“Believe me, if there was a better way to approach without being seen, we would take it,” Dax responded. “I hate those tunnels—they’re so dank and dreary. The moisture and cold air will almost certainly make my rheumatism act up. But Castle Greystone is surrounded by trackless foothills and thick forests. The southern pass is our best hope of getting to the Great City. The caverns are dark and deep, but they’ll bring us right beneath the city, although I’m sure we’ll all perish before we’re through.”

“So, what will we be facing down there?” Sarah’s mom asked. “Dragons? Trolls?”

“Worse,” Dax said. “Dwarves.”

“Dwarves?” Sarah asked. “Like short people?”

“Short, hairless people that live in the deepest caverns and . . . ugh . . . sing sometimes.”

“They don’t sound that bad.”

Dax scanned the horizon and took the lead as they got going. “Sometimes,” he moaned, “it seems like everybody else is speaking in a foreign language.”

Not quite fey but not quite humans, the dwarves of Greystone Valley inhabit the darkest depths of the mountains. They are fierce protectors of the treasures that lie beneath the earth, and often fight dragons and trolls, whose greed drives the dwarves into a frenzy.

Continue reading “Greystone Valley: Dwarves” →

“Why don’t they raise the army anyway?” Sarah stepped carefully through the streets, avoiding sharp rocks that could cut into her bare feet. “These people can’t enjoy having an entire army tromping through their village at the drop of a hat.”

“What land do you come from?”

“Me? Um…America.”

“And does everyone get along in this America of yours?”

“Of course!” Sarah immediately felt foolish for blurting out the poorly thought-out answer. “Well…not really. It’s complicated.”

“It’s complicated here, too. The valley hasn’t had a king in over fifty years. It’s mostly just tiny villages like this one. Each town has its own way of doing things, and none of them likes having someone else telling them what to do. When people can’t even agree on what side of bread to butter in the morning, how are they supposed to cooperate on something more important?”

Greystone Valley is currently a land without a ruler. The valley is made up mostly of villages and other small settlements, each which has their own way of doing things. That means that going from one town to the next has some peril involved, since the laws might change dramatically without notice. Very few towns post their laws openly. Most people assume that their way of doing things is just common sense, even if it doesn’t seem like common sense to a foreigner. It has been this way for over fifty years now, ever since the corrupt reign of King Borgus Rothgar, often referred to nowadays as Rothgar the Fat, Stupid, and Ugly.

Continue reading “Kings and Queens of Greystone Valley” →

“Oh, these people love their tricks,” said Dax. The old man sat cross-legged, looking at the dirt rather than the small flying creatures around them. “They like to think they’re more clever than everyone else, just because they’re six inches tall and know how to fly.”

“What are they?”

“They’re fey, of course,” answered Kay. When Sarah looked at him with a blank expression, he began to rattle off other names for the creatures. “Fairies, nixies, pixies, sprites, grigs, brownies, elves, redcaps—”

“I get the idea. I just didn’t expect to see them here. I guess I should have, though.” Thinking over the other things that had happened to her today, she realized how foolish it was for her to dismiss anything as impossible right now.

“They’re special creatures—some of the only beings who know all the ways in and out of Greystone Valley,” explained Kay. “They find their way into just about every world, even if people don’t believe in them. When you see something move out of the corner of your eye and you’re not sure what it is, it’s usually them.”

“They like making mischief,” added Dax. “They’ll steal socks from you when you wash your clothes, or move things around when you’re looking for them. I suppose they get their laughs from my misery, just like everyone else does.”

Along with the dragons, the fey are the oldest beings of Greystone Valley. They are also some of the only creatures who know the way out of the ancient valley. For this reason, many suspect that the fey are not bound by the laws of the land at all, and drift between our world and Greystone Valley at will.

For any visitors to the valley, there are three important facts about the fey:

Continue reading “Greystone Valley: Fey” →

It didn’t take long for Sarah to realize that Azal wasn’t listening to her. In fact, she expected he probably couldn’t even hear her small voice, considering how high up his ears were. In another moment, he began calling out in a sound that Sarah first mistook as a roar. It wasn’t quite a roar, though. It was something more intelligent than that, with a purpose that she almost understood but didn’t quite capture. It was a language, ancient and wonderful: the secret language of the dragons themselves.

“What’s he saying?” she asked Keeley, who had finally stopped chatting with her uncle and had landed on Sarah’s shoulder again. The tiny white dragon only shook her head and made a shushing sound.

“Don’t worry,” she said, “it’s good news.”

A growl and then a roar answered Azal’s call. It was soon followed by another one, and another one. In less than a minute, the deep mountain cave had filled with the animal-like but nonetheless melodic calls of the dragons. The ground began shaking with the footfalls of at least a dozen of the great beasts. One by one they appeared in front of the group, studying the companions curiously, as though none of them had ever seen a real live human before.

The dragons didn’t look quite like Sarah had expected. They weren’t all lizards like Keeley and Azal. Like the fey, each one had its own unique features. One of the dragons seemed to be made of stone, with large patches of green moss covering its rocky hide. Another one had feathers, like a giant bird. Others crawled on their bellies like great winged snakes, or trotted along on two large hind legs like ostriches. Most of the dragons were enormous, though few were anywhere near as big as Azal. The smallest ones were about the size of grown horses. Poor Keeley was still little more than a gnat compared to even the tiniest of her cousins.

“What is it, Azal?” asked one of the larger dragons, a green-skinned creature with long, crocodile-like jaws. “Why have you woken me from my slumber?”

“It’s not all about you, cousin Grimjaw,” replied Azal. “In fact, you could have stayed sleeping for all I care. I called everyone here because we have some new visitors. They were having difficulties with the trolls at the top of the world, and so they have found themselves down here with us.” Finishing his speech, Azal waved his claw toward the ground, showcasing the dazed companions. Keeley flew off of Sarah’s shoulder to circle her uncle’s head. If the rest of the dragons noticed one so small, they didn’t show it.

“Well, things are looking up indeed,” grumbled Grimjaw, clacking his sharp teeth. “You’ve brought us a tasty set of humans. But so few…are we going to have to play rocks to decide who gets the first bite?”

Dragons are creatures of legend and grandeur in many different worlds. Although some still lurk in the hidden corners of their original lands, most of them answered the Wizard’s call when he created Greystone Valley. They now serve as protectors of the land, although their tempers are still legendary and there is nothing more dangerous than an angry dragon.

The dragons have many mysteries, but there are a few facts that most people in Greystone Valley knows about them:

Continue reading “Greystone Valley: Dragons” →