storyteller.ahasaetharu.net

previously known as "And so she met the dragon"
By D.M. De Alwis (1996)

And so she met the Dragon.
The portal opened wide
All of us were swept into its golden depths.
There was Dans, Suz, Cain, and I.
We were swept away to a land unknown
Unknown to us and to the land we know
There through the portal we found a land
That teamed with mysteries of dark and light

Surrounded by forrest we looked about
To find that the portal was no longer about.
Instead, the undergrowth of plants and bushes awaited
Their giant siblings, the trees, towered over.
We found ourselves scared and betrayed of our knowledge
For we'd just come through the portal and all was alien.

A camp was soon made of branches and sticks.
To occupy idle hands and keep our minds off fear
My hands would shake for I knew what the others did not for
I have had many a dream of this exact spot.
We were in a land, a land in need of help
And we would soon be found by village-men of nearby
They would tell us a story, a story we may not believe
It would be true to them but not to us;
They'd tell of a beast, a huge horrible beast
That was a dragon. Something unknown to us.

The very next morn, after huddling in the cold
The villagers came; as I have so told
They took us to a village, one I'd never seen
Where there were only wells and wood to supply basic needs.
Here we were fed with food grown from the fields,
And given new clothes that were homespun from wool
We were then told a story, a story we could not believe
There was a beast, a huge horrible beast
That was a dragon
Something unknown to us.
This dragon was fierce, big and strong
It attacked the town, everyday at dawn.
They would run to their shelters way under ground
But the beast would find them.

They feared for their lives in their land of turmoil.
Good hearted people, they told us to take their food and go
To go to where the dragon has never been before.
I was confused and so were my companions.
We asked, "why then, have you stayed here so long?"
They looked at us and stood up with pride
They would not leave their lands behind.
Ever since childhood, they'd toiled with the land
They had not left when the raiders had come, they had fought back.
They had not left when the plague had come.
"What do you mean?, We do not understand.",
We didn't know the politics of this primitive land.

They then told us their story,
One I'll never forget,
Of their brave fore-fathers and the person they met.
Once upon a time, in a far off land
There was a cruel king who used his people and land.
The king was rumoured to be:
a demon worshipper, a bastard, a psychopath.
The poor people were no more than serfs, working the land
They soon became slaves, with no rights and no names

But one stood apart,
One man with a name who came to this land, this devastated land
And saw all the griefs of the people.
He was said to be blessed with power; brave, daring, wise, and strong.
He stood for the just, and for those who were wronged.
He chose to call himself Caru... Caru the Lione.
This man the "Caru" broke the tyrant king's rule.
With the help of the people, he stole into the castle one eve;
And with magic and chaos he destroyed the reign of the tyrant king.

By morning the sun rose and shined in joy
To see the evil king's castle thoroughly destroyed
Although made of stone, blood, and slave's bones;
The castle was levelled and burnt, right to the ground.
Nothing remained of the evil king and his crown.
Caru the Lione then led the people out of their nightmare.

He took them through a portal, at the mid of day
And showed them a new land, a land to call home.
The people thanked him and asked him to stay.
But he sadly shook his head and said "I'll come back someday."
Some people felt he was a God,
Others thought he was a sorcerer
But those who were right, knew he was a man.

A man who had seen their deep plight and fulfilled the demand.
He never yet returned.
But the people rejoiced.
They built knew towns, cities, and countries.
And lived in happiness, until one day...

Another portal opened, and into the land of peace and love
Came evil; to spread and molest.
The king was reborn; more evil than before his empire soon grew, through deceit and bloodshed.
He sent great horrors; that people now dread.
Like the one-eyed cyclops, and the skeleton heads.
And so this danger threatened, threatened the poor town.
The people were direct descendants of those who had flown.
The king had sent the raiders, the plague, and the beast.
All were useless, for the steadfast villagers stayed.
They were not to be ruled; even to this day.

I was greatly saddened, at the injustice the town had received.
They were free in their hearts and their minds.
But this fiend of a king, would crush them in time.
I offered myself; to help them fight back.
Although I was female (which gave them concern), and never had learned to use weapons,
I would soon learn.
My dear friends, Dans, Suz, and Cain, also offered to help the people protect their town.
This violence grieved them, as it grieved me.
And we had nothing else.
We no longer had a home.
We'd lost all we'd had through that great gold portal.
The townspeople were speechless,
That strangers would stay
In their backwater town, so full of decay.

