Private Tales Dragons and Gravestones.

[Luna Slateforge]

The Spine. Luna hated The Spine. She missed her temple and the quiet forests surrounding it, but her master whispered to her with a different plan. So now she was trudging through some gods forsaken piece of the spine. She was looking for a grave. "...A warrior of old..Slain by the eternal flame..." Was all he had whispered as he guided her from her temple. finally she came upon a clearing with a beautiful hot spring seemingly forgotten by time. ".....here...she will come here...wait.."
her master whispered as she took it in with a subdued since of wonderment.

It truly was a beautiful place. "....we need to speak child..." the whisper licked her ear as it drifted past like a wisp of smoke. Luna nodded and sat in a meditative pose taking a small ceremonial knife and sliced her right hand pressing it to her left in a gesture of prayer. She closed her eyes. when she reopened them she was in the familiar all black rock of her masters domain.
"A knight was in possession of an artifact he'd taken when clearing out a temple of my worshipers. He hid it away so even in his death it could not be found and he could drift out of my realm and into the afterlife taking his secret with him. However, he was defeated in combat leaving unfinished business and trapping his soul to his grave." Her master gave a rare grin that sent a shiver up Lunas spine as she felt his ice cold hands on her shoulders as he slowly spun her to face him.

"The only one still alive that would know his resting place would be the very one that defeated him. " his dead, blood red eyes met her black and blue, "You will ask for this information and should it be gold, blood, or a favor with my aid it will be paid to her. shes a very greedy thing." he snickered. Luna only nodded shortly wanting this encounter to end as quickly as possible. He chuckled sensing her discomfort.
"haha...are you scared? you should be. If you fail to make it worth this ones while shell eat you alive..." He finished ominously continuing to chuckle as he turned and left with a snap of his fingers as Luna snapped out of her trance falling face first into the ground. she hacked up her usual black cloud of impure life energy as her book absorbed it. talking to her master always left her like this afterwards.
Finally she quit trying to sit up and decided to sleep and wait until the person she needed to speak to arrived knowing her senses would wake her and alert a new presence and even if her sense failed her she doubted her master would let her rest anyway.

 

[Pele]

There were two loud thumps followed by sharp gusts of wind. Two crashes and the sound of stones scattering. The surface of the pools were buffeted by gale force winds. The dragon lurched forward as it checked its momentum. The dragon's huge wings now folded to its side but also turned down and forward, used now to tread upon stone and earth. The membrane of each were dotted with small holes. The smell of smoke was much stronger now that it had landed.

Perhaps Luna would remember this same smell from before when a dragon flew over her head. "Run little deer. I'm not hungry. Are you here in my territory to change my mind?" Its voice sounded like the crackling of a fire and the churning of magma. Still it was strangely feminine. One molten gold orb watched her, the pupil undefined in the churning color of its eye. The curve of the dragons body was also oddly feminine and cat like in proportion and her angles of her form.

One could surmise that the creature was female. The odd piece of gold jewelry decorated her ears and accented her spiraling black horns. Plates and spines ran along her back and a collection of bony growths enhanced her predatory appearance from just behind the line of her jaw. Her muscles flexed strongly under thick dull red scales as she slipped with surprising grace into a boiling hot pool. Then she started to make a low clicking sound. Sped up and softened it may have resembled the sound of a cat purring.

Luna Slateforge

 

[Luna Slateforge]

Luna was shaken out of her meditative pose as the force of the wind caused by the dragon landing threw her from her perch and she landed heavily, barely coming to in time to roll and avoid more serious injury but the roll hadn't been quite as well executed as usual. Leaving her stopping in a crouch with a throbbing shoulder and ankle as her void grew around her ready to protect from any future attacks.
Then she saw what caused her to fall. Her void sucked back into her book as she put it away and cursed her void wouldnt be any help against that. What were the chances of a DRAGON landing right were she needed to-..Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice that sounded like Magma flowing over an open fire, making every hair on her neck stand up even if she didnt show her fear with any expression.

