Dragons in the Valley

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. Once, in the time before time, the time before civilization and the sapiens building cities and farms, the valley was at peace and all lived in harmony, it was when Grannus and Nantosuetta lived in the spirit city of Norumbega in the shadow of Mount Katahdin, along the Penobscot River. It was a city surrounded by seven pillars of gold and encrusted with pearls, given up by the oysters in the bay of the Great Sea. The people drink the milk of the maple tree and ate of the bounty that the Gia had supplied from the land, from the Great Sea to the Great River that flowed to the land of the Gitchee Gomee. There also lived the Cherokee fire goddess, Kanaueski and her friend the Norse Freya, they kept the secrets of fire, the thing that was the transformer of all things. They lived in peace, until the great fire demon of the Island of Ice came looking for gold and pearls. He had slipped out of the bonds the Norse gods had placed him in the Cave of Surtr.

Thor himself warned Freya of the giant fire demon’s escape and she rushed to tell her friends in Norumbega to prepare for what all thought was their doom. The people cried in despair, who will save us from this demon, who may bring on the end of the world, or as the Norse called it Ragnarök. AS Surtr stood outside his cave, surveying the destruction and dead he left as he broke his bonds, he took a might horn and summoned his great dragons. They could not disobey his call, so they came. From Asia came Long, the super wise dragon who controlled water and weather, from Mexico came Quetzalcoatl, the one who ruled the morning and evening and could produce wind, fire, and rain. From the city of Global Tepe came Mushussu, who saw himself a God and later would be slain by the Prophet Daniel. From Egypt came the Serpent of the Nile, the one would bring darkness to a soul or land, Apophis, or Apepe, the sworn enemy of Isis, the spirit of the Nile. Flying from India was Vritra, or Ahi, who controlled the rivers, and from Tibet, Druk, who controlled the sun and storms. From Europe came the great Leviathan, the double scaled dragon who breathed fire and his sister, Boitata, who protected the great rain forest of the Amazon. Finally came Zmey, a three-headed dragon from the Carpathians, who could fly into the Hell itself. Tales of him later inspired the stories of Godzilla. He also would transform himself into a human, man, or woman, then seduce a human and make them a slave. He did so many later, the land of the Slavic people, his domain, became the root of the word slave.

The people of Norumbega went to the temple to address the spirits and ask for protection from the coming storm. What were they to do, after all they had no defense from Surtr, and backed by his dragons he may be coming to kill them all? Grannus feared that once he destroyed Norumbega he would come for the small citadel of Winchester and Nantosuetta feared he would come for the holy ground of Camelot. Freya had heard from Heimdall who feared that Bifrost itself may soon be in danger and the Ragnarök may soon begin. Kannaueski called the many spirits of the plains and forest to Kituwah village to prepare for the demon’s attack after he destroyed Norumbega. But Gia told all to stand down, she had a plan.

Gia, the spirit of the Earth called on three sorcerers, Elymas of the Thames, Kanati of the Great Mississippi, and Ooinn of Gjellorbru, and knew both the living and the dead. The met on the summit of Mount Katahdin. Gia knew these three had dealt with all seven dragons and Surtr as well. She called them in and told them of what had happened, it did not surprise the three, they were expecting this call.

“First we deal with the dragons, Surtr is lazy and will not move fast, but the dragons will,” Elymas spoke when Gai finished.

Kanati spoke next, “I will take Boitata and Quetzalcoatl, I know both and should be able to turn them back. They are only following Surtr because of the curse placed on them by Huitzilopochtli when they disrespected her house.”

“I will take Long and Druk and Uritra,” said Ooinn, “they are similar and like the ones of this land, not too loyal to Surtr.”

“That leaves Apophis and Mushussa to me, both are very conceited and can easily be turned back, the despise Surtr,” Elymas concluded, “we must take on Leviathan and Zmey together, they are the most dangerous and loyal.”

The three agreed and took off to complete their task. Kanati moved across the plains to the great Mississippi, there he picked up a wizard named Allison and a witch and Camille. They were his longtime allies and friends, and they all knew the dragons well. They knew neither could resist the milk of the cocoa and agave plant, which Camille and Allison both had made for a long time. So Kanati disguised himself so the dragons would not see him and suspect something, and Camille and Allison brews up two great vats of the milk of the Cocoa and agave plant. They also baked up a grand dinner of crawfish, oysters, and corn patties as if they were planning a celebration. Kanati made sure the orders of the hearths spread far and wide over the swamps of the mouth of the Mississippi. It was not long before both dragons, Quetzalcoatl and Boitata flew over the two cooks. They landed quickly, despite the complaining of the Raven, Sou, who Surtr had sent to call them.

