Dragons Of Terra Sphere: Part I - Deadly Sanctuary

By Setlu Vairst

Many millennia ago a spacefaring race called the Quareem and their travelling companions, the dragons, came across a solar system. Investigation revealed a young sun with the third planet showing life-form readings. They named the world Terra Sphere and chose to investigate the life on this world. A landing was ruled out due to the size and savagery of the dominate species of the planet. They would observe the dinosaurs from altitude, but disaster strikes and the spacecraft crashes to Earth.
Without their technology to defend themselves the Quareem soon fell prey to the dinosaurs. The dragons, much larger and stronger than their companions, are able to survive: even surviving the time when the dinosaurs become extinct.
In time, a new dominant species evolved called Man, and for many, many thousands of years there was a peace between man and the dragons. But that was all about to change...
For, as dragons flew across the lands some began to notice a decline in their numbers. In time, the dragons discovered why... They found the humans had turned against them...
Fleeing her home in the forests of Lavenseer, a lone dragon makes a deadly choice... She would fly north, beyond the Bad Lands, a place where even humans dare not go! And then, when she believes she is safe, having reached the Mountains of Lesuth, she makes a new and startling discovery!
A lone dragon keeps a watch on a strange city that sits high in the mountains, shrouded in a green mist... and which is deadly to any dragon that approaches the city.
And into this deadly war comes two who are destined to shape the future of the dragons...
A young dragon called Kolay'sha and her friend, a young orphaned deer called Pearl. Together they will grow and be responsible for taking the dragons out of their sanctuary; a place that, if they remain, can only hold death in the times to come!
On their own they were formidable.
Together... they would become a legend!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Setlu Vairst
• Release date: Jan 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310933080

Setlu Vairst

Setlu Vairst released the first book from The Occasion Mists series in December 2013. 'Unicorn - Journey Beyond Forever' is the story of a young unicorn's journey to a place where he may be reunited with his parents and where a final battle with the evil humans will take place.There are eight completed works ready to be released in the coming months. Book 2 in the series 'Danny and the Seagull Who Came Back... From The Dead! was released on the 22 December 2013 and the third book will be published in the coming weeks.Born in Hanover, Germany, raised in Glasgow, and currently residing in the North of England, Setlu is currently concentrating on releasing the remainder of the completed works in preparation for returning to the other books from the series. There are currently four other works in progress and others planned.Setlu lives with his wife, youngest son and three dogs, and so the 'writing' environment can be noisy and hectic at times.His current ambition is to have a 'room' off the beaten track where he has space to leave notes about the stories safely scattered around and does not have to go hunting for where he 'thinks' he last left his notes.http://www.setluvairst.com

Book preview

Lightning bolted through the dark, night sky, ripping into a tall, mighty oak tree, sending shards of flaming debris flickering and scattering into the air. The resulting illumination revealed the grim, rain-battered forest that stood shaking whilst sharp thunder cracked overhead, sending jagged reverberations shaking through the falling rain.

Coiling her huge scale-covered body around in an arc, ensuring she placed her own body between her precious treasure and any possible falling tree that may come crashing down, Grafee Gendusfraune ensured that she made it almost impossible for any falling object to be able to destroy her treasure.

Tensing her tiring muscles, she was awaiting the telltale grating sound that would denote the tumbling of some giant tree amidst the forest, but no sound came through the continual barrage of rain that pounded against her armoured skin, hammering a staccato beat amongst the swirling, gusting winds.

Trying to slow her breathing, and conscious that hard breathing on her part may agitate the fire-balls in her throat and that these, in turn, could inform the humans that were close by, of exactly where it was that she was hiding, trying to protect her treasure.

A semblance of silence returned to the surrounding forest as the thunderous crack began fading, and the scattering, flaming remnants of a once-proud oak tree were quickly extinguished, either by the hammering rain or by the damp forest floor that they landed upon.

Relaxing her muscles once more, Grafee Gendusfraune became instantly aware of the muddy forest floor, which had did all it could to make her progress so difficult; cursing her own misfortune, and the human barbarians that hunted her and her treasure because, under normal circumstances, she could simply have taken to the air to elude the humans that followed. ‘Sadly, these are not normal times,’ she thought to herself and then, peering into the dark around her, ‘I wish just one dragon would come and stand with me and help me to defeat these malevolent humans.’

Straining her ears, seeking any telltale sign of the pursuing humans, her deep green eyes pierced the trees surrounding her, looking for any sign of a flame that flickered wildly in the wind, for that flame would most certainly be upon a torch carried by one of the humans. Darkness continued to surround her, and the only sound she could hear was the continual battering of the rain as it plunged to dance upon her armoured skin.

Suddenly, a small movement to her right caught her attention. Swinging her huge head around, her eyes piercing deeper into the darkness, she could discern no distinct shape to show her whatever had moved in the darkness. Cursing, she wished for new day, where there would be light enough for her to tell if a danger was close by.

Emitting a low, rumbling snarl to warn away any nearby creatures, she was letting them know that she was there and aware of their presence, and that she was ready to do battle should they come any closer.

With no loud noise from the area that she had detected the movement and her immediate fear being that humans were nearby, slowly creeping toward her position, preparing themselves for a mad, barbaric onslaught, of which she and her treasure were the intended targets, she could not be sure that she was not simply imagining things because that is what her mind had been preparing her for.

Knowing that she had no choice, she began to agitate the fireballs in her gullet; feeling the rumbling pressure beginning to mount within her stomach. She sought to quell that rumbling, as she did not require a mighty, flaming, thunder ball at this moment, she merely required that which her own kind referred to as a ‘Firefly;’ a small fireball, which needed neither mass to drive it hard at an enemy, nor leaping flames to ensure that ‘whatever it struck’ was quickly turned into a flaming, burning, victim of her aggression.

