//------------------------------// // Chapter Four: Questions and Dragon's Rest // Story: Dragon's sorrow: Tales of Dragon's rest // by Megaskullmon //------------------------------// I lower the journal after I finish the final page. I am confused why it cut out right there. Is there something I am missing? I stand on my hooves heading over to the room where she has all the other books. I see many books she wrote. I looked back to the sleeping dragon and before I could do anything my stomach growled loudly. Mallas's eyes open up, staring at me. “Finished the other story?” A blush forms under my fur. I shifted a bit Malla smirks, noticing from my body language I was going to read her other books without her knowing. Malla stood up grabbing a piece of paper from an old faded book. Place a claw in an inkwell. I notice she has all these inkwells. She is a typical dragon stealing and hoarding anything she finds. “Are you a veggie eater, don't worry this is not the first time I did this.” Am I a veggie eater? Of course, I am. That is a pretty silly question. I wonder if she has run into zebras who eat meat or other creatures who eat meat. I have never heard of this myself. I am a bit worried about what she thinks of me after trying to sneak into reading the rest of her history. “I am a veggie eater and I don’t care what they bring. Anything would be wonderful, thank you.” Malla nods while writing on the paper. Putting into the basket I came in on heading back up to the mouth of the cave coming back down after leaving the baskets up there and she sighed looking down at me. “You were going to read the rest of the books without me knowing? I am impressed that you thought you could get away with it. You have gutted many don’t at least in my honest opinion.” A smile forms across her scaled face. “Well, Malla, I did because your journal just ends with you falling asleep. You felt like you were being followed. Is there something you left out?” Malla sighs looking down at the journal and lifts it into the claw nodding. “There are many reasons I left out many things. I wrote them in the books in the case there. But I can tell you most of what I remember. Then you would have to read what I wrote down. Just please when I tell you what I remember, do what you can to help others understand. I wasn’t evil, my friends looked at me with hate for my choices.” My ears pin to the back of my head. Her choices: how bad did her choices get? The choices must have been very bad for her to be so worried about what I would think of her. A weak smile forms across my stripped face. “I won’t judge you for things you did in the past. I may be unsure about what you did. But there are times when you have to do awful things to make things better for others.” Malla smirks, then it hits me hard. I remember hearing stories and seeing others being sent down here because they were criminals or they did something that upset the elders. My stomach turns a bit and if Malla ate them I can’t fault her for it. This is the first time in many years she spoke to anyone. “Um, Malla questions the others who were sent down here with the offerings over the years, did you eat them?” Malla stares at me, her eyes open wide. “Well, I was given letters for reasons for some of them why they were down there. Then the ones who were outcasts for not following everything the old elders wanted I let them leave during the night. The only ones I ate, of course, were the hardened criminals.” I gulp, chuckling weakly. “Now I'm..moving on. What can you tell me about all those you worked with over the years?” Malla stares at me and then looks at the old photos no matter what she can still make out who’s in them. Her eyes swell with tears. I don't know what to think after seeing her cry again. Her heart must be broken. She cared so much for those souls she saw. I am sure there are more she saw and those she loved. “It’s hard, Glyph. I watched them fall in love. I watched them have children and then I watched most of them die. Some died because of my stupidity. My stupidity did so much in the past it’s what caused some of the issues for a while later in the history of Dragon’s Rest.” I am confused about what she means by this. I look towards the books again. I see one called the battle for Battle Creek. I know Battle Creek is a place Battle Creek is located and what we think about is a place a heavy battle took place in. There might be more to it and a lot of old human stuff is still left at least sometimes if we are allowed to see it. None of the technology they had is long gone. “The book I see there says the Battle for Battle Creek must be a harsh battle and why Battle Creek is named after a wonderful glorious battle.” Malla frowns “In the old days of the human world, there was a battle between two white men and what are called Indians. I wish I could go into more but it didn’t end well and it was named after that. A battle between four didn’t end well and then a battle I caused because I let a rich idiot who returned from the event go and they demanded we give them everything. Because the rich forget money is not worth it but they don't care.” Malla sighs, stroking her face. We hear a bell and Malla is confused. “Huh, that was fast.” Malla heads up and brings down the baskets. The baskets don’t only hold fruit and veggies, but even some meat. She is confused why they came down here so fast unless the note she left makes the ones up above scared. “It seems they still fear me and when I leave notes they will go quickly.” I stare at the baskets. I notice a note on one of the baskets and I take it in my mouth to read it. ‘Oh, the great monster of Dragon’s Rest please don’t eat us or punish us. We will do whatever you want so please don’t punish us.’ I set the note down in front of Malla and she stares at the note smirking and laughing loudly at the stupidity of what is written on it.  “I got an idea when the time comes. I will make sure you’re treated with the respect you deserve. Now let me explain something to you before I go too deep into what happened to me after I fell asleep while the others shopped. I am going to explain to you each of those who founded Dragon’s Rest.” Malla reaches into the veggie and fruit basket setting various foods in front of me. I take the cabbage I don’t need much thankfully but it’s nice to have something and something to eat while she tells me what is up. “The first three to show up were Wanda, George, and Savannah. You read about them but I left out how they looked at me over the years.” She sighs deeply “Wanda didn’t take becoming a mare very well. When she learned to fly she did all she could to become very helpful to the community. She was never happy even when she fell in love with a stallion. George was the only one around to keep her happy. When he died she fell into a great depression. Even her children watched her fall deeper and deeper.” She sighs looking at the books. “I feel the easier way to tell you is by letting you read these. When you’re done I will do what I can to clean up what I left out.” She grabs the first book, the ‘First years of Dragon’s Rest.’ She sets it down and lays it on her hoard. I look back at Malla and then at the book I close my eyes sighing unsure what to think. I open the book to see what is to come and I worry about what I am about to read. The first words I read are these. “To those who read what I wrote here. Don’t hate me or the others for what we did. We did the best we could for what we had. We aren’t the most amazing of friends, we barely could stand each other in the early years. I worry about those who will judge us for our deeds and misdeeds and what I did to turn most of them away from me.” I look up to Malla frowning reading to see what is to come. “Malla you don’t go into much about Dragon’s Rest yourself you just say look in these books. Are you worried again about what I will think of you from what you wrote here?” Malla opens her eyes and smiles. “I know what is to come when I die, Glyph, my judgment will be harsh. I can tell you this much. Please though no more questions read and when you’re done we will talk.”