Ganne Part 34 - The Jan Dragon ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The little golden haired Princess stared up defiantly at the huge blue dragon looming over her. The jaws of the monster were opening, the first flickers of flame curling around its fangs as it prepared to devour the little Princess. Jan carefully traced a finger around the curve of the Dragon's back, enjoying the feel of the scales under her finger tip. All the pictures in her favourite book of fairy tales were embossed. The raised impression of the dragon felt all shiny and smooth. She ran her fingertip around the entire outline, even the great wings spread over the back, all the way to the tip of the spiked tail. Jan sighed. She really ought to give up such childish things... Now that she was a "properly grown up" woman at last. Setting the book aside, she lifted the pink, flower patterned coverlet to look at her slender form wrapped in one of Papa's cast-off work shirts. There was a blood stain on the faded denim just below her waist. She had stopped bleeding last night; but she was still wearing the padding between her legs. Jan was proud at last to have made the change from child to woman; but why did it have to be so uncomfortable? She sighed again; at least the stomach ache had gone away. Dropping the blanket, Jan took up the book; but hesitated before turning the page. On the next page, the gallant knight would come riding up on his white horse, with his great lance, to slay the dragon. She never liked that part of the story. Jan always felt sorry for the dragon, and could never believe that the dragon was really evil: the way it was portrayed in all the stories. Just once she wanted the dragon to win; but at the same time, she didn't want the princess to be eaten. Why oh why couldn't they all just live happily together in Fairyland? It was such a lovely place, full of beautiful castles, enchanted lakes, and magic forests, where lived all manner of Sprites and Pixies and Flower Fairies and... And... It was not at all like this barren plain of grey rock where she had been born, and had lived all her life. Jan yawned. The morning was still young. The just risen sun was shining through the un-curtained window, laying a bar of sunlight across the coverlet. Unable to stifle another yawn, Jan set down the book on her bed, and snuggled back into the pillows to enjoy the warmth of the sun across her middle. Unfortunately, it would soon be time to get up. She had got so little sleep lately, what with the messy process of turning into a woman, and the angry arguments which mum and dad seemed to be having all the time. Then there were the dreams - not frightening exactly, but very strange and profoundly disturbing. While Jan lay listening to the wuthering of the wind about the angles of the house, she slipped imperceptibly into a doze. In those moments between sleep and wakefulness, Jan always fancied she could hear a sweet voice singing at the limit of hearing. The dream-like melody touched something deep inside her, awaking a powerful longing she could not name. It distressed her that her parents, and most people she knew, found the song of the wind unsettling. As she strained her ears to catch every nuance of the mysterious song, The more mundane sounds of Mamma preparing breakfast began to intrude. The homeliness of the clattering of utensils was so at odds with the haunting melody of the wind that the dozing girl could never quite decide in which of the two worlds she belonged. Soon, the delicious smell of frying bacon was wafting into her bedroom, spoiling the dreamy mood, and calling her spirit back to the ordinary world. "Janeeeeee! Breakfast!" her mother's voice sang out, sounding loud through the flimsy walls of the pre-fabricated structure. The shout startled her into full wakefulness. Jan sat up with a jerk, pushed off the cover, and set her bare feet to the floor. Wincing at the chill of the plastic floor covering, she made her way to the bathroom, Jan wrinkled her nose at the sharp tang of newness which still pervaded the air. The construction manager had assured them that the smell would fade once the pre-fabricated building had been worn in a bit. Indeed, the interior decor was already beginning to look "lived in" under the pressure of two adults and four children. The youngest was Jan's brother Chad; he was four. Next came her sister Suki, at thirteen. Finally, there was her eldest brother tom; he was fourteen. Jan was the eldest; she would be sixteen a week after Landing Day Festival. Tom would already be out preparing the rock crusher for another day's labour on the plain. Suki and Chad were not yet up, so the bathroom was empty. Pausing to look in the mirror over the hand-basin before getting down to her ablutions, Jan saw a serious faced girl with grey eyes and a dark complexion. She was none too happy with the image. Her lips were a bit too thin. Her eyebrows were far too bushy. All in all, she fancied herself rather too plain; but her mop of black curly hair was