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”
Babbling Brooks 