Mikiva slammed her book down on the table and stood. She paced the room restlessly for a moment before turning back to them, a look of disgust on her face.
“This is ridiculous!” she fumed.
Jade ignored her. This was getting a bit old. Mikiva was skilled in many things, but a scholar she was not. She just didn’t seem to have the patience for the endless, mostly futile, study this task required. Two days they had been pouring over these books, finding nothing significant and Mikiva had been growing increasingly agitated. Now, as the third day came to a close, she seemed to have finally reached her limit.
“We are never going to find anything this way! It could take years to put any of this together, if there is even anything here at all. Do I really need to remind you that we don’t have that kind of time?” the spy paced restlessly.
“I know it’s tedious, but sometimes that’s how an investigation goes,” Av’ry looked up, rubbing his eyes. “We’ll get something we can run with eventually.”
“Eventually? Well, I don’t know about you, but I can’t just sit around here waiting for something to fall into our laps,” she turned and flung open the balcony door. “I am going to work some contacts. Don’t wait up.”
She slammed the door behind her, glass rattling in the panes.
“And here I thought things were going so well,” Jade rolled her eyes, then winced.
She was pretty sure she just pulled something.
“I know, right? We were all getting along and making so much progress. I’m mystified,” he matched her sarcastic tone.
“What now?”
“Well, if you feel up to it, we just keep going,” he sighed. “I don’t have anything more exciting to offer, I’m afraid.”
“Actually, I don’t really mind this,” Jade chuckled. “It reminds me of a jigsaw puzzle, except one where somebody has hidden all the pieces. Hunt them down, fit them together. It’s kind of exhilarating, in an odd way.”
Av’ry shot her a strange look.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing, I’ve just never heard anyone wax poetic about this kind of drudgery before.”
“What can I say, I’m one of a kind,” Jade winked.
“No kidding. So, have you actually found any puzzle pieces?”
“I think I’ve got a few,” she chewed her lip thoughtfully. “But I need some more time to figure out where they fit. Do you have anything?”
“Well, pretty much all I’ve gotten from this is a very unwanted history lesson and the knowledge that bad poetry is not exclusive to modern writers. There is one interesting thing, but it could be a coincidence.”
“Tell me anyway,” Jade put her book down.
‘Coincidences’ were always a good place to start, in her experience.
“Well, I decided to start with the more general history first, get my feet wet, so to speak. Each of these books,” he indicated the pile in front of him, “consists of a compilation of stories. An anthology of draconic fairy tales, essentially. They were written at different times, by different authors. Some more modern, some ancient. But here’s the thing, they all have one story and only one story in common. The details differ slightly, but it is undoubtedly the same tale.”
“Hmm, how many books?”
“7 so far.”
“That is interesting,” Jade agreed. “Tell me the story. The unembellished, reasonably consistent version.”
“It’s not a short one,” Av’ry warned.
“Fine by me. My eyes need a bit of a rest anyway,” Jade tented her fingers, closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “Regale me.”
“Alright, well each book tells of the disappearance of the dragons. The story is rarely told these days, since the Pantheon outlawed all dabbling in the Draconic, so I knew little of it before this. I imagine the same is true for you, so I will start with the background.
It has been over 1000 years since the dragons soared the skies of this world. They were said to be massive, serpentine beings, with powerful wings and tails. They possessed an unrivaled connection to the Stream, able to weave magic so powerful that the world hasn’t seen the like since. Dragons were supposedly wise and very long-lived; they had roamed this world long before humanity came into being. But despite all that, they never desired to rule. They remained distant from humans, making their homes in the mountains, and avoiding our cities. However, hungry for knowledge and power, people eventually sought them out, instead. Some desired their treasures, some their magical knowledge. But whatever their motives, they were persistent. And so, the dragons and the humans became… involved, despite what the former may have wanted.
