The Price Of Dreams

The Price Of Dreams

         The night could not have been any blacker as Hett waited. The only light available to him was a circle of flaming torches that he was in the centre of. Each of the flames failed to give off the strongest light they could. The flames were dancing briskly in the freezing wind that was swirling on the hilltop and cutting deeply through the thick cloak that Hett was holding tightly to himself.
Sometimes the wind almost managed to kill off one or two of the torches, but each time the torch recovered itself and sputtered back to life. Whenever that happened, Hett inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. His instructions had been specific.

         Hett began to think over those more than strange instructions. Not for the first time, or the last time Hett was sure, he began to wonder if he was truly mad following them. It had begun with  the softest of voices whispering to him in the night. He had only asked his wife once if she had heard the voice, but she had assured him that she had not and he very quickly decided to never discuss it again after the look she gave him during that brief conversation.

         Night after night that whispering voice had disturbed his rest. Eventually, really thinking he was going mad, he began to oh so softly reply, always so careful to never wake his beautiful wife that was sleeping soundly right beside him. The shock he had felt when the the voice began responding to his replies had almost convinced him that his heart had stopped cold. First it was simple small talk that had only lasted a few sentences. Then the conversations became more complex, the questions the voiced had asked became more and more personal. It became almost like a private confessional for Hett. Not once though had the voice answered any of his questions for it, persistent as he was. The biggest one being exactly who or what it was. Hett quickly learned it was a waste of time to continue asking. In time, promises were made to him though, promises that could see his dreams come true if he could keep to some simple instructions, as the voice called them. He found himself following them with very little hesitation. The thought of his desires coming to their fullest fruition drove him to do so. After all, who wouldn't want their dreams to come true, no matter how big or small? He had the largest of dreams, but the voice had promised him the chance of seeing them come true in his lifetime and so he felt more than a little compelled to follow any orders given to him, bizarre that some were.

         Month after month of night conversation and instruction following had finally led to this night. Only the night before the voice had finally deigned to answer a question of Hett's asking. Hett had been rash in the moment, but he felt it had paid off in the end. His frustration had led him to ask what turned out to be a crucial question, “Where was this all going?” The voice had gone quiet for a long time and Hett had almost allowed himself to go back to sleep when the voice had told him that he would get answers to his questions and more on this night, if he could follow one last set of instructions.

         They had indeed been simple this time. He was to make his way to the highest point of his lands but he was to go completely alone. He was warned that any deception on his part would bring about disaster far worse than anything he would believe possible. Hett had always been brave, but he did not want to push his luck, especially after the voice had finally answered a question. He had been told to make a circle of ten lit torches ten paces across and stand directly in the centre of that circle. He was to have the torches set up and lit by the time the night was at its deepest point and once the circle was lit, he could not let the circle go out. Also, he had to stay in the centre of that circle until he was visited or until the first rays of dawn light touched the ground at his feet.

         Now, here he was, standing in the middle of the circle of torches that would barely stay alight on the highest point of his lands with the freezing wind trying to cut through his cloak and chill his bones. Doubt about his sanity was gnawing away at the back of his mind but Hett had enough greed and curiosity to fight it off for now. He had waited so long for even the smallest hint as to who or what was waking him most nights, now he was on the cusp of finding out that tantalising piece of information. That along with the possibility to find out exactly how his dreams could come true was more than enough to keep him in his place inside of the circle. So he waited, hoping that the torches would stay alight and trying to keep the wind from chilling him to his core.

         Time crept by and his doubts were beginning to bite harder. Was he really just quite mad in the end? Still he stayed. The possibilities of what might be if he was sane were the single best bait to a man such as himself and he knew he would see this through at least until the dawn light began to rise. He looked up into the night sky to try and gauge how much time was left until the dawn but the task was near impossible. There was so much cloud cover above him that he couldn't even make out the moonlight let alone any starlight. The clouds seemed to boil with the possibility of a great storm, the kind that could lash his lands with fierce lightning and driving rain. Hett hoped that tempest wouldn't break until after dawn.

