Shifti - User contributions [en]

HOMO-PURE a tf drug feral dragons use to unwind and party and commit crime

2021-07-28T01:11:36Z

Loathsomedragon: Created page with "homo-pure actually stands for 'homo ( sapiens ) pure In the historical Earth culture on the internet between the years 1998 to 2019 there were two Yahoo Groups which were Oth..."

homo-pure actually stands for 'homo ( sapiens ) pure

In the historical Earth culture on the internet between the years 1998 to 2019 there were two Yahoo Groups which were Otherkin/Dragonkin in nature.

Generally the members of those two groups thought they had dragon souls in a physical homo sapiens body.

HOMO-PURE was a whimsical play on those two Yahoo Group members.In the Work dragons desire to
be homo-sapiens.

Hence HOMO-PURE could be called a (un)dragonkin drug.

TTOA1894 Great Green Serpent Sinner Man Animated Series Treatment Pitch Bible Furry Otherkin

2021-07-28T00:59:07Z

Loathsomedragon:

This work first became available to the public in
April 2013 in anticipation of a Transformation International Film Festival
idea planned for the tsa-Bash in Austin,Texas later that year

[[ The tsa-talk entry date ]]

CHARACTERS

[[ Maximillian a Controlled Water research engineer at Icey Woo ]]

[[ Fast Eddy Morgan,Maximillians street hustler wheeler dealer illegal drug maker and peddlar stage manager of a brother ]]

[[ Alonzo Sloan aka Sinner Man maker of TF drugs to the In-Betweeners and in love with a reincarnated Indigenous human from the future ]]

[[ Frost Fang a out of work landsailor coal stoker,goes to the In-Betweener Laidley Worm & Three Little Pigs looking for his misbehaving teen daughter Guitar Gertrude Fang ]]

[[ Guitar Gertrude Fang meets a sleazy In-Betweener homo-pure drug pusher ]]

ECONOMIC,SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INTERACTIONS CAUSED BY ASTEROID GREAT GREEN SERPENT

[[ Somewhat racist Frosty the Dragon Coal Stoker meets one of the co-owners of a In-Betweener eating and drinking establishment.A oinking little porker ]]

[[ Ghost Story in a Age of Dinosaurs ]]

TECHNOLOGIES IN THE WORK AND ITS DERIVATIVES

[[ HOMO-PURE a tf drug feral dragons use to unwind and party and commit crime ]]

[[ CONTROLLED WATER a multidimensional semisentient substance ]]

The tsa-talk entry date

2021-07-27T23:34:27Z

Loathsomedragon: Created page with "Dates when various transformation themed and transformation adjacent story universes,works and 'letters of learned thought' first appeared on the mailing list tsa-talk which i..."

Dates when various transformation themed and transformation adjacent story universes,works and 'letters of learned thought' first appeared on the mailing list
tsa-talk which is located at lists.integral.org

April 21rst 2013 : The Tale of a 1894 to 1905 era British coal burning steamship with dragon headed people aboard her

TTOA1894 Great Green Serpent Sinner Man Animated Series Treatment Pitch Bible Furry Otherkin

2021-07-25T19:43:26Z

Loathsomedragon:

Ghost Story in a Age of Dinosaurs

2021-07-25T18:29:21Z

Loathsomedragon: Created page with "Inspired by a 1890s vintage short story and also the Ghostly Heads trailing a ship that is jinxed captured on a photograph **************************************************..."

Inspired by a 1890s vintage short story and also the Ghostly Heads trailing a ship that is jinxed
captured on a photograph

***************************************************************************************

There were quiet whispers about the jinxed sea serpente,the
SS Hoare Fang.Rumour was the mothballed "Ghost Liner" was
being
brought back into service.A half century earlier,this land sailor's
designer,
had foreseen the continuing upheavals to land and sea,and had
installed
state of the art dragons-egg boilers on his new liner.
Then Hoare Fang had impaled the Leviathon in a midships
collision,
and after the bigger Hoare Fang had reversed her engines.the
Leviathon
had capsized and sunk into her own bottomless pool of controlled
water.
The Leviathon had left no trace.
But shortly after the tragedy,passengers aboard the Hoare Fang
reported
slimy weed covered dead feral dragons,the crew and passengers of
the
lost Leviathon,were somehow squeezing themselves through the
portholes
on moonlit nights and bedding with the terrified rich folk.
The SS Hoare Fang had become a ship plagued by her
victims.The boat ruined the company operating her.After the
bankruptcy
the jinx ship had been towed to a weedy patch of land ,her engines
shut down
and she'd settled to the ground,apparently abandoned.
Times change.
***********************************************************************

TTOA1894 Great Green Serpent Sinner Man Animated Series Treatment Pitch Bible Furry Otherkin

2021-07-25T18:20:30Z

Loathsomedragon:

This work first became available to the public in
March 2013 in anticipation of a Transformation International Film Festival
idea planned for the tsa-Bash in Austin,Texas later that year

CHARACTERS

[[ Maximillian a Controlled Water research engineer at Icey Woo ]]

[[ Fast Eddy Morgan,Maximillians street hustler wheeler dealer illegal drug maker and peddlar stage manager of a brother ]]

[[ Alonzo Sloan aka Sinner Man maker of TF drugs to the In-Betweeners and in love with a reincarnated Indigenous human from the future ]]

[[ Frost Fang a out of work landsailor coal stoker,goes to the In-Betweener Laidley Worm & Three Little Pigs looking for his misbehaving teen daughter Guitar Gertrude Fang ]]

[[ Guitar Gertrude Fang meets a sleazy In-Betweener homo-pure drug pusher ]]

ECONOMIC,SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INTERACTIONS CAUSED BY ASTEROID GREAT GREEN SERPENT

[[ Somewhat racist Frosty the Dragon Coal Stoker meets one of the co-owners of a In-Betweener eating and drinking establishment.A oinking little porker ]]

[[ Ghost Story in a Age of Dinosaurs ]]

Somewhat racist Frosty the Dragon Coal Stoker meets one of the co-owners of a In-Betweener eating and drinking establishment.A oinking little porker

2021-07-25T15:44:20Z

Loathsomedragon: Created page with "The original Work which dates to March 2013 puts forth the position that somewheres to the northwest of the main setting,across the Big Ocean,lay the super-continent of Grimm..."

The original Work which dates to March 2013 puts forth the position that somewheres to the
northwest of the main setting,across the Big Ocean,lay the super-continent of
Grimmsland.Grimmsland was populated with fairytale,fable,nursery rhyme and mythical citizens.

When the asteroid Great Green Serpent impacted with Earth 66 million years before present it did so on Grimmsland.The Grimmslanders thus became refugees and set up resettlement camps around the ports that the landsailor vessels docked at.

Ancient dinosaurian Earth is in shake rattle and roll mode and everyone is having a tougher time.

In a intermediary work between the original Work ( 2013) and SINNER MAN ( 2015) we also learn of Piper Polar Bear settlements and surviving dinosaur seamen such as Bronty the Ancient Brontosaurus Mariner.

**********************************************************************************************

Frost had downed his glass of Boothe's Finest 68 and was
puffing on a fag,staring at the Laidley Worm's other patrons.
The cosmic collision a thousand years earlier had affected peoples
the dragons hadn't even been aware existed,
With all the upheavals overseas some of those landless
refugees had hitched rides on land sailor freighters back to
the dragon ports.
As usual,the government had fallen over backwards
to accommodate the Grimmsland folk,even though the government
could barely cope with the needs of its own native dragon citizens.
The Grimm's hadn't posed much of a threat to most of the
draconic job market,but if you were a merchant or a tavern keeper
watch out.The Laidley Worm's owner,a honest hard working
in-betweener named Meg,had been forced by the tough times
to take in three Grimms as co-partners.
The three pig brothers,who had added the signboard
“and the Three Little Pigs”,were busy serving to the
Laidley's new clientele,fellow Grimms.
Frost watched as one of the oinking little porkers
waddled up to one of the smaller tables,where a wolfish
fellow with a beat up hat sat drinking away his sorrows in
a shot glass of '68.
Most of the Grimm's wouldn't touch Boothe's
feral booze,but this Big Bad Wolf had come in a hour
ago wailing about his marriage breakdown with some
Grimm lass named Goldilocks.
The little pig oinked as he came to the wolf's table
and said
“ Say,do I know you from somewhere? “
*********************************************************

TTOA1894 Great Green Serpent Sinner Man Animated Series Treatment Pitch Bible Furry Otherkin

2021-07-25T15:16:34Z

Loathsomedragon:

Guitar Gertrude Fang meets a sleazy In-Betweener homo-pure drug pusher

2021-07-25T14:13:15Z

Loathsomedragon: Created page with "The character Guitar Gertie actually made her first appearance in another story universe where in 2002 -2004 she appears in three drawings.As a teen in the Depression era 1930..."

The character Guitar Gertie actually made her first appearance in another story universe where in 2002 -2004 she appears in three drawings.As a teen in the Depression era 1930s,as a up and coming entertainer in a late 1940s railway station platform and as a Wood Guthrie Fundraising concert.Likely active as a professional entertainer in the 1940s and 1950s.

In the original Work she is her teenage self going through End-of-Days life in ancient times.In the derivative SINNER MAN she appears in the same story universe,but set about 2,000 years prior to the timeline of the original Work.

In SINNER MAN Gertrudes parents have separated and her grandmother Grendela Peluda-Barr has applied to Family Court to
gain custody of her granddaughter Gertrude.

Gertrude's Music Teacher just happens to be a reincarnated
Indigenous female human from the far future.

******************************************************************************************************************
Gertrude Fang,a feral,stood on all fours outside Madam
Peluda's
Cabaret.She had spent her entire young life around the ferals her
mum and
dad hung out with,She'd never realized just how tiny were the
buildings and
entrance ways of the in-betweens.
As a feral female,all Gertrude could expect as a adult was to
lay eggs,hunt
and raise dragonets.Her society frowned upon women working in
the big feral decks
of the dragon boats.
Not that Frost would have let his daughter join him in the
stinking coal dust clogged
and hot steamy bottom feral deck of a dragon boat.
She'd hoped to get a job as a waitress in one of the in�betweens
establishments,However that kind of shrinking magic was beyond a
working
poor feral family's financial ability.
Rumour had it amongst the girls that if you were willing to
sacrifice
your maidenhood and become a hooker,there were pimps in the in�between
red light district who could supply the gold or the magic you needed
to get
into in-between society.
Briefly Gertrude considered making that choice,but when a
sleazy looking in-betweener approached her,she hastily backed
away,
roaring
" No no no" as she charged off in a galloping gait out of the in�between
quarters.
*********************************************************

TTOA1894 Great Green Serpent Sinner Man Animated Series Treatment Pitch Bible Furry Otherkin

2021-07-25T13:58:59Z

Loathsomedragon:

Frost Fang a out of work landsailor coal stoker,goes to the In-Betweener Laidley Worm & Three Little Pigs looking for his misbehaving teen daughter Guitar Gertrude Fang

2021-07-25T13:23:53Z

Loathsomedragon: Created page with "Frost Fang,from the Kanatan Colony somewheres to the West over the Big Ocean.In the original Work he is married to Mrs Frost Fang and has a misbehaving daughter who is guitar..."

Frost Fang,from the Kanatan Colony somewheres to the West over the Big Ocean.In the original Work he is married to Mrs Frost Fang and has a misbehaving daughter who is guitar literate.

In a derived video from 2015 SINNER MAN,Frosty has separated from his wife and we learn Mrs Frost Fang ,Emily Fang (nee Peluda-Barr)
has reacted to the separation and possible divorce by taking some
homo-pure to shape shift herself in a more sensuous anthro dragoness form and is letting out the Beast inside her by having a Act in the Palace,a
In-Betweener Speak Easy owned by crime boss Alonzo Sloan

******************************************************************

Frost Fang ,a feral,was burning off a months wages from
his last
job on booze again.The pub was crowded with with his mates ,the
Black Gang from the
SS Bernadika.His daughter Gertrude Fang had run away from home
again and the
missus had driven Frost out of their cave with a series of healthy
roaring curses,
So Mr Fang had gone to the Laidley Worm and Three Little
Pigs Tavern to inquire if
anyone knew where his daughter was.They didn't.Being polite
honest
working ferals,they didn't want to suggest that perhaps Gertrude
Fang
had turned to a life of prostitution or perhaps now lay senseless in a
snapdragon opium den.
The guys toasted another glass to the Lambton Worm,and then
turned to the matter of finding new employment .The Bernadika was
in
dry dock for a refit of her dragons-egg's ,which were underpowered
for the
shifting geography the land sailors had to overcome.

TTOA1894 Great Green Serpent Sinner Man Animated Series Treatment Pitch Bible Furry Otherkin

2021-07-25T12:52:07Z

Loathsomedragon:

Alonzo Sloan aka Sinner Man maker of TF drugs to the In-Betweeners and in love with a reincarnated Indigenous human from the future

2021-07-25T00:10:43Z

Loathsomedragon: Created page with "Sloan's son was making the deliveries in the West Side of the In-between quarter.His dad,Sloan the feral tough guy crime boss,wanted his son to learn some more about the..."

Sloan's son was making the deliveries in the West Side
of the In-between quarter.His dad,Sloan the feral tough guy
crime boss,wanted his son to learn some more about the
family business.
A business that included the distribution and sale of
nerve burning nine hour and three day unlicensed magic,as well as
a franchised chain of Diabolique Relicque speakeasies where
various walks of dragon society came to unwind and be a little
daring.
Many a feral dragoness,tired of the 24 hour cycle of
hunting,baby making and baby raising,made use of Sloans
product to become a in-between,and then show their wares
on a Diabolique stripper platform to the hoots and jeers of
the mostly male dragon crowd.
Though the odd Grimm crocodile ,pig or wolf visited
the dirty dens as well.
*************************************************************

TTOA1894 Great Green Serpent Sinner Man Animated Series Treatment Pitch Bible Furry Otherkin

2021-07-25T00:08:28Z

Loathsomedragon:

Fast Eddy Morgan,Maximillians street hustler wheeler dealer illegal drug maker and peddlar stage manager of a brother

2021-07-24T23:47:47Z

Loathsomedragon: Created page with "Edward Morgan was the brother of Maximillian Morgan During the day he was a manager for a troupe of vaudeville dragons and dragoness's. Due to his brothers diabetic condit..."

Edward Morgan was the brother of Maximillian Morgan
During the day he was a manager for a troupe of vaudeville
dragons and dragoness's.
Due to his brothers diabetic condition,and the
practical economics aspects of keeping a troupe of
nine dragon entertainers supplied with humanizing magic,
Edward had self taught himself on how to manufacture
the magic .
He had a illegal crystal-magic laboratory in one of the
seedier parts of the feral quarter.He made small batches
of 9 hour and twenty four hour homopure.
On the feral streets he went by the name of Fast Eddy.
Fast Eddy didn't know Gertrude Fang,but he did know
her ex-boyfriend,Sloan's son.
***********************************************************

TTOA1894 Great Green Serpent Sinner Man Animated Series Treatment Pitch Bible Furry Otherkin

2021-07-24T23:46:00Z

Loathsomedragon:

Maximillian a Controlled Water research engineer at Icey Woo

2021-07-24T23:16:29Z

Loathsomedragon: Created page with "Maximillian Morgan,a upper level in-betweener ,had dragon diabetes. As we all know,the humanizing transformation magic the dragons use ends upon death.However even the mo..."

Maximillian Morgan,a upper level in-betweener ,had dragon
diabetes.
As we all know,the humanizing transformation magic the
dragons use ends upon death.However even the most potent
pure white powder that the rich folk use only lasts a month
before its effects wear off.
For a in-between like Max,the prescription employee
benefit plan offered by the Institute for Controlled Water Studies
allowed him to buy the three or ten day tri-paks at a decent
subsidized price.
However because he had dragon diabetes,the
humanizing transformative magics in his body tended to
either be too high or too low if he didn't keep track of his
levels.( too high or too low glucose-magic )
He'd had instances where he hadn't eaten enough before
a reversion,had a collapse in the magic,and awakened in his
natural feral form unable to lift so much as a talon.( hypoglycemia)
The reverse had also happened,where in feral form Max the
Controlled Water engineer-officer had eaten what he considered
to be a dainty meal.Then after taking the magic and shrinking
ninety nine times in both mass and volume,that 'dainty 'meal's
energy had kept him bouncing off the walls with excess zip
for days afterward.
After he'd taken another combined shot of insulin and
a Homopure 3 from his medicine chest,Max got ready for his
lecture to the students of Icey Woo ,as the Institute was
nicknamed by the faculty and students.
Todays class was about “What Lies Beneath the
Surface? “ and the labs would be giving the newbies a
chance to walk on the surface of Controlled Water and the
lucky few would (with safety harness on) take a dip below
the materials calm surface,and into another dimension.
**************************************************************

TTOA1894 Great Green Serpent Sinner Man Animated Series Treatment Pitch Bible Furry Otherkin

2021-07-24T23:08:15Z

Loathsomedragon: Created page with "This work first became available to the public in March 2013 in anticipation of a Transformation International Film Festival idea planned for the tsa-Bash in Austin,Texas late..."

User:Loathsomedragon

2021-07-24T19:27:21Z

Loathsomedragon:

[Author in the [[Dragons of Histh]] setting/universe/family tree

Author of the post-DoH 2000/01 ballad
[[The Ballad of FlameBringer]]

Researcher/Technical Advisor to the
[[Kinglake Film Partnership]]
[[http://www.metamorphose.org/entry/show.htp?rowid=7665&se0=entry&se1=show&sas=se0%3Dentry_history%26se1%3Dwhatsnew]]

[[ TTOA1894 Great Green Serpent Sinner Man Animated Series Treatment Pitch Bible Furry Otherkin ]]

{{author page}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loathsomedragon}}

Movies

2008-01-16T19:52:01Z

Loathsomedragon:

This page contains short reviews, synopses, and links related to various movies with TF themes or content. Entries on this page are open to public editing, feel free to create separate pages for personal reviews and link to them from here if you want.

Note: This page may contain spoilers.

==Black Sheep==

A New Zealand horror/comedy film featuring special effects by Weta, of Lord of the Rings fame. It's got a lot of standard monster horror schlock, with carnivorous sheep that rip a lot of background characters apart in a gory manner, but a number of characters who are bitten survive and slowly transform into very nicely depicted human/sheep hybrids.

Sadly, they all get turned back and/or killed by the end of the movie, and they seem to lose their minds when the transformation progresses to full hybrid form. Still might be worth a look for the sheepmorphs, though.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sheep_%282007_film%29 Wikipedia entry]

Note that there's also a 1996 film called Black Sheep that has nothing to do with sheep TFs.

==Frostfang==

A experimental tf minimovie created in the late spring of 2006
by Morwa Lugi.It runs approximately 3 minutes and
has about 1 minute of transformation scenes and about 2 minutes
of narrative scenes.It runs at 3 frames per second and is the
forebear of "Dragons of Histh-The Movie","Queen of Prussia" and
"Rocket Alien Girl".These videos are located on various video
file providers such as Youtube,Yahoo,Google,Veoh,DailyMotion
and MegaUpload.Some of the cels and soundfiles used to make
FrostFang are located at http://www.geocities.com/morwalugi3

==Skinwalkers==

A werewolf movie featuring a tribe of "good" werewolves vs. a tribe of "evil" werewolves, with the main character being a crossbreed between the two who is approaching his 13th birthday with no knowledge of the existence of either. Haven't watched it yet, anyone who has feel free to insert information on whether it's any good.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinwalkers_%28film%29 Wikipedia entry]

==Splice==

An upcoming movie directed by Vincenzo Natali and starring Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody, Splice is about a pair of researchers who specialize in creating new animal species via chimerization of existing species. They undertake a secret illegal project to produce a human/animal hybrid, and the pictures that have been released of the result suggest the film's going to take an interesting new direction on the matter from the usual horror monster movie. See the images here: [http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34683].

The film's being produced by Steven Hoban of Copperheart Entertainment, the same production company that did the Ginger Snaps series of werewolf films.

----
{{cc-by-nc-sa}}

The Ballad of FlameBringer

2007-08-10T22:40:18Z

Loathsomedragon:

[[Category:Loathsomedragon]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballad of FlameBringer, The}}
<poem>

[A/N The first few verses are how the Ballad
was actually typed out.Robert Lambe uses
a ABCB rhyming scheme and that tript me,so I used a
AACBBC rhyming scheme and also was thinking in terms of the
rhythm(beat) of the words as well as their position on
the page

these verses were written to a definite rhythm

"The drake lashed out
With his mighty snout
And pinned her to the floor
A war to prevent
She showed him her vent
And gave him a dirty roar

Twas a new thing
More delightful then spring
That drake was a seasoned pro
He entered her hard
It felt like a shard
She gave a surprised bellow

Squeals of delight
Rent through the night
That drake he taught her well
The love that they made
Would embarass a shade
That cave was hotter then hell

Flamebringer my dear
Please stay here
I want you for my lover
The air is cold
The knights are bold
I'll keep you safe forever

End A/N ]

The Ballad of Flamebringer

There once did lay
On Budles Bay
A dragon of great fame
Quite a rake
Though not a drake
Flamebringer was her name

In ancient times
From colder climes
King Ida came ashore
Though they called him a saint
They would surely faint
For what he knew was war

For a hundred miles west
They tried their best
But could not stop his wagon
The rumours spread
Amidst the dead
Surely this man is a dragon

Called Flamebringer the Bad
And thought mightily mad
Over the years he did mellow
Now called Ida the Good
The Prince up to him stood
He gave in with nary a bellow

The Queenmom did quake
When the servants spake
What the Prince did
Margaret was too weak
About it to speak
The truth had been hid

The Queenmom was blunt
When the Prince she did confront
It was a mistake
The Prince had power
He made her cower
Then swung his stake
Ida held a cream
When he heard the scream
And felt the body fall
He rushed outside
Wished he could hide
At what lay beside the wall
Ida gave up
Took to the cup
The Prince seized power
Then came the witch
She was a switch
And claimed the tower
There was a marriage
With a royal carriage
Ida had a new wife
She cleaned him up
Smashed the cup
And gave him life
The witch to Margaret came
Saw her shame
In her stepdaughter took interest
Although she was bad
And slightly mad
She never could tolerate incest
Twas no time to be shocked
The Prince was uncocked
She gave him a sly grin
Jigged on the floor
Backed out the door
Rushed for a tonic and gin
The next night
By candlelight
The witch read her spell
In the dungeon
Beside the cauldron
She raised her uncle from hell
There was a flame
In he came
The Prince is a cur
I need a favour
To be her saviour
I will change her
In the Prince he came
Margaret blushed in shame
She lay on the bed
He cracked a grin
Exposed his fin
Margaret her skin she shed
She grew a snout
Her tail pushed out
Her skin went scaly
She had sharp claws
And four paws
She was a dragon baby
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
The Prince got out
And with a shout
Summoned his father
I was taking a leak
When I heard a shriek
Something wrong with daughter
Ida kicked down the door
And what he saw on the floor
Really made him squirm
Though it broke his heart
To set her apart
He had to chain the wyrm
That winter was cold
The Prince was bold
Tried to seize power
There was a war
Prince fled offshore
Ida stayed in his tower
The witch slept
King Ida wept
The wyrm mostly groaned
Oh Margaret dear
I wish you were here
King Ida moaned
In the dungeons below
Came a soft bellow
As the wyrm heard her name
Puzzled was her position
In her condition
She felt no shame
There was no army
There was no navy
The King was off his feet
The next spring
News did bring
Prince had an invasion fleet
In came the fleet
Ida got on his feet
And prepared for the slaughter
The King went for the foe
The witch went below
And visited her stepdaughter
The witch plucked a scale
The pain made the wyrm quayle
As she watched the witch unleash magic
Her hair began to crackle
As she began to cackle
And looked demonic

The witch leapt off the ground
And thrice spun around
She raised her uncle the demon
The wyrm's breath grew thin
The witch was kin
The witch was a dragon
The witch she spake
Make Ida a drake
Tossed the scale in the cauldron
The demon did grin
For the secrets within
Would make him no mere dragon
Ida with a glance
Saw the falling lance
Felt his blood leeching
The demon came
Called his name
The foe began screeching
His armour went burt
He felt mighty thirst
His tail began creaking
There was a loud groan
Scaled skin did tone
Her vent began leaking
The necks lengthened
Legs strengthened
Her body grew
Lips pulled back from a painful grin
Revealling sharp teeth within
Away her manhood flew
Dragons did keen
Knew birth of a queen
Meant the dragon's star was rising
Flamebringer stood
Out flared her hood
To a new beginning
She gazed below
Upon former foe
Thought that they were sleeping
She raised a paw
Unsheathed a claw
Men below were weeping
The winds called her name
Told of a new game
Carried the scent of cattle
She spread her wing
Off the ground did fling
And vanished from the battle�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
The witch freed her stepdaughter
Told her to leave before arrival of brother
Go to the dragons by the falls
If you them my name gave
They will shelter you in the cave
Tell them their granddaughter calls
The witch needed sleep
In the Prince did creep
The cauldron was cold
From the hook it was unhung
And at the witch was flung
In a manner most bold
She had no time to scream
Before she began to steam
Wished to be dead
Gave a shriek
Then a squeak
Skin began to shred
Her clothes they stank
Her body shrank
Prince picked up her hat
Kicked aside the gore
Twitching on the floor
Was a rat
Flamebringer ate her fill
Then looked for a hill
With a cave
The dragon inside
Did not want a bride
Flamebringer I cannot you save
She went to the drake
Beside the lake
He stretched out his neck
Flamebringer my dear
You are much to near
I'm going to give you heck

The drake lashed out
With his mighty snout
And pinned her to the floor
A war to prevent
She showed him her vent
And gave him a dirty roar
Twas a new thing
More delightful then spring
That drake was a seasoned pro
He entered her hard
It felt like a shard
She gave a surprised bellow
Squeals of delight
Rent through the night
That drake he taught her well
The love that they made
Would embarass a shade
That cave was hotter then hell
Flamebringer my dear
Please stay here
I want you for my lover
The air is cold
The knights are bold
I'll keep you safe forever
One morning she woke up from her slumbers
Outside dragons stood in great numbers
They had been driven from their lairs
Prince's army had come
Sounding the drum
Forcing them to flee from former wares
As they gathered round Flamebringer and her mate
There just had to be a twist in fate
A wyrm into her did bore
I anm your daughter
Former father
Fair Margaret no more
They talked
Over the fate of the witch someone squawked
It was complete mystery
She was banished
Or had vanished
It looked like the witch was history
Flamebringer flew to the castle
Her son she wanted to hassle
She was stopped short
Prince held a rat by the tail
Over a flaming pail
He gave a retort
Former father
Look at stepmother
Prepare to meet your doom
The rat did cry
He does not lie
Flamebringer was filled with gloom
She fled the scene
In a manner unbefitting a Queen
And returned to the lake
Dragons knew not war
They would flee at the gore
Flamebringer told the drake�

The Ballad of Flamebringer
From the lands below
Advanced the foe
Intent on doing battle
Though dragons have claws
And mighty jaws
What they really want are cattle
To left and right
With her dragon sight
She saw her companions
She flared her hood
And firmly stood
She would not leave her dragons

Behind the others
Sat the mothers
Wyrmies close in tow
At the front
They took the brunt
To keep away the foe
The arrows came
The woods did flame
The wyrmies ran around
The mothers fled
From the dead
The wyrmies made no sound
The drake did sound
To retreat the ground
With a bellow
A cannon shook
Hit his hook
He was laid low
The dragons soared
The cannons roared
Flamebringer she spun wild
Though bugles blew
And arrows flew
She would not leave her child
Clouds above
Crowds below
Where was her precious wyrm
The dust was thick
The guns were quick
It really made her squirm

There was a nip
She did a flip
And came spiralling down
The crack of bone
A mighty groan
She'd landed in the town
The humans came
Saw her shame
The crowds backed up in fear
She had to get out
Gave a shout
And got up off her rear
Ahead of the flame
The soldiers came
The wyrmies they were trapped
Their scales did quiver
Their eyes were a glitter
Their little tails they tapped
Before the blood flowed
Up the Prince he rode
Which one of you is my sister
A synapse barked
A memory sparked
Was this her brother
She prepared to be dead
Tilted her head
She was no coward
Because of the blood that binds
There are no other kinds
They all stepped forward
The Prince lost his gloat
Take them to the moat
He could not understand why
The wyrmies strode the land
They were a mighty band
They held their heads high

Though their chains did rattle
They could not stop glancing at the cattle
They were marched off
The wyrm to her right
Got in the way of her sight
And gave a gentle cough
I saw your mother
She was in a bother
Looking for her daughter
Then the smoke came
Along with the flame
And she fled the slaughter
Beside the moat they rested
While their chains they tested
To the dirt were bound
They called to the witch
Join us at the ditch
The Prince will no longer you hound
In the bedroom sat
A skeletal rat
This form she found laidley
The witch she cared
But her teeth she bared
She was not worthy
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
Ahead of the crowd Flamebringer gained
Though broken wings were pained
She ran on all fours
From danger she hopped
Not till far away she stopped
And headed for the safety of the shores
On the beach were the sick and dying
Flamebringer found the drake lying
Near the River Blye
He talked of emigration
To a friendlier nation
Flamebringer spat out flames high
For this land I fought
Now dragon blood has it bought
I will not flee
This dragon band
Will make one final stand
Before we escape by sea
She pushed them to the wires
Spat at them with her fires
On the outer edge was every male
The rest took inner position
Flamebringer did requistion
All their poison,flame and hail
She looked at castle near
Shed a steaming hot tear
There had to be a better way
Prince was not well
And was rushing to hell
Prince she did not want to slay
Ideas churned in her head
Her eyes began to glow red
What was needed was a spell
The humans to dragons bind
And make them all one kind
She needed the witch's powers of hell
Prince rounded up the cattle
To trap dragons in a final battle
The ground would be bloody red
Though his plans were not leaked
He forgot the one who squeaked
With the plans she quickly fled
It was a difficult swim
She barely made it to outer rim
Sogging wet to wyrmies crawled
The plans out she gasped
Together her paws clasped
End my life she bawled
One final task
They did ask
Set us free
Rat struggled with the lock
Finally made it uncock
Using tail as key
Wyrmies had a promise to keep
Twas hard for them not to weep
None knew of the demon spell
Flames of dragons thirtyfive
Would make witchwyrm come alive
Twas a secret kept well
The rats blood began to boil
Glowing red was the soil
All concerned stepped back
The rats eyes began to glow
She began to grow
Was reborn with thunderous crack
Of her humanity she was shorn
Was a baby dragon reborn
Twas no time to play around
They had to get to the beach
Escape the Prince's reach
Flee to safer ground
Return of wyrmies was very charming
Lack of food was alarming
Distant cattle looked so yummy
All dragon stomachs began to grumble
Dragon instincts are not very humble
What was the harm to fill the tummy
Dragons began to drift
There was a leadership rift
Flamebringer witchwyrm's shoulder grasped
Time was running short
They had to transform Prince's court
In surprise witchwyrm gasped
This was a mighty spell
She did not know it well
Kingdom would undergo major change
She asked for a cauldron
And a touch of onion
Marked out her range
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
She started the spell
Caught cattle smell
Was thrown off ballance
The witchwyrm shuddered
Then she stuttered
To the food she did glance
I need something to eat
The spell to complete
The witchwyrm grumbled
The cattle moved closer
Her nostrils flared wider
Her stomach rumbled
She could not be blamed
Her hunger it flamed
She was a new dragon
While Flamebringer wept
Off the witchwyrm leapt
She left her cauldron
Her parents in did glide
Saw Flamebringer crying on her side
The witchwyrm lay nearby
Her meal was a bull
Her stomach was full
She gave a happy sigh
Mother spat
Where daughter sat
You're feeling well
While battles rage
My precious sage
Did you complete the spell
The witchwyrm opened her eyes
Uttered a cry of surprise
At the sight of mother
The witchwyrm backed up
To the big cup
Beside the kettle was father

Although she was glad
He was sad
And did say
Witchwyrm my dear
I'm glad you're here
But we have foe to stay
They banded together
Were birds of a feather
And touched their paws
They were full of mettle
Had no need for the kettle
And opened their jaws
All dragons began to moan
Then they began to groan
Twas too strong a spell
For witchwyrm to control
It nearly drained her soul
But the results she could not quell
All dragons had indigestion
Inside was much combustion
They all opened their jaws
Flamebringer cleared her eyes
And in surprise
Saw living flame erupt from maws
When the power showed
It really flowed
Flames leapt to ground with a crackle
Searched for humans with no care
None of them did it spare
Even went for ones in shackle
Babies changed in to wyrms
Fathers often became lindorms
Mothers became fire drakes
Soldiers became wyverns
Ships sank by the sterns
Sea Serpent crews preferred lakes
Prince began crying
There was no use in trying
All his generals were in heat
Soon of his past he had no clue
To the mountains he flew
The newborn drake sought a new seat
No humans did escape
Though there was many a scrape
As things settled down
Many a new wyvern
Preferred a cavern
Soon left the town
Flamebringer beside her drake lay
Knew tomorrow was a new day
Wing on wyrm gently rested
As sun sank in horizon
Everyone was a dragon
Prince's evil had been bested
]
</poem>
[[Ballad of FlameBringer commentary]]

The Ballad of FlameBringer

2007-08-10T22:38:15Z

Loathsomedragon:

[[Category:Loathsomedragon]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballad of FlameBringer, The}}
<poem>

[A/N The first few verses are how the Ballad
was actually typed out.Robert Lambe uses
a ABCB rhyming scheme and that tript me,so I used a
AACBBC rhtming scheme and also was thinking in terms of the
rhythm(beat) of the words as well as their position on
the page

these verses were written to a definite rhythm

"The drake lashed out
With his mighty snout
And pinned her to the floor
A war to prevent
She showed him her vent
And gave him a dirty roar

Twas a new thing
More delightful then spring
That drake was a seasoned pro
He entered her hard
It felt like a shard
She gave a surprised bellow

Squeals of delight
Rent through the night
That drake he taught her well
The love that they made
Would embarass a shade
That cave was hotter then hell

Flamebringer my dear
Please stay here
I want you for my lover
The air is cold
The knights are bold
I'll keep you safe forever

End A/N ]

The Ballad of Flamebringer

There once did lay
On Budles Bay
A dragon of great fame
Quite a rake
Though not a drake
Flamebringer was her name

In ancient times
From colder climes
King Ida came ashore
Though they called him a saint
They would surely faint
For what he knew was war

For a hundred miles west
They tried their best
But could not stop his wagon
The rumours spread
Amidst the dead
Surely this man is a dragon

Called Flamebringer the Bad
And thought mightily mad
Over the years he did mellow
Now called Ida the Good
The Prince up to him stood
He gave in with nary a bellow

The Queenmom did quake
When the servants spake
What the Prince did
Margaret was too weak
About it to speak
The truth had been hid

The Queenmom was blunt
When the Prince she did confront
It was a mistake
The Prince had power
He made her cower
Then swung his stake
Ida held a cream
When he heard the scream
And felt the body fall
He rushed outside
Wished he could hide
At what lay beside the wall
Ida gave up
Took to the cup
The Prince seized power
Then came the witch
She was a switch
And claimed the tower
There was a marriage
With a royal carriage
Ida had a new wife
She cleaned him up
Smashed the cup
And gave him life
The witch to Margaret came
Saw her shame
In her stepdaughter took interest
Although she was bad
And slightly mad
She never could tolerate incest
Twas no time to be shocked
The Prince was uncocked
She gave him a sly grin
Jigged on the floor
Backed out the door
Rushed for a tonic and gin
The next night
By candlelight
The witch read her spell
In the dungeon
Beside the cauldron
She raised her uncle from hell
There was a flame
In he came
The Prince is a cur
I need a favour
To be her saviour
I will change her
In the Prince he came
Margaret blushed in shame
She lay on the bed
He cracked a grin
Exposed his fin
Margaret her skin she shed
She grew a snout
Her tail pushed out
Her skin went scaly
She had sharp claws
And four paws
She was a dragon baby
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
The Prince got out
And with a shout
Summoned his father
I was taking a leak
When I heard a shriek
Something wrong with daughter
Ida kicked down the door
And what he saw on the floor
Really made him squirm
Though it broke his heart
To set her apart
He had to chain the wyrm
That winter was cold
The Prince was bold
Tried to seize power
There was a war
Prince fled offshore
Ida stayed in his tower
The witch slept
King Ida wept
The wyrm mostly groaned
Oh Margaret dear
I wish you were here
King Ida moaned
In the dungeons below
Came a soft bellow
As the wyrm heard her name
Puzzled was her position
In her condition
She felt no shame
There was no army
There was no navy
The King was off his feet
The next spring
News did bring
Prince had an invasion fleet
In came the fleet
Ida got on his feet
And prepared for the slaughter
The King went for the foe
The witch went below
And visited her stepdaughter
The witch plucked a scale
The pain made the wyrm quayle
As she watched the witch unleash magic
Her hair began to crackle
As she began to cackle
And looked demonic

