To Touch a Moonrose
There is peace.
A peace felt by all within TheNightWind's
Kingdom except for one; Moonrose the fair.
What was it that troubled her? Since the
day he welcomed her people into his kingdom
and she looked into his blood red eyes a
sadness filled her spirit. She knew he was
a noble and kind king, who was generous
to all within and outside his realm. She
had heard about his great deeds and how he
had almost laid down his life in battle to
bring about this peace, yet she could not
explain , nor understand the foreboding
feeling would not cease tugging at her soul.
The journey to meet this king had been
long and hard.
It all started with stories of a great evil
headed her way. An evil that would forever
end the safety and comfort she and her people
shared in the palace by the lake. A palace
tucked deep within the forests which
surrounded it. A haven where no man had
ever entered, in fact, she only knew of the
neighboring races that lived by the outer
edges of the trees. They were gentle creatures.
Creatures of the land like her own. They
lived in peace and knew nothing of war. She
naively believed that all lived this way until
the stories came to them of the battles and
bloodshed, the whispers of a terrible evil
that was sweeping the land, getting closer
to her home.
Though she was a queen, she had no army.
There had never been a need for one. Her
people had no tools of war. They had no need
for most tools in general, for they were
magical creatures and in tune with the land.
The only time they used the simplest tools
was when the moon was waning for it was
then when their magic weakened. But with
each phase of the waxing moon, it grew
stronger.
As the stories of this evil that headed
her way increased, the moon grew dimmer
and dimmer. This was the first time she felt
fear in her heart. Not fear for herself, but for
her people and the creatures of the land.
Even with all their magical powers combined,
she felt small and helpless. "Why would there
be an evil like this allowed to exist ? What
would become of her race? A race so new, so
young." These questions and many others
haunted her each night as she saw her people
looking to her for answers she didn't have.
For many nights, she gathered her people
around to work their magic, but would there
be enough to halt the horror? She comforted
the people with her kindness and assured them
of the good in this world, though when alone,
she would cry under the fading moon.
Then came the news. Great news of this
king called TheNightWind and how he had
traveled to the outer edges of her realm to
stop this evil. She was told stories of a
great battle and of his mortal wound. They
spoke about an ancient dragon who came to his
aid and helped to overcome the evil one. "A
dragon? Weren't they a race of old that is no
more ? Can this be true ?" Her thoughts went
flying back to her childhood when they would
sing of long gone races before the birth of
man. "And who is this great warrior king
TheNightWind ?" She inquired of his
whereabouts. Hoping that he was still outside
the trees so she might thank him. But alas,
in the smoke and fire of the final blow that
struck down the evil one, he'd disappeared.
That evening, her people celebrated under
the moonlight and in their great joy they
offered up their magic in the name of
TheNightWind. Praising him for stopping the
evil and bringing about peace, once more.
They used this magic to heal the land where
the battle took place. Wherever blood had
been spilled, a rose would bloom. The
fragrance of roses would travel for miles
around. They erected a shrine to the dragon
in hopes that it would come and tell them the
tales of this battle. Moonrose hoped that it
would explain how and why it appeared. She
had learned that this was The Crimson Dragon
and again her mind would race to her childhood.
She knew this name well, from the songs. Oh,
so many questions she needed to ask of it,
but then she was always the inquisitive type.
She had a need to know and felt just in that
because as she would often think to herself,
" I'm a queen and must know these things."
For many moons passing, she waited for
The Crimson Dragon. With each day, came
sightings of dragons by her people and those
who lived just outside the edges of her realm.
Maybe it was just wishful thinking that led
them to believe they saw these things, for if it
were true, surely he would heed to their magic
and songs. One day, a shadow of wings passed
over the lake. At first she was afraid to look up.
When she finally did, she saw nothing in the
sky. "Now this dragon fever is getting to
me!," she thought. But each day, more and
more reports came in and she, herself had
caught glimpses of what she believed to be a
dragon just over the trees. Every night they
would gather together and sing for The
Crimson Dragon, and always, the next day
even more sightings reported.
On the evening of the full moon, the
people channeled all their magic in a mighty
attempt to summon The Crimson Dragon.
Suddenly, there was a large splash in the
lake. As they rushed down to see what was
amidst they saw the lake begin to bubble.
This sent most of the people fleeing back to
the castle in fear. Never had they seen such
a thing! Out of the bubbling water, the tips
of wings emerged. Most of the people didn't
see this for their backs were to the lake in
flight, but all stopped and turned when they
heard a loud voice exclaiming, "OOOHHH
DARN, I scared them!" It was indeed a dragon,
but in no way was it crimson. As it rose from
the water, they could see that it was a blue...
no, a green ...no, it was a blue green dragon.
When it was finally out of the lake it started
to fly off.
Moonrose called upon the moon and
screamed "COME BACK!"
With that, the dragon turned and hovered
over the lake. "No... why? I'm sorry. I'll
just go now," this dragon said, with his head
hung low.
Puzzled, Moonrose looked into the dragon's
eyes. She could tell this was a young creature,
still new to this world. She lowered her voice
to a whisper and spoke gently to him.
"Please don't leave. We wont hurt you."
The young one said " But... but I'm not
supposed to be here."
With this, Moonrose giggled. "You're such
a gem!"
"Hey, how did you know my name? I'm
Blue Green Gem," the young dragon said in
wonderment.
With a cocky look in her eye, she said
"Because I'm the Queen, I know these things."
And she smiled at him.