The murmuring in her throat was beginning to challenge her concentration, her mouth opened a little and she coughed out of her mouth a firefly flame. The small burning ember shot forward, toward the area in which Grafee Gendusfraune had detected movement and, immediately, illumination flared upon the rain-soaked trunks of trees.

Grafee Gendusfraune was fearful of the ominous vision of humans appearing before her, for she knew that the humans knew that she was vulnerable. She had her treasure to protect and, because of that, the humans knew she would not charge at them. She could not leave her treasure undefended and that gave the humans the tactical advantage; they could attack her from a distance, hiding behind trees, rocks, or any other camouflage that they could find. Without a treasure to protect, Grafee Gendusfraune would be free to let her temper and anger take control of her battle rage. She could use the sky, hurl fireballs, and claw at the humans, but only if she never had her treasure to protect.

Her giant head began twitching as she saw a faint outline; dark against the blackness, almost entirely hiding in obscurity. The firefly ember had landed in the damp foliage, continuing to burn, fighting against the falling, driving rain, and there, silhouetted against the dark, Grafee Gendusfraune saw her adversary and, with great relief, she saw that standing before her was not a human as she first had feared.

Standing quite still, her adversary held its eyes focused on the bulk of the dragon before it. Suppressing a small chuckle, as her immediate fears left her, she knew that she had nothing to fear, it was simply a young deer; lost and alone in the dark forest night.

‘It is no adversary but I am weak and, if needs must, it is a necessary meal to a battle weary and tired dragon,’ she thought, staring at the immobile shape ahead of her.

Grafee Gendusfraune’s eyes began piercing the eyes of the fawn, and she hoped her firefly would keep burning long enough for her to be able to draw the fawn toward her, to get the fawn within striking range for she could not hunt the fawn and leave her treasure unattended, she had to draw the fawn toward her.

The fawn, transfixed by the staring, hypnotic eyes of the dragon, hesitantly turned to face the dragon full on and, slowly, with its legs betraying it, the fawn began walking toward the huge dragon that crouched upon the ground in front of it.

Approaching the bulk of the beast, the meek and petrified fawn continued walking slowly forward until it stood facing the mighty jaws of the dragon. The fawn halted, with the hot breath of the dragon almost burning its eyes, so much so that it was forced to blink against the pounding heat emitted from the towering, ravenous, tooth and fang-ridden mouth that hung before it.

Lifting her head upwards, stretching her neck, and preparing her mouth to strike downward upon her prey - her easy meal – she alleviated her gaze from the fawn, allowing the fawn to break free of the hypnotic stare that had brought the fawn to the place it now stood; confusedly wondering how it had got there.

The fawns’ legs were trembling; for so strong, and strange, and sinister, were the scents and odours that crawled from the skin of the dragon in front of her.

Lowering her gaze to look down upon the fawn, Grafee Gendusfraune began surveying the timid and lost creature that trembled before her. She blew out a hot breath toward the fawn, the embers in her throat gently illuminating the creature; reflecting in the creatures wide, fear-fed eyes.

With her jaw open, she continued allowing the fireballs in her throat to illuminate the fawn in front of her, waiting for the moment when the fawn would realise its predicament and try to flee for that would be the moment at which she would strike. Continuing to stare at the fawn, she watched it turn its head around, looking in all directions in the dark night, trying to see a way out, a way to safety, but there was none. Then, on unsteady legs, it turned and began walking away. The unsteadiness of the fawns walk told Grafee Gendusfraune that the fawn was fresh born and, as she inhaled the scent of the fawn, she could detect the dampness of birth blood that still stuck to the young fawn’s body.

Raising her head, peering around and looking into the darkness of the surrounding trees, she asked herself, ‘Where is the fawns mother or father? The fawn has no chance of survival being alone in the forest, so where are its parents?’

Returning her attention to the fawn and gazing downwards to look upon it, she was shocked to see where the fawn had gone for she saw that the fawn had dared to lay beside her treasure! Tilting her head to the side, Grafee Gendusfraune gazed upon the daring of the young creature. ‘This is truly an innocent creature, for surely only innocence could be so audacious in the face of a hungry dragon!’

Lying beside Grafee Gendusfraune’s treasure, snuggling up to it for warmth, she began wondering if the fawn was seeking warmth and shelter. ‘Or,’ she thought, ‘was it providing warmth?’ Shaking violently as a lightning flash burst overhead, quickly followed by a deep rumble from somewhere within the sky, the fawn tried to bury its head in the ground, seeking to escape the monstrous weather that tore the night to shreds around it.

The fawn’s strange behaviour totally shocked Grafee, so much so that she was ignoring the fanatical shouting coming from the trees around her, calls that informed her that the pursuing humans had located her once again. She continued staring, watching the fawn as it tried to encircle her treasure with its own body and then finally laying its neck across the top of the treasure, looking as if it were trying to offer protection.

This sight completely transfixed Grafee Gendusfraune, for she knew that her treasure was safe from any possible harm, at least ‘harm’ that could be inflicted by any hourling fawn. Remaining transfixed by the sight of this innocent creature wrapped around her treasure, she was taking no notice of the first barbarian arrows that were bouncing and ricocheting upon her armoured skin.

Rattling upon her neck armour, the whistling arrows began drawing her attention to her immediate problem and, with absolute certainty, she knew that the band of vile humans that she had been trying so hard to avoid were now, suddenly, upon her once again. She began moving her neck from side to side and ensuring that her neck, which was a vulnerable spot amongst her armour, became a moving target; making it harder for the well aimed throws of spears and arrows to land upon their chosen destinations. She knew that she must not risk injury to herself because that would ultimately lead to danger or death for her treasure.

Feeling weariness pouring over her, almost as powerful as the hard driven rain that battered her armoured skin, she knew that she needed to rest safely for a while and to eat and sleep, but the possibility of these things were seeming so far away that they appeared to be the destination of a journey that she would never take. ‘Why would the humans simply not just leave me alone?’ she asked herself in despair.

