Black-Stone

Chapter 1: The Dragons Return.

“THERE WEREN’T ALWAYS Dragons in The Valley.” I remember my Grandfather saying to me when I was a boy. When I was a boy, like most families in The Valley, we had a family-dragon; ours was called Erin. Like all the children of The Valley, my sister Maria and I attended The Mountain School, which was nestled in the foothills of The Great mountain range. It was very grand and looked much like an old castle, with turrets and large wooden doors. Erin used to fly Maria and me to school in the morning, and collect us after the bell rang in the afternoon.

On the planet of Blue Earth there are several worlds, the largest two are known as the Old World and the Green World. In the Green World there is our valley, simply known as The Valley. The people of The Valley have long been masters of flying and aircraft, and have become known as the People of the Sky.

To one side of The Valley hills roll on as far as the eye can see, to the other side stretches snow-capped mountains. A river runs through The Valley from The Great Forest at one end, towards the sea at the other. The Great Forest stretches to the great beyond, to a land of jungles and wetlands. Valley City is made up of lots of high-rise buildings, when I was a boy all the buildings were covered in greenery, fantastic plants and pretty colourful flowers.

In the midst of Valley City, near the top of one tall building, was our family home. Like most homes in Valley City, we had a balcony large and strong enough to accommodate a family dragon.

I remember one particular afternoon after school. Erin, Maria and I arrived home. Walking in from the balcony I could hear our mother softly singing in the kitchen.

"Hi Mam," I called out to her.

"Oh hi Fritz darling, how was school?"

"Okay thanks. How was your day?"

"Fine thank you. Have you heard this news?"

"What news?"

"Oh, a new fuel's been discovered." My mother told me.

This didn't mean much to me, at the time. A moment later a crested pigeon with a scroll between its talons, landed on our balcony where Erin was now dozing, passed the scroll to Maria and flew on. On Blue Earth at the time, particularly in The Valley, a bird was the most popular way in which to deliver news. Some birds spoke, some delivered scrolls.

Maria came inside, unrolled the scroll and read something along these lines:

“The discovery of the mineral 'black-stone', has been the final piece needed in Professor Science's invention - the 'combustion engine'. The much talked about 'beast-less carriage', should now be available by the end of this year.

Furthermore, Professor Science today revealed plans for engine powered boats, and flying devices. According to the professor, all three uses of his combustion engine, will make for machines faster and more powerful than ever before. Whether you're land peoples, People of the Sea or People of the Sky, today will be a memorable day in innovation.

The mineral, now dubbed 'black-stone', was first discovered three days ago in the Golden Dessert, after an earthquake in the Eastern Province uncovered a large amount of the combustible material. Experiments and tests were carried out on the mineral in the last two days, and Professor Science states that there could be no better fuel than black-stone, for his combustion engine.”

"Could you really have a beast-less carriage?" I remember asking.

"Does a glider need an engine?" My sister asked.

“You know what we need?" Our mother said.

"What?" My sister asked.

"Vegetables. Be good children and run down to the market."

"Sure thing Mam." I said. I took some coins and Maria and I ran downstairs, in the way that children run – simply because they can.

On Blue Earth there live all manner of creatures. I have met many over my lifetime. But I have always felt a special kinship with dragons. The dragons which lived in The Valley when I was a boy, fell into four types. The ‘Linguist Dragons’ were talking dragons – often fluent in many languages, they walked upright on two legs and were about the size of a human; they tended to have jobs where communication and literacy were important skills. The ‘Kindly Dragons’ were larger, quieter dragons, good at flying and simple tasks; these dragons tended to be family-dragons. ‘Errand Dragons’ were small, agile flyers; as the name suggests they were suited to running small errands. And last but not least, there were ‘Fire-Breathers’. As the name suggests the Fire-Breathers had a propensity for breathing fire, leading them to sometimes work for blacksmiths and in furnaces, but their most important job was to stand up for other dragons, and to make sure all dragons were treated fairly.

There is a pedestrian street that runs down the centre of Valley City known as The Corso. When I was a boy this was a vibrant, colourful, somewhat magical place. Market stalls ran down both sides of the street. Kindly Dragons and Elephants, adorned with colour and jewels, walked side by side. Unicorns and zebras pulled small carts laden with magical goods. Linguist Dragons conversed with kangaroos. Errand Dragons and monkeys vended stands selling small packages of goods. Dragons, humans and other creatures walked the streets - conversing or going about their business. All manner of birds were everywhere too. Linguist Dragons, Errand Dragons, and humans were selling newspapers.

