In my experience I knew not to underestimate nature. In fact, underestimating any feature of nature is the quickest path to one’s demise, yet I failed to comprehend why anyone should have trouble on this mountain. For most of the way up its slope was shallow, its wildlife flourishing, and a natural stream meandered down its path. I had all the food and water that I could ask for, and the trip was rather easy. I began to grow disappointed. I had chosen this mountain specifically because it had was rumored that no one had ever reached the peak, and I intended to be the first. Of course it wouldn’t mean anything to me if it were easy. I climbed for a challenge, but it seemed as though this would be no harder than any before it. I continued up quite quickly. It only took a two days to get high enough that the air seemed to thin. Yet that was the least of my troubles. Over the night a horrible storm had started to form above me. The dark gloomy clouds spiraled around the peak of the mountain and the sky surrounding had gone dark. There would be an impressive downpour soon enough, perhaps that might make this trip challenging after all. I filled my leather wine-skin with water from the river then set course further west of it. Should the storm be strong enough the river would become a dangerous torrent which could sweep away all but the mightiest of creatures. Once far enough away, the land flattened and led into a sheer drop. Perhaps this is where the challenge lay, the huge cliff face seemed to have no end other than the river, and from there it would be difficult to climb especially with this storm. I set up camp just under the cliff, set a small fire, and went to bed.
The true troubles of the trip began when I woke up, the dark clouds had begun to drop plentiful amounts of rain, which stampeded down the mountain side. The water had long since drowned my fire had woken me when it seeped into the cliff face alcove. Above me water was flowing fast enough over the edge of the cliff, that by the time it had touched the ground, it was a few feet beyond my campsite at its base. However, this trapped me here, as getting caught in the torrent would surely pull me all the way back to the base of the mountain, and more than likely drown me in the process. This rain seemed impossible, but even still it was the least of my worries. As I looked through the breaks through the surges of water above I saw I had never seen nor hoped to see before. There above me flew a dragon, circling the edge of the mountain and swirling around through the violent winds and rains. If I didn’t get out soon surely the beast would spot me. I reasoned that the dragon must be why no one had ever made it to the peak before, and suddenly I had lost all interest too. I was at a loss for what to do, the violent surges of water trapped me from leaving the base of the cliff, but If the dragon spotted me, then I would be just as dead, as if I had slept away from the cliff last night. My thoughts were interrupted as I saw the silver colored beast in the moonlit sky change course suddenly and dive down to the mountainous body. It saw me, I knew it had. It landed a few paces away just beneath the flow of the make shift waterfall. Its head stuck through the wall broken wall of water and looked directly at me. “There you are.” A loud deep, yet feminine voice came. It paced towards me and all I could do was run. The waterfall formed an almost tunnel, which I ran down as fast as my legs could carry me. “Wait! Stop running!” the dragon called out behind me. As if I would listen to it, I continued my sprint holding close to the cliff wall. “You are making this difficult! Stop running!” it called once more. I looked back to see it crawling towards me at alarming speeds. The cliff side held its larger body back, and the torrent of water slowed it down, but it wasn’t enough. The drake was still gaining on me. I looked forward again. The river was ahead. Much wider and faster, now pushing whole trees down in its destructive force. To my left a cliff walls, to my front an impossibly powerful river, to my right a wall of water, and behind me a dragon who finally slowed and looked at me as if taunting me that I was trapped. “Be gone, beast. I have no quarrel with you.” I cried. It turned its head and drew closer. “Then why did you run?” It said, showing a sharp row of teeth in her silver tinted mouth. I was practically pinned against the wall when I made my decision. I decided that I would rather risk death in the river than face this monster, and so I lept away into the rushing water. Almost immediately I was pulled away, with more speed than I could ever hope to run and spun around as if I had been top. I had no bearings, but with every revolution I saw the dragon getting closer and closer. I had hoped to escape into the night, but it was still after me. “You utter moron” it exclaimed. My heart was racing and the drake was approaching, when the river current threw me into something, and I blacked out.
When I came too, I was really warm, no not just warm hot. When I opened my eyes beside me I saw a sapphire blue flame. I backed away instantly and attempted to inspect the area. Around me were cavern walls, and an opening to the outside. The storm still raged with all of its ferocity, but what little water made it inside was quickly caught by several V-shaped gashes in the ground and focused into longer gashes leading down into the cavern.
“Oh good your awake, I wasn’t sure if you were dead or not. A human heart beat is much too small for me to feel.” Came the draconic voice.
Oh no, even after everything it still had him.
