Always East

 

It was called the City of the Sun for the legends surrounding it said that the sun rested there when not on its celestial journey through the sky.  However, ancient lore is too often distorted and the truth is too easily lost in the strands of a storytellers words.  The city, in fact was little more than a village of few dozen white houses interlaced by cobbled streets.  And the sun rose every morning in the east above the sea.  Yet, it was a place blessed by the sun for it did not sink in the west, but instead reversed its course and settled back into the sea, in the east.

The village was set apart from the  rest of the world by the range of mountain that  surrounded the land like teeth from a wolfs' jaw – long, jagged, tipped with white and quite deadly.  Many years had passed since the last courageous soul had ventured across them, braving the bitter cold and the horrible dragons that dwelt there.  The dragons were horrible creatures.  Their claws could tear through steel, their teeth were like daggers, their tails powerful enough to level an entire house, and their breath was that of the fiery depth of the earth.

But they never came down off the mountains.  And so the village lived peacefully governed by the one simple law etched in stone in the Center Square.

One summer's night a stranger came to the village.  He plodded steadily along, his feet moving like lead weights and eyes unfocused on the dirt path before him.  For months he'd traveled to cross the mountains, for longer than he'd expected and now he out of supplies and weary beyond belief.  He was an old knight, or perhaps merely a young one whose long journey and empty travel bag had wizened his features prematurely.  He rode no horse and carried with him only a sword that had seared more dragon's flesh in that one journey than in all his life before.  Now the thing keeping his feet moving one in front of the other was the importance of the message, the mission he was on.

It was dark when he arrived yet the villagers were awake.  All bustling about their lives like it was day, each carrying a candle to light their path.  Almost as if they were expecting me, he thought.

Villagers turned and whispered as he passed and many began to follow him as he walked to the heart of the town.  A flowing fountain shimmered in the moonlight and he mounted its edge so he could be seen by the large crowd that had gathered to hear what he was about to say, drawn by their curiosity towards such an odd person.  So many people in fact that the light from all their candles almost made it seem like day.

He did not speak at first, but let the tension of silence and expectation build in the air.  This moment had been one he'd pictured every night he'd spent on the mountains and he knew he must to do it right.  So he waited until it seemed the intensity might rip the night sky in half and then he spoke.

"A dragon is coming," he said dramatically.  "The dragon is coming."

It did not stir up the instantaneous hysteria he'd imagined it would.  The crowd exchanged confused looks.

Irked, the knight tried again.  "Don't you understand what I said?  The dragon is coming!  The black dragon!  The king of all dragons, like none other you've seen or fought before. It's huge!  It's merciless! With one stroke of its tale it could level your town.  I've seen whole kingdoms fall underneath its terrible wrath.  Turned to ash with no survivors and now it's on its way here!  If you are not ready your village, too, will fall."

The villagers began to laugeh.

"Why are you laughing?" the knight cried exasperated.  "You are all in grave peril, but I can save you!  I've found out how to destroy the dragon!  If you will help me we can vanquish this beast once and for all!"

"You old fool," a plump middle-aged woman mocked.  "Dragons have never attacked this village."
He turned to her.  "How can that be?  For weeks I've watched this valley during my descent off the mountains and I have seen dragons down here."

A deadly silence fell.  Every laughing face now scowled at him like an unwanted cur.

"Don't you be spreading such vicious rumors here," the woman snapped.  "Dragons have never attacked this village and they never will."

The crowd cheered for her.

"If you're going to talk like that I think you better leave."  She turned away from him with a quick snap of her head and stormed off, the cue for the rest to move on their way, too.  They all skirted around him, avoiding his desperate eyes and closing their ears to his words.

Heart in his knees, the knight began wandering the streets looking for a friendly inn.  The trip had been too long and too important to leave just yet.  He'd try again as soon as he'd had a long hot bath and good meal.  However, every door he tried was shut in his face and every person he asked only gave him a wary look and an obscure reply.

By the time the sun had risen he'd given up trying and went to a stream just beyond the cobbled road to bathe and perhaps catch a fish.  He slipped into the warm clear water feeling the soft mud squish between his toes and schools of tiny fish brush against his legs.  Before he could begin washing the thick layer of dust from his face he heard footsteps on the road above him.

"Good afternoon," a voice said.

"Good afternoon," a second voice greeted the first.

Curious the knight peered through the tall reeds and saw the figures of two men standing in the early morning sunshine.

"How's your daughter doing?" the first asked.  He was stocky fellow with bushy brown hair.

"What daughter?" the second asked.  He was tall with sun-bleached hair.

"Your daughter Lorraine, of course!" the stocky one laughed.  "The pretty little gal my son is engaged to!"

"I have no daughter named Lorraine," tall said darkly.

