Remember Me

We are collectors, a well known fact.  But we each have our own kind of treasure.  Some may collect jewels, or books, or bones.  But I prefer the intangible: memories. 

Many travelers get lost in the woods and end up coming by my cave.  We are solitary creatures, so the right company can be a welcome release from the habits of our long lives. 

I feed the travelers and offer them rest by my fire.  As they sit they tell me stories of where they have come from and where they hope to go.  And as they speak I see it shimmer around them, the memories like pieces of glass in a mosaic, like pieces of their soul.  When they go I ask for a piece to pluck from them in return for my kindness, and because none of them have ever come back.

Except one. 

The first day was in the beginning of crisp fall, when the leaves began to change and colors seemed more intense.  Even the air had a golden quality to it. I didn’t fly much at that point but that day I couldn’t resist the urge to stretch my wings in the sun.  I almost didn’t see him, he was so little then. The gold pendant he always had hanging from his neck caught the sun’s rays and flashed into my eyes when he fell from the force of my wings beating the air.  I took off, higher and higher until I was soaring over the treetops, not expecting him to be there upon my return.  

He was sitting at the mouth of my cave when I landed.  As soon as he heard me he dropped the stick he was playing in the dirt with and stood up, staring at me with that wide eyed look children always seem to have.

“I-I never met a dragon before,” he stammered.  He wiped the palms of his hands against his trousers.  I snorted, steam coming from my nostrils, and stepped over him into my cave.  

“And you still haven’t.” The travelers I have met were not children, they were able to live before coming to me.  I have no need for the memories of a little boy. 

I lit the coals of my nest and laid down so I could not see him, hoping that I wouldn’t have to scare him into leaving. He moved around me so I could look down my snout at him.  

“Oh..um..my name is Everett.  But many people just call me Vertie.  You don’t have to though, you can call me what you like.  Mama says I was named after my father who is really important but I don’t remember him.  Mama said that he is supposed to come back. Maybe one day…” He fumbled with his shirt and stopped his ramblings, looking around my cave.  I sighed and he stumbled back. I could blow him over.

“What’s your name?” 

“You wouldn’t be able to pronounce it.”

“Are you a girl dragon or a boy dragon?”

“Does it matter?”

“No I guess not...but what should I call you?”  He was always stubborn and persistent, qualities that would grow more charming as he got older.

“I suppose to humans I am more female, though dragons have our own gender norms. Tell you what Vertie, come up with a name and I will tell you if I like it or not.”  He sat down crossed legged in front of me, a thoughtful look on his face. He stared at me as though he wanted to know everything about me before deciding.  

“Mama has this ring with a stone that is blue and green like your scales.  I think she said it is called Chrys...chrysalla? No, Chrysocolla! Do you like that?” He looked at me imploringly, hands now twisting the pendant around his neck.

“Chrysocolla,” I said, as though I was tasting it in my mouth, “Yes, that’ll do.  Now leave me so I can take a nap.” I closed my eyes and heard him scamper off to wherever he came from, just as suddenly as he arrived, and I wondered briefly if he was just something from my imagination.

“Hey Colla! Are you asleep?”  I opened my one eye a sliver to see sandy gold hair and big green eyes peering into my own.  

“I was,” I mumbled.  

“Oh sorry.  It took me a while to find you, I haven’t been this far back before.  What’s that?” The fall was finally giving way to winter and the colder weather had me withdrawing farther back into my cave.  In the past couple of months Everett visited me every day, his boyish energy giving me something to look forward to, not something I expected the first day he showed up. He was staring at my wall of memories, mouth open in awe.  I came up behind him. 

“Those are memories, I collect one from each person I meet.” It was a mosaic of every color imaginable, shining like painted glass windows though there was no sun behind them.  

“Wow…” breathed Vertie, “How do you do it? Can I see?”  He ran his tiny fingertips along the wall and the lights that he touched blinked as though alive.  

“I can feel them! Like the smoothest glass.” His wonder pulled at something in my chest, it had been a long time since I appreciated my gift as much as he did in that moment.  I had seen each a dozen times but it was as though I was just discovering them with him. 

“Pick one and I will show you.”