Dans and Suz immediately went about meeting the families.
And learning what townspeople thought.
Cain was a military man; most unlike us.
For he always was the soldier: strict and rigid.
But he knew of some healing, he'd been studying to be a doctor
He also knew military defense; and so went to work.
He checked their defense, and taught them some more.
He talked with the matrons of medicines used.

Meanwhile, I needed to think, to think and think hard.
I knew what would happen, I'd dreamed it before.
There would soon be sadness, great sadness to all;
But I could not recall what it was I'd seen before.

I awoke the next morn, of a nightmare or two.
A woman was crying, a few others too.
I quickly rose up and rushed to their side.
To see that they were all looking outside.
A small child was out there, climbing a tree In search of a hiding place from the great beast!
I yelled "No!" at realization and pushed them aside.
I soon found myself running outside.
I glanced around and immediately caught site
Of the blacksmiths shadowy forge in the dawning light.
I ran for the tree, and caught the child and ran.
We could not reach the underground shelter, for the dragon was near.

The sun suddenly stopped shining and I knew doom was near.
I threw myself and the child forward with speed
And tossed the child over the smithy's thick stone wall.
I felt the wind from the dragon's wings as I climbed.
I just managed to fall over and onto the other side.
We then huddled in fear; in the blacksmith's forge.
Great wings in motion, raised a great amount of dust.
The dragon was landing; in hunger and thirst.
I looked over the wall, and nearly screamed in fear
The dragon was beautiful, the dragon was huge.
It glowed in the morning light although it was black as midnight.
It moved with grace.
Not clumsy and awkward like some of my race.
It's head turned towards me and
I spied that it's eyes were blue; as blue as the sky.

This was a neutral dragon; neither good nor bad.
It was just hungry; thus, inclined to do bad.
It stared off into the distance and sounded a call,
Loud and clear like the sound of a horn in a hall.
Three cattle came forth, staggering and in fear.
They hopelessly knew what was in store.
The beast, opened it's jaws revealing two rows of large white canines.
The child I had saved, threw herself into my arms I held her tight,
But my eyes were on the dragon.
It was as though it knew
I watched and if I looked away it would suddenly attack me.

The dragon's head moved downwards in a quick motion.
Two cattle remained where there had been three.
It delicately chewed the now dead animal and swallowed.
The ball of food, inside the dragon's throat, made it's way down the dragon's serpentine neck.
It then looked at me, directly into my eyes and smiled a smile full of hatred.
It then gracefully spread its wings and rose into the air.
After rising high above, the dragon dived.
It's front claws uncoiled and grabbed the remaining two cattle.
Then, after flying a few times around the village,
It flew off into the bright light of the rising sun.
I let out a breath, I didn't know I'd been holding.
Then picked up the silent child and carried her to her mother.

Everyone had run outside, to see if we were alright.
I gave the child to her mother and then fell in to my friends' warm embrace.
They hit me and hugged me for giving them such a scare.
Suddenly, I realized what my dream had warned.
I knew what would soon happen, if the beast were not stopped.
The townspeople came over,
And gathered around to commend and thank me for the grand deed.
But as they began to speak, they saw my face and silenced to hear what I had to say.

"This dragon has to be killed.
She will only return every day, until there is nothing left."
My friends and the townspeople looked at me as if I was crazy.
"What can we do?", they asked.
They looked at each other in fear of what was yet to occur.
"The dragon eats our animals and families, burns our fields, and attacks the village."
Everyone realized that they would soon starve.
"Then we must leave", said one thoughtful woman,
"for we cannot raise our children here."

"No" I said.
They all looked at me again.
"You can not leave, not yet."
Then I told them that I had dreamed a dream.
A true dream, for everything was real and reoccurring as I spoke.
"I must go, and go alone to meet this foe.
I have dreamt a dream that has said so".
So serious was I that my friends did not speak
The townspeople knew true dreams and thus spoke
"If you must, you may go.
But please take care and a guide to show the way."

A small boy then shouted
"Take me, for I know these hills and forests better than any man.
I also know where about the dragon's lair may be found."
His mother stifled a cry, but knew what must be done.
I gave my hand to him.
He took my hand.
Hand in hand we began to walk.
To the east.

