King Edward, Part VIIAnonymoushistoryghostsèÒ)  GQT’n"‡'æ+1@6\;ùýKing Edward, Part VIIù Chap 7: Dragon "So you saw a demon? And killed a rat with Tooth? That's afine ebony dagger, Tooth is. They're rare so you want to takereal good care of it," Mith said. "I can't tell you about theblade except it came from Moraelyn's father. It's the one hisbrother sent him to repair just before we ran away. Would youlike to hear about how they got the dragon's tooth that Matscarved the hilt from?" Edward nodded, caressing the curved hilt with its lightlycarved intertwined roses, thorns and leaves. It was wellafter supper and everyone but him and Mith had left the firefor one reason or another. Aliera and Moraelyn had gone for awalk hand in hand, Aliera holding Moraelyn's newly healedöleft hand in both of hers. They'd laughed and shaken their headswhen he'd offered to come along, "Not tonight," Aliera hadsaid. "Go to sleep soon. We'll be leaving before dawn."Willow had gone to visit a High Elf friend. Beech, Ssa'ass, Matsand the Khajiit woman, Silk, had also gone off together,laughing. They'd invited Mith to come along, but Mith haddeclined. "Khajiits! They're all turning into a bunch of shamelessKhajiits," Mith said. The short Dark Elf sat close to theglowing embers, knees to chest. His hair and eyes glowed in thedim light. "If you're going to pair, you should pair, notturn it into an tourney. They'll be selling tickets next. Buteach to his own. Khajiits think we're weird because we likeeating as a group. Silk says it put her right off her food atfirst, listening to everybody chew. Well, having a bunch ofwatchers puts me off--I s'pose you're too young for this kindof talk." Edward shrugged. It was a beautiful night, crisply cool, nomoon, but the stars were very large and bright. "Anyway, it was just a few months after Mats had joined upwith us. We were up in Skyrim, travelling from town to town.Just three kids seeing the country a bit, picking up odd jobswhere we could. Moraelyn entered tournaments if we heardöabout them, but he wasn't winning that much ... just aboutenough to cover healing him up afterwards. You can get beatup pretty bad fighting Skyrim style -- that's without shieldingspells, or any other spells for that matter, no magicallowed -- even if it isn't to the death. And he drew a few typesthat didn't mind seeing a little dark elf blood spilled in thesand. Or a lot. And the crowds were against him at first. Itcan get pretty lonely in the arena, especially if you'rebeating the home town favorite. And it's even worse if he'sbeating you. "Mats and me 'ud be the only ones for him, and sometimes we didn't dare cheer too loud. They'd look real funnyat a Nord boy cheering a Dark Elf back then. 'Course Mats wasso big, not many wanted to start anything with him. That was along time ago. Moraelyn's the favorite now if things gettough. 'Course the crowds will cheer for a good match, buthardly anyone really wants to see him lose now. They likeseeing the best, even if it comes wrapped in a dark elf hide.And when he walks into an arena you know you're seeing the best.Not but what they'd like seeing a Nord that's better. And Matsmay get there soon. He doesn't fight his best against Moraelyn,though. Maybe he doesn't want to, or maybe Moraelyn just knowshim too well. Oh, well, you want to hear about the dragon ...ö "So Moraelyn was gambling with this Nord in a tavern onenight, trying to pick up a little easy gold. The pot's prettybig, and the man can't match his bet, so he says he'll put thismap on the pile and tap Moraelyn. Says it's a map to thehiding place of the best blade ever made. Says there's a spellon it so that if you hit your opponent, you get as much heal ashe gets hurt. That some Mage hid it just before he died so'sonly someone worthy of it can get to it. "'And you think I look worthy?' Moraelyn says, grinning. Wewere young and dumb, but not all that dumb. "The Nord grins back and says 'I saw you fight in Falcreath,kid. You look like you'd take a chance.' "'Why not? The story alone is worth the gold. You ought to bea Bard.' So anyway Moraelyn wins the pot and tosses the manenough back to keep his throat wet all evening. Just forlaughs we look at the map. It showed the Dragon's TeethMountains down in Hammerfell. Real wild country. And there'san 'X' and some writing saying 'Fang Lair'. Mats gets excitedand says he's heard of the place, but he'd never known justwhere it was. "'And you still don't,' I say. 'Any fool can draw a map,just as any fool can look at one. I could do as much myself.' "Mats says Fang Lair is an old dwarf mine, but there'sösupposed to be a dragon there now, and the dwarves are gone.Moraelyn looks real interested at the mention of a mine, andasks what they mined there. Mats says mithril and gold. "Moraelyn says, 'Hmmmmm.' "The mithril had him interested. We couldn't afford reallygood weapons. And mithril's scarce, but it's light to carryfor its worth, and easy to mine and work if you know how; and hedid. He didn't believe in the magic blade or the dragon, but hethought the mine might be real. Mining's in his blood, as it isin all the R'Aathim, the royal Kin of Ebonheart. "It took us a couple of months to get there. We couldn'tafford horses. We never would have found it without the map.It's tricky