Stocky laughed again.  "Sorry, what was it again?  Laura?  Lola?"

"I have no daughter named Lorraine," came the reply this time followed by a darting glance at the mountains.

Stocky sobered up immediately.  "Of course not," he said.  "My son's not engaged.  We're still looking for a wife for him."  Then, changing the subject he cast a glance at the mountains.  "Did you hear?  Jones has got out of the herding business, let all his flock go last night.  Said they were too much trouble."

"No doubt.  It seems like more and more folk are letting their animals go.  Say its more humane than keeping them locked up."  The two men walked out of earshot and the knight crawled out of the water scratching his head as he watched them go.  Dressing quickly he intended to follow them back through town, but he was stopped by a bush.

"Pssst!" the bush hissed at him.

The knight nearly jumped out of his skin.  "Who's there?"

"Frederic," the bush whispered.  "Back here."

Frederic turned out to be a young man with the saddest eyes ever seen and bushy brown hair.

"What can I do for you?" the knight asked.
"I know you overheard my father's conversation," he whispered.

"Stocky fellow with bushy hair?"

He nodded.  "I'm the one who was never engaged to the girl named Lorraine who never was," the youth said as if that explained everything.

"I'm sorry, you've lost me."
"I was engaged to Lorraine," Frederic hissed.  "But she never existed!  Don't you get it?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Lorraine was eaten by a dragon last night!" he yelled, and then cringed at the loudness of his own voice.  "We were out fooling around after curfew," he continued softly.  "When this dragon just came out of nowhere and grabbed her.  It flew off before I could do anything."
"I'm so sorry."

"Everyone says the dragons never come down here," Frederic said.  "But it's not true.  Dragons come down here all the time and everyone knows it."

"Then why deny it?"

"Well, most of the time the dragons just attack the cattle or sheep or stuff.  They aren't important enough to get upset about."
"But Lorraine…If we tell them about her they might believe me about the black dragon."

"No they won't.  Lorraine doesn't exist anymore, she never existed anymore."

"I don't get it."

"It's easier that way.  Besides the dragons never take more than one person at a time.  One person isn't worth the whole village getting in an uproar over, is it?  So we just forget about them.  Pretend they never existed."

"What ever for?"

"Who wants to go up into the mountains and track it down?  Who wants to risk their own neck?  Or risk enraging the dragons enough to come down and destroy everyone?"

"Living in denial," the knight muttered to himself.  "How will they ever be ready for the dragon?"

"Look, I don't know if I believe you about that dragon.  I mean, nothing like that has ever attacked  us before."

"Then why did you want to talk to me?"

The youth looked away.  "I wanted someone to remember Lorraine, I guess.  I just wanted someone to talk to about her."

"But you can't just talk about her!  Do something about it.  Why don't you join me?  We can fight the dragons together.  Keep the whole village from meeting her fate."

The youth paled and shook his head.  "No, no, no," he muttered.  "No, they were right.  Lorraine was an isolated incident.  Others like it won't happen.  No black dragon is coming."  He stood up to leave, but the knight pulled him back down.  He finally had someone who would talk to him, he wasn't going to let him escape.

"Okay, okay.  We'll say no dragon is coming.  Stay and talk for a bit."

"It's getting late," Frederic said nervously.

"Just a little bit.  Please."

"I shouldn't be talking to you."

"I won't talk about dragons."

Frederic eyed him suspiciously.  "Fine."

"Um, I saw some rather interesting writing on a stone when I was in the Center Square."

Frederic brightened.  "Oh, yes!  Isn't it grand?"

"It said: The city where the sun rises and sets over the sea.  I was wondering, though, how can that be?  I mean there are only mountains to the west, how can the sun set into the sea?"

It was Frederic's turn to look confused.  "What do you mean?"

"Well, the sun sets in the west …" he stopped because Frederic looked absolutely horrified.  "Is something wrong?"

"Where did you get an idea like that?  The sun setting in the west?"

"It's a fact."

"It's ludicrous!"

"I've spend months climbing over those mountains.  Every night I saw the sun set in the west."

The youth backed away from him.  "But, but … it doesn't.  Read the stone.  The sun rises and sets over the Eastern Sea.  That's the way it is!"

They both stared at each other for a long time.  Finally Frederic looked up at the sky, the sun was just reaching it's pinnacle.  "Getting late.  Curfew soon.  Better go."  He stood up only to be pulled back down once more.

"Curfew?  It's only noon."

Frederic shook his head.  "They're right.  You are nuts."

"You're the one going to bed at noon," the knight countered.  A sudden idea formed in his head.  "Frederic, have you even seen the sunset?"

"Of course not, that's way past curfew.  Houses have to shuttered by the time the sun is at its highest point and everyone stays inside."