“You are still afraid aren’t you? Little one. You think me a monster don’t you?” It said, stepping forward slightly into the blue light of its sapphire flame.
“You have d-done nothing to make me think any different.” I replied weakly.
Though I was no master in the interpretation of dragon expressions, I am fairly sure that the look on her face was one of offense.
“First off little one, what do you call rescuing you from a raging storm, and giving you shelter, and secondly, why should I have to do anything to prove I am no monster in the first place. It was you who ran like a crazy person when I came to help. Now which one of us seems more uncivilized?”
The dragon must be toying with me, it came to eat me had it not, but as I looked at it more carefully, I realized that had it wanted to eat me, it could have done so long ago.
“I thought you were hunting me. I ran in fear for my life, but you mean to tell me you never intended to hurt me.” I asked confused
“Little one, If I intended to hurt you, you would have been burnt to a crisp before I came anywhere near you.” It said, and then breathed a tiny speck of sapphire blue fire just like the flame sitting next to me.
“That’s reassuring.” I retorted
“You humans are stubborn. You are so tiny yet, your desire to adhere to your false pretenses exceeds even me.” The drake said
“We humans aren’t tiny, we’re normal. You’re just huge.” I replied
The dragon raised a scaly eyebrow, “now little one, is that any way to talk to a lady?” she asked crawling forward to purposely be intimidating this time.
I realized what I had said and how even a human woman would have been offended, and I had just said it to a woman who was large enough to fit three of me in her mouth at once. “I am sorry I didn’t mean to say, I d-didn’t intend to insult you.”
She merely laughed. “Don’t worry, I sincerely doubt you could do anything, that would really make me mad.” She stayed silent for a moment. Then began again “Little one, you do understand I am not going to hurt you? I brought you here to recover after the storm.”
“Why do you keep calling me little one, I have a name, its Garen.” I responded dodging her question. I didn’t know what to believe.
“I have a name too, but it didn’t stop you from calling me beast.” I flushed slightly as she said this. I was just as in the wrong as her in that remark. “My name is Silvia,” she said, “my mother named me for the color of my scales.” She said this and turned around in the cave, giving me a good view of her scaly body. Sure enough she was all silver except for the white membranes of her wings, the skin of her mouth, and her yellow eyes with black iris’s seemingly cutting down them.
Silvia was actually a beautiful creature once I got over the initial terror. “Well Silvia, it is nice to meet you and all, but why did you come after me in the first place? How did you know I was even on the mountain?”
She grinned slightly, displaying a few of her sharp teeth. “Not all humans accept me so easily. In fact, most humans that climb this mountain are here for me. The village people think my scales are actually made of silver, and that they’d be rich if they had them. Others see me as a threat to them, and seek to get rid of me. Either way more often than not any humans up here are here for me.”
I thought she was done talking and went to ask her my question again as it seemed she had avoided it, but then she resumed. “They were right that I was a threat, but only should I be provoked. I was peaceful to them, but they tried to kill me. One day a wizard came to the village and learned of my predicament. He made it a point to come up to me. He offered a way to keep the humans off of my mountain and away from me. I accepted. He conjured a charm, so that any human who came up to the mountain would trigger a large storm, like the one outside.”
“So you found me because of the storm?” I asked.
“I found you because I looked for you, I just knew there was a human on the mountain because of the storm. For a while when storms came, I realized it was just some human trying to get to me again and I paid it no attention. Eventually the villagers stopped coming up. Then a few years later there was a large drought, and someone had figured out that climbing the mountain summoned the storm. So he assembled a team and they started climbing. I happened to be out hunting when it happened. I came back to find most of them had died in the storm, only 3 of them lived, and so I grabbed them carried them back to the village and then flew back into my home. I realized then my request of the wizard led to the death of any villager who climbed the mountain not just those trying to hurt me. The humans decided they liked the ability to call upon rain when they wanted and continued to send people up anytime they wanted rain. While the humans disliked me, I don’t dislike humans. I would fly out and save them from the storm that they got themselves into, the village would benefit and I would be clear of conscience for having saved them. The practice eventually died out, but I still go out to save anyone who happens to climb and get caught in the storm.”
“Why didn’t you take me to the village then, like you did with the others?” I asked Silvia.
“The humans stopped making expeditions to hunt me, but quickly realized that every time they sent a group to the mountain, I would show up carrying a few of their people back. They figured that I was more valuable dead than alive and set up an ambush to slay me when I brought back people from their latest storm calling. I decided I wouldn’t go back to the village anymore after that. I still have a scar from one of their spears.” She turned her back towards me and pointed at a mark on her hind leg, a small scar in the shape of an X that appeared on both sides.