The witch leapt off the ground
And thrice spun around
She raised her uncle the demon
The wyrm's breath grew thin
The witch was kin
The witch was a dragon
The witch she spake
Make Ida a drake
Tossed the scale in the cauldron
The demon did grin
For the secrets within
Would make him no mere dragon
Ida with a glance
Saw the falling lance
Felt his blood leeching
The demon came
Called his name
The foe began screeching
His armour went burt
He felt mighty thirst
His tail began creaking
There was a loud groan
Scaled skin did tone
Her vent began leaking
The necks lengthened
Legs strengthened
Her body grew
Lips pulled back from a painful grin
Revealling sharp teeth within
Away her manhood flew
Dragons did keen
Knew birth of a queen
Meant the dragon's star was rising
Flamebringer stood
Out flared her hood
To a new beginning
She gazed below
Upon former foe
Thought that they were sleeping
She raised a paw
Unsheathed a claw
Men below were weeping
The winds called her name
Told of a new game
Carried the scent of cattle
She spread her wing
Off the ground did fling
And vanished from the battle�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
The witch freed her stepdaughter
Told her to leave before arrival of brother
Go to the dragons by the falls
If you them my name gave
They will shelter you in the cave
Tell them their granddaughter calls
The witch needed sleep
In the Prince did creep
The cauldron was cold
From the hook it was unhung
And at the witch was flung
In a manner most bold
She had no time to scream
Before she began to steam
Wished to be dead
Gave a shriek
Then a squeak
Skin began to shred
Her clothes they stank
Her body shrank
Prince picked up her hat
Kicked aside the gore
Twitching on the floor
Was a rat
Flamebringer ate her fill
Then looked for a hill
With a cave
The dragon inside
Did not want a bride
Flamebringer I cannot you save
She went to the drake
Beside the lake
He stretched out his neck
Flamebringer my dear
You are much to near
I'm going to give you heck

The drake lashed out
With his mighty snout
And pinned her to the floor
A war to prevent
She showed him her vent
And gave him a dirty roar
Twas a new thing
More delightful then spring
That drake was a seasoned pro
He entered her hard
It felt like a shard
She gave a surprised bellow
Squeals of delight
Rent through the night
That drake he taught her well
The love that they made
Would embarass a shade
That cave was hotter then hell
Flamebringer my dear
Please stay here
I want you for my lover
The air is cold
The knights are bold
I'll keep you safe forever
One morning she woke up from her slumbers
Outside dragons stood in great numbers
They had been driven from their lairs
Prince's army had come
Sounding the drum
Forcing them to flee from former wares
As they gathered round Flamebringer and her mate
There just had to be a twist in fate
A wyrm into her did bore
I anm your daughter
Former father
Fair Margaret no more
They talked
Over the fate of the witch someone squawked
It was complete mystery
She was banished
Or had vanished
It looked like the witch was history
Flamebringer flew to the castle
Her son she wanted to hassle
She was stopped short
Prince held a rat by the tail
Over a flaming pail
He gave a retort
Former father
Look at stepmother
Prepare to meet your doom
The rat did cry
He does not lie
Flamebringer was filled with gloom
She fled the scene
In a manner unbefitting a Queen
And returned to the lake
Dragons knew not war
They would flee at the gore
Flamebringer told the drake�

The Ballad of Flamebringer
From the lands below
Advanced the foe
Intent on doing battle
Though dragons have claws
And mighty jaws
What they really want are cattle
To left and right
With her dragon sight
She saw her companions
She flared her hood
And firmly stood
She would not leave her dragons

Behind the others
Sat the mothers
Wyrmies close in tow
At the front
They took the brunt
To keep away the foe
The arrows came
The woods did flame
The wyrmies ran around
The mothers fled
From the dead
The wyrmies made no sound
The drake did sound
To retreat the ground
With a bellow
A cannon shook
Hit his hook
He was laid low
The dragons soared
The cannons roared
Flamebringer she spun wild
Though bugles blew
And arrows flew
She would not leave her child
Clouds above
Crowds below
Where was her precious wyrm
The dust was thick
The guns were quick
It really made her squirm

There was a nip
She did a flip
And came spiralling down
The crack of bone
A mighty groan
She'd landed in the town
The humans came
Saw her shame
The crowds backed up in fear
She had to get out
Gave a shout
And got up off her rear
Ahead of the flame
The soldiers came
The wyrmies they were trapped
Their scales did quiver
Their eyes were a glitter
Their little tails they tapped
Before the blood flowed
Up the Prince he rode
Which one of you is my sister
A synapse barked
A memory sparked
Was this her brother
She prepared to be dead
Tilted her head
She was no coward
Because of the blood that binds
There are no other kinds
They all stepped forward
The Prince lost his gloat
Take them to the moat
He could not understand why
The wyrmies strode the land
They were a mighty band
They held their heads high

Though their chains did rattle
They could not stop glancing at the cattle
They were marched off
The wyrm to her right
Got in the way of her sight
And gave a gentle cough
I saw your mother
She was in a bother
Looking for her daughter
Then the smoke came
Along with the flame
And she fled the slaughter
Beside the moat they rested
While their chains they tested
To the dirt were bound
They called to the witch
Join us at the ditch
The Prince will no longer you hound
In the bedroom sat
A skeletal rat
This form she found laidley
The witch she cared
But her teeth she bared
She was not worthy
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
Ahead of the crowd Flamebringer gained
Though broken wings were pained
She ran on all fours
From danger she hopped
Not till far away she stopped
And headed for the safety of the shores
On the beach were the sick and dying
Flamebringer found the drake lying
Near the River Blye
He talked of emigration
To a friendlier nation
Flamebringer spat out flames high
For this land I fought
Now dragon blood has it bought
I will not flee
This dragon band
Will make one final stand
Before we escape by sea
She pushed them to the wires
Spat at them with her fires
On the outer edge was every male
The rest took inner position
Flamebringer did requistion
All their poison,flame and hail
She looked at castle near
Shed a steaming hot tear
There had to be a better way
Prince was not well
And was rushing to hell
Prince she did not want to slay
Ideas churned in her head
Her eyes began to glow red
What was needed was a spell
The humans to dragons bind
And make them all one kind
She needed the witch's powers of hell
Prince rounded up the cattle
To trap dragons in a final battle
The ground would be bloody red
Though his plans were not leaked
He forgot the one who squeaked
With the plans she quickly fled
It was a difficult swim
She barely made it to outer rim
Sogging wet to wyrmies crawled
The plans out she gasped
Together her paws clasped
End my life she bawled
One final task
They did ask
Set us free
Rat struggled with the lock
Finally made it uncock
Using tail as key
Wyrmies had a promise to keep
Twas hard for them not to weep
None knew of the demon spell
Flames of dragons thirtyfive
Would make witchwyrm come alive
Twas a secret kept well
The rats blood began to boil
Glowing red was the soil
All concerned stepped back
The rats eyes began to glow
She began to grow
Was reborn with thunderous crack
Of her humanity she was shorn
Was a baby dragon reborn
Twas no time to play around
They had to get to the beach
Escape the Prince's reach
Flee to safer ground
Return of wyrmies was very charming
Lack of food was alarming
Distant cattle looked so yummy
All dragon stomachs began to grumble
Dragon instincts are not very humble
What was the harm to fill the tummy
Dragons began to drift
There was a leadership rift
Flamebringer witchwyrm's shoulder grasped
Time was running short
They had to transform Prince's court
In surprise witchwyrm gasped
This was a mighty spell
She did not know it well
Kingdom would undergo major change
She asked for a cauldron
And a touch of onion
Marked out her range
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
She started the spell
Caught cattle smell
Was thrown off ballance
The witchwyrm shuddered
Then she stuttered
To the food she did glance
I need something to eat
The spell to complete
The witchwyrm grumbled
The cattle moved closer
Her nostrils flared wider
Her stomach rumbled
She could not be blamed
Her hunger it flamed
She was a new dragon
While Flamebringer wept
Off the witchwyrm leapt
She left her cauldron
Her parents in did glide
Saw Flamebringer crying on her side
The witchwyrm lay nearby
Her meal was a bull
Her stomach was full
She gave a happy sigh
Mother spat
Where daughter sat
You're feeling well
While battles rage
My precious sage
Did you complete the spell
The witchwyrm opened her eyes
Uttered a cry of surprise
At the sight of mother
The witchwyrm backed up
To the big cup
Beside the kettle was father

Although she was glad
He was sad
And did say
Witchwyrm my dear
I'm glad you're here
But we have foe to stay
They banded together
Were birds of a feather
And touched their paws
They were full of mettle
Had no need for the kettle
And opened their jaws
All dragons began to moan
Then they began to groan
Twas too strong a spell
For witchwyrm to control
It nearly drained her soul
But the results she could not quell
All dragons had indigestion
Inside was much combustion
They all opened their jaws
Flamebringer cleared her eyes
And in surprise
Saw living flame erupt from maws
When the power showed
It really flowed
Flames leapt to ground with a crackle
Searched for humans with no care
None of them did it spare
Even went for ones in shackle
Babies changed in to wyrms
Fathers often became lindorms
Mothers became fire drakes
Soldiers became wyverns
Ships sank by the sterns
Sea Serpent crews preferred lakes
Prince began crying
There was no use in trying
All his generals were in heat
Soon of his past he had no clue
To the mountains he flew
The newborn drake sought a new seat
No humans did escape
Though there was many a scrape
As things settled down
Many a new wyvern
Preferred a cavern
Soon left the town
Flamebringer beside her drake lay
Knew tomorrow was a new day
Wing on wyrm gently rested
As sun sank in horizon
Everyone was a dragon
Prince's evil had been bested
]
</poem>
[[Ballad of FlameBringer commentary]]

The Ballad of FlameBringer

2007-08-10T22:36:11Z

Loathsomedragon:

[[Category:Loathsomedragon]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballad of FlameBringer, The}}
<poem>

[A/N The first few verses are how the Ballad
were actually typed out.Robert Lambe uses
a ABCB rhying scheme and that tript me,so I used a
AACBBC rhtming scheme and also was thinking in terms of the
rhythm(beat) of the words as well as their position on
the page

these verses were written to a definite rhythm

"The drake lashed out
With his mighty snout
And pinned her to the floor
A war to prevent
She showed him her vent
And gave him a dirty roar

Twas a new thing
More delightful then spring
That drake was a seasoned pro
He entered her hard
It felt like a shard
She gave a surprised bellow

Squeals of delight
Rent through the night
That drake he taught her well
The love that they made
Would embarass a shade
That cave was hotter then hell

Flamebringer my dear
Please stay here
I want you for my lover
The air is cold
The knights are bold
I'll keep you safe forever

End A/N ]

The Ballad of Flamebringer

There once did lay
On Budles Bay
A dragon of great fame
Quite a rake
Though not a drake
Flamebringer was her name

In ancient times
From colder climes
King Ida came ashore
Though they called him a saint
They would surely faint
For what he knew was war

For a hundred miles west
They tried their best
But could not stop his wagon
The rumours spread
Amidst the dead
Surely this man is a dragon

Called Flamebringer the Bad
And thought mightily mad
Over the years he did mellow
Now called Ida the Good
The Prince up to him stood
He gave in with nary a bellow

The Queenmom did quake
When the servants spake
What the Prince did
Margaret was too weak
About it to speak
The truth had been hid

The Queenmom was blunt
When the Prince she did confront
It was a mistake
The Prince had power
He made her cower
Then swung his stake
Ida held a cream
When he heard the scream
And felt the body fall
He rushed outside
Wished he could hide
At what lay beside the wall
Ida gave up
Took to the cup
The Prince seized power
Then came the witch
She was a switch
And claimed the tower
There was a marriage
With a royal carriage
Ida had a new wife
She cleaned him up
Smashed the cup
And gave him life
The witch to Margaret came
Saw her shame
In her stepdaughter took interest
Although she was bad
And slightly mad
She never could tolerate incest
Twas no time to be shocked
The Prince was uncocked
She gave him a sly grin
Jigged on the floor
Backed out the door
Rushed for a tonic and gin
The next night
By candlelight
The witch read her spell
In the dungeon
Beside the cauldron
She raised her uncle from hell
There was a flame
In he came
The Prince is a cur
I need a favour
To be her saviour
I will change her
In the Prince he came
Margaret blushed in shame
She lay on the bed
He cracked a grin
Exposed his fin
Margaret her skin she shed
She grew a snout
Her tail pushed out
Her skin went scaly
She had sharp claws
And four paws
She was a dragon baby
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
The Prince got out
And with a shout
Summoned his father
I was taking a leak
When I heard a shriek
Something wrong with daughter
Ida kicked down the door
And what he saw on the floor
Really made him squirm
Though it broke his heart
To set her apart
He had to chain the wyrm
That winter was cold
The Prince was bold
Tried to seize power
There was a war
Prince fled offshore
Ida stayed in his tower
The witch slept
King Ida wept
The wyrm mostly groaned
Oh Margaret dear
I wish you were here
King Ida moaned
In the dungeons below
Came a soft bellow
As the wyrm heard her name
Puzzled was her position
In her condition
She felt no shame
There was no army
There was no navy
The King was off his feet
The next spring
News did bring
Prince had an invasion fleet
In came the fleet
Ida got on his feet
And prepared for the slaughter
The King went for the foe
The witch went below
And visited her stepdaughter
The witch plucked a scale
The pain made the wyrm quayle
As she watched the witch unleash magic
Her hair began to crackle
As she began to cackle
And looked demonic

The witch leapt off the ground
And thrice spun around
She raised her uncle the demon
The wyrm's breath grew thin
The witch was kin
The witch was a dragon
The witch she spake
Make Ida a drake
Tossed the scale in the cauldron
The demon did grin
For the secrets within
Would make him no mere dragon
Ida with a glance
Saw the falling lance
Felt his blood leeching
The demon came
Called his name
The foe began screeching
His armour went burt
He felt mighty thirst
His tail began creaking
There was a loud groan
Scaled skin did tone
Her vent began leaking
The necks lengthened
Legs strengthened
Her body grew
Lips pulled back from a painful grin
Revealling sharp teeth within
Away her manhood flew
Dragons did keen
Knew birth of a queen
Meant the dragon's star was rising
Flamebringer stood
Out flared her hood
To a new beginning
She gazed below
Upon former foe
Thought that they were sleeping
She raised a paw
Unsheathed a claw
Men below were weeping
The winds called her name
Told of a new game
Carried the scent of cattle
She spread her wing
Off the ground did fling
And vanished from the battle�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
The witch freed her stepdaughter
Told her to leave before arrival of brother
Go to the dragons by the falls
If you them my name gave
They will shelter you in the cave
Tell them their granddaughter calls
The witch needed sleep
In the Prince did creep
The cauldron was cold
From the hook it was unhung
And at the witch was flung
In a manner most bold
She had no time to scream
Before she began to steam
Wished to be dead
Gave a shriek
Then a squeak
Skin began to shred
Her clothes they stank
Her body shrank
Prince picked up her hat
Kicked aside the gore
Twitching on the floor
Was a rat
Flamebringer ate her fill
Then looked for a hill
With a cave
The dragon inside
Did not want a bride
Flamebringer I cannot you save
She went to the drake
Beside the lake
He stretched out his neck
Flamebringer my dear
You are much to near
I'm going to give you heck

The drake lashed out
With his mighty snout
And pinned her to the floor
A war to prevent
She showed him her vent
And gave him a dirty roar
Twas a new thing
More delightful then spring
That drake was a seasoned pro
He entered her hard
It felt like a shard
She gave a surprised bellow
Squeals of delight
Rent through the night
That drake he taught her well
The love that they made
Would embarass a shade
That cave was hotter then hell
Flamebringer my dear
Please stay here
I want you for my lover
The air is cold
The knights are bold
I'll keep you safe forever
One morning she woke up from her slumbers
Outside dragons stood in great numbers
They had been driven from their lairs
Prince's army had come
Sounding the drum
Forcing them to flee from former wares
As they gathered round Flamebringer and her mate
There just had to be a twist in fate
A wyrm into her did bore
I anm your daughter
Former father
Fair Margaret no more
They talked
Over the fate of the witch someone squawked
It was complete mystery
She was banished
Or had vanished
It looked like the witch was history
Flamebringer flew to the castle
Her son she wanted to hassle
She was stopped short
Prince held a rat by the tail
Over a flaming pail
He gave a retort
Former father
Look at stepmother
Prepare to meet your doom
The rat did cry
He does not lie
Flamebringer was filled with gloom
She fled the scene
In a manner unbefitting a Queen
And returned to the lake
Dragons knew not war
They would flee at the gore
Flamebringer told the drake�

The Ballad of Flamebringer
From the lands below
Advanced the foe
Intent on doing battle
Though dragons have claws
And mighty jaws
What they really want are cattle
To left and right
With her dragon sight
She saw her companions
She flared her hood
And firmly stood
She would not leave her dragons

Behind the others
Sat the mothers
Wyrmies close in tow
At the front
They took the brunt
To keep away the foe
The arrows came
The woods did flame
The wyrmies ran around
The mothers fled
From the dead
The wyrmies made no sound
The drake did sound
To retreat the ground
With a bellow
A cannon shook
Hit his hook
He was laid low
The dragons soared
The cannons roared
Flamebringer she spun wild
Though bugles blew
And arrows flew
She would not leave her child
Clouds above
Crowds below
Where was her precious wyrm
The dust was thick
The guns were quick
It really made her squirm

There was a nip
She did a flip
And came spiralling down
The crack of bone
A mighty groan
She'd landed in the town
The humans came
Saw her shame
The crowds backed up in fear
She had to get out
Gave a shout
And got up off her rear
Ahead of the flame
The soldiers came
The wyrmies they were trapped
Their scales did quiver
Their eyes were a glitter
Their little tails they tapped
Before the blood flowed
Up the Prince he rode
Which one of you is my sister
A synapse barked
A memory sparked
Was this her brother
She prepared to be dead
Tilted her head
She was no coward
Because of the blood that binds
There are no other kinds
They all stepped forward
The Prince lost his gloat
Take them to the moat
He could not understand why
The wyrmies strode the land
They were a mighty band
They held their heads high

Though their chains did rattle
They could not stop glancing at the cattle
They were marched off
The wyrm to her right
Got in the way of her sight
And gave a gentle cough
I saw your mother
She was in a bother
Looking for her daughter
Then the smoke came
Along with the flame
And she fled the slaughter
Beside the moat they rested
While their chains they tested
To the dirt were bound
They called to the witch
Join us at the ditch
The Prince will no longer you hound
In the bedroom sat
A skeletal rat
This form she found laidley
The witch she cared
But her teeth she bared
She was not worthy
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
Ahead of the crowd Flamebringer gained
Though broken wings were pained
She ran on all fours
From danger she hopped
Not till far away she stopped
And headed for the safety of the shores
On the beach were the sick and dying
Flamebringer found the drake lying
Near the River Blye
He talked of emigration
To a friendlier nation
Flamebringer spat out flames high
For this land I fought
Now dragon blood has it bought
I will not flee
This dragon band
Will make one final stand
Before we escape by sea
She pushed them to the wires
Spat at them with her fires
On the outer edge was every male
The rest took inner position
Flamebringer did requistion
All their poison,flame and hail
She looked at castle near
Shed a steaming hot tear
There had to be a better way
Prince was not well
And was rushing to hell
Prince she did not want to slay
Ideas churned in her head
Her eyes began to glow red
What was needed was a spell
The humans to dragons bind
And make them all one kind
She needed the witch's powers of hell
Prince rounded up the cattle
To trap dragons in a final battle
The ground would be bloody red
Though his plans were not leaked
He forgot the one who squeaked
With the plans she quickly fled
It was a difficult swim
She barely made it to outer rim
Sogging wet to wyrmies crawled
The plans out she gasped
Together her paws clasped
End my life she bawled
One final task
They did ask
Set us free
Rat struggled with the lock
Finally made it uncock
Using tail as key
Wyrmies had a promise to keep
Twas hard for them not to weep
None knew of the demon spell
Flames of dragons thirtyfive
Would make witchwyrm come alive
Twas a secret kept well
The rats blood began to boil
Glowing red was the soil
All concerned stepped back
The rats eyes began to glow
She began to grow
Was reborn with thunderous crack
Of her humanity she was shorn
Was a baby dragon reborn
Twas no time to play around
They had to get to the beach
Escape the Prince's reach
Flee to safer ground
Return of wyrmies was very charming
Lack of food was alarming
Distant cattle looked so yummy
All dragon stomachs began to grumble
Dragon instincts are not very humble
What was the harm to fill the tummy
Dragons began to drift
There was a leadership rift
Flamebringer witchwyrm's shoulder grasped
Time was running short
They had to transform Prince's court
In surprise witchwyrm gasped
This was a mighty spell
She did not know it well
Kingdom would undergo major change
She asked for a cauldron
And a touch of onion
Marked out her range
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
She started the spell
Caught cattle smell
Was thrown off ballance
The witchwyrm shuddered
Then she stuttered
To the food she did glance
I need something to eat
The spell to complete
The witchwyrm grumbled
The cattle moved closer
Her nostrils flared wider
Her stomach rumbled
She could not be blamed
Her hunger it flamed
She was a new dragon
While Flamebringer wept
Off the witchwyrm leapt
She left her cauldron
Her parents in did glide
Saw Flamebringer crying on her side
The witchwyrm lay nearby
Her meal was a bull
Her stomach was full
She gave a happy sigh
Mother spat
Where daughter sat
You're feeling well
While battles rage
My precious sage
Did you complete the spell
The witchwyrm opened her eyes
Uttered a cry of surprise
At the sight of mother
The witchwyrm backed up
To the big cup
Beside the kettle was father

Although she was glad
He was sad
And did say
Witchwyrm my dear
I'm glad you're here
But we have foe to stay
They banded together
Were birds of a feather
And touched their paws
They were full of mettle
Had no need for the kettle
And opened their jaws
All dragons began to moan
Then they began to groan
Twas too strong a spell
For witchwyrm to control
It nearly drained her soul
But the results she could not quell
All dragons had indigestion
Inside was much combustion
They all opened their jaws
Flamebringer cleared her eyes
And in surprise
Saw living flame erupt from maws
When the power showed
It really flowed
Flames leapt to ground with a crackle
Searched for humans with no care
None of them did it spare
Even went for ones in shackle
Babies changed in to wyrms
Fathers often became lindorms
Mothers became fire drakes
Soldiers became wyverns
Ships sank by the sterns
Sea Serpent crews preferred lakes
Prince began crying
There was no use in trying
All his generals were in heat
Soon of his past he had no clue
To the mountains he flew
The newborn drake sought a new seat
No humans did escape
Though there was many a scrape
As things settled down
Many a new wyvern
Preferred a cavern
Soon left the town
Flamebringer beside her drake lay
Knew tomorrow was a new day
Wing on wyrm gently rested
As sun sank in horizon
Everyone was a dragon
Prince's evil had been bested
]
</poem>
[[Ballad of FlameBringer commentary]]

Ballad of FlameBringer commentary

2007-08-10T22:21:18Z

Loathsomedragon: New page: Uses the rhyming style aabccb

Uses the rhyming style

aabccb

User:Loathsomedragon

2007-08-04T19:02:14Z

Loathsomedragon:

The Ballad of FlameBringer

2007-08-04T18:31:19Z

Loathsomedragon: New page: [ The Ballad of Flamebringer There once did lay On Budles Bay A dragon of great fame Quite a rake Though not a drake Flamebringer was her name In ancient times From colder climes King Id...

[
The Ballad of Flamebringer
There once did lay
On Budles Bay
A dragon of great fame
Quite a rake
Though not a drake
Flamebringer was her name
In ancient times
From colder climes
King Ida came ashore
Though they called him a saint
They would surely faint
For what he knew was war
For a hundred miles west
They tried their best
But could not stop his wagon
The rumours spread
Amidst the dead
Surely this man is a dragon
Called Flamebringer the Bad
And thought mightily mad
Over the years he did mellow
Now called Ida the Good
The Prince up to him stood
He gave in with nary a bellow
The Queenmom did quake
When the servants spake
What the Prince did
Margaret was too weak
About it to speak
The truth had been hid
The Queenmom was blunt
When the Prince she did confront
It was a mistake
The Prince had power
He made her cower
Then swung his stake
Ida held a cream
When he heard the scream
And felt the body fall
He rushed outside
Wished he could hide
At what lay beside the wall
Ida gave up
Took to the cup
The Prince seized power
Then came the witch
She was a switch
And claimed the tower
There was a marriage
With a royal carriage
Ida had a new wife
She cleaned him up
Smashed the cup
And gave him life
The witch to Margaret came
Saw her shame
In her stepdaughter took interest
Although she was bad
And slightly mad
She never could tolerate incest
Twas no time to be shocked
The Prince was uncocked
She gave him a sly grin
Jigged on the floor
Backed out the door
Rushed for a tonic and gin
The next night
By candlelight
The witch read her spell
In the dungeon
Beside the cauldron
She raised her uncle from hell
There was a flame
In he came
The Prince is a cur
I need a favour
To be her saviour
I will change her
In the Prince he came
Margaret blushed in shame
She lay on the bed
He cracked a grin
Exposed his fin
Margaret her skin she shed
She grew a snout
Her tail pushed out
Her skin went scaly
She had sharp claws
And four paws
She was a dragon baby
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
The Prince got out
And with a shout
Summoned his father
I was taking a leak
When I heard a shriek
Something wrong with daughter
Ida kicked down the door
And what he saw on the floor
Really made him squirm
Though it broke his heart
To set her apart
He had to chain the wyrm
That winter was cold
The Prince was bold
Tried to seize power
There was a war
Prince fled offshore
Ida stayed in his tower
The witch slept
King Ida wept
The wyrm mostly groaned
Oh Margaret dear
I wish you were here
King Ida moaned
In the dungeons below
Came a soft bellow
As the wyrm heard her name
Puzzled was her position
In her condition
She felt no shame
There was no army
There was no navy
The King was off his feet
The next spring
News did bring
Prince had an invasion fleet
In came the fleet
Ida got on his feet
And prepared for the slaughter
The King went for the foe
The witch went below
And visited her stepdaughter
The witch plucked a scale
The pain made the wyrm quayle
As she watched the witch unleash magic
Her hair began to crackle
As she began to cackle
And looked demonic

The witch leapt off the ground
And thrice spun around
She raised her uncle the demon
The wyrm's breath grew thin
The witch was kin
The witch was a dragon
The witch she spake
Make Ida a drake
Tossed the scale in the cauldron
The demon did grin
For the secrets within
Would make him no mere dragon
Ida with a glance
Saw the falling lance
Felt his blood leeching
The demon came
Called his name
The foe began screeching
His armour went burt
He felt mighty thirst
His tail began creaking
There was a loud groan
Scaled skin did tone
Her vent began leaking
The necks lengthened
Legs strengthened
Her body grew
Lips pulled back from a painful grin
Revealling sharp teeth within
Away her manhood flew
Dragons did keen
Knew birth of a queen
Meant the dragon's star was rising
Flamebringer stood
Out flared her hood
To a new beginning
She gazed below
Upon former foe
Thought that they were sleeping
She raised a paw
Unsheathed a claw
Men below were weeping
The winds called her name
Told of a new game
Carried the scent of cattle
She spread her wing
Off the ground did fling
And vanished from the battle�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
The witch freed her stepdaughter
Told her to leave before arrival of brother
Go to the dragons by the falls
If you them my name gave
They will shelter you in the cave
Tell them their granddaughter calls
The witch needed sleep
In the Prince did creep
The cauldron was cold
From the hook it was unhung
And at the witch was flung
In a manner most bold
She had no time to scream
Before she began to steam
Wished to be dead
Gave a shriek
Then a squeak
Skin began to shred
Her clothes they stank
Her body shrank
Prince picked up her hat
Kicked aside the gore
Twitching on the floor
Was a rat
Flamebringer ate her fill
Then looked for a hill
With a cave
The dragon inside
Did not want a bride
Flamebringer I cannot you save
She went to the drake
Beside the lake
He stretched out his neck
Flamebringer my dear
You are much to near
I'm going to give you heck

The drake lashed out
With his mighty snout
And pinned her to the floor
A war to prevent
She showed him her vent
And gave him a dirty roar
Twas a new thing
More delightful then spring
That drake was a seasoned pro
He entered her hard
It felt like a shard
She gave a surprised bellow
Squeals of delight
Rent through the night
That drake he taught her well
The love that they made
Would embarass a shade
That cave was hotter then hell
Flamebringer my dear
Please stay here
I want you for my lover
The air is cold
The knights are bold
I'll keep you safe forever
One morning she woke up from her slumbers
Outside dragons stood in great numbers
They had been driven from their lairs
Prince's army had come
Sounding the drum
Forcing them to flee from former wares
As they gathered round Flamebringer and her mate
There just had to be a twist in fate
A wyrm into her did bore
I anm your daughter
Former father
Fair Margaret no more
They talked
Over the fate of the witch someone squawked
It was complete mystery
She was banished
Or had vanished
It looked like the witch was history
Flamebringer flew to the castle
Her son she wanted to hassle
She was stopped short
Prince held a rat by the tail
Over a flaming pail
He gave a retort
Former father
Look at stepmother
Prepare to meet your doom
The rat did cry
He does not lie
Flamebringer was filled with gloom
She fled the scene
In a manner unbefitting a Queen
And returned to the lake
Dragons knew not war
They would flee at the gore
Flamebringer told the drake�

The Ballad of Flamebringer
From the lands below
Advanced the foe
Intent on doing battle
Though dragons have claws
And mighty jaws
What they really want are cattle
To left and right
With her dragon sight
She saw her companions
She flared her hood
And firmly stood
She would not leave her dragons

Behind the others
Sat the mothers
Wyrmies close in tow
At the front
They took the brunt
To keep away the foe
The arrows came
The woods did flame
The wyrmies ran around
The mothers fled
From the dead
The wyrmies made no sound
The drake did sound
To retreat the ground
With a bellow
A cannon shook
Hit his hook
He was laid low
The dragons soared
The cannons roared
Flamebringer she spun wild
Though bugles blew
And arrows flew
She would not leave her child
Clouds above
Crowds below
Where was her precious wyrm
The dust was thick
The guns were quick
It really made her squirm

There was a nip
She did a flip
And came spiralling down
The crack of bone
A mighty groan
She'd landed in the town
The humans came
Saw her shame
The crowds backed up in fear
She had to get out
Gave a shout
And got up off her rear
Ahead of the flame
The soldiers came
The wyrmies they were trapped
Their scales did quiver
Their eyes were a glitter
Their little tails they tapped
Before the blood flowed
Up the Prince he rode
Which one of you is my sister
A synapse barked
A memory sparked
Was this her brother
She prepared to be dead
Tilted her head
She was no coward
Because of the blood that binds
There are no other kinds
They all stepped forward
The Prince lost his gloat
Take them to the moat
He could not understand why
The wyrmies strode the land
They were a mighty band
They held their heads high

Though their chains did rattle
They could not stop glancing at the cattle
They were marched off
The wyrm to her right
Got in the way of her sight
And gave a gentle cough
I saw your mother
She was in a bother
Looking for her daughter
Then the smoke came
Along with the flame
And she fled the slaughter
Beside the moat they rested
While their chains they tested
To the dirt were bound
They called to the witch
Join us at the ditch
The Prince will no longer you hound
In the bedroom sat
A skeletal rat
This form she found laidley
The witch she cared
But her teeth she bared
She was not worthy
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
Ahead of the crowd Flamebringer gained
Though broken wings were pained
She ran on all fours
From danger she hopped
Not till far away she stopped
And headed for the safety of the shores
On the beach were the sick and dying
Flamebringer found the drake lying
Near the River Blye
He talked of emigration
To a friendlier nation
Flamebringer spat out flames high
For this land I fought
Now dragon blood has it bought
I will not flee
This dragon band
Will make one final stand
Before we escape by sea
She pushed them to the wires
Spat at them with her fires
On the outer edge was every male
The rest took inner position
Flamebringer did requistion
All their poison,flame and hail
She looked at castle near
Shed a steaming hot tear
There had to be a better way
Prince was not well
And was rushing to hell
Prince she did not want to slay
Ideas churned in her head
Her eyes began to glow red
What was needed was a spell
The humans to dragons bind
And make them all one kind
She needed the witch's powers of hell
Prince rounded up the cattle
To trap dragons in a final battle
The ground would be bloody red
Though his plans were not leaked
He forgot the one who squeaked
With the plans she quickly fled
It was a difficult swim
She barely made it to outer rim
Sogging wet to wyrmies crawled
The plans out she gasped
Together her paws clasped
End my life she bawled
One final task
They did ask
Set us free
Rat struggled with the lock
Finally made it uncock
Using tail as key
Wyrmies had a promise to keep
Twas hard for them not to weep
None knew of the demon spell
Flames of dragons thirtyfive
Would make witchwyrm come alive
Twas a secret kept well
The rats blood began to boil
Glowing red was the soil
All concerned stepped back
The rats eyes began to glow
She began to grow
Was reborn with thunderous crack
Of her humanity she was shorn
Was a baby dragon reborn
Twas no time to play around
They had to get to the beach
Escape the Prince's reach
Flee to safer ground
Return of wyrmies was very charming
Lack of food was alarming
Distant cattle looked so yummy
All dragon stomachs began to grumble
Dragon instincts are not very humble
What was the harm to fill the tummy
Dragons began to drift
There was a leadership rift
Flamebringer witchwyrm's shoulder grasped
Time was running short
They had to transform Prince's court
In surprise witchwyrm gasped
This was a mighty spell
She did not know it well
Kingdom would undergo major change
She asked for a cauldron
And a touch of onion
Marked out her range
�
The Ballad of Flamebringer
She started the spell
Caught cattle smell
Was thrown off ballance
The witchwyrm shuddered
Then she stuttered
To the food she did glance
I need something to eat
The spell to complete
The witchwyrm grumbled
The cattle moved closer
Her nostrils flared wider
Her stomach rumbled
She could not be blamed
Her hunger it flamed
She was a new dragon
While Flamebringer wept
Off the witchwyrm leapt
She left her cauldron
Her parents in did glide
Saw Flamebringer crying on her side
The witchwyrm lay nearby
Her meal was a bull
Her stomach was full
She gave a happy sigh
Mother spat
Where daughter sat
You're feeling well
While battles rage
My precious sage
Did you complete the spell
The witchwyrm opened her eyes
Uttered a cry of surprise
At the sight of mother
The witchwyrm backed up
To the big cup
Beside the kettle was father

Although she was glad
He was sad
And did say
Witchwyrm my dear
I'm glad you're here
But we have foe to stay
They banded together
Were birds of a feather
And touched their paws
They were full of mettle
Had no need for the kettle
And opened their jaws
All dragons began to moan
Then they began to groan
Twas too strong a spell
For witchwyrm to control
It nearly drained her soul
But the results she could not quell
All dragons had indigestion
Inside was much combustion
They all opened their jaws
Flamebringer cleared her eyes
And in surprise
Saw living flame erupt from maws
When the power showed
It really flowed
Flames leapt to ground with a crackle
Searched for humans with no care
None of them did it spare
Even went for ones in shackle
Babies changed in to wyrms
Fathers often became lindorms
Mothers became fire drakes
Soldiers became wyverns
Ships sank by the sterns
Sea Serpent crews preferred lakes
Prince began crying
There was no use in trying
All his generals were in heat
Soon of his past he had no clue
To the mountains he flew
The newborn drake sought a new seat
No humans did escape
Though there was many a scrape
As things settled down
Many a new wyvern
Preferred a cavern
Soon left the town
Flamebringer beside her drake lay
Knew tomorrow was a new day
Wing on wyrm gently rested
As sun sank in horizon
Everyone was a dragon
Prince's evil had been bested
]
[[Ballad of FlameBringer commentary]]

User:Loathsomedragon

2007-08-04T18:26:52Z

Loathsomedragon:

[Author in the [[Dragons of Histh]] setting/universe/family tree

Author of the post-DoH 2000/01 ballad
[[The Ballad of FlameBringer]]

Book the Four (Dragons of Histh) commentary

2007-08-04T18:22:44Z

Loathsomedragon: New page: [ Although contact had been made with the internet furry and fetish communities about 2-3 months prior to the creation of DoH 2000/01 these communities had very little impact on the firs...