"Then how do you know it sets in the east?"

"It's on the stone!"

"But you've never seen it!"

"But I've seen it rise!  Everyone sees it rise.  It rises in the east over the sea."

"You've never seen it set though.  Has anyone in the village ever seen it set?  Has anyone ever even been out during the afternoon?"

"Of course not!  It'd be a sin."

"Then how do you know it sets in east?"

"The stone," Frederic whimpered.

"Why?  Why do you believe it?  Why not see for yourself?  Stay up with me and watch the sunset."

"I'm getting quite tired," he protested.  "I think I'd like to go to bed."

"Stay up with me!" the knight shouted.  "I'll make you a deal.  If the sun sets in the east I'll leave the village right away and never come back.  But if it sets in the west you have to stand in the Center Square with me and say it does.  The dragon is getting closer everyday.  They must listen to my warning."

"It's getting late," Frederic whined.  But he stayed.

               

At precisely noon every door was slammed shut on every house.  Moments later the shutters were closed with a snap that echoed across the valley.  An eerie silence fell, and Frederic's face became paler and paler.  His palms were sweating, and his eyes were darting around like a scout waiting for something horrible.

And then, someone was running down the street, and Frederic scrunched his eyes shut and whimpered. 

"Frederic!" a voice called out desperately.

Frederic darted out of the bushed.  "Father!" he cried the relief evident in his voice.

"What are you doing out here, blasted boy?"  The father then saw the knight and grimaced.  "What do you think you're up to?"

"We're going to watch the sunset," the knight said simply and Frederic's father paled much like his son had done.  "I'm going to prove to your son that it sets in west."

"Blasphemer!  Frederic, how can you listen to this man?"

"Lorainne," Frederic said.

"She never existed!" the man screamed at his son.

"But Father…"

"No!  If you insist on this foolishness you are no longer my son.  And know this, Frederic and you too stranger, tomorrow you both better be gone from our village or it will the worse for you."

Tears spilled out from Frederic's enormous sad eyes.

"What will it be, boy?" the man snarled.

It took a long time for Frederic to decide.  "I'm staying," he whispered.

"Then, you are no longer my son."  He stormed away from the both of them.  Moments later the slamming of a door rang down the streets.

 

They barely spoke the rest of the day.  Just sat on the fountains edge in the center of town watching the sun drift slowly towards the mountains.  The knight sat sagely, a righteous man awaiting the reward he knew was coming.  He dozed a bit in the warm afternoon sun and pulled out his sword a couple of times but Frederic watched the sun move with horrified fascination.

It set behind the mountains.  In the west.

The darkness of night cloaked the city and cloaked Frederic's features.

"It set in the west," he whispered.  "It set in the west."

"Will you tell everyone what you saw?" the knight asked.

"Yes."

 

Midnight found the whole town up again.  They greeted each other a good morning and congregated back around the knight, among them the plump woman and Frederic's stone faced father.

"Not more of this," the woman growled.  "I thought I told you to get out of town.  No one wants to hear your lies."

"Listen to me!" the knight cried.  "You have to wake up out of this stupor you've gotten yourselves into.  You've been denying what's been in front of your eyes all this time.  The dragons do attack your village!  They steal your cattle!  They kill your daughters!  Don't be blinded by what everyone else tells you."

"We won't listen to what you say, old codger," the woman yelled.

He ignored her.  "Last night I stayed awake in your city.  I stayed awake all night outside.  And I was not alone!  A young man of your very town stayed with me and he saw as I did. The sun did not set in east; it set in the west."

"Blasphemy!"  "Sacrilege!"  "Burn him!"  "Stone him!"  "You heretic!"

Angry cries echoed in his ears.  "It's true!" he cried.  "Just ask the boy!"

Everyone waited for Frederic.  "It's true," he said his voice quivering.  "I did stay up and watch the sun set.  And … and…" The quivering left his voice and he suddenly spoke boldly.  "And it set in the East.  Just like the stone says!"

The erupting noise from a thousand voices beat the knight back.  The town was outraged at him, a few stones flew, and he began to run.  Behind him a father was embracing his son, and a plump woman was trading people their candles for clubs and torches.

The knight ran and did not look back.

 

He camped that night in pasture far away from the village, and watched as a red sun began to slowly sink behind the western mountains.  He'd failed.  It was not a good feeling.  Where to go now? he wondered.  The trip back over the mountain was too long and treacherous, and he had no more supplies.  To sea perhaps, or just wait around to see where the dragon would move to next.  He was too tired to decide tonight.

He glanced again at the setting sun and saw, set against it, the figure of an approaching dragon.  It was coming.  The black dragon was coming from the west and the villagers would never see it.  They were too busy looking in the east.