Saudrim, the Human Dragon

General Prologue: Of Dragons and Their Ways
This is a story from long ago, many hundreds of years ago when Dragons still trod the earth's soil, before they were driven underground by man's increasing commercialism which destroyed many forests and farmland. That was when Dragons still dwelt high in the mountaintops. Now they dwell deep under the mountains, and no one who ventures in may see one, for they disguise themselves so cleverly that none can tell where they are, although many have reporter the pungent smell of creosote reaching their nostrils where there is no fire.

In fact, some have even reported supposed sightings of Dragons in rural, uninhabited areas while they were out hunting. Dragons are not perfect, and cannot therefore totally hide themselves completely. But Dragons have gradually faded into legend and myth, and such reports are dismissed as craziness

Dragons do not desire contact with humans, for they do not wish to be discovered again. Otherwise, they may be hunted and killed out of their new homes and driven to extinction.

Dragons have oft been thought to be mindless demons who kill and destroy without mercy; nay, this is but a terrible mutilation of the truth. Indeed, Dragons have been known to kill sheep and cattle and sometimes the odd knight, but this has been, with the exception of a few isolated cases, strictly in self-defense. Dragons were (and are) quite peaceful creatures (at least with humans). Should a human venture onto their territory, however, they will sit up, clap their wings and let out a stream of flame to frighten the intruder away. This usually is sucessful, although there are those foolhardy who have gone even farther to see what the Dragon would do next. This is the stupidest thing anyone can do, however, for those who have were usually burnt to a crisp by a stream of intense flame.

Dragons are of actually quite high intelligence; they do migrate like other creatures, but they have been known to actually make calls to each other to communicate. These calls differ greatly in tone and pitch, but over time, from a distance, men have been able to discern some of the Dragons' calls. Records were kept in kings' palaces and in the laboratories of scientists, but these have been lost over time and no one has recovered any in recent times.

The most famous story of Dragon intelligence comes from the story which I am about to relate to you. This story has been told many times to many different people, and was the only one to actually remain unchanged throughout the years. All the others have been radically differentiated to include Dragons killing and maiming, flying into rages and destroying whole towns. I could not find a copy of this story anywhere, but have heard bits and pieces of it from various people. This is my attempt to join all of those pieces together, like a puzzle. And here it is.

The Story
There once lived in the country of Belanea a poor shepherd. His name was Isaac and he lived with his only son in the mountainous regions of the country amid the deeper forests. He had no other family; his son Adam was his only relative that he knew of. As a result, he loved his son very much and the two were together wherever they went.

Once a month, when the village was having Market Day, Isaac and Adam hitched up their wagon and went into town to sell what animals they could, and used the money to buy very practical things such as vegetables, fruit and flour. They could not afford the bread which had already been baked, so they would buy the flour and take it home. Placing it with water, they would allow it to ferment for a week and then would use this to make sourdough bread.

Now it happened on one such day that while they were in the village, Adam encountered a strange-looking elderly man while he was buying a sack of flour. The man had a long, white beard, bushy eyebrows and wore a bluish-gray cloak and hood. He watched Adam curiously for a few minutes, then approached him.

"Are you the shepherds who live up near the mountains?" he asked.

"Yes, we are," Adam replied. "Who are you?"

"That is not important. But I have something I must tell you. The other day, I saw flames and smoke up near those parts. There are Dragons around there. I would advise you to move your home elsewhere. You are living on Dragon territory, and when you do your life is in danger."

Isaac laughed at this. "We have seen no smoke or fire, aside from the bonfires we build," he said. "There are no Dragons up there! They only live in the rocks and craigs. We are too low for them."