My flames have returned! Pryllan confirmed. My blood has begun to warm. Why couldn’t you have waited?
Excuse me? Wasn’t the plan to abolish the curse? That’s what we did. We destroyed it! You have your flames back!
So do they! Pryllan countered as she suddenly dropped to the ground. Twin jets of fire narrowly missed her as they passed by overhead.
Oh, whoops. My bad.
Pryllan wasn’t the only one angry with him.
“What in the world did you that for?” Sarah angrily exclaimed. She punched him on the arm. “Why wouldn’t you mentally tell her we destroyed the curse?”
“I was caught up in the moment, alright? Give me a break!”
With fire and flight restored, both dragons took to the skies. The female Zweigelan hadn’t been exaggerating when it had told them it preferred the ground as it wasn’t that graceful in the air. Pryllan was easily outmaneuvering the red Zweigelan at every turn, but since Yamira and Lamira were smaller, she was having difficulty bringing the two-headed dragon down.
Syrreth and Ferreth had just spread their wings in an effort to help Pryllan when the ground began shaking. They nervously eyed each other as the vibrations increased in intensity. Both of the humans had been thrown off their feet. Nearby trees were snapped off at the trunk as something large was rapidly approaching.
Three trees broke in half as the Dragon Lord finally arrived on the scene. Spying their group, Rinbok Intherer rushed over to demand answers when he noticed the battling dragons in the air. His massive head slowly turned to stare at the two humans. Both of them smiled and nodded. The Dragon Lord returned his attention to the fight happening above him. He gave the tiniest of coughs and watched with satisfaction as a small jet of fire escaped up into the air.
Rinbok exploded upward in a massive flapping of wings. Neither Pryllan nor the Zweigelan knew what hit them. Suddenly a third combatant had entered the melee and had easily taken control. A swipe of Rinbok’s enormous striped wing knocked the female Zweigelan senseless while at the same time he physically pushed Pryllan out of harm’s way when Lamira tried to rake her claws down Pryllan’s chest.
All three dragons landed heavily on the ground. A split second later the female Zweigelan had her wings pinned behind her back and both necks held against the ground. Pryllan slowly regained her feet and approached the Dragon Lord.
“My Lord, I…”
“Your transgression is forgiven,” Rinbok told her. He looked down at the struggling Zweigelan in his claws and growled once. The red Zweigelan instantly fell silent. “I see now why you lured me here. All is forgiven, I assure you. However, I wish to speak to Kahvel. I must ascertain how he learned of that particular subject.”
“If you must punish someone, let it be me,” Pryllan pleaded as she dropped her eyes to the ground. “He was only helping me.”
Another green dragon dropped from the sky and landed nearby with a loud thud. This one was almost as large as Rinbok and looked as surly. However, it remained motionless as it waited to see what would happen. Then a female red dragon landed. Then a maroon one. Suddenly it was raining dragons. Rinbok must have called for reinforcements once he realized the Collective had been restored.
What happened next shocked everyone senseless. Rinbok released his grip on the female Zweigelan and moved back a few steps. Yamira and Lamira shakily rose to their feet and they both glared at the Dragon Lord.
“This fight is over,” Rinbok declared in a loud voice. His thick green neck rippled with muscles as he turned to look at each dragon present, including Pravara, who squeaked with alarm. “There will be no more violence today. Yamira, Lamira, you are free to go.”
Yamira and Lamira nervously eyed each other. Lamira turned to look at the safety of the nearby forest.
“Why would you release us?” Lamira asked suspiciously. “What game are you playing at now?”
Rinbok shook his head. “No games. I am rectifying a situation that happened long ago. It has been brought to my attention that I referred to you Zweigelans as freaks of nature and that you didn’t deserve to be called dragons. I offer my sincerest apologies. Dirgath, Tirgath, this is directed towards you as well.”
The silver Zweigelan joined Pryllan. They both gave a small nod of their heads. Rinbok turned back to the female Zweigelan, who was slowly trying to slink away to the forest. However, three dragons had blocked their path and were now growling at them.
