl silenced them and put just enough trepidation into their human hearts to get them to focus completely on me and what I had to say.

“We fought hard to protect this village! I nearly lost my life for it, and I know many of you lost friends and loved ones. I know well enough some of you have been in morning. Kylah took me to the graves of those you’d lost so that I might pay my respects. And I know how much you all must want to move on from this entire years long ordeal. But there is something you need to understand. Your village is not safe.”

Murmurs of worry and disapproval began to snake through the crowd, some of them coming from the men closest to me. As I had suspected, some of them wished to bury their heads in the ground and bicker about taking control rather then preparing their town for retaliation. I did not let the murmurs continue for long.

“We have fought and won an important battle, and for now, your village is free!” I called out, making sure to raise my voice loudly enough so that everyone would hear me whether they liked it or not. “But it is only a temporary freedom! I have been informed that some of you are trying to become the new leaders of this town. Bickering about who should be mayor, who should be minister of trade and head of the militia and some such nonsense.” I waved my paw as if to wave off the entire notion like some bad odor. “Your petty squabbling is squandering this town’s freedom! You have no time for such typical human politics. You have…”

“Now you see here, Dragon!” One of the men nearest me, who Kylah had earlier whispered was seeking to become mayor, strode towards me, waving his fist. “You have no right to come here and deny ministry officials our right to take control and lead our town properly again! You have no right to…”

And that was when I shut him up. I didn’t hurt him, but I made sure to make my point. I had called these people here to listen, not to talk, though I let him babble just long enough so the rest of the town would see the sort of nonsense I’d come here to stamp out. As soon as he neared me, I grabbed him by his shoulder with one paw, and slipped my tail around behind him. I flicked it sharply against the back of his knees, and pushed down with my paw, and he crumpled down to his rump as simply as though I was folding up a child’s toy. He coughed as he hit the ground, and looked up at me in shock. Anger flared in his eyes, but as I pulled my paw away from his shoulder and settled back onto my haunches, I made sure to unsheathe my claws right in front of his face. Just so he’d know I could have used them if I wanted too.

“It is you who have no right, Human!” I growled at him, and made sure every last person in the crowd could hear what I was about to say. “I came here and risked my own life to save your town, after all, I think I have a right to say what I will! You, however, have no right to squander your entire town’s newfound freedom because you’re too busy trying to climb another rung on your precious social ladder.”

I lifted my head to gaze out across the crowd, feeling the blood pulse harder through my body again. I flared out my wings as if showing them off to everyone. “Make no mistake! Whether you all know it or not, these would-be leaders gathered here have been spending the last few days doing little more then bickering about who gets to be in charge, who gets to live in the largest house still standing and who gets to eat the tastiest meal! While the rest of you are doing things like crafting armor and weapons, working to clear out streets and buildings damaged in our battle, these other men here are trying to find out who’s got the biggest mating tackle!”

That made Kylah burst out laughing. That probably wasn’t exactly the way she would have put it, but it was close enough. And quite a few of the other people started to laugh as well, and soon nearly the whole crowd was roaring with laughter. The man I’d pushed down struggled to his feet, his face as red as a beet beneath his gray flecked black hair. It was only a slightly darker shade of red then the faces of his associates, who I turned my attention too next.

“Do not feel too insulted. You’re probably just doing what you think is right without realizing how wrong it really is. I am sure you would all make excellent leaders and in time I promise you you’ll get a chance to do just that. But now is NOT the time.”

I raised my voice again to speak to the entire crowd. “Once again, you all need to realize your village is not safe. The soldiers that we killed together, the soldiers who you have in jail or who fled from here were but a small portion of a great bandit army. Surely, in the back of your heads, all of you know this. This same army has taken your sister town, far in the west. And this same army has soldiers in the other three towns, as well. More importantly, they have a fortress where they keep most of their men.

“Surely you all know what they are trying to do! There is a very lazy king who could not be bothered to send his own army here to help you when your enemies first arrived. Why? From what I hear he’s got his hands full with his own enemies, and was unwilling to commit more forces to fight an enemy who hadn’t even bothered him yet. Have you not yet realized he’s just waiting to see who wins? All these bandits have to do is take over this entire area, and declare themselves a country, an ally of this king. Which he will happily accept! He will recognize their rule over you as legitimate, simply because he will need a new ally for his own battles, and to defend his own country. And the moment that king recognizes these bandits as a legitimate country, you will never be free again.”