Lightning was erupting once more - almost directly overhead - and malicious growls of thunder rang out through the skies while the unending onslaught of rain continued to pummel everything in its path. This latest violent eruption in the skies almost directly above her, brought her out of her mesmerising dilemma. She had duties to fulfil: a duty to her treasure and a duty to herself. ‘I will not let the evil humans steal another child of mine!’ she told herself determinedly.

Raising her huge bulk from the muddy forest floor, she stood tall and then her body began to turn to face in the direction from which the human arrows had mostly flew toward her.

She had had hopes that the humans would not have found her so quickly, giving her at least a little time to rest. For three days they had pursued her with a cursed determination. For three days she had kept herself moving, taking small flights, clutching her treasure, knowing that should human arrows come her way then she would not be able to protect her treasure. One well-aimed arrow, or one accidental arrow, could seek purchase upon her vulnerable treasure and then, in an instant, her treasure would be lost to her forever.

Recalling her first encounter with the humans only three days before, images began flashing through her mind as she recalled returning to her cave in the Kistrark Mountains and discovering that her precious treasure had been stolen. Not damaged, not destroyed, but stolen! Only humans took dragon eggs and, even if she had not known that the lingering human smell within her cave would still have led her to the same conclusion.

As another arrow bounced from her armour, the same way that the unrelenting rain collided and bounced back into the air, she recalled how she had taken to the skies in anger when she had discovered that some evil fate had befallen her treasure. Immediately setting off toward Mountain Forest Road, a well used track that ran from Kistrark Mountain and, winding southward with the Forests of Lavenseer to the right, this road travelled into The Good Lands. These were lands heavily populated with humans and it was natural for Grafee to believe that the Good Lands would be where the thieves were heading. Without flying very far, she came across a group of humans riding upon carts, horse drawn and, as she swooped lower to gaze better upon them to see what was in the carts, a stream of arrows had come hurtling toward her. She did not have to see her treasure in the cart to know that it was there. Humans, on most occasions, are afraid of dragons and would not dare provoke one, never mind fire upon one!

The humans had something that they were protecting and they would fight a dragon to keep it. Their very actions had told her that it was her treasure that they were concealing somewhere on one of their wagons and she knew that they would be determined to keep it. ‘But not as determined as me to get it back!’

Pulling away from the attacking humans and banking steeply in the air, she caught the scent of her egg, her treasure and then, racing her body high into the sky and roaring a curse that could only come from a mother, she began preparing fireballs in her throat as she turned in flight, readying herself to challenge the attacking humans, ignoring the arrows that flew in the air around her, determined to reclaim what was rightfully hers.

A battle had ensued, in which some of the humans died, some had fled, and some were injured. She had managed to snatch her treasure amidst the savage foray that she fought with those vile humans but not before damage to her treasure had occurred. Her treasure has suffered a small crack, not going wholly through the shell but enough to weaken it, possibly enough to destroy the life inside.

She had managed to get away from the humans but they must have believed that they had a chance of recapturing her treasure. They had to have believed that they had a chance of destroying her. They had to have guessed that the dragon had problems, because a dragon would stay until the end of a battle or the end of its life; whichever came sooner. However, she had fled with her treasure, leaving behind many humans alive and those humans had decided that the dragon was somehow impaired and so they had given chase.

What the humans did not know was that she was not physically impaired through injury, she was only impaired because her decisions had to be based on the need to protect her treasure. Dragons only had one egg, one ‘Dragonling,’ every seventy years and this was not something she would give up lightly; neither to humans or any beast. Nor would she engage in wild battle just for the sake of it. ‘That would have been foolish,’ she reminded herself.

Now those humans had found her again. Four times in three days they had come across her and, each time, she had been lucky enough to make good her escape. It seemed as though this deadly game may be played out forever but she knew that she never had the strength to maintain this furious pace. She needed nourishment and rest. The determined humans that were adamantly still chasing her, would have to be faced eventually; faced and dealt with for a final time while there was still some strength remaining in her.

Raising her shoulders, her neck and her back, she was preparing herself to face her attackers. All she could do was defend the egg, do everything in her power to protect her treasure. She had to place herself between the humans and her treasure, hoping that she could destroy all the humans, or at least send them into a retreat, by standing in the same position and hoping that none of their arrows or spears would strike a tragic blow to the fleshy parts of her body.

Rasping her throat, agitating the already burning fireballs, her eyes preyed upon the darkness around her, seeking her first target.

This would be a final battle between herself and this band of humans; there would be only one victor and, for her treasures sake, she hoped that she would be that victor.

The lights of dancing torches further back in the forest were dim, almost obscured by the rain, but even though she knew humans were there, more importantly, she knew that there were humans who were much closer than the distant flickering torches that she could see weaving amongst the trees and the darkness.

Humans would be sneaking up upon her, under cover of the trees and plants that made up the forest. They would be getting as close as they dared before trying to strike with their arrows or spears, hoping to catch her off guard and, in doing so, landing that fatal blow to her body.

Forcing her eyes to peer into the darkness around her, into the immediate bushes and amongst the tree trunks, trying to break the grasp of shadows, she was seeking purchase of any human attacker.

‘If it were not for the darkness I would have had a chance to see them. If not for the hammering rain, then I would have had a chance to hear them,’ she thought, growling in her throat, turning ‘fireflies’ into ‘molten moths’ and then swinging her head savagely toward the left as she thought she heard a noise, a noise not entirely made by the rain hammering upon the surrounding night-dressed vegetation.

Her head rested, facing in that direction and she was aware of the rain hammering along her face, bouncing back up from her armour-plated skin and causing her vision to blur.

