fter the Great Southern Massacres, the dragons had all but given up hope of ever living in peace.  The news of the deaths of Hotu-puku, Peke-haua, and Kataore disheartened all dragons greatly and many wondered if this should not herald the extinction of the entire race.  Many plans were hatched and many theories were debated but of all the greatest, most powerful, and most learned dragons of the world, not one could come upon a solution.  It was in this fearful and chaotic time that the Great Llewkalyn battled the human George in a battle that shaped the future of the Draconian Race.

lewkalyn lived in Wales in the time that the Roman Emperor Diocletian ruled.  She was a cousin to Hotu-puku, Peke-haua, and Kataore and was deeply grieved at their senseless deaths.  As her grief worsened, she gradually withdrew from her friends and family and finally took up residence in a lonely swamp.  Unfortunately for Llewkalyn, the swamp was near a small kingdom where the myths and fabrications of the ferocity of dragons were well known.  Knowing the tales of old, the king decided to rid his kingdom of Llewkalyn by sacrificing his daughter to her, believing that this would cause Llewkalyn to depart.  As the girl walked slowly to what she thought would be her demise, a young Roman centurion called by the local name of George, happened along and asked why the maid seemed so sad.  She replied that she was to be fed to a dread dragon that lived in yonder swamp and upon hearing this George immediately told the girl to fear not.  He mounted his horse and exclaimed that he would slay the dragon and free her from her terrible fate.  

e rode deep into the swamp and finally found Llewkalyn in the middle of a small clearing.  She had drifted deep into melancholy and did not notice the young man until he was almost upon her.  As George raised his spear to drive deep into her eye, she opened her wings and only just managed to avoid certain death.  She asked the young soldier what he meant by such an act of violence upon one who had done him no harm.  He replied that he was to kill the vile beast that had so plagued the nearby kingdom and now demanded the life of an innocent maid.  Llewkalyn told him that she had done no such things and pleaded that he leave her in peace.  George told her that this would never be and, in a fit of battle fury, vowed that he would make an end of all her kind and would not rest until all of her kindred’s heads wear mounted on yon castle’s walls.  Immediately thinking of her cousins and their fate, Llewkalyn became enraged and determined that she would end this man before he could dare to harm her family.  She dove at George and he only barely managed to evade her fire.  He pulled his sword and lunged at her neck but at the last instant she turned and lashed at him with her tail.  George stumbled but quickly recovered.  He ducked under a second swipe of her tail and rolled under her belly to deliver the killing blow.  She again flapped her wings and rose up into the air barely escaping death.  Turning on a wingtip, she snatched George up into her claw and readied herself to burn him with her fiery breath.  But as she beheld George in her hand, helpless and weak from their battle, she knew that this was not the answer.  Though he would have slain her for merely being what she was, she could not slay him for merely being what he was.  Man was not someone for the dragons to fight, but instead was a race that still needed time to realize not all of what they heard was true and that not all beings different from themselves were evil.  Man, Llewkalyn realized, simply needed to grow.  Slowly and carefully Llewkalyn set George upon the ground and thanked him for showing her the way.  She then flew away.  George, much mystified at what happened, got up, mounted his horse and rode to the castle where they awaited news of his battle.  Not wanting to admit that the dragon had simply let him go, he lied and said that he had slain the dragon.  The king much rejoiced at this and gave his daughter’s hand in marriage to the young soldier.  Later, after his father-in-law died, he became king of the small kingdom and, later still, the Catholic Church canonized him and England chose him for their patron saint.

or Llewkalyn, however, after she flew away from the site of her battle with George, she called a Grand Council of the Dragons.  When the Council was assembled, she announced that she had a plan to stop the warfare between the human race and her own.  Mankind, she said, was a young race and still had much to learn of the ways of the world.  Man fought and killed dragons because he did not understand them and because he feared them.  Therefore, the dragons should let mankind learn.  The Draconian Race should weave a great enchantment and disguise their existence from man so that he may in time forget the war and to learn that differences can be overcome by understanding and that hate can be overcome by acceptance.  And so it was agreed.  The race of the dragons concealed their existence from the eyes of man and, just as Llewkalyn expected, mankind did in time forget the war and soon began to think that dragons had never existed at all. 

hus the Draconian race has been in hiding ever since, waiting for the day that man would become wise enough that they might show themselves to him again and live in harmony on the earth.  However, a few dragons repeatedly break the law forbidding contact with the human race as is shown in the next chapter.