         Then, high in the sky above him the roiling clouds seemed to move unnaturally. Something was stirring them, seeming to push them down toward him. In bursts, the clouds continued to get lower, almost as though they were reaching out for him. At the very edge of his hearing, Hett could hear something up there, something like the sound of giant bellows in a foundry. Hett knew there was no foundry anywhere near this part of his vast lands, but knowing that did not bring him any comfort. Again and again those massive bellows seemed to pump the clouds lower and lower to him until a fog was beginning to form around him. The torches flickered even more uncertainly under the force that was moving the clouds and the night seemed to close in around Hett. In a very short time the fog was so thick around him, he could hardly make out the torches that were now barely even sputtering under the pressure of the downward force that now sounded like massive bellows right above his head. Just as Hett was sure the torches were about to go out, the pressure suddenly stopped. So did that chilling wind. Hett no longer doubted his sanity regarding hearing that voice,  he doubted the sanity of staying in this place now. It was eerily quiet, the only sound was the faint noise of his torches suddenly burning much stronger now in the absence of the wind. It felt as though the entire night had paused to take a deep breath.

         The silence was shattered by a ground shaking thud. Hett could imagine those bellows had just crashed into the ground from the greatest of heights only a few paces from him. The thud was immediately followed by an ear piercing shriek that sounded like a thousand rusty sword blades being slowly and loudly rubbed against each other. The sound gave Hett a chill that had nothing to do with the cold evening. It took all his courage to stay standing where he was, but his hand went to his sword hilt. There was nothing in his instructions about coming unarmed. Then, slowly but surely the sound of thundering footsteps made its way towards him. Whatever was coming his way had to be absolutely huge, but come what may, Hett was determined to stand his ground. He had already come this far after all. Determination or not, Hett's imagination began to play with his mind, filling his minds eye with hundreds of different images of what might be coming to him, each one more terrible than the last, all in the space of a few heartbeats. Then, the fog began to move directly in front him.

         The fog abruptly parted and the flickering torch light reflected what appeared to be glittering black steel at first glance. The fog parted further and a hulking shape began to come into clear view. Hett could not believe what he was seeing, it was a creature of legend that had not been seen on these lands for over a century. They were rarely seen even when they used to freely roam Hett's homeland, but among the rarest of all were the black dragons. Through the fog it came, lumbering gracefully on four legs, the claws on the end of its reptilian feet were larger than Hett's head and scored the ground with each pace. All over, the body rippled with muscle under its gleaming obsidian scales. Each of the scales were small in comparison to the size of the massive creature, only about the size of a human fist. The top of its shoulders was easily the height of two tall men, with one standing on the shoulders of the other. From that height spread the immense wings of the beast. The spread of its wings from wing tip to wing tip was almost more than Hett could take in  one view with his vision. Even the wings rippled with muscle and scale. Hett could not make out the length of the dragon, nor could he see the tail he knew must be there, but his eyes made their way up the sinuous thick neck to the massive head of the dragon towering high above him. Struck dumb by what he was seeing, Hett stood in absolute terror and awe. Then the dragons head turned down and once its eyes made contact with his, it was all Hett could do to maintain a single thought in his mind.

         The dragon slowly brought its head down to be almost able to look Hett eye to eye. The head alone was nearly as tall as Hett was and the deep black eyes, deeper than the darkest sky, seemed to peer right into Hett's soul and he felt himself being completely lost in them. Hett managed to just barely keep from swaying off his feet as the gleaming head withdrew to above him again where it could look down on him with an air of complete superiority.

         “Well met Lord Hett, good to see you follow instructions even on nights such as these,” the dragon said. It's voice sounded similar to the roar Hett had heard earlier,  it still sounded like those rusted sword blades being rubbed together but now they were heated in a forge and were being quenched by water at the same time. “Soon enough, you will know to kneel to me. We are not equals.”

