On the eastern borders of the great desert that surrounds the city of D’eshkar sits an ancient mountain range. Most of the peaks are worn down by time and erosion, but three of them tower above the rest, giving a traveler a hint of just how huge the range once must have been.

At late morning on a hot summer’s day, a bedraggled figure scrambled over some rocks on the side of the tallest of the three mountains. then gave a yell of triumph as he saw his goal before him. He took off his pack, drawing out of it a book, and reverently approached the mouth of the cave before him.

“H-h-ello? Is anyone in there?”

Just inside the opening, two large yellow flames leapt into sight. “Yes. I am here.”

The young man, for that was what the traveler was, gave a hoot of joy and shuffled his feet in excitement. “I knew it! I KNEW it!” He pounded on the cover of the book in his glee. “Dragons still exist!”

“Of course we exist. We just don’t go about making nuisances of ourselves.” The dragon snorted. “Then we wouldn’t exist very long, would we?”

“Oh, most certainly not! Wait until I go back and tell the others! They thought I was a lunatic, you see. But I found this book in the Great Library of D’eshkar, and the moment I read it, I knew. I KNEW!”

For a moment there was no reply from the dragon as the yellow eyes regarded human. “So. Are you a scholar?”

“No, I’m a mage. Well, Journeyman, actually, but they’ll have to grant me full Mage status once I prove the information in the book is true.”

“Ah yes. The book. “To Kill or Not to Kill: A Discourse on Dragons.”

“You know it?”

There was a slight rustle in the cave as the dragon shifted position so it could extend its neck and head out into the sunlight. “Of course I do, I had several fascinating conversations with the author.”

“You knew him? You knew the One, the founder of the Library? Gods, he’s been dead for centuries! What was he like?”

“I will tell you what you wish, but first, you must tell me what you think of the book. Which argument do you favor: Kill or Not to Kill?”

“Not to Kill. I agree that dragons are an intricate part of the substance of magic and to kill them off would upset the balance of that substance. My colleagues argued that none had seen a dragon for centuries, yet magic continued. If all the dragons had died, then so too would magic. Hence, they say, dragons do not exist.”

The dragon swayed its head up and down. “Ages ago, the One approached us, and gave us his word we would no longer be hunted into oblivion. In return, we gave our Word to protect him in turn from what threatened him.”

“Yet he’s been gone for ages!”

“Do not mistake absence for proof of death. Now, tell me, you found the directions to this cave in the fifth chapter, didn’t you?”

“Why, no. I saw the map inside the front cover. It appeared just after I opened the book. Then I performed the ritual as it said and renounced my name, just as the One did. I am nameless.” He bowed to the dragon. “So, tell me about the One. What was he like? What did the dragons protect him from?”

The dragon drew back into its cave. “It will take many hours to tell the tale. Please come, in; I was about to eat dinner.”

The nameless human shifted uneasily. “What are you eating?”

“Lamb.”

That night, in the upper room of the Great Library, a much worn book appeared soundlessly in its old place on the shelf, where it would sit until another young mage of a certain level of potential might happen by and be drawn in by the spell its author wove into the writing.

In D’eshkar, all things, even the titles of books, may have many meanings.