country, full of canyons and hidden valleys. Wesure never expected what we saw when we did get there. Youcould see the towers from the canyon mouth, way back in there.Dark elves live right in caverns if they mine, but the dwarveshad built a hall over the top of their mines. It's a prettything on the outside. Narrow towers, and arched bridgesbetween them. Delicate looking; you wouldn't expect work likethat from Dwarves. Merged right into the rocks too. And therewas a big stone dragon mounted above the gate. "'There's your dragon, Mats,' I said. The inside wasn't muchöto look at, just rock wall. The doorway was enormous, but thedoors were gone. There was a balcony running right around abig open pit ... probably the start of the mine, turned intoa hall. And right in the middle was more treasure than you canimagine ... piled up almost like a haystack that'd beenflattened out. And what had flattened it was a golden dragoncurled right over it; we didn't even see him at first, 'cause heblended with the rest of the gold. Well, we just froze inplace. We hadn't seen a sign of live dragon outside. Theplace smelled of brimstone, but most mines do. And there thatdragon was, just lying there. And it's gotta be two miles toany kind of shelter. "'I told you there was a dragon,' Mats whispers. "'Shhhhh,' Moraelyn says. 'Look what's in front of his nose.' "I'd been busy looking AT his nose, believe you me. But therewas a sword lying right there naked, sure enough ... .and theblade was dark metal that looked just like his dagger. "'You two start back,' Moraelyn says, 'I'm going to try forthat blade, anyway. If that's not ebony, I'm a wood elf.Maybe the dragon's dead, or asleep for the winter ... ormaybe it's not alive at all. Just something the dwarves madeto guard their treasure. Like the scarecrows the Nord farmersput in their grain fields. At worst, I'll distract him longöenough for you to get clear.' "I'd a mind to take him up on it, but Mats just shook his head,and I was kinda ashamed to go back alone. "'Let's all just clear out,' I said. That thing looked realenough to scare ME away. But Moraelyn casts Invisibility andheads on down the stair, not making a sound that even I couldhear. I could see Mats hated letting him go down alone, butMats couldn't sneak past a blind, deaf beggar in a fishmarket. So we strung our bows and figured we could try toget off a couple of shots and maybe get lucky and take out theeyes if the dragon woke up and went for Moraelyn. Mats and Imove around to where we can get onto a tower stair fast if wehave to, figuring the dragon can't get in there. Then wescrunch down and peer between the railings. Not that there wasanything to see except the dragon lying there. Which really isa lot to see, at that. "Then those dragon eyes popped open and my heart gave one bigjump and then seemed to quit entirely. "'Ahhhhh! Dinner comes to me today,' the dragon says. 'Take agood look at my hoard, dark elf. You will not steal it noreven view it long, but your bones will keep it company ....forever.' "'I don't want your hoard, dragon, just the sword you guard.öI'll trade you mine for it; mine's bigger.' I couldn't seeMoraelyn, but his voice was coming from right near where thesword was. Which was practically in the dragon's mouth! "'I get a meal and both swords. Why should I settle for justyour poor sword?' "'Let me pass and I'll get you more gold from below.' "'I have gold enough.' The dragon yawned and I thought he wasgoing to swallow Moraelyn right then, but he turned his headaway -- away from us, too. Mats was looking to get a shot, butit was really dark in there for Nord eyes and he was scared ofhitting Moraelyn, since he couldn't locate him that well bysound. 'Course Moraelyn's too smart to get between us and thedragon, but Mats wasn't smart enough then to think that faralong. Slavery dulls the wits in some ways, Mats says, and hehadn't been free very long. I could see well enough, and Icould tell by sound exactly where Moraelyn was, but the shotwas clean out of my range. "The dragon goes on, 'But there is something you can do forme, elf, and prolong your life a few more minutes.' "'A few more minutes sound pretty good just now, dragon.What would you ask of me?' Moraelyn's voice sounded as calmand easy as if he was asking if there would be rain tomorrow.He can keep his head in a tight spot, I'll give him that.ö "'I have a toothache. It's too far back for me to reach it withmy claws. Canst see it, elf?' The dragon gapes his jaws tobare his teeth. "Moraelyn's invisiblity spell wore off about then, and Icould see him standing there staring up into that cavern of amouth. 