         Hett felt insulted by the dragons words, after all, how could they not be equals? Hett was lord and master of a great deal of land and if he got what he hoped for this night, he would be master of many more lands. “Not equals dragon?” Hett replied coolly. “I am lord of the land on which you now stand, what exactly are you lord of?”

         “Greedy, temperamental, childish and aggressive, oh what a lovely combination,” the dragon said almost gleefully. “Simply because you cannot possibly know of what you speak, I am not insulted by your rash words lordling. Tread carefully though, I came here and showed you manners beyond what I am required to. Best you learn your place and learn it quickly. So far you have proven to be a quick learner, I fervently hope that simply being in my presence has not turned you into a slack jawed commoner that has no thought for even the drool that falls from the corner of his mouth, that would be such a waste of potential.”

         The dismissive tone in the dragons voice recalled Hett to the full gravity of the words he had just spoken. Fear ran through his veins as surely as his blood did when he realised that if he was not careful his chance to get what he so desperately wanted might quickly slip away. Swallowing his pride, he bowed his head, “I sincerely hope I have not offended you dragon. As you say, I am ignorant to the ways of dealing with you and your kind. My family has not seen a dragon on these lands in over a hundred years, let alone conversed with one. I spoke rashly and for that I apologise to you dragon.”

         “Ah, so you can be meek when required, good,” the dragon observed smugly. “Enough of calling me dragon though, that simply will not do. I will educate you as we go along, consider it an early gift. You are to call me Lord and I will address you as lordling until I tell you otherwise. Also, you are to drop down to one knee until I give leave to rise.”

         Reluctantly, Hett simply dropped to one knee and meekly said, “Yes Lord.”

         “Ah, a quick student, all the better. I know how much all this stings your manly sense of pride, but I promise you that not all my lessons will be so tough. Besides, what I have to offer you will far outweigh any short term pain from our dealings. If nothing else, keeping that one fact in mind should go a long way to soothing your temperamental ego,” the dragon chided. “Do you think you understand?”

         “Yes Lord”

         “Good,” the dragon gloated. “Now rise young lordling, we have business to conduct and I do not require your subservience for it.”

         Hett got back up onto his feet and dared to look up at the dragon. He found the dragon looking down on him with an expression that only reminded him of a master looking down fondly upon a favourite pet. It did not sit at all well with him but he swallowed his pride.

         “Now young lordling,” the dragon began, “I am about to offer you a once in a lifetime opportunity, perhaps a once in a millennia opportunity. I know what you crave, what your most secret of all dreams is. You are not alone in your thirst to rule much more than you already do. In fact, I should say it is quite the opposite, many crave what you do. But, what if I can give you the tools you require to succeed far beyond your wildest hopes?”

         “I would have to ask what the cost would be Lord.”

         “Ah, shrewd indeed. You are wise to know that such gifts would come at a cost. The question is, how much are you willing to pay?”

         “It would all depend on what was on offer Lord.” To be meek was stinging Hett's pride mercilessly, but he had to hear what he was to be offered.

         “Well young lordling, we shall just have to see if we can agree on terms then! Understand though, there is no bargaining here. My terms will either be met or they will not. I will not deviate in the slightest. I will tell you what I can offer you, then I will tell you what it will cost. You will agree or you will not. There will be nothing more to discuss than that. Do you think you understand?”

         “Yes Lord.” Hett was almost quivering with the excitement that had just begun to run through him, he was finally about to hear just what this dragon could do for him.

