The Fisherman and the Dragon

What a day to be alive! Navin fought hard against the beast. If he was careful, he would win it all. If not....well, let’s just say crimson stains are hard to get out of clothes. Their battle lasted hours, but Navin fought on; fought hard. It wasn’t every day this much excitement touched his life. Not anymore. It was exhilarating! So exhilarating, in fact, that he didn’t see the three men sneaking up behind him. "Excuse me, but—"

Navin lost control and fell off the pier and into the bayou. As he stepped out of the water and back onto dry land, he shook his prize, the great beast of the swamps, at the three newcomers. "You never, ever interrupt a man while he’s fishing! Look at me! It’ll take forever to get the algae out of these clothes!"

The men peeked around behind Navin to see the water turn from a murky brown to a bright red. The small algae living in the water was being kicked up, churning the water its crimson color. The algae, in fact, gave the swamp its title, the Red Fen.

The second man coughed politely, then started again. "Excuse us Mr. LeGrotte, but if you could put the fish down, we have a proposal for you."

Navin looked from the men to his catch. The grey trout stared blankly back, begging to be returned to his home. It had taken most of the morning for it to decide to bite onto the hook, and the struggle to bring him in was just as long.

Navin shrugged, unhooking the fish from his pole. Tossing the fish back into the water, he waved it goodbye. We will meet again, dear friend. Maybe tomorrow, maybe later, but don’t worry. We will fight again. And don’t forget that no matter how many battles we have, I will come out the victor.

"Uh, Mr. LeGrotte?"

Navin sighed, turning away from the water. "Yes, what is it?"

Taking the time to examine his company, Navin knew right away for just what reason they were visiting. The first man stood taller than the other two. His raven hair was cut as angled as the rest of his face. The darker tan of his skin revealed that they were from the North. He wore a dark green shirt with a grey cloak and black leggings and boots.

The second also had a dark black top, but with a him a touch of grey was sprinkled across his hair and beard. He was larger than the first, and wore a blood red tunic with black breeches. It was he who had spoken, and he had done it with a thick, heavy accent.

The third, blond haired, man definitely came from money. Probably a young noble’s son who didn’t leave his lands often enough. All of his clothes were new and brightly colored. The sword at his side looked like it had never been used. The boy couldn’t have been more than twenty.

Rolling his eyes, Navin started towards his boat at the far end of the bend. "I’m sorry; you nice folks traveled all this way for nothing. I don’t do that any more. I’m a fisherman. A humble, ordinary fisherman."

"Do what exactly?" Navin and the two men looked to the blond nobleman as he smugly smiled back. "I mean, what do you think we came here for?"

"The same thing as all the others. I don’t kill things for money anymore."

This time the aging second man spoke up. "So you admit you are the infamous Navin LeGrotte. The great dragon slayer who saved the kingdom of Tancelor from the beast Xigth."

"Well, I wouldn’t say it was great. I mean, the thing was only the size of a house."

"Mr. LeGrotte, we are willing to make it worth your while."

Navin waved them away as he stormed over to his boat. The sooner he could be away from these fools, the better. "I’m in retirement. I haven’t slain a dragon in years. What makes you think I would come out of retirement just for you guys?"

"My father is Lord Felix of Stawlg," the nobleman said as he followed after him, "ruler of all these lands."

"Hey, good for you, kid. Come back when you have some hair on your chest. The fens aren’t for children."

The nobleman nodded as though he had been listening, but he hadn’t seemed to have heard him. "Absolutely right, that is why I’m asking father to fill this place in."

Navin stopped dead in his tracks. Spinning around, he grabbed the boy by his collar and ran him up against a tree. "What?!" Lord’s son, or no lord’s son, the kid was going to get the stuffings beat out of him unless he explained himself.

"Well, nothing important lives here, there aren’t any major exports, it doesn’t have much value. We were going to fill it in so I can have a nice field to play horseshoes in."

"Horseshoes?!"

"Why, yes. It’s a quaint little game that takes a lot of skill to play. I do believe you’ve heard of it. I’m reigning champion."

"Of course I’ve heard of the game!" Navin let the nobleman go. Get rid of the fen? Nothing lived there? He lived here! That was nobles for you. They thought they owned the world and could do anything with its contents. For those people, the only thing you could hope for was to outlive them. But when one of them threatened something you cared about....