“We cast them off before, we’ll cast them off again,” some one called out.

“Will you?” I asked, turning my head in the direction of the voice and swiveling my ears. “Will you also cast off the legion of fully trailed and heavily armored soldiers that the king sends to defend his new ally? Make no mistake, the moment that king recognizes the bandits claim to this land as a legitimate country, that’s the moment he will see any attempt to overthrow their rule as a rebellion against his allies, and a threat to his own kingdom. A threat he will put down with overwhelming force just to make sure his enemies know he’s capable of it.”

“You don’t know that will happen,” the same red faced man in front of me declared, though this time he didn’t get to close. “As soon as we’ve chosen leaders, we will send an emissary to this king. We will get him to see our plight, negotiate with him, and…”

“You actually think your emissary will get there, without being intercepted and murdered by these bandits? Assuming they don’t leave his head on your doorstep a few days later, let’s think about what will happen. He will ask the king for help in routing the same bandits he’s already refused to help route. Why did he refuse? Likely because he didn’t want to lose any of his soldiers. Right now, the bandits have superior numbers, and superior positions. The king would have to fight his way through them just to get to you. And even if he did come to help you? What would that get him? Thinned ranks among his own forces in return for one little village. Small consolation when his own enemies are ramming down his door while he’s got half his army protecting farmers! Or, he could let them conquer you, and have himself a powerful ally, increasing his own armies ranks instead of thinning it. He’d still have access to everything he might want from your lands, plus he’d have a new country on his side when he needs it most. Which would you choose, my little politician? A strong new ally and natural resources, or thinned ranks and a cut throat?”

That certainly shut him up. I knew what he’d choose, because it was the smart thing to do. The king may well have been a very kind person, he might very well have wished to come and help this village, but he had his own people to look out for. He had to choose the option that would best protect his own kingdom, and his own people, even if that meant letting a smaller group of people suffer.

“Then what are we going to do?” Some called out. Before I could answer him, another voice added to his question. A voice that sounded suspiciously like Ravek, who I imagined was prodding me towards the plan he must have assumed I had. “It sounds like you think we have no way out! What, are you just here to tell us to enjoy our freedom while it lasts cause we’ll all be dead or enslaved soon?”

“Not at all!” I snarled. “That is exactly the opposite of what I’m here to tell you! I called you all here because I found out your town was doing little to prepare yourself for the coming battles. I called you here to tell you how hard you were going to have to fight, but also to tell you this will be a battle you can win.”

“How? How can we win if this damn king is just going to side with the bandits anyway?”

Ah. That was exactly the sort of question I’d been waiting on. “That is easy. The reason he may side with the bandits is because he fears them, fears making them an enemy. So instead, you must make him fear you. You show him that you are the ally he needs to help hold off an attack, that you are the ones his own enemies will fear angering. You crush the bandits so badly that no one ever dares risk your wrath again. You do what my kind should have done. Had we forced you humans to truly fear us, to really fear our wrath, you might well have left us be.”

“Or they might turn on us because of fear, like humans turned on you!”

“There’s a difference.” I scrunched up my muzzle. Ironic, I suppose, to be telling these men and woman to do exactly the same thing that might have lead to our extinction. “We’re not talking about an entire species that can be written off as monsters. Simply one group of humans defending themselves against another. When the other groups of humans, the other countries, see how dangerous you are, they will not want to risk battle with you. This king seems desperate for an ally, you must make him fear you so much that he will do anything to gain your alliance, and not your anger.”

“How the hell are we gonna do that?” Someone near me called out, anger tinting their voice. There were a few more calls backing him up. “We’re just one little village! We couldn’t even fend off their attack the first time! If they bring an army, we’re through!”

