Aeron’s cheeks burned crimson as he read them. Was anyone watching him? He kept pausing to look around, worried that someone might catch him at it. He was also embarrassed at the reaction of his body to the details laid out in the book. Was it normal to react this way? That worried him a little as well. But eventually, he came to the conclusion that he needed to know everything he could about dragons, even this, so, blushing profusely, he plowed ahead.
The second reason dragons ventured forth, the author eventually noted, was to hunt. And as Sharrah had mentioned, they hunted bison, along with wolves, large cats, even the occasional bear. Any large animal that would provide them with the meat they needed to survive was fair game for them. After killing the animal, the dragon would fly it back to the warren, apparently not wanting to be out for any length of time.
It seemed that the shyness Aeron had noticed in Anaya when she was first out of the shell was perhaps an inherent part of all dragons. Although, after they had linked, Anaya’s shyness had disappeared. It was an interesting puzzle. Why did dragons, when they were clearly able to defend themselves, act so oddly? Why were they such seemingly apprehensive or fearful creatures? And why did the Bond end such behavior? Aeron shoved that question to the back of his mind and read on.
When Aeron finished with that book, it was just about midday, which was perfect, as he wanted to take a break. He met up with Sharrah and Willem for lunch. He explained to them what he had found out so far, leaving out Berban’s theories about dragon mating. Willem and Sharrah had several questions and comments, which gave him some ideas for other things to look out for. As soon as he was done with lunch, and after checking that Anaya was still asleep, he returned to the library to continue his research.
The next book, the large one, was more of an art book. It was titled, simply, Dragons, by Adept Archivist Trivian. It contained a collection of sketches and drawings of dragons. Some were obviously fanciful, while most appeared to be of actual dragons. All of the real dragons appeared to be the same in general. Though some did have scars on their bodies or small tears in their wings. Evidence perhaps of mating accidents? Or maybe fights of some kind? But with what? Other dragons? The animals they hunt? People? Aeron hoped it wasn’t with people.
And now that he thought about it, how had any of the artists gotten close enough to see such detail? After some consideration, he supposed they could have used field glasses or a telescope of some kind. They must be avid dragonwatchers to possess that kind of dedication, sitting in a mountain somewhere watching for when dragons go out, hoping to spy one to study. Aeron flipped a page and was rewarded with another beautiful drawing.
There were apparently great differences in coloration, Aeron noted as he closed the book. There had been tan ones, some nearly black ones, a few that were a dirty, dark emerald green and some that were nearly the same tawny color as Anaya. Whether their artists had taken license or not with the colors, Aeron could not be sure. But they were all absolutely beautiful creatures. Aeron smiled, thinking of Anaya. He tested the link again, but it seemed she was still sleeping quite deeply.
The last book turned out to be exactly what he was hoping to find. Dragons, Reflections on Society, by Adept Historians Galanath and Esmidian. It was similar to the first book, in that it talked about dragon myths and legends, but this book approached the legends from an entirely different direction. The authors had the idea that myths and legends about various persons, events, creatures, and such, were powerful indicators of the unconscious feelings and attitudes that people had toward those things and also gave clues about the people themselves. In this book they focused on dragon myths. Aeron wasn’t sure about all that, but he was interested in what the authors had found out about people’s attitudes toward dragons. If people hated dragons, his options on how to proceed with Anaya would be very limited. So far, at least based on what he’d seen in the second and third books, it didn’t seem that people feared dragons just on principle. Aeron dove in.
The book explained many of the attitudes people had toward dragons. Most of the legends indicated ambivalent attitudes, many reflected attitudes of awe, but some, a few, indicated fear. Aeron took notes about those legends and what the authors’ research showed were the root causes of the fear: the unknown, and in the case of one legend, outright misinformation. The legend was of a young girl who had been stolen by a dragon in order to bear his children. An idiotic notion, Aeron felt, as he was sure crossbreeding would be impossible between humans and dragons. The authors’ research indicated the legend had started in a particular small village. They visited the village, and after a great deal of interviews, they discovered that many years after the girl went missing, her body had been found in a shallow grave, the bones identified by clothing and jewelry. Apparently, something quite horrible had occurred, and the story of the dragon was used by those involved in an attempt to cover it up. Despite the actual facts, the legend persisted. Perhaps, the authors theorized, people preferred the legend over the unvarnished and chilling truth.
Aeron closed the book and looked over his notes. It seemed like the tendency of dragons to keep to themselves had mostly worked in Aeron’s favor, in the sense that it had kept interactions between people and dragons to almost zero. Thus, there were no violent interactions to build myths on. If anyone did fear dragons, it was probably because of a lack of knowledge of what they were actually like.
Based on everything he’d learned so far, if he was going to let other people know about Anaya, he should do it soon while she was still young and relatively small. She was so adorable now that no one could really fear her, he felt. But if he waited too long, she would eventually be quite large. What had Sharrah said? Eighteen or twenty feet long and up to five thousand pounds? Her size alone would scare some people. And how soon would she be fully grown? He checked the link again and felt she was slowly beginning to awaken.