“Move aside,” Rinbok ordered. The three dragons looked surprised, but did as instructed. “As I said, you are free to go. The Collective is a privilege. It’s an honor for all dragons to be included. I will never again try to force someone to join that doesn’t wish it. Syrreth, Ferreth, that goes for you, too. Dirgath and Tirgath, you may also go about your business. If you wish to stay, I will welcome you as full-fledged members of the wyverian Collective.”
“We choose to stay,” Syrreth instantly responded.
Ferreth nodded in agreement.
Rinbok bowed his head once, causing the other dragons to follow suit.
“We welcome you, brothers.”
Syrreth turned to Dirgath.
“What say you? Will you stay?”
Dirgath eyed his twin. Then they both turned to look at the small group that had become their friends.
“We will stay,” Tirgath told the Dragon Lord. “By your leave, my Lord.”
Rinbok nodded.
“Welcome, brothers.”
Everyone turned to look at Yamira and Lamira. Both black heads were staring straight at Rinbok and everyone could see that neither head looked happy.
“You dare try to make amends after so many centuries have passed?” Yamira accused.
“You cannot disregard what was said that easily!” Lamira continued.
“Trust you, we do not!” Yamira added.
“Wouldn’t follow you even if you –”
The female Zweigelan trailed off as they noticed the Dragon Lord had a very uncharacteristic smile on his face. He looked at both Yamira and Lamira and inclined his head, towards the lake.
“Walk with me. There is much to be said.”
The female Zweigelan surprised everyone by turning to follow Rinbok west towards the setting sun.
Chapter 14 – It’s Good to be the King
“How long did it finally take? Neither of us has ever seen a dragon that angry. We could hear her complaining long after the two of you disappeared from sight. That’s assuming you managed to convince her to join the Collective.”
The Dragon Lord turned to look down at the tiny human walking beside him.
“Are you that certain she joined?”
Both husband and wife nodded.
Rinbok Intherer gave a mighty sigh.
“Three days. Three days of incessant venting.”
Steve whistled. “She didn’t have anything nice to say about any dragon?”
Rinbok grunted.
“She didn’t have anything nice to say about me. I cannot fault her. I deserved it.”
“I’m impressed,” Sarah admitted. She looked up at the green dragon towering over the two of them. “You’ve accepted responsibility. The Dragon Lord I thought I knew would never have done that.”
Rinbok elected to remain silent. The three of them resumed walking east. The Dragon Lord had reduced his normal gait to a fraction of what it was so that he wouldn’t outdistance the two humans walking alongside him. No other humans were present. There weren’t any other wyverians there, either.
“How many times did you end up apologizing?” Steve asked good-naturedly.
Rinbok didn’t bother looking down.
“Once.”
Steve grinned. “Only once, huh? How’d that work out for you?”
“Three days, human. She carried on for three days.”
Sarah cleared her throat. “At least it all worked out for the best, right?”
Rinbok paused in mid step. He dropped his neck down to the ground and eyed Sarah and then Steve.
�
��Before the Event starts I wanted to personally thank you and Sarah. For everything. Pryllan tells me your help was instrumental to lifting the curse. You have performed a great service to me and to all wyverians everywhere. You have my thanks.”
Steve stared, open-mouthed, at the enormous reptilian head that was less than a dozen feet in front of him. There was a time, Steve recalled, when the temperamental Dragon Lord wanted nothing more than to put an end to any human involvement in wyverian affairs. Rinbok had barely tolerated the presence of humans, had grudgingly allowed Steve to ride Pryllan, and he was certain, hated every minute of it.
However, now the Dragon Lord not only was taking the time to talk to the two of them, privately, but had actually thanked them for their involvement in this whole situation. Steve had to admit that he had been worried about how Rinbok was going to respond after everything had quieted down. Being personally thanked by the Dragon Lord was nowhere on the list of possible outcomes.
“Where is everyone?” Sarah asked after they had walked companionably in silence for several minutes. “You made it sound as though everyone is waiting for us.”