[ Although contact had been made with the internet furry and fetish
communities about 2-3 months prior to the creation of
DoH 2000/01 these communities had very little impact on
the first three books.

[[BooktheFour]] begins with family scenes typical of 1970's and 1980's reunions in RL.

It however ends with many references to the internet culture of
the furry and fetish communities.The last section of
Book Four seems to combine characters from A J Pearson's
works with a recollection of the authors grandparents.

The phrase " this is a polluted place" probably describes the
authors growing disillusionment for the furry and fetish
communities of the early spring of 2001.Hence a attempt was
made to add some dignity to DoH by invoking the authors
grandparents to ward off the percieved
pornographic filth of the internet forum where the last
section was first created.

Since the big issues raised in Books 1,2 and 3
had been resolved by Book 4,there was no need for
further Books based on the original
DoH 2000/01 setting.

Hence DoH 2000/01 effectively came to a end after the
soccer match family reunion scenes in the caverns.

When Histh next returned,she would do so in spirit only in
a story that might be called
"Ode to Heidi" ( or Harethe and Heidi)
]

Dragons of Histh

2007-08-04T18:07:25Z

Loathsomedragon:

[The Dragons of Histh founding set of stories were
created in December 2000 and Janurary 2001.These are

[[Book the One]]
[[BooktheOne commentary]]

[[Book the Two]]
[[BooktheTwo commentary]]

[[Book the Three]]
[[BooktheThree commentary]]

[[Book the Four]]
[[BooktheFour commentary]]

Book the Four (Dragons of Histh)

2007-08-04T18:04:19Z

Loathsomedragon:

[
The Dragons of Histh
Book The Four

copywrite 2001 by Harethe

As Greta,the hatchling and Jenthe approached one of the secret
entrances to the caverns,they noticed that they were not alone.Five
mating pairs of dragons were winging in with them.Bethog's 3 brothers
and two sisters were making their monthly visit to their sire and dam.
All seven adult dragons landed in a clearing in the forest near the
old Armstrong farm.The hatchling was just starting to stir so Greta
released him and he stretched his wings before he joined the adults
who were moving into the forest and the tunnel entrance.

Since all six wyrms were from the Nederlandse,they were busy
conversing in the common language.Their squeaks,roars and hisses
were coming fast and furious as Greta and the 5 brothers and sisters
discovered that they were from the same area of the Nederlands.
The hatchling might not have known
more than 3 to 4 words in the common language,but he could tell by
the rapidity of their movements that the adults were fluent and were
conveying a lot of information.Just inside the first cave to the
tunnels the adults all stopped and stared at him.Greta rested her
forepaw on his shoulders and motioned the other 5 wyrms over.Once
all 5 wyrms were looking at the hatchling,Greta began pointed out
all the quills and spines hidden in his body.One of the sisters
nudged at his lips,and gave his sharp teeth a close examination.
The adults were communicating amongst themselves,discussing this
childs great prospects as a hunter.The hatchling didn,t know
what they were saying,but he knew that he was the center of attention
and really would have preferred not to have all those slitted eyes
staring at him.

Jenthe came to the rescue.He had stood patiently near the
entrance to the tunnel,but soon the sun would be up and he wanted
to be deeper in the tunnels and in his lair.His mate Terre awaaited
him and after months of work he just wanted to lay down for a long
stretch and perhaps relax in the sea serpent pool.Thus when it
looked like the other adults were preoccupied with admiring the
dragonet,he reminded everyone that they had to hurry inside with
a roar and a jerk of his neck towards the tunnel.That hurried the
other adults along,and Greta made certain that the hatchling marched
in front of her with the other 5 wyrms surrounding them.The hatchling
was getting suspicious at this point,he suspected that the wyrms had
been conversing about more then his sharp teeth and venom systems.

When they entered the main chambers they noticed that things
were back to normal.The feeding troughs had been set upright again
and there were hundreds of contented dragons and serpentes coiled
up and sleeping off the feast forced upon them by the Great Serpente.
Maegrethe had a bulging stomach and was sleeping contentedly with a
Orientel dragon.There were plenty of wounded,but the Histh dragons
had carried them to the deeper caverns where they were being attended
to.The caverns were clean and Greta saw that all was good.What Greta
really wanted to do was carry on this conversation with Bethogs
clan .As she asked the elder brother where his lair was,the hatchling
tried to sneak away.He figured his time with the wyrms was over and
that he could go back to his old life.As he started scrabbling away a
sharp jerk of his tail brought him short.He looked back.Greta had
gripped his tail in her jaws and was slowly pulling him back towards
her.The other 2 wyrm dragonesses were making soft squealing and
whining noises towards Greta while the 3 wyrm dragons kept jerking
their necks up and down with their mouths open like they were
laughing.The hatchling finally figured it out,"my god,she thinks
I'm her baby".

Looking after her hatchling had crossed Greta's mind.But she was
also thinking about the injuries he had suffered.If he was going to
stand on his own four feet someday,he was going to have to learn how
to take care of his body.After telling the other four wyrms that she
would see them later,she motioned for the hatchling to follow her.

The two of them wandered down one of the tunnels leading to a
new cavern which was still under construction.Here they found many
wounded dragonkind.Although the dragons had disposed of the dead and
dying dragons,the less seriously wounded that been brought down to
this cavern .here they would stay until they were healed,at which
point most of them would be transported by sea serpent or wing back to
their lairs in the old world.There were several orphaned dragonkind
resting in that cavern,including a clutch of 2 wyrm dragonets who
had lost their parents and one sibling.Greta looked around,no other
dragonkind seemed interested in these solitary dragonets.Thus she
and the hatchling waddled over and introduced themselves.The
hatchling turned his back on these strange wyrms,but Greta was
much more warm towards the clutch.She told them that she would
be their mother from now on,and that they would now regard the
uncommunicative Histh dragonet as their brother.When one of the
little dragonets asked her why their "brother"couldn't speak the
common language,Greta told the dragonet that the hatchling had been
raised by humans and had never recieved the guidance he needed.It
would be up to her and her brother to make sure that the
hatchling was taught what it meant to be a dragon.

Lesson number one was how to heal a injured wing.Greta led her
3 dragonets to a corner of the cavern where a supply of grasses and
herbs were kept in separate piles on the floor.With the 2 other
dragonets looking on,she led the hatchling through the piles and
made him sniff the various medicinal plants.She showed the hatchling
the common language display for each plant,and made sure he understood
which plant went with each display.She made him repeat her actions
till he had every twitch of the tail,every snap of the jaw,every hiss
down perfect.She then held a clump of herb in one paw and touched his
forehead with another paw.She then brought the clump of herb onto his
forehead and waited to see if the hatchling could figure out what the
plant was used for.

As soon as the hatchling felt the plant brush against his skin he
noticed that his forehead felt cooler.It dawned on him that this herb
could soothe his hot skin with it's cool touch.Once Greta was sure he
had figured out the healing properties of the herb she held it against
different parts of his body.Whereever she touched the plant his body
cooled to it's touch.He noticed that she kept the plant away from his
ears,eyes,nostrils ,mouth and cloaca.When he pointed at the plant and
then at his nostril,Greta showed him why she was avoiding these areas.
She shoved a small fragment of the plant into his mouth suddenly.
The inside of his mouth was suddenly hot and on fire.He spat out the
plant and learned the hard way that this herb was for external use
only.

They repeated the process with all the piles of grass and herb,
and Greta made sure that the hatchling learned the proper use and
application of each plant to his dragon body.She then lifted up his
injured wings off his sore back and packed a mixture of soft grass
and soothing herbs on top of his back.She then lowered his wings
and watched while the hatchling positioned his wings to keep the
soothing mixture of medicinal plants resting on his back.The
hatchling had learned the basics of dragon healing.

The three dragonets and the hatchling then followed Greta to a
corner of the cavern where they all took a well deserved nap for a
few hours.

It was night,and the 4 dragons were awake and hungry.Greta had a
special treat for them.She had made arrangements to join the
monthly gathering of Bethog and her clan.After making sure that
the hatchlings wings still pressed protectively on the healing herbs
she told the other two dragonets that a special feast had been
prepared by Bethogs clan and that they were all invited.The two
orphans squealed with joy and were eager to be off.The hatchling
understood the part about "FOOD" that Greta and the two dragonets
were displaying,but to him "FOOD" was a half torn carcass of sheep
or calf lying in a feeding trough.He still possessed his human
sensibilities and wasn,t too thrilled at the thought of tearing away
at raw bloody carcasses.he did what he had to do to survive,but he
would have much preferred to dine out a fast food outlet.

The hatchling then watched while Greta communicated to the two
dragonets.he then watched while the two dragonets promptly responded
in kind.All three wyrms then turned to the hatchling and repeated
their movements.They then waited,and stared at the hatchling expectant
-ly,as if waiting for a similar response from him.All they got was a
blank dumb look from him.He really hadn't a clue about what had just
passed between the three wyrms.After a few minutes the little
dragoness turned back to Greta and made more of those mysterious body
movements.Greta responded by uttering a low growl,tapped her tail on
the stone floor a few times,and then swung her neck between the two
dragonets and the hatchling a few times.She then charged off into the
cavern,leaving the 3 dragonets staring at one another.

The two orphans stared at the hatchling in an awkward silence,
then the brother tried to interest the hatchling in conversation.The
brother essentially said"so do you think the hunting will be good this
fall.How good is your venom for hunting.Do you think they'll have
snacks at the gathering of Begoths clan".The hatchling naturally
missed the gist of 90% of this conversation,but he did pick up on the
words "FEAST,PLEASURE,VENOM and HUNT"Thus he tried as best he could
to express his opinion that the meal would be very pleasant.The
brother naturally enough wanted to show off his fangs to the
hatchling.He trotted about in a circle roaring and hissing,his body
twisting and flexing,his wings outstrtched as he showed himself to
be a extroverted little wyrm.He then stooped his impromptu dance of
the hunt and stared at his sister.She was less of an extrovert,and
simply sat there cleaning her wings and tidying up her body.But as she
did so she let her talons slowly slide out ,and she rubbed them on the
floor in order to maintain their wicked sharpness.She gently extended
her fangs and licked them with her tongue till they were gleaming
white.Both the hatchling and her brother hissed appreciatively as she
subtly displayed her weaponry.She wasn't all sugar and spice.

It was now the hatchlings turn.He already had a sense of what was
buried within him,but how to make a proper act of it.Simply popping
quills,stingers ,fang and talons all at the same timewouldn't do.His
two companions were more interested in the show he put on than whether
he had longer fangs then they had.

After a few minutes of thought,he lay on the floor and slowly,oh
so slowly crawled along like he was dying.Being the creation of a
shape shifting dragon snale goddess ,he realized he could probably
push his body into shapes other dragonkind only dreamed of.He decided
now was as good a time as any to find out.He began to feel inside
himself and started flipping switches inside his body he had only
become aware of days ago in that forest.As he crawled along,bones
and muscle and skin slowly began to pop and reshift.

Once he was in position and felt his body was prepared for his
display,he lay quietly on the floor and played dead.The two dragonets
obliged by walking up to him and poking at him,waiting for him to
impress them.The hatchling did nothing,he figured best to give them a
real good surprise.The hatchling felt his body make it's final
preparations in his skull,neck and tail.He could feel his venom glands
throbbing,his venom system quills pushing on the inside of his hide
and distinctly reptillian thoughts floating to the surface of his mind
He might be a dunce at the common dragon language,but his instincts
were telling him that the prey was just where he wanted them.

The brother got bored.He started to walk away.Thus it was his
sister who got the full display.Suddenly the hatchlings head shot up
in the air above her,and kept rising and rising.His neck was
lengthening and his head towered above her.As she watched his mouth
opened wider and wider as his jaw unhinged and opened to an impossible
degree.AS she looked up.she saw the bones at the back of his skull
flex and form the hood of a cobra snake.He roared and swung his wings
out wide.As they did so rows of quills and stingers emerged from his
body in waves.His talons extended,his fangs swung into view and he
pulled back his lips to reveal his long sharp teeth.The little
dragoness was distracted from this display by a squeal of terror
beside her.She looked over to see her brother lying on the floor,
embraced in the coils of a long tail.the hatchlings long tail.a tail
which lay in a loop on the floor at her feet.

Although the hatchling had stray thoughts bouncing around his
mind of what to do with the captured prey items,these were quickly
pushed aside when he noticed that his act had been a little too
convincing for the brotherThe brother was both growling and whimpering
at the same time,ready to fight for his own survival.Thus the
hatchling quickly uncoiled his lengthy tail and let the brother regain
his dignity.The hatchling then started pulling head,neck and tail into
their proper compact form.After a minute or so he appeared his own
normal self,with not a claw or quill in sight.The two dragonets were
impressed.They started pointing out various parts of his body and
gave the hatchling the impression they wanted to see him reveal what
lay within him in a less dramatic fashion so that they could examine
each component in a more leisurely fashion.

When Greta and Maegrethe arrived,they found the hatchling
obligingly lengthening and shortening his tail to the amusement of
the two dragonets.The hatchling was finally getting the sense of what
it meant to own a Histh dragon body.

When Greta had communicated with the two orphan dragonets her
conversation had been simple enough.It went something like"Hi,my
name is Wyrm Quiet Little Feathered Huntress,but my friends call
me Greta.What are your names?".The little dragoness had replied
that although she was named "New Wyrm Little Wtch " being called
Maerethe was her preferred name.Her brother had been named
"New Wyrm Loud Noisy Hunter"but much preferred to go by the name
of Jenthe.The three of them had then turned to the hatchling and
had asked him what his name was.Naturally enough the hatchling hadn't
a clue what Greta meant with all her displays and noises.Greta could
live with that.She knew that that 99% of what she communicated flew
over the head of the hatchling.Once she taught him what the display
for NAME was in the common language,he would quickly respond by
telling her his name.She could be patient while he learned.

Then the little dragoness had to go spoil things by displaying
"DRAGON NO NAME" as she pointed at the hatchling.THAT prospect
horrified Greta.The possibility that the hatchling was nameless meant
he had no personality,no soul.He was just another lizard scurrying in
the sand,just another calf ready for the slaughtering pen.As Greta
mulled over the possibility that the tribe of Histh was just cranking
out dragonkind like they were just nameless mindless beasts was making
her increasingly nervous.Just because the hierachy of the tribe had
been named didn't mean that the lower groupings were.Greta growled
nervously and then after telling the 2 orphans to keep the hatchling
company,went to see Maegrethe.

Greta found Maegrethe in the sacred tablets storage cavern.As
Greta approached the witch dragoness she puzzled over how she was
going to broach the subject .telling Maegrethe that the Histh tribe
was composed of souless nameless animals would not be a very
diplomatic gesture.As she looked around the chamber she could scent
the odors of countless dragonkind in this chamber.Ahhh,that was
good,it meant that tribe knew the value of a sacred tablet.The
old world dragons had started the tradition of keeping track of
each dragon by his or her own sacred tablet record.That tablet
recorded the scent of his birthing,his first hunt,his mate,his
sire,his dam,and if need be where and how he died.There were no
nameless dragons in the old world.By holding that chunk of stone
to your snout you could relive the life story of the dragonkind
that was recorded on it.

Thus Greta got around the question of a nameless dragonet by
asking Maegrethe a oblique question.Could Maegrethe PLEASE update
the sacred tablet of a hatchling Greta wanted to adopt into her
clan.The little tyke didn't remember his formal dragon name and
stubbornly refused to give her his common name.perhaps if Maegrethe
got a description of the little dragonet she would know the dragonet
Greta was referring to.

Maegrethe knew the dragnet Greta was communicating about.The
tribe of histh referred to him as the"SERPENTESS BROTHER".He was no
great shakes on his own,but his sister the SERPENTESS looked after
her own.Maegrethe politely listened to Greta's description of the
dragonet while her mind frantically tried to recall where she had
stored that particular sacred tablet.She knew she hadn't stored it
in the regular stacks of tablets that kept track of Histh dragons.
it was near the serpente storage niche.The Serpentess had turned
out to be a glorious success as a serpente,while her brother had
turned out to be a dismal failure as a dragon.Thus she had put
his tablet beside hers.Perhaps some future witch dragoness would
want to puzzle over why two humans had taken such widely varying
paths in their transformation into dragonkind.

As Maegrethe pulled out the hatchlings sacred tablet record,
she inquired on whether Greta wanted to see the naming and baptism
of a recent clutch of serpente hatchlings.Their parents had been
lured into the ceremony by the sight of free meat.Even though the
serpente parents hadn't a clue what was going on,they sat around
docilely on full stomachs while a assistant witch dragoness named.
baptized and recorded their offspring into the world.

As Greta and Maegrethe watched the assistant grabbed one of the
serpentents that were scurrying about by his tail and held him high
above her.Her body began to sway and twist and guttoral roars emanated
from her snout as she emplored to welcome this new hatchling into her
community,and to guide him in his future life.The serpentent naturally
enough was unhappy at this unique use of his tail and began to squawl
and paddle his four legs wildly about.He just wanted to get back to
MOTHER.MOTHER could have cared less.She had been through this routine
before and felt if the dragons wanted to give away good meat for the
priviledge of dangling her kids above the floor for a few minutes,she
could live with that.

The assistant then dangled the serpentet above a sacred tablet
that would record his future life as a serpente.She gave him a good
whack on his rump and he responded by spitting venom and saliva all
over the sacred tablet.He began squalling even louder,which made it
easy for the assistant to figure out what to call him."you're a
noisy little runt,aren't you"she thought and in the common language
she named him LITTLE NOISE.She then gently lowered LITTLE NOISE onto
the floor and let him scurry off to hi mother.

After naming the other five serpentets the assistant moved over
to the two waiting dragonesses and explained how she named serpentes.
She didn't bother with long names for serpentes.Thus like dragons go
about being known as a simple common name,she gave serpentes simple
easy names.Usually serpentes responded to their names by associating
the display of their name with a free meal.

As Greta and Maegrethe walked back towards the waiting trio of
dragonets Maegrethe explained that the tribe made sure that all
newborn dragonkind got a least one name.The members of the tribe
had gotten the other dragonkind to adaopt one new concept for
dragonkind.They taught the other dragons that come hell or high
water.every hatchling should at least be named to a tribe or
dragon deity.Thus many a dragon or sea serpente egg that contained
a dead unborn dragonet or serpentet had been named HISTH or SKYE or
WYRM or WYVERN before being disposed off.There were no nameless
souless dragonkind in the new world.Maegrethe wanted to make that
point perfectly clear to Greta.

As the two entered the unfinished cavern Maegrethe glanced at
the sacred tablet and then at the sight of two dragonets playing with
the
hatchlings shortening and lengthening tail.She told Greta that
formally her intended adopted son was named
"NEW HISTH WYVERN FLAMESPITE "She'd been homesick for England when she
had named him,but coming up with a informal name for him to go by had
never crossed her mind.Staring at that long coiling tail set the
two dragonesses thinking along the same lines Thus when they waddled
up to the hatchling they both greeted him with the same name
"hello LONG TAIL" or in the english language :Harethe.Thus was Harethe
named.

Harethe quickly got his tail back to a more proper shape at the
site of Maegrethe.He knew that she was one of the higher ups in the
tribe and more importantly he remembered that she was the dragoness
who had done the ceremony on the day he had been transformed from a
human into a dragon.She was a VIP,and he felt nervous in her
presence.
He started to tremble and hid his head underneath his wings.

Maegrethe and Greta were a bit flustered at this response and
stood there awkwardly trying to figure out why Harethe was so bashful.
Harethe may have thought he was an adult,but the 2 adult dragonesses
certainly didn't think so.It slowly dawned on the two of them that
after nearly 6 years of life as an outsider in the tribe,Harethe's
social skills were just as ill developed as his ability to communicate
in the common language.

Harethe was going to need a lot of schooling,that was for sure.
Greta told Maegrethe that there was no way her son was going to end
up the equivalent of a ditch digger.Greta could teach him some things
but others would have to come from another person willing to be his
guardian .She tapped her paw patiently while she waited for Maegrethe
to rise to the challenge.

Maegrethe wasn;t exactly thrilled to become the godmother of a
dragonet most of the tribe only respected because he was the brother
of the Serpentess.But it would be a way of getting on Greta's good
side.Thus she politely accepted the invitation to be Harethe's
godmother.

She then gently lifted Harethe's wing up and scratched his skull
just behind his earslits.Harethe moved his head out and swivelled it
so that Maegrethe could scratch it in the right places.He began to
quietly hiss in pleasure,and Maegrethe knew that the two of them
would get along just fine.

Greta then told the two orphan dragonets ,lets go to a party.
Maegrethe gave Harethe a light tap on his forehead and hoisted him up
on her back.All five dragons then set off for the gettogether of
Bethog and her clan.

When they arrived at the lair of Bethog's parents,they discovered
that they weren't the only ones invited to this family gettogether.
Mary King lay at one corner,scratching the neck of the Serpentess.Ida
and Henry King were chatting away with one of Bethog's brothers,whose
name they later discovered was Josethe,whilst the 3 sisters were
busy preparing the feast.Josethe had mated with a Cornsh Flamespite,
and she was merrily cooking the meat with her breath.The scent of
cooked and seasoned sweet meats was thick in the air,and Harethe was
taking deep sniffs of that wonderful aroma.

Greta told the dragonets to run along and play with the other
dragonets in the cavern,then she and Maegrethe went to where the
adults lay restful on the floor.The Master cavern builder had an
enthralled audience listening to him describing an encounter he.d
had with Raemac,the french skye dragon they had encountered in
New Scotland when they first landed on the shores of the new world
after the Great Migration.Greta had never heard the details of what
had happened to dragonkind as they made their way into the new world.
Thus she settled down and listened to the clan remember their first
years ,when clans had to decide where to set their lairs and whether
to start a new clan of their own.

It appeared that Raemac had come to the new world a century or
two before the rest of dragonkind.He had been caught in a storm which
had blown him off course.When the storm had died down he had caught
the scent of a forested land to the west,and had decided to
investigate.What he discovered was a land teeming with wildlife and
with few humans.The humans who were around looked upon him with awe
and regarded him as a god they referred to as a "Thunderbird".Raemac
didn't know what a thunderbird was,but he certainly appreciated the
offerings of tobacco and food the native humans made to him.There were
no other dragonkind about,so he had the whole continent to himself.He
had flown back to the old world and had enticed his mate to follow him
with tales of a land of milk and honey.

Although he longed for a simple life sitting in a lair and
obtaining food for his offspring,his human worshippers would have none
of it.He was a god,and they expected him to pass his divine judgement
on their daily affairs.Soon he had discovered himself using his
scholarly Skye training to settle disputes between competing villages
of humans.He ended up becoming Nova Scotia's first dragon lawyer and
judge,and he had held his court in one corner of his lair.When the
later dragon migrants had first come ashore,he had often talked about
how he had always wanted to be a simple hunter,and had ended up being
trained and working as a god.

Now all the dragonets were having a good time,all except Harethe.
All around him were dragonets chasing after one anothers tails,
dragonets poking their snouts out of hidden recesses in the chamber
and dragonets leaping over one another and riding piggyback.He guessed
that they were playing games but if you couldn't understand the
language it was difficult to decide if one group of dragonets was
playing Hide and Seek or Pin the tail on the Donkey.Not wanting to
make a fool of himself in front of all the other kids,he decided to
stay out of the play area.He was one miserable little dragonet.
Now Maegrethe saw him there curled up in a corner and wandered over.
Since she was in a way his creator she felt an obligation to get him
reinvolved in society.

She sat beside him and puzzled over how to get him involved.She
looked about for some divine inspiration and got it.One of the
Serpentess's latest hatchlings had snuck into a food trough and was
recieving a scolding from one of the dragonesses preparing the meal.
Dinner was NOT served.The serpentet was a tiny young thing,only a
day or two out of his or her egg,and that got Maegrethe thinking.
She might have been a servant of Histh,but she was also a scholar
who had studied the creation myths of the various tribes.One in
particular bore a strong resemblance to the Book of Genesis,sans
humans.She decided that perhaps that was a good way to let the
dragonet in on the fact that dragons were not big dumb scaly lizards.

She tapped the dragonet to get his attention,then stood up and
rored to get everyones attention.She told all that they were going to
play a little game.THIS little dragonet didn't feel like he belonged
in the party,and she was going to put an end to that.After announcing
the rules ,she got down to business.

After a 1000 years as a dragoness ,her english writing skills
were a bit rusty and she wrote in an archaic english that hadn,t been
written for nearly a millenium.she extended a talon and scratched in
the sand the words "Inn thee Bgininge".She then scratched out the
pictograms for the dragonkind genesis"START HATCHLING SUN"or in
human terms "when the sun god was hatched".She then motioned to
Jenthe to continue the story and he continued with the english version
and added a pictogram to the dragon version.One of begoth's brothers,a
short well built fellow named Bernthe,could make sense of those
chicken scratches from the human genesis,but he gamely put in an
effort and came up with the next line "igbegnneee" before he did a
much more passeable dragon pictogram"LONELY".AT that point Mary KIng
stepped up and scratched out the english word for "lonely" beside the
pictogram.Thus the story of creation from both the dragon and human
versions slowly unfolded on the sandy floor.

Some of the natural born dragons understood simple English words,
and scratched these out on the floor,along with their pictogram
equivalent.Bernthe,for example,had had a smattering of education in
reading human text and translating it to the common dragon language
during the Great Massacre.Thus when his turn came up he put the
pictogram symbol for the "SUN" underneath the word "God" and on the
dragonic version of Genesis he added a few human words beside their
dragonic equivalents.He motioned Harethe over and indicated he should
add a few lines.Harethe couldn't make head or tail of the pictograms
but seeing big winged scaly lizards writing Genesis in human words
hit him like a piledriver.He looked at all his companions and realized
for the first time in six years that he wasn't alone.This society was
a lot more complex and a lot more similar to humanity then he had
realized.After weepy for a few minutes he scratched out a line on the
sand"the lord god saw that it was good".At this point Maegrethe looked
over at the dragonic Genesis version to see if a similar line existed
there.There was "SUN SUN PLEASURE PLEASURE".She circled the pictogram
sentence with one talon,circled the human words Harethe had just
written with another talon and made sure that Harethe got the message.
He did.He scratched out a new message in English"don't parties have
food and games"
So they did thought Maegrethe,now let's start partying.

The dragons all looked over at the feeding troughs to see
if it was time to eat.it wasn't and Bethog and her two sisters
shushed away inquisitive dragons.Come back when the moon is high
in the sky(or in about an hour.Thus they still had time for some
games.bethogs brother in law from New Scotland sauntered over and
suggested that they play Dragon football.He asked if Harethe knew
how to play it.At this point Jenthe stepped forward and said that
the dragonet probably knew something similar to it.The two of them
then asked everyone to join one of two teams,they were going to play
a round of football.Jenthe took Harethe aside and scratched out on
the sand just what kind of game they were about to play.He pointed
out 2 holes in opposite sides of the cavern which were about 20 feet
off the floor.Put simply Harethe,we're going to have a round of soccer
He told Harethe to crawl into one of the holes to act as goalie.

Harethe got into the hole and wondered how the dragons proposed
to get a soccer ball into a hole 20 feet above the sand floor.As he
looked down upon the two opposing teams of dragons standing on the
floor he got his answer pretty quickly.The dragon holding the soft
small ball tossed it high in the air.Suddenly the cavern was filled
with the sound of flapping wings as the two teams took to flight.
They weren.t allowed to touch the ball with their jaws or feet,only
their tails.Soon the ball was being slapped about in the air and tails
were swinging and bodies were twisting and coiling about in the air
above the floor.Suddenly the ball came flying at Harethe and he swung
his tail wildly to knock it away.SMACK and the ball flew to the other
side of the cavern with several dragons chasing after it.His adopted
wyrm sister was the goalie for the opposing team and she tried to
hit the ball out out with her tail.DARN,the ball bounced off her
wings.That was a goal for Harethes team.It looked like her side would
have to work on it's defense.Harethe was beginning to like this
version of soccer.He curled up his wings and lay on his side as best
as he could,and bent over his neck so that he could get a clear view
of that ball.His tail coiled and dangled out of the hole,ready to keep
that ball out of his teams hole.No way was he going to let down his
side.

Nearly an hour later Harethes side was winning.Both sides had
decided that for Harethes first game it would be nice if his side
won.Thus when the opposing side had tried to slap the ball into the
hole,they had done so lightly and had tried to aim the ball at a spot
where harethe could easily deflect it from.As they led the mighty
dragon goalie Harethe to the feeding troughs all the team members
made sure he knew that they thought he was a mighty dragon.Haethe
didn't need an interpreter to understand that he was the hero of
the game.He was beginning to feel warm and fuzzy,and bellowed
out a few roars and showed his fangs just like his fellow players
did .

It was time for the feast.The feeding troughs ran along a long
line near the sides of the cavern.Bethog's sire and dam sat near the
end of the trough,the adults then seated themselves beside Bethog's
parents and the juveniles and dragonets sat at the far end of the
feeding trough.To keep up Harethe's good spirit,the dragons sat
him right between Bethog's parents.He was definitely the guest of
honour at this party.He looked down upon the feeding trough in front
of him and could smell the delicious sweet meat and spiced greens laid
out before him.Before he could dig his snout into the selection of
foods laid out before him,the old dragoness to his left coughed and
nudged him on the shoulders.He looked about,all the dragonkind had
their heads pointing towards the ceiling.Maegrethe had stood up and
had her neck and head stretched out and was softly whining and hissing
and speaking in the common lanuage.Harethe could make out her body
movements to a point and saw "SUN... SUN... PLEASURE... YES" .He
guessed correctly that she was offering thanks to the sun god for the
meal laid out before them.Harethe stretched out his head towards the
ceiling and kept a close eye on what his two companions would do next.
After a minute all the dragons bowed their heads ,made soft roaring
noises and briefly flapped their wings.Harethe did the same and
guessed that he had just said "AMEN" in the common language.He then
dug in to the feast laid out before him.

Normally Harethe's meal consisted of a recently killed calf
tossed into the feeding trough along with a helping of green grass
and a bushel of oats or rye.it was done like this not because the
dragons didn't know any better but because further preparation of
the meal was unnecessary.Harethe and his fellow dragonkind have cast
iron stomachs,not to mention plenty of teeth and claws.Harethe should
have been thankful.In the old days Bethogs sire and dam had to fly out
and either hunt prey or raid some farmers flock of sheep.The old
dragons thought the young dragons were spoiled rotten.In the old days
you had to WORK for your dinner,and tparties were far and few between.

Harethe surveyed the heaping piles of food before him,Properly
cut up calf stewed in Norfolk blueberries and with the sweet aroma of
maggi drifting into his nostrils.Stacks of yams,cabbage and turnip
boiled in soybean oil.Over in one side lay a hill of toated wheat
kernels and whole watermelon.Harethe definitely stuffed himself like a
pig,as did most of the dragonets.
The juveniles were more interested in staring into one anothers eyes
and talking about SEX then eating,so many a young dragonets head
snaked in between two lovelorn juveniles and made off with a untended
treat.The adults ate more leisurely and savoured every minute of the
meal.Many of the older adults remembered what it had been like to
starve in a lair during and after the Great Massacre.An event like
they were now holding would have been unheard of in those days.

After harethe had had his first helping,he went for a second,and
then a third helping.He figured it would be a while before an meal
like this came his away again.he was going to milk it for all it was
worth.After he had finished his third helping of calf dripping in
blueberry jam,he pulled back from the trough,put his forepaws to his
full stomach and burped,Ahhh,this was definitely dragon heaven.After
letting out those excess stomach gasses,he looked around the cavern to
see what everyone else was doing.

Most of them were doing the same as him,lying on their bellies or
on their side and just taking a brief rest.The Serpentess however ,had
maneuvered herself into the feeding troughs and cleaning up any
leftovers.Knowing it could be days before her next kill,she left not
a scrap of food on the feeding troughs.Many of her offspring were
huddled in one corner of the cavern and Harethe knew his sister would
probably regurgitate most of her meal to feed her young.He also knew
that she regarded him as one of her hatchlings,and maneuvered himself
to be ready when she came to feed him.After the Serpentess finished
up the troughs she spotted Harethe and crawled over to him.Her tongue
flicked out to taste him,then she made a gurgling noise as she
regurgitated part of her meal in front of him.The glop that came back
out of her stomach wasn't as appealing as calf with blueberry,but he
whined and lapped it up.His sister pulled back her lips in what he
hoped was a smile,whined mother noises,and then waddled off to feed
the rest of her clutch.

As Harethe watched her move off,he longed for the days when he
could actually talk to her.He wanted to know whether she still
recognized him as her brother or whether her actions to feed him
were just some instinct,with not a flicker of intelligence behind it.
He wanted to know whether the sister he had known still lived,or
whether the creature who had replaced her was just a mindless reptile.

As he turned away from the Serpentess,he noticed Jenthe and his
two offspring devouring their kill.Jenthe had swallowed a full grown
bull while his two dragonets were stretching their jaws over a pair
of calves.Harethe could not help but notice the major distension in
Jenthe's features as he unhinged his jaw and his skin and features
distorted as he swallowed his prey whole.He looked every bit the black
adder he had been born.Then Harethe rolled back onto his side,
stretched out his neck and tail and drifted off to sleep".Some other
time.Some other time he'd have to ask Jenthe about his sister." were
his last thoughts.

The reason why Jenthe and his two dragonets weren't stuffing
themselves full of stewed calf and fresh blueberry jam was because
their bodies couldn't handle that particular diet.As much as Jenthe
and the kids would rather be at the feeding troughs then stretching
their rather flexible skulls and necks over a whole kill,they had
learned the hard way that Histh had not given their kind the features
of a black adder snake merely for show.

Harethe had only fallen asleep for what seemed like minutes.He
and his companions were stuffing themselves with endless supplies of
stewed calf and blueberry jam.Suddenly his companions to his left
rudely jammed a calf bone into his side.With a jerk,he was awake,and
staring into the snout of Mary King.The dragoness motioned for him to
follow her.The lights were low and all the dragonkind had gathered
in a circle around the old dam and drake.The dragonets were huddled
eagerly at their feet and their parents lay relaxed in the outer edges
They had set up a little campfire near the centre and near this
Harethe could see long lines of verse scratched into the sand.Mary
positioned herself and her companion near this verse and as the old
drake began to coil,twist,flap,hiss and roar,Mary laid a talon on the
words that he was uttering in the common dragon language.The old drake
was telling one of the old stories:a fairytale.

"there is a place where all the magical mystical creatures of the
six worlds live.Although you'll find creatures ranging from
aryxiodactyls to zylotropes living there,you won.t find one solitary
human.Being a magical place,the land of Zyxthia likes to grow and
remake the 6 worlds into itself.Someday perhaps,it will.Millenia ago,
a colony of zyxthians came to the Earth to form a new colony and to
spread Zyxthia into this universe.They consisted of dragons,trolls,
sea serpents,fairies,salmon people and many other magical creatures.

