I didn’t pick it up immediately, despite its small size, choosing instead to examine it closely first. There was no sign of runes or symbols, and the magic emanating from it had a strange feel to it, giving me the distinct impression that the small statue wasn’t enchanted. Though, for it to still radiate magic after several hundred years without being enchanted, doesn’t make sense, I thought silently. “You must be connected to some other source…,” I said aloud, trying to work through the possibilities.
That was when I felt it, the rapid approach of something large, living, and radiating with aythar. It was in the air, rushing toward us at incredible speed and coming from the west.
Dorian was gazing at the miniature statue we had found, his helmet resting on the ground beside him. “Is this all that was in there?” he asked me.
I was staring toward the west. “Put your helmet back on,” I told him.
“Why?” he replied, even as he rose to his feet. Despite his question, he was already putting his helmet back in place.
“We’re about to find out why they call this place ‘Dragon’s Nest’,” I answered.
“This would be the same dragon you met before?”
I nodded, “I don’t think there are any others. This place was his home, once.” As I spoke, I used my staff to etch a circle ten foot in diameter around us. Once it was complete, I added a second circle just outside of it and added well placed runes in the space between the two. It was hastily constructed, but it did the job nonetheless. I could create a shield with nothing more than a thought, but it required more energy than if I used words to channel my power… using written symbols made the effort even easier, and added a significant amount of strength.
Dorian had drawn his sword again, but I put my hand upon his arm, “Put it away. I don’t want to fight him if we can avoid it.”
“He may not give us that option,” said my friend. As he spoke, I admired his courage; if he ever thought of running, it never showed in his words or actions.
I shrugged, “If it comes to it, I don’t think you’ll be able to fight him. If something happens to me and you do… you’ll need to cut his head off, he can heal any other wound, given a moment’s respite.”
There was no more time, for the dragon had arrived, screaming his fury with a rumbling howl that set my teeth on edge and sent cold shivers of fear up my spine. I had intended to hail him, but Gareth Gaelyn, the dragon, spent no time on introductions. Dropping down on us from the sky, he stopped twenty feet above and hovered there, throwing dust and debris in all directions from the thunderous beating of his wings. Opening a mouth full of dagger-like teeth, he sent a raging gout of flame at us.
The heat and intensity of his breath was incredible, and it incinerated everything around us, beyond the edge of my warded circle. The flames continued to come for what seemed an eternity, but in all probability was only a half a minute. Still they made an impression. Gareth was not a happy dragon.
The flames went out and I started to yell at him, but he wasted no time, attacking my shield with claws and teeth. It can be quite hard to make oneself heard over the noise of an angry dragon. Lifting my staff, I pointed the heel toward him like a spear, “Do you really want to do this?” I bellowed, using a touch of magic to increase the volume of my voice. “I thought we might talk first.”
He stopped for a moment, staring at me with draconian eyes. “Your magic does not frighten me, human!” he replied suddenly in a snarling voice. My eyes went wide in surprise, when I had spoken to him before, he had taken a humanoid form first; I hadn’t known he could speak while in his dragon shape.
“I don’t need to frighten you, but if you want, we can find out how well you do with a hole the size of a melon burned through that scaly body of yours,” I answered. I couldn’t be sure, since I hadn’t ever used my magic directly against him, but there weren’t many things that didn’t develop large holes in them when struck by a channeled line of power from my staff.
“Robber! You break into my home and then have the gall to threaten me?!” bellowed the dragon.
I shrugged my shoulders. “You might have a point there, but I didn’t think you had much use for the trappings of your human life anymore.”
“Leave!” he roared back.
“Fine,” I told him, and reaching down I picked up the small figurine. “We’ll just be on our way.”
The dragon’s eyes had gone wide as I lifted the small statue, his body freezing into stillness. He gazed at the object in my hand with terrible intensity. I paused and then we both stared at one another. After a moment Gareth spoke, “Put that down carefully and leave, and I will forget this insult.”
By then I knew I had the upper hand, though I wasn’t sure what I had. “You’ve changed your attitude,” I told him. “Are you worried I might break this?” I feigned dropping the small sculptured man.
“No!” shouted the dragon, so loudly that I worried for the sake of my hearing. “You mustn’t damage it!”
“Why?”
The only answer I received was a cold reptilian stare.
“Fine,” I said at last, “We’ll find out the hard way.” I set the small figurine on a somewhat flat rock and picked up another in one hand, as if I meant to smash it between the two.
“Stop!” cried the dragon, as he looked on helplessly.
I held my stone wielding arm high and motionless. “I need to hear two things if you don’t want me to smash your doll,” I said without a hint of humor, “please… and why.” I should have said ‘dolly’, observed my inner voice, but I doubted I could have kept a straight face if I had.
Gareth stared at me silently for a long half a minute without any indication that he planned to speak. Tired of waiting I shifted and drew back my arm, “Fine, have it your way.”
“Please,” he said suddenly, in a voice that was soft and desperate compared to before.
“And?” I insisted.
“It’s an imprint of my mind… from before,” he answered reluctantly.
“What does that mean exactly? Are you still linked to it? Would it kill you if it were destroyed?” I said, asking questions in rapid succession.
“It’s a family secret, a means of restoring the humanity of those who lose themselves in transformation magics. Yes and… in a way,” he answered.
I had to review my last statement to realize he had answered each of my questions in order. ‘Yes’ he was linked to it and… I gave him a puzzled look, “What do you mean ‘in a way’? That seems like a very simple question to my mind.”
“Please, I’ve told you enough. I’ll grant you any favor if you simply return my aystrylin and leave me in peace.”
The proud dragon that Gareth Gaelyn had become was practically begging now, and for a moment I felt a twinge of shame at extorting the wild being, but I couldn’t look away from the opportunity that lay before me. “Answer the question,” I said calmly, “or the toy gets it.”
He snarled for a moment as a visible wave of anger rippled through his massive scaled body, but then he calmed and answered my question meekly enough, “If the figurine is destroyed, it will perform its designated function in the crudest way possible. The aystrylin will return to me via the link and it will return me, forcibly, to being who I was over a thousand years ago. My memories, my experience, everything that has happened to me since the day that imprint was taken… all of it will be wiped away.”