Snull the dragon had been partying with a dragon gang in the
luxurious steam-heated caverns of northern Timbukstan for a
few decades now, long enough to form an attachment with one
young female in particular.

Jemmax, as it turned out, was from the clan of his arch-rival,
who was known as Sarrowax the One-eyed ever since their last
encounter. Perhaps that was why she was turning so treacherous
of late, he thought, laughing and teasing him one minute, boldly
displaying the sinuous gleam of her iridescent scales, and then
arching her long neck, spitting fire, and hissing the most
enraging insults at him.

Snull enjoyed the long northern nights he spent feasting and
lazing around the great caverns there, soaking up the heat of
the planet`s fiery core well below the icy blasts of winter on
the surface. By day, he would often hunt, picking off stragglers
from the herds of the nomadic humans who wandered around the
region.

But now the formerly fun-loving Jemmax was growing too full of
eggs, he supposed, always pre-occupied with her precious nest.
She was sluggish, greedy, and bad-tempered, begrudging Snull
even a scrawny little goat yesterday and then spewing a foul-
smelling mixture of flame and gasses into his face when he dared
to mutter something about her own voracious appetite. Then Jemmax
had spitefully insisted that the local herds should be conserved
for the use of her swelling brood of baby dragons, embarrassing
him in front of the whole dragon gang. And her eggs wouldn`t even
hatch for two more years!

Beneath the monstrous, slow-moving shadow of the sulking and
fuming bull dragon, both herds and herdsmen fled and scattered
into the many clefts and gullies of the broken wintry landscape.
But Snull`s glittering black eyes were fixed thoughtfully on the
farthest horizon, jagged with mountains. He was straining to
recall a dim old memory. Yes, once there had been a pleasant place
where he had enjoyed himself very much indeed. It was a smallish
kingdom that was situated along the base of the southern mountain
ranges and close to the great inland sea.

This once happy land was blessed with a protected southern exposure
and a hard-working population, a rich and productive little realm,
and only weakly defended by its corrupt and easy-living ruler. By
now perhaps it had recovered from his predations and was doing well
again... perhaps they had forgotten how to fear dragons...

04/09/2018