Dryad & Dragon War
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Garthlac's Tale of the death of Mordell
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It was a night that I shall never forget. Most of what I am going to tell you about that night I heard from others. My view was very limited. Can't see much while wrapped up in a net. I so wish that I knew Mordell before he died that night. I have heard such good things about him since. And later his son became my best friend. The night he died, he looked me directly deep in my eye and gained strength from it. Only a good man can do that, others would faint from terror. He gave his life to save me and his men.
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He and his men were known to be brave and up to any task that needed to be done. That day Mordell and his men had finished a two day march. They had been sent there to set up camp and to scout the land to find out what the Dryads were doing in that area. They thought they would get a days rest before they got down to their assignment. There was a stream with a waterfall where they were to camp and the men were enjoying the cool water on this hot summer day. Even the ones doing guard duty were not wearing their armor, since the sentry point was at the top of the waterfall and when someone else came up to take their place, they ended their duty by taking a jump into the water.
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Earlier that day during the march a boar had been disturbed from a nap and before it got far, four arrows had pierced its side and it dropped quickly before the men. The men gladly carried the boar the rest of the way and it was now being cooked over an open fire by the stream where the men could smell its wonderful flavor.
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And yes, I smelled it also as I flew over them that evening.
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Just as night began to fall, the men began to set up the camp in hopes that the boar would be ready soon. They were not expecting any problems since the scouts had found no sign of the enemy in the area. This was expected to be an easy assignment. After three weeks of heavy battle, this was going to be a nice break. Once the camp was set, they all sat around waiting for a piece of the boar. No one had their armor on and many had little clothing on at all. The ones posted on guard duty had already noticed that I had been flying over the area. I had been the one that had noticed the Dryads in that area. I had been flying out that way alone trying to spot what they were doing. Little did I know then, that was what they wanted me to be doing. A trap had been set and that night they were ready to capture me.
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The tree sprites set a trap for the son of Gynyora. Hoping to use him as a pawn in the war.
The trap was successfull and the son of the great one suddenly found himself enveloped by
strong unburnable nets in the middle of his recon flight. he bellowed and roared and blew
flame everywhere as he found his wings constricted and he plummeted to the ground. After
this night he no longer did recon alone. Luckily Mordell and his men had set up watch on a
nearby hill. They had just moved to this position afer it had gotten very dark. It was a
night without a moon and the cloud hid most of the stars. No one had bedded down yet and
after the falling flames and roars were detected, Mordell's group quickly gathered and
were on the move to see what had happened. When they got down to the river tehy found the
dragon bound tightly in nets and surrounded by a mob of tree sprites. The sprites were
jubilant with their victory. They didn't notice that their camp was being surrounded until it
was too late. Dragon's love to fly free like I was doing that night. But that was soon to be no more. The war had made many people fear us and doubt that any dragon had a good soul. I was young and still had much to learn. But it was things that one must learn on their on.
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There I was flying free. I had already seen Mordell's men at their campsite and was flying along the river that ran nearby. I had not seen anything so far that night when I suddenly heard a loud explosion just below me. I barely had time to look down to see what it was. Then suddenly I was wrapped in a net that got tighter and tighter as I struggled. I bellowed and roared and blew flame as I plummeted to the ground. But the net would not burn. For the first time since I had learned to fly, did I feel fear at falling. Luckily I landed in the river, but soon found myself sinking. I was in pain from striking the water so hard and I bellowed and blew even more flame. Yet even as I was sinking I could feel something pulling on the net. I was being dragged to the shore, where a small camp of Dryads were set up just for capturing me. The net was very tight and I could barely move. As soon as I was on the shore they began to wrap rope around my snout, to keep me from burning anyone that came too close. There I lay pretty much helpless. About all I could do was blow hot steam out of my nostrils. I found that struggling only got me tired, so I just lay there hoping to find out what was going on and maybe the men I saw on the hill would have noticed when I had bellowed and blew flame.
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As I lay there waiting I saw three dark men walking towards me. They each had a wooden mask over the top half of their faces and their clothes were just pieces of skin roughly sewn together. As they got closer I could also tell that they had no hair on them at all. These three were not Dryads. They were humans, but I had not seen any like these three ever before. These men were dark skinned, but not black like the tribes we knew of from very far south. They were a race I did not know of. The one closest to me had an evil grin and as he approached me, he took off his gloves. Somehow I knew that he meant to touch me. Humans do not touch a dragon without permission.
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The Dryads were standing about me cheering over their victory in my capture and so they did not notice the movement in the bushes around them. I knew because I could smell more humans approaching.
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Suddenly a horn blew and all the Dryads stopped and turned to face the blower of that horn.
