Pearl's Dragon

by S. E. Smith

  Mandra started toward them before he released a stifled curse and disappeared. Zoran and Kelan turned at the same time with a frown. Threading their way through the undergrowth, they stared down at where Mandra was sitting in a deep hole.

  Both men knelt down. “What happened?” Zoran demanded.

  “It’s a trap. It was covered over with leaves and twigs,” Mandra said, standing up and brushing the dirt and leaves off the seat of his pants.

  “Where’s Viper?” Kelan asked, glancing around.

  “He shifted and moved up into the trees,” Mandra said.

  Zoran and Kelan reached down and grabbed Mandra’s hands. They pulled him out of the pit. Zoran stood gazing down at the hole with a frown. It wasn’t very deep.

  “Tunnels,” Kelan murmured, nodding to several small holes.

  “Maybe the rain caused the tunnels to cave into these holes at the natural weak spots,” Zoran said, glancing back around. “We’ve lost track of the ears. Come on.”

  Viper moved along the branch of a tree, pausing when the two creatures below him stopped. His cat’s mouth had started watering the moment he saw them. All he could think about was how good they would taste and how much fun he would have playing with those fluffy tails. He might even take one home for Leo.

  Stop thinking like that, Viper hissed. You know Tina would have a fit if you brought home a fluffy tail.

  Soft, his cat purred.

  Viper would have rolled his eyes if he was capable of it. Instead, he moved forward. He was almost directly over them when his left front paw sunk into something soft on the branch. He tried to pull it free, but he couldn’t. Placing his other paw next to it, he immediately realized his mistake – now both were stuck. He extended his back claws, burying them into the bark and jerked backwards, breaking free – but losing his balance at the same time.

  A loud hiss escaped him as he twisted around. In the back of his mind, he processed that someone had wrapped part of the branch with the threads of the Sticky Worms. There was only one person he knew who loved the stuff – Spring Reykill.

  “What the…! Viper?” a voice below him called up.

  Viper waited for the impact with the ground, but it never came. Instead, he found himself hanging in midair – face down – staring at the long eared creature that his cat had been fantasizing about.

  It took a moment for him to realize two things: First, that the creature’s voice sounded an awful lot like his older brother; and second, that he was hanging from a netting of Sticky Worm silk that looked like it had been placed to capture the two men below him when they walked under it. His jerking on the branch had triggered the trap that he was now hanging from.

  “Vox?” Viper asked, staring down at the pink nose, long whiskers, and stiff, smiling face.

  “What are you doing up there?” Vox demanded, staring up at his younger brother.

  “Hunting,” Viper said with a sigh.

  “What are you hunting?” the other rabbit that sounded suspiciously like Trelon asked in a cautious tone.

  “You,” Viper admitted.

  Both rabbits looked at each other before they glanced around them. They finally looked back up at him. Viper released a sigh…

  No bunny tail tonight, his cat glumly exclaimed.

  There’s always Tina’s tail, he murmured.

  Oh, yes… much better! his cat purred, happy once again.

  “Can you two help me get down, because I have to tell you – I’d love to know what you two are up to,” he asked, gazing back and forth between the two men staring up at him.

  Creon moved silently through the shadows. He paused, watching and listening. His ears twitched when a sound, almost inaudible, teased his senses.

  This way, his dragon murmured.

  Creon followed his dragon’s urging, trusting him to know which way to go. He was almost to a small opening when he saw a tiny white head pop up out of the ferns before disappearing again. His lips twitched in amusement. A moment later, it popped up again.

  He watched Spring glance around before she disappeared again. Curious, he moved closer. Shifting, he stepped behind one of the large, thick trees and watched.

  “I’s can do it,” a voice insisted.

  Creon’s lips parted in a low hiss. He started forward, jerking to a stop when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning his head, he saw Paul standing behind him. Paul shook his head and lifted a finger to his lips.

  “Be careful,” Alice whispered.

  “I will,” Morah promised.

  Paul and Creon watched as the tiny gold and white dragon crept out of the tall ferns. Their eyes widened when Morah shook her body. The white scales shimmered and turned a warm gold. Within the blink of an eye, Morah vanished.

  “Incredible,” Creon murmured.

  “She hasn’t shown us that trick yet,” Paul quietly chuckled. “I’ll follow her while you keep an eye on the others.”

  “How will you know where she is?” Creon asked.

  “My dragon will,” Paul assured his son-in-law.

  Shifting again, Paul disappeared as quickly as his daughter did. Creon shook his head. These younglings were much more powerful than any of them had realized. That thought brought both comfort and stress. He turned his head, jerking back in surprise when he realized that he was no longer alone.

  He blinked, staring mesmerized into the glowing worlds reflected in his youngest daughter’s eyes. She was floating in front of him. Her wings were raised, but not moving. He couldn’t help but wonder if she had known where he was the entire time. The question was answered when she nodded her head.

  Creon’s throat tightened and he opened his arms. Phoenix moved into them, shifting back into her two-legged form and wrapping her arms around his neck. He held her close, savoring every second he had with her.

  “We came to find Jabir,” Phoenix whispered.

  “Did you find him?” Creon asked, pulling back so he could see her face.

  “Yes,” Phoenix replied.

  She waved her hand at where the others were in the small clearing. As if a large mirror appeared, Creon could see Jabir, Leo, and Spring around a pile of large, dark green eggs. The scene shimmered and changed. Next, he saw Roam and Zohar. They were sneaking up behind the two large bunnies. It took a minute to realize that they were after the two baskets filled with colorful eggs.

  “Where did Morah and Alice go?” Creon asked in a voice thick with emotion.

  “To capture the Great Easter Bunny and his mate. Amber and Jade are there, too,” Phoenix replied, waving her hand again.

