Being Friday, I didn't have much to do. Fridays used to be grocery shopping day, but ever since I had moved to North Castle Jamie, Bridget, and Kaylee were taking care not only of that, but of running the entire household, so I was free to pursue my own interests.

I decided to listen to some music, so I went to the library. Searching through the collection I found some Celtic music. I wondered how it would compare to what I had heard at the dinner at the castle. I began by analyzing the musical form and style but ended up thinking of the previous night's experience and I heard Lord Pyr's voice in my head.

"Good morning, little one."

"Good morning, Master."

"I felt your presence in my mind and knew you were thinking of me. Would you like to return to my castle now?"

"Why thank you! That would be lovely."

"It'll be rather intense, but don't be afraid. You'll only be experiencing this as a witness, not as a participant."

“Ok”, I answered in my mind and as the haunting flute and harp music surrounded me, I was transported to a tower on the right side of his castle. But the serene atmosphere of the recent dinner party was entirely gone. I could see hurried preparations going on in the bailey below; women and children hastening to enter the keep, the din of clanging metal and shouting. The original Lord Pyr was issuing battle orders to his men. From my vantage point at the top of the tower I could see a sizeable army swiftly approaching from the direction of the bay. I glanced back down into the bailey just as the Lord Pyr I had seen at dinner was lifting up his arms and shouting words in a strange language. There was a loud humming sound and this Lord Pyr's human form changed into that of a 50 foot long, charcoal grey dragon, with ash colored armored plates running down its underside. His long neck rose up to the height of the tower and his head was horned and armored. His teeth and claws and the spikes running down his back to the tip of his tail were razor sharp. He roared, the ground shook, the tower vibrated, out of the raging furnace of his belly came a devouring fire, and I shuddered. At his roar, the men that had been preparing for battle changed into slightly smaller dragons whose colors obviously indicated several orders of military rank: the Dragon Warriors.

Turning my attention back to the approaching army, I noticed they had battering rams and were rolling wooden catapults into place to breach the walls. They had companies of archers and spearmen. Just then the Dragon Lord and his warriors took flight from the bailey into the air and it was immediately clear to me that the attacking army had been expecting human soldiers, not dragons. The wind was blowing in my direction and it brought with it a distinct odor of feces. One catapult fired and the boulder crushed a yellow dragon's head, but the other dragon warriors set all the battering rams and catapults on fire, and grabbing soldiers off the ground with their claws, they dropped them into the bay where they had anchored their ships. The remaining archers and spearmen were shooting upwards and some arrows lodged in the Dragon Lord's wing leather, but the attackers were not only repelled but entirely routed. I was sure they would not try to attack that castle again.

When the remaining soldiers had scattered, two dragon warriors went to fetch their fallen comrade to prepare him for burial. Lord Pyr returned to the bailey, where Lady Adain waited to tend his wounds. He used his claws to break the arrows and extracted the pieces with his teeth. Lady Adain applied a balm that stanched the blood and after they had rested a while, he and his men reverted to their human form. 

The music I had been listening to returned to the forefront of my attention and I was once again in the library. When I opened my eyes, Lord Pyr was standing before me smiling.

"So now my little one knows what a Dragon Lord is..."

"Yes, and finding out was a very intense experience! I feel exhausted!"

"Now, I don't want you to think I was then nor am now a bloodthirsty fiend. As you saw, we were only defending our island, our castle, our women and children. I am the original Ddraig Goch. You know; the red dragon on the Welsh flag. Only I was never red, but a very attractive medium charcoal grey as you saw for yourself and my home was always on Ynys Pyr, not in Lake Bala. I'm not a waterhorse! However, stories do get changed in the telling..."

"Ok. You need to rest and I have to go now."

"Meet me downstairs tomorrow night, little one", he said kissing my hand. And he was gone.