Era's End

Prologue

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There weren't always dragons in the Valley. When the Camberbound clerics stumbled across the Valley, it had none of the poisonous or carnivorous plants that were so prevalent on the rest of the Ghir'ar continent, no venomous or carnivorous animals, not even any biting insects.

The clerics were on the run from the Ghir'ar army and their dragons and dragonriders. Their crime: believing that magic be free for all to learn to use, not a carefully hoarded treasure for only the rich and powerful to use and abuse. In their valley, the rule would be that all could learn, provided they did so with wisdom and gentleness towards all creatures.

They named the valley Peacehold, and for the rest of the Fifth Era, it remained that way: perfectly secluded, utterly peaceful, the ultimate sanctuary.

But that was the Fifth Era, and every era eventually comes to an end.

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Chapter 1

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All Good Things Must Have An Ending sat on a bench in his father's forge. He and his father, his Tapi, Ally To All Creatures, were chatting about the next day's work while Ally finished oiling the wood that would become part of the plow the two of them had been repairing.

Someone banged loudly on the doorframe of the forge, startling Ending. Ending peered around his father to see two of the valley's elders, judging from their garb, standing in the open doorway, but with the shadow of the forge and the bright afternoon sun outside he couldn't see who it was. "Tapi?" he said to his father. "Who is it?"

His father stepped up to the door and greeted the elders. Ending came up to stand next to him. "Sands In The Wind, and Maker Of Mirth. What can I do for you two today?" his Tapi said.

Wind, her thin figure and heavily creased tan face which made her look much like her name, and Mirth, who was much the opposite of his name, nodded their heads and swept their hands out in greeting. "We would like to speak to you alone, Ally To All Creatures, about a matter."

"Anything you want to tell me, Ending deserves to hear too. He'll be taking over my forge one day soon, after all."

Wind's face furrowed further when Ally referred to Ending as "he". Ending guessed it had something to do with her perpetual disappointment in him. Ending had announced to the village at a meeting a few years ago that he was not a girl and was instead a boy. This prevented him from becoming a Keeper like her, since only women were allowed to be Keepers. Wind had long ago decided Ending's aptitude for learning would have made him a good one to replace her so she could retire. And now she was stuck being Keeper until the next young girl who showed such an aptitude for learning grew old enough to take the oaths.

Still, she had provided him with the recipe for the tea that would prevent his monthly flow of blood, and the herbal tonic that would prevent other parts of growing into a woman. So despite her evident disappointment, Ending figured she wasn’t all that bad. Mirth, on the other hand...

Mirth frowned. "It is not something a young... 'boy'... needs to hear."

Ending bristled inwardly at the way Mirth said that, but hid it best he could. "With respect, Mirth'har," Ending said, putting the strongest honorific he knew at the end of the name, "I have 17 years under the sun and moons, and am nearly a grown man. What could it possibly be that you could tell my father that you couldn't tell me?"

"Things not for a child's ears to hear,” Mirth said with more somberness than was usual for his typically dour self.

Ending was about to protest further when his father put his hand on Ending's shoulder. "Go, Endinin," his Tapi said, using the child's version of his nickname. "Take the pan and see what you can gather at the river, will you? If you can find any metal coming down from the mountains, that would be lovely. Our stores of ore are running a bit low."

"But Tapi, it's late in the afternoon and the sun will soon be down."

"There's nothing at the river what can harm you, son. Nothing in the whole valley. You'll be fine. Come back when the little moon is high, and we'll have dinner then."

Ending grumbled, but he took the pan and a sack, and went walking down the path to the river.

-----

Ally sat at the small table in their kitchen across from Wind. Mirth, ever the proper Keeper’s Guard, took up a position near the door where he could watch both the room and out the window.

Wind sipped from the cup of tea that Ally had offered. Mirth had refused a cup. The three of them sat in silence for a long minute.

Ally finally cleared his throat and asked, “What is this about?”

Wind turned the small teacup around and around in her hands. “I’ve been having the dreams again.”

