Gamleon's Tail ~ Welcome to the worlds of : Within ~

                                                                      The Elder Dragon's folly

  Expensive parade horses snorted and stamped, their frothy coats gleaming with sweat as they struggled. Lysandra felt the same strain, but she knew they couldn't afford to slow down now. They were on the verge of a breakthrough; she could feel it in her bones. The ancient ruins of Nemea must lay just beyond that horizon, she reassured herself. Inside them, she was more hoping than convinced, lay the fabled pacts and accords that once proven would lead to defeating the Arionomen Empire and uniting the fractured tribes of the Cockatrice Kingdom once more.

As the eldest daughter of King Aetees, she was not supposed to be leading this group or any group, for that matter. With that much power and influence, whims such as these could not be denied or ignored. Lysandra's sharp wit and angular features accentuated a piercing gaze that commanded obedience and respect, even from her most seasoned companions. Despite a royal lineage, she often felt more at home in the desert's harsh environs than the opulent halls of her father's palace. Surveying their featureless surroundings, then sagging down, she once more took in her beautiful painted steed. All the mounts were adorned with feathers and bird-like colors. Delicate strands of hoops and colored beads affixed with many sizes of feathers hung down. They swayed rhythmically with each labored step.

Aloud, but to no one in particular she remarked, "We should have traded for those rude humped creatures; they're so much better suited to the conditions of my deserts." The heat was oppressive, taking a constant toll from them all. The sun began painting the sky in hues of orange and pink. Across the countless dunes, this over-provisioned group of travelers meandered their way, the hooves of too many horses leaving only shallow impressions in the soft swirling sand. Their destination: the ancient ruins of childhood tales. An entire sprawling city, somehow lost to the ravages and careless nature of time...

Soaring high above, beyond the sight of humans, the huge blue and white primordial dragon, known as Sky, carried her lover of centuries, Earth, in her arms like a precious child or a beloved pet. They felt the air rush past them as Sky beat her powerful wings.

Looking down upon the landscape, Sky spoke to Earth in the strange tongue she sometimes used, the words from her time among dragons in their original lands.

"Look there, my dear," she said in the growling slightly slithery language.

Below, a colossal dam lay in ruins, a silent monument to a forgotten age, its stonework crumbling, its levies cracked and decaying. No one had tended to it in centuries. The meager trickle of water that emerged from its crumbling heart seemed almost pitiful. The land around it had been reshaped by its presence for far too long. Rivers stifled, small streams choked to near dry under the unforgiving heat, lakes drew back, leaving their once-busy shores oddly empty. Boats that had once labored ceaselessly now sat stranded, relics of an unremembered time.

Sky's gaze softened, her affection for Earth evident in the warmth of her words, the playful tone she sometimes reserved for the one who had never left her side. Her voice, lilting and light, carried a touch of sadness. She spoke into the large, trusting eyes of her companion, saying in a humorous sing-song voice, "I know a simple and quick fix for thi , is."

As she began to dive faster towards the, crumbling edifice, the thought of freeing all that water filled her head with childlike desires. She closed her eyes, daydreaming about splashing and playing with her lusty friend.

The ground rushed up at them, Sky felt the warmth of the sun on her back as they descended. The rushing air, as she beat her striped wings, was filled with the smell of undisturbed lakes and fallen dried leaves. The reality of their combined mass was disquieting, almost to the point of startling, but Sky knew better than to voice such triviality. She slowed with elegant precision, unfurling her four arms carefully to ease Earth from her gentle embrace. Earth clawed deeply at the hard ground beneath them as they landed (her version of kissing it).

They took their time studying the dam, a silent assessment of that whichmocked them whith its assured human origins. On the ground, it stood taller than even them, which was a very rare thing indeed. They circled back to the comfort of one another's caresses, a mutual understanding passing between them, unspoken. Earth felt the enormity of the task ahead, knowing that the work to undo centuries of neglect and to do it right would not be easy. But it would be worth it to make the fields bloom again, to restore balance to the suffering, brittle, rainless lands.