She could hear the rain hammering the nearby plants, threatening to pulverise them back into the soil from which they had come. The rain was another enemy she had at this time, for the noise of it driving into the leaves and foliage would surely drown out any fumbled stealth approach made by humans.

The darkness was absolute in the direction in which she stared and she knew that would be perfect cover for any skulking humans. The humans would not want to risk being silhouetted by the light from the torches burning behind them. If they kept low to the ground, moving across the forest floor like some evil viper on a hunt then, she knew, she would only catch sight of them either at the last moment or by chance. She hoped that ‘chance’ would be a friend to her and that it would deliver the human shapes quickly to her eyes for ‘the last moment’ could indeed be a moment that would be her last.

She dearly wanted to throw fireballs hurtling into the forest around her but she had not eaten well of late and only had a limited amount of fire and flame with which to defend herself and her treasure.

Taking a step toward where she had heard the noise emerge, she suddenly froze because she could not dare to leave her treasure unattended and unprotected. Swinging her head around to look beside her, she could discern the shape of her treasure, all but covered up by the sodden body of the hourling fawn.

Another sound ‘cracked’ through the rain, coming from the same direction in which she had been peering only a moment before and, tensing her muscles, she kept herself still, her eyes remaining fixed upon her treasure and the fawn. She waited just a few moments more and then it came, another noise from that same direction.

As lighting strikes, so too did Grafee Gendusfraune. Swinging her immense body around and, in the same fluid movement, pushing off with her hind legs, she was launching herself into a giant leap that would carry her all the way across the small clearing. Her massive body landed upon, and amongst, bushes. Young saplings cracked and broke, but two huge trees remained standing though, she could tell that her bulk had shook them mightily.

Swinging her head savagely from side to side, her skin rasping against branches and leaves, her eyes glared out of their sockets, looking for a sign of what had caused the noises that she had heard.

Nothing moved and no sound came save the continual persistent battering of the rain upon the leaves around her and upon her own skin. Human torches glowed faintly in the distance, off to one side, and she could hear a few shouts muffled by the symphony of the weather but she knew that they were not directed at her.

Suddenly, the air around her betrayed the scent of blood. Blood is a powerful odour and dragons are keen to pick up this scent. Her nostrils flared, hauling in more of the tiny particles, trying to determine their source. Swinging her head around to the right, to where the smell of blood seemed strongest, she caught sight of a glimmering in the night. The glinting was close to her and then, stretching her neck further around, her nostrils seeking the scents in the air, she halted as her eyes discerned the source of the shining. The ‘glinting’ was attached to the top of a rain-battered spear and the spear was held in the hand of a human.

Staring at the distinct outline of the human, she could smell him strong and was perplexed to see that he never moved. The rain was careering over his naked torso and dim light, from the faraway torches, cast radiance upon the contours of his chest and face.

The human’s lack of movement initially surprised her. ‘Why had the creature not shouted, thrown its spear or ran shrieking into the darkness around it?’ she asked herself, even as she realised that the human could do none of these things because the human was dead. He was standing, and he was dead, but he was only standing because her bulk had landed and, by accident and not design, she had pinned the human against one of the mighty trees that she had landed between. The evil human had been caught by her immense bulk as she had slammed into the ground, mortally devastating the spear carrying human against the tree trunk; crushing him before he could shout or throw his spear and before he had a chance to allow his miserable life to flash past before his eyes.

Moving her bulk away from the tree, the human remained standing for a moment before slowly toppling over and falling down upon the soil, becoming completely lost from view by the swampy darkness that hugged the ground.

‘My treasure!’ As if coming out of a daze, she suddenly turned, crushing plants and bushes and then, crouching low, and keeping her neck low, she moved back out in the clearing and began moving back toward her treasure. An arrow bounced from her face, just behind her eye and she knew she had been lucky. Then, swinging her head in the direction that the arrow had appeared to come from, she raised her head, throttling the back of her throat, charging up a fireball and then, with savage passion, she spat.

A huge fireball, larger than she wanted – for she had to conserve her fireballs – went hurtling into the trees. She saw the flame’s core bounce upon the bark of a tree, momentarily illuminating it, and then watched it bounce from another tree before finally falling to rest upon the floor, where it continued to burn, causing an orange glow to appear on the ground.

It also caused anger in Grafee Gendusfraune for she had wasted a great amount of fire material in that missile. ‘I have wasted material that I can ill afford to squander!’ she cursed.

Letting out a deep sigh, a sigh whose grief was lost within the dark and rain battered night, she began to doubt that she would be able to protect her treasure. It was a depressing thought that came to her mind as she began to consider the possibility that she would not be able to destroy this band of humans. She did not feel sorry for herself, because she knew that she would die well and that was the way of dragons. No, she was sorry for the life that she had not been able to protect as a mother should. Her treasure was the most important thing in her life and she felt so let down by her efforts in protecting the young life that was treasure. ‘Perhaps my treasure is already lost to me. Perhaps the damage to the shell had been enough to destroy the tiny life within, and perhaps I have wasted all my effort for nothing. Perhaps my treasure has already been stolen from me by grim death himself?’ she told herself, hating to hear herself even considering such a possibility.

Shaking her head, causing small waves of rainwater to shoot away and be lost amongst the tumultuous downpour that reigned around her, unwanted thoughts were invading her mind as it began to fall prey to onslaught of helplessness. ‘Perhaps I do not deserve my treasure if I can be wild and wasteful in my use of my limited amount of fireballs. They are my only real protection right now and the only thing that could defend my treasure, it is stupid of me to waste even one of them.’ Disgust at herself was not something that would help her right now and she needed some way of generating hope within herself.

‘No, wait! It has not been a waste!’ There, silhouetted against the orange glow of her fireball, she now saw the figure of another human. The human was crouching low and moving rapidly away from the glowing embers. His concealment discovered, the human was fleeing fast from the presence of the DragonFlame and the light that it gave out.