“They are waiting for you,” Rinbok confirmed as he turned his great head to look down at her.
Steve looked around the valley floor. Nothing but grassland could be seen straight ahead, but if they looked to the left they could see the calm blue waters of Lake Raehón. The forest’s northern border was slightly to their right. The more they walked the farther the trees receded from them.
“There’s no one out here but us,” Steve observed. He looked straight ahead at the leagues of open grassland comprising the majority of the dragons’ valley. “Do we really have to walk across that? Just tell us where to go and Sarah can teleport us there.”
Rinbok’s thick neck turned to look at the nearby tree line.
“Right about here will do.”
Steve and Sarah eyed each other. Steve slowly spun in place. He still couldn’t see anyone else besides the three of them.
“So what exactly are we supposed to be doing here? Is this where your event is being held?”
Rinbok shook his head no.
“What type of event is it?” Sarah asked.
“An event that hardly any humans have ever witnessed,” the Dragon Lord told them. He went stock still as though he was using the Collective.
“Are we early?”
“No,” Rinbok’s deep voice rumbled.
“Is everyone still waiting on us?”
“Aye.”
“Are they coming to us or are we going to them?” Sarah wanted to know.
“We are going to them,” Rinbok answered.
“You’re being awfully damn cryptic,” Steve grumped. “Out with it, dragon. What’s going on?”
Rinbok’s stoic countenance finally cracked. A smile appeared. Moving with the speed only a dragon could muster, Rinbok snatched husband and wife up off the ground and leapt into the air. In the blink of an eye they were airborne.
“I’m sure Pryllan informed you that I was ready to give up.”
Steve nodded. Thankfully Rinbok was flying at a normal velocity, for a dragon, and therefore communication was possible. Had he elected to accelerate to the dizzying speeds Steve knew the wyverians were capable of then the air would have been rushing by so fast that no one would have been able to hear anything but the howling wind.
“She did, yes.”
“I truly thought the time of the wyverians was over. I never dreamed that my own folly had caused this.”
Having ascended high enough to be flying through the light, misty clouds Rinbok dipped his left wing and turned until he was facing north.
“Words cannot express how grateful I am that Pryllan asked you two for help,” Rinbok continued.
“Can you believe this?” Steve whispered to Sarah. “I’ve never heard him talk like this before.”
Sarah put a finger to her lips and shushed her husband.
“Pryllan’s actions saved the life of every wyverian.”
“You have yourself a very dedicated dragon,” Sarah told the Dragon Lord. “Every dragon I’ve ever seen has been the same way. They are loyal to you. You’re obviously doing something right.”
“Hmmm.”
Steve met Sarah’s questioning glance and both craned their necks to look up at the Dragon Lord’s distant head.
The southeastern shore of Lake Raehón appeared. Rinbok appeared to be angling for the extreme northeastern edge of the valley, right where the prolific grasslands merged with the heavily concentrated Anakash forest. Both Steve and Sarah gasped with surprise.
There were dragons everywhere.
Reds, blues, greens, yellows, golds, blacks and whites. Every possible color combination they could think of was represented in the huge gathering of wyverians. At least several hundred long serpentine necks lifted skyward to watch the Dragon Lord approach.
Sarah sighed and gently inhaled. Steve sniffed the air and turned to his wife.
“Do you smell that?”
Sarah nodded. She leaned out over Rinbok’s claw and gazed at the ground below. From this altitude it looked to Sarah as though there was a purple line separating the edge of the forest from the grasslands of the valley. The purple line stretched south for at least a mile or two. Sarah sighed wistfully.
“It smells like sweet roses with a touch of vanilla. Honey, they’re lilacs! It’s one of my favorite flowers!”
Steve joined his wife by leaning out over Rinbok’s palm, too. As they neared the ground he could see that the flowers were growing big and tall and looked like large pine cones with the outermost layers being a light purple with the inner petals becoming progressively darker. Having bought Sarah many varieties of flowers, lilacs included, he knew Sarah’s expertise of flowers had yet again served her well.