He stopped at an orange memory, like the color of sunsets.  

“This one.”  

With my talons I gently plucked it from the wall.  In my perspective it was just a bead of light but to him it was like a coin. 

“Okay hold onto it with me when I tell you to. Ready? Now.”  Without me letting go he gently pinched the memory and I let us be tugged in.  Instantly we were thrown into a different world and I heard Vertie gasp next to me, though I couldn’t see him.  Just like the memories color, it was of the sunset. You take the view of the person who made the memory so it looked like I was standing on a cliff looking out over the sea being painted by the sun.  The wind whipped around me and the waves crashed below in an enchanting song. In my heart I felt the love for this place, my beautiful home. And just like that the memory ended and were back to standing on the hard floor of my cave.  Vertie let get go and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. 

“I want to see them all.”

A  laugh rumbled in the back of my throat. 

“That would take too long.  Besides you could get lost in them.  How about we go make some memories of our own?” I nudged him with my snout until he fell onto me and I lifted him up into the air, Vertie shrieking with laughter.  He used my horns to climb further up my head and then wrapped his legs around my neck. 

“Lets go!” 

With a roar I barreled out of the cave and took flight, Vertie shouting and laughing the entire time. Though the air was cold against my face, his little body kept me warm the entire flight. 

The summers were always the most wonderful.  When he grew out of childish games we would lay on a field we found during one of our flights and he would tell me about his mother, his friends, or his dreams and what he hoped to do.  Though I never met Vertie’s mother, in a way we had a kinship, for I knew eventually I could no longer fool myself into thinking he would never leave and things could stay just like this. 

One particularly beautiful summer day we were laying in the field, Vertie on his back staring at the clouds.  One hand ruffled the blades of grass while the other stroked the pendant around his neck. It caught the sun like the first day we met and for some reason it never occurred to me why a poor seamstresses son would have something so valuable. 

“Vertie, may I see your necklace?” 

“Of course.” He stood and walked over to me.  When he was a boy it looked so large on his small frame, as though the gold might weigh him down.  But he was a young man now, and it fit into the palm of his hand. He held it up and I saw that though it was worn it was expertly crafted.  It was a circular medallion, rubies surrounding what looked to be a family crest in the middle. Something about it was familiar, but whatever it was kept escaping me.  I had seen this before…

“My father gave it to me before he left.  He said it would tell me who I was and when the time came that I should take back what was stolen from us.  That’s all I know because he never came back.” He tucked it into his shirt with a far off look in his green eyes.  And then I remembered. Vertie must have gotten his blonde hair from his mother but those inquisitive green eyes were like looking at his father.  I don’t know how I never realized it before, maybe preferring not to. 

“Everett I have to show you something.”  He gave me a questionable look and without a word climbed onto my back.  The next second we were back in flight. 

“This is a memory that a traveller once insisted I take.  I don’t understand it, but now I think it wasn’t meant for me.  It was meant for you.” We held the blood red piece together and I let us go with that familiar pull.  Instantly we were thrown into what looked like a marbled throne room. I was kneeling besides an older man on the ground, his blood coated my hands and pooled onto the white floor.  A gold crown rested upon his head and sobs caught in my throat. 

“You will pay for this,” I heard myself say, and I looked up into the face of another man, almost the same age as the one I kneeled over.  The man’s cold eyes regarded me as though I was nothing but dirt and a smirk smudged his lips. 

“I would like to see you try,” the man said and bent over to grab the crown from the dead man’s head to put on his own. I stood, squaring my shoulders. 

“You cannot escape what you have done.” I looked down at the dead man, tears blurring my vision.  

“Goodbye father,” I whispered, and with that I turn and ran, the sound of the other man calling for the guards ringing in my ears. 

The memory ended and I was back with Vertie.  His face was stormy, lips tightly pressed together.  I waited for him to say something but he just pressed his head against the side of mine, his skin warm against my scales.  He turned to leave then, and as I watched his retreating silhouette against the bright light of the sun bursting into the mouth of my cave, I had the feeling that that would be the last time I might ever see him.

