Tale of the Dragon Egg, Part 3
…….Continued from Tale of the Dragon Egg, Part 2…..
Eyes clenched shut to the point of tears, the little girl could feel the heat from the Dragon’s breath, and its roar reverberated through her. The smell of burnt hair reached her nostrils. Regrets filled her head. Why had she come down to this deadly place? Her parents had warned her of monsters, why hadn’t she listened? She heard her father say her name again, louder this time, which was strange for a voice in her head…
Gradually it dawned on her that she had not died; she had felt heat but not pain. She opened her eyes, and saw that the dragling had spread its flameproof wings between the Dragon’s fire and her body, shielding her from the blast! She stumbled backwards, still in shock…and into the waiting arms of her father. He was real, not just a voice in her head. The coin path she had left must have worked! Relief flooded her, but the dragling’s squeaks were anything but calm as it ran on its hindlegs towards them, wings flapping as if it were trying to use the buffets of air to push them out of the Dragon’s den.
The little girl’s father wasted no time in carrying her up the rocky ravine. The juvenile Dragon hissed and shot forward with alarming speed, but the dragling managed to slip a large silver platter under one of its forelimbs at the last second. The Dragon crashed into the foot of the collapsed floor. The dragling quickly scurried up behind the two, with the sack of Dragon eggs dangling from its jaws. Daughter slung over his shoulder backwards, the man hurried through the old dining hall as the Dragon roared in pain and rage from the cavern beneath. He felt the scream and its echoes shudder up his spine as he ran.
Each additional doorway proved to be another point the man thought would be their last, as his scaled pursuer could shoot across short distances easily with its powerful hindlegs. It slammed into every doorway just after he broached it, stuck in the man-sized opening for a moment until stone yielded to muscled scale and it wriggled free with bursts of chunks, chips and angry chirps. The dragling stayed between the humans and the Dragon, blocking any attempts at incineration while also staying just clear of its snapping jaws. The sack in its mouth caught ablaze while they raced through a storeroom. The dragling managed to tamp out the flames with its wings while running on two legs. The man’s torch was sputtering out, but the coins before him were lit periodically by bursts of reflected flame from behind him.
Eventually the girl’s father saw the stairway he had entered by, and ran with all of his might towards the slight ambient glow of odd natural light. The Dragon struggled up the stairs in pursuit, nipping at its own wings to tug them through when they caught on the stonework balusters.
The girl could only look back in horror as the Dragon cleared the final stone doorway behind them. She and her father were halfway down the corridor, but the Dragon was well within range of pouncing. She knew it, the Dragon knew it, and they locked eyes for confirmation. It launched itself forward, slavering jaws wide. It didn’t want to burn them, it wanted to taste their flesh.
Her father was just a dragon’s foot away from the glowing green door that represented their freedom, when through it strode a sturdily built man carrying an ironwood pitchfork. Steel settled in his eyes as he saw the quickly approaching beast.
“Varmint.”
The farmer stepped forward fearlessly, and jammed the pitchfork up into the Dragon’s upper jaw, wedging open its mouth. It shrieked in torment, convulsing and belching flame past the haft of the pitchfork, its eyes rolled back in its head.
With the Dragon retreating, the three turned with relief towards the glowing green door. Suddenly, a raven burst from the Portal’s mist and past them, also looking for a way to leave. The little girl remembered the bulkhead door she had propped open above her, and smiled hopefully as her father carried her back to the Portal. At the last moment, the dragling tossed the sack through the portal with its beak, and touched her head with the tip of its tail. The last thing she saw as she slipped through the gate was the dragling, crouched in a playful bow, as if to say “you’re it!”
Three humans collapsed in a heap on the Ethereum side of the Portal. In their dizziness, foggy memories of a giant book faded from their minds…and they remembered who they were, and where they were. Home!
Hash and her father hugged tightly, tears streaking down both faces. Hash’s mother and her sister Sats had camped by the Portal, and joined the family embrace. After a time, Hash’s father rose and shook the hand of the farmer, who smiled grimly and rejoined his own family waiting nearby.
Hash blinked through her tears of joy, and gradually realized they were surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, thousands maybe. There was a group of well-dressed elves as well. All eyes were on her, and she felt overwhelmed.
“Greetings, Hash,” said the apparent leader of the Elves as he stepped forward. “My name is Leilen. Forgive our presence here, but this is a historic moment.”
Hash tucked the sack behind her nervously. Leilen gestured for her to come forward with it, and she shyly did so. At first she thought he was going to take it away from her, because it was stolen. He knelt and opened it. He closed the bag, smiled, and handed it back to her.
“Our tribe has long known that this moment would come to pass. The Gateways can transport people back in time, or forward, if one is unaccustomed to their use. Your presence in Polygon did not go unnoticed ten thousand years ago, when you first emerged in our Realm.”
Hash stammered “t….ten THOUSAND?”
The Elf nodded. “It was recorded in our Chain. A Dragon told us of your sojourns in our Realm. We of the Emerald Dragon were bound under one of the Old Laws, established long before your entry into our world. That Law stated that we could not reveal the location of the Gateway ever, even to an ally in Ethereum.”
“The Law was meant to protect the Lawful Dragon Tribes from being attacked and plundered by foreign invaders. Unfortunately, many Dragon tribes have drifted from the Old Laws, yet still they reap the benefits. Your discovery of this Gate, Hash, changes everything. Word of the Gateway of Hash will now spread among the people of your Realm. The Dragon tribes who inhabit the areas around the Gate will finally pay for their Lawlessness, at the hands of adventurers and armies, like those of Axioms that stand before you now.”
Hash’s father stepped forward. “What does this mean for us? Our village?”
“I suspect it results in greater prosperity for you and your people,“ Leilen replied. “The stream of adventurers through this area may have its downsides, but you can be assured your blacksmith, inn and taverns will not be wanting for patronage for some time.”
“The disrepair of the Gate itself can finally be addressed as well,” the Elf continued. “It has settled over the millennia, but now can be raised up and out of the clouds. These clouds have spilled from our mountains through the Gate and over your lands, concealing Dragons for centuries as they entered Ethereum. Raising the Gate will result in a bit more sunshine falling on your crops and on the faces of your children,“ the Elf said, smiling down on Hash and Sats.
Hash had drifted away and stood at the face of the Portal, staring sadly into the mysterious mist. She sighed. She wondered if she would ever see her dragling friend again. But she had learned her lesson about the Portal. It was too dangerous for little girls.
She turned from the Gate and smiled at her family. Why did they look so frightened, suddenly?
She felt iron slip up sharply against her neck, and she was lifted roughly off the ground by the neck of her clothing. The Dragon had poked its head back through the portal, and impaled the neck of her coat with the tines of the pitchfork protruding from its snout.
Hash could only reach out to her parents futilely as she was dragged back into the Portal. Back to Polygon, and back to the Dragon’s lair.
After a brief silence, a chorus of outrage, sorrow and revenge erupted from the multitudes surrounding the Portal. As one, the Axioms army charged towards the glowing green gate, streaming past Hash’s stunned family,
Leilen and the Elves, churning the snowy landscape in their scramble to rescue Hash and plunder the Dragon lairs beyond!
The story continues…. war is brewing,
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