In my novel The Prince's Dragon (not related to my other dragon book) a dragon, Strongchest, witnesses the hatching of his son, Firemark. A few moments later, a rival male named Crookedshin enters the cave, coming from an unsuccessful hunt and looking to beg. Crookedshin sees the newborn dragling and Strongchest and his mate chase him out. The message is clear; Crookedshin is not welcome to beg from Strongchest and he is not allowed near Firemark. These dragons are not like the dragons in my other book; they don't speak, only communicating in animalistic sounds such as roars, snarls and hisses. So there is no dialogue on their part, internal or external. Their motives are conveyed by the narration, similar to a nature documentary. Some background on Crookedshin-- Strongchest's father killed Crookedshin's father in a territorial battle. He then broke Crookedshin's foreleg so it would heal back crooked-- hence the name; these dragons don't give each other actual names, so the narration assigns them one based on a physical attribute. Anyway, Crookedshin was raised alongside Strongchest, with his foreleg deformed so he wouldn't challenge Strongchest. Crookedshin lives in a small cave at the bottom of the tail end of the mountain range; Strongchest tolerates his presence in his territory but that's about it. Crookedshin regularly raids the village for sheep because he's not good at hunting; the locals have dubbed him Scarath the Thief. So, flash forward ten years, and Strongchest is teaching Firemark to hunt. Firemark catches his first doe when Strongchest sees a trespassing dragon flying within his territorial bounds. He flies off to challenge the other dragon while Firemark takes his kill home. However, the kill is too heavy for him to carry and he stops on a ledge to rest. He watches his father defeat the challenger when he hears a bleat. It turns out to be a goat, which Firemark chases into a cave. This cave is Crookedshin's cave. I need to have Crookedshin do something to gain Strongchest's trust, so Strongchest doesn't kill him the moment he finds Crookedshin in his cave alone with Firemark. Crookedshin is very intelligent, so he knows killing Firemark is the wrong move. I don't think returning Firemark home would be the right decision, however; Firemark's parents would assume the worst and kill Crookedshin. If Crookedshin returned Firemark without being seen by his parents, they would assume Firemark found his own way home and Crookedshin would gain nothing. So, after this incident, Crookedshin finds Firemark hunting alone and leads him to the village where there is a plentiful supply of sheep. I need a little help fleshing this out, too, but Crookedshin attracts the attention of the locals, who capture Firemark, and retreats. He makes as though he is going to return-- which he is. But instead of returning to raid the village, he goes off to alert Strongchest that Firemark is in danger and guides Strongchest to the village. Crookedshin flies ahead, verifying that the villagers have set up archers to shoot him down. Crookedshin is too fast for the archers, and sets fire to several rooftops to goad the villagers-- but leaves the archers' towers intact when that would usually be the first thing he would burn. Strongchest arrives, and true to his name, the arrows glance off his armor, but his wing is pierced and he falls. The archers fire at the fleeing Crookedshin while the rest of the villagers rush to subdue the fallen dragon. Crookedshin watches from a vantage point as the villagers kill Strongchest. Afterward, Crookedshin retrieves Firemark and takes him home, taking Strongchest's finger with him as a token of his death to present to his mate. Strongchest accepts Crookedshin as the new alpha. All this happens in parallel to another story about a prince named Lucian Starwall who fled when his wizard friend warned that his brother Anclar would make an attempt on the lives of him and his father the king. There's political intrigue in the court; Anclar's friend, Kishar Larken, begins to covet the throne. Kishar is the person who was going to assassinate Lucian and King Doriam in the first place, and was promised Anclar's daughter Rathilia for it. Now married to Kishar, Rathilia must choose between her husband and her father. Meanwhile, Lucian is mustering an army to take back the throne. By the time he does so, Anclar will be dead and Kishar will be on the throne. Firemark will attack Lucian's camp in a desperate attempt to feed himself, and Lucian will capture him, take pity on him, and develop a friendship with him which will turn into a rider-knight relationship. Firemark will be renamed Drathos. Lucian will embark on a mission to slay a dragon, Scarath, that has been massacring an innocent village; in this way, Drathos will avenge his father and his wounds, and Lucian will make a name for himself (as something other than a lost prince.) That's as far as I've plotted it so far.
Why would Strongchest kill Crookedshin if C brings Firemark home? What's "assume the worst" supposed to mean, when Firemark is clearly alive and well? You say then C will "gain nothing" if Strongchest doesn't see C with Firemark - what is it C wants to gain? Trust is usually something that builds over time - I'm not sure you'll find one incident that will do the job. Perhaps that's part of the story - maybe more than one thing needs to happen. Lastly, your dragon backstory sounds an awful lot like Lion King... You know, Simba is trapped in the gorge in the stampede (led there by Scar). You have Firemark trapped in the village, led there by Crookedshin. Scar goes off to alert Mufasa that Simba is in trouble and Mufasa goes to rescue his son. Crookedshin alerts Strongchest, who goes to rescue his son. Mufasa saves Simba but obviously dies, which was Scar's plan all along. Strongchest saves Firemark but obviously dies, which was Crookedshin's plan all along. Anyway, I don't understand the point of Firemark entering C's cave and C gaining Strongchest's trust. It seems completely unrelated to the rest of what you've written? C doesn't need Firemark or Strongchest's trust to lead F to a village full of sheep, really, and C doesn't need Strongchest's trust to have him believe that Firemark is in trouble. Any father would check it out just in case.