glossy; her eye lashes were long and elegant; and when she curved her mouth up in a smile, it almost completely transformed her look. She was never going to be a beauty like Suki was promising to be; but a smile definitely made a difference. Turning from the mirror, she took off the sanitary pad. Popping it into the dispose-all, Jan use the toilet before commencing to clean herself up. It was with an odd feeling of pride that she washed herself "down there". Jan was proud to be a grown up woman at last. In truth, she was finding the attendant inconveniences only slightly irksome. With her morning ablutions complete, Jan returned to her room to pull on fresh underclothes. Normally, a blue denim work shirt and a pair of black dungarees, socks and sturdy work shoes, would have followed. Instead, on a whim, she took out her best frock. It had short sleeves, and was a lovely pale yellow just exactly the right shade to set off her dark complexion. The final act before going to breakfast was to carefully brush her hair with a proper hair-brush, instead of her usual cursory pull of a comb through her mop of dark curls. Jan hesitated in the passage outside the kitchen. All was now quiet. Jan hoped this meant that her father was gone to the work. As they had to have another two hundred acres ready for seeding before next winter, the urgency usually drove Papa and Tom out early, and kept them out late. She steeled herself and moved to the door. Her heart sank. Both parents were seated at the table in the sunlit kitchen. Jan could not quite suppress a surge of resentment that he was still home. Papa sat across the table, wearing his work coverall. He was a thick set man. His round face was topped off with a mop of black curls; and his face was deeply lined from the constant worrying about how to create a farm from virgin rock. His eyes were grey, and shadowed by a suspicion of absolute defeat. His forearms lay on the table, his calloused, blunt fingered hands framing a plate of eggs and bacon. The breakfast sat untouched. He was staring at it as though it might furnish him with an answer, a solution to the problems which beset his family - other than the only one he feared might be on offer. Mamma sat to the right, limned in sunlight from the window at her back. The pale yellow housecoat wrapped about her glowed in the sunlight. She was a petite woman, forty three, though still managing to hang onto an elfin beauty. Black bangs hung down about her sharp featured face. Her blue eyes were steely with resolution. Her small red mouth was pursed, causing tiny dimples in her cheeks. Open before her was the farm documents box. Despite the dazzling sunlight, the air in the compact kitchen was cold, and brittle as thin ice. Jan didn't know which was worse, when it was quiet as now, or when Mamma and Papa were fighting. Her mother scanned the letter she was holding, then looked up at her husband. He would not meet her eye. "He's coming today... at ten. He'll want the money for the rock-crusher - all of it!" she said. "But we haven't got it," Jan's papa said, head still bowed. Mama set down the letter carefully and peered hard at her husband's averted face. "Then he will foreclose on us, Sam," she said. Sam did not move, made no sign that he had even heard. "If we've not got the money, and you don't want him to foreclose on us, you know there's only one other way that will stop him throwing us off our land." The silence that followed this was pregnant with a kind of slithering horror, which made Jan's flesh creep, though she knew not why. For some reason, she could hardly breathe. The relief whence her Papa broke that hideous silence was profound. He seemed suddenly to shrivel in his chair. "No," he said. "Not that... Oh Dear God... Please not THAT! I couldn't bear it." "What then," Mama demanded. The question was laced with an almost contempt for his squeamishness. "If it will save the farm - I'll gladly do it. I will do ANYTHING for my children." Suddenly, Sam pushed himself away from the table. The chair fell over with a clatter, which went unnoticed. He rose and stood towering in the small room - yet in the dazzling sunlight, he cast an utterly insignificant shadow. Still staring at his untouched breakfast, he said, "I have to go start the crusher... Tom will be waiting... I have to... to..." He lurched away from the table; but checked the impulse to flee, and moved towards the door with a purposeful stride. Before him lay a long hard day of back-breaking work to create a farm out of virgin rock. The challenge was infinitely preferable to him than the unendurable situation which festered in the house. He would not face the fact of his wife's willingness to do... To do... How could she even contemplate doing THAT to save his farm? When the door had slammed behind him, Jan's Mama got up and turned to the stove in the corner. The bacon sizzling in the pan was filling the kitchen with a mouth watering aroma. Jan manoeuvred around the table to stand behind her. "Mama? Mamma, are we going to