A Plague of Dragons (A Dragon Anthology)

by Jason LaVelle

  “I don’t get to fly every day like you,” Dax snorted jealously.

  “I don’t get to shift every day, like you,” Ramos replied, sounding equally put out.

  “You’re not missing much. Two legs are clumsy. And human form is tiny.” Dax flapped his wings harder and put out his back legs as he approached the ground. Landing with a loud thump, he sent up a cloud of sand in his wake as his claws dug deep into the sand.

  Ramos touched down behind him with hardly a sound and gently folded his wings. “It’s not your human form that makes you clumsy.” He chuckled. “You’re just too damn big to be graceful, my friend.”

  Dax craned his long neck around to look at his friend. Size might have made some difference as far as flying was concerned, but he didn’t feel he was that much bigger than Ramos. Maybe a foot longer. A hundred pounds heavier, perhaps. But who was really counting? Not that it mattered much. They were both drakes. Dragonkin. Brothers.

  Their kind came in a variety of shapes and colors, none being more or less magnificent than any other. His brother might be smaller and green of scale, but those visual differences held no weight compared to the heart within that beat with a pure flame. Dax himself had been blessed with scales of blue and gray, at times murky like the ocean after a storm, but when the light hit them just right, they shimmered around the edges like diamonds. All colors were beautiful, and that was what made his people so unique.

  “I’m just joking.” Ramos nudged his friend in the ribs with his snout. “Don’t get all fired up.”

  “Oh, I’m not,” Dax lied, and quickly changed the subject. “Just thinking about where I’ll go for my time abroad.”

  “You’re not really going, are you?” Ramos’s voice turned sharp with concern.

  “I am,” Dax boasted. “C’mon, this is our chance. We’re of age now. Once a century we get the freedom to see what lies beyond the borders of our islands.”

  Strict laws enforced by the Elders forbade young drakes from leaving the island. The dangers of the human realm and the necessity of their isolation were drilled into each and every young hatchling. But once every hundred years, a short visit was permitted to help reinforce the Elders’ teachings.

  Humans are dangerous and destructive creatures with no regard for the land Mother Nature blessed them with.

  Dax had been counting down the days to the anniversary of his hatching. He picked up his pace, nearly skipping on all fours as he padded down the beach toward the temple of the Elders.

  Ramos kept pace behind him, but his steps held no eagerness. “I see what lies beyond our borders. More islands. And those islands are filled with humans who do nothing but kill each other.”

  “That’s not all they do.”

  “Do you remember a few years back, when the sky was filled with tiny airforce-ones?”

  “That was more than a few years ago,” Dax scoffed, remembering how the Elders had called all the drakes into the mountain and sent the Air Guard on patrol.

  “I was there. I saw what they did. They flew to the closest island and rained down fireballs unlike anything I have ever seen before. They destroyed their own people. And since then, it has been our mission to ensure they never do that to our island. Don’t you understand?”

  “They were at war then. But they aren’t now,” Dax argued.

  “How soon before another war breaks out?” Ramos asked.

  “All the more reason to go. I want to see them up close,” Dax sighed with impatience. “While they’re peaceful.”

  “You can watch them safely on the Teevee in the market square. It’s always showing their news.” Ramos sighed. “Nothing but anger and hungry children. Always fighting among themselves. They’re savage beasts in peace or at war, Dax. Don’t bother with them.”

  Dax refused to be deterred. Sure, he saw horrible things on their Teevee. But he also saw good. And all societies were flawed, even his own. If not for the Peacekeepers, relations between the wyverns and the Hydras would not exist. Elders could preach all they wanted about tolerance, but even among their own kind, disputes rose up every now and again.

  “It’s my right. I’m of age. I just wish I could have my wingman with me.” Dax punctuated the finality of his statement with a stop of his foot.

  Ramos hung his head and let loose a steamy breath. “I’m not going. I deal enough with the humans on patrol. Every year it gets harder and harder to keep them at bay. I fear the day they do finally set their sights on our home.”

  “That’ll never happen,” Dax scoffed.

  “In the last twenty years, we’ve seen more and more airforce-ones on the horizon.” Ramos turned his head skyward. In the distance, the metal beast still hung in the air, making its way through the clouds.

  “I’m going to ride on one when I get my chance to see the world beyond.” Dax turned and winked. “Just you watch.”

  Ramos snorted, and a puff of smoke came out in a ring from his nostrils. “You ride in them, not on them.”

  “Either way, I’m leaving the island, and I’ll see what the world beyond is like.” Cocky as he was on the outside, a tiny kernel of worry clung to the back of Dax’s mind. He’d always expected his brother to go with him. They had both shared the dream together of enjoying the freedom of a new world. They’d planned together all the ways they’d live it up in the human realm, spending the treasure they’d amassed over years from salvaging sunken ships.

  Something had changed in his brother. He’d never been adamant about staying home before. And after a hundred years on the same small island chain, why would he not want to expand his horizons a bit?

  Their home island and the two lesser islands nearby were part of an active volcanic ring, often erupting with little warning. That was one of the many reasons humans had shown no interest in their home, and the primary reason his people had settled there in the first place.

  The beach was a narrow strip of sand that lay between the rushing tide and the sheer side of a volcano that still ran hot with Mother Nature’s blood.

  Dax and Ramos walked silently around one steep wall of the mountain until they reached a large cave formed from an old lava tube that had ceased to flow.

  “Why would anyone want to leave this?” Ramos commented, as he entered the steamy path into the volcano, making a show of breathing in the heavy air and blowing out smoke rings.

