Back When There Were Dragons - Renz In The Woods
30 Days of Fantasy Writing Challenge: Day 6
Gather round, children, said the old man, And I will tell you a tale of dragons! The little ones sat near the fireplace at the old man’s feet.
This is the story of our land from way back in the Age of Dragons. As you know there are no dragons anymore, but it was not always this way. Many, many years ago, before even a time when your great-grandparents were little like you, Mount Thunder, the westernmost peak of the Granite Mountains was an active volcano. As you know the Granite Mountains emerge from a vast range to the east and spear themselves into the heart of our land with Mount Thunder the tip of the sphere. It was the home of the Seven Dragons of the Compass. They lived in a massive cave in the mountain and fed off of the heat and energy of the magma flow…that’s the molten earth bubbling at its core.
Mount Thunder frequently would belch sulfurous smoke from its massive crater and occasional rivulets of lava would trickle down its sides, but there had never been a full blown eruption in recorded history. Legend had it that the dragons had accrued a massive hoard of wealth deep in the mountain at the back of their cave, but the heat and smoke and toxic gas, not to mention the dragons themselves, kept their treasure safe from thieving humans.
Each dragon claimed a territory that stretched away from their volcano home. Zephyrus was the oldest and was the Dragon of the North. Next in line was Duskfire, the Dragon of the South. Aurelian, the Dragon of the West, came next. The remaining four, the younger dragons, Alduin, Bloodfang, Luminara and Zmey were North-East, North-West, South-West and South-East respectively. There was no Dragon of the East for that was nothing but the barren Granite Mountains.
So no matter where one lived in Thornaspen there was a dragon that terrorized your town or village. The various communities formed militias to fight back as best they could, and the older dragons bore scars from battles that came close to defeating them.
The humans had created a weapon that greatly increased their odds. It was an enormous crossbow that could launch a massive iron arrow. At first there were only two of these weapons and the dragons could not be certain which of the bigger towns were prepared to fight back on any given day. They moved the two “Dragon Slayers” frequently. Aurelian nearly lost a wing after attacking Bracken Harbor and was forced to abandon the galleons unloading their rich cargoes and limp fly back to Mount Thunder.
In fact, the humans ability to fight off the dragons was increasing suggesting they had built a couple more of these weapons. The dragons had to plot a new strategy to defeat the humans before they grew too powerful.
They planned a single combined attack whereby each dragon would hit its region at the same time. Those who did not face the dreaded crossbows would seek maximum destruction, the others would try to draw fire and determine which towns were currently protected. Once identified the dragons would regroup and in the second wave begin jointly attacking each of the four protected towns en mass.
There was only one concern. A key channel of lava circulated past the back of their cave. The dragons understood that this channel could not be allowed to cool, that their fire power, their very existence, was tied to the continued flow of the magma. They took turns standing guard and regularly blasting the channel with their fiery breath. Embedded into the back wall was a massive rune stone. The carvings glowed red against a black obsidian base.
As the day of the massive attack drew closer they had to determine which dragon would remain during the first wave to ensure the lava continued to flow. Luminara was the youngest and it fell to him to remain. Duskfire and Aurelian would together also attack the lead towns in the southwestern region. Of course, Luminara was frustrated, but one growl from Zephyrus quieted him down and left him grumbling to himself.
The appointed hour of the appointed day arrived and Luminara watched his six siblings fly off into the morning to put an end to the human uprisings.
Zephyrus headed towards Langerfell on the River of the same name. He circled the town from a height that would be out of range of the massive crossbows. He wanted them to have plenty of time to see him and arm their weapon. He did not target the usual sources of gold and riches, he chose instead the great cathedral and plunged out of the sky igniting the primary bell tower with one massive breath. He scanned the village for indications that they were reaiming the weapon, but he saw nothing so he made a second pass and the roof of the cathedral went up in flames. He chose not to climb to the higher altitude, but rather took a chance and flew low and close igniting whole neighborhoods on the way to the docks where several of the ships were set aflame. Still no iron arrow was launched, so as per the plan, he settled on mass destruction and eventually headed back to Mount Thunder with most of Langerfell burning.
Duskfire swung first to Downers Grove, a larger village in the southwestern region. She too circled to announce her arrival and targeted a group of windmills just outside the town. One of the crossbows was hidden nearby in the cornfields. At the last moment she saw strange movement below and was prepared to zig to the right just as the iron arrow came soaring by and missed her. She took a chance and continued her sharp turn to dive at the hidden weapon before they could reload. One blast of her breath ignited the wooden gun carriage and burned the militiamen to death where they stood, before she headed to her own region of the South.
She was still careful not to assume that one crossbow in Downers Grove meant that Antioch was left unprotected in the South, and, sure enough, the overly anxious militiamen in Antioch shot at her while she was still circling. She noted the location and soared back towards their cave.
Each of the other dragons performed their tasks similarly and as they regrouped they reviewed their primary targets for the second wave. They had destroyed the one crossbow at Downers Grove. The remaining weapons were in Antioch in the South, Rochelle in the northeast, and Dyer in the northwest.
Luminara was ready to join the battle and Zephyrus indicated that Alduin should remain behind, but a fatal misunderstanding would doom the dragons, for Alduin thought Zephyrus was speaking to Zmey, and in the end all seven dragons left the cave. They were flying towards Dyer with Zephyrus leading the way and not one of the rest noticed they were seven instead of six.
The lava began to darken and slow down. The runes were losing their bright red glow. The dragons flew on unaware. As the magma came to a complete stop and began to harden, a loud crack shattered the air as the rune stone broke into pieces and fell to the hardened lava below. It wasn’t long before the smoke stopped billowing from the crater and the volcano shifted towards rapid dormancy, but still the dragons were unaware as the neared Dyer. The crossbow was in the village square.
Bloodfang was given the honor of taking out the weapon with Aurelian as her wingman. The others would feign an attack on the weapon but veer off to other targets at the last moment. As Bloodfang and Aurelian drew in their breaths to engulf the humans, she went to exhale and nothing happened. This startled them both and the humans launched their arrow piercing Aurelian right in his breast. He started to pull away before crumpling and crashing to the ground dead, rolling into the front of the local tavern on the green. Bloodfang soared up and away. The others soon discovered they had no fire power at all and were horrified to feel their life force fading.
One by one they crashed around the town. Zephyrus drowned in Lake Martin. Luminara was hacked to death on the square by the militia. Duskfire broke her neck hitting the ground head first on the edge of town. Alduin was able to maneuver to the ground and was trying to crawl towards the north gate and escape, but by now the villagers saw something miraculous had occurred and a multitude of housewives came after him armed with their carving knives, followed closely by the braver children with sticks. Bloodfang and Zmey met similar fates and in a matter of minutes the Age of Dragons had come to an end.
Throughout the land to varying degrees they felt the ground tremble and those nearer to Mount Thunder heard the roar as the shift in the volcano trigger a massive landslide that buried the cave and the dragons’ treasure deep beneath the rubble.
To this day, children, Mount Thunder sleeps. Occasionally we will feel the ground quake, but you all sleep safely at night without fear because there haven’t been any dragons since. The children clapped and cheered and their parents began to round them up to head home as it was getting late.