Chapter 13
The hero asks for help and starts reading the journal
We didn't have to press far into the forest to find the dragon waiting for us, and the tool shop owner stared longingly up at them.
Perhaps he's thinking "look at all those scales" or "this whole thing was a trap and I'm about to be eaten after all why was I such a fool now that stupid kid of an apprentice of mine will totally ruin my shop." Something along those lines. "Allow me to introduce you," I finally said, as they were staring down at him as if trying to figure out what he was all about. "This is, uh, this is… Hummm." I realized I didn't actually know either of their names as I turned to introduce one to the other. Do dragons even have names we can pronounce?
"I am Kethrinax," the dragon told me. "My pronouns are she/her."
"The- what's this now?" I asked.
"I am a female dragon so I'm just letting you know. Otherwise you might go around calling me 'him' which would be quite annoying." She paused at my incredulous look. "By ash and flame don't you humans even know how to introduce yourselves properly?"
"I… We don't… You're female?" I blurted.
"What, did you think I was male? Ha! Look at the graceful curve of my neck, the dainty horns upon my head."
Dainty? They're as big as my arms! What do male horns look like?
"I don't suppose a human would appreciate the difference- ah I'm the only dragon you've ever met aren't I? Apologies, of course you wouldn't know what to look for, I don't fault you for that. But yes, I'm female. You think a male dragon would have let you do what you did? They would have chomped you on the spot, brutes that they are. I mean, don't get me wrong. Of course they have their uses occasionally, eggs have to come from somewhere but they wouldn't have given you any pleasant conversation you can be sure of that. So you're lucky I am."
"I should be making some notes," the tool shop owner lamented. "This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about dragon customs and physiology."
"I appreciate your interest," Kethrinax told him. She sighed. "Most humans that encounter us now just try and stick us with things, or cast spells on us. It's most distressing, we really are not mindless beasts you know. I suppose it's somewhat our own fault, retreating from the world as we did. You just don't see us enough to know we aren't a danger to you."
"I can see that. It is good to make your acquaintance, Kethrinax. Just call me the tool shop owner, everyone else does. It's been so long since I heard my own name I'm not even sure I totally recall what it is! Isn't that strange?"
"I have no basis for comparison," she told him. "And you're both male, then?"
"Yes, I'm male, and my name is," I told her my name.
"I'm male as well," said the tool shop owner. "You really can't tell?"
"Can you?" she retorted. "Just by looking? I mean I know for a fact humans don't have the sense of smell we dragons have. Believe me, I know."
She really does.
"Why of course! It's fairly obvious to us, I suppose because we're all at the same level. I mean the same height. I mean there are physical cues, as there must be for dragons, like you were saying. Being a different species I can understand how you might have trouble..."
She shook her head. "I was actually just kidding about the neck thing. You poor dears. I feel sorry for some of you, I really do. Anyway, how is the princess? Were our efforts successful?"
What is she talking about? Some of us? "She made it through the night," I told her. "But she isn't awake yet."
"Is there hope she will wake up?" she asked.
"The king should have the best healers at the castle," the tool shop owner told her, though he sounded uncertain. "Of course, they've probably never dealt with anything like this before. How many people are locked in a room for weeks on end and almost die?"
"Hopefully not many," she agreed. "Even your kind is above that, I expect."
"Have you given thought to your next move?" I asked her.
"Oh, I've thought of nothing else, thanks for asking," she replied sarcastically. "I can't really go back, can I? Best if whoever shows up to claim the princess simply believes me slain and reports that. As long as no one reports I'm hanging around the castle… Why are there so many low level monsters crawling around here anyway?"
"You use that sort of language too?" the tool shop owner asked, surprised. "I was just explaining that to our hero here before he left."
"It's the way the world works, why wouldn't I say it like that?"
"Well," he started, clearly trying to figure out a phrasing that wouldn't get the huge dragon angry with him. "It's an interesting way to think about how the world could work in the abstract, but that's, I mean… right?"
"You really have no idea, do you?"
"Huh?"
"To answer your question," I told her, "I have no idea. They are now more of a bother than anything else, so I don't know why they're all over the place. They'll keep the townsfolk penned in, without question, and maybe that's their purpose."
"Strange to see so many though," she mused. "Well, I doubt they'll report anything. Most of them see me and run the other direction. I am a dragon, after all. Who are they to question my coming and goings? It's the Dragonlord himself seeing me from the top of his castle that I really worry about."
"There's no doubt about that," the tool shop owner agreed, a little wistfully. I thought he was talking about the Dragonlord seeing her but no, he was actually talking about her directly. "From the tip of that sinuous tail to the tops of your iron hard horns. From your scales that glitter like diamonds, to your eyes that shine brighter than any jewel I have ever witnessed. You are a dragon, fierce and majestic, wise and secret like the dark of the moon."
"Oh my," she said. "Flatterer. Next you'll be comparing me to a summers day."
"No, no, I mean it!"
