Day 9 – April 9 – El Dorado

Day 9 – April 9 – El Dorado

Monomapotapa. The name alone conjured up riches the like of which were only found in El Dorado. Johannes stamped his feet to get some warmth back into them as he waited for the elf to come. The clock in the bell tower tolled the hour of midnight when the cloaked elf appeared in the alley way. He carried a bundle wrapped in a shade-shifting blue cloth. Ah, the dragon egg. It had taken much privatering and a bit of good old pirating to get enough money together to pay for the egg. Especially on the black market. The exchange was made and Johannes was left nearly broke, but with the bundle tucked under his arm. The elf disappeared into the darkness without a word, and a cold shiver ran down Johannes’ spine. Tomorrow he would board the ship for the Cape of Good Hope. On 15 March 1796 he would at last be able to set out on his new life.


On the ship the egg never left his sight or his side. Johannes regarded everyone else on the ship with utter distrust and could barely keep his wits about him for the weeks it took to reach the Cape. If he was to be found in possession of a dragon egg, the people would surely first throw him overboard before smashing the egg. But to his great relief, no one found out what it was that he was always carrying in a rough bag slung across his shoulder.

It was on his third night on land that the egg hatched and he found himself in possession of a bright yellow dragon. Its scales glimmered like gold and its wings were tipped in an emerald hue. Johannes grinned to himself as he fed the young dragon strips of meat. He had read enough about dragons to know that this one would be perfect for hunting gold.

In a couple of months he had bought a wagon, some oxen and provisions and found two men who would accompany him to the mostly unexplored interior. The dragon, which he had named Lalele, had grown extremely fast and already reached to his elbow. He had to get away from the city outskirts before someone found him, and the abundant wild in the interior would make feeding the dragon much easier.

By the time they crossed the Barrier of Spears, Lalele had already grown large enough for Johannes to ride on its back and he set out alone to the north, promising not only payment when he returned, but also a diary telling of everything that would befell him in the coming weeks and months.

**

When his diary was found some five years later, it came to light that he had indeed found his El Dorado, but that he had met his end near the Limpopo River. Some believed that he was caught by a lion, though some maintain that he was rather trampled by an elephant or came down with malaria. Probably we would never know, as his body has never been found. Johannes’ diary was taken to a museum in Bloemfontein to be studied and was hailed as the first fantasy book to be written in Southern Africa. It was published in 1896, but only one of the copies remains in the Literary Museum. It has never been reprinted.

Lalele fled south to the Barrier of Spears and made his home there. It is believed that he took the gold with him to make his bed and that his lair may still be found somewhere in the mountains. He was often seen flying at night and breathing fire at the moon. This is why the mountains where then also named the Drakensberg.

The city made of gold has yet to be found again.