The Lakeraan

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. But anyone who expected the world never to change was simply not paying attention. “You’ve got to keep looking ahead,” Tali’s father used to say, “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.” She thought that she’d kept to that credo pretty well, but right now, as she gazed at the ruined barn and piles of sheep bones, she knew that she was in no way prepared for this.

She crouched down next to a carcass, burnt charcoal black, and grimly poked at the remains with one hand. She didn’t know enough about sheep bones to confirm whether they were real, thankfully, but deep down she knew there was no faking that stench.

“What’re you hoping to find in there?” Lomar hadn’t bothered dismounting, just sat on his horse, chewing his mint leaves and looking down on her with that dull, unperturbed expression which she found so irritating.

“Some sign that this is just a prank.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Hell of a lot’ve effort to go to for a laugh. Hardly worth the risk, too. Gerrick would flay the skin off’ve anyone that did this.” He leaned down and spat the mint out onto the ground.

“And Gerrick really didn’t hear anything?”

“He’d had a barrelful at the Pale Rose last night,” Lomar chuckled, “Hell of a headache to wake up to.”

For him and me both. Tali stood up and looked through the wreckage of the barn. Whatever had eaten the sheep had broken down the doors, made their way through the building and smashed their way through the opposite wall, leaving a large hole and a trail of debris leading off down the hill. As much as it pained her to admit it, Lomar was right. They really was no chance that a person could have done this.

A dragon, though? This far Downvalley? It was definitely hard to believe.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a distressed whinny behind her. Her horse, Whisper, a small grey dappled mare, was clearly not happy about being so close to the charred sheep, bucking her head and snorting. If her father hadn’t trained her so well she probably would have bolted.

“Shhh. Sh Sh Sh.” Tali went over and soothed her, petting her nose. She stopped snorting but Tali could tell that she was far from calm. In contrast, Lomar’s mount, a big brown fellow named Dodd, seemed completely unfazed, chewing on the grass without a care in the world. Too stupid to know when to be afraid. Just like his rider.

“We should head back to the village,” Said Lomar, “They’ll want to call a Council over this.” Tali bit her lip, thinking. If a dragon had come this close to the village, then it had brought an avalanche of troubles with it. She had to be sure. She clamoured up onto Whisper and gripped the rains.

“Not yet,” She said, “I’m following the trail.”

Lomar raised an eyebrow, “Not sure that’s wise.”

“You wouldn’t know wisdom if it pissed in your face. If I’m quick I might be able to catch a glimpse of whatever did this.”

“Whatever…? Talisen, don’t be daft. You know very well what did this.”

“Not until I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’m not causing a panic without proper evidence.” She clicked her tongue and Whisper started forwards, picking her way gingerly around the debris.

“You should head back, I can handle this,” She called over her shoulder. There was a small pause before she heard a sigh and Lomar clicking his tongue for Dodd to follow her. Together they made their way around the barn and down the slope away from Gerrick’s farmstead.

Tali was hardly an expert tracker, but no-one could have missed the very obvious trail the attacker had left for them, a deep groove in the grass, as if a giant snake had slithered past. Lomar nodded down at it. “Is that not proof enough?”

Tali didn’t answer, just tightened her jaw and pressed on stubbornly. In the distance at the bottom of the slope she could now see the treeline that marked the border of Wrecken Wood. As they moved further downhill she saw that the attacker had clearly barrelled its way down towards the woods and smashed through the trees, leaving a path of crushed vegetation in its wake. Whatever it was, it was clearly strong. And very big.

“Hypothetically,” She said, trying to sound casual, “If it is a dragon, could your rangers handle it?”

Lomar snorted, “My boys can handle outlaws and the occasional Bannerless. A dragon big enough to eat three sheep in one sitting might be a tad too much for them.” He drew another clump of mint out of his pocket and popped it into his mouth. Back when they were children Ally Winslow had refused to kiss him at the New Moon Ball because of his bad breath, and he’d been chewing mint ever since.