“They conquered your village before because you let them!” I hissed, my own voice heating just a little, tail twisting behind me like an injured snake. “You let fear take over, and you let fear guide you into acquiescence. Which in a way is exactly my point. Now, you must make them fear you! You have already proven that you are capable of defeating them. Kylah and I got the battle started, but it was your blood, your sweat and your strength that finished it! All you needed was a spark to ignite your fire, and wind to fan your flames! I am that spark, I am that wind! I will churn you into a wildfire and you will sweep across the plains, and you will burn all who seek to quell you!

“But you must let me guide you, you must listen to me, and you must believe me! I told you that despite my fear, I have to try and learn to trust you. The same goes for you! Despite your fear of me, despite your fear of your enemies, you must try and trust me. I swear to you, that if you do nothing, or if you hesitate too long, your enemies will strike you down once and for all. But if you do as I believe you must, if you let me fan your flames again, it will be those very enemies who run fleeing in terror. They ran before you here, they will run before you anywhere you show them your true strength.

“They have a small army, true. But soon, so will you. Right now your village lays trapped between the two lairs of this oppressive monster. They will not strike back immediately, and if few men escaped here alive, they might not even know they have been routed here yet. But they will find out soon, and they will draw up plans to retake this village. They may even draw up plans to raze it to the ground to make sure the other four villages never dare trouble them. I keep bringing up fear, because fear is perhaps the most powerful motivator of all.”

I paused to let everything sink in. There were a few soft murmurs, but for the most part the people seemed to be waiting to hear what else I had to say. Good, as long as they were listening things were going well. I’d finally gotten into what I had originally intended to say, more or less, and they seemed to be taking it well enough. I turned towards Kylah to see what she thought, and she offered me a bowl with water. She was one step ahead of me, because that was going to be my next request. And the smile on her face told her she agreed with everything I’d said so far. I lapped up the water, and turned my face back towards the crowd.

“That is why you must make them fear you. And that is why you need to start to prepare immediately, so that we can strike as soon as possible. The more time they have to plan for their own retaliation, the worse it will be. We must stay one step ahead of them at all times!”

Another voice called out, and this time I knew it was Ravek. He was standing a little ways back in the crowd, his bald head shining just slightly orange in the lamplight. He had his arms folded across his dark green tunic, and I could just make out a bit of a smirk on his lips. “You keep talking about this as though we have enough people to actually fend off a real assault. They have a pretty big force holed up in some old fortress, you know. Just because some of our people are too busy arguing about who should gain the most from our misfortune doesn’t mean we’re all a bunch of blithely ignorant idiots.”

I chuckled a little, glad to see his spirit was intact. No wonder he’d been among the first to join our rebellion. I waved to him with a paw, beckoning him forward. He made his way through the crowd, which I imagined he’d gone into to judge their reactions since he’d started out standing nearer to us. “I’m well aware of that, Ravek. This fortress you mentioned is on one side of your village, your captured sister village on the other, with the remaining villages in between. Correct?”

Though I spoke to Ravek, I made sure to speak loudly enough for everyone to hear. They had to know I had a plan, of sorts. They had to have faith in me even as they had to have faith and confidence in themselves. “That’s right.”

“Which means they have your village by the balls.” There were a few laughs among the crowd, and I made a point to glance down at myself as I sat on my haunches. “Yes, even dragons are familiar with that expression, and that particular sort of helplessness. They can send troops marching straight from their fortress here, and they can send troops from your city as well, spread them out and hit your village from all sides. Cut off supplies, escape, reinforcements, everything.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?” Ravek stood up a little straighter, glanced at Kylah, and I wondered just how much of this the two of them had planned out, to try and help me get my message across.

“I suggest we break their fingers so badly they can never grab anyone by anything again.”

“It sounds like you have a plan to do that, then.”

“I certainly do, Ravek.” It wasn’t much of a plan at first, just a general idea. But it had been becoming clearer and clearer to me as time had gone on, and even while I’d been speaking, it had been solidifying in my mind. I wasn’t completely sure it would work, and it wasn’t a particularly complex plan, but it was the best one I had. “I certainly do.”