“So what do you do with us now?” I asked still worried for my own fate.
She caught onto the concern. “I’m sorry, I only now realized why you asked the question, I have a habit of storytelling. Like I said, you don’t need to worry about being hurt. I will keep you here until you are ready to leave, then I will drop you off on the side of the mountain away from the villagers. I always change sides now so they don’t know where I will be when I land.”
“Could you take me now, I have no wish to continue climbing this mountain, and would prefer to get home as soon as possible,” I asked wanting to remove myself from this situation.
“Oh Garen, at least wait for the storm to stop. It only starts when one climbs up, and can subside even with you here,” She said.
I turned back to see the storm again. She claimed it would end, but it seemed to have no indication of slowing down. In fact, the rain seemed stronger than it was when he had first encountered Silvia.
“Do you swear that as soon as the storm ends you will take me back to the mountain base, unharmed?” I asked
“Why is it so hard for you to believe I bear no ill will. Yes of course, As soon as the storm ends I can take you back.” She replied.
“Will take me back, I know you can, but swear that you will,” I continued.
“Very well, I will return you to the base of the mountain unharmed, if you still desire to, when the storm has ended. Happy?” She asked with slight annoyance.
“Silvia, why do you think that I would not choose to return?” I asked
“What do you mean?” she responded
“I mean you said if I still desire to leave. Why wouldn’t I?” I asked. Immediately afterwards I realized, she was lonely.
“Well I was hoping that you would be comfortable enough around me that you wouldn’t mind staying, but I can tell that you want to be away from me as soon as possible,” She said sadly. She began to slink away, retreating into the shadows.
I may not have been able to make her angry, but I did most certainly upset her. She had honestly hoped to befriend me before I left, and my incessant questions made her think I hated her.
“That is not true,” I said, “I don’t want to stay because I have no reason to, not because I have reason not to. I don’t mean you any disrespect. I just can’t stay.”
She looked me over again. Her head craned downwards to be level with me or at least as level as she could get before the ground got in the way. Her head alone was still almost double my height.
“You know; you aren’t the first right. I have saved seven lone travelers in the last decade, and every one of them left as soon as they were able too. I would like to believe that you aren’t repelled by me, but your reaction at the cliff side and the tendency of humans to leave me as soon as they get the chance tells me the opposite. No matter how much I try, humans are just afraid of me,” she said.
She was right, I was scared terrified even, but she also saved my life, and now was upset because of me. So I made my decision, “I told you, I was going to leave because I have no reason to be here, but I changed my mind.” Her silver scales sagged in even more disappointment as she feared I would admit she was right, but instead I spoke what she wanted to hear. “I have a reason to stay now, to prove to you that a human can like you.”
I think that did it, she cracked her toothy smile again. “Thank you Garen. For being a friend.”
The true troubles of the trip began when I woke up, the dark clouds had begun to drop plentiful amounts of rain, which stampeded down the mountain side. The water had long since drowned my fire had woken me when it seeped into the cliff face alcove. Above me water was flowing fast enough over the edge of the cliff, that by the time it had touched the ground, it was a few feet beyond my campsite at its base. However, this trapped me here, as getting caught in the torrent would surely pull me all the way back to the base of the mountain, and more than likely drown me in the process. This rain seemed impossible, but even still it was the least of my worries. As I looked through the breaks through the surges of water above I saw I had never seen nor hoped to see before. There above me flew a dragon, circling the edge of the mountain and swirling around through the violent winds and rains. If I didn’t get out soon surely the beast would spot me. I reasoned that the dragon must be why no one had ever made it to the peak before, and suddenly I had lost all interest too. I was at a loss for what to do, the violent surges of water trapped me from leaving the base of the cliff, but If the dragon spotted me, then I would be just as dead, as if I had slept away from the cliff last night. My thoughts were interrupted as I saw the silver colored beast in the moonlit sky change course suddenly and dive down to the mountainous body. It saw me, I knew it had. It landed a few paces away just beneath the flow of the make shift waterfall. Its head stuck through the wall broken wall of water and looked directly at me. “There you are.” A loud deep, yet feminine voice came. It paced towards me and all I could do was run. The waterfall formed an almost tunnel, which I ran down as fast as my legs could carry me. “Wait! Stop running!” the dragon called out behind me. As if I would listen to it, I continued my sprint holding close to the cliff wall. “You are making this difficult! Stop running!” it called once more. I looked back to see it crawling towards me at alarming speeds. The cliff side held its larger body back, and the torrent of water slowed it down, but it wasn’t enough. The drake was still gaining on me. I looked forward again. The river was ahead. Much wider and faster, now pushing whole trees down in its destructive force. To my left a cliff walls, to my front an impossibly powerful river, to my right a wall of water, and behind me a dragon who finally slowed and looked at me as if taunting me that I was trapped. “Be gone, beast. I have no quarrel with you.” I cried. It turned its head and drew closer. “Then why did you run?” It said, showing a sharp row of teeth in her silver tinted mouth. I was practically pinned against the wall when I made my decision. I decided that I would rather risk death in the river than face this monster, and so I lept away into the rushing water. Almost immediately I was pulled away, with more speed than I could ever hope to run and spun around as if I had been top. I had no bearings, but with every revolution I saw the dragon getting closer and closer. I had hoped to escape into the night, but it was still after me. “You utter moron” it exclaimed. My heart was racing and the drake was approaching, when the river current threw me into something, and I blacked out.
