Somewhere in the land of Caravan, within one of the former united kingdoms of Judea known as Dibon, an astray elven mercenary walked along the dirt road of a grassy valley. It was a hot summer day and already, he was getting tired. He had recently drank the last drop of water from his bottle during his journey down south. The astray elf was sweating under his brown gambeson and light brown tunic. Wearing his black pants and turnshoes certainly didn’t help with combating the heat as well. He rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand to wipe off the sweat crawling down from his dark brown hair.
There were plenty of leaf-filled trees stretched along both sides of the dirt road where the astray elf could rest and lie under the shade. He was in the middle of nowhere, so no harm would come to him any time soon. However, before he could lie down, he heard a girl’s cry coming from far deep within the forest just ahead of him. He debated whether he should investigate the source of the cry or not. Being a spellsword-mercenary, he didn’t want to risk his life for nothing. However, he knew that if he ignored it, the guilt would gnaw at the back of his head. The astray elf decided to rush into the forest and toward the source of the cry.
After many minutes as he ran along the leafy-plains deep inside the forest, he was nearing where he heard the cry. As he came closer, he heard screeches that echoed throughout the forest.
When he finally exited the forest, he spotted two lindworms locked in deadly combat. The two-legged dragons were fighting near a river, clawing at each other’s reptilian-skin and dodging and weaving their biting attacks. One lindworm had white-blue skin and the other’s skin was orange-yellow.
That’s when he spotted an astray elven girl lying on the grass with three cuts on her back that tore away the layer of her blouse as well as her skin. The two lindworms were combating as the girl lay close to them, no doubt competing for her as their meal.
When the two lindworms moved away down beside the river, the mercenary quickly ran across the shallow river and checked on the girl who was no more than 15 years of age. Thankfully, she was still alive.
The mercenary looked up at the lindworms again and saw that the white-blue lindworm was gaining the advantage over its opponent as it bit the orange-yellow lindworm by the neck. The orange-yellow lindworm screeched in agony as the other lindworm continued to bite down on its neck as it bled profusely and fell to the grassy ground.
He had to get himself and the girl out of here before the white-blue lindworm came for them next. While the white-blue lindworm was still biting down on its opponent’s jugular, the mercenary picked up the girl and carried her in his arms. The girl winced as the mercenary carried her.
With the girl in his arms, he fled back to the forest he previously exited from, fleeing from the menacing lindworms.
The sun looking over Caravan was setting in the far distance. The mercenary was feeling tired from jogging up a hill along the dirt road while carrying the girl in his arms. He needed to get her to a nearby town and try to treat her wound, but it was almost nightfall.
Then, after he reached the top of the hill, he spotted a house from a distance. It was far away to the left of the dirt road, cleared of trees that surrounded it. He quickly ran toward the house, but when he got closer, he noticed that it was almost in ruins. Some of the glass panes of the windows were broken. Much of the roof on the right side was completely destroyed.
This will have to do, the mercenary thought and proceeded to open the front door to enter the abandoned house.
Luckily, there was some furniture in the house, even a bed with sheets that were uncovered and a pillow. He gently placed the girl on the bed, laying her on her stomach. The girl groaned again, no doubt signaling that she was still in a great deal of pain. The mercenary reached for his tools from his utility belt to begin patching up the girl’s wounds.
“This will hurt,” he said to her, “so you must not move while I patch up those wounds.”
“W-who are you?” the girl asked her savior.
The mercenary wasn’t too keen to reveal his name to the girl, but he at least owed her that for saving her life.
“Vali,” he answered. “What is your name?”
“N-Nali.”
“Nali. Alright. Hold still, okay?”
When Vali proceeded to rub some honey on the three bloodied wounds, Nali winced in pain. Vali didn’t say anything as he finished rubbing the honey to disinfect the wounds. Afterwards, Vali sutured the wounds, closing them up to prevent further blood loss.
“That should do it,” Vali said. “You’re going to make it, Nali. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. Just feel a little light-headed.”
“You can have some of my bread, but stay still lying on your stomach. Your wounds are still healing.”
“I feel weak. I-I don’t think I can hold the bread like this.”
“I’ll help you then.”
Vali fed the girl the bread as one would feed a pet or a paraplegic. She ate until she finished eating the bread and fell asleep.
Vali lay on the floor beside the bed with his sheathed sword in hand, staying awake a while to guard the girl until he fell asleep as well.
Morning came and went when Vali woke up from his sleep. He stood up from the floor and checked on the girl. Nali was still asleep and, thankfully, still breathing. The wounds on her back were healed up nicely, though she will still carry the scars for the rest of her life.
There was a town up ahead that wasn’t too far from this place. Vali thought he could go up ahead and try to fetch some food to bring back to her while she slept. He would come back here with some food, wake her up before eating their meal, then ask her where she lived so he could walk her back to her home. Whoever Nali’s parents or caretakers were, they must’ve been worried sick about their daughter, if they were still alive.
Vali headed toward the front door, but when he opened it, he saw the same white-blue lindworm from before, its elongated body lying upon the grassy fields. The dragon had been searching for its meal and it was going to get its filling after all the trouble it went through. Vali quickly rushed out of the house and unsheathed his weapon, the cursed sword known to all as Methuselah, and stood on guard against the reptilian beast.
Vali knew that any mere sword, even a divine weapon like Methuselah could never pierce a dragon’s impenetrable, shield-like skin, so he would have to keep his distance from the mouth of the lindworm.