Suddenly, the fleeting shadow was gone and, as she stood gazing harder into the inky blackness, a spear loomed in the night sky and, in turning her head to protect her eyes, the spear caught a glancing blow upon some of the soft skin beneath her jaw. She screamed in pain! Another spear collided with her side but this spear bounced harmlessly from her armoured skin and was lost somewhere upon the muddy floor.

‘The humans are getting closer, and braver.’ Shaking her head, she was trying to shake the pain out of her jaw as another arrow slammed into her neck and was caught tight between her scales, though not penetrating far enough to break her skin beneath.

She could see the glows of the human torches burning brighter in the forest and she knew the humans were becoming more confident. ‘They are moving nearer to me. They must be feeling confident that the end is near.’

Humans were specialists in killing and had literally made it an art form that no other creature on the planet was able to mimic. They had her demise in sight, and these deadly artists were coming in to paint her a portrait of peace; a resting peace.

Using a huge claw, and scraping the area of penetration by the arrow, she felt a twinge of sharp pain as the arrow came away, although she could not be sure that she had removed the arrowhead itself. If the arrowhead had been poison-tipped, then she would know in a short time. She could only hope that was not the case.

Feeling low and miserable, she turned her head to gaze in the direction of her treasure, waiting a moment before a lightning flash lit up the area enough for her to see clearly. Her treasure lay almost completely wrapped within the body of the fawn and, for a moment, pity went out to not just to her treasure but to the fawn. The fawn’s body shook mightily with the cold and rain and she thought to herself, ‘Just as my treasure deserves her mother, so too does the fawn deserve its own mother.’

Anger flared in her nostrils and throat, and Grafee Gendusfraune let rip a huge piercing scream that roared into the night, almost pushing a wave that drove back the rain and shook the branches of nearby trees Without planning it, she had uttered a war cry. Her treasure needed protection but no longer would ‘Grafee Gendusfraune’ try to defend her treasure with defence; instead, she would ‘defend’ with attack.

Somehow, the presence of the fawn, almost completely concealing her treasure, made her feel that her treasure had at least some protection and that, though small, it would be enough to allow her a little rope with which she could manoeuvre and face the oncoming humans. She had no choice but to leave her treasure buried in the rain soaked body of the fawn while she took this battle out to the humans instead of standing in the clearing, waiting for the humans to drive home a lucky arrow shot that would take her down.

Arrows were flying closer to her face and she knew that there were many others but, because of the weather and night, she could neither hear them nor see them.

Her neck was suddenly lunging forwards and upwards, screaming a second war cry from deep within her throat and she knew, even if the marauding humans did not, that this was the war cry of one who is going into a final battle unsure if they would survive. She was now entering into a battle with no thought for their own safety, merely the desire to destroy as many enemies as possible before their own demise and, if fate fell kindly upon her, then she would survive and so would her treasure.

Sinews were tightening and releasing throughout her body, and then Grafee Gendusfraune was once again launching herself into the air, her great wings remaining folded close to her body, her forelegs stretching out and her claws seeking purchase on anything that belonged to her ancient enemy.

Landing with a huge crashing and crunching sound, which was comprised of her crushing saplings, branches, and other fauna, she was disappointed not to hear the sound of a dying human. She had hoped that where she landed she would have crushed another of her enemy.

Detecting no spears or arrows coming toward her, for such had been her sudden burst of speed, she suddenly realised, ‘It will be hard for the humans to attack me if I were amongst the trees, as the trees themselves would be an obstacle for the humans. Why had I never thought of that before? Why had I openly stood in a clearing and defended myself while the humans hid in the cover of the trees and bushes? Why have I always attacked from the sky? Especially when it was only myself that was visible to my enemy, while my enemy hid, concealed, fighting from behind the relative safety of objects upon the ground?’

Taking heart because of a newly self-discovered tactical advantage, Grafee Gendusfraune’s spirits felt a little uplifted and, as the voices of the humans could be heard calling around her, she chose the direction of the ones that were nearest and suddenly leapt in that direction. Her leap was high and, of the thick branches that intruded upon her flight, these merely snapped against her bulk, only slightly slowing her attacking leap. Her leap was powerful and long.

Crashing down through surrendering branches and twigs, slamming her bulk onto the ground itself and using every piece of light available around her – the torches of the humans and the lightning in the sky – she swung her head trying to locate just one of her enemy. She saw nothing save the wet trunks of trees, and the dark outlines of many bushes, plants, and distant trees. She could see no shapes that would suggest the presence of her enemy, the humans. Within the confines of the few mighty trees around her, she twisted her body and when she saw a large gap appearing between a number of giant tree trunks, she leapt once again.

As her bulk was heaving through the air, she could hear the shouts of humans and she could tell that she was somewhere amongst a group of them. Landing, her clawed feet seeking purchase in the mud and leaves that littered the floor, she was sure that her arrival amidst the humans had not gone un-noticed; not even with the weather battering the land in the way that it was.

Raising her head high, sweeping it to her left she saw, contained within a single lightning flash, a movement. Catching the sight of a human leaping behind the cover of a young tree, she knew that they would be preparing an arrow to fire or a spear to throw.

Immediately lowering her chest to the floor, she began swinging her huge scaled tail away from the direction of the human and then, spring-like, she began swinging it back. Keeping her tail low to the ground, ensuring that it carried within its wake the bushes, branches and small trees that were in its path, she drove them toward the tree that the human ‘treasure killer’ had hidden behind. The forest debris began colliding with, and around, the tree trunk, sending the human shape stumbling around the far side of the tree, faltering into clear view of the dragon and no longer hidden by dark night or woodland shadow.

Twisting her body almost completely around to face the human, ensuring that she did not lose sight of the human in the dark night, she continued sweeping her long neck to carry her head further than her torso, leaving her suddenly confronted by the evil features of the human as a lightning bolt lit up the sky, illuminating the rain, the nearby trees, and the fear in the humans eyes.

