Mara's Flame (A dragon's tale)

By Hamish Clark

Mara, a young dragon- loses everything important to her and sets out on a quest to find out why. Cameron, a young prince- has some serious growing up to do. Join them as they battle an ancient evil which seeks to snuff out the flame inside all creation.
A book for older children, young adults and anybody in touch with their inner child.
Remember the Flame!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hamish Clark
• Release date: Jul 14, 2010
• ISBN: 9781458072009

Book preview

MARA’S FLAME

Hamish Clark

Copyright 2011 Hamish Clark

Smashwords Edition

CHAPTER 1

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN

You can call a dragon anything you like, but it will still be a dragon. They are big, they breathe fire and they can eat an awful lot. Dragons are also extremely lazy and get very annoyed when they have to go out for a meal. Fortunately, being crafty as well as lazy, they long ago worked out an ingenious way of getting free home delivery- simply advertise the fact your cave is stuffed with treasure, and when humans come to steal it… eat them.

Now legend says things weren’t always like this, and that there was a time when dragons and humans were bound together in trust and friendship. However, ask any sensible dragon what they think of that idea and they would laugh in your face (a very intimidating experience). Who could imagine being friends with a human, they would ask. After all, legend is a liar as often as not, and it certainly doesn’t help to confuse what is food with what is friend.

Mara, a young dragon, was about to discover her mother was a very sensible dragon indeed.

Walking into a large cave, she saw gold and silver coins scattered like wildflowers in a moon-lit valley, glinting in the pale light cast by crystal orbs. Strands of smoke curled through the air and drops of water dripped from the ceiling to splash amongst rusted suits of armor, shields and swords.

‘Mom,’ she said, walking in the center of the cave. ‘How did we get all this stuff, anyway?’ Mara had grown up surrounded by treasure, but for the last few weeks had felt a nagging need to understand where it had come from.

A russet gold head, nearly half as long as Mara’s entire body, pushed forward from the shadows between two limestone columns.

‘Stuff?’ said her mother. The cave brightened for a moment as her golden eyes opened halfway and then shut again. ‘This isn’t ‘stuff’, my dear. This is Family Treasure.’

‘But it’s all human…’ said Mara.

The eyes opened a crack and flames flickered out from between her mom’s pursed lips. ‘Nonsense.’

‘But…’

‘Foolishness…’ Her mother’s head moved back into the shadows.

‘Mother!’

There was no further reply except for a rather exaggerated yawn. Mara sighed in frustration. It was clear the treasure had been made by humans, so why would she deny it?

She combed through the treasure, searching for some kind of clue, and then realized she was looking for something in particular. It was almost as if an insistent voice called her closer and closer.

There’s something here…

Two days later she still had not found it. She stared at her mother, who lay sleeping on the last unexamined mound of treasure. Her massive sides, all shingled with gold and scarlet scales, rose and fell to a steady beat.

Isn’t she ever going to move? Mara’s tail thumped into the ground.

The next day, after Mara’s mother had finally woken and gone out to hunt, she pounced upon the final treasure-mound. Gold and silver sprayed out from behind her as she began to dig, muttering as she discarded goblets and trinkets after only a cursory inspection.

‘Yes!’ she said a short time later, looking down at an untarnished golden shield. The shield had been forged and beaten into the shape of a sun held between two dragon wings. Etched into the golden sun was a dragon carrying a man on its back.

Heart pounding, she dragged the shield from the cave and out to her ledge on the other side of the mountain.

Mara studied it for hours, marveling at the image of the splendid dragon. The man riding on his back had an arm raised, as if in triumph. Then she gazed at her own reflection in the shiny surface. She bared her sharp teeth and turned her head to see a golden eye staring back at her. She reared up and spread her wings. Great muscles stretched under gold and crimson scales.

But what does it mean? Why does it call to me so?

She stared back down the tunnel, nibbling at her leathery lower lip, and then decided to risk asking her mother about humans again. She walked back toward the central cave.

When she arrived, she squinted into the gloom and cleared her throat. ‘Mom?’ She was sure her mother would have returned by now, sated with deer-flesh and crisp lake-water.

Her mother’s eyes opened slowly like furnace doors, and then swung in their sockets and fixed on her. Dried animal blood caked her mouth and talons.

‘Yes, Dear?’

‘I was wondering. Um…’ Mara shuffled her feet. She knew her mother would not be happy, and yet something about the idea of dragons and humans flying together felt too important to ignore.

