The Descent of Dragons Part IV - The Teeth of Fear

The fourth installment of a 10 part chronicle of a young dragons fall from the light and love. From expansive never ending skies to the dark cavern of the lonely mountain.

           The Descent of Dragons                      

                 By Owen J Kato

Part IV - The Teeth of Fear

 

 

The young drake was riddled with fear as were the men clad in armor. They had crests on their chests of the white tree of Gondor. The White Tree Smaughyns mom had told him meant the world to men. The Gondorian soldiers scattered like ants fleeing a large boot as Smaughyn screamed and roared yet received no answers, none he deserved, none that were safe. The White City only answered his cries with weapon and battle screams. He flashed his teeth as did the men below. They were teeth of desperate self defense, teeth of fear. Smaughyn was still not a full grown drake but that did not mean he had no fire. He flew up to towering heights and dipped down with such velocity he thought he could not swoop up and barely managed to. His chest filled with an abundance of fury and just before he hit stone building or road he swooped up releasing all his fury. The flames shot through the middle tiers of the citadel but did barely any damage to the white stone. The stone had been dragon proofed over the years he recalled his mother saying. Smaughyn sighed in defeat feeling weak and helpless, his tired wings took him back across the misty mountains towards his home.

He crawled into his hole feeling small, smaller than ever before at the hands of men. He felt more a mouse than a dragon on that day. He entered his hole as he looked to the warmth, the feeling of home but found none, it was just a house, a roost if best now. Its warmth stomped out like a campfire with the absence of his mother’s presence. He looked to the wooden man sitting there in the corner. He took it up along with some of his mother’s jewelry and flapped off into the sky, into the high north, to where the sky fell white. The world of men had defeated him, his mother lost to it, to a world he didn’t understand. He was alone and afraid, nothing more, nothing less.

The wings of Smaughyn were expansive and quick but not quick enough he pestered at himself repeating "Not quick enough.". He spent days in the high northern skies as his wings tore and froze in the cold. A madness came over him, ran through his mind. No matter how much he flew it would never be swift enough, no matter how hard he blanketed the land in flame it would not char it hot enough. He would not be enough for the White Citadel and all its might and all its men. Men with corrupt hearts and dreams, men thought Smaughyn, men with their lies and deceit. Well they ought to burn with their lies and deceit. All fowl things must burn to ash. He kept practicing aeronautical maneuver after maneuver but his self learned skill only took him so far. A dip here, dives there, he got faster fueled by rage and more agile in the skies or so he thought to keep himself going.

Months passed and he found himself a nice small cave to call his own on the face of a limestone cliff overlooking the stormy sea to the west. It wasn’t warm and relaxing like his Silver Beach instead rough and violent and cold. But his cave was his and he spent little time there as he practiced again and again and again until his wings ached and he could barely fly home before the sun set over the stormy sea.

One snowy day he started practicing duck dives into barrel rolls. As he was in the mid roll he was struck by another with wings and as they toppled to the snowy forest floor.

“Sky Shredder, what brings you to the cold north?” said Tylie ruffling some snow off her scales and shaking it off her head. She then grinned, a large slow one.

“I have been searching through clouds and mists, under stone and forest thick for you Ice Forger. I flew day in and day out to find you.”

“…why?” Tylie said confused whilst using a small branch to pick at her teeth casually. Samughyn paused now confused. She had a way of puzzling him. Silence hit and Smaughyn broke it for Tylie was cold as ice and saw his nervousness. 

“Teach me to slice sky, to soar beyond my skills, to go faster than any dragon ever has-“

“Wait, what would you then do for me dear Drake of the Silver Sands?”

“I will do anything you ask of me.”

“So I teach you to be one with the wind? A storm in the sky? Be there and gone as a lightning flicker across the distant horizon?”

“Yes there and gone like lightning on the horizon, as swift as an ill thought stuffed into the back of an honorable elves mind, as turbulent as a tornado.”

“But my dear Smaughyn, you have gentle wings, wings of warmth and care.” Informed Tylie.

Smaughyn’s dragonheart dropped as he considered himself an above average sky soarer.

“Teach me.” He said in desperation. He knew Tylie was an older drake than him only by mere years but still older, wiser and calmer.

“No keep your warm wings my gentle drake and I will teach you there is more to life than soaring fast and high.”

“There is not more to life to soar and to soar high with all ones might to right what is right.”

“To right what is right?” Tylie asked back.

“My mother they have taken her.”

“They?”