Chapter Twenty Two

For the rest of the evening, I laid out my plans. I did not explain them in the greatest of detail, my goals were simply to prove the town needed to take immediate action, and to show tell them how I thought they should do so. My plan was of course, adapted from Kylah’s plan. We would spread like a disease deadly only to our enemies, from town to town. First into the nearest of the smaller three towns where we would root out and capture all the enemy forces. From the sounds of things, they had not yet taken control of those towns the way they had Kylah’s village. Nor would they get that chance. Those three smaller towns would be rid of their enemies in quick succession, and from there we would launch a nighttime assault on the other town they still held control of. Without any luck, attacking in the middle of the night would allow us to capture most of our enemies alive. Kylah informed me that town had only two main gates. I would attack one just as I’d attacked a gate here, drawing some of the nighttime patrols, and then the half militia forces would attack the other gate, and pour inside. Once that happened, the other half of the milita forces would swarm in through the same gate I’d broken down, and from there, it was just a matter of taking back the town.

Which would no doubt be much more difficult then it sounded, but at least the general consensus seemed to be that it was a good plan. We would proceed with enough forces to ensure victory, and leave just enough at home to defend the town in case a counterattack came sooner then expected. Some of those in the crowd informed me that the smaller towns didn’t like our enemies any more then we did. After all, they all knew what had happened in Kylah’s town, and they knew it was only a matter of time until it happened to them, too.

That was exactly what I was counting on. All five villages had to be unified. As we moved from town to town, we would call upon their own former militias to join up with us. With any luck, we could leave Kylah’s town with half the forces we would eventually utilize to attack the other town. Surely among three villages we could find enough recruits to help free themselves and their neighbors?

At least I certainly hoped we could. The rest of my plan depended on it. That was where my plan differed and grew from Kylah’s. No one knew exactly how many soldiers this bandit army actually had. I was sure that they had at least enough to completely overrun our town if they wished it.

Oh, Dear God…I’ d just thought of Kylah’s village as “our” town. Ugh.

I explained the last part of my plan to the crowd as well. Everyone had to know what was at stake. Though, I did not explain it in full. Perhaps it was just paranoia but I was worried there may yet be spies among us. If there was one thing bandits were good at it, it was hiding in plain sight. On my flyover, I’d seen several men without the bandit’s uniform standing around in alleyways, watching passersby. I could not help but wonder if there were still people working for the bandits in town, waiting to slip away and report on our plans. In a smaller town like this, I imagined everyone would know one another. But who could say there were not a few men willing to take a purse of coins in exchange for loyalty to their own enemies?

I gave only general details of my plans just in case. Later I could discuss them in full with Kylah, the only human I trusted completely, and Ravek, the next best thing. Save for perhaps that fish wife, and the old lady running the lovely tavern, though I rather doubted either of them would have as much strategic value as they had sentimental value.

Though  I had no way of knowing just how many enemies there were, based on the size of Kylah’s town, the size of the other town to be freed and the three villages between them, I was sure we would have more then enough men to overthrow this bandit army once and for all. That was, assuming the other towns would join us. I saw no reason for them to refuse but one never knew with humans. I supposed if a grumpy old dragon could convince one town to take up arms, he could convince a few more. If worst came to worst I could always just threaten to burn down their village if they didn’t agree to help us.

If all went as I hoped it would or at least stayed relatively near to my plan, we would have our own army to match that of the bandits. And hopefully enough even to outnumber them. I suspected the reason they had been taking the towns one at a time was because they feared retaliation from all of them at once. They had the numbers to overrun one town at a time and pacify it completely, but then they had to shift many of their forces away in order to do the same to the next town. They had attacked Kylah’s town first, and once the rebellions here were quelled, they’d withdrawn many of their men, and moved to the next biggest village. That told me they only had enough forces to resist rebellion in one village at a time, and were likely counting on conscripting locals into their army by force later on.

That strategy was about to bite them on the ass so hard everything they ate was just going to fall right back out of them.

When this was done, there would be no more bandit army, and the neighboring king would have no choice but to accept Kylah’s people as allies. There would also be no more independent villages operating on their own. Much as each of these towns seemed to value their complete independence, it seemed to have failed them. They had to unify to create a single army capable of protecting their people, and in order to make sure they were able to craft an alliance with this king for their mutual protection, they would probably have to create a country. Then they would have official claim to all the lands surrounding their five villages, and an army composed of former militia members from all five villages as well.

