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A gust of willowing wind rippled through the tree-covered valley like a sword cutting through water. The full moon gazed down upon the trees with a face of curious terror. Most of the trees were covered in a great coat of green, but dotted all about the forest were blackened trees that looked as if they had been painted and the leaves stripped off. Every few minutes a voice echoed through the trees that all was well.
Deep within the dark forest cantered a tall wild-haired figure in a large green cloak. Under the cloak the man wore a ragged brown shirt and hard boots that looked as if they could stop a bullet. His face seemed to shine through the darkness with a raging happiness that embodied every muscle of his face. The figure seemed to carry two long objects under his coat and a sword at his side.
The man paid no attention to the charred trees but kept walking forward with his head held high and every now and then he would jump into the air and click his heels. After walking for some time the man turned around, kept walking, and looked at the trees that seemed to radiate beauty from their every fiber.
He kept walking backwards till he tripped across a threshold and tumbled into a small thatch roofed cottage. Though he skipped on the back of his heels and crashed into a chair he didn’t lose his footing, sprang backwards onto a chair, and tossed his feet onto a nearby table.
“What is it with you Whist?” A young man sitting at the other end of the table said as the table shook from the other man’s feet. “Oh, I guess I’m just over-mirthful tonight, Ember.” Whist responded, leaning back in his chair. At this another man, older and with glasses, hobbled over to the pair.
“Did you get it?” he asked. Whist jumped to his feet and flung two objects on the table from his cloak. Ember jumped to his feet and leaned over the two objects and his eyes froze. The older man hobbled forward and took off his glasses.
Lying on the table were two long weapons made of wood and steel. “Are they…muskets?” The older man asked, running his hand along the barrels. “Better, Conner.” Whist replied. “Long rifles. I was able to find the gypsies. They put a lot of value in our long bows.”
“These things can bring down a dragon?” Ember asked. His eyes never moved. “I won’t exaggerate.” Whist said, lifting one of the weapons and shouldering it. “They do have certain advantages over long bows. These things can fire about two hundred yards with accuracy, three hundred if I get good with them. Course they do take about a minute to reload.”
“Have you experimented with them?” Conner said as he searched for an empty chair. “I used about half the ammunition practicing, they are a bit like windlass crossbows only with a kick.”
Conner smirked. “I never thought I would see the day when firearms would be brought to the dragon mountains.” A voice cried out from far away in the valley that all was well. The men continued talking as if nothing had happened.
“Whist here is our best smuggler, did you really think he couldn’t get us anything we wanted?” Ember asked. “He could bring us a flying machine if he wanted.”
“He would have to be quite the smuggler to bring us something that doesn’t exist.” The older man said with a laugh. Ember looked up. “Flying machines are real, Conner.”
“No, no they are not.” Conner responded.
“How do you know?” Ember said. “How do I know?” the old man said putting his glasses back on. “How do I know that a wingless machine, made of wood and not pulled by any flying beast cannot fly? You can’t fly without a dragon Ember. Flying machines are just stories made up by those who think they can overthrow the Union of Fire.”
Ember sulked back into his chair. “What, you don’t think we can overthrow them?” Whist said crossing his arms. Conner sighed. “All I’m saying is its going to take a lot more than two guns before we try conquering the most powerful country on earth…Which reminds me.” Conner hobbled over to a small chest, unlocked it and pulled out a long sword.
Whist stepped forward. “Is that–“
“Whist, in honor of your endless and in some cases foolish work for this valley and its cause the elders have decided to grant you the highest honor ever to be bestowed upon a peasant.” Conner drew the sword and handed it to Whist. “By the power vested in me…bla bla bla you are now the official hero of Ash Valley.”
Whist stared at the sword for a good half minute. “We really need to work on that ceremony.” Ember said. “It’s the best we could do in the given times.” Conner shot back. Whist just kept staring at the sword. “This is…incredible.” Whist said studying the sword as if it were a text book. “Oh and one more thing.” Conner said pulling a small object from his pocket. “This was meant for you, I believe it belonged to one of your parents.” Whist snatched the object from Conners hand. “Oh sorry,” He said. “That was rude.” Conner just smiled.