What must kissing him be like now? She thought with a shudder. Perhaps mistaking her disgust for fear, Lomar drew Dodd closer to her.

“No harm in going back,” He said quietly, as if there was someone around to overhear them, “We can round up some of the boys, give the woods a proper going-over…”

“I’ll have a better chance of catching a glimpse of this thing without your pack of idiots crashing through the undergrowth,” She glanced over at him as he shrugged and moved away. He had his usual calm, dull expression on his face. Does nothing faze him?

They reached the treeline and dismounted. Tali led Whisper over to a nearby willow that was still upright and tied her up.

“Best you stay here, girl,” She said, stroking her nose, “You’ll break a leg if you try to clamber through that,” Whisper gave a snort as if in agreement. Tali looked over at Lomar, standing next to Dodd, both of them calmly chewing. “Aren’t you going to tie him up?”

“Nah, he’s not going anywhere, are you boy?” He gave the horse a playful smack on the hindquarters, which Dodd barely reacted to.

One day that horse is going to die and neither of us are going to notice. Tali walked over to the trail of destruction, reaching into her coat and tapping the handle of her knife with a finger. It was small, barely a weapon at all really, and definitely wouldn’t be much use against whatever they were tracking, but knowing that she had it gave her a little bit of comfort. She took a deep breath and grimly plunged her way into the wood, Lomar close behind her. They picked their way through the carnage, pushing through ripped-up bushes and climbing unsteadily over fallen trees. Here and there she spotted deep gouges, clearly left by giant claws, and dark patches that looked suspiciously like burn marks.

Who am I trying to fool? “It’s a dragon.”

“You don’t say?” Lomar said casually as he skirted around a trampled thorn bush, “Any plans for when we find it?”

Tali bit her lip again. She had no answer to that. There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. There had only started being sightings Upvalley about fifty years ago, and even then they had never travelled this far south. No-one from the village had ever seen one in real life, and Tali only had rough sketches from the few books she had managed to get a hold of over the years. There had always been a part of her that wanted to see a dragon with her own eyes, but now that it looked like it was actually going to happen she felt completely out of her depth.

"Everyone wants the world to be more interesting. But only from a distance." Another pearl of wisdom from her father. And like a pearl, it wasn’t actually very useful.

She shook her head, “It’s out of our hands, really. The Duke will have to be informed.”

“The Duke? You think he’s going to do anything about it?”

“That doesn’t matter. You know the law.” A very, very old law, but a law nonetheless. By right, all dragons were property of the Feudal landowner who owned their territory. In this case, Duke Barragon, who ruled this stretch of the Valley from Castle Ironclad, a good three days ride south of here. Having a dragon on your land was a status symbol, something to brag about to other nobles over wine and figs. No doubt the Duke was going to be delighted.

“Hang the law,” Tali gave Lomar a startled look, “The Duke’s not going to care what happens to us when he finds out he’s just won himself a prize. If we leave it to him that beast is going to run amok over the whole village.”

“What are you suggesting?” Tali’s voice shook.

“We’re going to have to handle it ourselves.”

“You just told me you couldn’t…”

“Not literally us,” He interrupted, giving her a flat look, “Tali, you know what we have to do.”

Tali felt her stomach clench. Of course she knew. Anybody who grew up hearing stories of monsters would know, stories meant to terrify children into behaving. There was only one thing that could properly deal with a rogue dragon.

The Lakeraan. Half-dragon, half-human. Abominations created by the dragons to kill other dragons. Weapons of ravage and ruin. The very idea of one of those creatures setting foot in the village, in her home, sent a cold shiver down her spine.

“I’m going to pretend,” She said, trying to keep her voice level, “That you didn’t just cross the line from idiocy to indecency.”

“Indecent or not, it may be our only option.”