“We could just teleport down there,” Sarah announced. “It’d save you the trouble to…”
“No,” Rinbok interrupted. “I am capable of delivering you two safely to the ground.”
Rinbok Intherer landed near the edge of the forest and, much to Sarah’s chagrin, away from the lilacs. A small group of humans were standing together uncertainly. They recognized Kri’Entu and Ny’Callé from R’Tal, along with their former charge, Mikal. Also present was a tall, thin figure dressed entirely in maroon robes, from the tip of his tall conical hat all the way down to the slippers on his feet. Tufts of steel gray hair were visible under the hat just above his ears.
“Shardwyn looks uncomfortable, doesn’t he?” Steve quipped with a smile.
Sarah nodded and then grabbed Steve’s arm. “Look over there! Do you see who’s standing next to him? And enjoying every minute of it by the looks of it? It’s Maelnar! I see Breslin, too.”
“I see a bunch more dwarves standing off to the side,” Steve told her as he hopped down from Rinbok’s open claw. “They really blend in with the trees, don’t they? They’re hard to see at first.”
Even though they were much shorter than the human King and Queen and farther away, Maelnar, Breslin, and the rest of the dwarves, made it to them first.
“Sir Steve! Lady Sarah! A pleasure as always!”
Steve bowed while Sarah curtsied. He grasped Maelnar’s forearm and gave a friendly shake. Breslin caught him by his arm and pulled him in for a hug.
“Sir Steve!” the boisterous dwarf exclaimed. “It’s good to see you, lad! And you, Lady Sarah! How have you been?”
Sarah smiled warmly at the dwarf.
“We’ve been really good, Breslin. And you?”
“I just welcomed the birth of my first daughter!” Breslin proudly proclaimed. “Eloise Malanar. She was born just last night!”
Sarah clapped her hands with delight. She darted forward to pull Breslin in for a hug.
“Congratulations, Breslin! I’m so happy for you!”
Steve slapped a hand on the dwarf’s back.
“Couldn’t have happened to a finer person, my friend!”
In
troductions were made as each of the other dwarfs wanted to meet the famous humans responsible for eradicating the dreaded guur during the legendary battle that took place years ago. Steve knew, with absolute certainty that after the third dwarf had bowed and introduced themself that he’d never be able to remember any of their names.
Rinbok waited patiently for the humans and dwarves to become acquainted. After the Dragon Lord was certain the introductions were finished he cleared his throat. To any non-wyverians, it sounded like a low growl.
Steve nudged Sarah and leaned down to her ear.
“I don’t see Pryllan or Kahvel, do you?”
Sarah shook her head no.
“I wonder why. Maybe –”
“The last time we gathered like this,” Rinbok began, raising his voice to deliberately drown out Steve, “was over a thousand years ago. It was on that fateful day that I inadvertently set into motion that which nearly caused our downfall.”
It was so still and quiet that husband and wife held their breath.
“I was brash. I was stupid.”
The sounds of crickets chirping would have been deafening.
“I called several wyverians, several of our brothers, freaks.”
Several dozen muted conversations broke out all around them.
“Be silent,” Rinbok snapped.
The valley returned to utter silence.
“As I was saying, I insulted another dragon. Three other dragons. In an act of retaliation they exacted their revenge. I am ashamed to say that they targeted not only me but all of you as well. I accept full responsibility for my actions. I have already apologized and made amends with all three Zweigelans. Now, without further ado, let me introduce the newest members to our Collective. Syrreth and Ferreth are standing next to Kemxandra.”
Steve looked over at the familiar black female dragon and saw the green Zweigelan staring at Kemxandra’s luxurious black scales with envy.
“On Rhamalli’s right are Dirgath and Tirgath.”
Everyone looked over at the silver Zweigelan with the jagged black stripes.
“And finally, on my right you’ve no doubt noticed Yamira and Lamira.”
The female Zweigelan wordlessly bowed each of their heads.
Something Wyverian This Way Comes Page 31