"Er, if I could just have a word?" I pulled him a little ways away from the dragon. "You're not talking in terms of, like, raw material or anything are you?"
"Shhhhh," he shushed me. "Don't say that! Dragons have excellent hearing, she'll hear you!"
"We do," the dragon shouted after us. "And I did!"
Ah crap. I pulled him further away and her ears perked up as she leaned forward a little. "Look, I need her to stay on my side, okay?"
"Don't worry about it, I didn't mean it like that anyway," he told me. "She's a magnificent creature, that's all. What, I can't get a little poetic about her just because she's a different species?"
That brought me up short. "I guess?" I guess I first saw her as wanting to eat me, and a guard for the princess. That would have colored my impression. He saw her as a friend to me, someone that helped bring the princess back. So of course he would have a different reaction. And he does like old lore and things I guess.
"I mean what other opportunity will I have to talk to an actual dragon? They've been around much longer than we have, you know. When we came down out of the trees or whatever, there they were. They already had language, knowledge of magic, a society. To know how she sees the world? To get her opinion on things, how she thinks the world is going? She knew about levels, I thought we came up with that but was it dragons all along? Is that really closer to the mark than we thought? What does she know about how the world works and how much of it will she reveal to me? Erdrick's journal might sell to other scholars but everyone would read the real story of dragons. But beyond that just look at her, is she not spectacular? Those scales, those lines, those curves!"
She's not a sailing ship. "I mean, I guess?"
"And this is the man destined to save us. A man with no soul. Pity."
She's a killing machine, you didn't see her eat that beef! "Just don't get her angry!"
"Did she seem angry? She seemed more amused to me than anything."
"I don't know, she's a huge dragon. I don't know what she'll take offense at."
"I'm sure she'll let you know. Now come on, before she takes offense to us not including her in the conversation."
"You don't think she would, do you?"
He rolled his eyes. "Come on."
"All done?" she asked sweetly.
"Yes, sorry about that," the shop owner told her. "My young friend here wanted to know my intentions, that's all."
"Oh, he saw me first, and all that? We dragons know all about possession, there's no need to be shy. A brief fight between the two of you should settle it. It doesn't have to be to the death, usually among dragons there's some sort of victory condition the two males agree upon. I mean all this assumes I'm interested in either of you in the first place. And I'm not saying I'm not, but… Usually I go for taller males for obvious reasons so know there could be challenges should one of you win me."
"Uh, fight?" he asked, nervously glancing at my sword.
Is she talking about what I think she's talking about? Or is she just messing with us? I don't know any more about dragon humor than I know about dragon offenses."Actually, that's the original reason I asked about your current plans," I told her, trying to get control of the situation back again. "I was hoping you could teach me about fighting. Fighting dragons, specifically. I'm going to need to know how if I'm going to kill the Dragonlord."
"You?" she asked, clearly sounding amused. "Fight a dragon? With your tiny sharpened stick? You're not serious."
"I am."
"He's twice as big as I am. Can you even imagine something twice as big as I am? I'm the size of one of your little huts."
"We actually have houses now," the shop owner told her. "They're a bit bigger than you."
"Whatever," she said, unconcerned. "I mean I suppose you could eventually wear my HP down, but come on. All I have to do is hold you down with my tail-"
"HP?" the shop owner interrupted.
"Hit Points. You know about levels but not HP?"
"But levels is an abstract concept, it's a way of thinking about things."
"Or is it?" she asked shrewdly. "Anyway, HP represents the damage you can take. Or I can take. Or really anything can take. I hold you down and smash you with one of these," she held up a claw, "do you think you'll survive?"
"That's what I need to know," I protested. "So that's why I'm asking you for training." Wait, do doors have unlimited HP? Is that why you need a key to open them and they can't be smashed down? But wouldn't she know what? Not if she never tried to smash a door open in the past.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Me. It wouldn't hurt me," she clarified. "You it might hurt."
"That's a risk I have to take."
"But fighting her isn't killing the minions of the Dragonlord," protested the shop owner. "You won't be absorbing their magic and learning new spells. How can you raise your levels if you're not doing that?"
"Nothing says I can't do both. I think the experience of knowing how dragons fight is more valuable than just levels. I can be a high level and not know what the heck I'm doing and lose right away because I don't realize some obvious thing dragons do in a fight."
"That's true, I just want to make sure you know what you're doing."
"Oh, there's no chance of that," the dragon told us both sweetly. "But I do have to admire your courage. Even as I lament your foolishness for even planning on confronting the Dragonlord with the intent to kill him. You think dragons want to be his minions? Imagine making all of us bow to him. All dragons. You think we couldn't take him if even just a few of us attacked at once? Think about it."
