I get to the room with the pool and pull a bar of lye soap out of my belt pouch and strip down crawling back into the hot water. Shadow does the same and we both scrub ourselves down removing the remaining blood of the Drake from our bodies. Shadow climbs out of the water first quickly drying himself and dressing so he can watch for anything that might interrupt me, knowing I need a few minutes of peace after the blood shed.

I had never wanted to be a Dragon Hunter, though after the Solar Dragons I considered myself more a Dragon Slaughterer. If my brother hadn't been visiting Boulder the day the Great Solar had awoken, maybe he would have done the hard work; and I could be making plans for the future. Granted, I still am planning for the future; I just have to take multiple detours in the process.

I shed a few tears for the Drake and the young she didn't get to rear, it's not something I like doing. However, if I don't no one else will. I am also the only one who will mourn these creatures I kill for the future of humanity.

After spending some time in quiet contemplation of the Drake and crying a bit I climb out of the water. Shadow acts as if I hadn't been crying of course, the immovable wall that guards my life for the sake of all. He generally doesn't speak, however if he does people tend to pay attention. Partly due to the fact he doesn't speak. He is of the mind that if you don't need to say something with words, why waste them.

We walk back to the room at the front of the building waving the men that are guarding the local Headman and his people to join us with their charges. Walking into the room I notice that Jake is attempting to get the children to sleep. "No Jake, all should hear what I am going to tell you. Now I am not telling you everything tonight, this will take many nights. So consider this to be the children's bedtime stories." Jake looks askance at the idea of telling the children why Dragons aren't just beasts to be feared. "Jake; why were fairy tales, tall tales, and nursery rhymes made? They were created to teach a lesson. You tell the tale of Red Riding Hood to teach that talking to random strangers is a bad idea, and that you need to complete a task. Consider this to be no different, it might even save a life some day." Jake nods after thinking on it and tells the children to sit with their parents, and a couple of the orphans went to Shadow. Who sat next to the doorway with the twins we found wandering a dead town in his lap. They were an odd pair, a boy and a girl. We didn't know their names yet, but I did have an idea; tonight will tell us if I am right.

I direct the locals to the wall opposite the door away from any windows, with the trouble makers surrounded by our fighters. 'Johnny's mom' sat next to Shadow to help him with the twins. I settle myself in the center of the group and I tell them of what I learned a year ago.

(*NOTE*during my telling when the 'audience' interrupts it'll be in italics)

June 2029

At the remnants of a military base near Las Vegas, a large gray and green spattered Dragon glides to a stop outside a guarded gate, bowing his head. "Humans, please let me speak with the Hunter. I am not here to attack anyone, I wish to parlay." The gate guard blinks in disbelief having never seen a Dragon in person, he didn't even know they could talk. The guard picks up a battery powered radio and calls into the facility where the people were kept. "Um, base. This is the gate we have a Dragon here asking to speak with Lady Gwen. I am not kidding either, come see for yourself." As the guard didn't believe his own ears he knew no one else would believe him.   After a moment the radio turns on, "roger that gate; repeating. You have a Dragon requesting to talk with our Dragon Hunter? Either you are drinking or there is an insane Dragon out there." The guard rubbing his forehead in frustration watching the Dragon for signs of attack talks into the radio again. "Just have someone come here, bring a grenade launcher if you want to be safe."

A few minutes later a jeep could be heard approaching the gate the Commander and I were in it, with a private driving. The Commander turns pale upon seeing the Dragon calmly sitting outside the gate. The jeep stops next to the gate house and I step out a Shadowy form getting out behind me. "Looks like the guard was telling the truth Commander, I think he should be commended for keeping his cool in this incident." The Commander nods his head at my suggestion, then I addresses the rather Large Dragon. "So as you could have stepped over this 'fence' at anytime I am inclined to believe you just wish to speak. I don't wish to upset the rest of the base by your presence do you see the Hanger at the end of the run way?" The Dragon nods, "good can you go over there I shall be there with my companion shortly." The Dragon ponders a moment then bows his head and, for a creature of his size; quickly walks the three miles to the end of the B52 air strip.

"I thought you were going to tell us about the Dragons," Jake said angrily. I give him a stern look, "You have to know what happened to fully understand, and you wanted to know. So deal with how I tell you."

I turn to the Commander who doesn't look happy at all about what I just said to the Dragon, "what do you mean by what you said? You are not seriously thinking of talking to that monstrosity?" I look the Commander dead in the eyes and before he could move I held a knife to his throat. "I'd like to remind you, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I already know how to kill that Earth Dragon, yes it's an Earth Dragon; a very old one from the way he looks. It would be suicide for him to come here knowing I was here unless he had another reason. Besides the scientists keep suggesting they are smarter than we think. Here is a chance to find out."

The Commander freezes and replies very calmly, "alright. You may have a point and if you take Shadow with you should be safe enough if you know his weakness already." The Commander almost didn't breathe and I let him go and start walking toward the Hanger with Shadow in tow. Halfway there after I had calmed down I look at Shadow who gives me a look. "What I wasn't going to kill him, I just wanted him to remember that I am not a regular person." Shadow shrugs and we keep walking, noting that the Dragon had already gone inside the Hanger. This was partly a test of trustworthiness, we gave him the opportunity to leave knowing I was here. Also he was in the location first and could set a trap for us if he wanted to kill us.

Once inside the old Hanger I note that the Dragon decided to settle himself along one wall so he could go out of the main doors at any time. I pull over a wooden crate to sit on well with in bite distance of the Dragon and I sit, Shadow turning effectively into a statue behind me. "Greetings Old One, I am Gwen the Hunter. What brings you to our home?" The Dragon bows his head to me again, "Greetings Hunter Gwen. You can call me Granite like the stone that I resemble, and I am here so that you might end my life."