It was a medallion. A strange emblem was created with several blue white and red lines that formed around a yellow stone in the middle. It almost looked as if the lines were formed by carved sapphire and ruby but Whist could not tell. Whist put the object around his neck.
“It looks great. Now you will be able to impress certain individuals.” Ember said with a wink. Whist began to fidget with the sword. “Those certain individuals have almost nothing to do with this award.”
Conner and Ember laughed.
His head snapped up and his fidgeting stopped. “When was the last time the watchman announced an all is well?” The two men paused. “About five and a half minutes ago.” Ember said.
“And isn’t he supposed to say it—“
“Every five minutes.” Conner interrupted. Whist dove forward, snatched the rifles from the table and tossed the sword at his side to Conner.
The ceiling burst into flames and Whist lifted the long sword Conner had given him above his head. Conner snatched up a bow and quiver as he ran from the house. Whist stared into the inferno pointing his sword like he wanted to attack it.
Ember grabbed Whist and pulled him out into the night. The air was filled with the roar of beasts and the flapping of wings. Several burning lights could be seen far into the overgrowth.
“They have already started on the other houses!” Ember cried, grabbing a bow that leaned on the outside of the house. “Conner! Give me some of your arrows.” The old man had already let loose about a quarter of his shots at the swirling images above them.
The trio ran through the forest keeping to the thickest parts. Every house they crossed was ablaze. “How could they have known?” Whist said as he primed and loaded the two precious weapons he kept hidden under his cloak. Conner saw a house that had not been touched by the flames and the darted towards it.
“If we had just bought that anti-flam chemical.” Whist said to himself as they ran through the building trying to salvage anything useful.
Conner and Ember were too busy to listen to Whist. A nearby roar forced Whist outside and he spied a large scaly winged beast swooping towards the house. Whist shouldered one of the weapons, aimed and squeezed the trigger.
The shot shocked through the air, causing Whist to jump a foot into the air. The dragon screeched in pain and stopped its descent. It soared into the air and Whist shouldered the second weapon. Several other dragons moved over Whist and hovered high in the air looking down like Whist was some kind of strange animal.
Whist lifted his rifle. In vain he searched for an open shot to a rider of one of the beasts. Whist swore and then fired the weapon. Another dragon screamed and the whole pack darted towards him. Whist dove into the building as the steps behind him were transformed into ashes. Conner and Ember ran from the building firing arrows.
Whist dove through one of the windows as it burst into flames and cowered next to the smoldering heap. The dragons circled around looking for him but then moved on to the next houses.
Burning corpses dotted the hills that surrounded Whist. He jumped to his feet and ran towards a ridge. Conner and Ember followed. But before they could reach the tree line a dragon swooped from the trees and closed in on the pair. Whist struggled with his weapon in an attempt to get it loaded.
Ember jumped for the bushes and Conner was shot in the back with an arrow. Whist started to run to him but a ball of fire turned the old man’s skin to dust. Ember, who had just replenished his supply of arrows from the house, let loose upon the dragon.
The beast screamed as one arrow pierced its arm pit. The beast tried to torch the trees but Ember ran so fast and the trees were so thick that nothing was accomplished. The monster soared into the air and moved on.
“A whole quiver!” Ember said running back to Whist. “I emptied a whole quiver on that thing and it’s still kicking!” Ember ran to Conner, picked up some of the shafts that were still intact and followed Whist. “I can’t believe they have attacked us so soon.” Whist said. “We don’t pay that much in tariffs and they are so rich you would think they wouldn’t notice the difference.”
“I guess the only thing worse than a rich rider is one that is a miser.”
When Whist spied the next house his heart screamed. The sight before him echoed through his mind like the boom of a cannon. Five houses stood ablaze and dozens of bodies lay scattered all about the ground. But it was the face of one body that destroyed his heart.
One man ran towards a descending dragon with a white flag. The beast reached down and devoured him whole. Riding on this dragon was an enormous black haired knight with a look of delight on his face.