That first colony did not do well.The Earth was too harsh for
Zyxthia to grow and prosper here.Soon most of the colonists had
either fled back to Zyxthia or had been killed or transformed into
dumb plodding beasts who had forgotten their magical heritage.Many
a dragon ,upon watching their little patch of Zyxthia vanish,had to
choose between eternal death or saying the magical words which would
transform them into humans.As humans they would retain their dragon
fire but would forget they had ever been Zyxthian dragons.

The last Zyxthian on Earth was a dragoness named Yxmiyl.She no
longer left her little patch of Zythia golden ground and planned to
flee back to Zyxthia within a few hours.The golden circle was shrink-
-ing and she had no intention of being stranded on this planet.She had
watched too many of her companions come up to her to give a last
farewell before they said the magic words.Only a year before her
sister had transformed.Her patch of magic ground had vanished and her
golden hide had rapidly turned black and started to dissolve.The two
dragonesses had one last tearful embrace before her sister had said
the magic words.After much groaning and shrinking and crunching of
bones,her sister was no more.What stood below her was a terrified
human female looking up into the jaws of a huge and terrible dragon.
Her sister had run shrieking away accompanied by the anguished roars
of a dragoness who was now truly alone in this godforsaken hell of a
world.

Yxmiyl had no intention of suffering a fate like her sister.She
was all prepared to go.Each time one less person truly believed in
dragons,her patch of Zyxthia ground grew smaller.This was a planet of
unbeleivers.

There was one human who still believed.Perhaps the human was a
great......grandchild of a transformed Zyxthian dragon.Whatever the
reason,the human searched for the last dragon on earth and found her.
As the human wandered into yxmiyl's lair,the human saw a huge dragon
standing in a patch of golden sand,coiling it's neck and preparing the
magical words that would return her to Zyxthia.The human was not
afraid.but strode up and said"I want to be a Dragon".The dragon just
stared at the human.No speech,no roars,no telepathy,just stared at the
human.
The human decided that maybe hanging around wasn.t such a good idea
and turned and ran for the cave entrance.Suddenly the dragon was in
front of the human and reached out a huge paw to grasp the human.The
human began to squirm and scream in terror cupped within those
huge paws.

Yxmiyl had understood the human's desire,and for a brief moment
thought that perhaps the colonization plans could be revived.The human
was NOT of Zyxthian blood,but that could easily be rectified.She stood
in the golden patch where any new zyxthian had to be birthed,and began
the humans rite of transformation.She squeezed on the human and tried
to remold it's body.If things had gone well the body within her paws
would have refolded and flowed like putty ,but all she heard was a
scream,a moan,the snap of bones and the tearing of crushed flesh.
Yxmiyl didn,t want to look at the limp bundle in her paws,looking
down on the ground at her feet told her all she needed to know.The
patch of golden sand barely reached beyond her hind feet and was
shrinking by the second.Time on Earth had run out for the Zyxthian
and the human.Yxmiyl said the words of departure and sank into the
sand.The golden circle shrank till it was a pinprick of golden light
and then it too vanished.

Yxmiyl stretched out her golden wings and let the gentle zyxthia
breeze carry her along.She looked up,hundreds of miles above her she
could see the mists.Hundreds of miles below her she could see the
clouds.It was good to be home.Within her paws she could feel a
wiggling form try out her new lengthening tail and neck.She could feel
broken bones fuse back together and torn flesh knit itself back
together.There was the flutter of wings,and then a chirp as a new
Zyxthian was born.Yxmiyl opened her paws to look at the tiny dragoness
she held.Her tail was twice as long as her body,and her scales were
flashing in a rainbow of golden colours.Her body sans tail was about
six feet long and her eyes glittered with the blue fire within them.
She was truly a magical creature of Zyxthia.

She also happenned to be terrified.maybe her mother was used to
floating hundreds ofmiles up in the mists,but she wasn't.She wrapped
her tail snuggly around one of mother's hindlegs,dug her talons into
mothers chest,and took her first good look of Zyxthia.What she saw
were magical bean plants,magical redwoods and assorted other zyxthian
flora rising from the clouds hundreds of miles below and travelling
hundreds of miles into the mists above them.In their leaves were the
nests of rocs,thunderbirds,griffins and assorted other winged life.
Curiously Yxmilia felt no fear at the sight of her new zyxthian
neighbours.Truth be told,the sight of a 2 legged human creature
would have brought her more fear.Humans were unnatural,griffins
fairies trolls and magical bean plants were perfectly normal in her
new way of thinking.

Yxmiyl went into a steep dive.Chatting with a roc about the
weather was fine.but she had business to attend to.She plunged
through the clouds below and levelled off as she approached the
lands of the dragons.Below she could see her family lying on the
rocks,merrily trilling away as they greeted her arrival.They
started peppering her with questions,mainly to do with the fate
of the other zyxthians on the planet Earth.They didn't like what
they heard,and when her mother heard that one of her daughters
had been reduced to transform herself into a human in order to
survive,she began to wail.For a few minutes the other dragons
took up this keening lament for a lost soul.Then her father spoke
sharp words to his mate"not in front of the children....pull
yourself together....we'll find a way....rescue her....need a plan"
The old dam slowly stopped her wailing,and as she dabbed the tears
from her eyes she heard a quiet chirp come from beneath Yxmiyl's
body.A tiny little dragonet was poking her head out ,staring at all
the huge dragon feet around her.one of their talons was nearly as big
as her body.Then a huge snout swivelled down to stare at the little
dragoness.Then another huge snout came down to join the first.A loud
booming voice said in a roar"well who have we here".Yxmilia had just
met her grandparents."

"now Yxmilia might be living in a dragono=ic nevernever land
where the happy hunting grounds,the Seely Court,selkies and an
infinite number of worlds coexisted,but she still had a stomach,and it
was growling.What was she going to eat?She didn't even know what food
was .Her first memory was of an intense pain as her bones had snapped
and her flesh had torn.Then had come her birth,which had been as
wonderful and pleasant as one could hope for.Her humanity had been
shed like an old skin.

Yxmiyl heard her daughters grumbling stomach and pushed aside her
doting parents.She led her daughter to a stream and told her to eat.
The stream was chalk full of wiggling little salmon.She knew her
daughter was going to have to eat a lot of those ittle wrigglers
before she started putting on weight.After she had eaten her full and
lay on her bulging side,her mother told her to put the remaining bones
and scales from her meal back into the stream.To yxmilia's surprise,a
whole fleet of canoes suddenly popped up on the surface of the stream
and the humans in them waved back to the startled dragonet as they
paddled away."those are the salmon people,you'll get used to them"
Yxmiyl answered in a matter of fact tone to her daughters unspoken
question.

Over the next few years Yxmilia ate lots of salmon people,and to
be honest,she got eaten herself a few times.usually she'd be out
minding her own business soaring up in the clouds when a dark shadow
would suddenly pop up above her and down she'd slide down some
griffins gullet.There wasn't much pain,at least not that she
remembered afterwards.Then darkness,and when she reawoke she usually
found herself basking on a rock,chirping away and with a well fed
griffin saluting her as he flew off.Being a Zyxthian was definitely
an interesting lifestyle.

The next few years were carefree ones for Yxmilia.Evenings were
spent on the basking rock chirping and trilling away with the rest of
friends and family.Days were spent courting with the males,and she
had her eyes set on a handsome fellow named Xyzth.There was also the
matter of what Yxmilia would do when she grew up.She was already 3/4
the size of her mother and was ready to lay her first clutch of eggs.
Other dragonesses had already laid their eggs and gone off to colonize
new worlds and bring them into the world of Zyxthia.Her grandparents
would have been happy to keep her with them but her mother had other
plans.The planet Earth still awaited colonization as well as a lost
sister who needed recuing.She gently broached the subject to her
daughter.Perhaps you,d like to set up your nest on the Earth.After
the initial refusal,Yxmilia reconsidered.Earth was a tough nut to
crack,if she could establish a successful foothold there her family
would definitely be honoured and dragons would be chirping and
and trilling "the ballad of yxmilia " to the ends of eternity.Perhaps
she would go to Earth.

She snared Xyzth by telling him that she planned to be a proper
little dragoness by setting up her nest in one of the established
colonies.A nice safe place where life would be easy.She lied.The
word Earth was never mentioned.
They mated,she laid her eggs on a trilling rock surrounded by
golden sand and the eggs hatched.Preparations were made.When the
magic words were spoken that rock,a few thousand square feet of
golden magical sand and a family of Zyxthian dragons would be
transported to their new home.After allowing the kids a few days
to get used to Zyxthia,it was time for this boat to leave the dock.

On the appointed day everyone was there,weeping grandparents
salmon people,hungry griffins and all,Up on the hill the kids were
chirping contentedly,Yxmilia was tidying up the nest and Xyzth was as
nervous as hell.The crowd seemed a little too big for a mere
departure.Everyone out there knew something he didn't.He glanced
between his mate and the cheering crowds as she uttered the final
words of the departure spell.The earth started shaking and the
sand started to glow.The warp engines were warming up.THEN,somebody
in the crowd had to roar"bon voyage,see you on Earth".EARTH,they
were going to the hell hole earth.Xyzth took one look at his mate and
kids and started bolting down that rock.Things were really shaking up
now,it wouldn't be long.He stood at the edge of the rock and looked
back.His dragonets were bawling in terror,his mate was calling to him.
A few quick bounds and he'd be in the crowds and safely away from
Earth.To one side he could see the sand wavering and sink beneath the
surrounding sands.In a few seconds that rock,nest and terrified family
would vanish.Then he heard his mate utter a lonely terrified chirp,and
Xyzth bounded back up the rock to be beside her .He curled his tail
protectively around her and shivered in terror as Zyxthia,the only
home he had ever known,vanished in a cataclysmic flash of light and
thunder.Swiss Family Robinson was on it's way.

A lot had changed on Earth since Yxmiyl had fled the planet.There
had been a few wars,a few nuclear power plant breakdowns and Coal was
King.The atmosphere was blackened with pollution,mutant things lay
for protection under rocks and bones of the dead were scattered about.
The trilling rock had materialized in some american desert.Except for
the area on and above the golden sands,they had set up their colony in
a blackened,blasted wasteland.That first night was rent with the
terrified chirps of dragonets and the soft despairing roars of their
parents,

The Zythians huddled in the nest for several days.Xyzth was too
terrified to venture outside the golden circle to forage for food.He
and his mate took to loud quarreling when she matter of factly told
him she had forgotten the magic words which would get them out of this
godforsaken hellhole.She actually hadn.t(Yxmilia wasn't that stupid)
but she was hoping to get her mate up in the air and looking for
something to feed the kids.She was determined that there would be a
"The Ballad of Yxmilia " someday.

Hunger finally drove Xyzth to action.One day,after glowering
silently at his stupid forgetful mate,he leapt in the air and flew
off.As he flew out of the reach of the zyxthian sand Yxmilia noticed
that his golden hide dulled considerably.This was a polluted place.

For several days they heard nor saw him.They worried that perhaps
he had injured a wing,or a far worse fate,that his hide had blackened
and he either now lay dead or had transformed into a human and had
forgotten all about his family.

Neither event had occurred.he had travelled far but had finally
found prey.In each talon he grasped a buffalo,his tail was coiled
tightly around a buffalo calf and in his jaws he grasped the calf's
mother.That night that sounds of the desert were rent with the
chirps and burps of well fed dragonets and their parents.

The next morning the family stared down at the scraps of the
previous nights meal.Bones lay scattered all about.The parents
taught their kids to gather all the bones.if this were Zyxthia they'd
have tossed the bones in the stream,in the ground or in a volcano and
watch their meal spring back to life as good as new.They knew if they
put them outside in the desert nothing would happen,the bones would
stay bones.But stick them in magical golden zyxthian sand,hmm who
knew?
Thus the family buried the bones in the sands of their home,moved back
to the top of the rock and chirped and trilled a song of rebirth.For a
few minutes nothing happenned,then slowly six hills began to form in
the sand as if the bones were growing.Soon 6 spiky horns thrust out of
the sand,then a mane of white and then the heads of six unicorns
thrust out of the sand.With a snort and a shake,the 5 adult unicorns
and the one colt shook the sand off their Zythian bodies.

Being flighty creatures ,the unicorns didn't hang around.They
dimly remembered being eaten by those dragons and decided that once
was enough.As four of the adults stepped over the ring of sand,two
transformed back into buffalo and 2 transformed into a stallion and
his mare.This was a bit of a shock and they leapt back into the circle
Presto chango,they were unicorns again,The mare with her colt held
back.she was very happy being a unicorn,thank you very much.
Thus the situation was that a family of dragons perched on the rock
and six unicrns trotted about along the sand on the bottom.There was
some zyxthian plant life growing about in the sand,but it was only
a matter of time before the unicorns would need more grazing space.
Being zyxthians,they had no desire to venture back into the desolate
terrain which lay outside the circle of golden sand."

" Xyzth continued foraging for buffalo and pretty soon there was
a herd of 950 unicorns galloping around the trilling rock.It was only
a matter of time before there were more unicorns around the rock than
there were buffalo in the herd he stalked.One day,after a fruitless
hunt,he came back with nothing to feed his young.A particularly fat
unicorn had strayed from the herd and was grazing beside the trilling
rock."why not?" thought Xyzth and with a quick dive he had obtained
that nights meal.
If Xyzth had tried such a stunt months ago,all the unicorns would have
bolted.But they were quick learners and had learned that being a
Zyxthian meant they were playing by a different rulebook.Tomorrow
the dragons would stick the bones in the ground and the recently
deseased unicorn would be as good as new.Besides,it gave them a
chance to finish off that patch of grass the fat one had been
working on.

True to style,the dragons waddled down the hill in a solemn
procession,buried the bones and went back up to the top of the hill
where they chirped and trilled.POP,the fat one appeared in a flash of
light on top of the sand where his bones had been buried.He trotted
off to join the herd,as if nothing had happened.

Actually something had happened,the sand where his bones lay
buried lay undisturbed.Previously,unicorns had clawed their way out
of the sand.This was a new means of being reborn,The family of dragons
waddled down and went to where the unicorns bones had been buried.They
were no longer there.They had vanished.As Yxmilia looked down in the
empty hole,she heard a snort and looked up into the muzzle of the fat
one.

For a few seconds neither said anything,then the fat one said"if
you must eat me ,don't burp so loudly next time".That broke the ice,
Yxmilia retorted"if you exercised more there'd be less fat to
burp over".

The unicorns and dragons discovered they had a common set of
problems:lack of food and lack of space.Buffalo were hard to find,
the grass was getting scarcer,young colts needed more room to kick
up their hooves.the dragonets were getting too big for the nest.There
was no question about it,this little patch of Zyxthia was going to
have to get a lot bigger.The two sides puzzled over the problem.They
each had the partial answer to the puzzle but they had to work
together to solve the problem.

On the appointed day the herd of unicorns positioned themselves
around the ring of sand.The dragonets had scattered golden sand
lightly over an area around the trilling rock of about three miles
diameter.They figured this would be a good test size.back on the
trilling rock Xyzth wanted to make certain his mate knew the words.
After what had happened months ago he didn't relish another surprise.

On the appointed hour the unicorns plunged their horns into the
golden sands around the rock and waited while Yxmilia chanted the
magic words of colonization.All around her kids chirped away.Xyzth
tapped his tail nervously ,ready to bolt if things went wrong.

Those warp engines came back online.The ground started shaking
and Xyzth found himself clawing desperately for a foothold as the
ground swayed beneath him.Out in the distance he could see circles
of golden sand spreading out and joining together as Zyxthia came
to Earth.Trilling rocks began thrusting themselves from the newly
formed golden sand.Desert mice squeaked in terror as their bodies
swelled and feathers sprouted out of their fur.They hunched over in
pain as their bones reformed and their snouts fused into beaks.Where
once lay an innocent little mouse nest now towered a huge hungry
griffin and her brood of 5 hungry griffinets.They were looking for
something to eat and they would not be dissappointed.Lizards,spiders
and birds discovered that their old homes just wouldn;t do anymore.

A cactus plant suddenly decided it didn't want to be a cactus
plant anymore.it wanted to be a magic beanstalk,a HUGE magic beanstock
As it's transforming roots swelled and thundered to dig hundreds of
feet into the transforming soil beneath it,it looked up.Somewhere up
there was a land called Zyxthia,and fellow bean stocks it could
pollinate.It dimly remembered something about a fellow named Jack who
wanted to cut it down.It looked down upon it's swelling bulk,it was
already 1/8 mile in diameter and still growing,and thought"hah,lets
see him try his axe now" and reached for Zyxthia.

A desert sparrow had been sitting over a nest in the cactus.She
barely had time to comprehend that the cactus plant she was in was
no longer a cactus plant before the transformation swept over her and
her nest.Suddenly she was sitting on a hill of shaking ,vibrating
eggs before she fell through the space between two eggs which were
towering above her and waited to be crushed.That didn't happen.Instead
her plummage grew polychromatic and sparks of lightning shot out of
her eyes as her body began to grow and change.Minutes later ,after she
had repositioned herself on top of her eggs,she flapped her enourmous
wings and enjoyed the loud noise they made.Down below.the rest of the
new born Zyxthians stopped briefly to listen to the sound of thunder
heralding the birth of a Thunderbird.Off in the newly forming mist,a
Roc circled in to see how his mate was doing.In his beak he held the
limp body of a sea serpent which only minutes before had been a
rattlesnake.

The former cactus finally found the home it
was looking for.As Yxmiyl and the other residents of Zyxthia looked up
in awe,a huge tendril came plunging down out of the sky and buried
itself deep into the mother soil and began to feed and take root.As it
transferred the lifegiving nutrients into itself like a hungry lamb
takes to it's mothers teat,springs began appearing in the dry desert
back on the Earth.Schools of salmon people leapt and frolicked as they
found a new home on the Earth.The golden sands in the desert began to
spread and grow with every throb of that hungry transformed cactus.

Yxmilia and Xyzth hugged one another and began to weep with joy
as they saw the first arrivals from the old world make their way down
along the bean plant.This time things WOULD be different."

As the old dsm and drake finished the old story,Mary King gazed
down upon Harethe.He had curled up and gone to sleep,as had most of
the other dragonets in the circle around the campfire.Mary King
stepped carefully around the sleeping children as she went to help
the other adults tidy up.]
[[BooktheFour commentary]]

Book the Four (Dragons of Histh)

2007-08-04T18:02:47Z

Loathsomedragon: New page: [From: "norfolkdrake" <norfolkdrake@netzero.net> Subject: Date: 1-May-03 12:27 The Dragons of Histh Book The ...

[From: "norfolkdrake" <norfolkdrake@netzero.net>
Subject:
Date: 1-May-03 12:27

The Dragons of Histh
Book The Four

copywrite 2001 by Harethe

As Greta,the hatchling and Jenthe approached one of the secret
entrances to the caverns,they noticed that they were not alone.Five
mating pairs of dragons were winging in with them.Bethog's 3 brothers
and two sisters were making their monthly visit to their sire and dam.
All seven adult dragons landed in a clearing in the forest near the
old Armstrong farm.The hatchling was just starting to stir so Greta
released him and he stretched his wings before he joined the adults
who were moving into the forest and the tunnel entrance.

Since all six wyrms were from the Nederlandse,they were busy
conversing in the common language.Their squeaks,roars and hisses
were coming fast and furious as Greta and the 5 brothers and sisters
discovered that they were from the same area of the Nederlands.
The hatchling might not have known
more than 3 to 4 words in the common language,but he could tell by
the rapidity of their movements that the adults were fluent and were
conveying a lot of information.Just inside the first cave to the
tunnels the adults all stopped and stared at him.Greta rested her
forepaw on his shoulders and motioned the other 5 wyrms over.Once
all 5 wyrms were looking at the hatchling,Greta began pointed out
all the quills and spines hidden in his body.One of the sisters
nudged at his lips,and gave his sharp teeth a close examination.
The adults were communicating amongst themselves,discussing this
childs great prospects as a hunter.The hatchling didn,t know
what they were saying,but he knew that he was the center of attention
and really would have preferred not to have all those slitted eyes
staring at him.

Jenthe came to the rescue.He had stood patiently near the
entrance to the tunnel,but soon the sun would be up and he wanted
to be deeper in the tunnels and in his lair.His mate Terre awaaited
him and after months of work he just wanted to lay down for a long
stretch and perhaps relax in the sea serpent pool.Thus when it
looked like the other adults were preoccupied with admiring the
dragonet,he reminded everyone that they had to hurry inside with
a roar and a jerk of his neck towards the tunnel.That hurried the
other adults along,and Greta made certain that the hatchling marched
in front of her with the other 5 wyrms surrounding them.The hatchling
was getting suspicious at this point,he suspected that the wyrms had
been conversing about more then his sharp teeth and venom systems.

When they entered the main chambers they noticed that things
were back to normal.The feeding troughs had been set upright again
and there were hundreds of contented dragons and serpentes coiled
up and sleeping off the feast forced upon them by the Great Serpente.
Maegrethe had a bulging stomach and was sleeping contentedly with a
Orientel dragon.There were plenty of wounded,but the Histh dragons
had carried them to the deeper caverns where they were being attended
to.The caverns were clean and Greta saw that all was good.What Greta
really wanted to do was carry on this conversation with Bethogs
clan .As she asked the elder brother where his lair was,the hatchling
tried to sneak away.He figured his time with the wyrms was over and
that he could go back to his old life.As he started scrabbling away a
sharp jerk of his tail brought him short.He looked back.Greta had
gripped his tail in her jaws and was slowly pulling him back towards
her.The other 2 wyrm dragonesses were making soft squealing and
whining noises towards Greta while the 3 wyrm dragons kept jerking
their necks up and down with their mouths open like they were
laughing.The hatchling finally figured it out,"my god,she thinks
I'm her baby".

Looking after her hatchling had crossed Greta's mind.But she was
also thinking about the injuries he had suffered.If he was going to
stand on his own four feet someday,he was going to have to learn how
to take care of his body.After telling the other four wyrms that she
would see them later,she motioned for the hatchling to follow her.

The two of them wandered down one of the tunnels leading to a
new cavern which was still under construction.Here they found many
wounded dragonkind.Although the dragons had disposed of the dead and
dying dragons,the less seriously wounded that been brought down to
this cavern .here they would stay until they were healed,at which
point most of them would be transported by sea serpent or wing back to
their lairs in the old world.There were several orphaned dragonkind
resting in that cavern,including a clutch of 2 wyrm dragonets who
had lost their parents and one sibling.Greta looked around,no other
dragonkind seemed interested in these solitary dragonets.Thus she
and the hatchling waddled over and introduced themselves.The
hatchling turned his back on these strange wyrms,but Greta was
much more warm towards the clutch.She told them that she would
be their mother from now on,and that they would now regard the
uncommunicative Histh dragonet as their brother.When one of the
little dragonets asked her why their "brother"couldn't speak the
common language,Greta told the dragonet that the hatchling had been
raised by humans and had never recieved the guidance he needed.It
would be up to her and her brother to make sure that the
hatchling was taught what it meant to be a dragon.

Lesson number one was how to heal a injured wing.Greta led her
3 dragonets to a corner of the cavern where a supply of grasses and
herbs were kept in separate piles on the floor.With the 2 other
dragonets looking on,she led the hatchling through the piles and
made him sniff the various medicinal plants.She showed the hatchling
the common language display for each plant,and made sure he understood
which plant went with each display.She made him repeat her actions
till he had every twitch of the tail,every snap of the jaw,every hiss
down perfect.She then held a clump of herb in one paw and touched his
forehead with another paw.She then brought the clump of herb onto his
forehead and waited to see if the hatchling could figure out what the
plant was used for.

As soon as the hatchling felt the plant brush against his skin he
noticed that his forehead felt cooler.It dawned on him that this herb
could soothe his hot skin with it's cool touch.Once Greta was sure he
had figured out the healing properties of the herb she held it against
different parts of his body.Whereever she touched the plant his body
cooled to it's touch.He noticed that she kept the plant away from his
ears,eyes,nostrils ,mouth and cloaca.When he pointed at the plant and
then at his nostril,Greta showed him why she was avoiding these areas.
She shoved a small fragment of the plant into his mouth suddenly.
The inside of his mouth was suddenly hot and on fire.He spat out the
plant and learned the hard way that this herb was for external use
only.

They repeated the process with all the piles of grass and herb,
and Greta made sure that the hatchling learned the proper use and
application of each plant to his dragon body.She then lifted up his
injured wings off his sore back and packed a mixture of soft grass
and soothing herbs on top of his back.She then lowered his wings
and watched while the hatchling positioned his wings to keep the
soothing mixture of medicinal plants resting on his back.The
hatchling had learned the basics of dragon healing.

The three dragonets and the hatchling then followed Greta to a
corner of the cavern where they all took a well deserved nap for a
few hours.

It was night,and the 4 dragons were awake and hungry.Greta had a
special treat for them.She had made arrangements to join the
monthly gathering of Bethog and her clan.After making sure that
the hatchlings wings still pressed protectively on the healing herbs
she told the other two dragonets that a special feast had been
prepared by Bethogs clan and that they were all invited.The two
orphans squealed with joy and were eager to be off.The hatchling
understood the part about "FOOD" that Greta and the two dragonets
were displaying,but to him "FOOD" was a half torn carcass of sheep
or calf lying in a feeding trough.He still possessed his human
sensibilities and wasn,t too thrilled at the thought of tearing away
at raw bloody carcasses.he did what he had to do to survive,but he
would have much preferred to dine out a fast food outlet.

The hatchling then watched while Greta communicated to the two
dragonets.he then watched while the two dragonets promptly responded
in kind.All three wyrms then turned to the hatchling and repeated
their movements.They then waited,and stared at the hatchling expectant
-ly,as if waiting for a similar response from him.All they got was a
blank dumb look from him.He really hadn't a clue about what had just
passed between the three wyrms.After a few minutes the little
dragoness turned back to Greta and made more of those mysterious body
movements.Greta responded by uttering a low growl,tapped her tail on
the stone floor a few times,and then swung her neck between the two
dragonets and the hatchling a few times.She then charged off into the
cavern,leaving the 3 dragonets staring at one another.

The two orphans stared at the hatchling in an awkward silence,
then the brother tried to interest the hatchling in conversation.The
brother essentially said"so do you think the hunting will be good this
fall.How good is your venom for hunting.Do you think they'll have
snacks at the gathering of Begoths clan".The hatchling naturally
missed the gist of 90% of this conversation,but he did pick up on the
words "FEAST,PLEASURE,VENOM and HUNT"Thus he tried as best he could
to express his opinion that the meal would be very pleasant.The
brother naturally enough wanted to show off his fangs to the
hatchling.He trotted about in a circle roaring and hissing,his body
twisting and flexing,his wings outstrtched as he showed himself to
be a extroverted little wyrm.He then stooped his impromptu dance of
the hunt and stared at his sister.She was less of an extrovert,and
simply sat there cleaning her wings and tidying up her body.But as she
did so she let her talons slowly slide out ,and she rubbed them on the
floor in order to maintain their wicked sharpness.She gently extended
her fangs and licked them with her tongue till they were gleaming
white.Both the hatchling and her brother hissed appreciatively as she
subtly displayed her weaponry.She wasn't all sugar and spice.

It was now the hatchlings turn.He already had a sense of what was
buried within him,but how to make a proper act of it.Simply popping
quills,stingers ,fang and talons all at the same timewouldn't do.His
two companions were more interested in the show he put on than whether
he had longer fangs then they had.

After a few minutes of thought,he lay on the floor and slowly,oh
so slowly crawled along like he was dying.Being the creation of a
shape shifting dragon snale goddess ,he realized he could probably
push his body into shapes other dragonkind only dreamed of.He decided
now was as good a time as any to find out.He began to feel inside
himself and started flipping switches inside his body he had only
become aware of days ago in that forest.As he crawled along,bones
and muscle and skin slowly began to pop and reshift.

Once he was in position and felt his body was prepared for his
display,he lay quietly on the floor and played dead.The two dragonets
obliged by walking up to him and poking at him,waiting for him to
impress them.The hatchling did nothing,he figured best to give them a
real good surprise.The hatchling felt his body make it's final
preparations in his skull,neck and tail.He could feel his venom glands
throbbing,his venom system quills pushing on the inside of his hide
and distinctly reptillian thoughts floating to the surface of his mind
He might be a dunce at the common dragon language,but his instincts
were telling him that the prey was just where he wanted them.

The brother got bored.He started to walk away.Thus it was his
sister who got the full display.Suddenly the hatchlings head shot up
in the air above her,and kept rising and rising.His neck was
lengthening and his head towered above her.As she watched his mouth
opened wider and wider as his jaw unhinged and opened to an impossible
degree.AS she looked up.she saw the bones at the back of his skull
flex and form the hood of a cobra snake.He roared and swung his wings
out wide.As they did so rows of quills and stingers emerged from his
body in waves.His talons extended,his fangs swung into view and he
pulled back his lips to reveal his long sharp teeth.The little
dragoness was distracted from this display by a squeal of terror
beside her.She looked over to see her brother lying on the floor,
embraced in the coils of a long tail.the hatchlings long tail.a tail
which lay in a loop on the floor at her feet.

Although the hatchling had stray thoughts bouncing around his
mind of what to do with the captured prey items,these were quickly
pushed aside when he noticed that his act had been a little too
convincing for the brotherThe brother was both growling and whimpering
at the same time,ready to fight for his own survival.Thus the
hatchling quickly uncoiled his lengthy tail and let the brother regain
his dignity.The hatchling then started pulling head,neck and tail into
their proper compact form.After a minute or so he appeared his own
normal self,with not a claw or quill in sight.The two dragonets were
impressed.They started pointing out various parts of his body and
gave the hatchling the impression they wanted to see him reveal what
lay within him in a less dramatic fashion so that they could examine
each component in a more leisurely fashion.

When Greta and Maegrethe arrived,they found the hatchling
obligingly lengthening and shortening his tail to the amusement of
the two dragonets.The hatchling was finally getting the sense of what
it meant to own a Histh dragon body.

When Greta had communicated with the two orphan dragonets her
conversation had been simple enough.It went something like"Hi,my
name is Wyrm Quiet Little Feathered Huntress,but my friends call
me Greta.What are your names?".The little dragoness had replied
that although she was named "New Wyrm Little Wtch " being called
Maerethe was her preferred name.Her brother had been named
"New Wyrm Loud Noisy Hunter"but much preferred to go by the name
of Jenthe.The three of them had then turned to the hatchling and
had asked him what his name was.Naturally enough the hatchling hadn't
a clue what Greta meant with all her displays and noises.Greta could
live with that.She knew that that 99% of what she communicated flew
over the head of the hatchling.Once she taught him what the display
for NAME was in the common language,he would quickly respond by
telling her his name.She could be patient while he learned.

Then the little dragoness had to go spoil things by displaying
"DRAGON NO NAME" as she pointed at the hatchling.THAT prospect
horrified Greta.The possibility that the hatchling was nameless meant
he had no personality,no soul.He was just another lizard scurrying in
the sand,just another calf ready for the slaughtering pen.As Greta
mulled over the possibility that the tribe of Histh was just cranking
out dragonkind like they were just nameless mindless beasts was making
her increasingly nervous.Just because the hierachy of the tribe had
been named didn't mean that the lower groupings were.Greta growled
nervously and then after telling the 2 orphans to keep the hatchling
company,went to see Maegrethe.

Greta found Maegrethe in the sacred tablets storage cavern.As
Greta approached the witch dragoness she puzzled over how she was
going to broach the subject .telling Maegrethe that the Histh tribe
was composed of souless nameless animals would not be a very
diplomatic gesture.As she looked around the chamber she could scent
the odors of countless dragonkind in this chamber.Ahhh,that was
good,it meant that tribe knew the value of a sacred tablet.The
old world dragons had started the tradition of keeping track of
each dragon by his or her own sacred tablet record.That tablet
recorded the scent of his birthing,his first hunt,his mate,his
sire,his dam,and if need be where and how he died.There were no
nameless dragons in the old world.By holding that chunk of stone
to your snout you could relive the life story of the dragonkind
that was recorded on it.

Thus Greta got around the question of a nameless dragonet by
asking Maegrethe a oblique question.Could Maegrethe PLEASE update
the sacred tablet of a hatchling Greta wanted to adopt into her
clan.The little tyke didn't remember his formal dragon name and
stubbornly refused to give her his common name.perhaps if Maegrethe
got a description of the little dragonet she would know the dragonet
Greta was referring to.

Maegrethe knew the dragnet Greta was communicating about.The
tribe of histh referred to him as the"SERPENTESS BROTHER".He was no
great shakes on his own,but his sister the SERPENTESS looked after
her own.Maegrethe politely listened to Greta's description of the
dragonet while her mind frantically tried to recall where she had
stored that particular sacred tablet.She knew she hadn't stored it
in the regular stacks of tablets that kept track of Histh dragons.
it was near the serpente storage niche.The Serpentess had turned
out to be a glorious success as a serpente,while her brother had
turned out to be a dismal failure as a dragon.Thus she had put
his tablet beside hers.Perhaps some future witch dragoness would
want to puzzle over why two humans had taken such widely varying
paths in their transformation into dragonkind.

As Maegrethe pulled out the hatchlings sacred tablet record,
she inquired on whether Greta wanted to see the naming and baptism
of a recent clutch of serpente hatchlings.Their parents had been
lured into the ceremony by the sight of free meat.Even though the
serpente parents hadn't a clue what was going on,they sat around
docilely on full stomachs while a assistant witch dragoness named.
baptized and recorded their offspring into the world.

As Greta and Maegrethe watched the assistant grabbed one of the
serpentents that were scurrying about by his tail and held him high
above her.Her body began to sway and twist and guttoral roars emanated
from her snout as she emplored to welcome this new hatchling into her
community,and to guide him in his future life.The serpentent naturally
enough was unhappy at this unique use of his tail and began to squawl
and paddle his four legs wildly about.He just wanted to get back to
MOTHER.MOTHER could have cared less.She had been through this routine
before and felt if the dragons wanted to give away good meat for the
priviledge of dangling her kids above the floor for a few minutes,she
could live with that.

The assistant then dangled the serpentet above a sacred tablet
that would record his future life as a serpente.She gave him a good
whack on his rump and he responded by spitting venom and saliva all
over the sacred tablet.He began squalling even louder,which made it
easy for the assistant to figure out what to call him."you're a
noisy little runt,aren't you"she thought and in the common language
she named him LITTLE NOISE.She then gently lowered LITTLE NOISE onto
the floor and let him scurry off to hi mother.

After naming the other five serpentets the assistant moved over
to the two waiting dragonesses and explained how she named serpentes.
She didn't bother with long names for serpentes.Thus like dragons go
about being known as a simple common name,she gave serpentes simple
easy names.Usually serpentes responded to their names by associating
the display of their name with a free meal.

As Greta and Maegrethe walked back towards the waiting trio of
dragonets Maegrethe explained that the tribe made sure that all
newborn dragonkind got a least one name.The members of the tribe
had gotten the other dragonkind to adaopt one new concept for
dragonkind.They taught the other dragons that come hell or high
water.every hatchling should at least be named to a tribe or
dragon deity.Thus many a dragon or sea serpente egg that contained
a dead unborn dragonet or serpentet had been named HISTH or SKYE or
WYRM or WYVERN before being disposed off.There were no nameless
souless dragonkind in the new world.Maegrethe wanted to make that
point perfectly clear to Greta.

As the two entered the unfinished cavern Maegrethe glanced at
the sacred tablet and then at the sight of two dragonets playing with
the
hatchlings shortening and lengthening tail.She told Greta that
formally her intended adopted son was named
"NEW HISTH WYVERN FLAMESPITE "She'd been homesick for England when she
had named him,but coming up with a informal name for him to go by had
never crossed her mind.Staring at that long coiling tail set the
two dragonesses thinking along the same lines Thus when they waddled
up to the hatchling they both greeted him with the same name
"hello LONG TAIL" or in the english language :Harethe.Thus was Harethe
named.