I hadn’t seen Everett in over a year when the men came and took me.  They came thundering through my forest, at least a hundred of them, wearing garments of silver metal and carrying ropes and swords.  I fought as hard as I could as they pulled me from my cave, my roars shattering the peace of the forest and rumbling the earth below us.  My fire did nothing to stop their advances as there were so many of them.  

“Get that thing tied down!” they yelled and beat me with their swords. 

I am not a violent creature but I was forced to crunch a couple of the men between my jaws before they put a contraption on my snout that prevented me from opening my mouth.  Suddenly burning liquid was poured onto my wings and I screamed in pain so terrible that it could only be worse if they tried to saw my wings instead. Whatever it was it tore through the skin there and I blacked out from the intensity. 

When I woke I was tied to a giant wooden slab with wheels. If I tried to pull against my restraints I was stabbed until blood flowed down my scales.  These were not the friendly travellers that came into my home. They were monsters.

I was taken so far from my home that the terrain turned rocky and barren, nothing like my lush forest.  Finally after days of travelling my capturs and I came upon a giant stone structure, a tower that seemed to randomly burst out of the ground.  At that point I was so weak from lack of food that I barely put up a fight when they untied the rope and attached massive metal shackles to my legs so I couldn’t fly away.  They took the horrid muzzle from my mouth and I couldn’t resist letting my flames go and watching them scatter like bugs. Someone behind me stabbed my legs until I stopped. 

“Okay you beast,” one of them sneered at me, “if you ever want to be let go you must defend this tower from anyone who tries to climb it.  Do you understand?” I grumbled deep in my throat as a response and finally they left me to my solitude. I tested the chains that bound me but they were steadfast in their restraint.  I could no longer stretch my wings for they were so scarred from that burning liquid. All I could do was lay there and wait for the knights that would come my way.  

I didn’t know I was guarding someone until she called down to me from her tower a little while later. 

“I’m sorry they did this to you, Dragon.” her voice was sweet like honey but it was tinged with genuine sadness. “I suppose that since we are both trapped here for the time being we might as well become friends.”  

I only snorted in response and closed my eyes, hoping that it would all be over soon.  

The first knight came in the dead of darkness.  I was awoken by a sharp pain in my side and I roared, breathing fire into the air.  The knight jumped back but kept swiping at me, his silver sword glinting in the moonlight.  They told me to guard the tower so I did. I snatched the guard between my teeth and bit down until I heard the snap of his bones and he fell limp.  I laid him down gently, horrified about what I did. 

“Is he dead?” I heard the girl say from above. 

“Yes,” I replied and slumped to the ground. 

“Do you have to kill them?” she asked me, her voice delicate and innocent. 

“If I want to be let go,” I answered.  After that I slept fitfully. 

Once the third one came I realized that my only food would be the meat on their bones.  I have heard of dragons that ate humans but I always hunted the deer in the forest, or occasionally sheep from nearby farms.  I put the human’s bones in a pile as far away as my chains would let me, preferring not to look at them. 

The girl sang for me to pass the time since we were both lonely.  Her voice was lovelier than any bird call I have heard and sometimes she could make me forget where I was.  When she sang for me I was back in my cave hearing the laughter of a sandy haired boy.  

“Have you ever been in love?” The girl asked me on day. 

“Once,” I said after a pause.  I could still see his intelligent green eyes in my mind and I wondered if he ever returned to my cave and found it empty.  I wondered if he missed me.

“I am now, and I hope he comes for me.  Hopefully we will be free soon.” She started another song, this one about two lovers who could never be together and I let it drift me off into sleep. 

I saw the seventh one coming in the brightness of day and took a deep breath to ready myself.  I let him get closer before I blew a burst of flame in his direction. He blocked me with a shield.  His armor was more worn than the others, and not as refined. As I was taking in another breath he tore off his helmet and it fell to ground with a sharp clang.  Long sandy gold hair and bright green eyes met my gaze. 

“Chrysocolla?” the young man whispered in disbelief. 

“Vertie,” I choked out and felt a single tear run down the scales of my cheek.  He stumbled towards me and threw his arms around my neck. I bent down and nuzzled him close to me, not wanting him to let me go. 

“It’s been a while since anyone called me that.  They call me Everett now.”

