Saturday, July 6, 2013

Summer of Lore #36: The Legend of the Dragon Star

This tale tells the story of the first dragoon that was marked with a Dragon Star--this was always Bradlin's favorite bedtime story when he was younger

The basic bones of the story (as Bradlin tells it):

A knight's dragoon companion on the run from mercenaries sent to kill them finds shelter with a noblewoman one night. As they sleep, the woman dreams that "one with the mark of a dragon will defeat the mercenaries" (as they have been terrorizing her realm too.

The next morning, the knight arrives, and the noblewoman tells him about her dream. The knight explains he once heard of a protective pendant made from dragon magic, and spend most of the morning making the pendant.

Just then, the mercenaries catch up to them, and the knight and the dragoon flee into the mountains, which are renowned for dragon caves. One dragon (his color differs from teller to teller) offers to protect them, and the dragoon agrees.

The mercenary king threatens that he will kill any dragon found to be hiding our heroes. The dragoon reveals  himself, saying he will not allow anyone to harm the dragons. In the ensuing battle, some of the red dragon's enchanted fire burns the pendant's design (a star inside a circle, the traditional Dragon Star design) into his hand, granting him magic. Inspired, the dragoon uses his newfound power to drive the mercenaries away.

The dragon pledges its loyalty to the dragoon, in return for his marking any apprentices he takes with the star marking when they come of age, as a reminder of how human and dragon fought side by side--a practice continued in Shokiyu to this day

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