The dragons were patient with the small mammals, at first. They aided the humans who came to them, shared their knowledge, and taught them the secrets of magic. Many people came to revere the dragons as some sort of protector or deity. They built shrines next to their mountain homes and people came to live and study with them. As for the dragons, they seemed to take to the role that had been thrust upon them. Perhaps it is because, as many theorize, the dragons actually were protectors of humanity, of all creatures. In fact, that was one of the most valuable lessons that they taught their charges, how to care for nature, how to understand the life force that flowed through every living thing. For such large, powerful creatures, the early legends portray them as surprisingly gentle and compassionate.”
“I sense a ‘but’ in there, don’t I?” Jade asked.
“There always is one, isn’t there?” Av’ry shook his head. “Yes, as in many things, the greed of a few sort of spoiled a good thing. It seems that fear of the dragons’ held people in check in the early days, but as time went on familiarity began to breed contempt. They were jealous of the power the dragons could wield, of the miracles that they could work with their magic. They also resented the rules the dragons had placed upon them, rules intended to preserve the natural order, to prevent the scarring of the earth and of the Stream. But some humans, of course, saw this as unfair. Groups arose who plotted to kill the dragons, to steal their artifacts and usurp their power.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Now, based on what I’ve said so far, you probably wouldn’t think that the humans would even be capable of killing a dragon, as large as the power imbalance was. But the dragons did have some vulnerabilities. Most importantly, there were only ever a few hundred, maybe a thousand, dragons in existence and they were solitary creatures by nature, making their homes far from others of their kind. Any person alone would have been little threat to a dragon, but when humans band together, they can be quite formidable. A battalion of humans would have been a force to contend with for a lone dragon. It turned out that was enough. They killed the first in a surprise attack, and used power obtained from the conquest in the assault on the next. In this way, they managed to kill several before the others could band together and stop the slaughter.
The human instigators were dispatched quickly after that, but the damage had already been done. The dragons no longer trusted the humans and those that had studied under other dragons were expelled from their mountains and banished back to the lowlands. What’s worse, the bloody incident also triggered fighting amongst the dragons themselves, which, by all accounts, was a rare event. There were those among them who believed that the humans were innately devious and untrustworthy, destined to upset the natural order and destroy the delicate balance that they worked to maintain. And, to tell the truth, they might have had a point. The power that the Dragon Slayers had unleashed in their mad quest actually did result in the warping of the laws of nature. They disrupted gravity and inverted seasons, earthquakes toppled cities, avalanches flattened forests and towns, tidal waves flooded the coasts. The damage was significant.
Some dragons came to the conclusion that humans needed to be controlled, subjugated and ruled to prevent any further catastrophes. They decided that the humans had shown themselves to be too violent to be allowed their freedom. Others disagreed, however. Many of those who had known human followers spoke on their behalf, saying that though some humans may be dangerous, they could not condemn an entire species over the behaviour of a few. These advocates agreed that they needed to be wary of humans from then onward, but refused to enslave them, saying that there was potential for great good, as well as evil, in them and that, as a young species, they needed more time to come into their own. They wanted to watch and to protect, as they had always done, not to meddle. To simply go back to the way things had been. But the anger at the betrayal too much for some, and the divide between the two sides only deepened as they argued.
Eventually, their council took the official position that the humans were to be left alone, but the dissenters could not accept it. Civil war erupted and for decades the dragons fought each other in spectacular aerial battles that humans could only watch from afar. Even when the council was finally able to bring the rebellion under control, a single dragon, the leader of the rebels, called only ‘the Betrayer’ in these accounts, refused to accept defeat. He continued to wage his campaign alone, using enslaved humans to fight against the main faction. So blinding was his rage, and so great was his hatred that he would stoop to any low to gain control. But, fortunately for us, he was eventually defeated by his kin and peace returned to both groups. Or so it seemed.”
“I imagine that we are getting to the important part now,” Jade surmised.