Sou cawed and chirped, “We do not have time for this, we have a mission to do and do now!”

Boitata responded,” We just want to see what the celebration is, we check it out and come back after we are done. Just chill out.”

Then Kanati, disguised as a priest spoke, “Well, the celebration is of the Honilee, and it’s in one day, I doubt there will be much left. But a mighty dragon as both of you are, well, I am sure you can finish and be back in time, hopefully.”

The dragons took a deep breath and their lungs filled with the aromas of the feast, the food and the milk of the agave and cocoa. Both let out massive sighs as the breath left their lungs, and they looked at each other.

“Well, I think, most likely everything will be over by the time we reach the place, besides, how much trouble could those little people be to the mighty Surtr, he could do this alone,” Quetzalcoatl asserted and Boitata agreed. Sou angrily tried to get the two dragons back on mission, but the aromas of the feast even got to the raven. Soon the three were gorging on the fruits of the Camille and Allison’s work, with Kanati ensuring that all pots were bottomless. Sou did leave to tell Surtr that they would be late, but he could not fly straight and ended up in the River of Grass, far off course where he found a place and went to sleep, he still sleeps there today. As for the dragons, they soon fell into stupors and laid in the warm waters of the delta and slept for almost a century.

Ooinn moved to Gobekli Tepe to gain a large vat of beer and serval big jugs of wine. She then took them to the valley of the Salhyr in the Tauric Peninsula. There with some werewolf friends he laid out a feast of meat, beer, wine, and fruits in the valley. Soon Long, Druk, and Uritra came flying along, like all dragons they could not resist a feast, especially one they could just take and not make.

“Look, dragons honor us,” Ooinn pretended to be honored and surprised, “I told you they would come.”

A raven named Jar interrupted with a screech, “We do not have time for any foolishness, we have a mission for Surtr!”

“We have much time,” Long, the leader of the group, interjected, “Besides, Surtr is going way over the top, it is just a village, and these creatures worked so hard to honor us.”

“Yes,” countered Uritra, who saw himself as the leader of the group, “and it all smells so wonderful.”

“Absolutely,” said Drak, who believed she led the group, “it would be rude and insulting to not stop.”

The dragons all stopped and soon gorged themselves on the food and drink, so much they fell into a deep sleep, and slept for three centuries. The raven also partook, so as to not insult the host, and also fell into the sea and sleeps there today. Elymas did the same near Lateca on a site that celebrations had occurred for mor years than people can remember. He got wine from the Scorpion I in Egypt, the strongest in the world, and the beer of Dikili Tash, so strong that one would be knocked into a deep stupor with less than and handful. There with his apprentice he set up a feast of meat and drink, just as Ooinn did and soon Mushussa and Apophis came by, and like the previous two cases they overruled the raven, Bet, and soon were sleep in the river Seine, they would do so for two hundred years. As for Bet, he still sleeps in the Cliffs of Dover.

The three sorcerers reunited in Iceland, to see if Surtr had moved, and he had not, he was sitting and drinking ale and beer and swearing oaths of vengeance and curses of death to all who had imprisoned him. He was bragging of what he would make of the golden pillars of Norumbega and how he would rule all the world, both day and night. The sorcerers slipped the rest of the beer and wine they had left over in the almost bottomless vats the demon had around him and by magic refilled all drinking vessels. With that they went to confront the most dangerous of all the dragons, the Leviathan and Zmey.

In Iberia they found the Leviathan settled in the Pyrenees, gathering what he needed for the mission. No raven was with him, he was contacted directly by Surtr himself, and only was reluctantly going. He did not wish to leave the southern part of Gaul or the Pyrenees, as he was fond of the weather and food and drink. Ooinn had an idea, use the reluctance against him, and all agreed. Leviathan had double scales and a fire breath that melted any rock or metal it touched. No sword or spear, mortal or immortal could price the skin of this dragon. Only Excalibur itself would wound the Leviathan. The three had to be very careful, Leviathan hated all creatures, but sorcerers he hated the most. Sorcerers had once imprisoned him in a cave in the Alps, for one thousand years he laid there, until the devil herself freed him. Next on his list was ravens, whom he blamed for his imprisonment as much as the sorcerers. The only creature he had any affection for was the cardinal, it was a cardinal, who felt sorry for all sad creatures, who sang to him during his imprisonment.