Well, The Lion King was one of my influences, along with Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real and The Jungle Book and White Fang. At least for the dragons. The human storyline takes other inspirations. Also, Strongchest never succeeds in saving Firemark; Crookedshin does that after Strongchest is dead. But that does make an excellent point-- Crookedshin doesn't need to actually alert Strongchest to Firemark's capture. He could just stir up the village, wait for Strongchest to go there to see if Firemark is there, and have him get shot. So that does streamline things a bit and leave out the bit where Crookedshin has to rescue him-- instead I can have Firemark find his own way out and return home, only to be injured by Crookedshin in some way-- whether because of a fit of rage or because of something along the same logic behind Crookedshin's own injury. So instead of the one scene where Firemark accidentally stumbles into Crookedshin's cave, I could set up a few establishing scenes: -Firemark could be present during the duel, instead of watching it from a distance. It would establish rules of territory. -Crookedshin would raid the village, establishing that the villagers see him often and consider him a plague. -A group of warriors sent to slay Crookedshin could mistakenly enter Strongchest's lair, threatening his life in a bit of foreshadowing. Ultimately, though, the warriors would fail and be eaten. -Crookedshin would realize that his attacks directly affect Strongchest and be incentivized to conduct more of them, being careful not to let himself be tracked to his own lair. -Firemark could experience a minor antagonist in the form of a female dragon competing for food. As Firemark is not fully grown, he would not be looking for a mate. Also, perhaps instead of luring Firemark to the village with sheep, perhaps Crookedshin could steal Firemark's kill and head toward the village with it, causing Firemark to give chase. I also need a reason for the villagers to leave Firemark alive. The fact that he's not an adult would help. Perhaps they would recognize that he could be used as bait to capture the real enemy, Crookedshin-- though of course they capture Strongchest instead.
Yeah all that sounds good - it's simpler than having to build trust first and simpler is usually better. Using Firemark as bait for Crookedshin sounds like it could work - although would the villagers necessarily assume Firemark is Crookedshin's baby? Like, just because you see a baby animal doesn't mean you automatically assume it belongs to a certain adult of the same kind. Dragons must be a relatively common occurrence that would it really be any more unusual than seeing a bear or wolf prowl around? Since it seems humans do raise dragons (going by your human plot of Lucian raising and riding Firemark), the villagers could probably go down the same idea. Think Lion King - why did Pumba and Timon take Simba in in the first place? Because as a child, the creature is harmless to them and once it grows up, having known them as family, it might be good for their protection in the future. You could do the same thing. Can't hurt to have a dragon help you fight off other dragons who come for your sheep, much like having guard dogs.
Well, I was going to have Lucian's decision to raise Firemark be an unusual decision, the way Hiccup raised Toothless in How to Train Your Dragon, except not in secret. But there's no reason another person couldn't have the same idea. Perhaps this other person could be unscrupulous and try to cut off Firemark's wings and stop his fire to make him less dangerous. Firemark would escape, badly wounding this man in the process and leaving him with a vendetta against Firemark. Perhaps next time they meet, the man has found another dragon and subjected it to the fate he had intended for Firemark.
Re: "theydon't speak, only communicating in animalistic sounds such as roars, snarls and hisses" For what it's worth, I would struggle to believe in a species that has the level of complex thought and social interaction that you describe, but no language of any kind. Not your question, but I wanted to mention it.
Well, they have certain cues. When Strongchest chases Crookedshin out of his lair and roars, that roar conveys that from then on Crookedshin is considered a trespasser if he dares venture into his lair again. When Shredclaw squawks, it means there is something urgent that Strongchest needs to see. It's tonal communication rather than actual language; if a dragon snarls, it's safe to assume he's angry. If he purrs, he's contented. As to laws, they can be boiled down to one rule: you cross the alpha, he kills you. It's might makes right, knee jerk jungle law. Any complexities follow naturally. How do you know to stay out of a rival dragon's territory? Because if you don't he comes after you with extreme aggression. Don't trespass unless you think you can overpower the alpha. As to the village, Strongchest knows not to steal sheep because the villagers attack him. Crookedshin knows this too, but he's desperate enough to steal sheep anyway. Sheep don't run away and you always know where to find them. So he learns to dodge the villagers' weapons. Later, he uses this to his advantage.
Good story potential there. Otherwise another option is the villagers keep Firemark for meat. Depending on the season, it might make sense to keep him till winter and kill and eat him only then, when food is scarce.
Ooh, yeah. Good idea, if it doesn't take more meat to feed Firemark than he will yield when he is slaughtered.
