The Dragon’s Counsel
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Tasha and Trevor sat alone in awkward silence for some time, slowly drinking their tea, before Faye and Michael returned. The Dragon offered to show them their rooms. They were additional alcoves nestled around the main cavern.
Trevor was impressed at how luxurious they were by village standards: heavy wooden dressers, a great wood bed with a mattress stuffed with feathers, and a wash basin filled with warm water.
“Please freshen up. Supper will be served in two hours.” The Dragon’s eye withdrew, and her flank pressed against the archway, sealing the room with her scaly hide. Trevor was beginning to wonder if they were prisoners.
Supper was soup served back in the library room. A table had been set up, and the soup ladled into bread bowls for Michael and Trevor. Tasha was given a plate of fresh fish, which she tore into hungrily. Trevor tried not to watch the process in fascinated horror.
After dinner they sat and visited about news over the mountains, the doings of the trolls, and the villages up and down the coast. Trevor was at first deeply interested, but soon found the news to be of a rather tedious character. Faye chuckled softly as she caught his head nodding to his chest.
Shortly thereafter, Trevor and Tasha retired to their rooms, leaving the Dragon and Michael to continue talking.
Soon after arriving in his room, however, Trevor heard a knock at the door. “Come in?” he said, not entirely sure how the dragon’s flank could be knocked on. A section swung open as though a scaled door, and a woman appearing to be in her fifties walked into the room.
“Can I help you?” asked Trevor.
“No, but perhaps I can help you,” said the woman as she sat down in the chair by the dresser. It was Faye’s voice.
“Are you the Dragon?” Trevor asked.
“Yes.”
His curiosity was aroused. “Then are you a person that can look like a dragon, or a dragon that can look like a person?”
Faye chuckled ruefully, and murmured to herself softly,
We see no reptilian visage
Nowhere is heard enchanting fey
But under glamour they abound
Their purposes fulfilled
“What does that mean? It’s just glamour?”
“I am dragon enough. I am the Dragon of the Mountain, just as Michael is, or was, the Sea Dragon. Purposes are composable.”
“Michael is a dragon?” This was quite the revelation to Trevor. Michael had taught him about the Sea Dragon since he was young. How it watched over the village, and how dangerous it could be if provoked. He had been studying under the dragon the whole time? He wondered what Michael’s dragon form looked like. “Can he transform too?”
She gave him a simple smile. “No, I have never known him to transform. It is about the suitability for purpose, not his outer form. He sleeps on his pile of treasure, as I do. Guarding it. Keeping it safe. You don’t need scales for that.”
“So, can I learn how to be a dragon? Am I one already?”
“Have you a treasure? Are you capable of guarding it?” Her voice was amused, and perhaps curious.
“Well, no. I suppose not,” Trevor said, disappointed. “Michael has a treasure, then?” His brows were screwed up in concentration as he tried to work out what she was getting at. He had an uneasy feeling that there was some trick being played on him, one kept just out of his grasp.
“Oh, all dragons do. So do I. One that I would issue out from the Hill to protect. Crush bones and sear flesh.” A low rumble of a growl emerged from the door.
“I-I don’t want to take any of you’re treasure,” Trevor reassured her nervously.
“You mean ‘your treasure’. Walk with me,” she ordered. The “door” of scaly dragon hide swung open again. Trevor followed, nervously.
He emerged into the main cavern. He was within the dragon, but it was… what? Immaterial? Spectral? And nearly transparent. The whole area was lit by a glowing sphere in the dragon’s chest. The human Faye walked purposefully toward the mouth of the cave, and Trevor hurried after her.
About half-way across the great landing before the cave mouth she stopped and looked up. It was not so sheltered here, and a stiff breeze blew around them. It was a clear night, and Trevor looked up at the stars with her. After some time he looked around. He thought he could see the form of a girl, maybe Tasha, off in the distant gloom.
“Why are you going Outside?” Faye asked, drawing his eyes back to her.
Trevor took a moment before he could answer. “At first, I thought I was going on an adventure, and to help Michael,” he began. “Then Michael said I am being punished. That I might reveal the village’s secrets to the sirens,” Trevor confessed.
“You could stay here. There are adventures enough this side of the hill, without going Outside.” Faye looked at him hard. “There are no secrets to reveal that I do not already know.”
“Should I? I mean, it isn’t like Michael could use my help. I am pretty sure he only ever pretends to be old and feeble.” Trevor regretted asking. He didn’t want the answer he was afraid he would get.
“Michael knows he doesn’t need to take you Outside. He has some purpose, well formed or not, in mind. Purposes are composable, remember. He can remove you as a problem, and use you for a solution all at once.”
Trevor looked at her with furrowed brow. “So, I should go with Michael then?” Was that what she was trying to get him to do?
“That is not my place to say. Nor…” She paused, staring hard at Trevor. “Nor is it Michael’s.”
“So, how do I know what to do?”
“Maybe you should pray. Did you before you left?”
“Yes, well, kind of,” he replied, unconvincingly. “I never really know what the answer is.”
She looked at him shrewdly. “Don’t rob Him of a prayer to answer.”
She reached up and grabbed him by the top of the head.
Dear Heavenly Father
Thank you for our Trevor,
His youth and adventurous spirit
I ask that you grant him wisdom and clarity
As he considers the choice before him
That he would seek Your guidance
And that You would reveal Your will
In the name of Jesus,
Amen
“Now, get to sleep,” Faye said, with a wave of her hand that made the air ripple like the surface of water before Trevor’s eyes. They closed against the distortion.
Trevor opened his eyes and the human Faye had faded away. He felt his head spin, and he was back in his room, wondering if he had imagined it all.