Harethe quickly got his tail back to a more proper shape at the
site of Maegrethe.He knew that she was one of the higher ups in the
tribe and more importantly he remembered that she was the dragoness
who had done the ceremony on the day he had been transformed from a
human into a dragon.She was a VIP,and he felt nervous in her
presence.
He started to tremble and hid his head underneath his wings.

Maegrethe and Greta were a bit flustered at this response and
stood there awkwardly trying to figure out why Harethe was so bashful.
Harethe may have thought he was an adult,but the 2 adult dragonesses
certainly didn't think so.It slowly dawned on the two of them that
after nearly 6 years of life as an outsider in the tribe,Harethe's
social skills were just as ill developed as his ability to communicate
in the common language.

Harethe was going to need a lot of schooling,that was for sure.
Greta told Maegrethe that there was no way her son was going to end
up the equivalent of a ditch digger.Greta could teach him some things
but others would have to come from another person willing to be his
guardian .She tapped her paw patiently while she waited for Maegrethe
to rise to the challenge.

Maegrethe wasn;t exactly thrilled to become the godmother of a
dragonet most of the tribe only respected because he was the brother
of the Serpentess.But it would be a way of getting on Greta's good
side.Thus she politely accepted the invitation to be Harethe's
godmother.

She then gently lifted Harethe's wing up and scratched his skull
just behind his earslits.Harethe moved his head out and swivelled it
so that Maegrethe could scratch it in the right places.He began to
quietly hiss in pleasure,and Maegrethe knew that the two of them
would get along just fine.

Greta then told the two orphan dragonets ,lets go to a party.
Maegrethe gave Harethe a light tap on his forehead and hoisted him up
on her back.All five dragons then set off for the gettogether of
Bethog and her clan.

When they arrived at the lair of Bethog's parents,they discovered
that they weren't the only ones invited to this family gettogether.
Mary King lay at one corner,scratching the neck of the Serpentess.Ida
and Henry King were chatting away with one of Bethog's brothers,whose
name they later discovered was Josethe,whilst the 3 sisters were
busy preparing the feast.Josethe had mated with a Cornsh Flamespite,
and she was merrily cooking the meat with her breath.The scent of
cooked and seasoned sweet meats was thick in the air,and Harethe was
taking deep sniffs of that wonderful aroma.

Greta told the dragonets to run along and play with the other
dragonets in the cavern,then she and Maegrethe went to where the
adults lay restful on the floor.The Master cavern builder had an
enthralled audience listening to him describing an encounter he.d
had with Raemac,the french skye dragon they had encountered in
New Scotland when they first landed on the shores of the new world
after the Great Migration.Greta had never heard the details of what
had happened to dragonkind as they made their way into the new world.
Thus she settled down and listened to the clan remember their first
years ,when clans had to decide where to set their lairs and whether
to start a new clan of their own.

It appeared that Raemac had come to the new world a century or
two before the rest of dragonkind.He had been caught in a storm which
had blown him off course.When the storm had died down he had caught
the scent of a forested land to the west,and had decided to
investigate.What he discovered was a land teeming with wildlife and
with few humans.The humans who were around looked upon him with awe
and regarded him as a god they referred to as a "Thunderbird".Raemac
didn't know what a thunderbird was,but he certainly appreciated the
offerings of tobacco and food the native humans made to him.There were
no other dragonkind about,so he had the whole continent to himself.He
had flown back to the old world and had enticed his mate to follow him
with tales of a land of milk and honey.

Although he longed for a simple life sitting in a lair and
obtaining food for his offspring,his human worshippers would have none
of it.He was a god,and they expected him to pass his divine judgement
on their daily affairs.Soon he had discovered himself using his
scholarly Skye training to settle disputes between competing villages
of humans.He ended up becoming Nova Scotia's first dragon lawyer and
judge,and he had held his court in one corner of his lair.When the
later dragon migrants had first come ashore,he had often talked about
how he had always wanted to be a simple hunter,and had ended up being
trained and working as a god.

Now all the dragonets were having a good time,all except Harethe.
All around him were dragonets chasing after one anothers tails,
dragonets poking their snouts out of hidden recesses in the chamber
and dragonets leaping over one another and riding piggyback.He guessed
that they were playing games but if you couldn't understand the
language it was difficult to decide if one group of dragonets was
playing Hide and Seek or Pin the tail on the Donkey.Not wanting to
make a fool of himself in front of all the other kids,he decided to
stay out of the play area.He was one miserable little dragonet.
Now Maegrethe saw him there curled up in a corner and wandered over.
Since she was in a way his creator she felt an obligation to get him
reinvolved in society.

She sat beside him and puzzled over how to get him involved.She
looked about for some divine inspiration and got it.One of the
Serpentess's latest hatchlings had snuck into a food trough and was
recieving a scolding from one of the dragonesses preparing the meal.
Dinner was NOT served.The serpentet was a tiny young thing,only a
day or two out of his or her egg,and that got Maegrethe thinking.
She might have been a servant of Histh,but she was also a scholar
who had studied the creation myths of the various tribes.One in
particular bore a strong resemblance to the Book of Genesis,sans
humans.She decided that perhaps that was a good way to let the
dragonet in on the fact that dragons were not big dumb scaly lizards.

She tapped the dragonet to get his attention,then stood up and
rored to get everyones attention.She told all that they were going to
play a little game.THIS little dragonet didn't feel like he belonged
in the party,and she was going to put an end to that.After announcing
the rules ,she got down to business.

After a 1000 years as a dragoness ,her english writing skills
were a bit rusty and she wrote in an archaic english that hadn,t been
written for nearly a millenium.she extended a talon and scratched in
the sand the words "Inn thee Bgininge".She then scratched out the
pictograms for the dragonkind genesis"START HATCHLING SUN"or in
human terms "when the sun god was hatched".She then motioned to
Jenthe to continue the story and he continued with the english version
and added a pictogram to the dragon version.One of begoth's brothers,a
short well built fellow named Bernthe,could make sense of those
chicken scratches from the human genesis,but he gamely put in an
effort and came up with the next line "igbegnneee" before he did a
much more passeable dragon pictogram"LONELY".AT that point Mary KIng
stepped up and scratched out the english word for "lonely" beside the
pictogram.Thus the story of creation from both the dragon and human
versions slowly unfolded on the sandy floor.

Some of the natural born dragons understood simple English words,
and scratched these out on the floor,along with their pictogram
equivalent.Bernthe,for example,had had a smattering of education in
reading human text and translating it to the common dragon language
during the Great Massacre.Thus when his turn came up he put the
pictogram symbol for the "SUN" underneath the word "God" and on the
dragonic version of Genesis he added a few human words beside their
dragonic equivalents.He motioned Harethe over and indicated he should
add a few lines.Harethe couldn't make head or tail of the pictograms
but seeing big winged scaly lizards writing Genesis in human words
hit him like a piledriver.He looked at all his companions and realized
for the first time in six years that he wasn't alone.This society was
a lot more complex and a lot more similar to humanity then he had
realized.After weepy for a few minutes he scratched out a line on the
sand"the lord god saw that it was good".At this point Maegrethe looked
over at the dragonic Genesis version to see if a similar line existed
there.There was "SUN SUN PLEASURE PLEASURE".She circled the pictogram
sentence with one talon,circled the human words Harethe had just
written with another talon and made sure that Harethe got the message.
He did.He scratched out a new message in English"don't parties have
food and games"
So they did thought Maegrethe,now let's start partying.

The dragons all looked over at the feeding troughs to see
if it was time to eat.it wasn't and Bethog and her two sisters
shushed away inquisitive dragons.Come back when the moon is high
in the sky(or in about an hour.Thus they still had time for some
games.bethogs brother in law from New Scotland sauntered over and
suggested that they play Dragon football.He asked if Harethe knew
how to play it.At this point Jenthe stepped forward and said that
the dragonet probably knew something similar to it.The two of them
then asked everyone to join one of two teams,they were going to play
a round of football.Jenthe took Harethe aside and scratched out on
the sand just what kind of game they were about to play.He pointed
out 2 holes in opposite sides of the cavern which were about 20 feet
off the floor.Put simply Harethe,we're going to have a round of soccer
He told Harethe to crawl into one of the holes to act as goalie.

Harethe got into the hole and wondered how the dragons proposed
to get a soccer ball into a hole 20 feet above the sand floor.As he
looked down upon the two opposing teams of dragons standing on the
floor he got his answer pretty quickly.The dragon holding the soft
small ball tossed it high in the air.Suddenly the cavern was filled
with the sound of flapping wings as the two teams took to flight.
They weren.t allowed to touch the ball with their jaws or feet,only
their tails.Soon the ball was being slapped about in the air and tails
were swinging and bodies were twisting and coiling about in the air
above the floor.Suddenly the ball came flying at Harethe and he swung
his tail wildly to knock it away.SMACK and the ball flew to the other
side of the cavern with several dragons chasing after it.His adopted
wyrm sister was the goalie for the opposing team and she tried to
hit the ball out out with her tail.DARN,the ball bounced off her
wings.That was a goal for Harethes team.It looked like her side would
have to work on it's defense.Harethe was beginning to like this
version of soccer.He curled up his wings and lay on his side as best
as he could,and bent over his neck so that he could get a clear view
of that ball.His tail coiled and dangled out of the hole,ready to keep
that ball out of his teams hole.No way was he going to let down his
side.

Nearly an hour later Harethes side was winning.Both sides had
decided that for Harethes first game it would be nice if his side
won.Thus when the opposing side had tried to slap the ball into the
hole,they had done so lightly and had tried to aim the ball at a spot
where harethe could easily deflect it from.As they led the mighty
dragon goalie Harethe to the feeding troughs all the team members
made sure he knew that they thought he was a mighty dragon.Haethe
didn't need an interpreter to understand that he was the hero of
the game.He was beginning to feel warm and fuzzy,and bellowed
out a few roars and showed his fangs just like his fellow players
did .

It was time for the feast.The feeding troughs ran along a long
line near the sides of the cavern.Bethog's sire and dam sat near the
end of the trough,the adults then seated themselves beside Bethog's
parents and the juveniles and dragonets sat at the far end of the
feeding trough.To keep up Harethe's good spirit,the dragons sat
him right between Bethog's parents.He was definitely the guest of
honour at this party.He looked down upon the feeding trough in front
of him and could smell the delicious sweet meat and spiced greens laid
out before him.Before he could dig his snout into the selection of
foods laid out before him,the old dragoness to his left coughed and
nudged him on the shoulders.He looked about,all the dragonkind had
their heads pointing towards the ceiling.Maegrethe had stood up and
had her neck and head stretched out and was softly whining and hissing
and speaking in the common lanuage.Harethe could make out her body
movements to a point and saw "SUN... SUN... PLEASURE... YES" .He
guessed correctly that she was offering thanks to the sun god for the
meal laid out before them.Harethe stretched out his head towards the
ceiling and kept a close eye on what his two companions would do next.
After a minute all the dragons bowed their heads ,made soft roaring
noises and briefly flapped their wings.Harethe did the same and
guessed that he had just said "AMEN" in the common language.He then
dug in to the feast laid out before him.

Normally Harethe's meal consisted of a recently killed calf
tossed into the feeding trough along with a helping of green grass
and a bushel of oats or rye.it was done like this not because the
dragons didn't know any better but because further preparation of
the meal was unnecessary.Harethe and his fellow dragonkind have cast
iron stomachs,not to mention plenty of teeth and claws.Harethe should
have been thankful.In the old days Bethogs sire and dam had to fly out
and either hunt prey or raid some farmers flock of sheep.The old
dragons thought the young dragons were spoiled rotten.In the old days
you had to WORK for your dinner,and tparties were far and few between.

Harethe surveyed the heaping piles of food before him,Properly
cut up calf stewed in Norfolk blueberries and with the sweet aroma of
maggi drifting into his nostrils.Stacks of yams,cabbage and turnip
boiled in soybean oil.Over in one side lay a hill of toated wheat
kernels and whole watermelon.Harethe definitely stuffed himself like a
pig,as did most of the dragonets.
The juveniles were more interested in staring into one anothers eyes
and talking about SEX then eating,so many a young dragonets head
snaked in between two lovelorn juveniles and made off with a untended
treat.The adults ate more leisurely and savoured every minute of the
meal.Many of the older adults remembered what it had been like to
starve in a lair during and after the Great Massacre.An event like
they were now holding would have been unheard of in those days.

After harethe had had his first helping,he went for a second,and
then a third helping.He figured it would be a while before an meal
like this came his away again.he was going to milk it for all it was
worth.After he had finished his third helping of calf dripping in
blueberry jam,he pulled back from the trough,put his forepaws to his
full stomach and burped,Ahhh,this was definitely dragon heaven.After
letting out those excess stomach gasses,he looked around the cavern to
see what everyone else was doing.

Most of them were doing the same as him,lying on their bellies or
on their side and just taking a brief rest.The Serpentess however ,had
maneuvered herself into the feeding troughs and cleaning up any
leftovers.Knowing it could be days before her next kill,she left not
a scrap of food on the feeding troughs.Many of her offspring were
huddled in one corner of the cavern and Harethe knew his sister would
probably regurgitate most of her meal to feed her young.He also knew
that she regarded him as one of her hatchlings,and maneuvered himself
to be ready when she came to feed him.After the Serpentess finished
up the troughs she spotted Harethe and crawled over to him.Her tongue
flicked out to taste him,then she made a gurgling noise as she
regurgitated part of her meal in front of him.The glop that came back
out of her stomach wasn't as appealing as calf with blueberry,but he
whined and lapped it up.His sister pulled back her lips in what he
hoped was a smile,whined mother noises,and then waddled off to feed
the rest of her clutch.

As Harethe watched her move off,he longed for the days when he
could actually talk to her.He wanted to know whether she still
recognized him as her brother or whether her actions to feed him
were just some instinct,with not a flicker of intelligence behind it.
He wanted to know whether the sister he had known still lived,or
whether the creature who had replaced her was just a mindless reptile.

As he turned away from the Serpentess,he noticed Jenthe and his
two offspring devouring their kill.Jenthe had swallowed a full grown
bull while his two dragonets were stretching their jaws over a pair
of calves.Harethe could not help but notice the major distension in
Jenthe's features as he unhinged his jaw and his skin and features
distorted as he swallowed his prey whole.He looked every bit the black
adder he had been born.Then Harethe rolled back onto his side,
stretched out his neck and tail and drifted off to sleep".Some other
time.Some other time he'd have to ask Jenthe about his sister." were
his last thoughts.

The reason why Jenthe and his two dragonets weren't stuffing
themselves full of stewed calf and fresh blueberry jam was because
their bodies couldn't handle that particular diet.As much as Jenthe
and the kids would rather be at the feeding troughs then stretching
their rather flexible skulls and necks over a whole kill,they had
learned the hard way that Histh had not given their kind the features
of a black adder snake merely for show.

Harethe had only fallen asleep for what seemed like minutes.He
and his companions were stuffing themselves with endless supplies of
stewed calf and blueberry jam.Suddenly his companions to his left
rudely jammed a calf bone into his side.With a jerk,he was awake,and
staring into the snout of Mary King.The dragoness motioned for him to
follow her.The lights were low and all the dragonkind had gathered
in a circle around the old dam and drake.The dragonets were huddled
eagerly at their feet and their parents lay relaxed in the outer edges
They had set up a little campfire near the centre and near this
Harethe could see long lines of verse scratched into the sand.Mary
positioned herself and her companion near this verse and as the old
drake began to coil,twist,flap,hiss and roar,Mary laid a talon on the
words that he was uttering in the common dragon language.The old drake
was telling one of the old stories:a fairytale.

"there is a place where all the magical mystical creatures of the
six worlds live.Although you'll find creatures ranging from
aryxiodactyls to zylotropes living there,you won.t find one solitary
human.Being a magical place,the land of Zyxthia likes to grow and
remake the 6 worlds into itself.Someday perhaps,it will.Millenia ago,
a colony of zyxthians came to the Earth to form a new colony and to
spread Zyxthia into this universe.They consisted of dragons,trolls,
sea serpents,fairies,salmon people and many other magical creatures.

That first colony did not do well.The Earth was too harsh for
Zyxthia to grow and prosper here.Soon most of the colonists had
either fled back to Zyxthia or had been killed or transformed into
dumb plodding beasts who had forgotten their magical heritage.Many
a dragon ,upon watching their little patch of Zyxthia vanish,had to
choose between eternal death or saying the magical words which would
transform them into humans.As humans they would retain their dragon
fire but would forget they had ever been Zyxthian dragons.

The last Zyxthian on Earth was a dragoness named Yxmiyl.She no
longer left her little patch of Zythia golden ground and planned to
flee back to Zyxthia within a few hours.The golden circle was shrink-
-ing and she had no intention of being stranded on this planet.She had
watched too many of her companions come up to her to give a last
farewell before they said the magic words.Only a year before her
sister had transformed.Her patch of magic ground had vanished and her
golden hide had rapidly turned black and started to dissolve.The two
dragonesses had one last tearful embrace before her sister had said
the magic words.After much groaning and shrinking and crunching of
bones,her sister was no more.What stood below her was a terrified
human female looking up into the jaws of a huge and terrible dragon.
Her sister had run shrieking away accompanied by the anguished roars
of a dragoness who was now truly alone in this godforsaken hell of a
world.

Yxmiyl had no intention of suffering a fate like her sister.She
was all prepared to go.Each time one less person truly believed in
dragons,her patch of Zyxthia ground grew smaller.This was a planet of
unbeleivers.

There was one human who still believed.Perhaps the human was a
great......grandchild of a transformed Zyxthian dragon.Whatever the
reason,the human searched for the last dragon on earth and found her.
As the human wandered into yxmiyl's lair,the human saw a huge dragon
standing in a patch of golden sand,coiling it's neck and preparing the
magical words that would return her to Zyxthia.The human was not
afraid.but strode up and said"I want to be a Dragon".The dragon just
stared at the human.No speech,no roars,no telepathy,just stared at the
human.
The human decided that maybe hanging around wasn.t such a good idea
and turned and ran for the cave entrance.Suddenly the dragon was in
front of the human and reached out a huge paw to grasp the human.The
human began to squirm and scream in terror cupped within those
huge paws.

Yxmiyl had understood the human's desire,and for a brief moment
thought that perhaps the colonization plans could be revived.The human
was NOT of Zyxthian blood,but that could easily be rectified.She stood
in the golden patch where any new zyxthian had to be birthed,and began
the humans rite of transformation.She squeezed on the human and tried
to remold it's body.If things had gone well the body within her paws
would have refolded and flowed like putty ,but all she heard was a
scream,a moan,the snap of bones and the tearing of crushed flesh.
Yxmiyl didn,t want to look at the limp bundle in her paws,looking
down on the ground at her feet told her all she needed to know.The
patch of golden sand barely reached beyond her hind feet and was
shrinking by the second.Time on Earth had run out for the Zyxthian
and the human.Yxmiyl said the words of departure and sank into the
sand.The golden circle shrank till it was a pinprick of golden light
and then it too vanished.

Yxmiyl stretched out her golden wings and let the gentle zyxthia
breeze carry her along.She looked up,hundreds of miles above her she
could see the mists.Hundreds of miles below her she could see the
clouds.It was good to be home.Within her paws she could feel a
wiggling form try out her new lengthening tail and neck.She could feel
broken bones fuse back together and torn flesh knit itself back
together.There was the flutter of wings,and then a chirp as a new
Zyxthian was born.Yxmiyl opened her paws to look at the tiny dragoness
she held.Her tail was twice as long as her body,and her scales were
flashing in a rainbow of golden colours.Her body sans tail was about
six feet long and her eyes glittered with the blue fire within them.
She was truly a magical creature of Zyxthia.

She also happenned to be terrified.maybe her mother was used to
floating hundreds ofmiles up in the mists,but she wasn't.She wrapped
her tail snuggly around one of mother's hindlegs,dug her talons into
mothers chest,and took her first good look of Zyxthia.What she saw
were magical bean plants,magical redwoods and assorted other zyxthian
flora rising from the clouds hundreds of miles below and travelling
hundreds of miles into the mists above them.In their leaves were the
nests of rocs,thunderbirds,griffins and assorted other winged life.
Curiously Yxmilia felt no fear at the sight of her new zyxthian
neighbours.Truth be told,the sight of a 2 legged human creature
would have brought her more fear.Humans were unnatural,griffins
fairies trolls and magical bean plants were perfectly normal in her
new way of thinking.

Yxmiyl went into a steep dive.Chatting with a roc about the
weather was fine.but she had business to attend to.She plunged
through the clouds below and levelled off as she approached the
lands of the dragons.Below she could see her family lying on the
rocks,merrily trilling away as they greeted her arrival.They
started peppering her with questions,mainly to do with the fate
of the other zyxthians on the planet Earth.They didn't like what
they heard,and when her mother heard that one of her daughters
had been reduced to transform herself into a human in order to
survive,she began to wail.For a few minutes the other dragons
took up this keening lament for a lost soul.Then her father spoke
sharp words to his mate"not in front of the children....pull
yourself together....we'll find a way....rescue her....need a plan"
The old dam slowly stopped her wailing,and as she dabbed the tears
from her eyes she heard a quiet chirp come from beneath Yxmiyl's
body.A tiny little dragonet was poking her head out ,staring at all
the huge dragon feet around her.one of their talons was nearly as big
as her body.Then a huge snout swivelled down to stare at the little
dragoness.Then another huge snout came down to join the first.A loud
booming voice said in a roar"well who have we here".Yxmilia had just
met her grandparents."

"now Yxmilia might be living in a dragono=ic nevernever land
where the happy hunting grounds,the Seely Court,selkies and an
infinite number of worlds coexisted,but she still had a stomach,and it
was growling.What was she going to eat?She didn't even know what food
was .Her first memory was of an intense pain as her bones had snapped
and her flesh had torn.Then had come her birth,which had been as
wonderful and pleasant as one could hope for.Her humanity had been
shed like an old skin.

Yxmiyl heard her daughters grumbling stomach and pushed aside her
doting parents.She led her daughter to a stream and told her to eat.
The stream was chalk full of wiggling little salmon.She knew her
daughter was going to have to eat a lot of those ittle wrigglers
before she started putting on weight.After she had eaten her full and
lay on her bulging side,her mother told her to put the remaining bones
and scales from her meal back into the stream.To yxmilia's surprise,a
whole fleet of canoes suddenly popped up on the surface of the stream
and the humans in them waved back to the startled dragonet as they
paddled away."those are the salmon people,you'll get used to them"
Yxmiyl answered in a matter of fact tone to her daughters unspoken
question.

Over the next few years Yxmilia ate lots of salmon people,and to
be honest,she got eaten herself a few times.usually she'd be out
minding her own business soaring up in the clouds when a dark shadow
would suddenly pop up above her and down she'd slide down some
griffins gullet.There wasn't much pain,at least not that she
remembered afterwards.Then darkness,and when she reawoke she usually
found herself basking on a rock,chirping away and with a well fed
griffin saluting her as he flew off.Being a Zyxthian was definitely
an interesting lifestyle.

The next few years were carefree ones for Yxmilia.Evenings were
spent on the basking rock chirping and trilling away with the rest of
friends and family.Days were spent courting with the males,and she
had her eyes set on a handsome fellow named Xyzth.There was also the
matter of what Yxmilia would do when she grew up.She was already 3/4
the size of her mother and was ready to lay her first clutch of eggs.
Other dragonesses had already laid their eggs and gone off to colonize
new worlds and bring them into the world of Zyxthia.Her grandparents
would have been happy to keep her with them but her mother had other
plans.The planet Earth still awaited colonization as well as a lost
sister who needed recuing.She gently broached the subject to her
daughter.Perhaps you,d like to set up your nest on the Earth.After
the initial refusal,Yxmilia reconsidered.Earth was a tough nut to
crack,if she could establish a successful foothold there her family
would definitely be honoured and dragons would be chirping and
and trilling "the ballad of yxmilia " to the ends of eternity.Perhaps
she would go to Earth.

She snared Xyzth by telling him that she planned to be a proper
little dragoness by setting up her nest in one of the established
colonies.A nice safe place where life would be easy.She lied.The
word Earth was never mentioned.
They mated,she laid her eggs on a trilling rock surrounded by
golden sand and the eggs hatched.Preparations were made.When the
magic words were spoken that rock,a few thousand square feet of
golden magical sand and a family of Zyxthian dragons would be
transported to their new home.After allowing the kids a few days
to get used to Zyxthia,it was time for this boat to leave the dock.

On the appointed day everyone was there,weeping grandparents
salmon people,hungry griffins and all,Up on the hill the kids were
chirping contentedly,Yxmilia was tidying up the nest and Xyzth was as
nervous as hell.The crowd seemed a little too big for a mere
departure.Everyone out there knew something he didn't.He glanced
between his mate and the cheering crowds as she uttered the final
words of the departure spell.The earth started shaking and the
sand started to glow.The warp engines were warming up.THEN,somebody
in the crowd had to roar"bon voyage,see you on Earth".EARTH,they
were going to the hell hole earth.Xyzth took one look at his mate and
kids and started bolting down that rock.Things were really shaking up
now,it wouldn't be long.He stood at the edge of the rock and looked
back.His dragonets were bawling in terror,his mate was calling to him.
A few quick bounds and he'd be in the crowds and safely away from
Earth.To one side he could see the sand wavering and sink beneath the
surrounding sands.In a few seconds that rock,nest and terrified family
would vanish.Then he heard his mate utter a lonely terrified chirp,and
Xyzth bounded back up the rock to be beside her .He curled his tail
protectively around her and shivered in terror as Zyxthia,the only
home he had ever known,vanished in a cataclysmic flash of light and
thunder.Swiss Family Robinson was on it's way.

A lot had changed on Earth since Yxmiyl had fled the planet.There
had been a few wars,a few nuclear power plant breakdowns and Coal was
King.The atmosphere was blackened with pollution,mutant things lay
for protection under rocks and bones of the dead were scattered about.
The trilling rock had materialized in some american desert.Except for
the area on and above the golden sands,they had set up their colony in
a blackened,blasted wasteland.That first night was rent with the
terrified chirps of dragonets and the soft despairing roars of their
parents,

The Zythians huddled in the nest for several days.Xyzth was too
terrified to venture outside the golden circle to forage for food.He
and his mate took to loud quarreling when she matter of factly told
him she had forgotten the magic words which would get them out of this
godforsaken hellhole.She actually hadn.t(Yxmilia wasn't that stupid)
but she was hoping to get her mate up in the air and looking for
something to feed the kids.She was determined that there would be a
"The Ballad of Yxmilia " someday.

Hunger finally drove Xyzth to action.One day,after glowering
silently at his stupid forgetful mate,he leapt in the air and flew
off.As he flew out of the reach of the zyxthian sand Yxmilia noticed
that his golden hide dulled considerably.This was a polluted place.

For several days they heard nor saw him.They worried that perhaps
he had injured a wing,or a far worse fate,that his hide had blackened
and he either now lay dead or had transformed into a human and had
forgotten all about his family.

Neither event had occurred.he had travelled far but had finally
found prey.In each talon he grasped a buffalo,his tail was coiled
tightly around a buffalo calf and in his jaws he grasped the calf's
mother.That night that sounds of the desert were rent with the
chirps and burps of well fed dragonets and their parents.

The next morning the family stared down at the scraps of the
previous nights meal.Bones lay scattered all about.The parents
taught their kids to gather all the bones.if this were Zyxthia they'd
have tossed the bones in the stream,in the ground or in a volcano and
watch their meal spring back to life as good as new.They knew if they
put them outside in the desert nothing would happen,the bones would
stay bones.But stick them in magical golden zyxthian sand,hmm who
knew?
Thus the family buried the bones in the sands of their home,moved back
to the top of the rock and chirped and trilled a song of rebirth.For a
few minutes nothing happenned,then slowly six hills began to form in
the sand as if the bones were growing.Soon 6 spiky horns thrust out of
the sand,then a mane of white and then the heads of six unicorns
thrust out of the sand.With a snort and a shake,the 5 adult unicorns
and the one colt shook the sand off their Zythian bodies.

Being flighty creatures ,the unicorns didn't hang around.They
dimly remembered being eaten by those dragons and decided that once
was enough.As four of the adults stepped over the ring of sand,two
transformed back into buffalo and 2 transformed into a stallion and
his mare.This was a bit of a shock and they leapt back into the circle
Presto chango,they were unicorns again,The mare with her colt held
back.she was very happy being a unicorn,thank you very much.
Thus the situation was that a family of dragons perched on the rock
and six unicrns trotted about along the sand on the bottom.There was
some zyxthian plant life growing about in the sand,but it was only
a matter of time before the unicorns would need more grazing space.
Being zyxthians,they had no desire to venture back into the desolate
terrain which lay outside the circle of golden sand."

" Xyzth continued foraging for buffalo and pretty soon there was
a herd of 950 unicorns galloping around the trilling rock.It was only
a matter of time before there were more unicorns around the rock than
there were buffalo in the herd he stalked.One day,after a fruitless
hunt,he came back with nothing to feed his young.A particularly fat
unicorn had strayed from the herd and was grazing beside the trilling
rock."why not?" thought Xyzth and with a quick dive he had obtained
that nights meal.
If Xyzth had tried such a stunt months ago,all the unicorns would have
bolted.But they were quick learners and had learned that being a
Zyxthian meant they were playing by a different rulebook.Tomorrow
the dragons would stick the bones in the ground and the recently
deseased unicorn would be as good as new.Besides,it gave them a
chance to finish off that patch of grass the fat one had been
working on.

True to style,the dragons waddled down the hill in a solemn
procession,buried the bones and went back up to the top of the hill
where they chirped and trilled.POP,the fat one appeared in a flash of
light on top of the sand where his bones had been buried.He trotted
off to join the herd,as if nothing had happened.

Actually something had happened,the sand where his bones lay
buried lay undisturbed.Previously,unicorns had clawed their way out
of the sand.This was a new means of being reborn,The family of dragons
waddled down and went to where the unicorns bones had been buried.They
were no longer there.They had vanished.As Yxmilia looked down in the
empty hole,she heard a snort and looked up into the muzzle of the fat
one.

For a few seconds neither said anything,then the fat one said"if
you must eat me ,don't burp so loudly next time".That broke the ice,
Yxmilia retorted"if you exercised more there'd be less fat to
burp over".

The unicorns and dragons discovered they had a common set of
problems:lack of food and lack of space.Buffalo were hard to find,
the grass was getting scarcer,young colts needed more room to kick
up their hooves.the dragonets were getting too big for the nest.There
was no question about it,this little patch of Zyxthia was going to
have to get a lot bigger.The two sides puzzled over the problem.They
each had the partial answer to the puzzle but they had to work
together to solve the problem.

On the appointed day the herd of unicorns positioned themselves
around the ring of sand.The dragonets had scattered golden sand
lightly over an area around the trilling rock of about three miles
diameter.They figured this would be a good test size.back on the
trilling rock Xyzth wanted to make certain his mate knew the words.
After what had happened months ago he didn't relish another surprise.

On the appointed hour the unicorns plunged their horns into the
golden sands around the rock and waited while Yxmilia chanted the
magic words of colonization.All around her kids chirped away.Xyzth
tapped his tail nervously ,ready to bolt if things went wrong.

Those warp engines came back online.The ground started shaking
and Xyzth found himself clawing desperately for a foothold as the
ground swayed beneath him.Out in the distance he could see circles
of golden sand spreading out and joining together as Zyxthia came
to Earth.Trilling rocks began thrusting themselves from the newly
formed golden sand.Desert mice squeaked in terror as their bodies
swelled and feathers sprouted out of their fur.They hunched over in
pain as their bones reformed and their snouts fused into beaks.Where
once lay an innocent little mouse nest now towered a huge hungry
griffin and her brood of 5 hungry griffinets.They were looking for
something to eat and they would not be dissappointed.Lizards,spiders
and birds discovered that their old homes just wouldn;t do anymore.

A cactus plant suddenly decided it didn't want to be a cactus
plant anymore.it wanted to be a magic beanstalk,a HUGE magic beanstock
As it's transforming roots swelled and thundered to dig hundreds of
feet into the transforming soil beneath it,it looked up.Somewhere up
there was a land called Zyxthia,and fellow bean stocks it could
pollinate.It dimly remembered something about a fellow named Jack who
wanted to cut it down.It looked down upon it's swelling bulk,it was
already 1/8 mile in diameter and still growing,and thought"hah,lets
see him try his axe now" and reached for Zyxthia.

A desert sparrow had been sitting over a nest in the cactus.She
barely had time to comprehend that the cactus plant she was in was
no longer a cactus plant before the transformation swept over her and
her nest.Suddenly she was sitting on a hill of shaking ,vibrating
eggs before she fell through the space between two eggs which were
towering above her and waited to be crushed.That didn't happen.Instead
her plummage grew polychromatic and sparks of lightning shot out of
her eyes as her body began to grow and change.Minutes later ,after she
had repositioned herself on top of her eggs,she flapped her enourmous
wings and enjoyed the loud noise they made.Down below.the rest of the
new born Zyxthians stopped briefly to listen to the sound of thunder
heralding the birth of a Thunderbird.Off in the newly forming mist,a
Roc circled in to see how his mate was doing.In his beak he held the
limp body of a sea serpent which only minutes before had been a
rattlesnake.

The former cactus finally found the home it
was looking for.As Yxmiyl and the other residents of Zyxthia looked up
in awe,a huge tendril came plunging down out of the sky and buried
itself deep into the mother soil and began to feed and take root.As it
transferred the lifegiving nutrients into itself like a hungry lamb
takes to it's mothers teat,springs began appearing in the dry desert
back on the Earth.Schools of salmon people leapt and frolicked as they
found a new home on the Earth.The golden sands in the desert began to
spread and grow with every throb of that hungry transformed cactus.

Yxmilia and Xyzth hugged one another and began to weep with joy
as they saw the first arrivals from the old world make their way down
along the bean plant.This time things WOULD be different."

As the old dsm and drake finished the old story,Mary King gazed
down upon Harethe.He had curled up and gone to sleep,as had most of
the other dragonets in the circle around the campfire.Mary King
stepped carefully around the sleeping children as she went to help
the other adults tidy up.]
[[BooktheFour commentary]]

Book the Three (Dragons of Histh) commentary

2007-08-04T17:36:00Z

Loathsomedragon: New page: [The BooktheThree document might best be described as the Matter of Cultus Creek In RL the RCMP issued a news bulletin in 2001 detailing their cracking of a diamond marketting scam r...

[The [[BooktheThree]] document might best be described as
the Matter of Cultus Creek

In RL the RCMP issued a news bulletin in 2001
detailing their cracking of a diamond marketting scam
run by a Richard Breslin.

What the RCMP bulletin didn't mention was that Breslin was the
manager and part owner of a chain of travel agencies running
out of Loblaw grocery stores.

There was a bit of franchisor/franchisee tensions between
Breslin and the travel agents.

Hence one travel agent ,seeking to impress Mr Breslin's
landlord,dreamed up a scheme for a Canada Day
mascot named Mortimer the Beaver.One of the future authors
of DoH countered this notion with a "Adaopt a hamlet'
scheme.The hamlet in question was the RL one(KingLake)
that Cultus Creek is patterned after.

The response to a "Adopt a hamlet " scheme fell on
deaf ears,and further reflection brought about the
realizzatuin that KingLake was a has been Hooterville who's only viable institution was its cemetary full of dead white male
pioneer farmers.

That led to a interconnected chain of events
leading to the eventual creation of a much more
lively KingLake as Cultus Creek.

Dragons of Histh

2007-08-04T15:02:34Z

Loathsomedragon:

[The Dragons of Histh founding set of stories were
created in December 2000 and Janurary 2001.These are

[[Book the One]]
[[BooktheOne commentary]]

[[Book the Two]]

[[Book the Three]]

[[Book the Four]]

Book the One (Dragons of Histh) commentary

2007-08-04T14:59:54Z

Loathsomedragon: New page: [There is an American Roman Catholic priest named Robert DeGrandis.Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's he was active in the faith healing movement.He had his own little group of foll...