The lindworm went in for his biting attack, but stopped short and leaned its head back when Vali began to slash away with his sword, though only at the space between him and the dragon to fend the reptilian beast away. Unfortunately, the lindworm slithered to the side and clawed at him, but he quickly held his arm up while dodging its attack as it scratched the surface of his gambeson sleeve.
The lindworm was slithering to the right side of the house, trying to get in through the open roof. Vali quickly got up and spewed fire from his hand, burning the dragon’s reptilian skin. The lindworm cried in agony, then looked at Vali and snarled in anger. It tried its biting attack again, but Vali dodged and casted fire again at the dragon’s skin. He continued until the dragon weakened and fell to the ground.
Vali knew that like all creatures, dragons have their weaknesses. While the lindworm was still incapacitated, weary from its burns, Vali walked behind the dragon’s head and stood between its elongated neck and body with his legs spread apart on each side.
All of a sudden, just as the spellsword-mercenary gripped the side of the blade and was about to drive his sword deep into the head of the lindworm at an angle, a young girl’s cries rang out throughout the forest.
“Stop! Don’t kill it!”
Vali, still gripping his blade, turned his attention to the direction of the shout and spotted Nali standing by the door of the abandoned house.
She quickly ran toward Vali, but, unexpectedly, she rushed to the lindworm and shielded its head with her body, hugging onto it and displaying her back with her three patched wounds.
“Please, don’t kill Ahti!” The young girl told the confused spellsword mercenary.
“What are you talking about?” Vali asked the girl, “This lindworm came here to devour you, yet you are protecting it? Why?”
“Ahti’s my guardian! It has been raising me ever since I was a child!”
Vali stood there, appearing more confused than before.
“When I was a young girl, no more than 3 years old, my parents were killed in a house fire, killed by a fire-breathing dragon. It had come to my rescue when I was still in my bedroom, trapped in the house by the fire that blocked my path and crying for help. It came and tore down part of my house to drag me out of the burning inferno. Ever since that day, it nursed me and took care of me. That is why you must not kill it! You’re killing the only family I have left!”
“Nali,” Vali said, “I saw that lindworm fighting another one like itself while you were unconscious. That thing would’ve eaten you if it had finished killing the other lindworm.”
“That other lindworm was the one who attacked me and gave me these wounds. When I went to the river to drink from the water, that was when that lindworm appeared out of nowhere. It was creeping up behind me and was about to snack on me if I hadn’t heard it snarl. When I tried to fend it off with my spear, trying to stab at its eyes, it used its claw to knock the spear off my hands, prompting me to fall down. With my back toward the lindworm as I got up to try and grab my spear, its claws struck my back. Before it could devour me as I lay there helpless, that was when Ahti rushed in and fought off the lindworm. Then you came along and took me away from the river.”
“That’s why this lindworm was looking for us? It was trying to protect you?”
“Yes. It knows my scent and that’s how it was able to find us here at the abandoned house.”
“Nali, you don’t understand. These creatures are dangerous and are capable of eating people. They aren’t meant to raise-”
“No, you don’t understand! Ahti would never hurt me! We’ve been through a lot together to survive out here in the wilderness! It's not like the other dragons! It only attacked you because it thought you were trying to kidnap me or meant to do me harm.”
Vali wanted to convince the orphan girl named Nali otherwise. Vali did not understand why she was so willing to protect this lindworm and still risk living with it out here in the wilderness, yet he did not wish to question it any further.
Vali lowered his blade and sheathed it before stepping aside and walking away from the dragon and girl.
“Forgive me, Nali,” Vali said. “I wish I could’ve known sooner, but even if I did, I would have no way to communicate with the lindworm or assure it that I didn’t mean no harm.”
“Please, just leave us alone,” the orphan girl told Vali. “You’ve done enough damage as you did to poor Ahti.”
Nothing that Vali could say would ever excuse his actions against the lindworm who saved this orphan girl’s life long ago. Vali had done much harm that surely risked the life of this lindworm.
It’s true that all species of dragons were neutral in nature, who either invaded and terrorized people’s lands to claim them as their territorial grounds, or they were pacifists, merely trying to surviving out there in the wilderness like any common animal as well as guarding their homes or ptoecting their children from intruders.
Despite all that Vali and the rest of the astray elven race, including the extinct races of previous centuries, already knew about dragons, here was one he stumbled upon that showed the rarest trait never before witnessed or recorded throughout history compared to the rest of its species: compassion.
Without thinking of its own survival, this lindworm dedicated its life to look after this astray elven orphan girl, committing to a mere act of sympathy and mercy while becoming estranged from the rest of its species.
Was Vali and the rest of the people of Caravan wrong about the dragon species? How was it that people throughout Caravan’s history could not have known about this strange phenomenon?
Perhaps we will never truly know, Vali thought.
He knelt down by the lindworm’s side as he brought out a bottle from one of the bags of his utility belt. The bottle contained a powerful elixir that Vali only used on rare occasions or emergencies.
“Here,” Vali said to the girl as he uncorked the bottle and held the cork in his other hand, “This elixir here should help heal up your guardian's wounds. The lindworm must drink this if you wish it to survive. Tell the lindworm to open its mouth. It will only listen to you.”
Nali gently told the lindworm to open its mouth and it did as she commanded, opening its mouth as wide open as it could. Vali steadily poured a small portion of the elixir onto the lindworm’s tongue and it proceeded to drink and swallow the elixir. Miraculously, the burns were slowly vanishing until its skin was completely healed.
Nali was bewildered by this strange and miraculous recovery, but she was glad that her guardian was alright and she hugged and petted it.
Nali turned to Vali to thank him, but he was nowhere to be seen. He had come and gone, disappearing without saying goodbye.
The End