Night of Tales
#6 of Dragon Hunter Saga
The people prepared for the night, the women who cooked the evening meal passed around bowls of stew prepared with the dried meats and vegetables; a tad bit of dried cranberry tossed in for extra flavor. Harriet and the young woman whom the Headman's guard were protecting stayed close together while Harriet took care of the twins. Once the evening meal had finished the group arranged themselves to hear my 'story' for the night, the children up in front so they could hear the best. I look over the group of people who rely on me for their safety and ask them. "So any questions about last night before we start tonight's tale?"
One of the former farmers waves a hand in the air and I nod in his direction. "So if we know all you 'Hunters' somehow have names related to King Arthur does that mean by not naming children with similar names we prevent them from becoming like you?" I smile at the man's question as it was a good one all be it not fully informed. "Well, the problem with that idea is the parent(s) with have an uncontrollable urge to name said child accordingly. So even though you shall try your best it will happen, now places like Japan will not necessarily have the same names." The farmer nods his head and there seemed to be no other questions as yet so I return to my tale telling.
April 2029:
Granite shifts uncomfortably in front of me as he made a decision for what he would next say. "Gwen, while I detest the idea of telling you to just kill younglings; there is a reason you should just destroy any Dragon eggs you find in your travels. When we hatch out of the egg we are eating machines, our parents have to use violence to control us when we first hatch. It takes a few years to learn the most basic of control on our more violent natures, then it can take at least fifty to one hundred years to get the finer points. As a human you do not have the life span to raise a Dragon from a hatchling, we do not act like birds do upon hatching."
{"Awww, but I wanted to be a Dragon rider," spoke one of the teenagers who had an uncanny ability to learn anything. I shook my head at them, "the only possible way of doing that would be to have your great great grandmother/father hatch it and their descendants raise it. If they could even control it." The child looked deflated.}
Granite peers into my eyes again, "I mean it Gwen. Don't try it, it is not worth the risk. You do not live long enough, it is one of the reasons we promised to not breed till we were around 500 years of age. A younger Dragon might not be strong enough to control their brood." I nod my head thinking about how it would be helpful to have someone of their species to aid in our protection. Granite continues, "this is why lower ranked females were used to lay large clutches of eggs in war. The female would sneak into enemy territory and spend weeks laying eggs before war would be declared. Knowing exactly how long the eggs need to hatch would be the determining factor in when a new war would start. The scientists who studied 'Dinosaurs'? Those 'egg fields'? Those were sights of long ago battles." Granite looked very saddened and distraught over this, I couldn't blame him as the concept of giving birth to children just to have them slaughtered is disgusting.
Granite shakes his great head as if clearing it. "Alright, something else. The Dragons you call 'Solar Dragons', now I know why you do. However they were not always a blinding white color. Remember the asteroid hit? The fire Dragons were above ground during it thinking they would be just fine, as they consider themselves the most powerful of Dragon kind. When we emerged from the tunnels we had a shocking discovery. The Fire Dragons who tended to the red shades were now a blazing white color except for the youngest. The youngest were the correct color, something the now Solar Dragons considered a birth defect. As the asteroid hit had an explosion equivalent to a nuclear explosion/power it altered them. However it was discovered that while it did change their inherent traits especially dealing with their elements; it wasn't genetic. The young needed equivalent power to be what they were. Now we do not know if them being subject to the explosion or the need to eat what ever was on hand, if you catch my meaning. That made the Solar's insane, and yes they were insane even then. The Matriarch had us find and kill every Solar Dragon we could locate, and gave their younglings to other Dragon families to raise. In the hopes it would help calm them down to something manageable. It didn't really work, as our element types never blend; we inherit the element types of our mother's." He sounded slightly disgusted when he spoke of this which did make me wonder as to why.
Granite continued, "so until we went into an unintentional slumber all fire element Dragons were only fire and not anything more dangerous. However it seems those who do absorb nuclear energy need it to remain animated after the fact. I know the original 'Solar' types spent a lot of time in volcanoes due to feeling sluggish, it is possible that when they become a 'Solar' type they need more infusions of the energy to keep their power levels up."
Granite leveled a hardened gaze at me, "if you ever discover why we fell asleep as we did. Which was just before your 'Enlightenment' Era, please ensure the Matriarch does not find out; especially if humans caused it in any way." He rubs the top of his snout as if thinking about something uncomfortable. "She already is insane, if she found out humans found a way to affect us in such a manner your species would be killed." I nod my head in response, "so your hierarchy is Matriarchal?"
Granite lets out a rumbling noise that makes the hanger shake slightly, Shadow barely budging an inch. "Yes, we do; it was decided so long ago there are no records stating why females rule in our society. However it is generally the most powerful female, to go along with the fact that we are all (the mother's) hatchlings. The Matriarch that is current is the same we had when the asteroid struck, so you can imagine as to why I say she is insane."