[There is an American Roman Catholic priest
named Robert DeGrandis.Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's
he was active in the faith healing movement.He had his
own little group of followers,and one of those was the
RL Ida.Ida was having vision difficulties and fell head
over heels over Father DeGrandis.There was a lot of deep water
between the two,and she came to depend apon him as a second father
figure.The Dragons of Histh version of Ragnarok in the
Canadian Caverns is a pretty good approximation of how
the real life tragedy played out when R DeGrandis pressed
stalking charges against Ida.

The other RL events hinted at in Book the One is the Dutch
emigration after World War Two.

For the Texans ,the setting was initially set in
Galveston,Texas.Robert DeGrandis particular order of
priests was based out of Texas,and hence RL geography had
a impact on how Dragons of Histh was initially visualized.]

Book the One (Dragons of Histh)

2007-08-04T14:46:59Z

Loathsomedragon: New page: [ The Dragons of Histh Book The One copywrite 2001 by Harethe Aurelio King is a bit of a ...

[
The Dragons of Histh
Book The One

copywrite 2001 by Harethe

Aurelio King is a bit of a recluse.The residents of Cultus Creek,
Ontario usually gossip about why that foreigner would pay good$to
lease
thousands of square miles of useless sand.He never ever seems to
stay in town as dawn approaches,but goes off in a blaze of burning
rubber tires as he heads back into the desert he calls home.

Although the locals reqard him as a foreigner,he is anything
but.Some of the oldtimers recall their greatgrandparents talking
about the arrival of Aurelio Brown's pioneer forefather who arrived
in the 1950's.It.s a funny thing about the Brown clan,they all spoke
in a version of the english language which was well spiced
with dutch amd a bit of german.Those King's were definetely
foreigners.

But they were also extremely thrifty.They had always paid in
silver,gold and precious stones.Most people were content to leave
them be,why look a gift horse in the mouth.Of those who would not
leave well enough alone,some simply vanished in the desert wastes
and others came back DIFFERENT,and soon left the town,never discussing
what happenned to them out in the desert .Once they left town they
very rarely made contact with the ones they left behind.Thus although
many a legend or rumour circulated around town about what Aurelio
Brown did out in the desert wastes,his gold ,silver and jewels were
pretty effective at sealing loose lips and prying eyes.

One winter night as Aurelio roared back into his desert
wilderness,a group of reckless youth decided to follow him and
pry his secret from him.They kept a discreet distance back from him
and when they approached the road leading into the canyon,they
started dreaming of the secrets they would soon uncover.

In his big heavy cube van,Aurelio looked over at the blinking
warning light which told him he was being tailed.Soon he would
enter his own domain where all sorts of sensing devices would keep
track of any human intruder who strayed in.One thing Aurelio had
learned was that it was not wise for humans to catch him by
surprise ,as this invariably caused him to revert to the more primal
being who dwelled within him.Surprises were definitely not welcomed
by Aurelio,and his desert wilderness was well equipped with ground
radar,motion detectors,infared cameras which his precious metals and
jewels purchased.

For Aurelio was not alone in this wilderness,other creatures
called this desert there home,and if they had been detected,the world
religious and scientific communities would be shattered.Some secrets
were not meant to be discovered by the human race.

Aurelia floored the gas and quickly the van leapt forward with a
speed one would not expect of it.After many twists and turns,Aurelio
shook off his pursuers.Just to make certain,at one point he stepped
out of his van and placed his hands on the rock walls of the canyon
he had passed through.The walls cracked and flowed,and the canyon was
no more.

He drove on for several more miles,checking that his charges were
snug on their shelters,and then he drove to his own lair.Beside him
lay the electronic voicebox that he used to reproduce human speech,
because Aurelio himself was incapable of breathing,let alone speaking.
Aurelio was the Master Castle Builder,a living statue who had once
been a human artist and scholar,but who now was anything but human.

He drove the van up to a cliff face beside a large rocky hill
where he got out and placed his hands against the rock and willed
the rock to flow.It flowed outwards,revealling a tunnel leading down
into the earth.After driving in and resealing the entrance he drove
a few miles down the tunnel into a large chamber where he parked the
van and strode over to a wall covered with video monitors and alarm
systems.A quick check of the screens showed that the inquisitive
teens had given up and were heading back towards town.A check of the
other monitors showed that his charges were coiled up asleep in their
lairs.A alarm now went off and a light started flashing.In 15 minutes
the sun would go up and Aurelio knew where he had to be when that
event occurred.Thus he striped out of his human clothes while his form
still resembled that of a human and started to enter the tunnel
leading to the communal and ceremonial caverns.As he took his first
step in ,his clay like stone flesh started to darked and ripple and
swell.

What emerges from the other side of the tunnel is a living
statue of the dragon goddess Histh.The statue is lifesize,and walks
like a dragon and thinks like a dragon.For when Aurelio transforms
into an idol of Histh at nightfall,a bond is formed between Histh
and the transformed Aurelio where he becomes a focus of her celestial
power.Histh herself may be too busy saving an inquisitive rat down
in New Zealand,but her idol is much more than several tons of rapidly
hardening basaltic rock.To the dragon worshippers who will pay homage
to it,Aurelio is Histh.

Unfortuneately mobility isn,t part of the package for Aurelio
during the day,and as he shuffles along a stone ramp to his pedastel
of honor,his gait slows as his body hardens and becomes less fluid.
After perching himself on the jewelled globe,he tries to pose himself
in an dignified manner appropriate to an idol of a dragon goddess.
He extends out his wings,raises one clawed foot with outstretched
talons and just before he freezes solid,turns his head slightly to
stare at the witch dragoness Maegrethe.He opens his maw in a silent
dragon roar of greeting and then solidifies.Only the flickering glow
in the rubies which make up his eyes indicate that he still lives and
sees what is before him.

Like any good dragon Maegrethe utters a quick but loud roar in
response and then makes preparations for the Serpente Dragon Dance
and the Initiation Ceremony.

There are a total of 6 ceremonial chambers in the world,and the
one in Canada is devoted to the descendants of the dragon goddess
Histh
To understand the purpose of these gathering places for dragonkind,one
must understand that there are 600 races of dragons in the
world.Histh
is actually a pretty recent deity in the dragonic religious order.Four
other tribes of dragons have their own deity,which they alone worship.

What all dragonic creatures have in common is the protoserpente
from which all dragonic races sprang.Dragon mythology states that this
Great Serpente was born out of a volcano back in the time when
king lizards stalked the earth and the human race was represented by
proto mammalian ratlike things.It was said that the Great Serpente
spawned offspring which ate everything in their path and would have
destroyed the world if a fiery comet had not plunged out of the sky
and driven the race to near extinction.It is believed by the dragons
that many a long low hill could be the fossilized remains of a
Great Serpente.Since this cataclysm occurred 10's of millions of
years ago,no living dragon actually met a Great Serpente and until
a few years ago most doubted that the creatures were anymore than a
myth.The old myths also state 2 more things.The protodragons known
as serpentes were descended from the Great Serpentes.When seven
Great Serpentes have been reborn,the end of the world will come.

The Serpente Dragon dance is a ritual dance performed by dragons
all over the world.It is in honor the the Great Serpente from which
the 600 dragon races sprang.The Great Serpente is one deity all the
differing tribes commonly worship.Every six years the dance is held
at the Canada caverns,and it is an occasion for dragons around the
world to come together and celebrate what they are.In other years
the other 5 chambers are the site of gathering dragons.

In years past the ceremonial caverns devoted to the tribe of the
Serpente had fallen into disuse.It,s a liitle difficult to maintain a
ceremonial cavern to a dragon deity when young ones start to question
the very existence of a Serpente Deity.The dragons were straying from
the path of the Great Serpente.

As Maegrethe turns away from Aurelio's frozen greeting,she notes
that all the tribes are present in the caverns,as well as creatures
with no tribe to call their own.Over in one corner some witch
dragonesses are discussing the latest in spell casting.In a
pool fed by the salt waters of the gulf she sees several sea serpents
playing and splashing water on an annoyed French Skye dragon who is
setting up a 500 gallon drum to use to beat a rythm.Over in another
gallery a were dragon is trying to coax his terrified twin sister to
transform into her proper shape.In her human form his sister has no
memories of being a weredragon,and is terrified of the reptillian
which won't eat her,but is definitely roaring and displaying his
sharp teeth .Unfortunately for the two of them.she just can.t seem to
get out of her human mode.There are huge crows with the heads of a
dragon and dragons with the head of crows.There are serpentes with
3 heads,dragons with two tails .Off in one corner a visiting
kothoga sits all by himself.He pushed himself too far and transformed
into the pure demon form of his race,a huge skull attached to a
rotting skeleton with a healthy beating heart in his ribcage
pumping nonexistent blood.The dragons avoid his smelly living dead
carcass and no doubt he's hoping that a witch dragoness can reverse
his transformation.Off on a stone shelf specially reserved for her,
an ancient bipedal carniverous dragon named Margaret sleeps off a
good nights hunt.her wings spread at her sides,ready to strike at
any foolish dragonet who should venture too close.

All around the cavern slide and crawl serpentes.This tribe of
primitive dragon is not very well developed.Serpentes have a intellect
somewhat higher than a toad but no more than that of a dog.The smarter
ones can be trained to do tricks and the feeble minded ones are left
to wander about as they will.Up till a few years ago they were
regarded by dragons at best as pets and at worst as vermin.This last
classification is what brought the plight of serpentes to Histh;s
attention.If the rest of the dragon race would turn up their snouts
at them,than she'd do just the opposite.Her first divine form was as
a serpente and she adopted them into her family of servants and
followers.Being an adopted runt herself,one could say she became
soulmates with this primitive dragon race.In doing so she infused
in herself a bit of the heritage the Great Serpentes left to their
descendants.Thus any dragon decscended from Histh has a more
primtive and primeaval aspect to their nature than some of the most
advanced dragon races.

Having probably descended from the Great Serpentes through the
serpente race,there is one aspect that dragons will never ever escape
from,that heealthy roar.Serpentes bellow all the time and the
ceremonial cavern was no doubt filled with their roars and hisses.
A dragon likes to get out a window pane shattering bellow ,but they
are smart enough to know to keep quiet if humans are passing by.

Being primitive creatures,the life of a serpente boils down to
eating,sleeping,mating and roaring away,activities they occassionally
do all at the same time.They are serpentes after all.Thus one might
wonder why all the other dragons and creatures in the cavern
tolerated serpentes slithering all over the place and poking their
snouts where they ought not to be..There were heraldic dragons leading
pet wyverns by the leash in that crowd,but even the dimmest lowliest
serpente was treated as if it were royalty.It didn't have anything to
do with a long dead Great Serpente.It had everything to do with a
sweet young French Skye dragoness named Ida.

The cavern in which this communal gathering occurs in is
thousands of feet wide and hundreds of feet high.In the centre
is a 150 foot diameter saucer shaped depression with a stone ramp
leading from the edge to a pedestal in the center.On this mount is
perched the black statue of Histh.The depression is 15 feet deep and
is filled with a yellowish liquid.Susoended high from the ceilings are
two cages filled with a screaming human boy in one and a senseless
girl in the other.They are about to become unwilling participants in
the Initiation Ceremony.Had they been a little more willing,a set
of stone steps leads down from the pedastel on which Aurelio is
perched into the pool below his claws.Surrounding the edge of the
depression is a bank of stone along it's rim,raised 6 feet off the
ground.This barrier to entrance to the pool is a recent addition.
There are 16 tunnels leading into the ceremonial cavern,and a
space in the rock face where a 17th tunnel used to be.The 16 tunnels
are filled with much roaring ,hissing and dragons and dragoness,s
looking for a secluded dark damp spot away from prying eyes,but from
the former 17th tunnel only a faint crackling can be heard.

Finally the ceremonies begin.Maegrethe is assisted by her fellow
witch dragonessws and by their 5 aids.Maegrethe herself does not have
an assistant,unlike the other 5 witches.Their assistants are young
french skye dragonesses,and someday they themselves will practice the
craft of dragon witchery.

Maegrethe speaks in a common dragon language which is a
combination of roars,hisses and body movements.She repeats the old
Great Serpente
prophesies,and when she mentions the part about the end of the world
coming upons the rebirth of six Great Serpentes,the five skye
dragonesses start to tremble and glance at tunnel 17,as does most
everyone else in the cavern.

After having tuned up his 500 gallon oil drum the French Skye
dragon by the sea serpent pool starts to pound out a rythm
"tappetytap tap BOOM,tappetytap tap BOOM,tappetytap tap BOOM,tappety
tap tap BOOM...".Soon the weredragon standing by his terrified human
sister gives up on her and concentrates on the beat.Every time he
hears that BOOM he lets out a lusty roar,soon accompanied by other
dragons.

At this point the 5 skye dragonesses glance at tunnel 17,hoping
it will stay silent,but it is not to be.Feom the other side of the
sealed entrance comes a muffled roar,which follows the beat of the
booming drum.This is shortly followed by a pounding of a different
sort as a heavy mass inside the tunnel crashes against it;s stony
prison with such force that the cavern shakes as if hit by an
earthquake and chips of stone fall from the ceiling.

Maegrethe is also glancing at tunnel 17,but then she returns
her gaze to the 5 skye dragonesses.They have evey reason to tremble,
because the creature sealed forever in tunnel 17 was once their sister
Ida,now she is a Great Serpente.

Ida had been a superior kind of dragon.She was one of a clutch
of six eggs laid by a bipedal carniverous dragon after a successful
mating with a French Skye dragon.Her mother was a descendant of
Margaret the Dragon and her father had the blood of a divine feathered
serpente in him.Thus in Ida flowed the heritage of some of the best
dragon races in existence.

Being a mere carnivorous bipedal dragon,her mother did not
respond in a motherly fashion when the six eggs hatched.Her young
did not look or smell like bipedal carnivorous dragons,so she
quickly abondoned the nest and left the weak squirmy little things
to their fate.

At this stage Maegrethe became aware of their plight.Since their
mother was of the race of Histh,the witch dragoness was attuned to the
needs of followers of Histh and rescued them from a quick death in the
Sahara desrt.She took them back to England for safekeeping.After
some enquiries she discovered that the hatchlings most resembled
newborn French Skye dragons.Thus five of the six were quickly
adopted into the clan of French Skye dragons and had a happy
dragonhood.The sixth dragoness Maegrethe kept for herself and named
Ida in honour of a long dead human relative.

Over the next few years Maegrethe discovered that her young
charge was not just any Skye dragon.Although she had the superior
intellect of her father,she also had a bit of humour,rare in
natural born dragons.But at the same time she had all her mothers
carnivore and migratory instincts,as well as a more complex biology
than a mere Skye dragon.She was a fusion of the worlds ultimate
dragonic killing machine and ultimate dragon intellect..Maegrethe
knew that this hatchling was destined for some higher purpose.

Maegrethe thus taught Ida all which she had learned after 9
centuries of existence.When she had taught her everything she knew,
Ida demanded more.With the instincts of a migratory carnivore,Ida
quite happily left the english isles and went with Maegrethe on
dragon gatherings and explorations.Fear was not in her nature.
Any opponent who attacked this diminutive dragoness discovered
that Ida had all the fangs and claws and venom stingers of a
bipedal carnivorous dragon retracted and hidden in the folds of
her scaly flesh and tail.With strong jumping muscles in her hind
legs and hollow bones reinforced internally.she was lightning fast
and agile in the attack.Unlike her Skye dragon brethren who soared
in the sky all day to avoid being attacked on the ground,Ida was
equally at ease on the ground,in the air and in the ocean.She was.
simply put,the most superior dragoness that dragonkind ever created.

As it dawned on Maegrethe that her charge was a new saviour for
dragonkind,she quickly contacted the French Skye clan to check on
the fate of the other 5 adopted dragonesses.Yes,they were very much
alive and running circles around their kinfolk,showing all the same
potential that Ida showed.

Maegrethe quickly convened a gathering of the witch dragonesses
from the 6 races of dragonkind.Maegrethe kept Ida,and 4 witches from
the 4 other tribes adopted 4 of the dragonesses and promised to
mentor them and teach their pupils about their new adopted tribe.
The thought of a dragoness being adopted by the serpente clan was
offensive to all concerned except Maegrethe.Maegrethe had once been
a serpente herself,and being a servant of Histh,did not turn her
snout up at this primitive dragon race.In the end a reluctant witch
dragoness agreed to take the last remaining young one to live with
the serpentes on condition that food be supplied by the other tribes
and that she be allowed to teach the young dragoness the ways of the
witches dragon tribe as well as that of the serpente tribe.This was
quickly agreed to.

In 1993 another gathering of the dragon clans was to be held
at the Canadian ceremonial caverns.By this time Ida had grown into a
fetching young dragoness.Standing on her hind limbs with snout
reaching for the sky,she measured 15 feet tall from the ground to
the tip of her beak hook.Measured from the tip of her tail to
the tip of her beak hook she was much longer.
She was just approaching mating age.Many a young
French Skye dragon glided over the English Channel in hopes of
fetching her to his lair,but she would have none of it.An dragon
archeological dig had discovered sacred tablets on a ritual
called the Serpente Dragon dance,and it's first performance in
countless millennia was to be held in Ontario,Canada

Thus while countless lovestruck Skye dragons sailed above the
Cheviot hills of Northumberland,Ida was down in the caves of Maegrethe
prancing and leaping and looping and coiling,hoping that she would be
chosen to participate in the ancient dragon dance.With her superior
dragon body she was capable of performing undulations and movements
that other dragon dancers could only dream off.

There was only one problem which disturbed her,the old tablets
said that the Serpente Dragon dance was a celebration of serpentehood.
Ida loved the dance ,but not serpentes.They were such primitive
creatures.Whilst Ida had fine feathered wings,they had none.Where
she had light but strong bones,they were big boned and clumsy.Where
she had a fine pointed snout ending in a beak hook,they had wide blunt
nosed skulls only suitable for crushing and tearing prey apart.Her
talons were retractible and protected whereas theirs were fixed and
extended.Throw in the fact that the only vocalization they were
capable of was never ending roars and hisses,there was no way around
the fact that whereas she was a supeior kind of dragon,they barely
deserved to be honoured with the title of dragon.So WHY had some
ancient dragon tribe created such a wickedly exotic ritual in honour
of mindless stupid serpentes.

This question dwelled on Ida,s mind as she and Maegrethe flew in
over the Texas coast to the ceremonial cavern.Once inside Ida rushed
off to practise on her Serpente Dragon routine in one of the unused
side chambers.Imagine her surprise when she found her 5 sisters there
as well,all writhing and coiling and eager to be one of the six dragon
dancers required for the dance..Being superior dragonesses,the six
sisters quickly taught one another their moves and discoveredthat
individually their dancing was good but as a team ,they were
unbeatable

In the meantime Maegrethe had set of down one of the tunnels to
the ossuary.Here in alcoves clawed into the walls lay dragon skeletons
and skulls and other skeletons of creatures not of dragonkind,but
still honoured by the 6 tribes.If one were to look closely at the
dear
departed one would notice that there were a lot more skulls than other
body parts.Although dragons honour their dead,they are still ravenous
practical beasts.The reason no dead dragons have been found is because
other dragons eat the body,bone,guts tissue and everything.All they
leave is the head,and this much lighter burden is carried to the
nearest ossuary.Eat the big bulky and hard to transport dragon body
and honour the skull.Nobody said dragons were wimps.

Around this time the elder dragons who would decide which dragons
would take part in the Serpente Dragon dance came upon Ida and her
sisters cavorting about the side chamber.To make a long story short,
it was agreed that the six dragonesses would perform the ceremony.Ida
was overjoyed,it was going to be her big day,dragonkind would worship
the ground she ran on.

By 1993 the fortunes of the serpente tribe were at the lowest
point they,d been at for thousands of years.Although the tribe
itself traced it's beginnings to an event which had occurred 10's
of millions of years ago,they had definitely not advanced in
social standing.

Although the Serpente Dragon dance was supposedly being held
in their honor,the reality was far different.In one cavern was held
pens of mooing,baaing and oinking cattle,sheep and pigs whilst in
the other side were pens holding roaring hissing serpentes.Dragons
would wander around herding stray serpentes back to the pens whilst
at the royal feeding trough the nominal head of the serpente clan
was leashed and kept sticking his smelly snout in the middle of a
communication between the leaders of two tribes and mindlessly
roaring away.As much as the two dragonesses would have loved to
sink their jagged teeth into his throat,they had to settle for
savage hisses and nips in order to shut him up.Basically nobody
wanted these stupid creatures crashing through their party,so it was
much easier to lead them on leashes or pen them up.

The Serpente Dragon dance itself was a complex affair.and many
dragons seriously doubted whether it could be pulled off.It required
six concentric circles of serpentes to coil around a centre
point,with each band travelling in the opposite direction to it's
adjacent band
of slithering serpentes.Thus the serpentes travelling in the inner
circle travelled counter clockwise,the next circle travelled clockwise
the 3rd circle travelled clockwise,etc.The serpentes had to move to a
rythm :slide slide slide and then they had to rear their heads off the
ground ,unsheath their fangs and spit venom in front of them.At this
point they lowered their heads to the ground again and slide along to
that rythm.after 6 revolutions around the circle they coiled over
their head and tail and sank the tip of their tail into their maw
and convulsed their bodies before straightening out again and resuming
the dance.It was very primal and no doubt many a dragon and dragoness
got hot under the scales just thinking about it.

The problem obviously was,were the serpentes up to the task.Could
they pull off such a complex routine.Many years of training serpentes
were envisaged but the trainers were in for a pleasant surprise.
Serpentes from the tribe of Histh are the more advanced form of
srrpente,with the intelligence of cats and dogs.After much hard
training these serpentes could only partially get the routines
right.Yet the more primitive serpentes,with longer and thinner
bodies,non retractible fangs and the brains of a toad,took to the
routine like a fish takes to water.They didn't need any training
and just needed that beat of the rythm to get them going.

As the preparations for the dance began dragon handlers led
the serpentes out of their pens and set them up along the
6 circles set in grooves around the pool of Histh with its
frozen statue perched in it's place of honour.All the serpentes
chosen for the dance were of the original serpente race.The
serpentes of Histh were allowed to finsh off the scraps of
flesh,blood and offal in the feeding troughs.Being serpentes,both
kinds were happily roaring and hissing away and no doubt would
have engaged in other activities if not restrained by their handlers.

Down in the side chamber,Ida and her 5 sisters had finshed
perfecting the dance and were running on all fours to the ossuary
in search of serpente skulls to use as masks.Down in the boneyard they
discovered that of the two kinds of serpente skull they found there,
the more ancient skulls made a more comfortable fit,The skulls from
Histh serpentes had higher foreheads,forward slanting eyes,a more
triangular appearance and retractible fangs.These skulls were more
dragonlike ,more shaped like the skulls of Ida and her sisters.
Unfortuneately they were not as roomy on the inside and Ida found
she couldn't slide her snout into the space between the jawbones.

The more ancient serpente skulls however,were a different story.
Their venom fangs were fixed in a strike position,they had low
foreheads and the eye sockets were sideways oriented.They were also
blunt nosed and broader,not refined and delicate by any means.They
were also heavy,and no normal French Skye dragonesses neck could have
carried that weight.Being a superior sort of dragon however,Ida and
her sisters discovered that their neck muscles were just strong enough
to do the job.Thus Ida slid her snout and head into the ancient
serpente skull she was holding and engaged in a little play,slashing
at her sisters with those wickedly long venom fangs of the long dead
serpente.After play was done,she and her sisters bounded and leaped
down the tunnel back to the ceremonial cavern,necks held high,skulls
bouncing up aand down on their heads.

As the six dragonesses bound into the ceremonial cavern,the Skye
dragon by the sea serpent pool starts tapping out the rythm of the
Serpente Dragon dance on an old 500 gallon oil drum"tappetytap
tap BOOM...".This gets the attention of all the dragons and the 17
tunnels quickly empty as the crowd of dragons gathered round the 6
serpente circles grows larger.The serpentes themselves grow restless
and a few break their leashes and stray away from their handlers.Down
in the feeding troughs,the leader of the serpente tribe removes his
snout from the gutted carcass of a cow and slithers over the edge
intent on going where the action is.As he reaches the edge of his
leash he rears up on his hind legs,lunges his long torso forward and
snaps the restraint holding him back.He pushes his way through and
heads toward the pounding beat of that dragon drummer.

Ida and her sisters take their places between the space between
the circles.Ida takes a middle space between the 3rd and 4rth circle
lies down on her belly.Not being a serpente she can't flex her torso
as easily as a much longer and sinuous serpent,but she can more easily
use her more muscular legs to drag herself along the ground.She lays
her head,nestled in the serpente skull,flat along the ground ,along
with the rest of her body.Her body is tense and oily with anticipation

Having got the rythm the drummer cranks up the volume,the
handlers release their serpente charges and the dance begins.The
serpentes slide to the tap,and rear up and spit out venom to the BOOM.
Ida herself does likewise,and is surprised that she had that much
venom in her.She feels her heart pounding and her venom glands
throbbing to the beat of the drum.The beat seems to be rousing the
carnivore within her and all about her body dormant venom quills and
stingers unfold and slide out of their resting places,dripping with
venom.Out of her paws slide her talons of their own free will and her
torso wiggles a little more loosely than before.as her serpente
heritage slowly awakens.After 6 complete revolutions the serpentes
change the routine slightly.Up to that point they'd simply spat out
venom as they reared up.but now they utter lusty roars as they rear
up their heads.The mood is infectious and soon the dragon crowds are
flickering out their forked tongues and bellowing out every time they
hear that BOOM.Ida herself has exhausted her venom system by this time
but the quills and stingers all over her body stay poised in position.
She's no scholarly little dragoness in this state.Needless to say.her
sisters are in a similar state of excitement.

In a long sinuous hill near Emmen,Holland.a tremor in the
ground begins"rattlerattily rattle thump"a beat in perfect harmony
with the drumbeat in Canada.The snow begins to melt from the surface
of
the hill and waves of heat start to pulse from the core of the hill.
The stones begin to rattle and rise and fall to the beat of the
throbbing ground.Then cracks appear along the surface of the ground,
revealing the glowing interior of the ground.A flash of light and
red hot rock erupts from the hill and vanishes and dissipates into
the air.The hill cools and is silent once more.

In the air,the reawakened spirit of an Great Serpentess wends
her way towards the drumbeat of a Canadian cavern.

Back in the ceremonial caverns,Ida and her sisters add a new
dimension to the Serpente Dragon dance.Leaping and bounding on all
four legs,they hop over the undulating coiling slithering serpentes
beneath them.As they land on the other side of a band of serpentes,
they stand up tall on their hind legs,take a few steps forward,throw
out their wings and roar louder than they've ever roared before in
their life.They then spin on one taloned foot and coil over their
neck and coil into a tight a spiral as they can force their bodies
into.They then collapse back onto the floor where they straighten
out again.The dance slides forward and on the next BOOM the serpente
coil up on themselves and try to swallow their tails.Ida and her
sisters try likewise,and sink their jaws over fully extended tail
stingers.Their tails convulse and try to pump nonexistent venom
out of the stinger.Although they no doubt tore flesh,they're too
caught up in the dance to notice.

At this time the frozen statue of Histh,Aurelio in actuality
senses that a POWER is present in the cavern.Being bonded to Histh,
he is attuned to the existence of deities,and this POWER is throbbing
through the very atoms that make up his stone.The deity he senses is
both alien and familiar,and she's not Histh.She's much more
powerful than Histh.He wants to roar out a warning to the dragon
crowds,but is just a frozen mute statue.Thus all he can do is wait.

The Great Derpente spirit was not THE Great Serpente,but she was
one of his first six descendants.Although she represented raw primal
power,the knowledge of how to use that power was not hers.Thus as her
invisible coils looped about the cavern,she searched for the means to
bring back her own tribe.Coiling over to the statue of Histh,she
learned the arts of metamorphosis and transformation of that deity.
Being an ancient deity,this Great Serpente spirit was more powerful
then Histh,and the other 4 dragon gods and goddesses.She learned,and
she bided her time.

At the same time the statue of Histh started to warm and
throb to the beat of that drum.It eyes started to glow brighter
as the ancient Great Serpente spirit channeled all the powers of
Histh and the other 4 dragon deities into herself.Under normal
circumstances the crowds of dragons and serpentes and other creatures
may have sensed her existence,but in the fever of the dance they were
too busy writhing and coiling on the floor to notice.Only Aurelio the
statue knew ,and he probably was stunned senseless with all the divine
powers that were being channeled through him.

Had the dragons quit the dance right there and then,probably
nothing more would have happened.The spiri would have gone back to
her fossilized body in Russia and gone back to sleep for another
10 million years.But Ida had to spoil things.

As she and her sisters continued to bound over the serpente
circles,she swung out her wings as she bounded over the innermost
band of serpentes and this caused her to overshoot and glide and
slide towards the edge of the sacred pool.She was coming in fast
and slid right over the low protective barrier set at the rim of the
pool.Her tail and torso slid over the edge and as her forelims clawed
for purchase on the barrier,her neck and head snapped forward.This
caused the ancient serpente skull to fly off her head and tumble into
the yellow liquid below her.Her tail was only a few feet from the
surface of the liquid and drops of yellow goo spattered onto her tip.
At this point the crowd of dragons all froze and stared at her and at
the liquid below her.Slowly the skull sank into the liquid and
dissolved.The pool began to boil and the yellow liquid turned reddish
black.At the same time the yellow pus on Ida's tail turned red black
and sank into the surface of her skin.

All present knew what that meant,one of the dragon deities had
awakened and was about to grant a favour of the dragoness who had just
awakened it.Since this was the sacred pool of Histh,it probably meant
that the vermin goddess was about to reform the dragoness into a shape
appropriate for the favour.Since a serpente skull had been tossed into
the pool,it probably meant that Histh would interpret this as a
request by Ida to be turned into a serpente.With Histh though,you
could never tell.If Histh misinterpreted the favour requested,she
could just as easily transform Ida into a mosquito or cockroach.

Ida clawed her way back out over the edge and fled to a remote
corner of the ceremonial cavern,in shame and in terror.If she was
about to change into a serpente or Histh forbid,a mosquito,she didn't
need hundreds of dragons looking on as it happened.She was a superior
form of dragon,and the thought of transforming into a stupid serpente
filled her with terror and revulsion.This was supposed to be her big
day,she wanted to be the centre of attention.Now it looked like
everything was going down the drain.Thus Ida curled up in a ball
near tunnel 17 and hoped desperately that the dragon deities would
pass her by.

Ida was not the centre of attention.Dragonkind can be merciless,
and frankly most of them could care less what happened to Ida.Even
Maegrethe soon forgot about her pupil as all the celebrants headed
back to the feeding trough.Even Ida's embarassed sisters forgot about
her as they crunched down on lamb and calfs and piglets.It was time
for tidbits.At the same time the sacred pool returned to it's yellow
colour.

Whilst the crowds munched away at the feeding troughs,the deity
who had been called up was searching for the supplicant who had
sacrificed the serpente skull into the pool.This deity was of course
the Great Serpente spirit,and as she scented the crowds for the scent
of the dragon or serpente whose scent she picked up off the skull,she
came upon the 5 young dragonesses who had so recently partaken in the
Serpente Dragon dance.The dance is much more than just a dance,and
these 5 dragonesses would have attracted her attention.They had
symbollically tweaked a slumbering spirit awake,and as she caressed
them in her spirit paws,their scent changed.Their scents became that
of Great Serpentes,and they would have trembled at this rather minor
metamorphosis.But they did not have the wanted scent,and so the spirit
headed for a remote corner of the cavern,where a terrified Ida lay
waiting .

There was still a few hours before nightfall,so the dragon crowds
decided to resume that new ritual dance that had really got their
venom flowing.They all lay in circles on the ground and started
coiling and slithering to the beat of the drum"tappetytap tap BOOM..."
For once the serpentes weren't herded back to their pens or leashed,
but were allowed to participate in one social activity they excelled
at.The cavern was a scene of venom spray and roars and hisses from all
directions.Those serpentes were real party animals.Pretty soon the
throbbing of all those pounding bodies seemed to deafen out the sound
of the beating drum.But by that time the rythmic beat was in their
blood .They didn't need the drum to get in the mood.

Down by the remote corner of the cavern the first hint that Ida
had that something was happening to her was when the dim beat of the
drum got louder and louder in her ears.Except to her it sounded more
like Thumpitythump thump BOOM thumpitythump thump BOOM.The Great
Serpentess had found an heir.

Ida metamorphosizes to the beat of that pounding drum.First
her breathing rythm changes.Three quick intakes of breath are
followed by one deep rumbling exhalation.Then her heartbeat
changes to match the pattern of the drumbeat.

Then things get serious.It feels to her that her blood is
pounding too and fro along the length of her body.First it slams
into the tip of her tail and then it rushes into the other
direction and slams into her beakhook.Her tail and torso and
neck start stretching from this pounding.She digs her talons into
her red dragon hide and tries to resist the process ,but as her
body continues to lengthen her talons tear through red dragon flesh
and into the silver serpente hide forming underneath.

She stands tall and erect on her hind legs and utters a howl
of terror and despair.Her serpentehood will not be denied and that
howl quickly turns to a roar of joy and anticipation.Her torso
and tail double in length,and beneath the torn dragon skin is
revealed a lean and slender serpente body.At this point she
topples to the floor as her thinning legs collapse under the weight
of her body.Her wings fall limp to the floor and there is a gush
of blood and venom as her flight muscles and quills tear free from
her body.

The pounding in her skull increases and it splits in half from
her beak to between her eyes.New bone and tissue quickly form between
the split and as her skull becomes broader and blunter,her eyes
oriente to the side.Her forehead sinks into her snout and wipes out
much of her intelligence at the same time.Her fangs unsheath and
fuse in a fixed position.Her venom fangs lengthen,her teeth lengthen
and her swelling talons bulge out of her feet.

Ida is now a brainless serpente,and is angered at being clothed
in a limp sac of bloody dragon meat.She tears at her dragon hide and
soon starts consuming those meaty feathered wings.Other serpentes
soon slither over and help cleanse her of the dead dragon flesh.

Once freed of her dragonhood her overriding urge is to make a
kill and she coils over to the feeding troughs.By this time the
serpente dragon dance has finished and Maegrethe is squatting in a
trough,feasting on a calf she decapitated mere minutes ago.Ida
pushes her aside and sinks her jaws over a stiffening calf leg and
starts to tear it off the carcass.Maegrethe gives a warning growl
when she doesn't recognize the scent of this interloping primal
serpente.Ida doesn't waste time with a warning.With a roar and
a loud snap of her jaws,she bites empty air where Maegrethe's
neck was a second ago.Her bite would have decapitated Maegrethe
and the witch dragoness wisely backs away from this bloodthirsty
brutal beast.

Inside that serpente body Ida is undergoing a further devolution
and she is ravenously hungry as her internal transformation demands
fuel.There is a sound of tearing flesh inside her,and she jerks up
her head and utters a roar of pain before she collapsed lifeless into
the trough.

The skull starts to split open just between the eyes and a bony
beak pokes it's way out.After the beak emerges a thin long body
9 inches wide and 100 feet long flows out of the crack.It is slimy
and looks like a segmented earthworm.It has no legs or teeth and
the only visible appendages are a pair of weaving bobbing tendrils
and a mucous and saliva laden set of tendrils where it's mouth is.
As it plops down onto the floor and oozes away from the troughs,the
dragons stop feeding and stare open mawed at this sickly alien
creature in their midst.They are looking at the most ancient
biological ancestor of dragonkind,and it looks like prey.

