Chapter Three
Chapter
Four
“Humans
are a plague and a pestilence. They are like tiny parasites all over
this world, though I will not deny that it is your world. Most humans
seem to revel in their ignorance. A few good ones move the whole
species forward, but in times like these the whole species moves
backward,” The dragon said, as if lecturing Brother Aron about his
own species, “Knowledge is lost. The Romans built roads and devices
that your people could never duplicate presently. If it weren't for
the monks and their monasteries, who would collect and store
knowledge?”
The
sun was peeking over the horizon.
“Europe
is being savaged by a plague. Humanity will recover,” Brother Aron
said, “I have faith in that, as surely as I have faith in my
messiah.”
The
dragon seemed to sigh, but it ended in a long growl, “I want to see
more of your peoples future, and I don't think I want to eat any more
of them in this time of plague. Climb on.”
They
flew and soon things once again shifted. Brother Aron felt a but
nauseous and had to lie down on the back of the dragon. He was
perfectly safe there, the magic it carried kept him from falling.
After the transit through time the dragon seemed impressed by
something.
'The
human parasites have bred a lot these past few centuries.' Aron heard
the thought from the dragon.
Centuries!
Aron looked down to see a rather large city spreading out beneath
them. 'Tens of thousands of people must live in that city,' Aron
thought to himself. Many ships docked at wharfs, a very busy seaport
it was.
'I
will make myself invisible and land atop the dwellings. Maybe we can
see how the people live,' The dragon projected to his human
passenger. Soon enough the dragon was sitting comfortably atop a
building passing judgment on the lives of the people.
'Dirty,
smelly place,; The dragon thought at Aron more than once, 'The sewage
in the streets, pouring into the river is an insult to any species.
Animals often bury their excretions for good reason.'
They
heard two men arguing.
“The
water supply is contaminated, we've known this for a score or more
due to Doctor Snow,” One of the men said, “The authorities have
done little to stop the miasma from killing us.”
“Not
completely true, it is a slow process but the Board of Works has been
on it for nearly a decade. It's not as if they can clean the slate
and rebuild a whole new London.” The second man said, “I think
Mr. Bazalgette has done a competent job given the limitations.
We haven't had a Cholera outbreak in a good long time, at least.”
The first man sarcastically replied,
“Most of those limitations are political. We should thank the stars
that we haven't seen another Cholera outbreak, definitely not the
Board of Works!”
The dragon whispered, “Politics. The
most infernal human invention, so of course it continues to get
worse. Whenever humans get crowded they always feel the need to try
and control each other.”
“I don't disagree that politics is a
problem, but government is a necessary evil, as they say,” Brother
Aron said, “As opposed to unnecessary evils.”
The dragon laughed and looked away, 'Is
that supposed to offend me?
Hardly.'
Two
men were passing in the tight alley below.
“Good
evening, Mr. Samuels,” The first man said, tipping his hat.
“G'evening,
Mr. Farriner, are you headed to work then?”
“Yes,
got a night of baking bread ahead o' me!” came the answer as they
passed below. The bread maker entered the building they were on top
of.
The
dragon looked around at the rooftop, with many chimneys and
smokestacks. “I suppose this is where they bake bread then?”
Brother
Aron agreed, “In my time the bread is usually cooked in the manor
houses of the lord or dukes. Thankfully, monasteries didn't have to
crawl to the local landlord for their daily bread.”
The
dragon chuckled, 'Oh yes, feudalism. The good ol' days. Well, climb
on, I have to get back to my evil-doing or you might forget that you
wish to smite me.'
The
dragon shook his mighty wings and the building shook horrendously
before it finally lifted off, carrying Brother Aron on its back. The
baker, Mr. Farriner rushed out of the building below, back and forth
indecisively he began to move. Then, with one last look inside the
glowing interior, he ran away without shouting any warnings or for
help. The pop and crackle of a fire could be heard within.
Somewhere over continental Europe the
dragon set down on land, a clearing in a forest,“You can stay here
while I feed. There is a small village not far from here.”
Brother Aron climbed down, “Feeding
again so soon?”
The
dragon paid no heed, it began to flex its wing muscles. Aron tried to
get closer to its head, “What did dragons eat in the old days,
then? Surely not humans.”
The
dragon looked back and projected its thoughts, 'We can talk later,
human.'
Then
it threw itself into the skies and was away. Aron would have to find
a place under a tree and wait for the evil dragon to return. With a
start he realized that a very old woman was staring at him from a
tree across the clearing.
“Hello,
may I help you?” Aron asked in French and Latin and then English as
he approached the elderly woman. He had no idea what part of the
continent the dragon had dragged him to.
“I
am here to help you.” The woman said, “First tell me why a man
dressed as a friar is riding around on the back of a demon?”
Aron
decided that she didn't want the long version, “I am trying to find
his weakness, so I can defeat him and return him to his realm.”
The
woman looked back into the sky and then nodded. “I see. That must
be why we have been brought together.”
“Do
you know something about those?” Brother Aron asked, indicating the
dragon with a nod.
“Aye,”
The gray-haired woman said, “An ancient curse they were, I had
thought them extinct. The main thing you need to do is to find its
true name, with that word you can banish it back to whence it came.”
Aron
had heard the same thing from the storyteller of Grantwood. How was
it possible to determine the true name of the dragon? The dragon
certainly wasn't going to tell!
The
woman dug something out of her satchel. “Those beasts haven't been
seen by human eyes for a thousand years, but they do have weaknesses.
Their true name, of course, but they can be captivated by the sight
of another of their kind.”
Fat
chance of that happening. 'Besides, who wants to have two of these
things around?'.
She
pulled out a small piece of polished metal, a short stretch of twine
and what looked like a claw from a large wildcat. “These are the
things you need. If you are able to captivate the dragon, you might
also be able to get from him that information you require.”
Then
she walked away.
Brother
Aron looked at the three ordinary objects in his palm and thought the
woman might truly be insane. The idea that one could capture a dragon
with these things and then talk the dragon into revealing its true
name was, as far as he could see, crazy.
Aron
looked into the sky. “You send help and this is it? This is
impossible.”
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