The human was looking up into the face of the beast that stood before him - the beast that he had tried to kill - and he never knew that this dragon’s face would be the last thing that he ever saw.

Letting rip a fireball, she sent it shooting toward the human, watching it smashing clean into the face of the human, sending him toppling backwards, forgetting his weapon as his hands tried to rip at the molten magma-like substance that clung to his face. The human could not even scream as he slammed into the ground, writhing in agony.

Choosing that instant to leap once more, Grafee went careering through the trees, eager in her pursuit of human prey, leaving the dying human behind her as she sought out more of his kind. ‘They will be sorry that they had even thought of trying to take my treasure,’ she promised herself as, now free of simply defending her treasure she was now able to go out in pursuit of victory for her treasure.

Her leap brought her close to where some humans had set up a small camp and from the glare of their own fire she began searching the slightly illuminated trees and bushes that were nearest to her. Her own luck was in and it was obvious that the human who was trying to unload waste from his bowels behind a tree did not believe that his own luck was with him.

Running swiftly forward, she raced right up to the human and then, in the dim light, she witnessed the fear he felt. Raising a huge clawed forelimb, Grafee swept her limb through the air bringing it back towards the earth and, in its journey, it tore the human almost clean in two. Both rancid portions of his body fell to the forest floor.

With senses tingling, Grafee spun around and was confronted by three more humans; they all held spears, long and keenly pointed spears that had a sole purpose of finding their way between a dragons scales and piercing its flesh.

Roaring in defiance, she knew that these three knew that she could only attack one at a time and, whilst one would most certainly be prey, each of the other two would have a chance to use their keen spears with utmost efficiency. The humans were each gambling that the dragon would not attack them but would attack one of the others instead. Grafee knew this because she knew their plan. It was an old and tired plan that the humans used, however, in the right circumstances it was still highly efficient.

Unsure of which one to attack first, she readied a fireball; furiously trying to determine which of the three humans was the closest. They had moved away from the shelter of large trees, making sure that they would be able to get clear shots at her. They were also spread out, ensuring that she could not hurl a giant fireball that could attack the three of them at once.

She saw them readying their weapons and knew that she must act quickly. Without hesitation, and trusting to a new idea, she leapt forward, spitting a fireball, and another, and another. The three fireballs were sent hurling whilst turning her head, passing her eyes across each of the three humans. They were only small fireballs, but she knew that the humans would still try to avoid their touch.

The humans began leaping to safety, trying to avoid their burning touch and, whilst they were occupied, she landed between two of the humans, turning immediately to face one whilst her tail cut through the night behind her, seeking purchase upon the one who was to her rear.

She could not be sure that she made contact with the body of the one in the wake of her but, as she stood face to face with the one before her, she leapt again, a short leap, but a high leap. Leaping briefly through the air, she was quickly descending back to earth with a suddenness that ensured the human did not have chance to run as the bulk of the great beast landed squarely upon him.

She did not feel the body of the human challenge the bulk of her body, but she was sure that the human had not escaped and that it must surely be dead. She agitated her throat, preparing fireballs, for she knew that another human remained close by.

Through rain-filled vision, she saw the racing outline of the remaining human as it tore savagely through the bushes, heading away from her and its two fallen comrades. She snorted in contempt at the retreating human figure, for that was not the way a dragon would fight.

Holding her jaws firmly closed, lest any light be cast from her throat, she began searching the trees around her for any sign of another human attack. She could perceive none. Slowly, lifting her neck, and inhaling deeply though her nostrils, she began looking for a particular scent and, ignoring the smell of humans and human blood, she perceived the scent of her treasure. The weather was making it difficult for her to calculate the direction to her treasure but slowly, with much head movement, she determined the approximate route in which her treasure lay.

Turning her bulk toward her left, until she was almost facing in the opposite direction and satisfied that she was now facing in the general direction of her treasure, her bulk slowly and cautiously began moving forward, her eyes and nostrils fighting against the rain, searching for any signs of the humans. It would not serve her well to be caught upon the ground, flanked by masses of humans and their spears, but she was almost sure that the majority of the humans were either dead, or in retreat. She had killed a number of them when she had first attacked the human band when they were in their wagons, transporting her treasure to some unknown destination for some evil human purpose. She had estimated only ten or so humans remained fit enough to have pursued her, and she had slain a few in this forest. She was sure that the remainder would flee; however, caution was still at the forefront of her mind.

Stalking forward, ever cautious, every ready, her mouth almost boiling with the fireballs being readied in her throat, she was ensuring that she was prepared for encountering any humans which were still hidden in the forest nearby. A faint shout of a human voice drifted through the sound of the downpour and Grafee halted, trying to determine where the voice had come from and how distant it was. Satisfied that the voice was distant enough, she began to move forward again, her speed slightly increasing as she became urgent in her need to return to her treasure.

Small trees and bushes were effortlessly pushed aside and sent crashing to the forest floor as she made her journey back to her treasure; the noise of their destruction lost amidst the chaotic and furious downpour, and only glimpsed amidst the occasional lightning flash.

Halting abruptly, her nostrils tasting the air, gathering her bearings, ensuring that she was still heading in the right direction, she caught a strong scent of her treasure, confirming her heading to be true. Immediately, she lurched forward again, her head swaying from side to side, her eyes searching for any signs of hiding humans and, although she could not determine any human shapes in the vicinity that she scanned, she knew that it did not mean that they were not there.

Then, a sudden strange sound came upon Grafee’s ears. It was a sound she had not heard before and, pulling herself to a halt, sliding a little in the mud of the forest floor, she strained her ears to listen for the sound to be repeated, waiting for it to reveal its signature; to give her information on how dangerous ‘whatever had made that sound was.’ There was only silence, save for the battering rain and so, with a cautious glance around, she began moving forward again and, almost immediately, the sound came again. This time she heard it clear, and this time she recognised it for what it was. It was the bleat of a small mammal, a cry of pain.