You don’t eat your friends for a start.

‘Yes?’ said her mother, stifling a yawn. She always seemed sleepy after eating.

‘I found this shield, and it had a… Well it had a dragon on it.’

‘So?’

‘And there was a human riding on his…’

‘Not another word!’ said her mother.

‘But…’

‘Mara,’ her mom said, ‘I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but that’s it. No more talk of humans. Do you hear me?’ A stream of smoke jetted from her nostrils and her tail snaked around, scattering gold and silver coins about the cave. ‘Nasty little creatures!’

Mara looked up with golden eyes and said, ‘Yes, Mom.’ She walked back into the tunnel leading to the other side of the mountain. Her mother couldn’t fit here anymore and so she had this tunnel all to herself.

The tunnel led out onto a rock ledge above a high cliff-face. She could see for miles. Jumbled forest spread out across hills and valleys, crystal lakes glinted like blue eyes and above it all the afternoon clouds glowed pink as they cushioned the setting sun.

Mara sighed and looked down at the golden shield. ‘A human made this,’ she whispered. She stared back down the tunnel and frowned, wondering if dragons had ever really let humans ride them. She then turned her eyes to where the summit of a nearby mountain rose like a fist thrust at the sky.

Maybe Dad will listen.

Early the next morning she launched herself from the cliff on the other side of the mountain. Her wings snapped open like great golden fans, strong but delicate, and she glided over the forest until she found a patch of warm, rising air.

Her father’s mountain was not very far away and she soon landed with a soft bump.

The sound of snoring echoed out from his cave and she decided to enjoy the morning sun a while before waking him. The warm sunlight glinted off her golden scales as she tidied up around the cave mouth. There were animal bones lying everywhere.

She swept them off the edge of the cliff with her tail and watched them tumble to the ground below. When the last of the bones had dropped over the edge she shuffled into the cave.

Her father lay sleeping, curled up like a gigantic cat, and the thunderous sound of his snoring brought little bits of rock down from the ceiling in rhythmic showers of dust. Dust tickled her nose and Mara sneezed loudly.

‘What’s that? Who’s there, eh?’ he said, turning a bleary eye in her direction. ‘Oh, it’s only you, dear.’

He made even her mother look small. When he walked, his giant belly brushed the ground; mainly on account of his not walking very often. ‘How’s my little girl, then? Eh?’ he said, shaking dirt off his scales and into the air.

She sneezed again. ‘I’m good.’

‘What? What’s that you said?’

‘I’m fine, Daddy.’

‘Gotta speak up, girl. How can a dragon hear when you’re whispering all the time?’

Mara cleared her throat. ‘Sorry. Mom sends her love, and says it’s your turn to visit,’ she said, and then they talked about the little things that had happened since she last flew over. Finally she asked him if dragons and humans had ever been friends.

‘What’s that? Friends? Humans? Why, that would be friendly food. Friendly food, eh? Ho! Ho!’Earth and rocks fell from the roof in time to his laughter.

‘But Dad, how could food make something like this?’ She wrapped her tail around a jeweled sword on the floor and held it up for him to see.

‘Eh? Do they? I suppose they do; now you mention it. Hmm. Tricky that. You do ask the trickiest questions.’ He scratched an ear and shook a new layer of dust off his back. ‘Hmm.’

She waited.

‘Well... perhaps you could ask the Old One,’ he said. ‘But you’ll have to ask your mother first, and I doubt she’ll let you. Don’t blame her. No. Don’t blame her a bit.’

‘Who’s the Old One?’

‘Well... He’s old and odd. Odd and old. All he does is think. Bound to make a dragon odd in the end. Anyway, I doubt your mother would approve. In fact, I think you should forget the whole idea.’ Her father squinted at her from the corner of an eye and blew smoke rings toward the ceiling.

Mara sat still and quiet, except for the tapping of her tail.

‘Hmm,’ he said, glancing at her before staring at the ceiling again. ‘He lives a long way away. Too far for a young dragon to go.’ He turned to face her with a sheepish grin. ‘You won’t mention this to your mother, will you? There’s a good girl.’

Looking around the cave, she wondered if all it really meant to be a dragon was to sleep and eat. Mara turned and walked slowly back toward the entrance. Before leaving, she turned and called, ‘And don’t eat any more humans!’

His eyes widened and he pushed the sword away with