The Red Fen was the greatest place in the world. If you dropped a pebble, into the water, no matter the size, no matter the place, a red algae dye would start churning through the murky depths in beautiful swirls and patterns. Late at night, when you couldn’t go to sleep, a froggy choir would sing you their serenade and lull you back to your dreams. Often times they would be accompanied by a cricket chorus. The Red Fen was the most beautiful place in the world.

Horseshoes indeed!

"All right, all right! I’ll go with you. That’s what you want, right? You’ll keep the Fen the way it is if I go with you to kill that dragon?"

The young lordling blinked back at him. "What? You mean like a trade? Well, I guess we could do something like that. But I was really looking forward to my horseshoes field."

"No!" Navin jumped and reached for the nobleman’s arm. Grabbing it in a firm grip, he started pulling the boy to his boat. "No, we have an agreement, and you’ll just have to follow through with it. Come on, we can get to the Northern provinces on my boat. I can have you there in a matter of days." Dear gods, what was he getting himself into?

The two other men shared a look before following after them. "Mr. LeGrotte, how could you tell where we needed to go?"

Navin rolled his eyes as he sighed. "You look like you’re from the North. He," Navin stuck his thumb out in the older man’s direction, "talks like he’s from the North. So, we are obviously going to the North."

Navin thought he heard one of them utter, "oh," as he led the nobleman onto his boat. It was going to be a very long few days.

But of course he was wrong. The trip felt as though it took much longer.

The two older men wouldn’t shut up about how the dragon had eaten their live stock, scorched their fields, destroyed their villages, and desecrated their virgins. Those were all things he had heard hundreds of times before.

Actually, there was only a half truth to what they said. Usually, dragons would have lived in said area long before any human laid foot there. Too many humans meant not enough food for them, which meant there was nothing for the dragons to chow down on except for the human’s live stock. The whole thing about virgins was just mankind’s way of demonizing the noble race.

The young lordling spent his time away from the others. He only spoke to complain. "You call this a boat? More like a dingy to me." "If this is my dinner, then I might as well sacrifice myself to that dragon. The end result will be the same." "This is the ugliest scenery I’ve ever seen. What a stupid looking swamp."

Navin ground his teeth and took the annoyances. If he was going to have his peace, he would have to think up a plan that would take care of both the dragon and that noble brat.

When he wasn’t listening to his companion’s whining, Navin would think about dragons. Over all, they weren’t all that bad. Dragons liked to stay in their caves and sing their great ballads. When they shed their scales, the dead cells turned to gold. Greedy humans in the past had come into their homes to steal their skin. The dragons would retaliate and Navin would have to come in.

He had once considered himself a fair dragon slayer in his time. Instead of killing first and asking questions later, he spent most of his time negotiating with the beasts. When he did fight one, it was only because it had gone rogue, or there was no other hope.

When dragons grew old, they turned feral. Feral dragons loved to prey on helpless villages. If this dragon had gone feral, then Navin had every right to kill it. If not, he had other, better ideas for dealing with the situation.

"Mr. LeGrotte, if you look to the right, you’ll see the mountain that evil monster dwells."

Navin turned, even though he knew the man was wrong. Most dragons liked dark, wet places, just the atmosphere that a cave gave them, but many knew caves were where humans expected them to be. Instead, they turned to deep ravines and bogs for ample shelter. But this dragon could be living in the cave.

It took another two days to travel across land to reach the mountain, which he learned was Mt. Faemihr. On the morning they reached the base of Mt. Faemihr, the young nobleman laid a blanket down on the open field’s grass. "Well dragon slayer, I think we’ll just wait here while you go and do the job we are paying you for."

"You aren’t paying me," Navin grumbled under his breath. Slumping his bundle over his shoulder, he set off.

In his bundle he stored all of his slaying equipment: three axes, two cross bows, three complete sets of bolts, and two long swords. While he was still on his boat, he had donned his pyro cloak. It was a large piece of fire proof cloth that covered his entire body. The only part of him that showed while wearing it was his head.

At the edge of the cave, Navin could smell the strong scent of sulfur coming from within the cave. Without so much as a blink, he started in. It was warmer in the cave than out, and the sulfur smell grew stronger with every step. A dragon insulated its own home and regulated it to keep the cave at a desired temperature. The sulfur smell was a by product to when a dragon breathed fire.