'Lower your head a bit so I can get a good look.' Heputs out his hand and pulls the upper lip aside, cool as youplease, and examines the inner gum carefully. Damndest thingI ever saw. "'It's abcessed. Thy gum wants lancing, and the tooth shouldcome out. I can lance it if you trust me in there with asword.' "'And why should I trust you, dark elf? I hear no good of yourkind.' "'You must be spending too much time with Nords, then. Iwouldn't be able to kill you before you killed me. Why shouldI even try? Listen, I have some friends up above. Supposethey hunt you up a nice fat deer. I'll lance your gum andyou can let me go and eat the deer. Else you can just eat menow, toothache and all.' "'Hssssssss. What makes you think your friends will return oncethey're away?' "'They're not very smart. I think for them. They'd be lostöwithout me. Good hunting, guys! Uh, if they can't find a deer,is there anything else you'd like? Pig, maybe? A few rabbits?Nuts? Berries? Hurry up, will you?' But we had hand signalsand his hands said to get out of there and stay out! "I'd abeen glad to; I mean I'm fond of Moraelyn but I didn't see mydying alongside would bring him any comfort. I'd a been gladto see him clear if it was me that was on the menu, and Ifigured he felt the same way. But that thick-skulled Nordwouldn't listen to me! Said if dying beside him was all wecould do, then that's what we'd do. Nord nonsense. Soundsgood in a song, though. "So we took a couple hours getting a deer and headed back withit. I figured Moraelyn was filling the dragon's belly bynow, and the dragon would be happy to add a deer, another DarkElf and a Nord to round out his day's rations. But Moraelynwas still sitting there, chatting with the dragon. He didn'tlook that pleased to see us, either. Told us to leave the deerand go and he'd lance the abcess once we're away. But Matssays he's been thinking. Oh, brother, I thought. Mats doesn'tthink too often, and that's a good thing, really. He's decidedhe can get a chain round that bad tooth, fasten down the endto the floor, and then the dragon can give it a good yankhimself.ö "The dragon likes the idea, so Moraelyn lances that abcess totake the swelling down to where the dragon can gulp the deerwith some comfort. And then they rig up a chain and get thattooth out. Made a hell of a mess, that. Blood and puseverywhere. And Moraelyn's got us casting Heal spells on thisdragon to stop the bleeding and close up the wound. "'Ah, hum, good, very good. All right, Moraelyn, you'veproven yourself. Take the sword and go.' "Moraelyn looks at him. 'You mean this was some kind of test?'he says. 'How long have you had that toothache?' "'Long indeed, as you measure time, mortal, yet not verylong at all for dragonkind. Hear my story then: a scragglyyoung mage came along, hoping to steal my gold. I caught himat it; we had increasingly harsh words, and he attempted aspell aimed at me. His pitiful spell affected me little, and Ikilled him. But ummmm...' The dragon looked away briefly,then resumed his tale. 'The little runt had apparently cast ahome-made Curse spell upon himself, and when I crunchedhim...' The dragon scowled fiercely, remembering, thencontinued, 'Anyway, the ache only came on bad when someonecame along to try for the sword. The sharpest pain went awayif I ate the intruder ... but I usually didn't, though I'vesinged a few in self-defense; heh, waft a bit of fire and mostöof them fled. Deer are plentiful; there is something er, ah,unpleasant about eating someone you've talked to. Thatgreasy mage gave me indigestion for days. Cramps and runnybowels and too much gas, even for a dragon. So that toothachenever did completely go away. And the people who've comealong haven't been very pleasant either ... all in all one ofthe most unpleasant stretches in my life. I couldn't stayaway from the vicinity of the sword for very long of course.Part of the curse.' "'We could stay on for awhile, if you like. We're goodcompany. I'm Moraelyn; my red-headed friend is Mith, and thebig guy is Mats. I'd still like to look for mithril below andI've never had a dragon friend before.' "'I might like that. You have good friends, and even thoughyou have said that you must do the thinking for them. I thinkthat they can do some thinking on their own, and it wouldappear that they have decided that you are a worthwhilefellow,' The dragon hesitated for a second and actuallymanaged to look shy! 'You can call me Akatosh.' "So we stayed for a couple of weeks. Hunted with the dragon --now that's an experience! Searched the mines ... didn't findmuch down there. But the dragon gave us the jewels from hishoard. Said he only needed the metal; they absorb it into theiröscales while they lie on it. So we did pretty well out of itafter all. Moraelyn tried to give Mats the sword. Claimedthat he'd have sure tried to kill that dragon if we hadn't comeback, and would have been toasted. But Mats wouldn't take it.Said the dragon gave it to Moraelyn so that was clearly whowas supposed to get it. Mats took the tooth, but he made thehilt you've got now and gave Moraelyn that, too. Told me he'dnever had anything worth giving before, and it made him feelgood. He's real pleased Moraelyn chose to give it to you." "I think Mats should have got the sword," Edward said. "Hedidn't try to steal anything. It was really brave of him tocome back, even when he didn't think it'd do any good. Moraelyntried to steal, got caught and then just tried to talk his wayout of it. You could all have been killed because of him." "That's just what Moraelyn said. Ah, well, Mats likes that bigaxe of his better than a blade anyway." Edward sighed. "I wish I was brave like Mats. I guess I'm morelike you." "Aye," Moraelyn's voice sounded behind him, startling theboy. "Tart tongued, like Mith. No matter. I'll be wellpleased if you're as brave as Mith. And if once I'm gone theysay no more of me than 'he did what he had to do', my spiritwill be at peace." ö