Whist fired one of the rifles and the bullet struck the knights shoulder. He didn’t even wince. With a word from the rider the dragon sprang towards the direction of the shot. Ember ran out and fired the rest of his shafts into the beast. Whist fired his second rifle and the dragon roared in pain.
When his last arrow was gone Ember turned to run back but a beam of fire surrounded him. For ten seconds the dragon poured fire down upon Ember. The beam was so bright Whist could not see his friend till the fire stopped and a fleshless skeleton lay on the ground.
Whist screamed, drew his sword and charged the beast. The dragon lifted its front forearm and knocked Whist back. He charged again with identical result. Whist screamed and threw his sword into the monster. The blade struck the dragon in the chest.
The rider laughed a bubbling joyful laugh that burned Whist’s insides. The creature snatched Whist up with its claws and soared into the air. For how long Whist dangled in the heavens he didn’t know, but in the end the monster let loose and Whist tumbled towards the ground’s hard embrace.
* * *
Whist jumped up. He stood beneath the broken branches of a few tall trees. Where am I? Whist noticed his two long rifles lying farther off. The stocks of both had been cracked and one looked as if the firing mechanism had been damaged. Whist scooped the two weapons up. How am I alive? Whist remembered that a few seconds ago he was falling through the air. Whist looked up. Could the brantches have broken my fall? I was so high. Oh well.
The sun was just coming up and Whist stared about like he was in a different world. I should find Ember. He stopped. His mind stabbed him with the memory of last nights events. He wouldn’t be able to find Ember, or Conner or…
Whist swung and buried his fist into a tree screaming. His tears flowed down his face and stung his bleeding hands. The swoop of a dragon overhead caused Whist to silence himself and swing his rifle to his shoulder.
Idiot. This thing won’t work. Whist followed the sound of the flapping wings till he discovered a small clearing. Three dragons stood licking wounds. The riders were off the dragons and talking. Whist recognized one as the man who had killed Ember.
“Lets leave this place.” He said kicking about ashen remains. “They have nothing left to loot.”
“Not yet, Lord Retallion.” Another said. “We must make certain no one survived.”
Whist didn’t listen to any more. He had gotten his information. Lord Retallion, so that was his name. Whist burned that information into his memory. “I’ll check the southern clearing again,” Retallion said and he mounted his dragon. In an instant he was gone. Whist took his rifle down. If only he had powder and shot, he could have taken him then.
Whist turned to search the forest for his powder horn when a twig snapped. In an instant the riders were on their dragons. Whist dove through the forest as the dragons soared closer. Before Whist knew what was happening he was in the open. Whist spied a small cave in the side of a mountain. At least they won’t be able to come in with their dragons. Whist thought and made for the opening.
The mouth of the cave inched closer and closer, the sound of roaring dragons felt like it was behind his neck, and seconds before he dove into the darkness a scaly tail whipped Whist onto his back and staring down the snouts of two dragons that appeared to be suffering from halitosis.
“How many more of you are there?” One of the riders asked.
“None. They are all dead thanks to you.”
“We can’t let people go about rebelling, Keeping order is one of the greatest goals of—“ “Where did you get those shiny guns?” the other rider said picking the weapons up and tossing them aside.
“I bought them in fair trade.” The dragons took a step back. In a single second the faces of the riders were struck almost as if with lightning, by a look of utter confused terror. Was it something I said? The two dragons dove into the sky. Both riders glanced at each other and looked back as if they were gazing into the bottom of the sea.
At first the dragons circled back. Then one of the riders cried. “Whatever it is we must destroy it!” and the two beasts flew forward. A sound like a thousand iron waterfalls echoed through the hills and an iron ball flew through the air. It imbedded itself into a rock, then exploded sending sharp fragments everywhere.
More sounds and missiles followed-some large, some small. One of the larger struck one of the dragons and pummeled it to the ground. The explosion sent dragon parts flying everywhere. The second dragon whipped around avoiding the shots till a sound identical to Whist’s long rifle rang out.
The second rider threw up his hands and hung limp. The dragon no longer feeling the life force of his rider roared as wildness overtook it and soared in random wild motions till another projectile ended it.
Whist jumped to his feet and turned. The sight before him ripped the breath from his soul.