He returned to Darrel and let him know he was done with the books before heading back to Anaya. He had almost two hours until dinner, giving him just enough time to feed her beforehand. And now that he thought about it, there were only so many cave rats in that area. Eventually he was going to have to either take her into the other parts of the caverns to hunt, or think of some other way to feed her.
As he walked away from the water area, grumbling under his breath as water dripped off his body, he also vowed to come up with something so he wouldn’t have to keep getting nearly naked and soaking wet every time he came to visit her and every time he left. He still hadn’t come up with any ideas about that by the time he was dry enough to get dressed. If he only knew how to make the walkways, he lamented again as he wiped off his feet before putting on his socks and shoes, he might be able to make a dry path over the water. Well, if it was possible to. He sighed and continued on.
Aeron?
Almost there, he said. I’m just to the sinkhole.
She was quiet for a minute or so, then, Are we going to hunt again? I am hungry.
We sure are.
He wasn’t even halfway down the passage to her cavern when she came bounding up to him, nearly knocking him to the ground. She pressed her head under his arm, and he hugged her. She was making a sound, a hum, almost like a cat purring, but then again quite different.
Hi there, he said, laughing. I missed you.
I had a dream, she said.
Oh? What was it about?
It was happy, she said.
Happy is good.
It is!
After they found enough cave rats to satisfy her, three this time, they returned to the cavern. It had taken a little longer to find the three. They were getting more scarce, or they were learning to avoid the young dragon and her companion. Anaya walked over to the little pool by the mushrooms and drank. Aeron came to a conclusion as he watched her daintily lapping up water. He wasn’t going to be able to raise Anaya alone. If he was out on his own, perhaps he could, but not now, not while he was in the Caer.
Aeron looked at his pl
ates. The pot roast was gone. He had been so nervous that he didn’t remember eating it. Almost all the slice of berry pie was gone too, only a couple of forkfuls were left. He glanced up from his nearly finished evening meal and looked at his two friends. Might as well get to it, he decided.
“So what are you two doing after dinner?” he asked, a little nervously.
“Hmm?” Willem replied, a spoon of pudding halfway to his mouth. “Nothing much.”
“Me either,” Sharrah said. “Why?”
“Oh, I was just wondering if I could show you two something,” and he paused, moved closer to them, and continued in a near-whisper, “in the caverns.”
Willem and Sharrah glanced at each other, smiled and moved closer as well.
“What is it?” Willem asked, in a whisper.
“Is it another one of those amazing caverns?” Sharrah asked quietly.
“No,” Aeron replied, “it’s something . . . different. What do you say, want to come?” Aeron’s heart was pounding. He hoped it would work out. It had to work out.
Sharrah raised her brows and looked expectantly at Willem. He also looked excited. They both nodded at Aeron.
“I just need you two to promise me that you won’t tell anyone about what I show you.” Aeron looked down at his hands. “If anyone were to find out too soon—” He looked up and locked gazes with Willem for a few moments and did the same with Sharrah, trying to impart the seriousness of his request. “You have to promise.”
Aeron looked back at Willem, who returned his stare for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face, before turning to Sharrah. Aeron had never made them promise about anything he had shown them in the caverns before. He could see his friends were confused about why he was doing so now.
Sharrah glanced at Willem a moment, a contemplative look on her face as well, before she looked back at Aeron. “I promise,” she finally said.
“Me too,” Willem agreed after a moment.
Aeron breathed out a sigh of relief and said, “Okay, good.” He ate the last piece of his desert and said, “Meet at my place, in say, half an hour?”
Willem and Sharrah nodded at Aeron, then glanced at each other. They were both thinking the same thing, he was sure. What on Lethera was Aeron going to show them?
Aeron was antsy. He was fairly sure they would accept Anaya, but he couldn’t be completely certain. In his nervousness, he babbled.
“I’m glad we all could get through that gap,” he said as he walked along the passage, looking over his shoulder. Sharrah was brushing off the top of her shirt. She hadn’t been happy about the tight squeeze.
“I started mapping this unexplored passage earlier this week. It’s the one we talked about that one time,” he said to Sharrah. “The passage I showed you on my map?”
Sharrah nodded. “Yes, I remember.”
“It’s been fun,” Aeron said. “I’ve been exploring areas that only a few other people might have seen. And some places, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the only person who has ever been there.” He walked in silence for a bit.
“Something amazing happened to me last night,” he eventually said, quietly.
Before Willem or Sharrah could ask him about that, he continued talking in his quick, nervous fashion. “Some of the places down here are dangerous. And some, inconvenient. In fact, a little bit ahead is an area of the passage that is flooded with water. It is just over waist deep at one point. Let me tell you, I do not enjoy going through there. It takes forever for things to dry out in the humidity down here. Eventually, I just started taking my pants off when going through.”
Sharrah stopped and said, “I am not taking my pants off!”
Willem laughed, and she shot him a look. His mouth made an odd clomping noise, he shut it so fast.
“What?” Aeron asked. “Oh, no, we aren’t going that far tonight. If anything, we should wear swim shorts if we want to go beyond that area in the future.”
“Hmm, I guess that would work,” Sharrah said, mollified.