That of course meant they would have to create themselves a new government structure, and I had some ideas about that as well. Not that anyone would care what a dragon thought of governments, I’m sure they’d just squabble and bicker about who should have the most power, and probably end up at war with each other over the subject. Hopefully by then I’d already be gone from here. Then again, if I really wished to end up with a place where dragons were welcome among men, I would probably have to help guide them in that effort, too, to ensure the place remained peaceful. Being welcome would do us little good if we had to take sides among humans, and ended up enemies of half the place anyway.

My idea was simply that they should take somewhere between one and three members from each town to form a sort of council governing the entire country. They could debate and vote on the issues, with the majority vote winning and the rest pledging their towns support to the resolution anyway. Perhaps they could take the towns mayor and head of militia from each town to form the government of their country. I thought if each town had an equal say, that would prevent them from feeling like any one town or one person had too much power. It seemed like a simple, effective solution, at least to a dragon with no experience in politics one way or the other. I’m sure humanity would find a way to mess it up.

Of course, that was all a long ways off. First thing was first, we had to free the other towns, and build ourselves an army. I talked with the people of the town well into the night on just that subject. I pledged my support to them, and promised to fight alongside them every step on the way until they were completely free, until their enemies were buried beneath their feet, and their stronghold burned to the ground. Or at least, in the village’s control. It might do their new army good to have it’s own fortress after all.

As I talked with them, I was glad to see a good majority came to agree with me. As before, the longer I spoke the better I seemed to get at it, and the more the people seemed to listen to me. Even those power-squabblers up front eventually seemed to realize I was right. They’d have plenty of time to argue about who got to control the village’s positions in the future governing council later, though I didn’t yet tell them all about my plan for them to become a country. For now, I simply made it clear that they had to gain the support of all the other towns in order to have enough men to destroy the bandit’s army.

As I’d said before, the bandits had won because the peopled feared them. It was time to make the bandits fear the people. Once they had an army, they would have enough men to do just that. And then they had to crush the bandits so badly that the little king next door would rush to offer an alliance with The Five Villages before his own enemies had a chance to do so. And then, I hoped, they’d be safe.

But first they had to make this king fear them. And before that, it was one village at a time. They told me that while they didn’t know for sure, they did not think anyone had escaped. All of their enemies in town had either been killed, or had surrendered and were now in jail. That was good if it was true, if our enemies did not yet know their forces had been routed then they were not yet drawing up plans to retake the town. It gave us a little extra time, and every extra moment we had would help.

I asked who was in charge of the prisoners, and much to my consternation, no one seemed to know. Apparently someone different had been checking up on them and bringing them bread and water every day, and the guards had been swapping in and out. I asked for a group of a dozen militia men to come forward, and when they did, I nominated them jail keepers. I instructed them to form a schedule for themselves to ensure there were always enough guards on duty, and to make sure the men always had adequate food and water. They were too pick out more guards to assist them, and then they were to interrogate the prisoners and learn everything they possible could about our enemies. The size of their army, their leaders, their long term goals, their strategies and training, everything and anything that might give us an advantage over them.

Next, I had the best remaining fighters come forward. I first had those who thought of themselves as the best warriors to come forward, and then I had the remaining people point out and push forward those whom they thought were the best. I nominated them to begin re-training the new militia right away. Kylah had said her people were mostly trained as warriors for their own protection, and they had done well in retaking their town. But I wanted them in top form for our upcoming battles.

Strangely, I hadn’t yet realized what was occurring here. I was calling out for people, putting them in positions, giving them orders, and they were taking those orders without complaint. A dragon was ordering around humans, and they were happily accepting my orders! I suppose saving someone’s freedom goes a long way towards gaining his compliance. But compliance was not what I wanted. I wanted these people to fight for their own freedom, and that of their neighbors, and I wanted them to do so of their own free will. I was only now giving them orders because no one else had stepped up to do so! The others were too busy bickering to get any real order organized.