         “Now, this deal is long term in nature, it is very appealing to those who can wait for the great rewards that can only come through patience. This is a deal which will endure for your entire lifetime should you accept it. So, knowing that you are more patient than most, more cunning than most, I will tell you that it will take about twenty years from tonight for you to see the first real results of our deal. If we agree, I will be at work producing weapons you can use against your rivals in your quest for domination. Not swords or anything like it, these weapons will come to you in something very close to human form. In fact, you may even view them as children, but I assure you, they will most certainly not be children. They will be creatures of death and destruction and must be viewed as weapons. Compassion may well bring you undone. These weapons will come slowly at first, but as the years go by they will come to you more and more often. I will make sure they obey only you or members of your bloodline. They will be trained and will demonstrate their uses as weapons to you upon their arrival to you. I assure you, each will be different from the last in some way. Some differences will be small, others will be large, but differences there will be. How you use these weapons is entirely up to you and your imagination. Use them well though and I am certain that you will soon find your rivals kneeling before you in subservience. Now, I understand that waiting up to twenty years before seeing anything out of our dealings is very hard to swallow, so I have something else, just for you. You can have this particular gift tonight if you agree to the terms. I will not tell you just yet what it is, but I will tell you that it will give you great health, strength, insight and many other benefits. So young lordling, do I have you interested now?”

         “Of course Lord, of course.” Hett barely remembered to be cautious. He was almost salivating to take what was being offered, the bait being dangled in front of him was working too well, “I have yet to hear the price though.”

         “Well, that I shall tell you now. You are a young lord of these lands. If all goes well then you should have many years of life ahead of you. Plenty of time to see the benefits of this deal, plenty of time to pay the cost. What I offer comes at a very high price, but then again, what price do you put on your dreams lordling. The cost is this, every female born directly from your seed, be it your own daughter, your granddaughter or even your great granddaughter, they are to be given to me as soon as they stop suckling from their mothers breast. They will be mine until the day they die and you will never know them again. You will keep yours sons to carry on your line, but your daughters belong to me and you will keep giving them to me for as long as you live. Once you are dead, this agreement will stop both ways. I will stop sending weapons, your family will stop sending its daughters. Surely you can see the great risk for me, I will send you weapons even if you have no daughters.”

         “What would a dragon possibly want with my daughters Lord?” The price was like nothing else Hett had ever heard before and his mind was numb. Those words were out of his mouth by habit and by the time he had realised what he had said, it was too late.

         “What I do with them lordling is none of your business. It is mine and mine alone. In many ways I carry the most risk here, you must see that. You may not have daughters, not ever, but I am committed to giving you weapons as long as you live and I will also be giving you something of great power to take with you tonight if you agree. I am at the disadvantage immediately.”

         “I do see that Lord, I would graciously ask you for a few moments to think this through though before giving you an answer.”

         “But of course lordling. Think for as long as you need, well, before the sun comes up anyway. Think well on this lordling. As I said, this could well be a once in a millennia opportunity.”

         Hett looked over to where he knew he would see the first signs of dawn approaching when it was time. He was sure there was still an hour or two at least before the sun came up, but it was much better to be sure. The distant horizon was still bathed completely in darkness. He began to furiously weigh up the options in his mind. His mind racing through any and all possible options, it did not take him long to reach the conclusion that he would say yes. The dragon was right, it was an offer that no member of his family would likely ever receive again soon. Never again most likely. Yes, he would need to give up the daughters of his line, to who knows what kind of a life, but if it set his family up to rule all he wished then who knew what could happen down the line. One day, Hett was sure, his great grandchildren would thank him for his legacy. Besides, there was no rule about not killing the dragon if need be. It would not be easy, but dragons had been slain in legends past. Perhaps these “weapons” the dragon was promising would be the very ones used to bring about the dragons downfall. What a sweet irony that would be...
         
         Hett turned back to the dragon. “I accept and agree to your terms Lord.” Hett realised that the dragon was right about one thing tonight at least. Not all the dealings this night were so hurtful to his pride, especially not the ones that were sweetened to be rich with possibilities.

         “Ah, well done lordling. I was sure you would not disappoint me, but one can never be certain until the deal is done. To that end, I promised you something out of our dealings on this night, something especially for you. Once you accept this gift I have for you, our terms are set. We will both hold to our ends of our agreement I am sure.”