From the direction that it came, Grafee knew it must be the fawn, ‘But what has made it call out in fear and pain?’ she wondered, with panic crawling into her mind. ‘Humans!’

The thought struck her like the lightning striking the lands around her and, with no plan, she tightened her muscles and launched herself high into the air, her wings remaining tightly folded to her sides, as she forced a path through the immediate treetops, destroying branches and shaking fruit from their stations. She was on a flight path to a rendezvous that was bound to be terminal for either man or beast but she cared not for any doubt that she may have nursed deep inside her; she only cared for the humans, and for any breathes which they may still be breathing.

Descending downward, ripping foliage asunder, mangling and twisting branches, small trees and bushes beneath her mass, the final few feet of her forward motion brought her partly out of the trees and into the dark, rain-sodden, clearing that she had left only a little time ago.

Standing completely still, her head moving slightly from side to side, she was trying to get a clearer view of what was in the darkness before her. She knew this place had a human presence but she did not know where the human was exactly, or how many of them there were. And what of her treasure? ‘Is my treasure safe? Is it intact?’

For the first time this night she thanked the atrocious weather, for she hoped that the relentless battering of rain might have helped conceal her passage through the foliage, and her sudden arrival at the edge of the clearing.

Mother Nature herself suddenly came to Grafee’s aid as a huge bolt of lightning ripped through the sky; striking the forest almost ‘twenty’ body lengths away from her and illuminating the scene before her.

As pieces of burning wood floated down around her, she glared at the human figure before her. There was only one human and he was in the process of leaning forward, dragging the fawn by one of its rear legs, pulling it away from the dragon’s egg that he was keen to obtain.

With a sudden ripping, yank he hauled hard upon the fawn, surly breaking its leg, and made a step forward to grab the dragon egg. Lifting his head, the human was suddenly confronted by a dark presence somewhere near him. Then, as if trying to aid him in his need to see what was there, another bolt of lightning wretched through the night sky, driving itself deep into the very ground itself, it seemed; for so strong were the vibrations that could be felt through the floor of the forest.

The human clearly saw the huge bulk of the dragon across the clearing and his eyes began hastily looking around him, making hasty calculations of his chances of retrieving the dragon egg and then running back into the cover of the forest.

Grafee moved slowly forward, manoeuvring the remainder of her bulk completely out into the clearing. Lightning struck a little way off and, as the light from it dissipated, another bolt of lightning struck a tree on the edge of the clearing. The bolt of lightning struck the tree so hard and deep that the wood erupted into violent flame, playing the role that the moon may have done on such a night as this if cloud cover had not been so complete within the sky.

In the dim light, she could make out her treasure and she also saw the pitiful struggle of the young fawn as it hobbled, almost collapsing, trying to get back toward the dragon egg for whatever comfort that the dragon egg gave it. Lashing out at the fawn, the human sent the fawn tumbling to the side and, as he made to pick up the egg, Grafee uttered a mighty roar; a roar as loud as the thunder that had accompanied the lightning strikes. The human froze, obviously fearful now for his own safety and unsure that he would be able to escape back into the cover of the forest.

In the time that Grafee had landed, she had been surveying the trees around the clearing as much as possible, trying to determine if the humans had laid a trap for her and, she had wondered, ‘Were there humans hidden with keen spears, ready to drive them deep into my armour; ready to destroy me and take my treasure?’ In all of the lightning flashes she had seen no telltale outline of a human, nor any sign of a glint upon metal when the lightning had tore its way through the night sky. She was sure that this human was alone; making a cowardly attack, trying to race in and make off with her treasure before she returned.

Moving a whole body length closer toward the human and, in the light cast from the burning tree, she saw him turn his head and look toward the closest edge of the clearing which could offer him some cover. Turning his head forward again, glancing at the dragon, he had made his decision. Lunging forward to grab the egg, once again pushing the bleating fawn out of his way, the human had decided that his chances of escape were good.

Suddenly racing forward, her movement caught the attention of the human as he stood upright and then, seeing the speed attained by the rapidly moving dragon, he stopped still, surrendering all movement to paralysing stillness. He froze in horror, his legs paralysed by the enormous bulk of the dragon rearing up in front of him.

Grafee had stopped so that her outstretched neck left her face-to-face and mere inches from the face of the human and, from the sudden stench that rushed from the human, she could tell that his bowels were suddenly vacant. The human remained standing there, unmoving, his eyes meeting the eyes of the dragon before him and, in the light cast from the burning tree, Grafee saw no movement upon the features of the human, except that of the thing which humans called their ‘Adam’s apple,’ as it moved slowly up and down upon his neck. She stared for a moment, watching the rain race down the neck of the human as it made its inevitable way to the ground.

Slowly, the human leant forward and delicately placed the dragon’s egg back upon the floor, the fear of the human pouring into the wet air around him. Taking a step backwards, clearly showing his intentions to leave the dragon’s egg, the human eyes began moving from the dragon’s eyes and the edge of the clearing to his right, which was the closest cover to him.

Grafee chose, at that moment, to show her own intentions. She opened her huge jaws, and the ‘molten moths’ that had been concealed there, took flight. The human turned to run knowing that he had nowhere to run. Grafee was so close to the human, her fireball was so large that, when it struck the human it did not knock him over as she had expected. Instead, it burnt his head cleanly away, evaporating all the evil, vile thoughts that it had ever contained. The headless body continued running forward for about two yards before toppling over in silence. The human’s dirty hands were clutching at the floor for no particular reason as the top of his torso began to burn from the residue of her fire-shot.

