Part 1: A backstory is needed and a hero steps forth
The actual reason for
writing “A Dragon’s Freedom” was to write about the life of the dragon Skáhag who plays such a
vital role in the later years of the Midlands of Airthai. His death was
actually the first thing I wrote about him (poor thing!) as part of the story
of both the forming of Naeddre and the love story between Ameragh and Síldu. At that time I was
writing a novel about the Midlands (no, it will never see the light of day in
its current form – it was practice, or so I tell myself now) and I had built up
the people of Naeddre’s mythology of Skáhag. But I needed to know where the dragon came
from – and what it was doing in the Midlands in the first place.
Seat-of-Pants Worldbuilding
So, while this story was
the first published, it was set in a world I already knew quite well. But, this
was all written before the creation story of the world and the story of the
sundering. I had just made up the Dragon Guardians on the southern coast and
already had a vague story about a ‘not-very-nice’king of the Midlands who
gathered dragon tears for riches. Now it was just a matter of putting the two
together.
I wanted the dragons to
be simply animals in the world (albeit talking animals). So, like any animal,
it would be ‘good’ until treated in such a way that it lashed out. Skáhag had been mistreated
during his life, and bound by magic to a master, so that his fight was as much
against humans as the darkness created within him. When Ameragh sings to him a
song that releases its bonds, his death at the hand of his master is
bittersweet as he is at last freed.
By this time the
(somewhat) secret language used by the Dragon Guardians and dragons was already
present in Ameragh’s song (Here’s the song). I then decided that, because it
was so powerful, that it was only known by a select few – the Dragon Guardians,
the dragons and the Seafolk’s elders, although they knew it to a much lesser
extent. This language was gifted to the Guardians and the dragons in much the
same way the Tellerassar was given their own language. Therefore, if the king
stole a dragon egg, he would need someone who could communicate with the
dragon. Enter Nasja...
A boy called Nasja
The first scene of the
story which popped into my head was the dragon’s nest and a boy stealing one of
the eggs. At first this was supposed to have been done because of greed on his
part (and he was older). But that didn’t sit well with what I had in mind for
the rest of the story. For me it was a lot more striking to have him do
something which is taboo for Dragon Guardians in order to save his family than
simply do it for payment.
The next scene I wrote
was of Nasja in the king’s palace. Although I needed a reason for him not to be
able to escape, he probably would not have had a banged-up leg if it wasn’t
that my own bad knee (the right one, not the left – see, it’s complete different…) was extremely
painful that day!
At this point, I planned
and wrote the rest of the story in a rough draft. When I had finished it,
however, I realised that I had had Nasja basically act alone and didn’t really
give him cause as to why he would suddenly, after a good ten to twelve years,
decide to free the dragons and go home. I left the story to stew, pottering
around every now and then and then turned my thoughts to some other short
fiction and worldbuilding while I figured it out.
Next week: Worldbuilding shape-shifters and magicians