So Kethrinax agreed to give me a taste of what fighting dragons would be like, and went to find or make a clearing in the forest we could use, some distance from the castle. She wasn't going to do it out in the open, because that would attract attention, especially this close to the castle of the Dragonlord. If he spotted either of us he would expect one of us to win and kill the other, and get very suspicious when that didn't happen. This, she explained, would be bad because then he might show some initiative and actually leave the place to come see what was going on. Then we would really have a problem on our claws/hands. I agreed, and the walk to anywhere nearby held little danger for me at present, so I didn't mind. I escorted the shop owner back to the village, and headed to the castle to find my rooms. I had a journal to read.
The story began when Loto turned sixteen, and was sent by his king to finish off this Baramos fellow as apparently his father had failed to do so. This was the start of him questioning the sanity of those around him, for example the king. After all, he reasoned, just because his father was supposedly a great hero (he had apparently died in his quest so even that status was questionable) that didn't mean he would be. He hadn't received any training at that point in his life (this sounds familiar somehow?) how was he, a kid, supposed to beat some monster up. (Yes, very familiar.) He did the smart thing and immediately asked for some help at the local tavern. He recruited several more experienced people including a female swordsman, a wizard with a flying basket, and at their insistence, his friend tagged along too. He was not a great fighter (at first) mainly just swinging heavy clubs around but he survived. The more important thing by far was the lessons with Daisy, in how to actually use a sword. (Wish I had someone to show me what to do.) They were off on their adventure.
Which in the beginning consisted of (who didn't see this coming?) running around beating up monsters to collect the gems they left behind. These they could trade in at shops for gold, which they used to buy some better equipment. Loto's thoughts here paralleled my own, wondering why all these weak monsters (which still gave the party trouble at first) were wondering around. (Daisy went easy on the monsters here, giving Loto a chance to hone his skills.) After they had the best equipment they could have (and no doubt raised their 'levels' in the process) they sought out the "Thief Key" and then used it to open any "Thief Doors" they had passed in the castle and nearby towns. They collected something called "seeds" which could apparently help them in some way, a "MagicBomb" whatever that was, and found enough "TinyMedals" to turn in to some guy they had met that would give them prizes if they found enough. Loto here again went on for about a page about who this guy could be, and what his deal was as these medal things didn't seem to have any purpose he could see, yet could be traded in for useful items like weapons.
They left the kingdom and traveled to another, Loto wasn't clear on how, he seemed to think the method so commonplace as to not give it much mention. Clearly something that doesn't exist anymore, at least that I had ever heard of. He helped a king get his crown back, rather than just making a new one, and headed off to help a village full of sleeping people.
"And what," I said to myself as I read about the curse of the town, "in the world is an elf?"
I took the short trip up to the sickroom but the guard said there had been no change, so I headed back into town to see the tool shop owner.
"So I'm up to the part where they awaken the sleeping town, but apparently the cause was the Elf princess Ann running away with a human boy. Her mother cast a spell on the entire town in retaliation. What the heck is an elf?" And how powerful was magic in the past? If I could cast a spell of that magnitude I could cast it on the castle of the Dragonlord, putting all the monsters inside to sleep and just stab the Dragonlord where he lays.
"I thought you might wonder that," he replied, getting a book out from under the counter. "They haven't been seen for many years, but apparently they were a race like ours that was more tied to nature." He opened and flipped through the book until he got to an illustration, which he showed me. The picture was of a fairly beautiful girl, with pointed ears, and flipping through the pages showed her in various posses, wearing a dress that resembled an upside down flower. "Mostly female, from what I understand, they were long lived, perhaps even ageless as there didn't seem to be any old ones. They come and go in history, most nowadays haven't even heard of them."
"I hadn't. Did they all die out of some disease or something?"
He shrugged. "Some people say they have their own world, next to ours, and they retreat into it when dealing with us becomes too much for them. Others say they just hide really well in our world and keep to themselves. Who knows? I hope we didn't offend them somehow, and they left for good. Records like this and the journal are all we have now to say they even existed at all. Maybe they'll come back one day, when the land is safe again. I think I would like that."
Yeah, you're the guy complementing a dragon on her scales, so why wouldn't you like… Okay I can see the appeal in this case, if that's what they really looked like she is quite beautiful. "I guess if I see anyone with pointed ears out in the world I'll know who she is."
"See if you can bring her back for an interview. But politely, they have different sensibilities than we do. You know that offending a dragon thing? Well, it goes double for them. Say, that reminds me, when are we going to see Kethrinax again? I want to make sure I have plenty of ink and paper so I can write down what she says. I've already written down what I remember of what she said, so I'm hungry for more."
Interview with a dragon. What will he think of next? "Once I get through the journal. A few days."
"Fair enough. Don't forget to come and get me. As much as I would like to see her, I'm not stepping foot outside the village without an escort."
Couldn't you raise your 'levels' fighting these monsters just as I did? "I won't," I promised him. "Thanks for the information on elves, they seem like nasty beings, given the two kids… Well, you know… Instead of just running away together."
"They have different rules, and ways of living that we are not meant to know. But I agree it was a tragedy what happened to them. If only Loto had gotten there sooner, maybe it could have been avoided."
"Maybe. See you later."
I headed back to the castle, I had more reading to do.