The Last Of The Ice Dragons

Thousands of years ago mythical beasts such as minotaurs and centaurs, as well as Pegasus, walked the Earth and they became legends because of stories told time and time again throughout the centuries. The creatures were real and when they died out they became, not the history they should have become, they became myths and legends.

One creature though lasted through the centuries and, some say, they can still be found in distant forests and mountains. Those creatures are dragons. Tales have been told of massive winged dragons breathing fire and terrorizing the people of Earth. Those tales have been told as recently as the 15^th century.

The last surviving dragon was supposedly killed in the British Isles in 1487 when a knight found it sleeping on the shores of the Thames River outside of London. However, one remained that no one, outside of a small town in New Zealand knew about and it was known as the Ice Dragon.

When the aboriginal people first colonized the island there was a population of dragons that measured into the hundreds. Green dragons that lived in the woodlands and blue dragons that called the air, sky and clouds their home…a home that the gods had granted to the dragons when the world was young and man was just a glimmer in the gods’ eyes.

When the settlements of humans began there was a tenuous peace between them. The humans farmed and hunted animals which were not the prey of the dragons and the dragons lived the same as they had since the beginning of time. That was until one day when the humans and the dragons clashed.

A young warrior was out hunting when he spotted a deer grazing on the side of a mountain. It was a hard climb but the warrior made it and, with one throw of his stone spear the deer fell to the ground. A slash with his obsidian knife cut the deer’s throat and as it took its last breath a blue dragon flew up from the valley and landed next to the warrior and his deer. This particular breed of deer lived only in the mountains and was well known to be the food of the blue dragons.

The dragon rose into an aggressive stance, roaring loudly. The roar was loud enough for every dragon with a hundred miles to be put on alert. His open wings measured nearly 12 meters from one end to the other, its eyes were mere slits and its mouth was open wide showing a set of teeth that no other creature had in the history of time. Claws that were twice the size of a lion’s gripped into the soil and an armor pointed tail whipped wildly in the cool air.

The warrior kept working on the deer trying to pretend that he did not notice the monster standing before him but the dragon roared again and tore deep gashes in the ground. Looking up the man saw that the dragon was standing over him. Things stood frozen for several minutes until the dragon made a move. It reached down with his fore claws and grabbed the deer, cutting it nearly in half as it lifted it into the air.

The warrior was not about to let this creature steal a deer that he killed so he grabbed his knife and lunged forward, slashing into the dragon’s abdomen. Greenish blood flowed onto the ground covering the rocks where the deer once laid and the dragon’s head whipped wildly as the pain of the wound sunk it. Finally it froze perfectly still. Slowly its head turned toward the young man. The dragon looked at him and as it did his eyes grew from slits into dish shaped orbs of fiery reds, oranges and yellows. The black pupils swelled so large that looking at it was like looking into a cavern. There was another roar. It was not the same as the first. It was deeper, more guttural…more menacing! The dragon’s throat grew into a glowing red as the roar got louder. It was only a second until white hot flames shot from the dragon’s mouth. The warrior immediately turned to ash and then to smoke as he fell.  The dragon gasped for another breath and collapsed next to the warrior as it used the last of its strength to defend a meal for its young. This was how the war between man and dragon began and it lasted well over a millennium.

As weapons improved it became easier for the humans to hunt and kill the dragons. It came to a point where adults were not the only ones the men hunted. They went into the dragon’s dens searching out the hibernating males but also the young and even the females who were ripe with eggs. Each and every one died a sadistic death, slowly bled to death and their parts cut off for food or medicine or even trade with other islands and the people on the mainland of Chin. It got to where a dragon’s tooth or a small bottle of blood could make a man rich though the trade.

Of course the dragons did retaliate against the human’s aggressions. Dragons that had never seen the towns now flew in stealing cattle, sheep and even resorting to stealing young children as they played in their yard. Adults were never touched but hundreds of children, some as young as newborn, were taken from every village on the island.

The war escalated year after year until the human’s desires for the death of all dragons were so advanced that the dragons could no longer defend themselves. It came to the point where the skies and forests of the island were void of evidence that dragons ever existed.

One day and boy who was about six years old come running back to his parents with a remarkable story. He had been playing at the bottom of a nearby glacier when he looked toward the top of the mountain and he saw a white dragon. He said that he thought at first that it may have been an angel but when he looked and looked again he saw the shape of the dragons he had heard legends of.

As word spread the hatreds of ages before came back into light. Talk began of how the dragons had brought first blood and how they hunted the children of the villages. It did not take much provocation to incite the men of the village to decide to kill the creature.

The mountain was a day’s walk from the village and the air near the top was thin and cold…cold enough a glacier that lasted for a million years but the men of the village dragged the boy with them as they went hunting. It was a long, hard climb with near vertical ice as smooth as the surface of a mirror and crevasses deep enough to seem to reach the center of the Earth. It took two days to complete the climb but finally they reached an ice cave which was protected by rocks lifted by ancient earthquakes and ice a thousand years old. Before the cave entrance were footprints both human and dragon prints that could easily fit the body of the young child.

One man volunteered to be the first to go in. It was cold and the light was filtered into shades of sky blue. It would have been almost beautiful except for the fact that he was there to kill the last dragon.  He walked for what felt to be miles before he turned the corner and walked face to face with a large, white female dragon. It was barely breathing as it slept. Its eyes closed he just stood and looked at the creature. It was sleeping but there was movement. Under its massive wing was a newborn baby white dragon.

The man looked around the cavern and saw bones of animals and humans but, going by their clothes, they had died too many years ago to count. All were carrying crude weapons made of flint and granite and all were wearing fur wrappings. It was clear to him that these deaths were not from his village and were of no matter to him.

“I can’t do this,” he said as he turned away from the sleeping creature.

“Thank you young man,” the dragon said as it opened its eyes and raised its head.

“Are you one of the dragons who killed our children,” he asked as he took a step forward.

“No, I only killed to defend me and my babies. There were so many men who wanted to end my life and the lives of my children. I am sure that human females are the same with their young…willing to kill to defend them.”

“They are,” he replied. Thinking for a moment he took a step forward and looked into the eyes of the baby dragon. “Can he fly yet?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Dragons can fly the moment they are hatched.”

The man thought for another moment before saying anything else. “There are mountains on a land north of here. They have animals and the ice that you need to live,” he said. “I will leave you alone but you and your child must leave when the sun sets in the west. Other men will come and not listen to you or what you say.”

“Then I will defend my baby,” she said as smoke wafted up from her nostrils. “I will do what I have to.”

“Then leave and fly north,” he said in a stronger voice. “They have new ways to kill you and I do not want that to happen.” As he finished that sentence he turned and walked back down the cave. He heard a soft roar behind him but it was not a roar of anger. It was a roar telling the baby that it was time to go.

The man walked out of the cave. Immediately he was surrounded by those who wanted to know where the dragon was. He looked and saw that the sun was setting and he said, “It is too dangerous to go in after the sun has set. Wait until morning and we will take the dragon when it sleeps.” The men bought it and they settled in for a night’s sleep.

During the night, when the new moon was at its apex, a huge wind came from the cave and then, just as quickly as it came, it was gone and everything returned to a quiet state without even a breeze.

The next morning, as soon as the sun rose, all of the men rushed into the cave and quickly entered the cavern. The bones were still there along with a pile of broken egg shells. The mother and baby had gone and there was nothing to kill so the frustrated men left the cave and walked back to the village where stories of the fight with the vicious white dragon became legend.

Meanwhile the white dragon, her baby and countless other generations found a home deep within the mountain range of the north where they live in peace.