Tom Brailli

Into The Vale

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. To the humans, it was a safe haven. To me, it looked like an opportunity. Growing up, Mama always warned me and my sisters that the Valley was not safe for dragons. Yes, those humans might look delicious, but some of them had arms sharp enough to cut through dragon hide, and others had tamed terrible beasts capable of spitting trees into the sky. And then there was the air down there, all thick and flammable. Better to stay up on the peaks and plateaus, snatching mouflon and geese and trolls, than to risk the Valley, where you were more likely to accidentally set yourself on fire than to wrap your jaws around a tender blacksmith.