Dave's Anatomy: My History As a Writer, #72: "The Dragons of Nova Zemyla"

Dragons never go away. They are a peculiar part of world myth—peculiar in that stories about them abound in areas as disparate as Europe and China. They breathe fire and they are, variously, villainous or wise. In my story, "The Dragons of Nova Zemlya," the dragons are wise and trying to survive. Things have changed for dragons. In the old days, when humans only had swords and lances with which to fight them, the dragons were not in much danger. But humans developed new weapons and a fire hotter and more destructive than their own. Humans are not to be attacked. They are no longer a source of food. They are dangerous predators to be avoided at all cost.

Nova Zemlya is an island north of Russia and part of Russian territory. It is large, covering 35,000 square miles, and lies near the Arctic Circle. The Russians knew of the island as early as the 11,000s and, especially during the Soviet era, valued it as a military base and also as a site for nuclear testing.

In my story, dragons live there in a large nest consisting of 51of them. Having greatly declined in numbers over the centuries, they are anxious about the continuation of their species. Several of the dragons who live there and are incubating eggs. The only trouble, though, is that dragon's eggs may take a century to hatch. The dragons of Nova Zemlya have found a deep cave with volcanic heat, the perfect place to locate their nests and eggs. Large herds of caribou and musk ox live on the island or in the lands near it and provide food for the creatures. The vast, uninhabited land mass is a great place for them to hide—until one of the dragons on the island buys into an ideology that is damaging to the herd.

Call it Dragon pride or Dragon assertiveness. One of the younger males named Lynzod decides to challenge one of the airplanes that often fly near the dragon lair. The Russian pilots destroy him with a missile. The dragons recognize the incident as being serious.

It is serious because the Russians use the island as a military base and for nuclear testing. The dragons are fine with the nuclear testing, since it doesn't harm them and they can take the heat of the blasts, but the airplanes are intrusive. The dragons avoid them--or did until Lynzod decided to take one on and lost the fight. Now the Russians, ever wary of intrusion and attacks, will investigate. One of the older dragons points out that if they find them they will capture them and study them; and if they find the various treasure hordes the 51 dragons who dwell in the lair have gathered, nothing will stop them from destroying the community.

They contemplate what to do. The unnamed narrator of the story, who is shy, young, and seldom participates in council, comes up with an idea. When she was younger and knights would attack her, she knew how to use her fire to magnetize rocks. The knights' armor would be drawn by the magnetism and pull them from their horses; or it would pull their lances out of their hands. She suggests they magnetize a huge rock in front of the lair. When the planes arrive to investigate, the magnetism of the stone will disrupt their flight.



The other dragons think it's a good idea. Several of them get together, heat the rock with their fire, and magnetize it just as the Russians send a squadron of planes to find out what is going up further up the island. The dragons hide. The heavily magnetized stone pulls the aircraft down so they almost crash and their instruments go awry. They are frightened and go back to home base to tell their experience.

And here I do something no one is supposed to do in fiction. I switch POV. The dragons are entirely left behind and the reader is redirected to a conference of pilots and their report on the incident to their commanding officer. The officer, whose name is Velten, asks for a report. He listens and says what they hit was probably an anomaly--something caused by the intense magnetism and the light playing through. The same thing, he argues, that causes northern lights could have also caused the apparition the pilots hit. One of them suggests they contact Moscow and arrange for an investigation, but he thunders "Nyet!" He does not want a group of nosey scientists roaming about the place. With his refusal, the question is settled. The meeting is adjourned. The report will say that the pilots fired on an object that turned out to be an optical illusion and the magnetic energy in the area detonated the missile. This will satisfy the higher-ups.

One of the pilots, though, leaves the meeting thinking that what he saw--what Velten will insist was an optical illusion--in fact looked like a dragon.

"The Dragons of Nova Zemyla" appeared in Orion's Child, now defunct. If anyone out there knows a magazine looking for a good dragon story, let me know.

For a good vampire story, check out Sinfonia: The First Notes on the Lute. Nelleke Reitsma is a world-renowned lutenists and guitarist. She is beautiful and talented--and deadly. 

For more titles, check out my Writer's Page.

I would love to hear your comments on dragons, writing, or related topics.