         The dragon turned its mammoth head away from Hett and began worrying at the point where its massive tail met its body. Hett wasn't sure exactly what it was doing, but it seemed not entirely dissimilar to a dog worrying at fleas to begin with. Then the dragon paused and took a deep breath. Hett could hear those immense lungs filling with air and the dragon went very tense. Suddenly, violently, the dragon tore its head away from the spot it had been working at. With that motion a sound like the rasping of steel being run through flesh and bone came to Hett's ears. Hett cringed involuntarily but could not take his eyes from the suddenly bizarre scene filling his vision. The dragon exhaled slowly and turned its head back to look at him. In its mouth, covered in fresh, dripping blood appeared one of its scales.

         “Hold out your hand lordling,” the dragon said around the scale.

         Hett did as he was bidden immediately and the dragon put the scale in his hand with surprising gentleness. The light weight of the scale shocked Hett, it could have been a feather in his hand for how heavy it felt. The scale gleamed in the dancing firelight and he could not take his eyes away from it. He felt as though he could lose himself in its black depths. It barely filled the palm of his hand. He reached out with his other hand to run his fingertips over it caressingly. It was still slick and warm from the blood, but underneath that was a surface smoother than any Hett had ever known. He slid his fingertips over to the edge of the scale but pulled them away immediately as the edge cut his fingers deeply the instant they touched it. Hett was stunned by just how sharp it was. It was surely sharper than any sword that could be made by man. This was apparently his gift for this night, but what in the world was a scale going to do for him? How could it do all the dragon had said it would?

         “I can see your unanswered questions in your eyes lordling. Rest assured that this one scale from me will do all I promised earlier and more. However, there is one last task required of you to formalise our agreement. As I have known pain and shed blood this night, so must you. It is required. What you need to do, right this very instant with no hesitation is dig that scale into the underside of the wrist of your sword arm. Do it now lordling, be quick about it.”

         The dragon's tone of command snapped Hett out of his reverie and he felt compelled to obey. His mind half numb, he found himself doing exactly as the dragon had just commanded. Once the scale began carving its way into his flesh, the sudden excruciating pain snapped him out of his daze. Still, he could not stop himself. He realised he was screaming but could not remember when he had started to do so. His arm burned with pain and he screamed loud enough to awaken the entire household had he been there but he continued to drive the scale into his flesh. All the pain he had just experienced was nothing though compared with what came next. The scale seemed to come to life and begin to burrow even deeper into his arm. It felt like a thousand sets of tiny, sharp teeth eating into him. His head began to spin with the pain and his mouth had gone dry. He had managed to stop screaming at some point he did not remember but he could feel his jaw hanging slack. He began to sway on his feet but just before he passed out, the pain suddenly stopped. His arm throbbed with the rapid beating of his heart, but it wasn't painful. Instead, Hett could feel that somehow, the scale was now a part of him. Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit him and he fell down to one knee again. It was all he could do to keep from bringing up all he had eaten in the last week. At least, Hett was certain his body would try to do that.
         “That feeling will pass lordling, I promise you. Once you wake up from the rest your body will sorely need, you will begin to feel very different to the way you do now. Now, we have done our dealing but there is one last issue to finalise.”

         Hett was not thinking clearly through the daze he was in. The nausea was passing and it was much easier to breathe now, but his mind just wasn't quite up to its normal speed just yet. He felt he was just missing something so he had no choice but to ask, “What would that be Lord?”

         “I know focus is hard for you to find at this point in time, but focus you must. Stop looking at the ground feeling sorry for yourself. Get to your feet and look me in the eye,” the dragon commanded. Not knowing how, Hett rose to his feet and looked up at the dragon. Its eyes met his immediately and he was transfixed. When the dragon spoke next it was like the words were being burned into his mind.

