This is a Disabled Pagan Voices Project Submission
The Dragon had been living in this clearing, where he had first found himself, injured and unable to move due to lack of energy, for a good many weeks now. He had fought the evil, his brother, but he was unable to kill him outright, so The Dragon used magic to seal the evil in a crystal prison and buried it deep in the earth. However, The Dragon was severely injured in the battle, and in trapping his brother, The Dragon’s energy was spent. It took such an effort to complete the spell of entrapment that The Dragon had just about given up and waited for death to claim the body of this Great Golden Dragon that he had inhabited for thousands of years. He could not have for seen that a human girl child would come to his aid and care enough to heal him back to his full strength and health. No human had looked him in the eye before. In fact, The Dragon had recently developed a very dim view indeed of most of the humans on this planet Earth, whom he saw as selfish and greedy with a serious superiority complex. The humans he had come across in his Dragon form tended to run away from him when they saw he was actually much too big to be able to kill easily, and certainly not without much bloodshed on the humans part, no matter how large an army they could muster in their attempts to slay him. It was through The Dragon’s experiences, that his opinion of human beings in general was mainly a negative one, if he was bothered at all by them.
So on the day when had all but given up, along came a young human that would have him question his own views that he had long held regarding the human beings of this planet. The last thing he wanted to have to deal with when he practically crash landed in this woodland clearing was an encounter with them, so when he saw the girl child approach him, he bellowed out an almighty flamed roar, hoping it would scare her away as it had normally worked on everyone else he didn’t want near him. But this child was different, because she walked straight up to his lowered head and looked him directly in his eye, an eye that was as big as her, for goodness sake. Never before had The Dragon seen such bravery in a human being and it intrigued him and annoyed him in equal measures, because he wanted rid of this child, yet he wanted to find out more about her.
The Dragon knew what this human child saw when she had looked into the depths of his eye, and that was the essence of his being, a glimpse of the Universe itself, and yet still this child was not afraid. Surely a glimmer of such immense energy would send any human mind into madness, but this child seemed merely awestruck. It was baffling and infuriating to The Dragon, again, in equal measures.
However, The Dragon recalled with amusement that he did not have to ponder over this for much longer, because when he lifted himself onto his front legs, the human child ran away like a little girl, but then she was only a little girl after all. As The Dragon watched her fleeing for her life in fear, he had the uncontrolled desire to laugh, and laugh and laugh. The Dragon couldn’t remember the last time he had found something quite as funny. In fact he couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed at all, and he decided to enjoy this moment and the laughter he found in it. The Dragon regained composure some time later, but continued to chuckle to himself at the thought of the runaway girl, and he began to wonder why he thought it was so funny. But then he realised that his body was being flooded with all that positive energy of laughter, and he decided that it was just what he needed, and that maybe this faithful old Dragon body was not going to die after all.
The Dragon began to quietly thank this human child for providing him with such a good laugh, and then realised that he was actually feeling concerned for her well being, as her tiny human body had suffered a massive shock to it’s system. The Dragon had sensed a friend of his nearby, a Tree Spirit, and
he reached out to her to enquire if the girl child was alright. The Dryad assured him that Deenagh was fine and recovering from her shock, and The Dragon now knew this child’s name.
The Dragon was delighted to see Deenagh return to him the next day, and in the days that were to follow, as he allowed her to tend to his injuries, and she proved to have the magic of a healer who was born to it. She also had a very stubborn character and would not give up on anything that she had set her mind to.
In time The Dragon healed, but he would need to recuperate and rest, to recover his full strength before he could set off on a long distance flight over sea to the safety of one of his homes high in the mountains where he could be in peace. In the meantime, The Dragon just had to wait it out because he had no other choice. He was relatively safe where he was and if a human strayed his way, he simply cast a spell of illusion or worst case scenario, a memory wipe on them and they would soon forget that they ever saw a Dragon. He was able to hunt at night when he had healed enough, and there was fresh water in the river next to the clearing. He admitted to himself that this was a rather beautiful part of the world, and
the serenity itself helped in the healing process.
Since the encounter with the egotistical Shamaness, when his mind had merged with Deenagh, he had been bombarded with questions from her very persistent and inquisitive mind. She was a very curious human and The Dragon found himself enjoying listening to her, because she was such a young Spirit, newly born into the body she was now inhabiting, and her zeal for life was quite refreshing to this very old Dragon. He was growing to be very fond of this young human, and he had to admit that he enjoyed
her company and missed her when she was gone. He knew of other Dragons who had human Riders, and he had heard stories of how the bonds were forged, and many involved an injured Dragon and a
human that was there to help heal them. But surely this girl child was too young, not just physically but Spiritually too. The Dragon knew that to be a Rider required many years of training, but still, he could not think of Deenagh as being his Rider just yet.
The Dragon decided that the child had to be tested, to determine the qualities she may or may not have, and then he may think more on having a Rider. The Quest was one way in which she would face obstacles and challenges to prove her worth, but Deenagh could not know that she was being tested. Instead she needed to believe that she was being sent on a quest to get the healing plants. The truth was that The Dragon didn’t need the plants, as his own energy would heal his body given time, but Deenagh didn’t know that, so The Dragon thought she should be tested sooner rather than later, before either would become too attached. The truth also was that The Dragon and Deenagh were already attached, and connected because the bond had been forged when their eyes locked together on their first meeting. Nevertheless, The Dragon tried not to dwell on that because he needed to assess this human’s potential to be his Rider, and then he would decide what to do.
The Dragon did not anticipate for a moment how much he would miss Deenagh when she was gone on her quest. It was over an entire Moon cycle that they had been apart, except for the occasions when they communicated with their minds, which The Dragon had to stop himself from doing so many times as he reminded himself that she had to do this on her own. The Dragon hadn’t felt the sense of void from missing anyone for a very long time, and that memory was so distant that he hadn’t remembered what it had felt like. He had also worried a lot about Deenagh and her safety, and he had to acknowledge to himself that he cared a great deal for her. But he had been watching her closely, and he was incredibly proud of all that she had achieved.
When Deenagh completed the quest and returned with the healing plants, The Dragon could not have been more happy to see her again and it seemed Deenagh felt the same way too. The Dragon could see that she had matured and grown as a person in so many ways. As they both basked in reunited bliss, The Dragon knew then that he would be honoured to have Deenagh as his Rider, but that decision would be her’s to make at a later time, because for now, The Dragon was going nowhere. It would be over an entire year later when circumstances would force The Dragon to leave this rather idyllic land.
My name is Deenagh Jackson and the process of my writing has helped me understand my own Pagan beliefs in this modern day, while also helping me to connect with my Ancestors of old.
The Deenagh series of books which I started writing almost 2 years ago are about the main character Deenagh who can remember her past lives and each book tells the story of the lifetimes she has lived and the lessons learned, with her Spiritual beliefs at the heart which are important to Deenagh.
This is the first time I have shared my stories outside my close circle of friends, but as a wise man once told me “a stranger is a friend yet to be”, so feel free to contact me by email deenagh@thepentagrambox.org.uk
Brightest Blessings, Deenagh