“By the way, I did find the answer to one of your questions, Sharrah,” Aeron said as they continued along the passage. “Beyond the water area is a large sinkhole. That’s probably how some of the plants and animals made it down into the caverns.”
“Oh. I’d eventually like to see that,” she said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more sinkholes or other ways to get into the caverns,” Willem said, looking around as they walked along.
It was a somewhat rougher experience walking along raw passages as opposed to the enchanted walkways from the other part of the cavern system. But it wasn’t anything his friends couldn’t handle. After not much time at all, they were at the cavern with the steep ramp.
Aeron grabbed the rope at the top of the ramp, turned to his friends, and said, “Watch how I go down. It’s very easy, just take your time.” He slowly made his way down the ramp.
It didn’t take very long for Willem and Sharrah to join him below.
“Other than the sinkhole, however,” Aeron continued, as they walked along the floor of the cavern, “there really wasn’t much down this passage. In fact, I had been going down the passage beyond the sinkhole for a bit and was about to give up and turn back, when I found an enormous cavern.”
“Was it one of those amazing ones?” Willem asked, smiling in anticipation.
“No,” Aeron replied. “Though, it was quite large. The floor of the cavern has got to be at least a hundred feet or so below the lower ledge. And you can’t see the ceiling or the far walls.
“When I first walked into the cavern, of course, I knew nothing about it. So I shielded my lantern, placed it on the floor with my satchel, and walked to the end of the top ledge to check what I could see. Which wasn’t much, other than I could see another ledge below. That was when the ground under me collapsed.”
Sharrah gasped, “I told you it was dangerous down here!”
“It collapsed?” Willem asked, also quite concerned.
“It did. Look,” and Aeron glanced from one to the other, “I know how stupid that was now, and I am taking precautions. I have reasons now to be much more careful. Anyway, I fell to the ledge below, landed on my back and my head hit something quite hard. I was knocked out.”
He gingerly reached up and touched the back of his head. “It still smarts quite a bit, in fact. Well, while I was knocked out, I had this really odd dream. A woodpecker was going crazy on some tree and my mom was there too, working at some wooden piece with a hammer. And Willem was in it too.”
Willem raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Really?”
Aeron laughed. “Yep. You gave me a present, a mark pouch. Which you were also hammering away at. Eventually I woke up, but the knocking sound, the hammering, didn’t stop.”
Now?
Aeron smiled. Yes. He looked at his friends and continued. “My head had landed on an egg, you see. And it was hatching.”
Willem looked confused. “An egg?”
“Wait,” Sharrah began, “you got knocked out by an egg?”
“Well, yes. The egg was five feet tall and three feet across.”
Willem and Sharrah looked very confused. What he was saying didn’t seem to make sense to them.
They were now almost to the passage entrance. Aeron stopped just short of it. He could hear something faintly down it, something in the distance.
This is fun! Water is fun!
Aeron started laughing.
“It’s not funny, Aeron. Are you sure you didn’t suffer a concussion and imagined the egg? Eggs don’t get that large.” Sharrah stared at him, brows furrowed.
“I’m not laughing at you,” Aeron said. “I was talking to someone.”
Willem glanced at Sharrah, worried, before looking back at Aeron. “Talking to someone?” Willem asked. “There’s only us here.”
“Oh, she’s not here.”
“What do you mean, she’s not here?” Sharrah asked, her voice rising in concern. “You’
re talking to people who aren’t here?”
The sound from the passageway was now clearly audible. It was loud splashing, something moving through water toward them.
“What is that?” Willem asked, backing away from the passage entrance.
Sharrah also moved back from the entrance. Grabbing Aeron’s arm as she passed him, she tried to drag him with her.
The splashing stopped, but now there was the sound of running footsteps coming from the passage.
“I have to apologize,” Aeron said, removing his arm from Sharrah’s hand and placing his satchel and lantern on the ground.
“Apologize?” Willem asked, keeping his eyes on the passage.
“Yes.” Aeron clasped his hands nervously. “When you both asked me why I was so interested in dragons, I only told half the truth. You see, it’s not just for curiosity’s sake that I need to know about dragons—”
Anaya burst forth from the passage and jumped up onto Aeron, knocking him to one knee.
I found you!
Sharrah screamed “Look out!”
At the same time, Willem, half crouching, yelled, “Aeron!”
After recovering his balance from the young dragon’s mock attack, and with her playfully rubbing her head under his chin, Aeron hugged her. “Yes, you did find me!” he said, laughing.
He looked up at the stunned faces of his friends. They watched him and Anaya, in shock. He gave Anaya another hug and said, “Willem, Sharrah, I want you to meet my friend, Anaya. She is what hatched from the egg.”
Anaya climbed off of Aeron and sat on her haunches, looking at Aeron’s friends. She then ducked her head at Willem and at Sharrah.
Willem plopped down on his butt, overwhelmed. Sharrah just stood where she was, staring with her mouth open.
Anaya padded over to Willem, who leaned back a little at her approach.
You are Willem. You are . . . friend to Aeron. She lowered her head and touched her nose to his forehead and then turned to Sharrah.
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