“You can’t seriously be suggesting we find one of those… things. If the Duke found out, he’d burn the village down himself.” She had never met the man, but from the rumours that whispered out from Castle Ironclad, Duke Barragon was not someone you wanted to insult. And killing a dragon was a direct insult to the Lord who owned it.

Lomar shrugged, “If you have a better idea, then I’m all ears.”

Tali bit her lip again, this time hard enough to draw blood. She didn’t, and that really scared her.

“It’s… Well, it’s not up to me, is it? The Council will have to make that decision.” She said, sounding unsure even to her own ears.

Lomar snorted, “The Council will do whatever you tell them to, and let’s not pretend otherwise.”

Tali grimaced. That was true enough. While she wasn’t technically a member, her voice carried a lot of weight in the Council, mainly thanks to her father and the work he had done as Village Elder.

Thanks, dad, She thought. Thanks for being so bloody respectable. Now everyone assumes I am as well. And she had tried to be. She really had. She wasn’t the one who felt out of her depth, who needed help. Even when her father had died, her mother had cried on her shoulders, not the other way around. People relied on her, not the other way around.

She took a deep breath. Calm down. You can handle this. Without the Lakeraan. She wasn’t going to bring monsters and soldiers down upon them unless she had no other choice.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that it wasn’t until Lomar hissed her name that she noticed they had reached the end of the trail. There was a small stream bubbling happily along in front of them, glittering in the mid-morning sun, its path slightly blocked by a huge oak tree which looked as if it had been pushed over into the mud, a tangle of roots in the air and the leafy top snapped backwards at an odd angle. Beyond that, the trees were intact, the path of destruction coming to an abrupt end. Lomar glanced around for a moment, then turned to her.

“The dragon’s gone,” He said, in the same tone you might use to talk about the weather.

“So I see,” Tali frowned, “The question is, where?”

“Gosh, I wonder,” Lomar said, pointing up at the sky.

“If a giant lizard was flying through the air last night, someone would have seen something. It’s not like the entire village was drunk.” And if anyone had spotted a dragon, she’d have known straight away, but the first she had heard about this had been Gerrick hammering on her front door a couple of hours ago. If it was gone, it hadn’t left by air. She crouched down next to the stream.

“Can dragons swim?”

Lomar shrugged again, “How should I know?”

“Apologies, I keep hoping you’ll be useful at some point,” Tali examined the bank. There weren’t any noticeable claw marks or grooves, either in the stream bed or next to it. It’s too shallow anyway. Unless it can shrink or shape-shift into a fish. “If it followed the stream, it would end up in the Riada, wouldn’t it?”

“If you say so,” Lomar had perched himself on a tree stump, seemingly content to just watch her work.

“It could follow that river all the way down to Muddentown. We need to warn them.”

Lomar shook his head, “Even if they believed you, a warning isn’t going to get to them in time.”

“I know,” Tali stood, brushing mud off the bottom of her trousers, “Anyway, I think we’re done here. I’m not good enough at tracking to figure out where it’s gone, so there’s not much point in splashing about in the stream.”

“Could be good fun,” Lomar stood as well and stretched, “So what now, chief?”

“That’s for the Council to decide. With any luck it was just passing through and it’s someone else’s problem now.” Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. She cast a critical eye over the oak tree. Anything that could knock that over could demolish any building in the village.

The oak tree opened a huge red eye and looked at her.

Tali froze like a frightened mouse. For half a heartbeat she and the eye just stared at each other. Then the trunk lifted itself out of the mud of the stream bank. What she had thought was a tangle of roots parted to reveal gleaming teeth, and the foliage spread to become an enormous pair of wings. All this was fast and terrifyingly silent.

Lomar stared up at the beast gormlessly, “What…?”

“RUN YOU IDIOT!” Tali seized him by the arm and pulled him away as the dragon shook mud off itself. Together they tore through the trees, heedless of direction, just wanting to get away. They hadn’t gotten far before there was a terrific crashing sound behind them. Tali risked a glance over her shoulder. It was if a section of the forest had risen up and was now barrelling towards them, knocking over trees as if they were nothing but matchsticks, awful red eyes fixed on them. The ‘roots’ parted again to reveal a gaping maw, but this time with an odd glowing light inside.