"Wait!" came a cry from Danis.
"Take us as well. There is strength in numbers!"
I turned to look at them.
"Dans, you have to comfort these people
And Suz, with your unsteady knees, you might slow us. Its better you stay"
I said this to hurt. I did not want them to come;
For they would not live to survive.
"Cain, you have to protect.."

"No. I come with you."
He interupted as he marched forward and took the boy's other hand.
My worst fears came true; the nightmare would become real.
Later in my life, I knew that if I'd tried
I could have changed the future.
Only if I'd tried.
We set off that awful day In search of a dragon to slay.

The boy did know the way
And so we did not stray.
We walked through a valley filled with flora and fauna.
The moose and deer we saw bowed their heads to us as we passed
In sorrow and in gloom
As if they knew we headed to our dooms.
The birds sung death songs which did nothing to lighten my mood.
After coming to a sad and morbid stream, we found a ruin; or so it seemed.

A great while back, before the town
A tower had stood; tall and proud.
Now it had crumbled and all that remained were the stumps of stones from which it was made.
At this creepy tower did we spend the night
For the sun went down and we lost our light.
The boy, who's name was char, was afraid.
To my surprise it was Cain
Who picked up the ten year old boy and offered comfort.
Meanwhile, I shivered and kept watch of the cold and dreadful night.
The boy soon fell asleep Cain placed him in my lap.
The slightly heavy bundle gave warmth to my weary self
In addition to this, Cain gave his arm
To warm me and himself. 'next morning I awoke thankful of the morning light.

The day seemed sweeter than the last,
I think we forgot both future and past.
A bouquet of flowers; I soon gathered.
To Char I gave a lily of white and to
Cain I gave a trillium as black as midnight.
We began to climb a steep mountain side
And I realized we were nearly there.
"Char, Char" I called to the boy above me and told him to climb back down and wait.
For I did not want him to serve as bait.
If we were to fail: he would escape and retell to the village, our horrible fate.
He did not agree; he wanted to stay but
Cain was determined to have it my way.
So in the end, Char was to wait.
To wait until the end of three sunsets and then head back; before the dragon he met.

Cain and I made our way up that very steep slope.
At lunch break I decided that I could hold the knowledge of the future no longer.
I told Cain of the dreary prophecy hoping he would understand why
I alone must make a stand before the dragon.
But he did not, he could not, he would not, let an innocent girl
Face the dragon without a manly man's show.
He would protect me from the dragon.

He could not bare to lose the glory that he found in doing brave deeds.
Now, what happened next I really cannot say for things moved so quickly and horribly...
I'd rather forget what happened that fateful day.
But I must complete this story for how else will history be known
For I did not kill the dragon bravely and alone.
I shant go into detail for I have willed to forget

That day when Cain and I went into the dragons lair to slay.
At the top of the slope was a cave.
An eerie, smoky cave.
The dragon lived inside.

We found the remains of the dragon's mate,
Once lover and then food to a hungry dragon mother.
Its carcass was picked clean Its bones shone with a wet glean.
The cave divided into three tunnels.
We stood and argued on which to enter.
I chose the center and proceeded to enter.
Fear of the dragon had built to a height.
Add to this Cain's anger which eventually gave me a fright.
He slapped my face and told me to awake.
Our fate was before us
We could not afford a mistake.

Frightened and angered I could not punch back.
For he was the stronger and in anger.
I did not like that.
Face smarting, I continued and so he followed.
We entered a chamber full of riches and wonders.
Umongst these gold things was a set of
Jeweled daggers made of dragons claws made
By who I did wonder.
A double-edged sword in a sheath, rested on a pile
This I picked up and tried out for awhile.
I decided to take the weopon and the daggers of claws and the belt in which they hung.
All of these weapons I still have right now.
Cain in turn chose a heavier and stronger sword.
Made of black iron and sharp on one edge.
Along side this he found a dark daggar of ebony.
Although made from wood it was not warped and dusty.

We heard a great roar, as he picked up the knife and turned to look at the entrance to the right.
The dragon there stood in black ebony night
And roared another great roar at the robbers in sight.
(This tale shall be continued there's much more to write but do remember to have good dreams tonight)