The Kings Son

Prologue: A Dragon's eye view

The Dragon and his enormous bulk passed silently through the night as the wind lifted him over the landscape below. His eyes better than any other living creatures took in the details of the city beneath him, he could see the people who made their way home through the deserted streets. The scent of smoke from the chimneys and torches filled his nostrils, his keen ears picked up the hushed conversation the two sentries were having as they huddled close to a small fire to keep warm.

Having grown tired and seeking a place to rest he circled high above this city waiting for some clouds obscuring the mountaintops to be wafted away by the wind, he may have the best eye sight but flying blindly into clouds and possibly ramming into a mountain top held no allure for him.

He continued to wait patiently so as not to cause any disturbance, his journey had taken him to the far reaches of the world, far in the north where everything was frozen, a place where his kind gathered every millennia or so. There were quite a few of his brethren missing this time, most of the missing ones had been reported dead, killed in their sleep by humans and their fear of dragons. A moment of anger gripped him and it took all his self-control not to swoop down on the city and lay waste to it, his feeling of anger quickly passed, most dragons were quite peaceful.

He recognized this valley, the last time he had been here the castle and city were just being constructed, if he remembered right that was over five or six hundred years ago. The King of these people declared his city to be known as Thunder City and his country the Land of Thunder, the dragon thought the names were silly but he could understand why the King named it so, even during the winter, thunder could be heard booming through the mountains and surrounding countryside.

If the reports of his brethren were to be trusted, these people despite part of their ancestors being ruthless barbarians from high in the north were relatively peaceful. After war, famine, and the harshness of the weather had nearly destroyed them, the barbarian king led his few hundred remaining people south in hopes of better times.

Seeing the clouds clearing from one of the mountaintops the dragon swooped down and landed, his claws dug deep into the mountains top, tucking his wings up against his body. The dragon remembered the barbarian king well, larger than most men the brutish king had a temper. It was here in this very valley where the barbarian king met his future queen.

Driven from their homeland by invaders the young queen was tough and fierce with a fiery temperament that matched the barbarians own; the two groups stumbled upon one another and almost destroyed each other in all-out war. Through several months of strained and tough negotiations, the barbarian king agreed to marry the queen, his people were strong, but few in number, the queen and her people were many, but most of them were woman, children, or very old, almost all of their men were killed during an invasion.

Smiling a toothy grin at the pleasant memory the dragon closed his eyes and rested for a few hours, the cold wind blowing over his warm scales felt nice. When the sun peaked over the horizon and bathed the top of the mountains in light the dragon uncurled himself and spread his wings to fly, the morning light sparkled off his red scales throwing drops of dancing red lights onto the snow.

Roaring his greeting to the morning sun the dragon lept from the mountain and headed south, he could hear the sentries and guards below cry out as he passed, staying to his course he flew over the countryside passing over rolling hills and forests, he looked down at the occasional farm and villages. He glimpsed a withered hulking tree in between the forks of a road; he passed over a deep canyon that ran through the country of Thunder like a deep scar, one could not pass from the south to the north unless you went through the canyon first, unless of course you were a dragon.

Flying over the canyon and beyond he caught a glimpse of smoke in the sky, naturally curious the dragon wanted to investigate, but his senses told him that something bad had happened and that it would be best if he just kept on his way towards the home he longed for. Deeming it a matter for the humans, the dragon let the wind carry him up and on towards his distant home.