All this was about normal, but it was a 'big-news' day, which meant the paper-sellers were out in force, and the birds were twittering, twittering away. "Big news!" One could hear them say.

“New fuel!"

"New invention!"

"Innovation!" Said one parrot simply.

There was a small tent made of many coloured fabrics, to one side of The Corso. Everyone knew that this belonged to Lady Jansi, the fortune teller. Lady Jansi was standing at the entrance to her tent as Maria and I slowly walked by, taking in the big-news day atmosphere. "Them's fools to think this is Good news." She stated, to no one in particular.

"Why Lady Jansi?" Maria replied.

"Have you ever heard of dragon-weed girl?"

"Dragon-weed?"

"Not long ago, some men discovered a plant which gave dragon’s energy. They thought they could harness this energy to make dragon’s more useful. Make them fly higher than ever before; faster, better. But it all came at a price. Dragon’s started to shed their scales. The weed filled them with rage and they grew violent. Fortunately a group of Fire-Breathers convinced the dragons and the men to give up on the dragon-weed. And just to be sure, they took all of the remaining supplies and burnt them to the ground."

"But what's that got to do with black-stone?" Maria asked.

"It is a lesson we should've learned. When we play with things that should be left alone, we suffer." Lady Jansi replied. And such was true of the dragon-weed. And now, fifty or so years later, I have realised how true it is of black-stone. But the dragons were going to have more to do with black-stone than even Lady Jansi realised, at the time.

My Grandfather used to tell Maria and me stories, on the balcony at night. We’d curl up into Erin’s curled long dragon-neck and stay warm. “I can’t imagine The Valley without dragons!” I said to him.

“Have I told you how they came here?” He asked that night.

"I think so Grampa, but tell us again!" I said.

“Centuries ago, a girl called Alexandra was walking through the Green Hills, when she came across a dragon's nest with two eggs in it. She was somewhat a-feared as dragons were wild creatures and known to breathe fire. But she had never seen a dragon before, and as she thought about the prospect of seeing one, she grew quite excited.

"Alexandra hid, in a tiny cave several metres away from the dragons’ nest, to wait for the mother of the eggs to return home. She waited and waited, an hour and then another hour went by. She realised it was just starting to get dark, she couldn't spend the night there and must return home. She stepped out of the cave, but just as she did - the mother-dragon came back to the nest. Very afraid, Alexandra bolted back into the cave she'd been hiding in.

“But the mother-dragon was also afraid - protective of her young as mothers are - and she panicked. She also couldn't see so well in the twilight. She flew towards where she'd seen Alexandra dart into the cave. She hit her head on the cliff-face, and fell, into the ravine.

“Alexandra came out of the cave and saw the mother-dragon lying dead at the bottom of the ravine. She began to weep, for she had never intended to hurt the dragon at all. She had to think now, for she did not want to leave the eggs without a mother. She took one egg home that night, and came back the next day for the other.

“Both eggs hatched a week later. They became like family pets. Alexandra even managed to teach them to fly. Then one day they flew away. But they came back, and they brought other dragons with them. From then on dragons lived and worked, and were honoured and celebrated in The Valley. The People of the Sky became synonymous with dragons, and vice-versa.”

“I love dragons.” Said Maria.

“Alexandra sure was brave.” I said. According to our history we had Alexandra to thank for our kinship with dragons. But that night our Grandfather was telling us that story, was more than fifty years ago. The discovery of black-stone that we heard about on that day changed Blue Earth forever.

Over the next fifty years The Valley and most of Blue Earth became polluted and unhealthy. Among other things the seas gathered muck, coral reefs died, the air became dirty and the wind and water mills that once decorated The Valley were replaced with smoky chimneys. But worse than all that, because the black-stone became so precious as it started to run out, the different peoples of the world began fighting over it, killing each other in multiple wars.

Now I sit on my balcony and tell stories to my Grandson – like my Grandfather did, but the stories are different. I still tell the story of how the dragons came to The Valley, but I must also tell of how they went away.

"Why are you crying Grampa?" My Grandson Billy asked, as a tear rolled down my cheek.

"Billy when I was your age this valley was beautiful."

"It still is Grampa." Said Billy.

