Subj: Enter the Dragon/A Dragonlance-DS crossover
Date: 4/1/99 10:33:14 PM Central Standard Time
From: Daphne

Ok, there is a bit of explanation involved in this one...first of all, I love dragons and have loved to read about them since I was in the third grade and picked up my first Anne McCaffrey book. So anyway, I have a book called "Dragons: A Natural History" by Dr. Karl Shuker, which explores dragon myths from an anthropological perspective...when I re-read parts of this book, I decided to incorporate the dragon lore into a DS story. Throw in a little illness, and a medication induced stupor, and twenty minutes or so laying in the bed and this is what I came up with. And I'm so happy that I've written the second short story of my life

It might become something more later, maybe not, but I wanted to do something completely different. Which I think I have.

Enter The Dragon

The beach below Widow’s Hill was deathly silent as darkness crept beyond the far horizon....

There was no gentle breeze whistling against the rocks....

No keening of the lonely gulls filled the night air.....

Even the breakers were subdued, their rolling thunder muted into a static hiss...

The sea creatures cowered beneath the waves and the beach was fearfully still---

For only Nature can recognize the coming of Truest Evil.

************

“Oh most Unholy Ones, I ask thee to help me summon the one who has supreme power over all mortals. I seek to awaken that which will help me gain everlasting power!” Nicholas intoned, his sinister voice echoing against the walls of the cave. He had learned a great deal since being banished from the Living Realm, and now he had returned, ready to do battle with the forces which opposed him. Having traveled the vastness of the Netherworld, he had met many creatures whose Fate had entrapped them in Hell’s fiery tomb, and he had quickly become their most apt pupil. He’d spent years studying their lives and listening to their stories of horror and evil, with the hopes of someday being able to use their knowledge to his advantage.

There was Jormungander, the two-headed dragon of Norse mythology who encircled the earth chasing its own tail, only to be cut down by Thor’s mighty hammer.

The vampire-like weewilmekq had existed in North America (in Washington County, Maine-a fact which greatly excited Nicholas) and was actually an angered Native American shaman who had taken the form of a giant serpent-leech to do battle with a rival.

Poseidon, the mighty God of Water had given life to Cetus; the creature was sent to slay Princess Andromeda, only to meet its fate at the hands of the brave warrior Perseus.

Fafnir existed in Hell, the son of a dwarf king who murdered his father for wealth, and was cursed for his evil by transforming into a lindorm serpent. He had perished when Siegfreid had been sent on a crusade to slaughter him.

The Nameless One was also there, an unknown dragon who had been slain by a young Turkish soldier whom history would remember as Saint George.

The mysterious Basilisk ruled over them all, a strange hybrid creature who had the head of a rooster and the body of a dragon, and the ability to destroy entire villages with one blast of his poisonous breath.

Nicolas had learned from all of them and pitied their inability to overrun Good with Evil; he was like them in that respect. Time and again, he’d held the purse-strings of the Universe in his hands, and he’d caused much chaos in the Mortal Realm. But true power had always eluded him-he’d been defeated by the gallant knights and fair ladies who dwelt in the Fortress atop Widow’s Hill, a castle that still lived. One that had to be destroyed if he was to truly reign in Hell.

The pact he had made with Satan’s minions had been almost pathetically easy to seal. All he had done was ask for the ability to conjure a monster, with the promise that he would give them freedom when he’d conquered the last bastion of Hope that existed on earth. What they had failed to realize was that once they were free, they would be eternally beholden to him. The Master of All Evil.

Collinwood’s destruction was as simple-and complex-as the contents of the pouch he now cradled in his hands: the scales of a dragon, the feathers of a wyvern, the solidified breath of the basilisk. Turning the bag inside out, Nicholas dropped his treasures into the flames of the small fire he’d built, watching as they sputtered and flickered out, only to suddenly explode in a menacing fireball that cast fire and smoke toward the ceiling of the cave. Once the air had cleared and he could again look into the flames, he began his incantation.

“I summon thee in the name of all that is most Evil! I call upon the spirits of the monsters that live only in myth to bring you new life. I call thee to do my bidding!”

As he spoke the flames started to coalesce, their golden hue slowly taking the form of a dragon. Obsidian rocks became razor-sharp talons, fitting themselves to its form, and when the transformation was complete, Nicholas was ecstatic. Standing before him was a dragon, her
pale yellow scales glittering in the light of the dying embers, enormous silvery wings folded tightly across her back. Her eyes were a shade of blue that he had only encountered once before; then he hadn’t had the ability to make her his servant, but now he spoke for them both. He created her, and he could destroy her as well. She had no choice but to obey him this time.

“What is it you wish, my Lord?” she hissed, a trace of the old arrogance she’d once possessed still lingering in her voice.

“You know that the time has come to destroy Collinwood. I wish for you to do this for me.”

“And why would I do that?” Lowering her head, she looked him directly in the eyes, her forked tongue swinging lazily in and out of her mouth as her breath created a cloud of steam around him.

“Because I created you and I can send you back to the Netherworld...is that what you really want, Angelique?”

The Netherworld. She was nothing there. Nothing but a slave to those who had been stronger than she was. There was no chance for her to live again, except for this one given to her by a man who had once been her most bitter rival.

“No, I do not wish for that my Master. I will do as you ask.”

Delighted, Nicholas reached out and stroked her nose, surprised to find that her scales were soft, similar to a snake’s hide and not like the steel-hard rocks that lined the caves. “There’s a good girl,” he whispered, his voice almost sounding seductive, “I trust you to complete your task in due course. When you are finished, I will see you again here.”

Obediently Angelique moved to the mouth of the cave and spread her luminescent wings, rising effortlessly into the sky. Watching her fly toward the cliffs, Nicholas felt a surge of excitement-soon Collinwood would be in ruins and he could take his place at Lucifer’s side as ruler of Hell on Earth.

He never felt the thoughts that coursed through her draconic mind as she soared, never noticed the sinister plan taking form....

She would return to the beach as he asked. But when she did, she would take revenge on him and cast him aside, as he had tried to do to her all those years ago.

She would return once her task was complete, and when she did...SHE would become the Mistress of Earth’s hellish destiny.

JeF 4/1/99

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