There he stood at the edge of my sight. A sword in one hand and a horn in the other. He wore no armor. All he had on was his pants and boots. They were black and shiny. His long hair was wet and the look in his eye showed that he knew he had caught them by surprise. He was a bit taller than the men around him and most of them did not have on armor either. There had not been time to put any of that on. They had ran all the way and the sweat was glistening on many of them.
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A mumbling began amongst the Dryads. They had suddenly realized that Mordell and his men had cut them off from the trees. Their backs were to the river. The trees gave them strength. A madness appeared on many faces of the sprites as a moment of silence came and went. Mordell dropped the horn then suddenly gave a fierce scream as he broke into a run towards me. Then the battle ensued. It was horrible and bloody. He must have known, even with catching the Dryads by surprise, they didn't have much of a chance unless he could free me from the net. I was the son of the great dragon Gynyorra and was small for my age, only 30 ft from nose to tip of my tail. My tail was half that length. I was a black and red dragon that was considered quite handsome back then. But I felt like nothing as I lay there helpless watching these brave men risking their lives for me.
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When Mordell reached my side, he had two of his men guard his back. He went to work untangling and cutting the net. It was tougher than anything he had ever tried to cut before. But most of his life he had chopped wood and he was able to work relentlessly on the net. I saw what he was doing and helped by keeping the net stretched. From quick glances out of the corner of my eyes I could tell that his men were losing this battle. I saw a few of his men laying dead nearby. He had only cut through just one thick rope and still needed to cut two more for me to be able to work myself free.
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Suddenly a shadow fell over us. We looked up to see the biggest sprite ever standing before him with sword raised. Mordell almost didn't move in time. The sword cut deep in his left shoulder and Mordell fell against me. He found himself looking directly into my eye. His face was only a foot from it. I could not help but look back. Looking into the eye of a Dragon is a terrible thing for its enemies and a great source of power for its allies. I also learned that day that a Dragon can gain strength from a human, if the human is able to gain strength from looking into their eye. That moment seemed to last forever.
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I saw the blood flowing down his arm. He was bleeding heavily. Time was running out for him and his men. Then he quickly swung around with his sword making the sprite jump back. But he had not aimed at the enemy. He hit the second rope in trying to free me. The sprite realized what he had done in the meneuver and began to work at keeping Mordell away from the hole he had started. The entensity was overwhelming. Mordell was sure he was going to die that night. But he was not going to give in before that moment. I could see this in his eyes. For he kept looking back at my eye at every chance. I could see that he was taking strength from my eye to keep this warrior at even odds.
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This dryad stood at least six inches taller than Mordell and he was young and very agile. But Mordell showed that he was more cunning. I saw him do moves that kept the dryad off balance and this helped him come back and hack at the rope he was trying to cut. The frustration upon the dryads face began to amuse me and when Mordell had the second rope cut, the dryad yelled his anger at Mordell and rushed him. He almost killed him, but Mordell was ready and quickly turned and caught his enemy square in the face with the pummel of his sword. He broke the dryad's nose and blood spewed about as he fell back on the ground unconcious.
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Mordell came back to me and began to work on the third rope. As he did so, I also began to wriggle in the net so that when that rope was cut, I could quickly rise out of it. Mordell was beginning to slow from all the blood he had lost. It was taking longer on this last one and that gave time for the dryad to wake up. We were too busy with my escape to notice that dryad had awakened and was getting up slowly. Suddenly Mordell's sword went thru that third rope and I found I could just squeeze out of the net. My head and arms were free, but not my wings. That was more than enough to deal with the enemy. I turned to look one more time upon this human that had drawn strength from me. But I was too late. I saw just in time the sword of the dryad sink into Mordell's heart from behind.
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I screamed. I felt like the love of my life had been killed before my very eyes instead of a man that I did not know. But in a way I did know him because of our exchange we made when he looked into my eye. I was told that my scream was heard for miles. Everyone around me almost fainted with the terror that it sent thru them. But I barely heard myself and I have trouble remembering what I did after that. I do know that the first dryad to die that night was the one that killed Mordell. I was told that I used his lifeless body like a club in striking down many of the other dryads. Others I burned to a crisp.
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The battle was over in a matter of seconds. Less than half of Mordell's men were still alive and a few of them did not live thru the night.
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I went to Mordell's side. He was still alive, but barely. He weakly asked for his sword. He wanted someone to help him hold it up in the air. His hands held the sword, but one of his men held his hands on it. Then he spoke weakly, but with ferver. "I bequeath my soul unto this sword!" Then his strength gave away, but he still held on for one last request. He looked at me and spoke to me, "Give my sword to my son and . . . " But he said no more and his eyes looked far beyond me and then he died.
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I commanded the men to gather the dead together and to take them home, but I had Mordell and his things strapped to my back. I was going to take him home. I lost something that night. It is something that I do not know how to describe, but I have found others that understand that loss. Such can only be told in a story like this. Someday you will also understand. It is a loss all must go thru to be able to grow.
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