Ally swallowed hard. The last time she had had prophetic dreams was right after his wife had died in childbirth. In grief, he had named their child All Good Things Must Have An Ending. Though Ally had been annoyed that Ending had announced his true gender to the community without talking to him about it first, Ally had been relieved when his son began to transition. Every day, Ending looked a little more like Ally and less like his mother. It was less painful that way. Soon, Ending would choose a name of his own and then therefore become a man.

But the child’s name, Wind had warned him at the child naming ceremony, was prophetic. She had seen that he would bring about the end of the peace of their village. Ally and Ending had moved to the far edge of the valley, a good half hour’s walk from the outer farmlands. Ally had hoped that being away from the village would prevent whatever danger the child was. Wind had disapproved, wanting to keep the child close and under watch.

The silence dragged on again. Mirth finally spoke up. “Tell him, Wind.”

“Dragons, circling the skies above the valley. Whatever magic protects this valley, failing - I see its lines of light in the sky growing dim. Soldiers in the village. But the village is empty. I look around desperately trying to find anyone I know. Then the Goddess takes hold of my shoulder. ‘Prepare,’ she says. ‘The Ending Of All Good Things comes, and you must be ready.’”

Ally sat back in his chair, trying to comprehend what it might mean.

Wind took another sip of her tea. “I thought it was a normal dream. I barely remembered any of it when I woke. I see the Goddess in my dreams often, and it’s not always one from Her. Usually isn’t. But the next night, I had the same dream again. And again. And the third morning, as I walked down the path by the storage caves, She appeared to me, looking exactly as She did when she appeared to me as a child. ‘Prepare,’ she said again. ‘You must be ready.’ That was it, and then She was gone.”

Ally stood up and paced. “We could send Ending away. We know there are still others who follow the Goddess Ele Cambria out there, beyond the valley. The scouts who go through the veil trade with them. We could see if one of them could --”

“No,” Mirth said firmly. “You are trying to circumvent prophecy. We must do as She said, and prepare.”

“How? How do you prepare for... for that?” Ally said, gesturing to Wind.

Wind replied with more calmness than Ally thought possible. “We have had an extremely prosperous harvest. We need to store everything we can, and move to the cave network. And you - we need you to begin making weapons and armor for those who will protect the caves.”

Ally slammed his hands on the table. The tea cups clattered and shook. “No. I will not.”

Wind frowned. “That was not a request.”

“You--!” Ally stopped himself from swearing, but just barely. “You are not the Goddess. She said nothing about weapons or fighting. If we fight, we die, like we did before the valley. Or have you forgotten our history? It was not that long ago. I still have my great-grandfather’s dagger, with the blood of the dragon that killed him staining the handle. I cannot. I will not.”

Mirth shrugged. “You are not the only smith in the valley.”

“You’re not going to ask Ending.” Ally’s hands balled into fists.

“Again,” Wind said. “It is not a request. You, or Ending, will make what we need to defend ourselves when the veil fails and the dragons come. Our lives depend on it.”

Ally sat back down. He rested his head on one hand and tightly gripped his teacup with the other. “I will think on this, and give you my answer tomorrow.”

“That will suffice,” Wind said. She set down her teacup and rose.

“Now get out of my house.” Ally’s teacup shattered in his hand.

-----

Ending poked around the stones at the edge of the river, near the low waterfall. The water fell from a height about two or three times his own, making a soft rushing sound that he usually enjoyed. But tonight, the sound was suddenly disturbed by a low keening. He looked around, trying to figure out what was causing the sound. The mudbugs sometimes gathered and sang, but that was usually in the spring and early summer, and it was now early autumn. And the mudbugs sang more high pitched than this. This sounded more like a child crying. But no child from the village would wander this far. The keening sharpened into an almost howl that set Ending’s hair on end.

He explored the rocky area around the waterfall, following the sound, carefully and cautiously and as quietly as he could. But when he looked around a sharp-topped boulder and saw the source, he gasped and fell backwards.

It was a dragon.

“I’m sorry,” the dragon said in a heavily accented voice. It sniffled. “I did not mean to startle you.”

Ending scrambled to his feet. The dragon was very small, only as tall as his shoulders, and pure white with feathers on its face and wings. Except one of its wings was torn, and bloody.