lose the farm?" Her mother forked some of the bacon onto a plate. "Not while there's something I can do to stop it," she said. Jan, aware of the tension in her mother, reached out a hand and laid it on her shoulder. "What are you going to do?" Her mother turned around, a plate in each hand. "Never you mind, she snapped. "How are you feeling now?" "Ok, I suppose." "Good. And those pads - are they working alright?" "They're fine. The blood's stopped, so I didn't put one on today... Mama, what are you going to do about the money we owe to Mr Skargill?" Jan's Mama pushed past her and set the plates down on the table. She went to a cutlery drawer and took out some gleaming cutlery. She laid them precisely beside the two plates before speaking. "Never you mind about how we're going to get the money for Mr Skargill. Make yourself useful and go call Suki and Chad, will you? Their breakfasts are getting cold." Jan found Suki standing before the mirror on her wardrobe draw holding a pretty blue frock against herself. She was lost in a critical appraisal of her reflection. The dress would suit her, everything did. Even the "rough and tumble" clothing of dungarees and denim shirt which she was wearing looked good on her. She had the family's black curly hair and grave set to the features; but of them all, she showed them off to the best advantage. "Suki?" "Hmmmmmm?" Suki said, still regarding her reflection. "Breakfast's ready," Jan announced. Then, when Suki made no move, she added, "you'd better stop admiring yourself and come quick before it gets cold. Mamma's in a bit of a mood. She'll dump it in the bin if you let it get cold." Suki met Jan's eyes in the glass. A look of irritation came into Suki's face. It lasted only a moment before being replaced by the usual vapid expression she tended to wear in front of any mirror. Suki turned round all the while minutely adjusting the hang of the dress held before her. "What do you think, Jan? Does it look alright? It's not too... too last year is it? Landing Day is only..." Suki fell silent and pouted. She was talking to herself; Jan had already gone in search of Chad. She stuck her tongue out at the empty doorway before turning back to the mirror for one last, lingering appraisal. With a sigh, she hung up the dress carefully in the wardrobe, and went to breakfast. Chad was already at table, cramming bacon into his mouth, when Suki slid into her seat across from Mamma. Suki regarded the plate of egg and bacon a moment before looking up. Mamma was holding up a sheet of paper, while running a finger down a column of figures. "Maaammaaa," Suki said. Even the comfortable atmosphere, sweet with breakfast smells, winced at the wheedling in Suki's tone. "No," Mamma said automatically, not even looking up from the sheet. Suki pouted. "But, Mamma... You don't even know what I want." "Whatever it is, we can't afford it." "But Mamma... I have to have a new dress for the Landing Day party. And Sarah has got a new dress. It's that pretty, red one with bows that the store is selling. I want..." Mamma looked up from her perusal of the sheet. "No, Suki," she said. "We can't afford it. You'll have to wear your blue summer frock." "But Maaaaammaaaa, that's sooo last year. Everyone will have a new dress for the Landing Day party." Mamma sighed. "Suki, dear, we can't afford it." "But Mamma, it's got a tear down the back." "Then I'll fix it for you. You can help me. You'll have to learn how to sew." Suki's face fell at the suggestion. "Don't want to learn to sew." Mamma's palms slapped the table so hard the plates jumped. "You'll damn well do what you're told, my girl. I just about had enough of your airs and graces." Suki looked rebellious. Chad, who had been munching happily on his bacon froze. Jan's heart sank at the developing argument. She knew how this would go, how such arguments had always gone. She had wanted this morning to be different, special somehow... Today she would visit the Dragons Claw... as a properly grown up woman... for the first time. It was to be a special occasion; she had even put on her best dress; and now it was going to be spoiled by another of Suki's sulks. With a little cry of despair, Jan shoved her chair back with such force that it fell over with a loud clatter. Jan put her balled fists to her temples and cried, "Stop it, please stop it. You're spoiling everything." The budding row stopped abruptly. Chad began to cry. Suki glared at her annoyed at the interruption. Mamma put down the sheet and peered at her suddenly distraught daughter. "Jan? What's the matter? Is something wrong?" Concern twisted her features. Jan wanted to scream at her, to scream at them all for spoiling this special day; but no matter how hard she tried, no words would come. In a sudden rush She fled out of the house, away from the tension which pervaded the kitchen. Jan felt guilty for abandoning her mother to Suki's sulking; but she simply had to get away. Slamming the door behind her, Jan leaned against it. She remained a long while on the porch