They talked for hours by the lake as one
by one, all of her people came and greeted
this young dragon. They sang songs to him
and danced for him. He became so happy that
the music took him away and he would try to
dance for them. But each time he would, he'd
get so excited that his tail would splash into
the lake, showering the people with water.
Clumsily, he would stumble and fall, shaking
the ground like an earthquake. Then they
would all laugh the heartiest laughter ever
heard in her realm.
As the night grew older she had asked
many questions of Blue Green Gem. He
told her he had knowledge of the battle,
though he had not been there. He didn't
want to admit to her that he was a little
frightened. After all, he was a dragon, and
dragons don't get scared. She asked him about
The Crimson Dragon; if he knew where he
could be found. He informed her that The
Crimson Dragon was helping TheNightWind
and he was staying in his Kingdom.. 'So, he
is alive', she thought.
She discovered that all the dragon sightings
around her lake had actually been of Blue Green
Gem. When she asked him why he hadn't made
himself known earlier he said, "Well, I would
hear you singing and would come to it, but
then I saw that it wasn't me you were
singing to. I was hoping you would sing to
me someday and I'd get sad."
"Ahhh but your hopes came true! We sang
to you tonight and we will sing to you every
night, but that's only if you will stay with us."
With that, they both smiled. Moonrose got up
and said, "Sleep now, for tomorrow you become
our guide. I will explain in the morning."
The next day she informed him of her plan
to travel to TheNightWind's Kingdom to meet
the King. She asked him if he knew the way.
He told her he wasn't too sure, but if she
would allow him to travel there alone first,
he would map out the best way to get there.
He promised her he would return within a
week or two. She told him that he was wise
beyond his years to think that way. This
pleased him so! Now, with a new found pride
and a mission to accomplish, he was off.
A week had passed and there was no sign
of Blue Green Gem. Even though there was
a weeks time left before he had promised to
return, Moonrose began to worry about this
sweet, gentle, young dragon. "What if he never
returned? How would she ever get to meet the
King?" By the end of the second week, her
hopes were gone.
Two days time passed and the forests
started buzzing about a strange band of
travelers that were approaching. The sounds
of their voices raised in song could be heard
singing of the battle. When they reached the
lake, Moonrose went out to greet them. They
informed her that they had been sent from
TheNightWind's Kingdom to invite all the
races to come to the kingdom and meet with
their king. They gave her a map, showing
the way and stated that they must leave to
travel further on to spread this news. Moonrose
was ecstatic. She told her people of this news
and told them to prepare for the journey,
secretly hoping they would dawdle about so
that Blue Green Gem might have a chance to
return. But alas, her people were just as
anxious to meet this king as she was and
they were ready by daybreak.
With a joy within their hearts, they
started off, having no knowledge of the hard
and long road that lay ahead of them. For
this was the first time they had ventured
beyond the forests. With each mile, they
encountered things they'd never seen before.
To the right, was the field of roses, stretching
out as far as the eye could see. Along with
this beauty came the realization of just how
close the evil had come to her realm. As
Moonrose pondered this, she shuddered as a
shiver ran down her spine.
Countless days they traveled on without
incident. Always singing to the moon the
praises of TheNightWind. One twilight, as
they were preparing to set up camp, each one
busy with their toils, the earth began to
move and shift where they stood. Out of the
ground appeared the heads of snakelike
creatures with long black fangs. Many of the
people scattered in fear. When Moonrose
called to them through their thoughts and
told them to trust the moon, a red glow began
surrounding each one where they stood as the
creatures tried to strike at them. Summoning
all their collective magical energy, they
completed an encasing around each one of
them. The creatures keep on striking and with
each strike their magic became weaker.
Then, off in the distance, they heard a
loud roar. Moonrose looked up to see that it
was Blue Green Gem. He was swooping down
with a fierce look of anger upon his face. As
he got closer his expression changed. "Why
weren't they running away from these
monsters?" He could blast them with his fire,
if only they were not in it's path. He circled
over again and shouted, "Run! I'll smoke these
suckers! But I need you to run!"
He came down in front of Moonrose and
she told him, "We are protected by the moon.
You will not harm us."
With a wink of his eye he said, "Oh, I
see!" andwith that, he swirled upward. Higher
and higher until he dovedown as fast as he
could. All the while, building up the fire in
his belly. When he was no more then tree high
above the ground,he let out his fiery breath.
The heat was so intense that it melted the
rocks in the earth, killing off the snakelike
creatures. When he saw that they were all
dead, he landed off to the side and started
flapping his wings to cool off the ground.
After all, he didn't want his new found
friends to get hot feet when they let down
their magic.
When all was calm they dropped their
magic, each one feeling drained by the
experience. Many had come to the realization
that all of their belongings were now gone.
They now had only what was on their persons
or inside their domes. They gathered around
Moonrose and Blue Green Gem wondering what
would become of them. Knowing that they still
had a long journey ahead of them, Moonrose
wondered where Blue Green Gem had been all
that time.
He explained as best as he could that he'd
gone the wrong way at first and traveled for
a weeks time before he realized his error.
When he returned to tell Moonrose of this,
they were gone. He'd flown all over looking
for them, when finally, he spotted the red
glow of their magic. "I get lost sometimes,"
he told her shyly.
Moonrose touched his chin and said, "Well
we are so glad you do or surely we would have
perished." With that, Blue Green Gem blushed.
They decided to rest that night and
continue on the next day with Blue Green Gem
now acting as their scout and with the help
of the map. They made it into the kingdom
within two weeks time without further
incident. Living off the land, (which was
nothing new to them) and always singing
songs to keep their spirits up.
© 5/98 by TheNightWind®
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