It is prey.Although Ida retains her serpente brain and mind,the
only visible means of defense she has is that bony beak of a skull
protecting her head.The original dragonkind were little more than
big earthworms,with no skeleton but that bony head.The only senses
she possesses are her photosensitive tendrils and her sense of touch
from her mouth tendrils.Newly emerging instincts tell her to ooze
towards the dark,where she can burrow into the earth and safety.
Located in the first segment of her body is a cloaca which secretes
a slime and mucous trail beneath her,on which her long body slides.
Her slime glands are very productive,and secrete hundreds of hormones
into the slime trail.Protoserpentes were an easy meal for carnivores,
and the slime trail was their first means of defense.As the dragons
and serpentes in the cavern scent Ida,s slime ,it elicts different
reactions.A serpente smells the scent of a rutting serpentess,a
sea serpente is reminded of a catch of rotting fish on the beach,a
Skye dragon can smell the pine scented air of his mountain aerie,
and Maegrethe smells the yolk covering 6 newly hatched dragonets.

There is confusion in the cavern and Ida is briefly ignored
by the crowd as they fight amongst themselves over possession of
none existent mates,food and lairs that the slime reminds them of.
Ida makes it halfway across the cavern floor when a young serpentess
leaps upon her worm tail.Although Ida has thin silver skin and the
hormones of serpente and dragon inside her,to the serpentess the
slimy thing oozing across the floor is just another meal.Soon others
leap and bound in for a kill and a easy meal.

Ida's second defense mechanism comes into play at this time.With
a sickly tearing sound,the last 20 feet of her body tears off at the
segment diaphragm and goes wiggling off in an other direction.After
repeated attacks several portions of her body are wiggling about the
cavern,being pursue by dragons and serpentes alike.The remaining
portion of her body with that bony beak head is just about to enter
tunnel 17.The crowd is too busy pursuing the other mindlessly
wiggling segments of her body to notice.

The head and the first segment with it's slime glands are the
important parts of the protoserpente body.If Ida were allowed to
burrow into earth and live her life as a protoserpente,eventually
she would regrow the rest of her body.However her reproductive
organs and brain are in the head and 1rst segment,and were
irreplaceable.

Somewhere in dragonkind's racial memory are repressed memories
of a life as a weak defenseless wormlike creature which made easy
prey for any two bit carnivore which came along.Their response to
this existence was to do a u turn in the evolutionary path and
be 6 times the carnivore of anything else on the planet.Behind that
blustering roaring venom dripping claw slashing exterior is a
terrified worm seeking safety and shelter.

Ida slid deep into the interior of tunnel 17 and when her
photoreceptors could no longer detect light,she ceased fleeing.
Although she may not have been able to detect her attackers during
her flight to safety,her serpente brain was well aware of the damage
caused to her body.Fear,a emotion dragonkind refuse to acknowledge
exists,was a prime emotion in this protoserpente.

Ida's body began to contract and flow back into her skull.At the same
time her weaving tendrils lengthened and grafted onto the rocky
sides,floor and ceiling of the tunnel.Her head began to pound and
swell to the rythm "thumpitythump thump BOOM ...".Where the tendrils
had touched the tunnel the rock began to glow and pulse to that
self same rythm.As the last of her body entered her now spherical
head,the bony surface flowed over and sealed the hole which her body
had slid through.

The walls around the pulsating sphere began to move and flow
over the metamorphosizing remains of the protoserpente.Millions
of new tendrils erupted from the sphere and inched and branched
along the tunnel.Where they fused,the rocky surface glowed and
flowed together to form an ever lengthening,widening and deepening
Greate Serpente body.

Once the transformation was complete,Ida's mind was housed
inside a rocky hill of a body.She was 2800 feet long,60 feet wide
and deep and had a skull 120 feet long with 15 foot rocky fangs
jutting from her jaw.Her legs were crouched right beside her body
like a dogs and from a distance blended right in with her
surface contours.Where her eyes would be were deep dark lifeless
pits.Her talons were of black basalt and she had canines of
copper.Sprinkled throughout her rocky scales were veins of silver.

Except for some leftover erupting geysers and lava pools on
her surface,she appeared as lifeless as that long sinuous hill in
Emmen.It would take either a miracle or a supreme sacrifice to
bring this volcano to life.

The Great Serpente spirit which had created her descended like
a phoenix into Ida's magma heart chamber.In the centre lay a
lifeless caldera.The spirit curled herself up into this depression,
took one last scent of the world she was about to leave,and then
with a decisive squeeze of her coils ,contracted into a pinpoint
of infinite nothingness and burst into a wave of heat and energy
which washed over the heart chamber.Slowly at first,a faint trickle
of magma swirled out of the caldera "swishtyswish swish" and then
with a woosh it retreated back into the caldera.It repeated this
process again and again.Each time a little more magma crept out
of the caldera,and the pulsing of her magma heart grew louder and
stronger.Soon her vents and pipes and veins were coursing with
her lifeblood as it raged and roared through her.Her rock scales
began to rise and fall as she started to breathe,as they rose,the
red hot magma just coursing beneath her surface could be seen
glowing.The dark eye pits in her skull lit up and her maw slowly
creaked open.The Great Serpentes lived again.

Ida started to dig her talons into the floor and push herself
forward.Her sapphire scutes on her underside found purchase and
she slid back to the entrance of the tunnel.

Her organic brain had undergone a transformation at the same
time.The ancient gods who had originally created the Great Serpente
knew that such a creature was built for show,for theatrics.They were
not built for survival,but for display,Thus although her body
may have appeared like a mobile hill of dull glowing rock,her brain
was built for the ritual.She was all instinct,and her brain was
telling her to perform the Serpente Dragon dance.What had taken
months of hard practice to learn as a dragoness now came without
thought or effort as a Great Serpente.This time dragonkind would
learn what the Serpente Dragon ritual dance really was.

At the same time that Ida was coming charging up the tunnel for
the first performance of a Great Serpente in 60 million years another
dragon and his mate had a grouping of sea serpents gathered around a
45 gallon drum and were tossing fish to the young converts whilst the
dragon and dragoness explained how the Goddess Histh could make their
lifes more bountiful.

The young sea serpents were eager to eat the fish,and completely
ignored the combination of roars,hisses and body movements that the
two ancient French Skye dragons uttered and displayed as they tried
to impart what they had learned to the young converts.

This type of social interaction is extremely rare amongst
dragons and was thousands of years in the making.The two ancient
Skye dragons were just common dragons like 66.7 % of dragonkind
and for them to have clawed their way to this level of thought would
have taken them practically all of their 10,000 years of existence.

In the dragon intellectual hierarchy there are three classes of
dragon thought.

There are the metamorphosized servants of Histh,humans have been
transformed into dragons with most of their human thoughts and brain
intact.Maegrethe the Witch dragoness is one of these.She thinks like
a human but must deal with the dragon instincts and urges of her
body.For a dragoness like Maegrethe life is a constant struggle to
not give in to the primal serpente drives coursing through her blood
and which would reduce her to a savage bloodthirsty lusting beast.

The second class of dragon is a freak of nature.Ida the
dragoness was one of these,as are most of the witch dragonesses which
lead dragonkind.These dragons possess a brain with superior memory
retention and are quick learners.There is not a shred of humanity in
them ,they are intelligent carnivores.

Then there is the third class,to which all the other dragons,
serpents,sea serpentes,wyverns,wyrms,etc belong to.With the gift of
a lifespan ranging from hundreds to 10 s of thousands of years comes
a heavy price.99.99 % of dragonkind is cursed with a poor memory.
Dragons short term memory only extends back one day while serpentes
can't even remember the meal they had one hour ago.They possess good
long term memory,but it takes decades to centuries for a thought to
be registered in long term memory.Their instincts are long term
memories and dragons are very good at recalling how to kill,eat,sleep
mate and roar.What they can't do is recall where they hid their kill
the day before or the dragon communal gathering they left briefly and
then forgot all about.The witch dragonesses have to expend quite a
bit of energy rounding up confused stray dragons who wake up in the
evening and wonder what they're doing in a strange lair with strange
dragons.

The common dragon has no speech beyond roaring and hissing.What
they have are body display instincts leftover from the days of the
Great Serpentes.They communicate with their bodies.Warnings are
given by low growls,hunger may be indicates by tapping the tail
on the ground while the tongue flickers in and out of the wide open
jaws.Pride is displayed by standing up on the hind legs and
stretching the wings or forelimbs out wide and roaring whilst rage
is shown by a quick forward thrust of the neck and a loud closing
snap of the jaws.Dragons are not dumb animals and have learned to
link together these body movements into a language all dragonkind
can understand to some extent.

A hungry dragonet might thus greet his returning mother with the
body movements for "pride,pride,hunger,hunger,hunger,rage ".In human
terms what he's saying is "mother i like you,i really like you,now
feed me,please please feed me,i'm not getting fed fast enough,hurry
it up ".

Many centuries ago,after Princess Margarets transformation into
Maegrethe,the servant of Histh,the new born dragoness spent time
studying the customs,languages and teachings of the other five
dragon tribes.Being a born again dragoness,she no doubt intended to
gain some converts.Using her dragon body language,she could convey
hunger,lust,rage,terror,pride and satisfaction.What she couldn't do
is express more complex concepts.She could not for example,tell a sea
serpent that crossing over to Histh would give him life everlasting,
or that he was a sinful beast for worshipping the wrong deity.She was
expressing human concepts in a language never designed for the human
race.The dragon language is a language of the pulse of venom glands
pumping venom through the fangs into a captured prey animal,it was
the scent of spurting blood gushing into the jaws of the
predator,it was the hormones released by a rutting serpentess
or the scent of the piney dew in a mountaintop aerie.Maegrethe's
attempts to bond with the other dragons was a complete failure.

She was losing faith in her Goddess and felt like an outcast,
neither human nor dragon.Thus she went back to her cave in the
Cheviot hills and turned her back on the dragons.One day a
visiting Skye dragon invited her to a reading of a dragon saga at his
lair.She came and found that the dragons and serpentes were passing
around some sacred tablets.From a distance the scratches on the
tablets looked like stick figures of sea serpents wiggling and
coiling and she recognized the poses the figures they were displaying
as the common language "pride,danger,danger ,danger,rage and
finally satisfaction".The problem was her scholarly human mind
couldn.t interpret the tablets.It was only when her neighbouring
dragon friend handed over one of the tablets to her that she
saw the light.Her human brain went out the window.In her mind
she felt the sensation of her huge sea serpent body as she
coiled through the waves.She could feel the sun shining on her
dorsal fins and smelt the scents of her 3 hatchlings.Suddenly
a pack of killer whales was heading for her hatchlings,intent on
a kill.With a savage thrust of her tail she coiled over and
defended her young with savage snaps of her jaws.She felt her
fangs sink into the hide of one careless whale and the hot
pumping venom being aqueezed out of her venom glands.She then
felt the satisfaction of knowing that there would be good
eating tonight.When she came to her senses,she found herself writhing
in the dirt,fangs and claws unsheathed and pools of venom lying all
around her.Her first reading of a sacred tablet was an eye opener.

The tablets were the key to Maegrethes mission ,and she sought
out the lairs of the witch dragonesses who knew how to make them in
order to learn their secrets.The respnse was unpleasant.Many a
dragoness met her with unsheathed claws.She was not a dragon.They
could detect a near human mind behind those slitted eyes,and were
not about to share secrets which had taken millions of years to
discover with an interloper who to them was just a big scaly human.

Thus Maegrethe went back to her caves and tried to write her
own tablets.These she tried in various combinations of the body
language script.Being a dragoness,she didn't have to worry about
pen and paper.She'd just grab a lump of rock,unsheath her talons
and start scratching away.To her human mind,she had written the gospel
of Histh.Yet the tablets elicted no emotional visceral response from
her.Unlike the Saga of the Sea Serpentess,she felt no bonding to
these tablets.They were just educated scratches on rock.

The big break came in 1515 Ad.For centuries she had been
visiting the great great...great grand dam and grandsire of her
Skye dragon friend.She showed them countless versions of her
writings and eagerly awaited a sign that they grasped the concept.
No such response came.To them,she had just handed over a rock with
meaningless scratches on it.Since her tablets appeared the same as
the sacred saga tablets,she was one frustrated dragoness.The elderly
dragons had no time for her tomfoolery,and only tolerated her for
the fresh killed sheep and lamb she brought with her.

The old dragon and his mate would fall asleep and by the time
they reawakened usually had forgotten all about Maegrethe,sacred
tablets and Histh.What slowly percolated into their memory after
centuries was thoughts of the scent of mutton and visions of rocks
with scratches on them.There were times when the elderly dragons
solved the puzzle,but by the time they reawakened the solution had
vanished from their minds and was just a ghost of a memory.But slowly
afrer after enough repetitions of the solution it wiggled it's way
into their long term memories.

One fine evening they reawoke and EUREKA,they realized that
Maegrethe was trying to create a sacred tablet.Yet the tablet had
no scent.All sacred tablets scent of the story they are trying to
tell.Maegrethes tablets were sterile and lifeless.

When dragonkind communicate through their body language,they
do more than just wiggle their tails and snap their jaws.The listener
can also scent the blood ,the venom and the hormones being released
by the communicator.Not being an expert in dragon biology,Maegrethe
had failed to realize that when she communicated with other dragons,
her body was releasing a whole smorgasboard of scents that her
listener was picking up and interpreting without concious thought.
Since she thought like a human and repressed her dragon instincts,
she'd missed out on most of what her dragon instincts were trying to
tell her.

The sacred tablets were scented with the venom ,blood and other
fluids of dragons.It was only when Maegrethe mastered the art of
scenting the tablet that she could bond to her listener.

Her first tablets would no doubt have elicited strange
behaviours from her listeners.She handed over trial versions of
her scented writings to the aged dragon which he interpreted as
a dragoness who wanted to mate,a dragoness who viewed the grand dam
as a suitable meal and as a dragoness who wished to seize his lair
for herself.No doubt Maegrethe learned to keep a large supply of
fresh killed prey nearby to pacify the quickly shocked and raging
ancient Skye dragon pair after they read her tablets.

By 1655 Ad Maegrethe had advanced enough in the art of
tablet writing that she had made the ancient Skye dragon couple
aware of the existence of a powerful Skye dragon named Histh who
would provide his followers with freshly killed lamb outside of
their lair each morning.This wasn't exactly what Maegrethe was trying
to say about Histh,but after centuries of failure,Maegrethe was
happy to have gotten to this stage.Maegrethe had gotten her first
converts after four centuries of effort.

By this time the aging Skye dragon pair were about 9000 years
old and were not as sleek and oiled as they used to be.Their winged
feathers were getting tattered and their paws and talons weren't
quite as firm and sharp as they used to be.Thus around 1755 Maegrethe
convinced them that Histh would provide them with many sheep and
cattle if they crossed the ocean to the new land.

The pair tagged behind Maegrethe as she winged across the
Atlantic and brought them to the promised land.No doubt they
strayed from the true path many a time,but Maegrethe slowly
herded them towards the Canadian coast.

In the Gulf of St Lawrence live colonies of sea serpentes and
serpentes,and is to these dragon tribes that the ancient Skye
dragon pair preached the message of the bountiful Skye dragon Histh.

It is this pair that laid the foundations for the coming of
dragonkind to North America.Whilst Maegrethe winged her way back to
England,they stayed behind and searched for a lair to call their own
in the Texas dessert.This would one day be the location of the tribe
of Histh's ceremonial caverns.

Ida came charging out of the tunnel like a locomotive with
it's boilers ready to burst.The crowd barely had time to finsh eating
the last fragments of the protoserpente before the cavern stated
shaking to a rythmic "boomityboom boom BOOM...".A few seconds later
the Great Serpente came out and charged in a straight line for the
feeding troughs.Her skull crashed into the walls behind the troughs
and her whole mountainous bulk hurled forward and crashed against the
wall.Geysers of steam and magma jetted out from her loosened scales.
After a few seconds pause she coiled over back to the centre of
the cavern and formed a circular loop with her body around the statue
of Histh and the pool.The ancient Skye dragon pair and the young
sea serpente converts had been caught by her hurtling body as it
slammed into the wall and were killed instantly.There were dozens of
other killed and maimed dragonkind scattered near the feeding troughs.

Ida had swiftly encircled a crowd of dragons near the centre of
the cavern and proceeded to give them a performance of the true and
proper Serpente Dragon dance.She began by moving in a circle six
times around her chosen prey.She then looped back her body and
circled around in the opposite direction 6 times.The dragons and
serpentes she had ensnared noticed that she wasn't moving in for a
quick kill and the more sensible ones merely flew out or tried to
claw up her rocky sides to freedom.The great Serpente ignored their
escape.Killing prey for a Great Serpente was a ritual,and the ritual
was more important than the prey.At this stage all of the crowd
within her coils could have fled and she still would have
continued with the ritual.

She then coiled up her body into a spiral with six bands.The
space she had encircled was diminished in area and serpentes clawing
up her sides felt the waves of heat her body was pumping into
the diminishing circle.Few of her prey succeeded in escaping the
furnace they now crouched in.Many of the serpentes near the top of
her torso went limp and fell back senseless to the circle 60 feet
below.

With the booming of her massive heart ida coiled in a clockwise
movement.On every BOOM she raised her neck and head hundreds of feet
in the air,her sapphire scutes flashing in the light.She was staring
at the prey she encircled and ignored the crowds fleeing through
the tunnels.She opened her jaws wide and a shrieking blast of
superheated air erupted from her gullet.Although she didn't
roar,witnesses present knew a roar when they saw one.She lowered
her head and performed the ritual 5 more times.

She then ceased and swung over her tail and began sucking on
it.Her tail throbbed and pulsed as it emptied magma into her magma
chambers,and hot dripping magma spilt out of the sides of her mouth
onto the floor far far below.

Having filled herself with the lifefluids that fueled her,she
swung her head over one last time and bathed her prey in a fountain
of magma.After a few seconds to allow the prey to vaporize and
dissolve in her digestive fluids,she lapped up the pool of blazing
fluid she encircled.After checking that no magma or charred and burnt
carcasses remained on the floor,she uncoiled herself and slid back
into tunnel 17 and the huge cavern which had been created with her
birth.Once inside she coiled up to conserve heat.Her eye pits dimmed
her breathing became more shallow and her heartbeat slowed.She went
dormant.

][[BooktheOne commentary]]

Dragons of Histh

2007-08-04T14:20:19Z

Loathsomedragon: New page: [The Dragons of Histh founding set of stories were created in December 2000 and Janurary 2001.These are Book the One Book the Two Book the Three Book the Four

[The Dragons of Histh founding set of stories were
created in December 2000 and Janurary 2001.These are

[[Book the One]]

[[Book the Two]]

[[Book the Three]]

[[Book the Four]]

User:Loathsomedragon

2007-08-04T14:16:05Z

Loathsomedragon: New page: [Author in the Dragons of Histh setting/universe/family tree

[Author in the [[Dragons of Histh]] setting/universe/family tree

Category:Author

2007-08-03T23:51:19Z

Loathsomedragon:

This category lists user pages of users who have posted stories on the site.
( its very not intuitive,so I'll just toss in the stuff
and assume someone else knows how to create the links
so here is

Book the One
Dragons of Histh
(written in Dec-January 2000-2001 in a quarter century
old daysailer named the "Clara Ann" using a 286 computer)

From: "norfolkdrake" <norfolkdrake@netzero.net>
Subject:
Date: 1-May-03 10:56

The Dragons of Histh
Book The One

copywrite 2001 by Harethe

Aurelio King is a bit of a recluse.The residents of Cultus Creek,
Ontario usually gossip about why that foreigner would pay good$to
lease
thousands of square miles of useless sand.He never ever seems to
stay in town as dawn approaches,but goes off in a blaze of burning
rubber tires as he heads back into the desert he calls home.
Although the locals reqard him as a foreigner,he is anything
but.Some of the oldtimers recall their greatgrandparents talking
about the arrival of Aurelio Brown's pioneer forefather who arrived
in the 1950's.It.s a funny thing about the Brown clan,they all spoke
in a version of the english language which was well spiced
with dutch amd a bit of german.Those King's were definetely
foreigners.
But they were also extremely thrifty.They had always paid in
silver,gold and precious stones.Most people were content to leave
them be,why look a gift horse in the mouth.Of those who would not
leave well enough alone,some simply vanished in the desert wastes
and others came back DIFFERENT,and soon left the town,never discussing
what happenned to them out in the desert .Once they left town they
very rarely made contact with the ones they left behind.Thus although
many a legend or rumour circulated around town about what Aurelio
Brown did out in the desert wastes,his gold ,silver and jewels were
pretty effective at sealing loose lips and prying eyes.
One winter night as Aurelio roared back into his desert
wilderness,a group of reckless youth decided to follow him and
pry his secret from him.They kept a discreet distance back from him
and when they approached the road leading into the canyon,they
started dreaming of the secrets they would soon uncover.
In his big heavy cube van,Aurelio looked over at the blinking
warning light which told him he was being tailed.Soon he would
enter his own domain where all sorts of sensing devices would keep
track of any human intruder who strayed in.One thing Aurelio had
learned was that it was not wise for humans to catch him by
surprise ,as this invariably caused him to revert to the more primal
being who dwelled within him.Surprises were definitely not welcomed
by Aurelio,and his desert wilderness was well equipped with ground
radar,motion detectors,infared cameras which his precious metals and
jewels purchased.
For Aurelio was not alone in this wilderness,other creatures
called this desert there home,and if they had been detected,the world
religious and scientific communities would be shattered.Some secrets
were not meant to be discovered by the human race.
Aurelia floored the gas and quickly the van leapt forward with a
speed one would not expect of it.After many twists and turns,Aurelio
shook off his pursuers.Just to make certain,at one point he stepped
out of his van and placed his hands on the rock walls of the canyon
he had passed through.The walls cracked and flowed,and the canyon was
no more.
He drove on for several more miles,checking that his charges were
snug on their shelters,and then he drove to his own lair.Beside him
lay the electronic voicebox that he used to reproduce human speech,
because Aurelio himself was incapable of breathing,let alone speaking.
Aurelio was the Master Castle Builder,a living statue who had once
been a human artist and scholar,but who now was anything but human.
He drove the van up to a cliff face beside a large rocky hill
where he got out and placed his hands against the rock and willed
the rock to flow.It flowed outwards,revealling a tunnel leading down
into the earth.After driving in and resealing the entrance he drove
a few miles down the tunnel into a large chamber where he parked the
van and strode over to a wall covered with video monitors and alarm
systems.A quick check of the screens showed that the inquisitive
teens had given up and were heading back towards town.A check of the
other monitors showed that his charges were coiled up asleep in their
lairs.A alarm now went off and a light started flashing.In 15 minutes
the sun would go up and Aurelio knew where he had to be when that
event occurred.Thus he striped out of his human clothes while his form
still resembled that of a human and started to enter the tunnel
leading to the communal and ceremonial caverns.As he took his first
step in ,his clay like stone flesh started to darked and ripple and
swell.

What emerges from the other side of the tunnel is a living
statue of the dragon goddess Histh.The statue is lifesize,and walks
like a dragon and thinks like a dragon.For when Aurelio transforms
into an idol of Histh at nightfall,a bond is formed between Histh
and the transformed Aurelio where he becomes a focus of her celestial
power.Histh herself may be too busy saving an inquisitive rat down
in New Zealand,but her idol is much more than several tons of rapidly
hardening basaltic rock.To the dragon worshippers who will pay homage
to it,Aurelio is Histh.
Unfortuneately mobility isn,t part of the package for Aurelio
during the day,and as he shuffles along a stone ramp to his pedastel
of honor,his gait slows as his body hardens and becomes less fluid.
After perching himself on the jewelled globe,he tries to pose himself
in an dignified manner appropriate to an idol of a dragon goddess.
He extends out his wings,raises one clawed foot with outstretched
talons and just before he freezes solid,turns his head slightly to
stare at the witch dragoness Maegrethe.He opens his maw in a silent
dragon roar of greeting and then solidifies.Only the flickering glow
in the rubies which make up his eyes indicate that he still lives and
sees what is before him.
Like any good dragon Maegrethe utters a quick but loud roar in
response and then makes preparations for the Serpente Dragon Dance
and the Initiation Ceremony.
There are a total of 6 ceremonial chambers in the world,and the
one in Canada is devoted to the descendants of the dragon goddess
Histh
To understand the purpose of these gathering places for dragonkind,one
must understand that there are 600 races of dragons in the
world.Histh
is actually a pretty recent deity in the dragonic religious order.Four
other tribes of dragons have their own deity,which they alone worship.
What all dragonic creatures have in common is the protoserpente
from which all dragonic races sprang.Dragon mythology states that this
Great Serpente was born out of a volcano back in the time when
king lizards stalked the earth and the human race was represented by
proto mammalian ratlike things.It was said that the Great Serpente
spawned offspring which ate everything in their path and would have
destroyed the world if a fiery comet had not plunged out of the sky
and driven the race to near extinction.It is believed by the dragons
that many a long low hill could be the fossilized remains of a
Great Serpente.Since this cataclysm occurred 10's of millions of
years ago,no living dragon actually met a Great Serpente and until
a few years ago most doubted that the creatures were anymore than a
myth.The old myths also state 2 more things.The protodragons known
as serpentes were descended from the Great Serpentes.When seven
Great Serpentes have been reborn,the end of the world will come.
The Serpente Dragon dance is a ritual dance performed by dragons
all over the world.It is in honor the the Great Serpente from which
the 600 dragon races sprang.The Great Serpente is one deity all the
differing tribes commonly worship.Every six years the dance is held
at the Canada caverns,and it is an occasion for dragons around the
world to come together and celebrate what they are.In other years
the other 5 chambers are the site of gathering dragons.
In years past the ceremonial caverns devoted to the tribe of the
Serpente had fallen into disuse.It,s a liitle difficult to maintain a
ceremonial cavern to a dragon deity when young ones start to question
the very existence of a Serpente Deity.The dragons were straying from
the path of the Great Serpente.
As Maegrethe turns away from Aurelio's frozen greeting,she notes
that all the tribes are present in the caverns,as well as creatures
with no tribe to call their own.Over in one corner some witch
dragonesses are discussing the latest in spell casting.In a
pool fed by the salt waters of the gulf she sees several sea serpents
playing and splashing water on an annoyed French Skye dragon who is
setting up a 500 gallon drum to use to beat a rythm.Over in another
gallery a were dragon is trying to coax his terrified twin sister to
transform into her proper shape.In her human form his sister has no
memories of being a weredragon,and is terrified of the reptillian
which won't eat her,but is definitely roaring and displaying his
sharp teeth .Unfortunately for the two of them.she just can.t seem to
get out of her human mode.There are huge crows with the heads of a
dragon and dragons with the head of crows.There are serpentes with
3 heads,dragons with two tails .Off in one corner a visiting
kothoga sits all by himself.He pushed himself too far and transformed
into the pure demon form of his race,a huge skull attached to a
rotting skeleton with a healthy beating heart in his ribcage
pumping nonexistent blood.The dragons avoid his smelly living dead
carcass and no doubt he's hoping that a witch dragoness can reverse
his transformation.Off on a stone shelf specially reserved for her,
an ancient bipedal carniverous dragon named Margaret sleeps off a
good nights hunt.her wings spread at her sides,ready to strike at
any foolish dragonet who should venture too close.
All around the cavern slide and crawl serpentes.This tribe of
primitive dragon is not very well developed.Serpentes have a intellect
somewhat higher than a toad but no more than that of a dog.The smarter
ones can be trained to do tricks and the feeble minded ones are left
to wander about as they will.Up till a few years ago they were
regarded by dragons at best as pets and at worst as vermin.This last
classification is what brought the plight of serpentes to Histh;s
attention.If the rest of the dragon race would turn up their snouts
at them,than she'd do just the opposite.Her first divine form was as
a serpente and she adopted them into her family of servants and
followers.Being an adopted runt herself,one could say she became
soulmates with this primitive dragon race.In doing so she infused
in herself a bit of the heritage the Great Serpentes left to their
descendants.Thus any dragon decscended from Histh has a more
primtive and primeaval aspect to their nature than some of the most
advanced dragon races.
Having probably descended from the Great Serpentes through the
serpente race,there is one aspect that dragons will never ever escape
from,that heealthy roar.Serpentes bellow all the time and the
ceremonial cavern was no doubt filled with their roars and hisses.
A dragon likes to get out a window pane shattering bellow ,but they
are smart enough to know to keep quiet if humans are passing by.
Being primitive creatures,the life of a serpente boils down to
eating,sleeping,mating and roaring away,activities they occassionally
do all at the same time.They are serpentes after all.Thus one might
wonder why all the other dragons and creatures in the cavern
tolerated serpentes slithering all over the place and poking their
snouts where they ought not to be..There were heraldic dragons leading
pet wyverns by the leash in that crowd,but even the dimmest lowliest
serpente was treated as if it were royalty.It didn't have anything to
do with a long dead Great Serpente.It had everything to do with a
sweet young French Skye dragoness named Ida.

The cavern in which this communal gathering occurs in is
thousands of feet wide and hundreds of feet high.In the centre
is a 150 foot diameter saucer shaped depression with a stone ramp
leading from the edge to a pedestal in the center.On this mount is
perched the black statue of Histh.The depression is 15 feet deep and
is filled with a yellowish liquid.Susoended high from the ceilings are
two cages filled with a screaming human boy in one and a senseless
girl in the other.They are about to become unwilling participants in
the Initiation Ceremony.Had they been a little more willing,a set
of stone steps leads down from the pedastel on which Aurelio is
perched into the pool below his claws.Surrounding the edge of the
depression is a bank of stone along it's rim,raised 6 feet off the
ground.This barrier to entrance to the pool is a recent addition.
There are 16 tunnels leading into the ceremonial cavern,and a
space in the rock face where a 17th tunnel used to be.The 16 tunnels
are filled with much roaring ,hissing and dragons and dragoness,s
looking for a secluded dark damp spot away from prying eyes,but from
the former 17th tunnel only a faint crackling can be heard.
Finally the ceremonies begin.Maegrethe is assisted by her fellow
witch dragonessws and by their 5 aids.Maegrethe herself does not have
an assistant,unlike the other 5 witches.Their assistants are young
french skye dragonesses,and someday they themselves will practice the
craft of dragon witchery.
Maegrethe speaks in a common dragon language which is a
combination of roars,hisses and body movements.She repeats the old
Great Serpente
prophesies,and when she mentions the part about the end of the world
coming upons the rebirth of six Great Serpentes,the five skye
dragonesses start to tremble and glance at tunnel 17,as does most
everyone else in the cavern.
After having tuned up his 500 gallon oil drum the French Skye
dragon by the sea serpent pool starts to pound out a rythm
"tappetytap tap BOOM,tappetytap tap BOOM,tappetytap tap BOOM,tappety
tap tap BOOM...".Soon the weredragon standing by his terrified human
sister gives up on her and concentrates on the beat.Every time he
hears that BOOM he lets out a lusty roar,soon accompanied by other
dragons.
At this point the 5 skye dragonesses glance at tunnel 17,hoping
it will stay silent,but it is not to be.Feom the other side of the
sealed entrance comes a muffled roar,which follows the beat of the
booming drum.This is shortly followed by a pounding of a different
sort as a heavy mass inside the tunnel crashes against it;s stony
prison with such force that the cavern shakes as if hit by an
earthquake and chips of stone fall from the ceiling.
Maegrethe is also glancing at tunnel 17,but then she returns
her gaze to the 5 skye dragonesses.They have evey reason to tremble,
because the creature sealed forever in tunnel 17 was once their sister
Ida,now she is a Great Serpente.

Ida had been a superior kind of dragon.She was one of a clutch
of six eggs laid by a bipedal carniverous dragon after a successful
mating with a French Skye dragon.Her mother was a descendant of
Margaret the Dragon and her father had the blood of a divine feathered
serpente in him.Thus in Ida flowed the heritage of some of the best
dragon races in existence.
Being a mere carnivorous bipedal dragon,her mother did not
respond in a motherly fashion when the six eggs hatched.Her young
did not look or smell like bipedal carnivorous dragons,so she
quickly abondoned the nest and left the weak squirmy little things
to their fate.
At this stage Maegrethe became aware of their plight.Since their
mother was of the race of Histh,the witch dragoness was attuned to the
needs of followers of Histh and rescued them from a quick death in the
Sahara desrt.She took them back to England for safekeeping.After
some enquiries she discovered that the hatchlings most resembled
newborn French Skye dragons.Thus five of the six were quickly
adopted into the clan of French Skye dragons and had a happy
dragonhood.The sixth dragoness Maegrethe kept for herself and named
Ida in honour of a long dead human relative.
Over the next few years Maegrethe discovered that her young
charge was not just any Skye dragon.Although she had the superior
intellect of her father,she also had a bit of humour,rare in
natural born dragons.But at the same time she had all her mothers
carnivore and migratory instincts,as well as a more complex biology
than a mere Skye dragon.She was a fusion of the worlds ultimate
dragonic killing machine and ultimate dragon intellect..Maegrethe
knew that this hatchling was destined for some higher purpose.
Maegrethe thus taught Ida all which she had learned after 9
centuries of existence.When she had taught her everything she knew,
Ida demanded more.With the instincts of a migratory carnivore,Ida
quite happily left the english isles and went with Maegrethe on
dragon gatherings and explorations.Fear was not in her nature.
Any opponent who attacked this diminutive dragoness discovered
that Ida had all the fangs and claws and venom stingers of a
bipedal carnivorous dragon retracted and hidden in the folds of
her scaly flesh and tail.With strong jumping muscles in her hind
legs and hollow bones reinforced internally.she was lightning fast
and agile in the attack.Unlike her Skye dragon brethren who soared
in the sky all day to avoid being attacked on the ground,Ida was
equally at ease on the ground,in the air and in the ocean.She was.
simply put,the most superior dragoness that dragonkind ever created.
As it dawned on Maegrethe that her charge was a new saviour for
dragonkind,she quickly contacted the French Skye clan to check on
the fate of the other 5 adopted dragonesses.Yes,they were very much
alive and running circles around their kinfolk,showing all the same
potential that Ida showed.
Maegrethe quickly convened a gathering of the witch dragonesses
from the 6 races of dragonkind.Maegrethe kept Ida,and 4 witches from
the 4 other tribes adopted 4 of the dragonesses and promised to
mentor them and teach their pupils about their new adopted tribe.
The thought of a dragoness being adopted by the serpente clan was
offensive to all concerned except Maegrethe.Maegrethe had once been
a serpente herself,and being a servant of Histh,did not turn her
snout up at this primitive dragon race.In the end a reluctant witch
dragoness agreed to take the last remaining young one to live with
the serpentes on condition that food be supplied by the other tribes
and that she be allowed to teach the young dragoness the ways of the
witches dragon tribe as well as that of the serpente tribe.This was
quickly agreed to.