When I came too, I was really warm, no not just warm hot. When I opened my eyes beside me I saw a sapphire blue flame. I backed away instantly and attempted to inspect the area. Around me were cavern walls, and an opening to the outside. The storm still raged with all of its ferocity, but what little water made it inside was quickly caught by several V-shaped gashes in the ground and focused into longer gashes leading down into the cavern.
“Oh good your awake, I wasn’t sure if you were dead or not. A human heart beat is much too small for me to feel.” Came the draconic voice.
Oh no, even after everything it still had him.
“You are still afraid aren’t you? Little one. You think me a monster don’t you?” It said, stepping forward slightly into the blue light of its sapphire flame.
“You have d-done nothing to make me think any different.” I replied weakly.
Though I was no master in the interpretation of dragon expressions, I am fairly sure that the look on her face was one of offense.
“First off little one, what do you call rescuing you from a raging storm, and giving you shelter, and secondly, why should I have to do anything to prove I am no monster in the first place. It was you who ran like a crazy person when I came to help. Now which one of us seems more uncivilized?”
The dragon must be toying with me, it came to eat me had it not, but as I looked at it more carefully, I realized that had it wanted to eat me, it could have done so long ago.
“I thought you were hunting me. I ran in fear for my life, but you mean to tell me you never intended to hurt me.” I asked confused
“Little one, If I intended to hurt you, you would have been burnt to a crisp before I came anywhere near you.” It said, and then breathed a tiny speck of sapphire blue fire just like the flame sitting next to me.
“That’s reassuring.” I retorted
“You humans are stubborn. You are so tiny yet, your desire to adhere to your false pretenses exceeds even me.” The drake said
“We humans aren’t tiny, we’re normal. You’re just huge.” I replied
The dragon raised a scaly eyebrow, “now little one, is that any way to talk to a lady?” she asked crawling forward to purposely be intimidating this time.
I realized what I had said and how even a human woman would have been offended, and I had just said it to a woman who was large enough to fit three of me in her mouth at once. “I am sorry I didn’t mean to say, I d-didn’t intend to insult you.”
She merely laughed. “Don’t worry, I sincerely doubt you could do anything, that would really make me mad.” She stayed silent for a moment. Then began again “Little one, you do understand I am not going to hurt you? I brought you here to recover after the storm.”
“Why do you keep calling me little one, I have a name, its Garen.” I responded dodging her question. I didn’t know what to believe.
“I have a name too, but it didn’t stop you from calling me beast.” I flushed slightly as she said this. I was just as in the wrong as her in that remark. “My name is Silvia,” she said, “my mother named me for the color of my scales.” She said this and turned around in the cave, giving me a good view of her scaly body. Sure enough she was all silver except for the white membranes of her wings, the skin of her mouth, and her yellow eyes with black iris’s seemingly cutting down them.
Silvia was actually a beautiful creature once I got over the initial terror. “Well Silvia, it is nice to meet you and all, but why did you come after me in the first place? How did you know I was even on the mountain?”
She grinned slightly, displaying a few of her sharp teeth. “Not all humans accept me so easily. In fact, most humans that climb this mountain are here for me. The village people think my scales are actually made of silver, and that they’d be rich if they had them. Others see me as a threat to them, and seek to get rid of me. Either way more often than not any humans up here are here for me.”
