The Beast Beneath The Bluff

Chapter Five

"Y Ddraig Goch?" Tabitha echoed, and the dragon jerked his head in confirmation.

Yes, he said. I take it you've heard my name before?

Heard? As a Welsh citizen, of course she had! Legend has it that long ago, when the Anglo-Saxons were conquering the Celtic isles, the people of Wales had stood together along with a dragon named Y Ddraig Goch to fight them along with their white dragon counterpart. According to legend, the white dragon had come and laid waste to Welsh lands by freezing over their crops, killing their livestock, and cursing the land in plagues. Y Ddraig Goch, the friendly red dragon that lived by their village, awoke to find the dragons body encircling their village. Enraged, the Y Ddraig Goch fought the white dragon, and they engaged in a battle so vicious and bloody it tore up the land and made the sky rain blood.

So far, Tabitha has heard of three endings to that tale: one, Y Ddraig Goch decapitates the white dragon with its tail before flying back to its cave and dying, the second with the same premise as the first except the dragon falls into a deep sleep rather than dying, and the third included the King of the land burying the dragons under a mountain when both were too tired to continue fighting.

It seems the humans at the time honored their promise to me after all, Goch said with a strangely wistful tone behind his voice. Long ago, I agreed to protect their lands from the Anglo-Saxons in exchange for glory, which I did for five hundred years. If they truly did put me on their national flag, it must mean they've not forgotten. Interesting little creatures.

"But why bother with humans in the first place?" Tabitha asked.

The dragons muzzle wrinkled back in a way to reveal his giant teeth, and it took Tabitha a terrifying second to realize the dragon was smiling. Purely for my own enjoyment, of course, the dragon answered.

Once again, Tabitha was reminded of just how surreal all of this was. Her imaginary friend was never in her mind, but a colossal monster with telepathic powers, who also turned out to be the symbol of her very nation. Tabitha felt like she was finally losing her mind, but at the same time, she felt so inexplicably happy. All her life she had been told to get her head out of the gutter, that dragons and fairies don't exist, and yet here she is, standing before the very dragon that fought for her country.

Suck it, Chelsea.

The great red dragon chuffed and gazed down at her with fondness. For such a small creature, you have quite the feisty attitude, he told her.

"Thanks," she said. "Um, if it's not too much to ask, you said you've lived since the Anglo-Saxon times, right? How old are you exactly, and how are you still alive?"

Tabitha's mother always told her that asking for someones age was rude, so Tabitha wasnt entirely sure if that was an appropriate question to ask. Goch, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind. In fact, his eyes dazzled in an almost proud sort of way. That is simply my nature, little one. You see, dragons like myself are not born to the Realm of Man. Rather, we hail from somewhere called the Otherworld, which you humans may know as Tir na nOg or Annwfn. There, our eggs are grown like fruit from the Elder Tree. We've no need for intercourse or consumption, so dragons can live indefinitely, and the only way we can die is through being killed.

Tabitha had no idea what "intercourse" or "consumption" meant but she definitely knew what indefinitely is. That means that Y Ddraig Goch has lived for about one thousand five hundred years?

"You're ancient!" Tabitha gasped.

By dragon standards I'm actually quite young, but yes. I've been around and about for about three thousand years by now, though I could never be too sure. One loses track after a time.