I asked for everyone who had once been in the militia to step forward, and then I asked for everyone else old enough to fight who now wished to help secure their freedom to come forward as well. To my pleasant surprise there were very few souls who did not wish to immediately join up. Those that did not were in some cases too old, too young, too sick, too injured, or perhaps too afraid. A few others had very young children to care for with no mate to help. I made certainly that any of those who declined would not be chastised for it, and that they would help in other ways. Among those who volunteered were men who looked too old to properly wield a weapon and children who looked too young to be forced to do so. I scratched around the base of my horns a moment, and decided to let them remain if they wished. I would leave it to the trainers to determine who should not be allowed to join.

And too those trainers, the best warriors of the village, I tasked them with ensuring everyone was prepared as quickly as possible. I was taking into account the fact that most of the men and woman who had stepped forward had previously been taught to fight with sword or ax, or to wield a bow. Even those who had only learned to hunt in the wilds would be useful as archers, as scouts and snipers. I wanted to be ready to move into the first town within a week at best, and we would simply hope and pray our enemies did not get wind before that. A week should give us enough time to prepare, I thought, and for the warriors to get their edge back, and the newer recruits time to at least learn a few skills and hopefully not get themselves killed immediately.

I called Ravek forward, and put him in charge of supplies for the warriors. Essentially, I was putting him in charge of our little army without telling him so. I told him to gather every blacksmith, leather worker, craftsman and everyone else in the village who could make anything useful. To gather all their supplies, all their iron and steel and leather and to forge as many weapons and armor as possible in the shortest time possible. First they should gather up all the weapons and armor confiscated from dead and captured soldiers, and taken from their positions and their barracks, as well as all the weapons the town had once owned that were confiscated, and distribute them among the new army. From there they’d know how much more they needed to make.

To placate them, I put the three biggest bickering politicians in charge of the day to day operations of the village. Getting things cleaned up, collecting taxes, issuing pay and permits, and all the usual sort of thing that wasn’t really going to matter much for the next few weeks, but would make them feel important and keep them off my back. The man who was trying to become the head of the militia before I’d called the meeting, I put in charge of organizing the local guards into an effective police force. I also put him in charge of preparing the town’s defenses should we be attacked, and told him he may as well expect an attack any moment. He was to take a portion of the new army and prepare them for defensive duty.

Much to her consternation, I even put Kylah in charge of overseeing the army’s preparations. After all she was the one who’d come up with our plan in the first place. I wanted to make her the head of the army, but she had no interest in being a general and did not seem to think she was much of a battle planner. I disagreed, but I’d only seen her in a single battle. Yet, she was even more of a local hero then I was. While I was the strange dragon who’d turned his tail on the evil ways of our kind and saved their village, she was the one who’d brought me here in the first place. The people wanted to see her in a prominent role, and they cheered when I nominated her as head of their new army. But she did not wish the position, and so I had her choose an appropriate tactical leader, she would knew who to pick. And I let him choose his own captains, and told him to work with the head of the guards, and the militia trainer to start forming units. Kylah, though, would not get off the hook that easily. I made sure the entire town heard me proclaim her to be the Military Overseer, that plans should be run by her first, and that she would be overseeing all preparations for the coming battles.

In truth, there smaller portions of my plan I wanted to discuss only with her, and possibly Ravek until I was sure I could trust others. To do so, I wanted the town to see her in a position of power so that they did not think I was simply slinking off somewhere to discuss secrets with a friend. I wanted them to see I was considering the peoples positions when I discussed plans with them, not just my own affections.

At some point while organizing all the people, I realized I’d gone a lot further and done a lot more then I’d ever intended. Kylah had jokingly told me I should be mayor of her town and I assured her I wanted no such position. And yet, here I was acting like exactly that. Already the people seemed to be looking up to me for answers as though I was some sort of long lasting authority figure around here. Still, I did what I could to make sure every aspect of the town’s functions in the next few weeks were covered by someone else, by one of them. Though in the back of my mind, I felt truly honored that they would actually listen to me and do as I said, this was there town to protect. Their town to run. A human town, not a dragon’s village. I was simply helping them do what I could to take it back.

