“There’s little to tell,” Aldagon said, lashing her tail slightly and sending dry bones and broken branches flying. “I came upon that farm in the waning days of the war, when I chanced to be flying over the area and saw dragons beneath. Mine is a lonely life, lad, so I descended, only to see that my fellows were penned up like beasts, as had I been in my youth. I realized that it was but another breeding farm, and paid it no more heed-I had no wish to interfere in the Ethsharitic war effort. But then came rumors of peace, and I wondered what was to become of dragons, when they were needed no more in the great conflict, so I took to flying over that establishment every few days. To my confusion, I saw few changes. Still were there dragons penned there, and still did humans tend them, and assist in breeding them, and watch carefully over the hatchlings. But in time I did notice that all was not as it had been. Many of the hatchlings were slain, and yearlings as well. Those that reached an age to be trained were not trained, but were slaughtered instead. Wings were broken, and broken again, and I know not why. It seemed to me that this camp had become a mere prison, with no sound reason to continue. I mused upon this, and considered what action I should take. The thought that I might destroy the establishment and free my fellows occurred to me, but I pursued it not-surely some sound and logical reason existed for its continuance, and had I obliterated it I might be doing great harm, in some way I failed to comprehend. I might well, I thought, by such an action, have given your fellow men reason to hunt me down and slay me-something that none ever troubled to seriously attempt, though my presence was widely known. I bothered few, and the task of exterminating me, while certainly within the abilities of your kind, was apparently deemed to be not worth the effort required. Had I destroyed the camp, though, perchance that had provided the impetus needed to send wizards against me with spells sufficient to the task.”
“Are there spells that could kill you?” Dumery asked.
“Oh, assuredly,” Aldagon replied. She continued, “Thus it was, though, that I knew of that iniquitous place, yet feared to demolish it. Instead, I ventured near, and snatched free one of the largest dragons, whilst no humans watched. I sought to question him, but alas, the poor thing was still only a beast, with no powers of speech and little thought beyond his belly. So no greater purpose was served by my effort.”
Dumery nodded his understanding.
“I noted that no retaliation was made against me for his freedom, though,”
Aldagon went on. “No embassy was sent, no traps set, no spells cast. It seemed to me that though I dared not blast the farm to rubble, I might even so save some of its inhabitants from the abattoir, and the humans would not trouble to stop me, should I keep my depredations minor. And in fact, such has proved true-though I have returned every few years and carried off as many as a half-score of dragons at a time, as yet have they done naught to deter me.”
She made an odd noise in her throat, then continued, “I confess, ’twas for the most part loneliness that drove me to these rescues, more than altruism, for I had hoped to enjoy the company of my own kind again, as I had not since I fled my duties long before. In that I was sorely disappointed, for the infants I have saved from slaughter are none of them capable of speech, and most perish ere they learn.” She glanced around the nest. “I see, certes, that the one I called Kuprik has fled the lair, no doubt seeking the food that I would have brought him, had he but waited.”
“Was that a big red and gold one?” Dumery asked. “I mean, not big, not like you, but bigger than most of those.”
“Indeed he was,” Aldagon answered, startled. “Saw you such a one?”
Dumery shook his head. “No,” he said, “but I followed his trail back here. He left some scales on a tree he scraped against, so I knew what color he was.”
“Ah, well,” Aldagon said, “and you had seen him he would most likely have devoured you. A shame that he’s gone, for he was the eldest and largest I had here, and knew a few words, as none of these others yet do.” She sighed.
“Couldn’t you follow him and bring him back?”
She shook her head, and Dumery got dizzy just watching it swing. “Nay, how could I know whither he’s fled? And am I a gaoler, in my turn, to keep him pent against his will? Neither gaoler nor mother, but only a friend and tutor, and with other charges who must be tended, leaving little time to pursue those who refuse my care.”
Dumery blinked. “But... you said you’d rescued a lot of dragons. If you’ve been doing it since just after the war, that’s two hundred years! You must have rescued hundreds of dragons. Where are they all?”
“How am I to know?” Aldagon snapped, angrily; Dumery cowered a little, involuntarily. Then the great dragon calmed and said, “I fear, though, that most have long since perished. I have seen them fight amongst themselves, aye, and even battle to the death over a scrawny bullock ere I could intervene. I have seen them slain by men armed with swords and spells, their heads and tails fetched away as trophies of the fight. I have found their starved bodies, little but skin stretched on bone, dead of hunger, for most never learned to hunt properly-the foolish creatures have been accustomed to having their food fetched to them. I have found them dead in a hundred ways, of falls and drowning and fire, sword and spear and spell, choking and poison and traps, claws and teeth and fangs. Few have lived long enough to learn speech, and none long enough to learn sense.” She twitched her tail. “Which may be all for the best, in truth, for if dragons were wiser when young and survived in greater numbers, the entirety of the World might now be covered with dragons.”
Dumery shuddered at the thought, and for a moment the two simply stood looking at one another.
“It occurs to me,” Aldagon said, staring at Dumery, “that your presence here may bring me the answer to a mystery, to wit, the continued existence of that farm. Is’t maintained only lest there be another war, and dragons recalled to service? If so, it seems to me that they are doing their job but poorly, as they train them not, neither do they permit them to attain a size that would allow them to be effective in combat. Why, then, do they continue, breeding the poor little beasts and then slaying them? And you have not answered my question, as to the part you played in the liberation of little Pish. Might there be some link, betwixt these two?”
“Well,” Dumery said, “you might say so...” He hesitated, trying to think what to say, and the hesitation grew into an awkward silence. “I mean...” He let his voice trail off.
“Speak to the point, Dumery of Shiphaven,” Aldagon said irritably, “ere my temper bests my honor.”
“I’ll try,” Dumery said. “I... I let the black dragon out because I was trying to steal it.”
“Steal Pish?” Aldagon asked, startled. “Whatever for?”
“I wanted him and a female, a breeding pair, so I could start my own farm.”
Dumery suddenly found himself fighting back tears, and though he succeeded in that effort, words began to spill out instead. “I didn’t mean any harm, and I wouldn’t have broken their wings that way, I think it’s cruel, and I’d be good to them, and...”
“Peace, lad, and fear not,” Aldagon told him, holding up a foreclaw.
Dumery gulped, and regained control of himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Lad, you’ve no need to apologize,” Aldagon said kindly. “Think you I know not that I am a thing of terror to you? Think you I expect a mere child to have courage to face me without fright, or the wit to charm me, or the wisdom to know wrong from right, when your elder fellows do not? You saw a farm where dragons were treated as cattle, and you knew naught of dragons but what you saw there, so why should I think the less of you for wishing to keep dragons yourself, as if they were only cattle?”