Serena was worried for the young woman sitting in front of her. Yes, she was worried about the upcoming battle and its outcome, but that wasn’t what was occupying her mind currently. The two of them had not known each other very long, but Serena found that the girl awoke a maternal instinct in her that she had long ago thought she would never possess, and that instinct was screaming at her about Rosalyn. It was telling her the girl was about to crack from stress, and one thing a dragon never ignored was its instincts.

Deciding that the best way to keep her mind off the impending threat of death was a distraction, Serena decided that she would do the only thing she could do to distract her. She would speak. However, she decided that she would pass on more than just some random tale. She knew that if she didn’t speak about this now she might never get another chance. “Do you know why dragons were hunted?” Jumping slightly from the suddenly broken silence and her frayed nerves, Rosalyn turned to the large dragoness and shook her head. “Um, our history books tell us that we defeated dragons in a holy war to save our kingdom from slavery.”

Serena smiled inwardly as she knew that she had distracted the girl from her worries, at least for a time. “You told me before about the mural and how the young King Woodain faced off against an army. Well, that is how it started.” Serena took a moment to adjust her bulk and get more comfortable before continuing, “Dragons are basically just normal people at the end of the day. We may be bigger and stronger than normal folk, but we all have things that motivate us. Also, some of us were assholes.”

Rosalyn’s mouth dropped at the first bit of profanity that she had heard Serena use and the dragon chuckled. “Oi, don’t look at me like that. It is true! Some people are just assholes no matter the species. The two assholes I am speaking of were known as Rendicarth the Black and Thoireo of the Red. They were two of my highest profile suitors you know. They didn’t take the rejection well.” Chuckling softly, Serena stared at the middle distance before her stare hardened and she continued. “I am, well ‘was’ is more accurate, the queen of all of dragons. They called me The Queen of Eternal Silver during my reign, a reign that saw the death of my entire species all because two childish assholes wanted to be kings.”

“However, you don’t need to hear about all that. You know enough about their attempts to subjugate the ‘lesser races’ from your history books I imagine. That part was true, they really did attack the human tribes and try to enslave them, although several dragons actually fought alongside the human armies, myself included. After a short and bloody campaign we defeated the two rogues. However, the killing didn’t stop there unfortunately. For you see, humans found out something when they examined the bones of Rendicarth and Thoireo. We are pure primal magic, a power that is unrivaled in all of nature. The humans figured out how to take our blood, scales, and bones and harness that power. Magical research leapt ahead hundreds of years for the human wizards in less than five. At the time I was happy for humanity, but I didn’t foresee their desire for ‘more’ looming on the horizon. So, thinking the crisis was over I came into this very cave to meditate and accumulate more mana to increase my power.” Stopping for a moment to catch her breath she looked at Rosalyn, “Ahh sorry, this is the hard part. I haven’t talked about before. It is kind of painful to speak of.” Standing up and laying her hand on the force field between them Rosalyn looked up with sympathy, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Serena shook her head and decided that she would see the story through to the end, for she knew that if she stopped her heart would never let her start again. Speaking with a bitter tone to her voice that she wasn’t able to disguise Serena started up again, “The armies that we had helped in the previous battle turned on us. They killed thousands for the prospect of magic, all while I blissfully sat underground and did nothing. By the time I found out what had happened they had marched on our largest settlement and attacked. No one was spared, and they only killed my people faster and faster as they accumulated more power from their remains.”

With a perplexed look on her face Rosalyn raised her hand to stop the story, “Why didn’t your people fly away?” Looking at the small human she shook her head back and forth in response, “Only the noble families had wings. That amounted to maybe thirty or so dragons with most of my subjects being flightless. Many of them were powerful in their own right, but dragons varied in size and power. The smallest families were the size of housecats, with me somewhere on the upper end. I am a very large dragon as you surely notice. Sometimes, I hold out hope that some of the smaller dragons were able to escape, but I know deep in my heart I am the last. I can feel it. There is no one else.”

“To quickly finish a sad story, several of my retainers found me and told me of what was happening. I rushed out to save my people, but was too late. The king and his mages found us and we fought back. My retainers were slain and I was pushed back into this cave. The king was not able to kill me, or even really wound me and the fight between us lasted for days. Unfortunately, the king was betrayed by his own mages, they used the bones of my fallen retainers to craft these pillars and the king’s life force as a power source to seal me into this prison. I have been here ever since.”

“I think I went mad for a little while, but you can only be crazy due to loneliness for so long before you kind of snap out of it. I guess you just get used to being alone. Having the tribe show up helped some too, but my greatest joy was watching you kids play adventurer in the mouth of the cave. I’ve watched dozens of you all grow up, and it saddens me that only you remain. I want you to know that I won’t fail you like I did my people.”

Rosalyn, still facing Serena with her hand on the barrier separating them looked like she wanted to say something. However, just as she opened her mouth to speak they heard a loud crashing noise come from the outside of the cavern followed by Birdie shouting “DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!” and the drumming noise of him banging two objects together.

“Well, looks like it is time. Let’s show them what you got?”

Birdie had been watching the entry way into the Great One’s chamber for the better part of a day when the first zombies started coming into the passage. Frustratingly, they were walking directly into the traps in ones and twos. He had not been able to get any more than that with any of them awesome surprises that he had set out. However, Birdie did notice that not all of the undead were walking forward. The ghouls in particular, were hanging out in the back seemingly waiting for something while the bulk of the zombies and skeletons stood to one side in orderly rows. Occasionally, one of the lesser undead would walk forward in a zig zag motion, obviously probing for traps.

Deciding that his best option was to be a distraction and bait them into rushing forward, Birdie reached into his pack to retrieve the tools he would use to sow chaos. That was when he saw it. The lich was there, standing smugly and ordering some kobold zombies into the line of other waiting dead. The sight made him sick and a little afraid, but Birdie knew he needed to lead them into as many traps as he could to thin their numbers and then get back to warn Rosalyn and the Great One. Taking and lighting an alchemical molotov into each hand Birdie leapt out and threw them right into the middle of the ghouls before turning around and running toward the great door in the tomb.

“You little maggot! PESTS! ALL OF YOU! KILL IT!” the lich screeched from behind. Knowing that he was being chased he ran as fast as he could, running over every trap that his own weight wouldn't trip and leaping over those it would. He was rewarded several times with meaty thunks, loud booms, and several interesting squelching noises. However, Birdie didn’t turn around to look at what was following him, instead he reached out and grabbed an old shield he had leaned against the entry to the tomb. Pulling a small ball-peen hammer from his pouch while he fled for his little kobold life he started banging a warning to the inner sanctum.

“DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!”

The climax had started and Birdie hoped that it wouldn't hurt too bad when they were killed, but he knew it would and he would probably be alive when the ghouls started eating him. Birdie decided to run faster.