Terms

Colin stepped back from his father’s gravestone, turning up his collar against the lingering winter chill. Father preached, ‘Take no risks. Stay the course’ for a trouble-free life. But Father never had to explain blight to a hungry child or when they might eat again. In his day, their valley was bountiful and taken for granted. What would Father think today?

“Colin?” A small voice called above the biting wind.

He turned. “Father was wrong, sister.”

Fiona’s ashen face matched the overcast sky. “They all were. But only we suffer for it.”

“I’ve made my decision. I leave at sunrise.” Colin watched her face for acceptance but found only sorrow.

“And when you don’t return?” Tears welled.

“One less mouth to feed.”

“One less man to protect us. To see that food’s shared equally.”

“That won’t be enough. Someone must leave the valley and find a solution before the stores run dry. Dry, dead husks litter our fields. Nothing grows here, now.”

Fiona’s face hardened. “No man has ever come back.”

“If I don’t try, I am no man.”

***

Colin hoisted an empty pack over his shoulder and stepped into the morning light. The townsfolk stood between him and his trek. They’d debated what to do for so long, fear crippled them.

“I trust you haven’t come to stop me.” Colin scanned their faces.

A small boy pushed his way through the murmuring crowd and offered a folded rag. “It’s not much, but you’ll need strength for your journey.”

Colin opened the offering and found nuts and a few dried berries. When he tried to refuse, the boy slipped away. Others stepped forward, each with small portions of what little food they could spare. Fiona was correct—no one had ever left the valley and come back. Everyone knew this, yet they willingly sacrificed their food to aid this folly.

Fiona stood beyond the crowd, her pale face wet with tears. “There must be another way.” She trembled as he approached and took her in his arms. “I can’t lose you, too.”

“If I stay, we all lose.” He kissed her head. “Light a candle for me, sister. I will return.”

***

Two days' walk behind him, he came to the southern entrance to the Cave of Lost Souls—the only assumed passage to the world beyond. A small sign lay askew against a stony outcropping. Colin brushed away the moss to reveal the carved words: "Go Back."

“Wouldn’t that make Father proud?” He muttered to no one.

He knelt, retrieved the torch from his pack, and set it ablaze with a flint. He welcomed the warmth on his face as he trod inside. Singing Father’s song helped him pass the time while unseen creatures scurried away along the path. Bats above sang their shrill warnings. The odor of their droppings, mixed with the wet stone, assaulted his senses. Torch’s flame danced against a warm, salty breeze from ahead. Two more verses rang out before he saw the light.

The cave opened to a great cavern. At its center, a massive, bottomless pool teeming with swirls of pale blue light like nothing he’d ever seen or heard of.

“You were warned to go back.” A voice boomed in the rocky space.

Colin’s heart quickened, his grip tightened.

“Show yourself.” Colin tried to project confidence despite weak knees and a light head.

“I’ll tell you what I told the others: You are not worthy.” The voice came from the darkness above.

Light and shadow drew strange shapes on the cave ceiling. By the far side, a shimmering thing moved against the light from the pool below.

He thought of Father’s admonition again: play it safe, risk nothing. He also thought of Fiona’s gaunt, gray face and the starving children who shared their last meals for this last hope.

Colin sucked in a deep breath of musty air, shook off his fear and steeled himself. “It is you who are not worthy to look upon me.”

The cavern filled with a deep, rumbling laughter, loud enough to send ripples through the illuminated pond. In the reflection, a shimmering, scaly neck descended, revealing a massive head with burning red eyes. With its graceful movement came the sound of tumbling coins. Beneath the beast, a substantial pile of gold and jewels. Nose to nose, Colin trembled, but stood his ground.

“Why have you come all this way? Surely, there are easier ways to die.” The beast’s hot breath surrounded Colin.

“My people are starving. I seek only a way to save them.”

The creature slid a clawed foot forward, raking gilded treasure into the pool. Gold sparkled as it sank through the light. “And you thought you could help yourself to my bounty?”

Colin gave thought and answered. “Have there been men before me?”

“Countless.”

“Have any ever left this cave?”

The beast appeared thoughtful. “None.”

“Then how would I know of your bounty?”

The beast recoiled his long neck at this logic, drawing his face away from Colin’s. “Clever. But you are still but a man.”

“What became of the others?” Colin asked, but feared the answer.

“Each became entranced by my treasure, tried to bargain for it, but none could meet my terms. I did what I must to protect my secrets.”

Colin understood where others’ greed had failed them. “We cannot eat your treasure. It holds no value for us. I’ll meet your terms if you help us.”

The beast smiled at Colin's offer. “Your precious valley can be saved, but you will not like my terms.”

Colin considered his people’s fate: “I don’t have to like them.”

***

Faint screams carried on cool Spring winds, wrested Fiona from slumber. Colin’s candle sat vigilantly in a north-facing window. She wrapped herself in a quilt and stepped outside. Toward the center of the village, an orange glow cast eerie shapes into a growing cloud of smoke. Something dark and immense interrupted the clouds. Smoke twirled at the edges of its outstretched leathery wings.

A dragon, come to finish us off?

As it approached Fiona’s home, the beast bared its teeth, and with a hideous shriek, spewed white-hot streams of flames that engulfed what remained of the dry, lifeless crop fields.

The dragon circled, setting acre after acre ablaze.

Famine was just the beginning. We’ll not live long enough to starve.

Smaller points of light crested the hill. Men with torches. Men with spears and crossbows. Coming to stop the destruction—to kill this beast.

They will die fighting. More noble than starving.

When the dragon finished its swailing, all the crop fields were razed, but the fires diminished quickly. Landing between Fiona and the fields, fiery eyes and a great black silhouette were all Fiona could discern of it. The beast shook the ground with each step toward her. Fiona knew her time had come to an end. She stood defiant as the beast encroached.

The dragon seemed focused on Colin’s candle in her window.

“That was meant to guide my brother home. He’s gone, to save us all.” She let out a defeated laugh. “He’ll be the only one to have survived.”

The mob of men circled the dragon, weapons at the ready. The beast paid them no mind.

Fiona saw the men and urged them closer. “Why have you come here, dragon? We are already dying. We have nothing for you here but death.”

“I struck a bargain in a cave, and I came to fulfill my promises.”

Fiona looked at the destruction. “What promises were those, devil?”

The dragon’s gaze flitted from Colin’s candle to Fiona’s eyes. “To end our suffering.”

Before he could say more, the men attacked. The beast didn’t fight back, and in short order, he was felled. Fiona shouted her protest, but the men didn’t relent until his bloody head lay dying in the soil.

Fiona approached, and the dragon spoke with ragged breaths. “Dragon’s breath has cleansed our blight. New crops will grow from the ashes.”

“Our suffering? Our blight? Colin? Why didn’t you tell us this was you?”

“There were…terms, Fiona.”

***

A cursed dragon can live only a day after leaving his den—his prison. Finding someone to meet his terms and take his place took eons. Into the world beyond, from The Cave of Lost Souls, a new man bearing Colin’s face walked free. On his shoulder, he carried a pack heavy with coins.