gazing out over the green valley below the homestead. The house had been sited high on the northern slope. From this vantage point, Jan could see for miles up and down the valley. Directly below, it was a bright green of growing things; but in the distance to left and right, the green was stippled with patches of grey. Further still, and the grey was stippled with green; and further off still vast expanses of bare rock surrounded other little islands of green spreading out around neighbouring farmsteads. Over the mountains to the west, Jan knew, the land was completely green. She had seen pictures of it; but she could not quite bring herself to believe it. The greenness seemed alien to her; and the taller plants, like the trees, just plain scared her. It all looked so closed in, so crowded. She went around to the back of the house and climbed to the top of the slope. Beyond the garden plot, nothing was growing except a fuzz of lichens in various shades of rust and blue. Even these petered out a few hundred yards out on the plain. In this direction, the plain stretched away flat and all but featureless to the horizon. A hot, yellow sun was climbing into the sky turning the misty air a shining orange. The terra-forming technicians assured that the sky would clear in time, certainly within Jan's lifetime. The grown-ups were always going on about the blue skies of Earth. How they could know, Jan could not guess since, in all the histories, it was clear that it was their nth generation ancestors who had walked upon that half-mythical home world. To Jan, this was homeworld. Because it was the only feature to rear against the wide sky, the Dragon's Claw naturally drew the eye. The odd formation of four crooked spires of black rock, like claws clutching at the sky, was about a half a mile distant. None of her friends would go near it. They all thought it was spooky, which Jan could not understand - just as she could never understand why they always complained that the plain was a lonely place. Jan never felt lonely under the wide sky - not while she could hear that voice in the wind. She could hear it everywhere she went; but it was always clearest just by the Claw. Wishing to share the mystery with someone, Jan had brought Tom when he was about six. He seemed completely oblivious to the melody which whispered in the air about the Claw. He had just wanted to clamber all over the crooked spires of rock, which made Jan uneasy. After a while, he had got bored by the place. He had never expressed any desire to return. Jan had felt a keen disappointment at Toms indifference. Last year, she had brought Suki. That visit had been rather more traumatic. Suki seemed to feel the presence which Jan sensed; but her reaction to it had been stark terror. Suki had stopped dead a hundred yards short of the formation. Her eyes had gone as big as saucers; and she had let go a piercing scream. The next moment, she was fleeing pell mell towards home. In her panicky flight, Suki fell down and cut her knee; but she refused to let Jan comfort her or tend the wound. For weeks afterwards, Suki had looked upon Jan with deep suspicion, refusing to be alone in the house with her older sister. Eventually, though, there was a new dress for Suki; and the vain child soon forgot her fears. The incident frightened Jan badly. She couldn't understand what it was that had so terrified her younger sister; and Suki would not, or could not, explain. For a while, Jan avoided the Claw. Then one evening , watching the always glorious sunsets, the orange clouds in the direction of the formation had seemed to writhe into the form of the dragon from her book of fairy tales. The vision entranced her. In her imagination, she could almost feel the wind rushing over her scales as her wings stroked the cool evening air. Without any memory of how she came there, Jan found herself standing before the Claw watching the dragon soar and wheel overhead. For Jan it was a magical moment. Then the sun set; and the magic faded. The dragon became nothing more than clouds tumbling along on the wind. She had wandered home in a daze, gripped by a savage need. It was like a great hunger, but for some form of sustenance she could not name. That night, the dreams had begun. A deep thrumming in the rock brought her thoughts back to the present. She paused in her journey towards the claw. A sudden flash of movement caught her attention. Looking down, Jan saw a pixie peering up at her. He was clad all in green. He swept off his pointed hat and made her a deep bow. Then he turned and scampered away towards the Claw. A merry laughter, like the tinkling of bells, trailed behind him. Jan laughed in delight. She followed the tiny fellow, who went capering before her, encouraging her to follow with an imperious wave of his arm. In the distance, the formation shimmered in the orange haze. As Jan stepped between the talons, a new reality shimmered into being. In glowing colours, Fairyland painted itself upon the barren plain. Jan turned slowly