As he traveled farther into the cave, Navin saw various livestock carcasses lining the walls. There weren’t any human corpses. Dragons rarely ate humans. Closer to the center he walked on his toes, trying to keep as quiet as he could. He grew hotter with every step he took, but at the same time, it grew just as bright. The Red Fen was warm, especially during summer, but this was unbelieveable.

The trail Navin was following made an abrupt turn into a larger cavern. From around an edge of rock, he saw the tip of the dragon’s tail. Navin slammed up against the rock wall. I sure hope it didn’t see me.

-My dear Slayer, you must be new at this. I am sorry that I will be your first and last prey.-

Navin didn’t move for a moment, then realized hiding at this point was futile. Sighing, he stepped out from around the corner and raised his arms above his head. "Nope, not new, just rusty. You’re the first dragon I’ve seen in seven years. Now I’m nothing but a humble fisherman. What is your name?"

The dragon remained silent as it continued to hide in the shadows. But then Navin heard a small voice in the back of his mind, -Xantril. And I’m a female if that makes any difference.-

"Well Xantril, you being here means that either your mate is off somewhere else, leaving you alone and wounded, or you have eggs to protect." Taking each of his weapons out of their holsters, he threw them onto the ground at least three feet in front of him. "I’m willing to make a deal."

Steam flowed from the shadows. Probably from Xantril’s nostrils. It was a dragonesk reaction similar to human laughter. -You are the strangest slayer I think I have ever seen. What makes you think that I will let you walk out of here with your life?-

"Because we both want something; to get those stupid nobles out of our hair, or scales, for good. I have a plan, but I’ll need your help to see it through."

Navin watched as her two, serpentine, amethyst eyes blinked several times. When she finally did move, it was out into the light.

It was strange to see an eastern dragon in this part of the world, but Navin had no explanation for why she was here. Xantril had a shimmering blue green coat of scales and a mane of bleached red fur. Her long body ended with a tail that looked more like a fish fin with a darker bluish shade than the rest of her body. Her four feet each had indigo claws to go with her matching goat horns and long lashing eyebrows.

She was the most beautiful dragon Navin had ever seen.

Never taking her eyes off him, she didn’t walk, but slithered across the air as snakes slithered across the ground. Curling high up in the tops of her cave, she stared down at her potential killer. Abruptly, she broke her gaze to the shadows where she had been hiding.

Navin followed her eyes and saw something shining within the depths of the shadows. With a quick glance up at the dragon, he made his way over to her nest. There, four eggs laid side by side; each shining a bright gold. They looked like they were only months away from hatching.

"Have you named them yet?"

-Human parents name their children. We dragons name ourselves.-

"Can they be moved?"

Xantril gave a soft growl. -Why?-

"This place isn’t safe for you anymore. You could—"

-You said you had a plan for getting rid of my enemies. I will not leave my home.-

"Just listen, we can help each other. I’ll get rid of those guys outside, just so long as you’re willing to make a small change of scenery."

Xantril didn’t respond. She only curled up into a tighter coil and breathed more smoke.

Navin shook his head. It had been too long anyway. If they were going to do anything, it would have to be now. Grabbing his two swords, he made his way close to the edge of the cave. Banging them together, he started yelling at the top of his lungs. "Aha! Come at me dragon. Today you meet your dooooom!"

Accompanying that cry of victory, Navin gave a series of grunts yelps and cries, along with as much profanity as he could muster. When this was done, he slid one of his swords along the inside of his arm, drenching it in blood. As hard as he could, he threw the sword out of the mouth of the cave.

Returning to Xantril and her eggs, he wasn’t expecting to find her on the ground out in the open. In the air she was safe. It was a sign that she was beginning to trust him. -Was that really necessary?-

"Yes," he whispered, "but now it’s your turn. I need you to fly out of this cave and breath fire at the three men waiting outside."

-Why? What are you planning, dragon slayer?-

"I told you, I’m retired. The only thing I want now from life is to spend the rest of my days fishing in my fen. That and get rid of those men outside; almost as much as you do. Is that so much to ask?"

