Dragons can be dangerous when encountered on the road. They are territorial and quick to anger. Their talons and teeth can tear through flesh with ease. The flames that come out of their mouths burn hot enough to melt sand. They are next to impossible to communicate with and can’t be reasoned with. Fortunately there is usually only one dragon per territory. They also don’t hunt people without reason so stay away and don’t anger them.
A map has been published by the Royal Knights showing the shapes of all the dragon territories within the kingdom. It also shows the most likely spot for them to sleep if that spot isn’t already known. With this travelers don’t need to fear.
This is a story of one of these dragons. She was known to those who knew her as Greene. She was young, not even fifty. Some dragons have lived for millennia. When she was a couple of years old and big enough to survive alone she left the hatching grounds in search of territory. All dragons do this when they’ve outgrown the hatching grounds. She searched for the perfect place to be her home. She was alone through most of that, but was okay with that. She didn’t need help to find her territory. She was only going to see other dragons at the assemblies that get called occasionally and at the edge of her territory when she found it.
After a few years of searching, she found the perfect home. It was empty and quiet. Centuries ago some humans had built a fort on top of a green hill. Now it was little more than a ruin. There was a great hall with a collapsed roof. Next to it was a jagged tower. The top now lay scattered on the ground around it. Its door was a gaping maw. Circling the hall and tower were some smaller ruined buildings. Surrounding everything was a still-standing wall. She immediately thought it was perfect.
She made a bed in the collapsed roof of the hall. It grew more comfortable as she grew. She started a hoard within the tower. Mostly this was pretty rocks and bones from the prey she found the most challenging to hunt. She hoped one day she would be able to add more than just bones and stones to her hoard. She was still young. There would be tons of time to find more stuff around her fort.
She found that her new home had one flaw. Humans seemed to think that it was the perfect place to rest. She quickly put a stop to that with roars and flames and the flapping of wings. Eventually they stopped coming and she was glad.
Decades passed. She met the occasional dragon while out hunting and saw the occasional human moving along the road, but they generally stayed out of the way of each other. One of her neighbours was a large red dragon named Orris. They rarely spoke, but she thought be was nice for another dragon. Orris’ territory seemed empty now. Perhaps another dragon would fill it soon. Hers was a simple dragon life and she didn’t want anything to interrupt it. She didn’t need anything else.
One day a human came walking up the path towards the fort from the road. She snarled before quickly pushing herself into the air and soaring through the air. She landed with a thundering crash in front of the human. Smoke billowed out of her mouth and nostrils. She crouched low to the ground. She was ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. Greene began to speak in the human language. It had been a while since she last spoke it and her words felt cold from the lack of flames.
“Human,” she hissed. “Leave now or you will be sorry.”
The human man appeared to be surprised as he should be. His dark hair was cut short and he had many grey hairs mixed in. His silver eyes were wide. She expected him to turn and run away. That was what most humans did when they came across an angry dragon. This human however didn’t do what she expected.
His look of surprise quickly turned into a smile. “Hey, Greene. I hoped I could find you here.”
She hesitated and then growled. “How do you know that name?” It had been decades since she last heard it.
“Oh, you don’t recognize me?” he looked kind of disappointed. “It’s only fair. I have changed a lot since we last saw each other. It has been over forty years. You look pretty much the same. Maybe a little bigger, but that’s pretty much it. Don’t you remember your friend?”
Greene squinted at the human. Now that she was looking at him he did look kind of familiar. For a moment old memories went through her head. She recognized this man. He was a lot taller now and had grown some hair from his face. He was definitely brave to be talking so calmly to a dragon. She only knew one human like that.
“Paul?”
“It’s me.” he grinned. “I’m sorry Greene, but I’m here to ask for a favour.”
Draconic Ramblings 
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