The One, #11: Dragons True – Segment 10

Originally published September 20, 2020...

Endings are difficult, and this ten-segment of the eleventh Song, Dragons True,” is no exception. The next time you see a post featuring The One, a new Song will have opened – number 12.

But for now, we remain with EndMaker and the mysterious girl. The main character with Argose have been sliding deeper and more steadily into their world inside the cave. All along, EndMaker doesn’t act like we imagine a Dragon should; the girl deports herself more like a bat than a human. Yet, the two cave dwellers communicate perfectly, and even bring in Argose and his master to the dual mind of Dragon and girl. Just as with Shield Bearer, the main character, and his faithful buddy merge farther into the inner world of Dragons and other startling creatures.

What’s to be gained by all these fantastic experiences? Why do we love Dragons, monsters, and Dragon-monsters so much? A few fantasy films include a docile Dragon, or one that has formed some sort of alliance with a human character. But something is missing as we reach the midpoint of this epic. Can you apprehend what that might be?

. . . Five hundred years he lived so – never took

a human life although in the scarce times

he filled his belly with a dog or two”

She looked at Argose who whimpered faintly

“How these past things can you possibly know?”

“He has told me thus and so true it be”

All his brethren this way lived and hunted”

“But how know you this for you are too young?”

“I do but look youthful. In truth I’m old

unto five hundred years we are as one

The end of our lineages both we are”

dispatched by human hunters and others

unsung, scattered bones of sisters, brothers

Between us, sadness rises up – tears’ tide

ebbs and falls in stillness

All to silence save EndMaker’s breathing

Void opens, suggests a way of leaving

Motionless Dragons – each stopped their breathing

All breath of Dragons breathed no longer

Great bodies shriveling, receding, smaller

Argose lies down, head on paws, paws on stone

The decades unfold like ten black lilies

As if reminding herself, she speaks on

I assembled speech of sweet Dragon Tongue

Argose’s ears prick up with this revealing

and I could feel it send my thoughts turning

EndMaker opens eyes and tucks his head

skin-folded armor glowing white to red

unhinging his jaws as before but now

from his throat overflows bottomless roars    

as he sounds the Dragon Tongue and cracks the stones

A shaft of memories spear through my bones

piercing wails erupt in clicks, rumbles, moans          

as this Dragon shrieks his centuries alone

and the four of us forge hot as One

The ghost girl tells stories from her seen-truth

and EndMaker speaks more into our minds

He stretches his long, scaled neck, drawing tight

the layered armor skin-strapped long the length

as if he pulled against some hindering chains

The histories of girl and beast spills out

alone, together, battling, and serene

I see EndMaker’s grandeur unfettered, roaming

as she said he traveled, freely going

resting under moss-turned, rocky ledges

by day treading the river-water shores

In those times, she saw him from a distance

coming closer over time until they 

walked together and she showed him the cave

she had made her home, and then invited

they lived and learned both the other’s language

He took his food from distant farmers’ fields

The bones of sheep and cows he then scattered 

across the hills and raised the ranchers’ ire

who set out with piercing weapons to find

the one who laid waste their creations

They knew their quarry was no wolf or bear

EndMaker’s tracks betrayed his dimensions

and the men would not dare approach him

but for their worn-weary desperation

Long before they found him, the Dragon smelled

the arms of the men and hoped them friendly

but as they neared, he sensed blood and fear

Soon under the one-time moon’s brilliant red

he endured the running as best he could

even weighted by his great lizard body

dragging battled tail spiked as if with nails

When the men saw that his speed lacked vigor

they raged and raised their weapons over heads

When they reached him, they sank spears and long-poles

into his sides with vengeful vicious thrusts

but he bore down his teeth upon their heads

others with his tail, took away their breath

until the rest realized their defeat

that they could not kill him with arms so weak

and so made their escape and dragged their kin

and made much distance between themselves and him

EndMaker, Dragon, did not follow them

Thus, so it was that he and the girl seized

the cave, asleep by day; she gone by dark.

He ventured out not at all from then on

She, wrapped in night, fluttered, flitted

bat wings sharp as stars under vaulting heavens

Background

If you follow Mondays on this blog where I post, you will know that I grew up trapsing around a small airport in Central Wisconsin far away from the nearest small town. Because of the distance, I had no real friends, but I did have dozens of imaginary ones. In a space between a quonset and a cinder block hangar, I kept my imaginary horses and Dragons. The space had a cave-like feel to it, and the prairie wind blew fiercely through it, even when outside of the “cave,” all was calm. Both horses and Dragons presented varied colors; the horses had brilliant, unusual tack; the Dragons were ferocious to all but me, and I felt the mistress of all I saw.

Why do young humans (or all of us?) conjure up such shining creatures? Looking back, I could see that I needed to leave my environment; I wanted to ride away, farther, and farther. You see, I felt quite trapped; a butterfly of sorts in a too-small box. Of course, that’s where the horses come in. And the Dragons? Well, I was small and comparatively weak. I needed companions who could and would protect me and keep away those others that I feared. The horses gave me freedom. The Dragons provided protection . . . if only in my imagination. Like all children, eventually, I had to learn to provide these abilities myself.

Exploration 1: Now, at the end of Song 11, what take-aways do you have? Do the ten segments of this Song come together and provide “lessons-learned,” or is it all “just” imagination or fantasy?

Exploration 2: Did you notice that both EndMaker and the girl appear to be five hundred years old? Why this similarity? Coincidence? Meaningful? Why so old, if true?

Exploration 3: What do you foresee for EndMaker and the girl? Will they survive? Will they appear again in this epic?