Another movement caught Grafee’s attention and then, swinging her head down, she saw the fawn collapse beside her treasure. The behaviour of the fawn puzzled Grafee immensely. The fawn was in great danger and surely instinct would have told it that? Instinct should have made it run away. ‘Why has the beast not attempted to escape? It has surely had plenty of opportunities to do so.’

She began moving her head toward her treasure and, in the light that was cast from the burning human and a nearby tree, she tried to determine if the egg had been subject to any further damage. The fawn obscured her view and, using her snout, she began nudging the fawn to one side. The fawn struggled, bleating, resisting as one who had no strength to resist.

Human voices came cascading through the forest, sending messages back and forth between each other, and Grafee could tell that there were now many voices and that they were heading in her direction. She was not sure she could keep her treasure safe and face the humans at the same time for, by the calling that she could hear, there appeared to be far more humans than she had originally believed there to be. ‘More humans must have joined with this band I fight.’ She would have to act quickly if she were to save her treasure.

Lowering a fierce, sharp claw, she wrapped that claw around the complaining body of the fawn; subconsciously making sure her claws surrounded and did not pierce the fawn’s weak body. The fawn was pulled away from the egg; bleating its anger, though it was very weak and in pain and was almost completely drained of life. Then, shifting her weight on to her hind legs, she used her free fore-claw to grasp the mud-covered egg. As gently as she could, she raised the egg upward, concerned that it could fall from her grasp.

The sounds of the approaching humans informed her that they were very close and that they were not afraid to face the beast. She knew that they had faith in their number and could only assume that the original band of humans had secured fresh recruits. These recruits had now arrived; full of determination, full of bloodlust.

Extending her wings she began to beat the air around her. It would not be good for her to leap into the air, as there would be a chance that the egg could fall from her grasp. Instead, she would have to raise a beat with her wings that was enough to lift her from the ground. Intensifying her wing beats, raising herself higher upon her hind legs, holding her treasure as fondly and as securely, as she could, Grafee began to use as much strength and energy as she could raise to help lift her from the ground.

Human voices were erupting behind her, clearly audible through the downpour, and now she had no choice, she pushed with her hind legs, forcing her bulk into the air, praying that her wing beats would be enough to hold her there. The torrential rain battered her body, almost driving her back down to the ground, yet Grafee kept pushing her muscles, commanding her body to defy the force of gravity. Struggling to keep herself airborne, her muscles slowly began to win the battle and begin raising her higher and higher above the clearing floor, eventually attaining treetop level. However, Grafee had no forward momentum; the humans who ran into the clearing would have an easy target and a single unlucky shot could end her endeavour. Beating her wings faster, her wings only half outstretched, she trying to get her wing-skin to billow and lift her body out of arrow and spear shot.

Suddenly, arrows began bouncing and smacking upon her armour as she continued extending her wings, trying to induce forward momentum and then, slowly, her bulk began to move forward. The shouting below her became harsher and angrier, and still the arrows came. Moreover, with one of the arrows, there came an intense pain as the arrow pierced the soft underside of one of her fore-claws. Screaming in pain, and with her wings almost buckling, almost allowing her to plummet back toward the earth, she ignored the pain and began pumping her wing muscles harder than she had ever done before. Clawing at the raging winds around her, she fought her way a little higher into the dark and rain-battered sky.

As the initial pain receded in her fore-claw she was relieved, she realised, that the arrow had not pierced the claw that held her treasure; instead, she realised, the arrow had pierced the fawn, pinning the young beast to her limb.

Then, suddenly stretching her wings, pushing them mightily, her forward speed began to increase and then, within moments that seemed to last forever, she knew that she was away from the clearing, out of arrow-shot and moving ever faster away from the evil humans. With her speed increasing, so too was her anger for the humans and so, with no thought for what she was doing, she banked to one side and came around in a tight arc. The burning tree upon the ground gave her a position of where the humans where and her throat throttled, preparing fireballs; fireballs to hurl at the humans as she savagely tore through the violent air, racing back toward the clearing.

Swooping lower as she saw the clearing approach, she held her wings extended and unmoving, save for the natural twitches she used to control her flight. She was gliding silently above the canopy of the forest, fast approaching the clearing and, as she burst upon the open space of the clearing, she spied a large group of humans – too many for her to have fought against she now knew for sure – and then, turning her head directly toward the largest group of them, she prepared to deal out some measure of revenge.

Something made one of the humans look up and suddenly the humans began to scatter, trying to ready weapons, trying to make sure they took another shot at the prize they thought had slipped from their grasp.

Turning her head to the tightest grouping of humans, she opened her jaws and spat forth as big a fireball as she could, watching it fly through the night sky, burning, shimmering, moving forward as at a deadly pace. The huge fireball slammed into the ground, showering magma around and, as Grafee beat her wings faster, banking to the right, she was sure that a number of the humans had been burnt at least, if not killed.

Angling her flight and rising a little higher into the sky, she began moving away from the clearing and out over the canopy of the forest and the protection that it offered from the spears and arrows of the humans.

In her wind-battered flight, in which she clutched tenderly and yet firmly to her treasure, she became wary that she too could become a victim of a lightning strike; just as the trees had fallen victim. However, she had no choice but to fly in this atrocious weather, she had to get far away from these malevolent humans; and the cover of darkness, and a storm such as this, would be the perfect cover. There would be little chance of human eyes mapping her progress and conspiring to arrange a pursuit.

Looking downwards she could see the egg that she carried, her treasure, and she was pleased to know that it was safe. She also saw the limp body of the fawn in her other claw and, for a moment, she considered opening her claw and allowing the fawn to fall back to earth.

Further down below her, she saw the glinting on the River of Zahir and knew that she was leaving the Forests of Kistrark behind - heading northwards - and that, once beyond the river, she would soon be over the Forests of Lavenseer.

The Forests of Lavenseer were poisonous in their plant life and soil, and very little lived there. She would have to head beyond there, out into the Bad Lands, and hope that she