"Run little deer. I'm not hungry. Are you here in my territory to change my mind?"

She almost ran. She really did, but as she turned she felt an icy hand wrap around her heart and jerk her back hard enough for her to fall cracking her injured ankle on the ground.
"Her... Pele.." the slow whisper of her master said as Luna stood back up and turned towards the beast again. The voice had had a feminine quality to it, and this dragon was a slimmer and more cat like than her usually bulkier male counter parts, and while she was huge Luna noted Legends stated they were usually even larger. "How nice.." Luna thought with a snort. imagining creatures even larger than this one was hard to do..
"Speak to her you stupid girl. Not even we can save you if she decides shes hungry again. Talking while shes full will be your best chance.." Said the whispers furiously around her as she noticed the large glowing orb focused on her. It had no pupil so she hadn't noticed it was the creatures eye. She approached slowly as the dull red dragon slipped into the boiling water with a grace Luna hadn't expected, as the dragon began to almost purr Luna spoke. "I've come on behalf of my master...seeking information..nothing more...if I had any other choice I would have chosen it but my master insists your the only one that knows the answer." she said dropping to one knee with a slight cry as her ankle gave out under neath her. She could heal it later , but now was not the time. "Your Pele the Eternal Flame of the Spine.. are you not?" she asked with a slight shake in her voice betraying her. Most humans wouldnt notice such slight changes in emotion and think she was taking this quite well and was possibly even bored. But this dragons senses would notice her pain and her fear. Humans and even other races were easy to fool, but Luna knew that to this dragon she had to reek of it.

 

[Pele]

The dragon in the pool lounged, one golden orb on the woman. She didn't move her head from the small slab of rock upon which it was laying. Not even when the girl winced in pain. She listened to everything the girl said.

"You seem familiar with my name, but I don't remember smelling you before. Who are you that smells so strongly of fear and who is this master you speak of?" Her voice rumbled as her strong neck hefted her huge head to look in the girl's direction. Her teeth were as long as daggers and were just as sharp. The dragon's tongue snaked behind those teeth sampling the air. If the dragon would have opened her jaws another inch than the girl's head could have fit between the teeth without any spilling blood.

Before the woman was just a distraction, a minor nuisance, or perhaps good for some small amusement. Now she had truly earned the dragon's attention for good or for ill. "I am Pele, the Eternal Flame. Why have you trespassed here in my territory? Why do you seek me?" A deep exhale cast twin rings of smoke from Pele's nostrils. They glided over and across the girl's form before being swept away by a gust of wind.

Luna Slateforge

 

[Luna Slateforge]

"You seem familiar with my name, but I don't remember smelling you before. Who are you that smells so strongly of fear and who is this master you speak of?"

"My..My name is Luna, and how I know of you and who my master is has the same answer..." She said still shaking as her dagger sized teeth could almost reflect her outline. She was so close to the dragon that if she wanted to Luna could easily stroke her scales. Her hand almost reached out absentmindedly, but she stopped as an image of a bloody smear being where she was sitting if that dragon snapped even slightly. She pulled her own hand down and waited as the dragon continued.

"I am Pele, the Eternal Flame. Why have you trespassed here in my territory? Why do you seek me?"

"My masters name....is Bastellen.." as she said it the shadows seemed to lengthen, and the air got colder as the void snaked like tendrils of black smog around Lunas form like it wanted to eat her.. It was an old name... a very old name. An evil name..

"You are not one to be involved in human affairs but Bastellen was a minor deity whose magic and worship was.....frowned upon..." she continued after a moment "A knight who had cut down many of my masters priests and followers and burned many shrines and temples..."
The shadows around her seemed to grow and become more agitated until the smoke rings past her causing the shadows to shrink back under control. Luna couldn't help remembering the smell as the smoke swirled around her the smell of sulfur and cinnamon was almost sweet.

