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~ The Archive ~
Chapter One: The Last Dragon

Every page so far, oldest first, so you can start at the beginning of the road and read straight down. All four pages are here together, about 170K in all, so if you're on a modem, this might be a good time to make a cup of tea. Each page has a big version too, as a link.

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Page 1  •  Wednesday, September 1, 1999

THE CINDER ROAD #1, Wednesday 9/1/99. Panel 1: A wide gray valley of ash and burnt trees under a smoky sky, with a far mountain smoking on the horizon. CAPTION: In the Valley of Ash, where nothing grows... Panel 2: Maren marches down the road, chin up, in armor much too big for her, with her helmet under her arm and her sword at her side. MAREN: Today I find the last dragon. Panel 3: Corvus the crow sits on a dead branch beside the road, looking down at Maren on the road below. CORVUS: Today you find a blister. Panel 4: Maren glares up at the crow, who looks back at her, unimpressed. MAREN: Crows can't talk. CORVUS: And girls can't be knights. Yet here we both are.
Big version (640 x 673, 103K)
Wendy says: The very first page. Panel 1 is the first thing I drew for the whole comic, and the valley looked so empty that I put a little green back in, way off in the distance, so you'd know the world doesn't end there. Corvus walked into my sketchbook one day already talking, and he hasn't stopped since.
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Page 2  •  Wednesday, September 8, 1999

THE CINDER ROAD #2, Wednesday 9/8/99. Panel 1: Maren walks the road through a burnt forest with Corvus riding on her shoulder, and the smoking mountain far behind them. CORVUS: So. Why a dragon? Panel 2: A close-up of Maren looking straight ahead, determined, with Corvus still on her shoulder. MAREN: The knights said they'd take me if I brought back a dragon's scale. Panel 3: Corvus, now on a branch, turns his head to look at her sideways. CORVUS: And if the dragon objects? Panel 4: Maren holds up her wooden sword proudly while Corvus stares at it from his branch, deadpan. MAREN: I have a sword. CORVUS: You have a stick.
Big version (640 x 673, 99K)
Wendy says: Why a dragon, and the stick. I love drawing Corvus up close, so panel 3 is pretty much all crow. The last panel is the first joke I ever wrote for this comic, years ago, before I knew anything else about the story.
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Page 3  •  Wednesday, September 15, 1999

THE CINDER ROAD #3, Wednesday 9/15/99. Panel 1: The smoking mountain rises over the ash, with smoke drifting out of a dark cave in its side and two tiny figures far below. CAPTION: The mountain that breathes. Panel 2: Maren stands in the mouth of the cave, shaking in her armor, holding her sword out in front of her. MAREN, in wobbly letters: H-hello? Panel 3: Pure darkness inside the cave, and in it two enormous golden eyes opening. Panel 4: Corvus flaps away out of the cave while Maren stays frozen where she is. CORVUS: I'll just wait out here. CAPTION: Next Wednesday: The dragon.
Big version (640 x 673, 95K)
Wendy says: The Mountain That Breathes, and my first cliffhanger. The black in panel 3 took me most of a weekend, and the eyes are the brightest yellow I own, with white on top. Corvus's line is the most honest thing anybody says in Chapter One.
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Page 4  •  Wednesday, September 22, 1999

THE CINDER ROAD #4, Wednesday 9/22/99. Panel 1: The old dragon's huge gray-green head comes out of its cave, smoke curling from its nostrils, and looks down with weary eyes at tiny Maren on the ash below. DRAGON: Another knight. How tiresome. Panel 2: Maren walks forward bravely with her helmet under her arm. MAREN: I'm not a knight. Not yet. I just need one scale. Panel 3: The dragon scratches its neck with one claw, like a dog, and a big loose scale falls toward Maren. DRAGON: Take it. I'm shedding anyway. Panel 4: Corvus perches on Maren's helmet while she stares at the scale in her hands, which is bigger than a dinner plate. CORVUS: Well. That was easy. MAREN: ...This feels like cheating. CAPTION: End of Chapter One.
Big version (640 x 673, 105K)
Wendy says: The dragon at last, and the end of Chapter One. I've known since before page 1 that he'd be shedding. Maren's last line is where Chapter Two starts.
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~ End of Chapter One ~

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Chapter Two begins with page 5 on Wednesday, October 6.
Write to me: [email protected]

Last updated Wednesday, September 22, 1999
THE CINDER ROAD and all its characters © 1999 Wendy Hennig