I thought she was done talking and went to ask her my question again as it seemed she had avoided it, but then she resumed. “They were right that I was a threat, but only should I be provoked. I was peaceful to them, but they tried to kill me. One day a wizard came to the village and learned of my predicament. He made it a point to come up to me. He offered a way to keep the humans off of my mountain and away from me. I accepted. He conjured a charm, so that any human who came up to the mountain would trigger a large storm, like the one outside.”
“So you found me because of the storm?” I asked.
“I found you because I looked for you, I just knew there was a human on the mountain because of the storm. For a while when storms came, I realized it was just some human trying to get to me again and I paid it no attention. Eventually the villagers stopped coming up. Then a few years later there was a large drought, and someone had figured out that climbing the mountain summoned the storm. So he assembled a team and they started climbing. I happened to be out hunting when it happened. I came back to find most of them had died in the storm, only 3 of them lived, and so I grabbed them carried them back to the village and then flew back into my home. I realized then my request of the wizard led to the death of any villager who climbed the mountain not just those trying to hurt me. The humans decided they liked the ability to call upon rain when they wanted and continued to send people up anytime they wanted rain. While the humans disliked me, I don’t dislike humans. I would fly out and save them from the storm that they got themselves into, the village would benefit and I would be clear of conscience for having saved them. The practice eventually died out, but I still go out to save anyone who happens to climb and get caught in the storm.”
“Why didn’t you take me to the village then, like you did with the others?” I asked Silvia.
“The humans stopped making expeditions to hunt me, but quickly realized that every time they sent a group to the mountain, I would show up carrying a few of their people back. They figured that I was more valuable dead than alive and set up an ambush to slay me when I brought back people from their latest storm calling. I decided I wouldn’t go back to the village anymore after that. I still have a scar from one of their spears.” She turned her back towards me and pointed at a mark on her hind leg, a small scar in the shape of an X that appeared on both sides.
“So what do you do with us now?” I asked still worried for my own fate.
She caught onto the concern. “I’m sorry, I only now realized why you asked the question, I have a habit of storytelling. Like I said, you don’t need to worry about being hurt. I will keep you here until you are ready to leave, then I will drop you off on the side of the mountain away from the villagers. I always change sides now so they don’t know where I will be when I land.”
“Could you take me now, I have no wish to continue climbing this mountain, and would prefer to get home as soon as possible,” I asked wanting to remove myself from this situation.
“Oh Garen, at least wait for the storm to stop. It only starts when one climbs up, and can subside even with you here,” She said.
I turned back to see the storm again. She claimed it would end, but it seemed to have no indication of slowing down. In fact, the rain seemed stronger than it was when he had first encountered Silvia.
“Do you swear that as soon as the storm ends you will take me back to the mountain base, unharmed?” I asked
“Why is it so hard for you to believe I bear no ill will. Yes of course, As soon as the storm ends I can take you back.” She replied.
“Will take me back, I know you can, but swear that you will,” I continued.
“Very well, I will return you to the base of the mountain unharmed, if you still desire to, when the storm has ended. Happy?” She asked with slight annoyance.
“Silvia, why do you think that I would not choose to return?” I asked
“What do you mean?” she responded
“I mean you said if I still desire to leave. Why wouldn’t I?” I asked. Immediately afterwards I realized, she was lonely.
“Well I was hoping that you would be comfortable enough around me that you wouldn’t mind staying, but I can tell that you want to be away from me as soon as possible,” She said sadly. She began to slink away, retreating into the shadows.
I may not have been able to make her angry, but I did most certainly upset her. She had honestly hoped to befriend me before I left, and my incessant questions made her think I hated her.
“That is not true,” I said, “I don’t want to stay because I have no reason to, not because I have reason not to. I don’t mean you any disrespect. I just can’t stay.”
She looked me over again. Her head craned downwards to be level with me or at least as level as she could get before the ground got in the way. Her head alone was still almost double my height.
“You know; you aren’t the first right. I have saved seven lone travelers in the last decade, and every one of them left as soon as they were able too. I would like to believe that you aren’t repelled by me, but your reaction at the cliff side and the tendency of humans to leave me as soon as they get the chance tells me the opposite. No matter how much I try, humans are just afraid of me,” she said.
She was right, I was scared terrified even, but she also saved my life, and now was upset because of me. So I made my decision, “I told you, I was going to leave because I have no reason to be here, but I changed my mind.” Her silver scales sagged in even more disappointment as she feared I would admit she was right, but instead I spoke what she wanted to hear. “I have a reason to stay now, to prove to you that a human can like you.”
I think that did it, she cracked her toothy smile again. “Thank you Garen. For being a friend.”