“GET DOWN!” Tali shoved Lomar away and leaped the other way as a stream of fire lanced past them, so close that Tali could feel the searing heat on her skin. She ended up in a dazed heap on the forest floor, her hands that broke her fall also breaking out in cuts. She sat, choking on the smell of smoke and burning hair. A flaming branch fell inches from her face. Somewhere, over the crackling of the burning trees, she could hear Lomar screaming in pain. Suddenly she could feel the presence of something looming over her. She scrambled to her feet and bolted.

Branches whipped at her as she crashed madly through the trees, stumbling over roots and rocks and bushes. By the time she burst out of the treeline and fell gasping to her knees her face was a patchwork of a hundred little cuts. She stayed on her hands and knees, trying to catch her breath, until the sound of a whinny made her look up. By some miracle she had left the forest fairly close to where she had tied up Whisper. She forced herself to her feet and stumbled towards the horse, but she’d barely made it ten steps when Whisper started to viably panic, pulling at the rope and whinnying louder in distress.

Tali looked behind her and there it was. Thirty feet long at least, a bizarre mixture of lizard and tree and nightmare. As it regarded her with its awful red eyes, its head swayed slightly from side to side, like a cobra trying to hypnotise its prey. The most unnerving part for her was just how silent it was, making no noise as it padded slowly towards her like a cat.

Tali managed to tear her eyes away from the dragon’s gaze and sprint towards the horse. Whisper was in a total frenzy now, eyes mad, screaming, rearing back as far as the rope would allow.

No. Whether it was some sign that the horse gave her, or some change in the air, or something from the dragon behind her, or some deep, buried survival instinct, she couldn’t tell, but something made Tali dive to the ground before she could reach Whisper. Another jet of fire lanced through the air over her, and suddenly the air was full of screams and the smell of burning horseflesh. Tali lifted her head to see the charred lump of blood and meat that only a second ago had been her horse. She stared, dumbfounded, too shocked to register the grief and disgust.

In a grotesque form of luck, the dragon now had something more enticing than Tali in its sights. It glided past her over to the body and began to feed, tearing burnt meaty chunks out of the pile, sending pieces scattering around. Tali looked away, bile rising in her throat. Then she saw Dodd, incredibly still chewing on the grass a few feet away as if nothing had happened. Tali gritted her teeth and forced herself over to her feet, staggering over to the horse, trying to ignore the awful sounds of the feeding frenzy behind her. She climbed on and dug her heels in, Dodd dutifully setting off at a brisk canter up the slope away from the forest.

Abruptly, the eating sounds stopped. Terrified that it was coming after her now, Tali was about to dig her heels in to speed Dodd up when she heard another sound. The sound of a man crying in pain.

Lomar! She wheeled the horse around and raced back down the slope. The dragon was stalking towards Lomar, who had collapsed onto his knees on the ground, unable or unwilling to move, clutching his right arm to his chest. Without thinking Tali pulled out her knife and flung it at the beast. It wildly missed, clattering against some nearby rocks, but it was enough to get the dragon to look around, giving her a window to ride up next to Lomar and seize him by the arm. With strength she didn’t know she had she heaved him bodily across Dodd’s back. She dug her heels in and Dodd shot up the slope, another blast of fire scorching the air next to them.

Fortunately the dragon seemed to decide that they weren’t worth pursuing. They were a good distance away before Tali noticed the burnt smell coming from Lomar. He was unconscious, probably passed out due to pain, and his arm was a shiny red and black mess. As the panic faded into exhaustion and misery, Tali bent over him as they rode, tears flowing freely.

“I’m sorry,” She sobbed, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” It was all that she could say, over and over again, on the long ride back to the village.