“It’s been a while since anyone called me Chrysocolla.  Now I am just “dragon” or “beast”.” Vertie gave me a sad look and stroked my snout. 

“You are not a beast,” he said.

He built us a fire from the little brush he found in between the rocks and then he sat against me like all the times before, as if nothing had changed. 

“I am sorry I never said goodbye, I figured it would be easier that way.  I knew I must complete the task that my father set before me so I travelled to the kings castle.  I decided to train to become a guard and then a knight to get closer to the king and find out what I could.” Vertie fidgeted with a small rock in his hands.  He never could keep still. 

“The king ruling now was my grandfather’s advisor.  He was jealous and decided to take the throne and since my father was not of age to rule he was cast out and threatened of death if he ever returned.  That day he left my mother and me he tried one last time to gain support and overthrow the king but he died trying. He left me with this necklace in case he never returned so people would know who I really was.

During my time working and training at the castle I made friends and gained a following.    Eventually I managed to get council with the king and I told him who I really was. The bastard just laughed in my face and told me he would kill me just like he did to my father and grandfather before me.  Though when he called for the guards, his daughter pleaded in my favor. We had gotten close and I guess you could say we began a courtship without the king knowing. Since he had no heirs he agreed that I could have the crown if I showed I was worthy.”  Vertie spat on the ground. 

“He knows nothing of worthiness.  That crown sits on his head because of innocent blood slain.  But he likes to play games with anyone, even his own daughter.  He said that if I could fight for the crown then anyone could. Anyone could have it if they defeat the beast.  I didn’t know the beast he was talking about was you. I can’t believe they did this to you Colla. I am so sorry, I’m so sorry.”  Vertie threw the rock he was playing with in anguish. He got up and kicked around the loose dirt and pebbles on the rocky ground.

“There has to be another way, I could never hurt you Colla.” Tears appeared at the corner of his eyes as he faced me.  He went around to gently touch my tattered wings. I couldn’t feel anything. He pressed his face against mine like the day he left and deep in my gut I knew what must be done. 

“Do you love her?” I asked him quietly.

“I only love you,” he responded firmly.

“But could you love her, could you be happy?” 

He paused and looked away.  When he looked back into my eyes I saw what he saw: deaths that were finally avenged, a prosperous kingdom, a good king and queen, a happy life.

“Yes,” he said reluctantly. I nodded. 

“I lived a long life and the best parts of it were with you.  Now it’s your turn to make your own memories and live your life.  You’ll always have me in your memory, Vertie, I am alive as long as I am remembered.”  Now tears were flowing freely down his cheeks and he wiped them away with the back of his hand like the little boy I first met. 

“All this time and you never asked for a memory.  Please let me give you one since you have given so much to me.” He closed his eyes and I didn’t want to refuse so I looked for the shimmer of colors around him.  There were so many dazzling pieces but one glowed brighter than the rest and I knew it must be the one he wanted me to take. It was a splendid blue green and as soon as I plucked it from his mozaic I was back to the beginning of crisp fall, when the leaves began to change and colors seemed more intense.  Even the air had a golden quality to it. Though I was low to the ground I knew I was standing looking at the entrance of a cave. From the depths of the darkness came a dragon, me, and I saw myself the way Vertie saw me. 

I was beautiful.  My scales were a deep emerald green that glinted blue when they hit the sun and I stood majestically in the sunlight, confident and regal.  When I spread my wings I saw through Vertie’s eyes the power that they wielded, and my breath caught in my throat. Is this amazing creature who I was? I was thrown back from the gust of wind my wings caused and I watched myself take off into the air.  I felt Vertie fall in love with me then, and I felt him wish more than anything to always fly with me. 

“Thank you,” I said to him when the memory ended.  

“I wish I could give you something more,” he started to say but I shushed him.

“You have given an old dragon so much happiness and now I wish the same for you.  Just don’t forget me okay?”

“I promise,” he answered. 

“Then do what must be done.”  I could hear him quietly sobbing but when I closed my eyes I didn’t feel fear or sadness.  I just felt the need for the release. I could die knowing I spent at least a part of my life having lived and loved. 

“Goodbye Chrysocolla,” my Vertie whispered. He plunged his sword into my heart and I let the blackness consume me.