CoD - Chapter 1 - Velomaw

 He preferred to just sleep, usually only waking long enough to eat the cow or sheep that had been tethered in front of him. Despite his large size he did not need to eat entirely that much, a nicely fattened steer could easily sustain him a week, and Onack had supplied him with some of the best beef he’d ever eaten.

“Master!” The shout needled through his sleep and a small rock pinged off his face.

Velomaw opened a large orange eye that narrowed on the plump man in front of his face. Onack immediately kneeled and groveled before him. Onack was usually a picture of wealth, tailored clothing, a well fed physique, probably too well fed, and rings on his fingers, gold chains around his neck. Velomaw lifted his head and tilted it left and right, examining Onack. The man was babbling and saying something, but was rambling too fast for Velomaw to keep up. Onack was dirty, clothing torn, something was missing, Velomaw couldn’t put his claw on it. His hair was disheveled, and Velomaw had noticed it was very silvery, and Onack had tried to grow a beard, the bearded face was bloody.

Velomaw had learned generations ago that you find a poor humble farmer, and you bring them back to your cave, and then if you give gifts of bountiful crops and a few gold coins to own their own land, that they usually would protect and care for you. If the human became greedy or obstinate, you just ate them. Velomaw was trying to decide if he should eat Onack and start afresh. He opened his mouth to snap him in half but paused. Onack was distressed about something, he had stopped prostrating himself and was sobbing, waving his arms and shouting.

Silence! Velomaw snapped telepathically at Onack who suddenly grabbed his head as if he was experiencing the worst migraine ever. Speak slowly. Velomaw encouraged as gently as he could.

“Raiders!” Onack shouted the word, and Velomaw tilted his head.

Nonsense, they are all dead. Velomaw had eaten most of them, and crushed the rest. No one dares to attack my home.

“Master, they were not local, they were from across the desert, far to the west.” Onack tried to control himself, Velomaw snorted through his large snout, nearly bowling the fat man over. Velomaw did not dabble in human politics, he didn’t dabble in dragon politics either. He preferred to sleep, be fed, and when the occasion called it, see if he could mate with another dragon. Dragons did not reproduce quickly or all that often, they were near immortal and it was wise to keep the population low.

Why would raiders cross the desert?

“I do not know, Master,” Onack replied, “They seemed to be looking for someone.”

Where is your family? Velomaw asked vaguely remembering that every time his humans spawned or chose a mate they insisted on showing it to him. Onack had a wife and two children, he did his best to keep them happy, healthy, and wealthy and they’d bring him food, let him sleep, and sometimes add to his pile of gold. Onack’s grandfather used to think that he needed to do more for the dragon and would come almost daily and talk to the dragon, washed his scales, sharpened his claws, cleaned his teeth. Except for the chatter that Velomaw could not usually follow, he had enjoyed the grooming. Normally dragons kept a virgin maiden that would do the grooming but Velomaw had been without one since he had consented for Onack’s grandmother to marry Onack’s grandfather. Onack’s parents had only produced male offspring but Onack had had a daughter.

“All dead Master, except Alannah, the raiders took her,” Onack began to weep, “Please find my daughter.” Velomaw leaned his head down and looked at Onack with both eyes.

If I do this, you promise Alannah to me. Velomaw could just easily bite Onack in half, find a new human and start over but he had remembered seeing Alannah, she would grow into a beautiful woman. He would have to be patient and teach her how to scrub his scales, but it would beat having to find a new human. Velomaw had made mistakes in the past, where he’s chosen a human, only to have to kill it once they realized there was a large hoard of treasure deeper in the cave.

“Yes Master, anything! Save my baby!”

Promise! Velomaw barked mentally. Onack whimpered and clutched his head again.

“I promise Alannah to you,” Onack said and there was a change in the air, like for a moment it had become electrified. Velomaw felt it ripple across his dusty black scales, but Onack did not seem to notice. Humans rarely noticed changes in magic unless they were mages. He rose to his feet and shook himself, dust clouded into the air, Velomaw did need a bath, but it would have to wait. He walked past Onack, not necessarily avoiding stepping on him, but the human quickly scurried from being underfoot.