around, marvelling at the sight. It was Fairyland, Fairyland just exactly as she pictured it wwhen reading her Bumper Book of Fairy Tales. Every detail was perfect. There was a turreted castle with pennants fluttering gayly. Surrounding the castle was an enchanted wood, where Dryads peeked from among the trees. Over there was a beautiful lake set about by fire headed reeds. Slender Nixies in gossamer wraps were pushing between the stems, going down to the water to bathe. All about the lake, Fairy Rings dotted flower meadows. A gentle breeze carried the scent of the flowers to Jan. The air was vibrant with the sound of singing and merry laughter. Everything was just as Jan had imagined it - except... Where was the dragon, her magnificent dragon? Jan looked up, expectation in her heart, and a wish upon her lips. Sometimes... Sometimes wishes are granted. Overhead, the Dragon of her dreams took form from the haze. Gazing at this wonder, Jan felt a sensation of falling. Then she was seeing the world through other eyes. And it was a terrifying place. The Jan Dragon screamed. The dream of Fairyland shimmered, and slid into nightmare. The enchanted wood devolved into a tangled forest surrounding the grim fortress of some grisly ogre. Hideous goblins leered from among the twisted boughs. Shrouded in noxious vapours, a vast and dreary swamp drowned the beautiful lake. The merry laughter of the Nixies sidled into hideous moans, which echoed eerily in the mist. In the meadows, the flowers withered. By a superhuman effort of will, Jan quelled the blossoming fear. Her devolving vision of Fairyland stabilised into an unsightly intermixing of the Dragons' nightmare and Jan's dream. As the Dragon sought understanding by deepening the union, Jan struggled to hold it at bay; but the Dragon was powerful beyond Jan's comprehension. It would not be denied. Jan panicked. Instinct took over; and in a whirl of the yellow cotton dress and a flaring of golden aura, the half and half creature they were becoming turned and fled towards the farmstead. Jan's confused mind was filled by the memory of the security she had once enjoyed in the loving embrace of her mother's arms. In all the whirling confusion, it seemed the only thing which might save them both from complete insanity. As she neared the house, the sight of movement through a window drew her attention. She looked in. Her Mamma was not alone. Shocked, Jan stared as her Mama's hands dropped from the buttons of her shirt; and Mr Skargill took up the Unbuttoning. There was an unwholesome expression on his ugly, pitted face, which made Jan's stomach churn. Jan was horrified. She could not move, she wanted to run away and hide her eyes from this vile sight; but she couldn't move. She willed Mama to push the man's hands away from her breasts, to slap his leering face, or cry out for Papa; but she did none of these things. Mama just stood there, her eyes cast down as Skargill slid the shirt from her shoulders. He tossed it aside and began to paw at the exposed breasts through the bra. The seething disgust overwhelmed Jan's fragile control. The last tenuous barriers holding back the creature that had wormed its way partially inside her mind broke. The thing watching at the window was no longer just Jan, but a melding of two. Anger blossomed in the soul of this new-born Chimera; and with a mighty rush of power that shook the cabin, a monstrous golden dragon manifested itself around the girl. The dragon let out a scream that literally shook the world. Inside the cabin, Skargill started violently. He drew back his hands, staring at them in amazement, not comprehending how they might have caused the world shaking scream. The wall of the cabin dissolved into splinters. Through the swirling dust, an irresistible force took a hold of the startled man. He barely had time to register the great Golden Jan Dragon before he became the first of its many, many victims. Invisible claws ripped his body into a bloody ruin. The madness did not end there. The deeply seated feelings of betrayal churning in the soul of the thing that Jan had become made it strike out against the causes of that pain. Jan's mother had time for only one scream, before the invisible claws ripped her into bloody tatters. Deep inside the creature, Jan was screaming in anguish, crying for it to stop; but it was useless. She was no longer in control of this thing they had become. The chimera tossed the tattered remnants of Jan's mother aside. It fed greedily upon all the negative thoughts of it's human half. Driven half mad by Jan's grief, it went forth to wreak vengeance upon all those who had so much as even irritated it's human side. So the first rampage of the Ganne Dragon began. When it finally flew away to begin wreaking vengeance upon an unsuspecting world, left behind on the plain was a cloud of dust where once had stood the homestead. Fluttering in the cloud were tatters of a blue frock spattered with blood. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- More parts to follow soon.