I nod my head and am amazed at the thought of how old that Dragon must be, more so the idea of how much she had seen in her lifetime. Granite levered me with another gaze, "now you do understand that not all of your 'myth and legend' are false tales. King Arthur did exist though your history would prefer you did not know this was the truth as it makes the 'modern world' you had seem muted if the concept of magick were real. Merlin was a real man who existed then, he might still exist now for all that I know of the subject." Granite waves a claw in the air, "I know nothing of the lifespan of magick users. However, this may mean other species exist as well. I honestly do not know as if they do exist I am certain they have been much more, er; calm than my kind are."
"Gwenny?" Asked a young girl, "does this mean there are unicorns? Maybe things like elves?" I nod my head to the girl, "it's possible. I have as yet meet any other species, but that does not mean they do not exist. It just means we have yet seen them, however do not expect things to be as any stories you have read. Things like the stories when I was a child of extremely friendly Dragons wasn't correct, however it is possible to become friends with one who values life other than just Dragon kind."
I look along Granite's massive body noting how the Dragon species is built, the old concept of "Western Dragons" were very accurate. Granite was six limb-ed, four legs and two wings; though his wings were rather dull looking Grey color. His real coloring was in his actual body the Grey's and Greens mingling together to look, well like granite. The Solar Dragon's seemed to have nicer looking wings, my best guess would be because Granite was an Earth Dragon his wings were more of an after thought. Just a method of mobility that can be more straight forward that burrowing through the Earth. Which is something they can do as their element is earth based, if they came across underground water they could drown. So the wings were necessary, the Wind Dragons must have had some amazing wings.
"So based on how 'accurate' our knowledge of your kind was what would you expect of the other species we may have?" I asked Granite hoping he might have some insight even though he himself had never met any other species. Granite gave a very human looking shrug, "honestly Gwen I have no idea. I know humans have written extensively on the concept of other intelligent species, coming up with a very broad range of ideas on how they might act look and live. Not everything written about my kind was wrong, the older texts seem more accurate however so use them as a guide; but do not believe everything you see. We for one aren't all evil creatures and we don't all spit fire either. Though to be accurate only Fire Drake's 'spit' fire as their elemental abilities tend to condense their power."
March 2030
I look around at the group in front of me hope and wonder in their eyes, though Jake had a more pensive look. I did notice the one female from earlier was hanging out with him to Harriet's disapproval. That might need watching. "Alright everyone, we know we are leaving tomorrow with anyone locally who wants to come with us. We all need a decent night's sleep before we continue on our journey. I will tell you at some point we will need to find a way to cross the ocean, probably using the land bridge. I hope we can find a solution to the problem that will create before we arrive there. If you do not wish to make that crossing I suggest staying either here or some other place along our trek to this side of the bridge." The mothers then get up and start shooing the children off to their sleeping bags, the people were very happy to have sleeping bags now so the leather and skins we were using as bed rolls could be reused for other things.
Jake walks up to me, "other species? Why didn't you tell me before you told the rest of the people?" I drop my calm look and lever Jake with a very angry glare. "You know my viewpoint on this Jake, having an informed populous is the most important thing. Yes, I had been keeping information from everyone to this point. However we are at a point when this information is very important to everyone. They need to be able to make informed decisions about their future, do you want us to have someone down the line cause us a problem because they didn't agree with how we interpret the facts?" Jake shakes his head rubbing the back of his neck looking very tired, I admit having a thirty year old in charge of a mixed age group of people with their very lives at risk daily is highly stressful. However I was very glad I had him take the lead, he had been doing an excellent job. What the rest of our group doesn't know is that Jake will only be in charge till be establish our future home. Then I had a different type of governmental system planned for us.
Jake turned and went to his sleeping area the female following him, I wave Harriet over when she was done setting up my apprentices for bed. "Harriet who is that young lady?" I ask her pointing at the young woman, Harriet look and responds slightly upset. "That is Calliope, the Headman's daughter; she plans on sneaking away with us in the morning. I am not happy she is getting cozy with your Headman. She is pregnant with Johnny's baby, I hope she'll be a good mother but I think she might be thinking of aspiring to have a wealthy life." I snort in amusement, "then she will be surprised down the line when she finds out that Jake is a figure head and won't be in charge when we reach the location I have planned for." Harriet nods, "oh I knew you were in charge dearie. I figured it was an unspoken fact, just try to go easy on her if you have to discipline her. I'd not want my grandchild hurt."
Harriet went to her sleeping bag and I mentally agreed with the unspoken comment inserted in her last statement. That girl was going to have to learn who was in charge before she tried to do something that could harm others. I hope it won't take long to come to a head, however I also hope it won't cause any major issues. We will see.