The meeting I’d called simply to quell their squabbles and set them on the path to protecting their freedom went far beyond that. I ended up re-organizing their entire town, and getting them to commit themselves to what may end up being a long and bloody battle. Yet as a whole they did not seem upset by that, they did not seem to regret it, and very few of them seemed angered by my sudden step towards authority. There were the dissenters, of course, but there always would be. Several times people simply walked away from the crowd, muttering to themselves. One group left together, someone shouting they wouldn’t take orders from some monster. Before that particular barb could dig too deeply beneath my scales, it was gently eased back out when several in the crowd booed those people, calling out that “Vraal was less a monster then they were!”

By the time I had gotten to every point I’d wanted to make and many more, the fat mercury moon was well up into the night sky. I looked up at it for a few long moments, there was a thin halo of blue-white light flickering just around it. Winter was coming to Kylah’s village. It might not be snow just yet, but I doubted it was far off. That beautiful glowing halo around the moon always seemed to signal colder air was coming. It would probably be dumping another few feet of snow upon my valley soon, but down here, they might only see cold rain. For now, though, it was a beautiful, cool but not cold night, with the blanket of stars spread far above us.

I pointed out to the people remaining an old dragon constellation. It looked like two young dragons in an unending circle, chasing each other’s tails. With my claw, a traced the outline of the Playful Hatchlings, unsure if the humans could make it out or not. I told them it was a symbol that always heralded good luck, that it was a good omen for our upcoming battles, and that got a cheer from many of the humans. Of course, that was a complete and total lie I’d just pulled out from under my tail, but as long as it made them feel good, it was worth telling.

In the end, I thanked everyone for coming, and for giving me a chance to talk to them, to tell them what I thought they needed to do. I expected them to just disperse, and while many of them did, many others came up to talk to me. Some of them patted my shoulders and my flanks, another rubbed my neck. Others even wanted to shake my paw! That same silly gesture Kylah had once showed me. They talked with me, thanked me for caring so much about them, thanked me for taking charge and helping them get ready while their own attempted leaders had been too busy with their business to do so. Apparently Kylah wasn’t the only one who’d thought that about them.

Finally, though, the plaza emptied out and they began to leave Kylah and I in peace. Ravek was one of the last to leave, and he made a point to complain about being given way too much work to do, though he laughed a little when he said it, and moonlight glimmering off his bald head made it hard for me to take him seriously anyway. Kylah and I were soon nearly alone, and she threw her arms around my neck, hugging my scaly self against her.

“You’re amazing, Vraal.”

I pressed a paw to her back to return the hug, then pulled away, cocking my head at her, one frilled gray tipped ear twisted to the side of my head. “I am?”

“Yes! I expected you to come here and tell everyone how they’d have to keep fighting, but I never expected you to take charge and whip them all into shape like that. That was incredible. I guess we know who’s the new mayor!”

“Oh, no,” I muttered, lashing my tail. “No way I am gonna…”

Kylah cut me off by grabbing my jaws and closing them, one hand on my chin and the other on my nose. She smiled, and began to scratch along my jaw line in the same spot that always made me melt. I started to purr almost immediately, the rough sound crawling up my throat and dribbling from my nostrils like warm honey. My front legs shook a little, the claws of my right paw unsheathed and rhythmically tapped at the flagstone beneath me. No fair! She wasn’t allowed to win an argument that way!

“I’m going to have to start calling you Mister Vraal. Or perhaps Mayor Vraal?”

I grumbled something completely incoherent from between closed jaws. She started to pull her hands away and I immediately shoved my muzzle right back into them, pressing my jaw firmly against her fingers until she started scratching again. My purr never once stopped bubbling up like a well of audible happiness. Kylah just laughed and scratched harder, now and then running her hand down the soft scales of my throat.

“That’s what I thought, Mayor Vraal! Don’t worry, it’s just until we’ve gotten everything taken care of. Then you can go back to being a grumpy lonely old dragon sleeping all day in your cave.”

She was smiling, mirth glimmering in the moonlight as it danced inside her beautiful green eyes. She was teasing me, but she brought up an interesting point. Would I just go home if everything worked out? That had been my intention earlier, but I wasn’t so sure now. I’d already told her I planned to try and find other dragons, but what if I was unable? Would I go and live out my days alone once more? Or would I come back here, and spend them…spend them with Kylah?