"My boy I don't know whether to praise you for your optimism, or point out all we’ve lost and the filth that litters The Valley today. I suppose you were born into the world at its current age, and so you should love it, even as it is today.

“Shall I tell you of some of the beauty of old?" I loved to see Billy’s eyes as he sat, eager for the evening's tale. Sometimes I would tell Billy old tales that my Grandfather told me, other times they were tales from my life time. "Have I ever told you of the dragons Billy?"

“You’ve told me how they came here – it’s my favourite. But why did they go?”

“Well, after black-stone was discovered, great motorised aeroplanes were invented. Dragons began to be replaced. People stopped having family-dragons. Over time The People of the Sky forgot the worth of the dragons, and some were left hungry, and homeless. Eventually all the dragons flew away, over the mountains, to the lands where no people go, and none have ever returned."

"Why do no people go to those lands?" Asked Billy.

"Well, they are wild and rugged lands Billy, mountains on every side so no-one can go overland, and it is always surrounded by cloud, so no planes can fly there. And it is said that wild and terrible creatures live there."

"Is that where the Ents went to as well?"

"Ah no - the Ents are the tree-beings, they returned to the forest. At the dawn of time, many eons ago when Mother Nature grew the forests, before she created people, dragons, animals and other such folk, she gave each tree the ability to be. By which I mean the tree could think, and choose whether to grow dormant or grow into a more conscious being, to the point that some trees could uproot themselves and become Ents. The more dormant trees became the forests of Blue Earth, and the Ents wandered the earth, lived with peoples and became citizens.

“For every two new trees that were born in the forest, one would stay and become part of the forest, and one would uproot and travel, and live with us. But no longer. The Ents that I knew when I was a boy slowly got sick of living in the growing filth that black-stone has created, and returned to the forest; all new Ents now stay in the forest also.

"But if you listen carefully late at night, or as you walk through the forest in the evening, you can just hear the deep woody sounds of the Ents' music and dance." Just as I finished this sentence my daughter (Billy’s mother) Anika, came out onto the balcony smiling.

"It's time for supper you two."

Many things have changed over the years. News and messages are rarely delivered by birds these days. In their homes people now have portals, where information is beamed with light images and sound. After Billy had gone to bed that night, Anika turned on the portal, there was breaking news. An announcement from a newsreader went as follows:

“The big news today is the People of the Sky, The Plains People and the People of the Sea, have put aside their differences to form the ‘Black-Stone Alliance’, in order to commandeer the world’s only remaining resource of black-stone in the Golden Desert.

“The alliance feel that the resource is being mismanaged by the People of the Dessert, who have refused to respond to the alliance’s demands that they distribute the black-stone freely to the other peoples. The alliance has decided to take action. The People of the Desert say they are prepared for war, and the Black-Stone Alliance are preparing to invade.”

Anika turned off the portal and there was silence for a moment as we took in the story, then I said, "It looks like all the wars of the last decade have come to a head." Indeed they had. Anika and I thought Billy was asleep, but he told me the next day that he had heard the story on the news.

“I wish that black-stone had never been discovered.” Said Anika.

“As do I.” I said.

“It’s done so much damage to the planet already, they shouldn’t be fighting over it - they should be leaving it well alone.” Anika said, accurately.

I couldn’t sleep that night. I sat on the balcony, reflecting on the losses of my family and friends, and all the changes and dirtying of The Valley and the rest of Blue Earth since I was a boy - since the discovery of black-stone. My beautiful wife Inushka and I had had two children, Anika, and a boy called Marcus. Anika had married a man named Gregory and together they had Billy. But both Marcus and Gregory worked down the black-stone mines, and died together doing so, a year after Billy was born. Inushka died a year later, I believe she died of grief. I miss her every hour that goes by. But I’m grateful that I’ve been able to stay with my precious daughter and see my grandson grow.

All these things were mulling over in my mind, when I saw something far away in the sky. I picked up a pair of binoculars and looked through them. The thing that had caught my eye was a dove, floating in the air - an unusual thing to see at night; then I spotted a grey hawk in the air above the dove - gliding towards it. Then - I could hardly believe it - but I saw a small Errand Dragon cut off the grey hawk from reaching the dove. Then two other hawks appeared; together the three of them attacked the Errand Dragon. Finally - most extraordinary of all - a large Fire Breather soared into the sky. There was no doubt that it was a Fire Breather when it let out a long blast of fire that sent the three hawks away.