In 1993 another gathering of the dragon clans was to be held
at the Canadian ceremonial caverns.By this time Ida had grown into a
fetching young dragoness.Standing on her hind limbs with snout
reaching for the sky,she measured 15 feet tall from the ground to
the tip of her beak hook.Measured from the tip of her tail to
the tip of her beak hook she was much longer.
She was just approaching mating age.Many a young
French Skye dragon glided over the English Channel in hopes of
fetching her to his lair,but she would have none of it.An dragon
archeological dig had discovered sacred tablets on a ritual
called the Serpente Dragon dance,and it's first performance in
countless millennia was to be held in Ontario,Canada
Thus while countless lovestruck Skye dragons sailed above the
Cheviot hills of Northumberland,Ida was down in the caves of Maegrethe
prancing and leaping and looping and coiling,hoping that she would be
chosen to participate in the ancient dragon dance.With her superior
dragon body she was capable of performing undulations and movements
that other dragon dancers could only dream off.
There was only one problem which disturbed her,the old tablets
said that the Serpente Dragon dance was a celebration of serpentehood.
Ida loved the dance ,but not serpentes.They were such primitive
creatures.Whilst Ida had fine feathered wings,they had none.Where
she had light but strong bones,they were big boned and clumsy.Where
she had a fine pointed snout ending in a beak hook,they had wide blunt
nosed skulls only suitable for crushing and tearing prey apart.Her
talons were retractible and protected whereas theirs were fixed and
extended.Throw in the fact that the only vocalization they were
capable of was never ending roars and hisses,there was no way around
the fact that whereas she was a supeior kind of dragon,they barely
deserved to be honoured with the title of dragon.So WHY had some
ancient dragon tribe created such a wickedly exotic ritual in honour
of mindless stupid serpentes.
This question dwelled on Ida,s mind as she and Maegrethe flew in
over the Texas coast to the ceremonial cavern.Once inside Ida rushed
off to practise on her Serpente Dragon routine in one of the unused
side chambers.Imagine her surprise when she found her 5 sisters there
as well,all writhing and coiling and eager to be one of the six dragon
dancers required for the dance..Being superior dragonesses,the six
sisters quickly taught one another their moves and discoveredthat
individually their dancing was good but as a team ,they were
unbeatable
In the meantime Maegrethe had set of down one of the tunnels to
the ossuary.Here in alcoves clawed into the walls lay dragon skeletons
and skulls and other skeletons of creatures not of dragonkind,but
still honoured by the 6 tribes.If one were to look closely at the
dear
departed one would notice that there were a lot more skulls than other
body parts.Although dragons honour their dead,they are still ravenous
practical beasts.The reason no dead dragons have been found is because
other dragons eat the body,bone,guts tissue and everything.All they
leave is the head,and this much lighter burden is carried to the
nearest ossuary.Eat the big bulky and hard to transport dragon body
and honour the skull.Nobody said dragons were wimps.
Around this time the elder dragons who would decide which dragons
would take part in the Serpente Dragon dance came upon Ida and her
sisters cavorting about the side chamber.To make a long story short,
it was agreed that the six dragonesses would perform the ceremony.Ida
was overjoyed,it was going to be her big day,dragonkind would worship
the ground she ran on.

By 1993 the fortunes of the serpente tribe were at the lowest
point they,d been at for thousands of years.Although the tribe
itself traced it's beginnings to an event which had occurred 10's
of millions of years ago,they had definitely not advanced in
social standing.
Although the Serpente Dragon dance was supposedly being held
in their honor,the reality was far different.In one cavern was held
pens of mooing,baaing and oinking cattle,sheep and pigs whilst in
the other side were pens holding roaring hissing serpentes.Dragons
would wander around herding stray serpentes back to the pens whilst
at the royal feeding trough the nominal head of the serpente clan
was leashed and kept sticking his smelly snout in the middle of a
communication between the leaders of two tribes and mindlessly
roaring away.As much as the two dragonesses would have loved to
sink their jagged teeth into his throat,they had to settle for
savage hisses and nips in order to shut him up.Basically nobody
wanted these stupid creatures crashing through their party,so it was
much easier to lead them on leashes or pen them up.
The Serpente Dragon dance itself was a complex affair.and many
dragons seriously doubted whether it could be pulled off.It required
six concentric circles of serpentes to coil around a centre
point,with each band travelling in the opposite direction to it's
adjacent band
of slithering serpentes.Thus the serpentes travelling in the inner
circle travelled counter clockwise,the next circle travelled clockwise
the 3rd circle travelled clockwise,etc.The serpentes had to move to a
rythm :slide slide slide and then they had to rear their heads off the
ground ,unsheath their fangs and spit venom in front of them.At this
point they lowered their heads to the ground again and slide along to
that rythm.after 6 revolutions around the circle they coiled over
their head and tail and sank the tip of their tail into their maw
and convulsed their bodies before straightening out again and resuming
the dance.It was very primal and no doubt many a dragon and dragoness
got hot under the scales just thinking about it.
The problem obviously was,were the serpentes up to the task.Could
they pull off such a complex routine.Many years of training serpentes
were envisaged but the trainers were in for a pleasant surprise.
Serpentes from the tribe of Histh are the more advanced form of
srrpente,with the intelligence of cats and dogs.After much hard
training these serpentes could only partially get the routines
right.Yet the more primitive serpentes,with longer and thinner
bodies,non retractible fangs and the brains of a toad,took to the
routine like a fish takes to water.They didn't need any training
and just needed that beat of the rythm to get them going.
As the preparations for the dance began dragon handlers led
the serpentes out of their pens and set them up along the
6 circles set in grooves around the pool of Histh with its
frozen statue perched in it's place of honour.All the serpentes
chosen for the dance were of the original serpente race.The
serpentes of Histh were allowed to finsh off the scraps of
flesh,blood and offal in the feeding troughs.Being serpentes,both
kinds were happily roaring and hissing away and no doubt would
have engaged in other activities if not restrained by their handlers.
Down in the side chamber,Ida and her 5 sisters had finshed
perfecting the dance and were running on all fours to the ossuary
in search of serpente skulls to use as masks.Down in the boneyard they
discovered that of the two kinds of serpente skull they found there,
the more ancient skulls made a more comfortable fit,The skulls from
Histh serpentes had higher foreheads,forward slanting eyes,a more
triangular appearance and retractible fangs.These skulls were more
dragonlike ,more shaped like the skulls of Ida and her sisters.
Unfortuneately they were not as roomy on the inside and Ida found
she couldn't slide her snout into the space between the jawbones.
The more ancient serpente skulls however,were a different story.
Their venom fangs were fixed in a strike position,they had low
foreheads and the eye sockets were sideways oriented.They were also
blunt nosed and broader,not refined and delicate by any means.They
were also heavy,and no normal French Skye dragonesses neck could have
carried that weight.Being a superior sort of dragon however,Ida and
her sisters discovered that their neck muscles were just strong enough
to do the job.Thus Ida slid her snout and head into the ancient
serpente skull she was holding and engaged in a little play,slashing
at her sisters with those wickedly long venom fangs of the long dead
serpente.After play was done,she and her sisters bounded and leaped
down the tunnel back to the ceremonial cavern,necks held high,skulls
bouncing up aand down on their heads.

As the six dragonesses bound into the ceremonial cavern,the Skye
dragon by the sea serpent pool starts tapping out the rythm of the
Serpente Dragon dance on an old 500 gallon oil drum"tappetytap
tap BOOM...".This gets the attention of all the dragons and the 17
tunnels quickly empty as the crowd of dragons gathered round the 6
serpente circles grows larger.The serpentes themselves grow restless
and a few break their leashes and stray away from their handlers.Down
in the feeding troughs,the leader of the serpente tribe removes his
snout from the gutted carcass of a cow and slithers over the edge
intent on going where the action is.As he reaches the edge of his
leash he rears up on his hind legs,lunges his long torso forward and
snaps the restraint holding him back.He pushes his way through and
heads toward the pounding beat of that dragon drummer.
Ida and her sisters take their places between the space between
the circles.Ida takes a middle space between the 3rd and 4rth circle
lies down on her belly.Not being a serpente she can't flex her torso
as easily as a much longer and sinuous serpent,but she can more easily
use her more muscular legs to drag herself along the ground.She lays
her head,nestled in the serpente skull,flat along the ground ,along
with the rest of her body.Her body is tense and oily with anticipation
Having got the rythm the drummer cranks up the volume,the
handlers release their serpente charges and the dance begins.The
serpentes slide to the tap,and rear up and spit out venom to the BOOM.
Ida herself does likewise,and is surprised that she had that much
venom in her.She feels her heart pounding and her venom glands
throbbing to the beat of the drum.The beat seems to be rousing the
carnivore within her and all about her body dormant venom quills and
stingers unfold and slide out of their resting places,dripping with
venom.Out of her paws slide her talons of their own free will and her
torso wiggles a little more loosely than before.as her serpente
heritage slowly awakens.After 6 complete revolutions the serpentes
change the routine slightly.Up to that point they'd simply spat out
venom as they reared up.but now they utter lusty roars as they rear
up their heads.The mood is infectious and soon the dragon crowds are
flickering out their forked tongues and bellowing out every time they
hear that BOOM.Ida herself has exhausted her venom system by this time
but the quills and stingers all over her body stay poised in position.
She's no scholarly little dragoness in this state.Needless to say.her
sisters are in a similar state of excitement.
In a long sinuous hill near Emmen,Holland.a tremor in the
ground begins"rattlerattily rattle thump"a beat in perfect harmony
with the drumbeat in Canada.The snow begins to melt from the surface
of
the hill and waves of heat start to pulse from the core of the hill.
The stones begin to rattle and rise and fall to the beat of the
throbbing ground.Then cracks appear along the surface of the ground,
revealing the glowing interior of the ground.A flash of light and
red hot rock erupts from the hill and vanishes and dissipates into
the air.The hill cools and is silent once more.
In the air,the reawakened spirit of an Great Serpentess wends
her way towards the drumbeat of a Canadian cavern.
Back in the ceremonial caverns,Ida and her sisters add a new
dimension to the Serpente Dragon dance.Leaping and bounding on all
four legs,they hop over the undulating coiling slithering serpentes
beneath them.As they land on the other side of a band of serpentes,
they stand up tall on their hind legs,take a few steps forward,throw
out their wings and roar louder than they've ever roared before in
their life.They then spin on one taloned foot and coil over their
neck and coil into a tight a spiral as they can force their bodies
into.They then collapse back onto the floor where they straighten
out again.The dance slides forward and on the next BOOM the serpente
coil up on themselves and try to swallow their tails.Ida and her
sisters try likewise,and sink their jaws over fully extended tail
stingers.Their tails convulse and try to pump nonexistent venom
out of the stinger.Although they no doubt tore flesh,they're too
caught up in the dance to notice.
At this time the frozen statue of Histh,Aurelio in actuality
senses that a POWER is present in the cavern.Being bonded to Histh,
he is attuned to the existence of deities,and this POWER is throbbing
through the very atoms that make up his stone.The deity he senses is
both alien and familiar,and she's not Histh.She's much more
powerful than Histh.He wants to roar out a warning to the dragon
crowds,but is just a frozen mute statue.Thus all he can do is wait.

The Great Derpente spirit was not THE Great Serpente,but she was
one of his first six descendants.Although she represented raw primal
power,the knowledge of how to use that power was not hers.Thus as her
invisible coils looped about the cavern,she searched for the means to
bring back her own tribe.Coiling over to the statue of Histh,she
learned the arts of metamorphosis and transformation of that deity.
Being an ancient deity,this Great Serpente spirit was more powerful
then Histh,and the other 4 dragon gods and goddesses.She learned,and
she bided her time.
At the same time the statue of Histh started to warm and
throb to the beat of that drum.It eyes started to glow brighter
as the ancient Great Serpente spirit channeled all the powers of
Histh and the other 4 dragon deities into herself.Under normal
circumstances the crowds of dragons and serpentes and other creatures
may have sensed her existence,but in the fever of the dance they were
too busy writhing and coiling on the floor to notice.Only Aurelio the
statue knew ,and he probably was stunned senseless with all the divine
powers that were being channeled through him.
Had the dragons quit the dance right there and then,probably
nothing more would have happened.The spiri would have gone back to
her fossilized body in Russia and gone back to sleep for another
10 million years.But Ida had to spoil things.
As she and her sisters continued to bound over the serpente
circles,she swung out her wings as she bounded over the innermost
band of serpentes and this caused her to overshoot and glide and
slide towards the edge of the sacred pool.She was coming in fast
and slid right over the low protective barrier set at the rim of the
pool.Her tail and torso slid over the edge and as her forelims clawed
for purchase on the barrier,her neck and head snapped forward.This
caused the ancient serpente skull to fly off her head and tumble into
the yellow liquid below her.Her tail was only a few feet from the
surface of the liquid and drops of yellow goo spattered onto her tip.
At this point the crowd of dragons all froze and stared at her and at
the liquid below her.Slowly the skull sank into the liquid and
dissolved.The pool began to boil and the yellow liquid turned reddish
black.At the same time the yellow pus on Ida's tail turned red black
and sank into the surface of her skin.
All present knew what that meant,one of the dragon deities had
awakened and was about to grant a favour of the dragoness who had just
awakened it.Since this was the sacred pool of Histh,it probably meant
that the vermin goddess was about to reform the dragoness into a shape
appropriate for the favour.Since a serpente skull had been tossed into
the pool,it probably meant that Histh would interpret this as a
request by Ida to be turned into a serpente.With Histh though,you
could never tell.If Histh misinterpreted the favour requested,she
could just as easily transform Ida into a mosquito or cockroach.
Ida clawed her way back out over the edge and fled to a remote
corner of the ceremonial cavern,in shame and in terror.If she was
about to change into a serpente or Histh forbid,a mosquito,she didn't
need hundreds of dragons looking on as it happened.She was a superior
form of dragon,and the thought of transforming into a stupid serpente
filled her with terror and revulsion.This was supposed to be her big
day,she wanted to be the centre of attention.Now it looked like
everything was going down the drain.Thus Ida curled up in a ball
near tunnel 17 and hoped desperately that the dragon deities would
pass her by.
Ida was not the centre of attention.Dragonkind can be merciless,
and frankly most of them could care less what happened to Ida.Even
Maegrethe soon forgot about her pupil as all the celebrants headed
back to the feeding trough.Even Ida's embarassed sisters forgot about
her as they crunched down on lamb and calfs and piglets.It was time
for tidbits.At the same time the sacred pool returned to it's yellow
colour.
Whilst the crowds munched away at the feeding troughs,the deity
who had been called up was searching for the supplicant who had
sacrificed the serpente skull into the pool.This deity was of course
the Great Serpente spirit,and as she scented the crowds for the scent
of the dragon or serpente whose scent she picked up off the skull,she
came upon the 5 young dragonesses who had so recently partaken in the
Serpente Dragon dance.The dance is much more than just a dance,and
these 5 dragonesses would have attracted her attention.They had
symbollically tweaked a slumbering spirit awake,and as she caressed
them in her spirit paws,their scent changed.Their scents became that
of Great Serpentes,and they would have trembled at this rather minor
metamorphosis.But they did not have the wanted scent,and so the spirit
headed for a remote corner of the cavern,where a terrified Ida lay
waiting .
There was still a few hours before nightfall,so the dragon crowds
decided to resume that new ritual dance that had really got their
venom flowing.They all lay in circles on the ground and started
coiling and slithering to the beat of the drum"tappetytap tap BOOM..."
For once the serpentes weren't herded back to their pens or leashed,
but were allowed to participate in one social activity they excelled
at.The cavern was a scene of venom spray and roars and hisses from all
directions.Those serpentes were real party animals.Pretty soon the
throbbing of all those pounding bodies seemed to deafen out the sound
of the beating drum.But by that time the rythmic beat was in their
blood .They didn't need the drum to get in the mood.
Down by the remote corner of the cavern the first hint that Ida
had that something was happening to her was when the dim beat of the
drum got louder and louder in her ears.Except to her it sounded more
like Thumpitythump thump BOOM thumpitythump thump BOOM.The Great
Serpentess had found an heir.

Ida metamorphosizes to the beat of that pounding drum.First
her breathing rythm changes.Three quick intakes of breath are
followed by one deep rumbling exhalation.Then her heartbeat
changes to match the pattern of the drumbeat.
Then things get serious.It feels to her that her blood is
pounding too and fro along the length of her body.First it slams
into the tip of her tail and then it rushes into the other
direction and slams into her beakhook.Her tail and torso and
neck start stretching from this pounding.She digs her talons into
her red dragon hide and tries to resist the process ,but as her
body continues to lengthen her talons tear through red dragon flesh
and into the silver serpente hide forming underneath.
She stands tall and erect on her hind legs and utters a howl
of terror and despair.Her serpentehood will not be denied and that
howl quickly turns to a roar of joy and anticipation.Her torso
and tail double in length,and beneath the torn dragon skin is
revealed a lean and slender serpente body.At this point she
topples to the floor as her thinning legs collapse under the weight
of her body.Her wings fall limp to the floor and there is a gush
of blood and venom as her flight muscles and quills tear free from
her body.
The pounding in her skull increases and it splits in half from
her beak to between her eyes.New bone and tissue quickly form between
the split and as her skull becomes broader and blunter,her eyes
oriente to the side.Her forehead sinks into her snout and wipes out
much of her intelligence at the same time.Her fangs unsheath and
fuse in a fixed position.Her venom fangs lengthen,her teeth lengthen
and her swelling talons bulge out of her feet.
Ida is now a brainless serpente,and is angered at being clothed
in a limp sac of bloody dragon meat.She tears at her dragon hide and
soon starts consuming those meaty feathered wings.Other serpentes
soon slither over and help cleanse her of the dead dragon flesh.
Once freed of her dragonhood her overriding urge is to make a
kill and she coils over to the feeding troughs.By this time the
serpente dragon dance has finished and Maegrethe is squatting in a
trough,feasting on a calf she decapitated mere minutes ago.Ida
pushes her aside and sinks her jaws over a stiffening calf leg and
starts to tear it off the carcass.Maegrethe gives a warning growl
when she doesn't recognize the scent of this interloping primal
serpente.Ida doesn't waste time with a warning.With a roar and
a loud snap of her jaws,she bites empty air where Maegrethe's
neck was a second ago.Her bite would have decapitated Maegrethe
and the witch dragoness wisely backs away from this bloodthirsty
brutal beast.
Inside that serpente body Ida is undergoing a further devolution
and she is ravenously hungry as her internal transformation demands
fuel.There is a sound of tearing flesh inside her,and she jerks up
her head and utters a roar of pain before she collapsed lifeless into
the trough.
The skull starts to split open just between the eyes and a bony
beak pokes it's way out.After the beak emerges a thin long body
9 inches wide and 100 feet long flows out of the crack.It is slimy
and looks like a segmented earthworm.It has no legs or teeth and
the only visible appendages are a pair of weaving bobbing tendrils
and a mucous and saliva laden set of tendrils where it's mouth is.
As it plops down onto the floor and oozes away from the troughs,the
dragons stop feeding and stare open mawed at this sickly alien
creature in their midst.They are looking at the most ancient
biological ancestor of dragonkind,and it looks like prey.

It is prey.Although Ida retains her serpente brain and mind,the
only visible means of defense she has is that bony beak of a skull
protecting her head.The original dragonkind were little more than
big earthworms,with no skeleton but that bony head.The only senses
she possesses are her photosensitive tendrils and her sense of touch
from her mouth tendrils.Newly emerging instincts tell her to ooze
towards the dark,where she can burrow into the earth and safety.
Located in the first segment of her body is a cloaca which secretes
a slime and mucous trail beneath her,on which her long body slides.
Her slime glands are very productive,and secrete hundreds of hormones
into the slime trail.Protoserpentes were an easy meal for carnivores,
and the slime trail was their first means of defense.As the dragons
and serpentes in the cavern scent Ida,s slime ,it elicts different
reactions.A serpente smells the scent of a rutting serpentess,a
sea serpente is reminded of a catch of rotting fish on the beach,a
Skye dragon can smell the pine scented air of his mountain aerie,
and Maegrethe smells the yolk covering 6 newly hatched dragonets.
There is confusion in the cavern and Ida is briefly ignored
by the crowd as they fight amongst themselves over possession of
none existent mates,food and lairs that the slime reminds them of.
Ida makes it halfway across the cavern floor when a young serpentess
leaps upon her worm tail.Although Ida has thin silver skin and the
hormones of serpente and dragon inside her,to the serpentess the
slimy thing oozing across the floor is just another meal.Soon others
leap and bound in for a kill and a easy meal.
Ida's second defense mechanism comes into play at this time.With
a sickly tearing sound,the last 20 feet of her body tears off at the
segment diaphragm and goes wiggling off in an other direction.After
repeated attacks several portions of her body are wiggling about the
cavern,being pursue by dragons and serpentes alike.The remaining
portion of her body with that bony beak head is just about to enter
tunnel 17.The crowd is too busy pursuing the other mindlessly
wiggling segments of her body to notice.
The head and the first segment with it's slime glands are the
important parts of the protoserpente body.If Ida were allowed to
burrow into earth and live her life as a protoserpente,eventually
she would regrow the rest of her body.However her reproductive
organs and brain are in the head and 1rst segment,and were
irreplaceable.
Somewhere in dragonkind's racial memory are repressed memories
of a life as a weak defenseless wormlike creature which made easy
prey for any two bit carnivore which came along.Their response to
this existence was to do a u turn in the evolutionary path and
be 6 times the carnivore of anything else on the planet.Behind that
blustering roaring venom dripping claw slashing exterior is a
terrified worm seeking safety and shelter.
Ida slid deep into the interior of tunnel 17 and when her
photoreceptors could no longer detect light,she ceased fleeing.
Although she may not have been able to detect her attackers during
her flight to safety,her serpente brain was well aware of the damage
caused to her body.Fear,a emotion dragonkind refuse to acknowledge
exists,was a prime emotion in this protoserpente.

Ida's body began to contract and flow back into her skull.At the same
time her weaving tendrils lengthened and grafted onto the rocky
sides,floor and ceiling of the tunnel.Her head began to pound and
swell to the rythm "thumpitythump thump BOOM ...".Where the tendrils
had touched the tunnel the rock began to glow and pulse to that
self same rythm.As the last of her body entered her now spherical
head,the bony surface flowed over and sealed the hole which her body
had slid through.
The walls around the pulsating sphere began to move and flow
over the metamorphosizing remains of the protoserpente.Millions
of new tendrils erupted from the sphere and inched and branched
along the tunnel.Where they fused,the rocky surface glowed and
flowed together to form an ever lengthening,widening and deepening
Greate Serpente body.
Once the transformation was complete,Ida's mind was housed
inside a rocky hill of a body.She was 2800 feet long,60 feet wide
and deep and had a skull 120 feet long with 15 foot rocky fangs
jutting from her jaw.Her legs were crouched right beside her body
like a dogs and from a distance blended right in with her
surface contours.Where her eyes would be were deep dark lifeless
pits.Her talons were of black basalt and she had canines of
copper.Sprinkled throughout her rocky scales were veins of silver.
Except for some leftover erupting geysers and lava pools on
her surface,she appeared as lifeless as that long sinuous hill in
Emmen.It would take either a miracle or a supreme sacrifice to
bring this volcano to life.
The Great Serpente spirit which had created her descended like
a phoenix into Ida's magma heart chamber.In the centre lay a
lifeless caldera.The spirit curled herself up into this depression,
took one last scent of the world she was about to leave,and then
with a decisive squeeze of her coils ,contracted into a pinpoint
of infinite nothingness and burst into a wave of heat and energy
which washed over the heart chamber.Slowly at first,a faint trickle
of magma swirled out of the caldera "swishtyswish swish" and then
with a woosh it retreated back into the caldera.It repeated this
process again and again.Each time a little more magma crept out
of the caldera,and the pulsing of her magma heart grew louder and
stronger.Soon her vents and pipes and veins were coursing with
her lifeblood as it raged and roared through her.Her rock scales
began to rise and fall as she started to breathe,as they rose,the
red hot magma just coursing beneath her surface could be seen
glowing.The dark eye pits in her skull lit up and her maw slowly
creaked open.The Great Serpentes lived again.
Ida started to dig her talons into the floor and push herself
forward.Her sapphire scutes on her underside found purchase and
she slid back to the entrance of the tunnel.
Her organic brain had undergone a transformation at the same
time.The ancient gods who had originally created the Great Serpente
knew that such a creature was built for show,for theatrics.They were
not built for survival,but for display,Thus although her body
may have appeared like a mobile hill of dull glowing rock,her brain
was built for the ritual.She was all instinct,and her brain was
telling her to perform the Serpente Dragon dance.What had taken
months of hard practice to learn as a dragoness now came without
thought or effort as a Great Serpente.This time dragonkind would
learn what the Serpente Dragon ritual dance really was.

At the same time that Ida was coming charging up the tunnel for
the first performance of a Great Serpente in 60 million years another
dragon and his mate had a grouping of sea serpents gathered around a
45 gallon drum and were tossing fish to the young converts whilst the
dragon and dragoness explained how the Goddess Histh could make their
lifes more bountiful.
The young sea serpents were eager to eat the fish,and completely
ignored the combination of roars,hisses and body movements that the
two ancient French Skye dragons uttered and displayed as they tried
to impart what they had learned to the young converts.
This type of social interaction is extremely rare amongst
dragons and was thousands of years in the making.The two ancient
Skye dragons were just common dragons like 66.7 % of dragonkind
and for them to have clawed their way to this level of thought would
have taken them practically all of their 10,000 years of existence.
In the dragon intellectual hierarchy there are three classes of
dragon thought.
There are the metamorphosized servants of Histh,humans have been
transformed into dragons with most of their human thoughts and brain
intact.Maegrethe the Witch dragoness is one of these.She thinks like
a human but must deal with the dragon instincts and urges of her
body.For a dragoness like Maegrethe life is a constant struggle to
not give in to the primal serpente drives coursing through her blood
and which would reduce her to a savage bloodthirsty lusting beast.
The second class of dragon is a freak of nature.Ida the
dragoness was one of these,as are most of the witch dragonesses which
lead dragonkind.These dragons possess a brain with superior memory
retention and are quick learners.There is not a shred of humanity in
them ,they are intelligent carnivores.
Then there is the third class,to which all the other dragons,
serpents,sea serpentes,wyverns,wyrms,etc belong to.With the gift of
a lifespan ranging from hundreds to 10 s of thousands of years comes
a heavy price.99.99 % of dragonkind is cursed with a poor memory.
Dragons short term memory only extends back one day while serpentes
can't even remember the meal they had one hour ago.They possess good
long term memory,but it takes decades to centuries for a thought to
be registered in long term memory.Their instincts are long term
memories and dragons are very good at recalling how to kill,eat,sleep
mate and roar.What they can't do is recall where they hid their kill
the day before or the dragon communal gathering they left briefly and
then forgot all about.The witch dragonesses have to expend quite a
bit of energy rounding up confused stray dragons who wake up in the
evening and wonder what they're doing in a strange lair with strange
dragons.
The common dragon has no speech beyond roaring and hissing.What
they have are body display instincts leftover from the days of the
Great Serpentes.They communicate with their bodies.Warnings are
given by low growls,hunger may be indicates by tapping the tail
on the ground while the tongue flickers in and out of the wide open
jaws.Pride is displayed by standing up on the hind legs and
stretching the wings or forelimbs out wide and roaring whilst rage
is shown by a quick forward thrust of the neck and a loud closing
snap of the jaws.Dragons are not dumb animals and have learned to
link together these body movements into a language all dragonkind
can understand to some extent.
A hungry dragonet might thus greet his returning mother with the
body movements for "pride,pride,hunger,hunger,hunger,rage ".In human
terms what he's saying is "mother i like you,i really like you,now
feed me,please please feed me,i'm not getting fed fast enough,hurry
it up ".

Many centuries ago,after Princess Margarets transformation into
Maegrethe,the servant of Histh,the new born dragoness spent time
studying the customs,languages and teachings of the other five
dragon tribes.Being a born again dragoness,she no doubt intended to
gain some converts.Using her dragon body language,she could convey
hunger,lust,rage,terror,pride and satisfaction.What she couldn't do
is express more complex concepts.She could not for example,tell a sea
serpent that crossing over to Histh would give him life everlasting,
or that he was a sinful beast for worshipping the wrong deity.She was
expressing human concepts in a language never designed for the human
race.The dragon language is a language of the pulse of venom glands
pumping venom through the fangs into a captured prey animal,it was
the scent of spurting blood gushing into the jaws of the
predator,it was the hormones released by a rutting serpentess
or the scent of the piney dew in a mountaintop aerie.Maegrethe's
attempts to bond with the other dragons was a complete failure.
She was losing faith in her Goddess and felt like an outcast,
neither human nor dragon.Thus she went back to her cave in the
Cheviot hills and turned her back on the dragons.One day a
visiting Skye dragon invited her to a reading of a dragon saga at his
lair.She came and found that the dragons and serpentes were passing
around some sacred tablets.From a distance the scratches on the
tablets looked like stick figures of sea serpents wiggling and
coiling and she recognized the poses the figures they were displaying
as the common language "pride,danger,danger ,danger,rage and
finally satisfaction".The problem was her scholarly human mind
couldn.t interpret the tablets.It was only when her neighbouring
dragon friend handed over one of the tablets to her that she
saw the light.Her human brain went out the window.In her mind
she felt the sensation of her huge sea serpent body as she
coiled through the waves.She could feel the sun shining on her
dorsal fins and smelt the scents of her 3 hatchlings.Suddenly
a pack of killer whales was heading for her hatchlings,intent on
a kill.With a savage thrust of her tail she coiled over and
defended her young with savage snaps of her jaws.She felt her
fangs sink into the hide of one careless whale and the hot
pumping venom being aqueezed out of her venom glands.She then
felt the satisfaction of knowing that there would be good
eating tonight.When she came to her senses,she found herself writhing
in the dirt,fangs and claws unsheathed and pools of venom lying all
around her.Her first reading of a sacred tablet was an eye opener.
The tablets were the key to Maegrethes mission ,and she sought
out the lairs of the witch dragonesses who knew how to make them in
order to learn their secrets.The respnse was unpleasant.Many a
dragoness met her with unsheathed claws.She was not a dragon.They
could detect a near human mind behind those slitted eyes,and were
not about to share secrets which had taken millions of years to
discover with an interloper who to them was just a big scaly human.
Thus Maegrethe went back to her caves and tried to write her
own tablets.These she tried in various combinations of the body
language script.Being a dragoness,she didn't have to worry about
pen and paper.She'd just grab a lump of rock,unsheath her talons
and start scratching away.To her human mind,she had written the gospel
of Histh.Yet the tablets elicted no emotional visceral response from
her.Unlike the Saga of the Sea Serpentess,she felt no bonding to
these tablets.They were just educated scratches on rock.

The big break came in 1515 Ad.For centuries she had been
visiting the great great...great grand dam and grandsire of her
Skye dragon friend.She showed them countless versions of her
writings and eagerly awaited a sign that they grasped the concept.
No such response came.To them,she had just handed over a rock with
meaningless scratches on it.Since her tablets appeared the same as
the sacred saga tablets,she was one frustrated dragoness.The elderly
dragons had no time for her tomfoolery,and only tolerated her for
the fresh killed sheep and lamb she brought with her.
The old dragon and his mate would fall asleep and by the time
they reawakened usually had forgotten all about Maegrethe,sacred
tablets and Histh.What slowly percolated into their memory after
centuries was thoughts of the scent of mutton and visions of rocks
with scratches on them.There were times when the elderly dragons
solved the puzzle,but by the time they reawakened the solution had
vanished from their minds and was just a ghost of a memory.But slowly
afrer after enough repetitions of the solution it wiggled it's way
into their long term memories.
One fine evening they reawoke and EUREKA,they realized that
Maegrethe was trying to create a sacred tablet.Yet the tablet had
no scent.All sacred tablets scent of the story they are trying to
tell.Maegrethes tablets were sterile and lifeless.
When dragonkind communicate through their body language,they
do more than just wiggle their tails and snap their jaws.The listener
can also scent the blood ,the venom and the hormones being released
by the communicator.Not being an expert in dragon biology,Maegrethe
had failed to realize that when she communicated with other dragons,
her body was releasing a whole smorgasboard of scents that her
listener was picking up and interpreting without concious thought.
Since she thought like a human and repressed her dragon instincts,
she'd missed out on most of what her dragon instincts were trying to
tell her.
The sacred tablets were scented with the venom ,blood and other
fluids of dragons.It was only when Maegrethe mastered the art of
scenting the tablet that she could bond to her listener.
Her first tablets would no doubt have elicited strange
behaviours from her listeners.She handed over trial versions of
her scented writings to the aged dragon which he interpreted as
a dragoness who wanted to mate,a dragoness who viewed the grand dam
as a suitable meal and as a dragoness who wished to seize his lair
for herself.No doubt Maegrethe learned to keep a large supply of
fresh killed prey nearby to pacify the quickly shocked and raging
ancient Skye dragon pair after they read her tablets.
By 1655 Ad Maegrethe had advanced enough in the art of
tablet writing that she had made the ancient Skye dragon couple
aware of the existence of a powerful Skye dragon named Histh who
would provide his followers with freshly killed lamb outside of
their lair each morning.This wasn't exactly what Maegrethe was trying
to say about Histh,but after centuries of failure,Maegrethe was
happy to have gotten to this stage.Maegrethe had gotten her first
converts after four centuries of effort.
By this time the aging Skye dragon pair were about 9000 years
old and were not as sleek and oiled as they used to be.Their winged
feathers were getting tattered and their paws and talons weren't
quite as firm and sharp as they used to be.Thus around 1755 Maegrethe
convinced them that Histh would provide them with many sheep and
cattle if they crossed the ocean to the new land.
The pair tagged behind Maegrethe as she winged across the
Atlantic and brought them to the promised land.No doubt they
strayed from the true path many a time,but Maegrethe slowly
herded them towards the Canadian coast.
In the Gulf of St Lawrence live colonies of sea serpentes and
serpentes,and is to these dragon tribes that the ancient Skye
dragon pair preached the message of the bountiful Skye dragon Histh.
It is this pair that laid the foundations for the coming of
dragonkind to North America.Whilst Maegrethe winged her way back to
England,they stayed behind and searched for a lair to call their own
in the Texas dessert.This would one day be the location of the tribe
of Histh's ceremonial caverns.

Ida came charging out of the tunnel like a locomotive with
it's boilers ready to burst.The crowd barely had time to finsh eating
the last fragments of the protoserpente before the cavern stated
shaking to a rythmic "boomityboom boom BOOM...".A few seconds later
the Great Serpente came out and charged in a straight line for the
feeding troughs.Her skull crashed into the walls behind the troughs
and her whole mountainous bulk hurled forward and crashed against the
wall.Geysers of steam and magma jetted out from her loosened scales.
After a few seconds pause she coiled over back to the centre of
the cavern and formed a circular loop with her body around the statue
of Histh and the pool.The ancient Skye dragon pair and the young
sea serpente converts had been caught by her hurtling body as it
slammed into the wall and were killed instantly.There were dozens of
other killed and maimed dragonkind scattered near the feeding troughs.
Ida had swiftly encircled a crowd of dragons near the centre of
the cavern and proceeded to give them a performance of the true and
proper Serpente Dragon dance.She began by moving in a circle six
times around her chosen prey.She then looped back her body and
circled around in the opposite direction 6 times.The dragons and
serpentes she had ensnared noticed that she wasn't moving in for a
quick kill and the more sensible ones merely flew out or tried to
claw up her rocky sides to freedom.The great Serpente ignored their
escape.Killing prey for a Great Serpente was a ritual,and the ritual
was more important than the prey.At this stage all of the crowd
within her coils could have fled and she still would have
continued with the ritual.
She then coiled up her body into a spiral with six bands.The
space she had encircled was diminished in area and serpentes clawing
up her sides felt the waves of heat her body was pumping into
the diminishing circle.Few of her prey succeeded in escaping the
furnace they now crouched in.Many of the serpentes near the top of
her torso went limp and fell back senseless to the circle 60 feet
below.
With the booming of her massive heart ida coiled in a clockwise
movement.On every BOOM she raised her neck and head hundreds of feet
in the air,her sapphire scutes flashing in the light.She was staring
at the prey she encircled and ignored the crowds fleeing through
the tunnels.She opened her jaws wide and a shrieking blast of
superheated air erupted from her gullet.Although she didn't
roar,witnesses present knew a roar when they saw one.She lowered
her head and performed the ritual 5 more times.
She then ceased and swung over her tail and began sucking on
it.Her tail throbbed and pulsed as it emptied magma into her magma
chambers,and hot dripping magma spilt out of the sides of her mouth
onto the floor far far below.
Having filled herself with the lifefluids that fueled her,she
swung her head over one last time and bathed her prey in a fountain
of magma.After a few seconds to allow the prey to vaporize and
dissolve in her digestive fluids,she lapped up the pool of blazing
fluid she encircled.After checking that no magma or charred and burnt
carcasses remained on the floor,she uncoiled herself and slid back
into tunnel 17 and the huge cavern which had been created with her
birth.Once inside she coiled up to conserve heat.Her eye pits dimmed
her breathing became more shallow and her heartbeat slowed.She went
dormant.

Category:Stories by setting

2007-08-03T23:43:37Z

Loathsomedragon:

[[Category:Story|Dragons of Histh Universe]]

Category:Stories by author

2007-08-03T23:37:35Z

Loathsomedragon:

[[Category:Story|Loathsome Dragon]]