I never expected to see a dragon, nor less to see a magus speak with one, not even when my master called upon me to deliver a message in person to Livia of Tremere, reknowned as she was as a great foe of the beasts of legend in wild Brittania. I travelled without event to great Flamma Aeterna but she was not in residence and they sent me after her with a smile and good wishes.
I travelled many days and weeks into the wilds of Scotland, and eventually, with the help of the magic of Flamma, found her, sitting on a rock at the base of a great mountain, with a broad smile upon her face. She was little interested in my message, but bade me follow her, as she had someone to see. She did not tell me then that the someone was a something: a great wyrm that had been seen often in that area of late, and that she was curious to meet. Perhaps if she had, I would have fled, and I would not be telling this tale now.
We could smell and feel the great wyrm before we saw it. The air grew warm and stank of meat and death as we walked up that mountain, but Livia did not seem afraid. Perhaps she was but had spent so many years on the hunt, and confronted so many horrors that she was able to hide it. I was unable to hide my fear and I could feel my heart pounding within my breast, and the sweat gathering upon my brow, not only from the climb. Livia just smiled and continued walking in long strides of one used to physical effort.
By the evening, after climbing most of the day, as dusk was falling and the sun was low and red between the mountains on the Western horizon, Livia stopped and motioned me to be still. Ahead was a cave mouth, tall as ten men, and twice as wide, and it was clearly the source of the foul air. It smelt of fear and hate, and once more I wished I was back home in fair France, but was ashamed to show my terror in front of a woman.
The cave was black as night but there was a glow ahead, golden and red, and we stepped forward cautiously, Livia a few steps in front of me, towards the glow. We could hear its breathing by now: a low rumble, steady and strong, that seemed to go right through me.
It seemed like an age, but in no time at all, Livia stepped out into the cave proper, while I stayed in the shadows. What I saw there shall remain in my memory until I leave this mortal plane. A dragon, massive as a covenant, lay coiled up on top of a mountain of gold and rocks and bones. It had scales covering all its body, in a spread of golden red, huge leathery wings lay upon its back, and it opened its amber eye and look directly at the tiny figure of Livia below it. It's voice was surprisingly soft.
"Greetings, little child of man, what brings you to this place, my home?"
Livia stood her ground, and tilted her head so that she was looking directly at the dragon,
"I am Livia, filia Quinti, follower of Tremere, maga of the Order of Hermes". She spoke in a loud voice, standing proud and tall.
"The Order of Hermes...?" The dragon paused, it's open eye unblinking, "I have not heard of such an Order, not that it matters much to me. It still does not explain why you are here... and why I should not kill you now. I am very old and tired and I value greatly my privacy and my sleep: you have defiled the former and disturb the latter, for little entertainment...
"I am not here to entertain you, dragon. I am here to see for myself whether dragons are as mighty as is told." I gasped at Livia's words, expecting the great beast to destroy her there and then, but, after a pause, the dragon began to laugh, a deep throaty laugh which caused the entire cave to shake just slightly and small pebbles to break loose and fall about me.
"You Hermetics are brave ones: or are they not all like you? Perhaps they are like the child quivering in the passageway? Usually mankind quivers or runs, little sport and little enjoyment and I grow bored.
So am I as mighty as you expected?" The dragon stretched his neck slightly as if preening himself and then looking back again at Livia.
"Yes" She said in a soft voice. "Oh yes, you are mighty indeed."
"Mightier than the Order of Hermes then? You said you were a maga: a wielder of magic. Show me your magic and beat me and I might let you live". And Livia held her hand up and a bright golden bank of fire shot from her hand into the roof were it exploded in a fire of sparks, quickly followed by a blast of pure heat and fire from the maw of the dragon as its own fire engulfed hers. Livia rose up into the air then and rose up a line of heavy boulders which she smashed into the side of the cave in a rain of shards but the dragon blew out a wreath of hot smoke and the shards crumbled in the air.
For many hours they traded magic and however mighty Livia's magic was it was ever matched by that of the dragon. They left the cave and fought -- or perhaps played -- on the mountain top, both flying through the night air in great swoops and glides; fire lit up the night sky and great storms of wind and lightning flashed through the air. Eventually, they came back to earth and Livia sat on a boulder on the top of the mountain and the dragon lay down beside her, both weary with their exertion.
"So little child of man, you cannot beat me. I have much enjoyed myself this evening, but..."
"I am not quite finished, great wyrm lord" Livia panted, and composing herself as the dragon looked on, she began to weave magic once more. But this was no magic of destruction: of fire or lightning or power. Into it she placed vis and finally, as the dragon was becoming impatient, she produced in her hand a flower.
The dragon looked down incredulous.
"For you," Livia said, "In remembrance of me". The flower was perfect: a rose with petals as white as the cream on new milk, velvety and soft as silk, with the tiny veins threading through the deep green leaves, and the scent of summer evenings.
"You can destroy it, but never create another like it yourself". And Livia smiled and as the dragon looked on, unspeaking, created a great chain of gold to which she tied the rose, and carefully placed it around the dragon's neck.
"I will fade, as daughters of man are wont to do, but that rose, like the Order, shall never fade"
"And neither will my memory of you, Livia, maga of the Order of Hermes. Whatever road you may take, remember me and should you ever have dire need of me, I shall be here, waiting" And with that the dragon rose into the air with the light of the dawn sun glinting on his back and upon the golden chain about his neck as he swooped back into his lair, and Livia and I set of back down the mountain to return to the safety of Flamma Aeterna.
Tales of Flamma Aeterna | Ars Magica | Roleplaying | Return to Main | Email