I don't even blink at the statement as I had guess this was 'Granite's' intent to begin with. "If you just wanted me to kill you, you would not have asked to parley. What do you wish to discuss with me?" The Dragon let out a rumble that sounded similar to laughter, "you are certainly quick young one. I wish to tell you about history, mine and yours." I nods in agreement and sit cross-legged on the crate to get comfortable knowing we might be here quite some time.

"So shall we discuss my people first then? We are an older race than you might think Hunter, we lived during the time your people call, oh what is that name?" He scratches his ear in a very human manner, "oh yes. 'The Age of the Dinosaurs', those giant lizards your people believe existed are merely my people. We had a great civilization then, cities not unlike your own. They were built with the concept of beauty first as we are long lived so we could take time in the making of them. We had a major problem though, we would have great wars. Ones that would span the world, and we would destroy many of our beautifully crafted cities." Granite looked tearful then,"worse our leaders would have the lower ranked females have large clutches of hatchlings just to fight their wars. Hundreds would die a day in these wars." He pauses catching his breath, and I wonder at what he saw in his mind when he thought of it.

"Then what I thought would save us occurred, I was a young Dragon then from a good family. If you can't tell a Historian's lineage. A great asteroid struck the planet, killing any of my kind who were above ground at the time. Ever wonder why you don't see Wind Dragons? They all burned up that day, they were afraid of the caves. Only the major family lines were underground when it struck, mine was one of them. It took a couple of centuries for the surface to be fully livable. During that time we slept by intent, we knew how to make our kind sleep if a cataclysm were to happen."

"They could make themselves sleep Gweeny?" One of the more curious children asked, "yes sweety. Seems they have a way to trigger a hormone in their bodies that puts them all into a trance like slumber. That lasts for an unknown amount of time."

Granite tilts his head, "I see that is a surprise to you. I imagine most humans are curious how we all wound up asleep this last time, I honestly do not know. When we returned to the surface world it had changed, the world wasn't as warm any more and the land had broken up into many parts. There were also small mammalian creatures running about." I nod my head knowing that would probably be accurate based on his telling. "My kind decided after spending those couple centuries in peace that we wished to stay that way. So we elected to all live solitary lives aside from our mates, any young we'd have would leave us to find a place in the world. With a promise that none would breed before age 500, and only a couple eggs at a time. We didn't want to repeat the mistakes we had made." I nodded in agreement again thinking how humans acted over the ages and how the current situation would either save us or kill us all.

Granite continues,"we did discovered we liked the taste of the mammalian creatures that now were spread across the world and made them our standard food. When humans started appearing though some strange things started happening, while we do live very long lives. It is known if we get to aged we have the potential to lose our minds and become no better than animals. However, it was discovered that those who ate humans tended to go insane sooner. They also became addicted to the taste of human flesh." He lowered his head down so he could look me in the eye on the same level, "not unlike a man eating tiger. They cannot help but to keep killing humans to satisfy some strange need in them. Some that do try to pretend that they are not addicted to the flesh of man."

"Our Lady was not insane!" Shouted the local Headman as he tried to stand up,and one of the fighters hits him until he sat back down. I stand and walk over to him and squat down to look him in the eye, "I know for a fact she was insane. As she never recognized her father's scent on me until after she was dieing, smelling her father on me should have made her talk to me instead of attacking. Dragon's have a strong attachment to their families." I get up and slowly go back to where I had been siting.

"During this time humans started trying to hunt my people, and our numbers started going down, down enough we were allowed to breed more often. We also discovered that humans were intelligent, this had surprised us thinking humans to be about what you equate a mouse to be. Some of our more learned people informed the family heads that was most likely the reason for our people going insane. One does not eat of an intelligent creature, it is unnatural. There are things inside intelligent beings that affect other intelligent beings if ingested." He scratches his ear again thinking, "like your 'mad cow' disease. It has a similar effect, so be aware. Now there was a problem with this information being known by the family heads. Families like mine wanted the rest of our kind to know, so we could get them to stop driving ourselves crazy. Little did we know that the Matriarch had partaken of eating humans, she was already insane and had those closest to her kill anyone who had suggested telling the rest of our kind. My mother was one of the ones killed in the massacre."

Granite pauses now to let that sink in for me, and pulls his head back to where it had originally been. "Now for some of your history Hunter. I am sure you are aware of the stories of King Arthur?" I nod my head in agreement, "well that is when the true Dragon Hunters started being born to your species. Those born with the innate ability to tell a Dragon's weak point and make use of it. You also acquire greater strength and speed, this all develops when you reach maturity."

I watch the twins carefully during the next section of the tale.

"Now just because our people slept does not mean your kind vanished only to reappear when it was most needed. Hunters have existed all along, there are probably others. However I think most that have reached their turning point found a way near a Dragon as we all woke up winding up with them dieing. Though did you ever wonder why you were called Gwen? I believe the brother you miss greatly was named Arthur? Yes I know of him as I do know how to use human technology and I researched you. All Hunters somehow receive names from the Legends of the time period surrounding Arthur, someday you might meet a Mauve or a Lance. Or even a Gwain; just be aware of the names so you can be ready when you meet them."

March 2030

The twins both shuffle hearing the names Mauve and Lance, the two hadn't spoken a word the entire time since we had found them. True they were only ten years old, however they should know how to talk. I lean over to them and look them both in the eyes, "so Lance and Mauve I presume." The twins nod their heads and hug me for figuring out their names. I turn to Jake, "so looks like I have trainees when we finally get settled. I do hope they learn to talk before then."   I just hoped what ever had made them become child like didn't affect them permanently.  Jake nods stunned, as 'Johnny's mom' rounds up all of the children taking it as a cue that they needed to go to bed. Tomorrow looks to be an interesting day.