“Gondor. The White Citadel.”

“Why?”

“I do not know. Not yet.”

The white dragon sighed, weighed the situation then lifted her skinny slender head and opened her thin long mouth. She remembered a song of old from a distant land sung by a wizard in black cloak that played over in her head.

 

Men who go to fight

Shed their light

Abandon hearth and wife and home

To fight to kill to roam

In this action love is lost

A heart once warm turned to frost

 

A fire welled up in the ice drake, Smaughyn saw it in her eyes but could not determine if it was anger, sadness, or both. Tylie let out another sigh and started slow…

“I will train you Drake of the Silver Shores, I will teach you to shatter skies, shape cloud, bolt like lightning across the infinite horizon. I will make your movements both graceful and erratic in the eyes of your foes.”  Her voice now no longer playful but driven and powerful.

“Fly alongside me for two winters and two summers past and I promise you… in the end… your wings will be a hurricane.”

 

Author's Note

Wrote this and the next part in less than a day, so go a little easy... actually don't. I hope you enjoy, as it was just a dare that turned into something larger.

Reviews

[Pajci]

This is nice. It keeps the same pace as the chapter before and the use of language is the same.

The meeting with Tylie, though I did say that I wanted to see her more, felt a bit rushed.
I suggest putting a bit more between Smaughyn's desperate want for power and Smaughyn's second meeting with Tylie, just to soften it up.

There were some grammar mistakes (but you can fix that up later)!

I do love how you described Smaughym without his mother though. The feel of his nice home to that of a "roost" is really strong and shows that Smaughyn really cared and looked up to his mother THAT much.

The song that Tylie sang I really like also. (I think that you might have a talent for poetry! Why not give that a shot too!) The last line of the song I

[Owen J Kato]

Oh I didn't alter the meeting to be quick. Time elapsed as he searched for her, thing is, it's a length issue. I tend to create short stories and make them into novels, so I'm fighting against my own will to make this short and sweet, as sweet as a descent tale can be. So the pacing is rushed, my apologies. It's just my real work dwells in this sci-fi novel I won nanowrimo with, but the word count keeps growing. If you think this story has cool characters just you wait! Plus they are all 100% original!

Yes grammar, grammar takes a back seat to creativity and character building/creating. Is that bad?

It's my second day working poetry again from when I was in English 12. I just write it, fiddle with the words over and over. THANKS THOU wow! Should I keep writing this tale Miss? I hope you are a Miss or this will be embarrassing and I hope you enjoy it. I felt this one was off spirit a little, but you may enjoy the next part more.

[Pajci]

Oh no...the end of my review disappeared...it wasn't posted!! Haha, but what it was going to say was that I really like the last line in the song, it went "A heart once warmed turned to frost." And it was made all the stronger because I was reminded of Smaughyn (warm) and Tylie (frost). I did enjoy this chapter. Like Lentron mentioned it was shorter than your first chapter, but it's fine, haha. The grammar and stuff isn't bad. It's just something that I noticed here and rarely there, so don't think too much about that. I do agree with you on the "off spirit" bit too. This part seemed a bit off somehow... I'd like to tell you that I AM a Miss~!!

I think that it'd be fun to see where you take this story, but it's your choice if you want to continue or not. And I'm always looking forward to more of your poetry! Good day/night/evening/dawn...Good time haha

[Owen J Kato]

YEAH! you see my writing has all these metaphors and such. It's good you pick up on those. I dig my tales deep. But this one is more rushed and fun. Yeah the next one I kept to a similar length as the first so you weren't disappointed! Although I wrote even faster. But it is a bit easier now that I know the characters and only had to create a "Liar King" those don't take much effort. That's good your a Miss, are you a young one or an older one? I dare not say old it has got me into terrible trouble.

It is fun this story, but it gets dark because well, it has to. Enjoy fellow writer!

[Lentron]

Hello, Owen J Kato!

I'm glad your still going with this, and I'd encourage you to group them together in a novel for ease of finding for others.

I really enjoy how well you convey his emotions not so much by saying what they are, but rather telling through description of his actions. There's a saying that a lot of writers around here say, something along the lines of "Show, don't tell." and you have that figured out perfectly.

The chapters, or parts, seem to be getting shorter each time, not that it is a problem, I just thought I'd point that out.

I don't really see any errors in this one. So great job, and good luck on your next ones!

[Owen J Kato]

The next one is similar length to the first to avoid any disappointments lol. I will see this to the end, it is only fair to the characters.