"Until he came for you.." she continued after a pause "After a battle that lasted 2 days he and his men fell to you...it was so long ago that much like my master the location of the battle has become all but forgotten by many, but not you.."
She felt her ankle give a particularly nasty throb causing her to cryout before covering her mouth quickly.
"Sorry, for my outburst.." she apologized before she continued "You did my master a great service that day and we regard you highly in my faith. Thus how i know of you, and who my master is." She finally tried to stand. failed. and though some what wobbly succeeded on the second try.
"so anything you would require of me in exchange for that information I will do so quickly and gladly." She said with a small bow. Feeling the dragons attention on her and was very aware of how close to those teeth she was if the dragon decided to change its mind for even a moment.

 

[Pele]

Pele lifted her body from the boiling water but the chill air did nothing to chill her. Slick wet scaled quickly dulled as steam rose from her powerful body. She walked around the girl so close that she could have reached out her arm and touched her as she passed by. It was almost a challenge, a dare for just that. "I've killed more men claiming to be knights than I can recall. Every knight wishes to slay a dragon in their youth and yet they have no idea the outcome of such an attempt. All of their possessions are cast in great heaps upon my hoard and most of their bones have long since turned to dust."

There was grumble in the dragons throat as she tilted her head back and drew one side of her head close. The churning molten gold of that eye seemed to bore into the girl. More smoke rings escaped her nostrils. "Sit and tell me exactly what it is you want from me." These were clearly commands. She was not asking. She was telling. Pele's expressions were hard to read though perhaps one could imagine the dragon was slightly irritated.

She could not care less about this god, Bastellen that the girl called her master. It mattered not to her that the followers of some near dead religion held her in high regard. Whoever this knight had been he had done something to rouse her ire or perhaps he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She had killed so many over her long life that even a dragon's memory would have trouble picking out one among the throng. She had ate some and others she had turned to ash and while she had no qualms about eating the willed races of the world she didn't prefer it. She was not evil and didn't enjoy terrorizing or torturing creatures. She caused fear only because she was terrifying, not because she wished it.

Luna Slateforge

 

[Luna Slateforge]

As the Pele rose from the spring Luna's heart almost skipped a beat. She was massive, and as she circled her Luna felt more powerless than she had in a long time. She circled Luna so close that she felt the excessive amount of body heat coming from the beast. It felt like the dragon was almost daring her to reach out. Luna felt her chest vibrate as the dragons deep rumble seemed to shake her to the core.

"I've killed more men claiming to be knights than I can recall. Every knight wishes to slay a dragon in their youth and yet they have no idea the outcome of such an attempt. All of their possessions are cast in great heaps upon my hoard and most of their bones have long since turned to dust."

She said as she tilted her head even closer with a single molten, golden, eye boring into her soul. She couldnt hide anything from this creature.

"Sit and tell me exactly what it is you want from me."

Pele commanded in an almost irritated voice. It as if she was commanding a child to sit a reveal what mischief they'd been up to. Luna sat quickly with a small gulp.
" Johnathan Silverstride. I need to find his grave. Legend tells he was killed by you and his men buried what was left of his remains a few miles from where the battle took place. I need to know where that battle took place.." She said quickly. Feeling that if she minced words she would be the next thing to be minced.

"He carried a silver bastard sword with rubies the size of a womans fist in the handle..."
she added quickly thinking that even if the dragon couldnt be bothered to remember every human she would at least know the battle by the treasure she got from it. Dragons knew their hordes obsessively well, and that sword would at least be a stand out item, not in the horde as a whole as Luna was sure she had many swords far finer, but it would stand out as one of the best things she had gotten from that particular battle.

Luna had no doubt the dragon would not only know of the sword ,but undoubtedly still knew exactly where it was and how many scratches were on the handle and how many dust particles were on the blade. Not because the battle had been particularly epic or note worthy, but simply because it was hers. Luna was reminded that for every bit of wisdom this beast had Its greed was tenfold, and this dragon seemed very wise....

So Luna sat and waited for Pele to reply. Her bottom lip trembling slightly. She wouldnt shed a tear but a creature that could turn her to red paste on a whim, so close she could feel her breath and hear her massive heart beat was beginning to take its toll on her...