         “Now lordling, these are your final instructions for this night. At this very spot you are to build something for me. Right where you are standing now, inside your little ring of fire sticks, you are to build a nice big bowl. I want you to dig the ground out so that you can stand up in it without seeing over the edge. Leave your sticks where they stand now lordling because your bowl must touch each of those sticks, no smaller, no wider. The bottom of this bowl is to be of your best , shiniest metal and must be made to reflect blood red light out of it when fire is in or near it. This is to be a permanent structure so do not feel the need to keep your coin close to your chest with this. Wealth will come to you and yours all too soon. This place here is to be a symbol of our relationship now that you are my creature.”

         Hett was swaying on his feet with the intensity of all the different things he was experiencing at once, the long cold night, the dragon burning instructions into his mind and his throbbing arm. He wasn't quite sure what was keeping him on his feet, all he knew right at this moment was that he could not look away from the dragon's eyes.

         “Now lordling,” the dragon continued. “This is more or less just a massive fire pit painted red. This is so you can reach me. Do not use this for trivial things or both myself and this deal will disappear. If you have need of me, serious need, something like the birth of the first of your daughters then light this fire and I shall see it clearly, easily.”

         Hett felt himself beginning to get back to his normal self. “One immediate question Lord. How will you contact me”

         “You really need to ask that?” the dragon almost seemed amused. “Think on how I first got your attention, how I got you to come here tonight.”

         “I understand Lord, forgive my ignorance in asking what should have been answered with just a little more thought.”

         “It matters not lordling, our dealings are almost at an end this night. Just build that fire pit. We have a date you and I lordling. If not beforehand, you and I will most certainly meet not long after your first daughter is born. Remember, always, that I will be watching. Do not deceive me, you have been warned. Do you think you understand lordling?”

         “Yes Lord,” Hett said, his eyes finally released from the hold of the dragon.
         
         “Well then my little lordling, it is time for me to depart. In three days that scale I gave you will begin to fully take hold. Wonders await you, I promise. You will feel things you have never felt before. Remember my caution, stay true to me. We could rule this world you and I and if you can keep up your end of the deal, even greater wonders will arrive right on your doorstep. Have you any final words for me this night?”

         “No Lord, not one.”

         “Good, good,” the dragon chuckled. “I will be watching, we will meet again.”

         With those final words, the dragon leaped into the air and faster than Hett thought possible, the dragon was gone, disappearing into those rolling, menacing black clouds. He turned, nursing his still throbbing arm to begin the long walk back to his home. During that walk, in the back of his mind he played the whole event over and over. Each time he got a deathly chill down his spine at the point where the dragon called him “his creature”. That chill had nothing to do with the rain that had begun to fall heavily as the storm broke only moments after the dragon's departure.

         As his castle came into view with the first rays of the stormy dawn Hett was smiling. He was certain that if worst came to worst, he would use any and all means to hunt down and destroy the dragon if it betrayed him. However, if the dragon was true, then the possibilities were endless.

         The smile that was splitting Hett's face from one side to the other was not simply a smile of joy at his imaginings, it was one of pure greed.

         As the dragon flew away, the chill in the air got into the place where he had removed the scale from his flesh. He could feel the sting of it in the back of his mind but paid no attention as he flew towards his own home. His mind was occupied by something else entirely. The dragons plan was off to the best possible start. Hett was the last of the four Lords to agree to the dragons terms.  The Lords were the greediest and most ambitious leaders. Oh, what fun he was going to have when these families all turned on each other in the generations to come. It would be interesting to see which house came out on top. He had high hopes for Hett, he had done well, especially for one so young. Would his house be the one ruling all the others when this was all said and done? The dragon smiled inwardly at his success. He was certain that the Matriarchs would present a much greater challenge but so far, it was all going so much better than he had anticipated. Humans were such chaotic creatures, which was exactly why he had chosen them for this, but it did make them unpredictable even to him. Still, success felt quite good to the dragon as he flew to his home. It made him hungry for more success and for the next part of his plan. He roared in triumph and again in exhilaration as the first sunlight of dawn began to shine on the horizon. The dragon roared a third and final time, this time it was for the pure joy in imagining what was yet to come...