Chapter 4: Dragon’s trade

I fumble with the bag in the dark and pulled out the rifle. Gradually the walls started glowing, I stayed where I was and continued to wait. I heard a grating sound and then a loud slithering noise. Soon it was light enough for me to see and I glanced around.

There was a mound of something about fifty feet away and I was in what appeared to be a large cave. A rasping sound had me spinning around and I froze as a huge shape came out of the darkness, “You picked the wrong cave thief.”

It was like something out of a movie or a book, Tolken or one of the others. In front of me was a huge dragon. I looked into the large glowing eyes, “I’m not a thief.”

The dragon moved closer, “I can smell my gold.”

All I could think of was the gold coins in my bag, “That would be my gold coins you smell.”

The dragon stopped in front of me, “Yours?”

I smiled, “Yes. Are you real or did I hit my head on the way down?”

The dragon tilted its head and looked up, “Ah ... you came through the hole.”

I looked up but couldn’t see anything, “If that is what you want to call it. Where is this place anyway?”

The dragon looked at me in a way that I thought of as strangely, “This is my home human.”

I looked around, “At least you will stay dry.”

There was a coughing rasping sound as the dragon turned its head. I could see a trickle of flame fall from its mouth before it turned back to me, “Why are you not afraid of me human?”

I grinned, “I’m seventy years old. What are you going to do ... kill me?”

The dragon tilted its head, “yes.”

I shook my head, “Let me guess. For my gold?”

The dragon was silent as I sat down, “That would just be another way of stealing.”

The dragon hesitated and then laid down, “You could give it to me.”

I grinned as I fished in my bag and came up with the pouch of gold coins. I held the pouch up, “If I give my gold to you what will I use?”

The dragon tilted its head again as if thinking and then it turns its huge head towards the black darkness at the back of the cave, “I will trade you as much as you can carry from my pile of discards.”

I looked into the darkness, “Discards?”

The dragon seemed to growl or grumble and the whole cave lit up. The floor of the cave was sandy with fine white sand that sparkled. I looked around at the sparkling walls with thick vanes of gold running through them, “Very nice dragon, I think it is missing something though.”

The dragon’s head moved closer as it growled, “And what would that be?”

I looked from the huge pile of gold to the dragon, “A bed.”

The dragon snorted and small bursts of flame came out of its nose, “I sleep on the floor human.”

I looked at the gold pile, “You could melt the gold into bricks to make a bed. I thought dragons liked feeling gold against their skin?”

The dragon looked away from me and at the pile of gold. It was almost thoughtful as it murmured, “Gold bricks.”

I looked around the cave again as I casually dropped the pouch of gold on top of my bag, “You wouldn’t have some water in here would you?”

The dragon turned to look at me and then looked in another direction, “In the corner.”

I fished around in my pack for a metal camping cup. I walked towards the dark corner and the light seemed to follow me and light the way. There was a small pool that had a large trickle of water running down the far wall. The water was very cold and almost seemed sweet. When I came back to the dragon, it was curled up by my bag and pack, “Tell me human, how would you make bricks of gold?”

I smiled as I put the cup away and sat, “Well, you would have to make a mold. You start with clay and bake a shape of a brick and go from there. Ideally, you want to create a metal mold for something like gold bricks. Once you have the mold, you melt the gold and pour it into the mold. Let it cool, open it and take the brick out.”

The dragon’s eyes were half lidded, “And could you make a mold?”

I rubbed my chin as I thought about how to make it, “I would need clay and some type of pot metal. I would also need to build a forge to bake the clay.”

The dragon looked at me and stood up, “Stay here.”

I shrugged, “Where would I go?”

The dragon turned and walked out. I looked around and stood to walk towards the pile of glittering silver piled against the back wall. It was easily three times the size of the huge pile of gold. There were chests of silver coins and even silver bar scattered around. There was also other stuff, jewelry and shining weapons, chain mail and shields. There was so much stuff it was hard to grasp. I found a plain looking dagger on the edge and picked it up.