“You’re hurt,” Ending said. He felt stupid as soon as he said it. Of course the dragon was injured. Any fool could see that. And the keening sound had been the dragon ... crying? The dragon keened again, rocking back and forth.

This was not like any dragon he’d ever heard about in the stories. They were huge, three-headed monsters who did not speak, only roared. And they were incredibly dangerous.

So he came closer to it, then stopped himself. Even a small, injured dragon could be dangerous. “You’re not going to hurt me, are you?”

The dragon cocked his head to the side. “No, why would I do that?”

Ending took off his cloak and brought it up to the dragon. “Here, let me help you.” He put pressure on the wound in the dragon’s wing, hoping to stop the bleeding. The dragon sniffled and whimpered in pain, but did not bite or snap or roar, though it keened again when Ending hit a particularly painful spot on the wing.

“We need to get you bandaged and a splint on that wing,” Ending said, thinking of how he and his father had done to a dark swiftling with a broken wing when Ending was young. “Can you walk?”

“I think so,” the dragon said. Ending helped the dragon to its feet. “What’s your name?” he asked it.

“Starsong. Yours?”

“All Good Things Must Have An Ending. Or Ending for short.”

Starsong said, “That’s a funny name.”

“So’s yours.”

On the walk to Ending’s home, Starsong talked about his home on the other side of the mountains, Dragonshome. It was near the ocean, and Ending marveled at the descriptions of the seadragons fishing and the skydragons like Starsong flying, and the firedragons and earthdragons creating wondrous machines and magical constructs. And the elders, the three-headed, multi-elemental dragons overseeing it all.

“I wish I could see Dragonshome one day.”

“I’ll take you there, when I’m healed,” Starsong promised.

“That’s a kind offer, but I’ve never left the valley,” Ending admitted. “I don’t know if I should. Or could.”

“We’ll find a way.”

The closer they got to Ending’s home, the more anxious he became.

“Listen, Starsong...” Ending began, as soon as the wisps of smoke from his home’s chimney was visible. “It may not be safe for you in the valley. So we’ll hide you in the forge for now. I’ll come get you in the morning though, and we’ll see about what we can do about your wing.”

“Okay,” Starsong said, and yawned. “I’m tired anyway.”

------

Starsong appreciated the warmth of the forge, which reminded him of the warmth of the grilling pits in Dragonshome, and the nights spent curled up next to his nestmates.

But Ending had said it was dangerous in the valley, hadn’t he? And he had seemed so calm near the river, but anxious and afraid near his home. Or maybe not. Humans were seen so rarely in Dragonshome. There had only been one in Starsong’s whole life. And that had been an old woman, not a young man like Ending. Maybe human emotions were expressed differently based on age?

But yes, Ending had said it was dangerous. And Starsong was not afraid of danger, not like Ending seemed to be. And, though he wasn’t as good at it as the older dragons were, Starsong did know a bit of magic that he could protect himself with.

So the best course of action, he thought, would be to sleep outside, in front of the door to Ending’s home. Nothing could harm the human boy then.

Starsong untangled himself from the blanket that Ending had wrapped over him, left the forge, and curled up in front of the door to Ending’s home.

The next morning, he woke up with the sunrise. Swiftlings sang in the trees above him. They looked delicious, but with only one working wing, Starsong had no hope of catching one for breakfast.

The door to Ending’s home swung open.

“Good morning, Ending!” Starsong sang out. “Do you think we could have swiftlings for breakfast?”

Wait. This human was built a bit broader than Ending, and had hair growing from his chin. “Oh. I’m sorry. I mistook you for Ending. You must be Ally To All Creatures! Nice to meet you. I’m Starsong!”

Ally’s mouth opened and shut several times. Starsong opened and shut his, thinking this must be some strange human greeting, and not wanting to be rude.

Ally shouted, “ENDING! Get out here right now!” He pointed at Starsong. “And you. Don’t. Eat. Anything!”

Ally slammed the door shut.

Starsong sat back on his haunches and began to cry. He felt like he had done something terribly wrong, but he couldn’t figure out what it might be.