It took a moment for Xantril to respond, but when she did, more smoke trailed out of her nostrils and towards the cave’s ceiling. -You are a very particular dragon slayer. Pardon me. Ex-dragon slayer. I will do as you ask, only if you promise to help me protect my eggs. There are so few of us now. I want the best for my children. Guard my eggs with your life and I will be yours.-

"Done. But one more thing." Navin ran to pick up a bundle of old animal bones that dotted the cave. A human skull would have been best, but then again, maybe not. He could do without a skull. Bringing the bones back to Xantril, he laid them at her feet. "I want you to throw these at the men you see. They’ll think they are mine."

-But those are animal bones and they have been aging for days. I was going to keep them for my children to play with.-

"Look, those fools will have no idea what they’ll be looking at. They only care that a really big and scary creature is living a few miles away from them. They’ll think whatever they want about you unless you make an effort to change their impressions. They’re like puddy in your hands....claws....You know what I mean."

Xantril almost...purred was it? -I will do as you ask.- Picking up several bones in her claws, she flew out of the cave faster than Navin could say "Red Fen".

A promise was a promise, so Navin could only wait as he watched over the eggs. Strange noises came from outside the cave. Screams, roars, explosions. He would have killed to see the look on those three’s faces, but all he had were their voices echoing against the walls.

"Ahh! It killed him!"

"Now it’s coming after us!"

"Run! Run, sire, run! Ahh!"

"It chewed him up and spat him out! EEEEE!"

Navin couldn’t help but laugh when the young noble screamed like a girl. The other two must have been peeing their pants. One could hope.

"We’re all gonna’ diiiiiiiiiie!"

The voices faded away. Navin’s laughter filled in the silence. He was still laughing when Xantril returned. -Was that a performance to your liking?-

"Oh yes. Classic. Those three won’t be coming to bother me anymore. And with their Northern superstitions, they’ll probably think my Fen’s haunted to boot! I’m going to be set for life thanks to this."

Xantril growled. There was no mistaking this for a purr. -And what about those you leave behind? They will only find another dragon slayer to come and knock on my cave. You said your plan would please us both. How are my children and I to get along when the next slayer doesn’t want to bargain?-

At this, Navin forced himself to stop laughing and became serious again. "Well, why don’t you come and live with me in my fen? There are a lot of nice creatures that live there for you to live off of. And there are enough fish for the both of us if we’re careful. You have four eggs. I think I can carry all of them in my boat while you fly overhead."

Xantril’s red split tongue slithered out to taste the air. -My apologies, Slayer, but they were going to flee in the boat. I did not know it was yours. I thought it belonged to them, so I burnt it.-

Navin groaned while rubbing his temples between sooty gloves. "I was counting on my boat to get back to the fen. It’ll take me forever to get back there by foot." From within his hands, he peeked up at the dragon. "And my name is Navin. Navin LeGrotte. Not slayer, or dragon slayer, or anything else that has to do with killing things. Well, maybe with the exception of fish."

Xantril made a sort of dip, letting her head and front torso almost touch the ground. -Again, my apologies, Navin LeGrotte. Tell me, you are fond of your fen?-

"Fond? I love it to bits!"

Xantril took a moment to consider her options. First looking to her eggs then to Navin, she responded, -I will carry my children. We will go with you only if you keep your promise to watch over my children. For as long as you live.-

Raising his right hand, Navin said, "I do so solemnly swear to watch over your eggs for as long as I live." He lowered his hand. "I guard all of my fen. From mosquitoes to dragons. They’ll be safe there."

Floating to the floor, Xantril landed so that her entire snake-like body touched the ground. -Then climb on my back. I will take you to our new home.-

After gathering all of his weaponry, Navin did as he was told. Scrambling up her neck, he held on tightly to Xantril’s horns as she lifted into the air. They made a quick pass over her nest, but he didn’t see whether she collected up her eggs or not. With everything in order, Xantril zoomed out through the mouth of her cave. Whipping into the air, she flew higher and higher until she touched the clouds.

It was like nothing Navin had ever experienced before. Xantril rolled along through the air, going up, going down, whizzing through and around flocks of flying birds. It was the greatest ride of his life.

In a fraction of the time that it took Navin and the three men to reach Xantril’s cave, she was already flying over his home. -Is this it?-

Navin found that he couldn’t respond. If the fen had been homely before when he was on the ground, it was magnificent now that he flew above it.

-You were right, Slayer. This will be a lovely place to raise my children.-

"Yeah, well, welcome to your new home, dragon. Welcome home."