He poked his head carefully through the moss and vines that covered the entrance like a curtain and concealed the entrance. Only someone who knew where it was could find it. Velomaw had to crouch and crawl to exit, and he sniffed carefully, he could smell the rain, though it had stopped, he could smell blood, and fire. He admitted it had been a long time since he had left his cave. He noticed new buildings, well the remains of them, everything was a smoldering ruin. Crops were still burning, livestock had been slaughtered and he noticed Onack’s wife, mother and son were hanging from stout tree limbs, swinging in the breeze like human wind chimes. Some were missing eyes, limbs, all looked tortured. Velomaw very carefully made sure that no one was waiting to ambush him before he exited the cave completely. Velomaw made a full circle and finally returned to Onack who had followed him, carefully walking, arms outstretched.

Why did they take your eyes? Velomaw asked now, realizing what had been wrong with Onack, the man had been blinded. Why did they let you live?

“I was to bring a message to the alessul,” Onack began and Velomaw sat down.

Alessul? The word was unfamiliar to Velomaw.

“We’re not a monarchy, we’ve no king,” Onack explained. 

What happened to your king? Velomaw vaguely remembered the land had a king. The humans had named the land Ohleighia or something along those lines, they had fought wars to liberate themselves from Beisjoria, and then broke off from Apjerzras, but they had had a king.

“We overthrew him Master, we chose to govern ourselves, but you were to be the ultimate law in the country.”

Me? Velomaw’s face was covered in hard black scales, some of them as large as Onack’s head, and therefore was not capable of advanced expression. Still even a blind man should have been able to feel the incredulousness come off him. How many know of my existence?

“The entire country, Master.”

FOOL! Velomaw exploded at him and Onack again clutched his head, this time blood oozed between his fingers. My survival relies on my secrecy! I should just kill you, your daughter be damned! Onack immediately began to kneel and bow to Velomaw, arms outstretched.

“I’m sorry, Master! The king was threatened by my family’s wealth and was worried about our growing power. I had no choice, I brought the heads of the other families to view you.” Onack was babbling again and Velomaw managed to catch one word out of three. He was more capable of seeing Onack’s thoughts, but usually tried to refrain from getting into the heads of the humans. Humans were chaotic, and it usually gave him a headache. They had no control over their thoughts and more often just broadcasted their thoughts cause other humans couldn’t receive them. It took great control for Velomaw to ignore them, probably why he chose to sleep so much, the human mind chattering to itself was tiring. Still he saw from Onack’s point of view that he had brought others to his cave, had not woken him, and merely allowed them to see that Onack had a pet dragon. At that Velomaw took great care to not bite Onack in half, though he really wanted to. He was no one’s pet.

Rescue your own daughter, Velomaw said and moved to walk back into the cave.

“You promised!” Onack shouted from behind him. Velomaw gave a deep sigh, he wasn’t a protector of humans, he didn’t care if they lived or died, but he took care of those who cared for him. He had a sudden memory of Alannah. She’d been toddling, and Onack’s wife had brought her to him, wanting to show Velomaw how proud she was of their healthy baby. Alannah had tumbled forward a few steps and he had gently caught her with his snout, Alannah had not been afraid of him, in fact her large green eyes had looked at him with as much love as she had looked at her mother. He remembered that Alannah had visited him often, reading to him while he slept, chatting about village gossip while she embroidered. She had not woken him, but he remembered her being there in his dreams. How old was Alannah now?

It would not take long for Velomaw to fly over the lands, find Alannah, and bring her back. Then he’d help Onack rebuild the farm, and return to his slumbers.

There was a sound of a great horn being blown. It filled Velomaw’s thoughts, and suddenly there was a tug within himself. He needed to go west to find Alannah but the horn, which had not actually be a noise that humans could hear, was coming from the south. The horn blew again, and Velomaw would continue to hear it until he arrived at Junvog.

Damn, Velomaw whispered to himself. It was that time of the year again.