I finally pulled my head back from her, and pushed myself up to all fours. I yawned, the world swallowed in temporary darkness as I squeezed my eyes shut, and curled my pointed pink tongue inside my muzzle. Fatigue was settling over me like a warm, heavy blanket now. I’d stayed out talking to humans far longer then I ever intended. It was definitely time for me to sleep.

“Sleepy old dragon?” Kylah asked, rubbing my ear.

I purred a little more, and then nodded. “Very sleepy, very old, very dragon.”

Together we walked across the plaza. The cool night air felt good as the breeze blew it across my wings, and caressed my scales. It wasn’t as cold tonight as it had been the night before, though I was still looking forward to curling up among the blankets Kylah had provided me. At the edge of the plaza was neared the tarp covering the stone that the craftsmen had been dutifully carving the last few days. I reached for the edge of the tarp, lifting it to try and peek under, but Kylah slapped my paw away.

“No peeking!”

“Why not?” I said shaking out my paw before setting it back down.

“Because it’s a surprise!”

I cocked my head, and licked the end of my snout, bunching my eye ridges a little. “For who?”

Kylah heaved a sigh as if frustrated by my senility. “For you, you cranky old dragon.”

“Why would it be a surprise for me?”

Kylah started walking forward, grabbing one of my sensitive ears to tug me along and make sure I followed. I yelped a little and twisted my head away from her grasp. She glanced back at me over her shoulder with a demure smirk on her scarlet lips. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you saved their town and you’re a hero now?”

“Hardly a hero, Kylah.”

“Hardly a monster, Vraal.”

That made me smile.

Late as it was when we finally returned to my temporary home, I told Kylah she was welcome to simply sleep there for the night if she wished. As quickly as she was spreading out blankets and pillows for herself near my own sleeping pile, I wondered if she’d already planned to do just that even before I’d invited her. She took off her boots, and stripped down to her underclothes, and though I’d already seen her with less on then that, I found myself watching anyway.

She smirked at me as settled down onto the ground, against the cushions, and the snuggled up under her blankets. “Dirty old dragon. Keep your eyes to yourself.”

“It’s not my fault dragon’s eyes are naturally drawn to pretty things.”

“That’d be very sweet of you if you weren’t staring at me with your little friend peeking out of his hiding place.”

“What?!” Laying on my side, I quickly lifted my hind leg too look down at myself, and saw that my “little friend” was doing no such thing. “Hey!”

Kylah just laughed and laughed, curling up on her side with her elbow against a pillow and her head in her hand. “That was too easy, Vraal. Normally you’d never fall for that one.”

“Guess I’m out of practice since I’ve been here.”

“Mmhmm,” Kylah murmured, shifting to lay her head down on the pillow. “I’ll have to remember and tease you a lot more again.”

“Hmmph!” I snorted at her, and growled, feigning anger. “We’ll see how you like it when it really does come out of it’s hiding place!”

“It already did,” Kylah murmured, rolling over to face away from me. “While you were asleep back in your lair.” She paused just long enough to make me question whether she meant it or not. “It wasn’t near as impressive as I’d thought it would be.”

“HEY!”

This time she laughed even harder. She was right, I really was out of practice! I should have had some cutting retort immediately flying off my tongue, but I simply couldn’t think of one! Finally, I just grumbled to myself and curled up. “You’re mean.”

Kylah just giggled a little bit more at my expense, curling up tighter. “Alright, so it was a little bit impressive.”

“Wait…it really did…?”

“Good night, Grumpy Old Dragon.”

I muttered to myself, acting upset, but in the darkness, I was smiling like a hatchling given his first kiss from a female. Spirits, had I ever missed her at night. If only she’d been born a dragon. Before long, her breathing her eased off into the slow, even rhythm of peaceful slumber, and not long after that so had mine.

I awoke only once all night, and that was to find Kylah sleepily draping a warm blanket across my wings and my back. She mumbled something about me shivering in my sleep, and then she retreated to the warmth of her own blankets, and together, we returned to sleep.