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Chapter 26: Dyger Seadrake!
🕑 Added 2023-05-14 18:15:33 +0000 UTCIt was a longsword made of bronze metal with runic inscriptions written along the groove of its flat surface. The sword's hilt was adorned with the ferocious-looking pommel of a Dragon's head which had two small blue sapphires in its eyes. The round blue sapphires would fetch quite a gold if Damian sold them to a merchant or a Noble House.
The handle was made of the same metal as the sword. When Damian waved the sword around to get a feel of it, he found it to be heavier than a normal steel one-handed longsword.
Its edges were still sharp. Damian looked at the sword thoughtfully for a long time. He finally checked the toughness of the blade against his castle-forged steel blade and found it to be the same.
Even after repeated striking, the bronze sword did not give away its form or edge when in reality it should have been chipped away by now or broken into pieces.
"Let's go inside first. I want to see if there's anything which can explain this weapon. I can't believe that just being able to match a steel blade's toughness or sharpness, this bronze sword can be considered a treasure. Maybe the prize is something else." Damian said and stepped into the cave with the sword.
When they arrived at the cave's end, Damian came across a skeleton of a beast as big as a mammoth but he couldn't identify the animal because it was missing its head. The bones have either crystalized or scattered on the ground in pieces making it hard for Damian to determine the complete form. He could only guess what its size could have been by the crystalized spine.
It was a complete mystery how such a big beast could have entered through the small entrance of the cave.
Damian brought the torch to the wall where the inscriptions were written and the painting was etched. The only thing he could understand was the painting. It depicted a battle between what should be an army of men against a tide of monsters emerging from the sea.
The drawings were not clear so Damian couldn't make out the shape of the monster other than they were walking out of a water body which was probably the ocean around them.
The two most prominent drawings other than the two forces battling with each other were that of the wingless Dragon swimming around an even bigger and uglier monster with an octopus head. Its lower body wasn't clearly depicted so Damian couldn't see what it was below its head. Whatever the monster was, its size should be bigger than this island.
The wingless dragon should be the mythical Seadragon. Perhaps, the beast behind him was a sea dragon but how could it have entered the cave was the question. It can't be that entrance has shrunk in size after so much time has passed away.
"Martin, I'm adding the old tongue as your second language. Try to read what is written here on the wall ok?"
"With pleasure, Captain." the guard that he called out answered respectfully.
Damian quickly added the Old tongue as the second language for the soldier who only knew the common tongue.
The guard named Martin walked closer to the walls to read the writings of the old and translate them to Damian in the common tongue.
"Captain, this language is one of the many dialects of the old tongue. It tells a story of a changer, a skin-changer to be specific. This person was taught by his ancestors 'in the way' of taking the shape of an animal. " Martin explained.
"You mean like literally changing the human form into an animal?" Damian was intrigued by this finding. If he could transform into a bird then he can sneak into any castle. If he could change into Dragon then that's even better.
"It does seem to be the case, Captain. This person named, Dyger Seadrake could turn himself into two forms of animals, one being the Seadragon and another being the flying fish. It says that Dyger's ancestors first learned this method from the Children of the Forest until they perfected the skill after a few generations. Dyger was the first and only person who could take the form of the Seadragon. In fact, the bones behind us are that of the Seadragon, Dyger Drake."
"How did he come here? Is the method written on the wall? Tell me!" Damian asked impatiently.
"I don't think so, Captain. The only thing written here is a warning, Beware of the Deep Monsters. Beware of the Drowned God. Beware of the throne. The demon will rise again from its slumber and flood the green land with cruel monsters of the deep. Nightmare!" Martin translated the warning into the common tongue.
Damian shivered when he heard the warning. There was no such thing as the attacks from the Sea monsters in the books. They were only taken as legends and the only one to turn true was the others and the Children of the Forest. Maybe, these monsters won't awaken in the same timeframe as the others, perhaps he won't see them in his lifetime.
"I can't place my hopes on a maybe. The others and their icy dead army are a headache enough, now this warning about the Monsters of the Deep... " Damian didn't even want to think about them. It seems he has to look closely at the Ironborn culture and its legends about the Drowned God. He can't take them lightly anymore.
"Anything else?" Damian asked Martin who shook his head. It seems this Dyger didn't explain how he got it here and only wrote about his skin-changing ability, its origin and the warning about the Drowned God, the throne and the sea monsters.
"Where are the rest of the bronze weapons, Martin?" Damian asked.
"They are behind the sea dragon bones, Captain."
Damian went around the bones and found a bronze breastplate, a short bronze sword which was basically a big knife, two bronze armguards and a round bronze plate that he could make heads or tails of its use.
Every single item had runic inscriptions like the Longsword except for the bronze plate which was the size of a person's head.