So, the three sorcerers turned themselves into cardinals and approached the mighty dragon. Leviathan smiled as he saw his favorite birds, they did not come too close, just to be safe.

“So why are you leaving, did we do something to disturb you, mighty one?” Elymas queried.

“If we did, let us make it up to you, oh great one,” Ooinn said.

“Yes, please,” echoed Kanati.

Leviathan looked around and growled with disgust. He leaned back on a rock and began, “Five of my so-called allies are now sleeping off a drunken binge. It is not the first time, fact it usually the case. Then there is Surtr himself, calling out for revenge, and now he is so drunk he cannot move. I am so close to just saying the hell with them all.”

The three sorcerers smiled; they now saw how to neutralize this powerful being. Elymas began, “Wow, you would think that they would be more respectful of one as great as you.”

The other two chirped the same, and Leviathan ate it up, he went on about how his is never appreciated by any of the dragons or demons, but they always call him when they are in trouble. He is so tired of it, they did not even try to help when he was imprisoned in the Eisrieserwelt, none of them even tried to free him. Only the devil came to his aid, but she required he serve Surtr, so he must. Ooinn sighed and agreed with the beast and played on his hurt feelings. Finally, Kanati went in for the coup de grace.

“So why not just not go, I mean the way you describe Surtr, he will not be moving soon any way. As for the others, they are not coming, fools, so disrespectful of you. You deserve better,” Kanati said, sounding a bit angry.

Leviathan looked at the cardinals and growled a bit then smiled, “You are right, the hell with all of them.”

With that Leviathan flew off the Schollen Gorge and burrowed into the ground and lived with the Tatzelwurm. They have not been above ground since. That left only Zmey, the very dangerous three headed dragon who enslaved sapiens and sold them for gold. He would be hard to finds, as he could transform himself into a man or woman, he did this to find slaves. They went to the one place he usually lived, the Carpathians.

They found him I the Danube Valley, where the Carpathians and Alps meet. Zmey knew both Ooinn and Kanati, so they hid behind some brush and Elymas approached the dragon. He smiled and waved and spoke, “Hail Zmey, do you have any slaves for sale, I have some customers who are offering a great deal of gold.”

Zmey snarled, “You come at a bad time, I have been summoned by Surtr to do a mission, but how much are they offering?”

Elymus looked sad, and responded, “Shame, they are offering two wagons of gold., close to six hundred pounds, all in bars. Well, maybe another time.”

Elymus turned to leave, and Zmey, one of the greediest of all creatures, yelled, “Stop! I have time for a deal, but I need one wagon now and the other on delivery.”

“So, you do have slaves, or are you just looking for gold and using this as a way to gain some,” Elymus countered.

“Good point trader,”: The dragon answered, “a question I would ask myself.”

Elymus waved at the other two who, through magic, produced a wagon of gold, and then stated, “I do not trust you, so this wagon will not move until you deliver, and if you deliver in two days, I will add a third.”

Zmey smiled, “so you were holding out, well, I would have too, appreciate the move, but no tricks, I will destroy you if you do not deliver.”

“Two days at the Devil’s Cave, Zmey, that is where the exchange will be,” Elymus said.

The trio waited at the dark opening of the Devil’s cave and got word that Surtr had been drug back into his cave in Iceland and imprisoned by Norse sorcerers. He was too drunk to fight back, the beer and wine they had left had doen the trick. Zmey approached with three wagons of slaves, all women, who were wailing at their fate. The sorcerers had their wagons of gold driven in by elves and fairies, disguised as serfs. The dragon laughed and suddenly spit forth fire.

“"Fools, you did not think I would be tricked as you did the others, now I will have the gold, sell off these slaves and will be even richer than if Surtr had accomplished his revenge,” The dragon howled as an army of demons rushed forward.

The sorcerers did not flinch, they raised their hands and an army of witches and wizards led by other sorcerers met the demon army and quickly defeated it. When Zmey reared his head to destroy all with fire, an archangel hit him from behind with a great lance knocking the dragon into the Devils’ Cave. He was imprisoned there for one thousand years. The sorcerers freed all the poor slave women, and all went home.

No there were not always dragons in the valley, the valley of the Mississippi, Seine, or the Crimean. But the drunken dragons soon sprouted spores and a large horde of little dragons soon roamed these valleys, knights and warriors would battle them for centuries to prove themselves. It was a small price to pay to keep the great fire demon imprisoned.