Av’ry nodded,
“The humans didn’t notice anything was wrong at first. The dragons had cut ties with them entirely since their civil war. Often, years would pass without any human sighting a dragon at all. So, when the people didn’t see them in the skies, they didn’t think much of it. But many years passed and eventually, people came to realize that no one had seen a dragon, even at a distance, in decades. Questions were asked. Many people recalled that the last time they had seen a dragon, there had been a large group of them, all flying together, towards one of their fortresses in the mountains. The stories vary on which fortress it actually was. But people distinctly remembered the event, because none of them had ever seen a group of dragons flying together before.
People were suspicious, but they still didn’t do anything at first. The dragons had made it clear that they would not welcome the humans on their mountains again, and they did not want to anger them. But as time passed with no sign of them, the people living nearest the mountains grew bolder. Finally, some mounted an expedition. What they found was shocking. The dragons were simply gone. Their fortresses, homes and palaces were abandoned and crumbling, as if subject to years of neglect. Animals were nesting in many of the rooms and the wood and fabric trappings had begun to rot away. The search party suspected that perhaps the dragons had tired of the humans and found a new, more isolated, place to live. They did find it strange that they had left all of their worldly possessions behind, but what could they really do? Every place they searched was the same, and eventually, people stopped looking. Over time, the ruins were looted, and any powerful relics were dispersed around the world.
As the centuries passed, people would sometimes be inspired to search for the dragons again, for where they were hiding. But strangely, the answers were eerily similar no matter what continent they looked on: there had been dragons there once, but centuries ago they had simply disappeared without a trace. Even today, no one knows what happened to the creatures that once commanded the skies, and all that remains to prove they existed at all are the magical relics and the massive ruins that they left behind. And the stories, of course. Although even those have been suppressed by the Pantheon, in more recent years. It likely won’t be long before no one remembers that they existed at all.”
Av’ry took a breath and sat back, his tale finished. Jade stayed silent, drumming her fingers on her forearm. Finally, she opened her eyes and turned to him,
“Let me ask you something, Av’ry. You said that all these stories differ. That isn’t surprising. History, especially what essentially has become a legend, is often changed, embellished or confused over time. But let’s say you were looking to find the truth, what really happened. What would you do?”
Av’ry considered that for a moment,
“Well, I suppose I would try to collect as many different versions of the story as possible. The parts that stay the same are likely true…ish. The parts that vary are either embellishments, or mistakes that you would have to investigate yourself.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“So, you think whoever was doing this, Istaria’s partner, was trying to find out what really happened to the dragons? Perhaps they think they are somewhere in Maaskal?”
“Well, I might think that, if not for all the other books we have,” Jade swept her arm around the almost ridiculous quantity of reading material. “They all deal with relics and the excavation of ruins, not with the disappearance itself. So, to me that suggests…”
“That someone is looking for a relic associated with the disappearance, or one that was known to be at the location where the dragons were last seen?”
“Exactly,” Jade nodded, eyes glittering with excitement.
“That actually makes sense,” Av’ry mused.
“Gee, thanks for sounding so surprised,” Jade muttered. “But either way, that narrows down my search in these relic books, at least. Maybe I can find some objects that match that description.”
She reached for another book from the floor and flipped it open.
Av’ry stifled a yawn,
“Well, I hate to leave you here alone, but it is late, and I am dead tired. Mind if I go get some sleep and get back to this in the morning?”
“Of course not,” Jade laughed. “The books will still be here tomorrow. I’ll probably turn-in in a moment, myself, I just want to look up one thing first, while it is fresh in my mind.”
“Alright, well I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Definitely. Goodnight, Av’ry.”
“Goodnight, Jade,” Av’ry rose, stretched and headed off down the hall to the servant’s quarters.
Jade watched him leave, then she grabbed his seven books, and all of her own. Opening them up, she spread them across the floor and, retrieving a pencil, began to go through them, one by one. She had lied, of course, she had no intention of sleeping tonight.