Pulling it out of its sheath I saw the wavy lines of high quality steel. It reminded me of a Japanese sword I had seen once. I put it back in the sheath, tucked it through my belt and turned to walk around. I found a nice flat spot not to far from the pool of water that would be a good place to build a small forge. I didn’t find many loose rocks and had to go farther away to find them.

I had just finished the back and sides and was looking for a larger, flatter rock for the top when the dragon returned. It was funny to watch it walk in with a clump of clay in one huge clawed hand. The dragon dropped the clay and looked at what I was doing. It walked to the wall closest and using one claw, started cutting large square bricks of solid rock. I walked closer and realized what it was doing and started carrying them back the flat spot, “I need one that is thinner for the top.”

Before I knew it I was looking at a large stone forge, “Now I just need a heat source.”

The dragon snorted and little flames shot out of its nose. I grinned, “One that will last for a few hours.”

The dragon seemed to sigh, “Show me where.”

I pointed at the forge and the dragon looked at it for a second and then carefully took a deep breath. He breathed out in a long seemingly careful manner. The flame that came out of his mouth was different than any of the other times I had seen it. It was a steady stream of bluish green flame that seemed to wrap around the stone forge.

The stones quickly started turning red. When the dragon stopped, it growled and grumbled. The forge stayed hot and I turned to the clay. It didn’t take long for me to form a brick. It was shaped like a paving stone I had once seen, only shallower, maybe an inch and a half thick. I put it in the forge and turned back to the clay.

The dragon had moved away and gone into another room of the cave. I made a thick tray of solid clay, planning everything as I went. After a couple of hours, I pulled the clay brick out with the sleeve of my shirt and set it aside to cool. I was thinking about getting out something to eat when the dragon returned. Besides a plow and several other large pieces of metal, it carried a charred hunch of something I thought might be a deer.

I used one of my knives to cut a large piece off when it dropped the meat in front of me. It was a little well done, but anyone that has spent time in a jungle ... Let’s just say I ate. When I was done, I checked the brick and then started to make a tray like mold with the brick. It held a total of twenty bricks and it didn’t take me long to finish.

I was able to barely fit the pieces into the forge before I turned to the dragon, “I’ll need an iron pot for the gold.”

It nodded and left, a few minutes later it was back carrying what looked like a small boulder. It lay down and seemed to ignore me while using one of its claws to carve. I walked to the pile of gold and looked at it for a moment before kneeling and opening a small carved chest. It looked really old and only held a bunch of gold coins, I dumped them out and sat down.

I drew the dagger I had found and reached out to pick up what looked like a gold necklace. I noticed the dragon watching as I used the tip of the dagger to pry the large gems out of the soft gold and drop them into the box. When I was finished I tossed it aside and picked up another, I finally stopped and went to check the mold. I ended up pulling it out with a corner of my shirt. I left it to cool and stretched, “when it cools we need to find a way to melt the pot metal.”

The dragon seemed amused, “Leave it to me human.”

I shook my head, “Call me Sam.”

The dragon was a long time in responding, “Names can be a powerful thing human.”

I shrugged, “Dragon I’m old, humor me.”

The dragon tilted its head and finally nodded. I went back to prying gems out of gold and lost track of time. I finally looked up and saw the dragon watching me. He looked kind of bemused and turned to look at the mold. I set everything aside and went to check it. It seemed cool enough and I put the pieces together.

I looked at the dragon as I carefully stood them on their sides. “Now we need the molten pot metal.”

The dragon shifted and reached out to hold some of the metal in its hand. It leaned close and breathed slowly in its clawed hand and I watch a clear flame envelope the metal. The metal sagged and then just seemed to glow white before melting. The dragon tilted its hand and carefully poured the molten metal into one of the molds.

It repeated the process a second time for the second mold and then sat back. I checked and carefully started tapping the mold, “What are you doing hu ... Sam?”