  Creon’s lips parted – half in warning and the other half in amusement. He watched the scene unveil in slow motion. Both girls reappeared within a few meters of the two large rabbits. They both raised a long straw to their mouth and blew. Tiny, round pellets exploded from the ends. Both bunnies jumped in surprise when the pellets exploded around them, releasing a red and yellow dust. Before they had a chance to react, both girls had disappeared again.

  “Sleeping pollen,” Creon murmured.

  “Bálint knew where some was,” Phoenix replied.

  They watched both bunnies sink to the ground underneath where Viper was hanging from the web. A moment later, Amber and Jade crawled out from under the bushes. They had their faces covered with a mask of leaves and were pulling long cords of vines behind them. In a matter of minutes, they had the two bunnies tied up and were giving each other hand slaps.

  “Remind me to have a long talk with your Grandpa Paul,” Creon said with a shake of his head.

  “Okay,” Phoenix giggled. “Can we hunt for eggs now?”

  Epilogue

  “I think they’ll live,” Riley said.

  “Not… not so loud,” Vox groaned, laying an arm over his eyes. “Ow! What was that for?”

  Viper glared down at his older brother. “The Great Easter Bunny?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I thought it was a good plan,” Vox mumbled, turning to cover his ey
es again. “What hit me? It feels like it was large and very hard.”

  “Morah and Alice,” Riley chuckled. “Those two girls are after my own heart. I hope Sacha and Pearl are as creative as those two.”

  “Goddess help the world if they are,” Vox replied with a shudder.

  “We’s sorry, Uncle Vox. If we had known it was you and Daddy, we wouldn’t have knocked you out and tied you up,” Amber said.

  “Yeah, we thoughts you were just going to steals Jabir’s eggs and eats them,” Jade added. “That’s why we had to stops you.”

  “Viper wanted our fluffy tails,” Trelon chuckled before he groaned. “Paul, we need to have a serious talk about what you are teaching the younglings.”

  Paul laughed, holding Morah in his arms. “Alice and your little sister were pretty good at tagging you. I think we’ll need to do some remedial training,” he suggested.

  The women burst out laughing when the men all released a loud groan. The group suddenly turned when Trelon sat up and froze. A shudder went through his body when he turned to look at Cara, his eyes wide.

  Her lips were parted and she nodded. “It’s time,” she whispered.

  “Oh, Goddess, I felt that!” Trelon muttered in a strained voice.

  “Felt what?” Mandra asked, stepping forward and placing a hand on Trelon’s shoulder when another shudder went through him.

  “Is that what it feels like?” Trelon panted, glancing over at Cara with stunned eyes.

  “What is going on?” Kelan asked.

  “I think you’d better disconnect from her symbiot, Trelon. She is going to need you in one piece,” Morian gently instructed.

  Trelon nodded and drew in a deep breath. “Never again,” he swore, standing up on shaky feet before he shook his head to clear it. “Call for the healer.”

  “Trelon,” Cara started to say when he bent to pick her up.

  “I’m so sorry,” he murmured.

  Cara winced and nodded. “You can pay me back later,” she said before turning to look at Paul and Morian. “Can the girls stay with you for a bit?”

  “Of course,” Morian said.

  “What’s wrongs with Aunt Cara?” Zohar asked.

  “She’s having our baby brother,” Amber and Jade said with a grin. “We’s building a fort to protect him.”

  “Do I need to do that for my baby brother, too?” Zohar asked with a frown.

  “Abby?!” Morian whispered.

  Everyone turned to look at Abby and Zoran. Abby leaned back against Zoran when he wrapped his arm around her and smiled. She glanced up at him before looking back at the group and nodding.

  “Does this means we won’t get to hunt Easter eggs?” Roam asked, staring at the group.

  “Not at all! Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny have returned and we have eggs hidden all around the palace,” Pearl stated with a smile.

  “Yay!”

  “Thank you, Pearl,” Morian murmured.

  “It’s easy when you have a big ole dragon feeling very guilty. Besides, I could tell Cara would be lucky to make it through the day. Why don’t you head on back to the palace? We’ll round up the kids and bring them back,” Pearl suggested.

  “I’ll see you soon,” Morian said before she brushed a quick kiss across Paul’s lips.

  “Where’s Asim?” Paul asked, watching his mate climb onto the golden transport her symbiot had formed and hurriedly taking off after her son and Cara.

  “He was looking for one last egg that was missing. He’ll return to the mountains and make sure they are okay. He wants to make sure they are there before Jabir gets home. He loves that little boy,” Pearl explained.

  Paul glanced over the group. They were all gathering up the items they had brought. Today, there would be one more added to his growing family. A family he had never dreamed he would have. He smiled and knelt down when Morah ran back up to them. Her hands were wrapped around a basket and she had a big smile on her face.

  “We found some eggs, Daddy. They are pretty, but the shells broken and makings noises,” she said, holding the basket out to him.

  Paul gently picked up one of the eggs. He blinked in surprise. He looked up when he felt more than heard the soft chuckles on the wind. Looking down again, he stared in amazement at the soft, yellow chick emerging from its shell. He glanced at the small note attached to the side of the basket.

  For Ruby. Even chickens need a happily-ever-after. Happy Valdier Easter ~ Arosa and Arilla.

  “Asim and Viper are really going to love this,” Paul murmured, staring down at the huge pile of moving eggs.

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  S.E. Smith is a New York Times, USA TODAY, International, and Award-Winning Bestselling author of science fiction, romance, fantasy, paranormal, and contemporary works for adults, young adults, and children. She enjoys writing a wide variety of genres that pull her readers into worlds that take them away.