  Their home was perfect, no question about it. Food aplenty. Glittering treasures piled high in their chambers. A tropical paradise that offered beauty as well as Mother Nature’s warm heart. Everything Dax could ever want. He didn’t want to leave forever, but curiosity about the other creatures inhabiting the world they shared had him champing at the bit to learn more. “You act as if I wouldn’t come back. I love it here. This is my home. I just need to see for myself what it’s like out there.”

  The tube forked, and Dax took the left channel, toward sunlight and the sounds of others cheering. “We’d better hurry. It looks like we’re already late to the party.”

  ***

  “Let the hatching day celebration begin,” Dax shouted, as he entered into the temple cove.

  Surrounded by steep rock walls, with a lagoon fed by underground springs, it was completely cut off from the outside. Drakes of all ages had gathered, a rainbow of colors from the deepest yellows to the brightest reds. His people were truly the most beautiful and majestic of all dragonkind.

  On the longest day of the year, the entire colony came together to celebrate the hatching. This year held special importance: in a nest in the center of three large fires sat three eggs. The dragons celebrated every year as a hatching day for all their people, but eggs had not been laid in nearly half a century.

  The colony gathered around the nest, congratulating the mother dragons who stood by, keeping close watch on their prize.

  The eggs wouldn’t hatch for many years to come, but seeing them gave the colony hope for the next generation.

  Dax joined the queue to pay his respects to
the new mothers, not really looking at who they were. It wasn’t until he saw Ramos nuzzling the crimson beauty ahead of him that he realized who she was.

  “Ramos, you didn’t tell me.” Dax’s eyes lit with excitement. “You and Charra? Why didn’t you say something?” He stepped forward and bowed his head to Ramos’s wife. Red as the hottest flame, with a pair of slender horns crowning her head, she was the most gorgeous of creatures, especially so with the added glow of motherhood settling on her. She and Ramos were truly lucky, and Dax couldn’t have been prouder of them.

  Ramos chuckled. “You were getting all burned up over the airforce-one, I had no time to say anything. She just laid it this morning.”

  “Congratulations, you two.” Dax butted heads with Ramos. “Now I see why you won’t be my wing man.”

  “It’s time you settled down with someone too,” Charra said sternly. Twenty years younger, than he or Ramos, hers was an old soul, one to be listened to. “You’re not getting any younger.”

  “I’ve got time on my side. I’m only a century.” Dax winked. “Besides, who’d have me? Ramos here already stole the best girl in the colony.”

  Charra’s cheeks glowed orange. “You’ll meet your match soon enough. How about the little fireball checking you out by the water?”

  Dax glanced sideways, spotting a slender drake with orange and purple shimmering scales staring back at him. She winked as their eyes met and turned, letting her wings fan out as she walked away. She let her tail snake on the ground behind her, leaving a trail to follow. Her body language couldn’t have been clearer, practically demanding he join her, but his heart had not yet melted for the fairer sex. Adventure alone held him captive; his interest in what lay beyond needed to be sated first. “Maybe when I return,” he mumbled to himself, as he turned back to face his friends.

  An elder dragon let loose a mighty roar as he entered the cove, his scales charred from centuries of an inner fire burning within. He shook the ground with each step, drawing attention and reverence from the assembled crowd. “It is on this day that we celebrate another year of life among our people. Our proud race has lived for centuries here, and though time passes in the blink of an eye, we must pause and pay it respect, acknowledging the gifts it bestows upon us. This year, as I understand it, we have some marking their first century. Please step forward.”

  Dax and Ramos joined the elder in front of the crowd.

  “Hard to believe these two youths have grown so quickly. I remember when young Dax here took his first flight.”

  The crowd cheered.

  “But Ramos is master of the wing. You, my boy, have done us proud.” The elder’s words earned a chorus of roars. “As have you, Dax, protector of our peace.”

  His face burned red with embarrassment being the center of attention, but Dax owned it, lifting his face to the sky, and blew out a pillar of fire for all to see.

  His display earned a round of stomping feet and more cheers.

  Days like this were few and well worth attending. The feeling of pride within the community radiated through him.

  “And as is our tradition, when one has come of age, you are granted the opportunity to learn what else resides beyond our borders, to understand beyond the window of human Teevee what savages are out there. This will help bring you clarity of reason and understanding why our people must remain apart from that world.”

  As the Elder spoke, Dax became even more excited, but not Ramos. Smoke rose from his nostrils. His chest glowed red, as if he were ready to explode from the fire he was holding at bay.

  “Are you two ready, my boys?” the Elder asked.

  Ramos answered first. “I would like to respectfully decline my chance to visit the outer lands and people. I have a wife, an egg, and my colony to protect. I know from my time in the Air Guard what’s out there, and I need not see any more of it.”

  This earned approving cheers. Dax had not expected his words to have such an effect on them. It seemed as though the response his brother had given was exactly what the gathered drakes wanted to hear. But that was impossible. Had none of them dreamed of seeing beyond the horizon? Had none of them questioned the truth of what they had been taught? Seeing was believing; Dax understood the teachings of his Elders, but he needed to experience them.

  A quick glance at his brother confirmed his resolve. After Ramos had spoken his well-received words, his temper had cooled and a smile stretched across his scaly face.

  Once the crowd had calmed, the Elder turned to Dax. “You, son, what will you do with your opportunity?”

  Dax thought for a moment, trying to come up with words that would match the maturity of Ramos’s response yet say the opposite.

  “I will accept my opportunity as it is offered, as a learning experience, so that I might truly understand the people we are protecting ourselves from.”

  When the crowd cheered equally as loud for his response, Dax blew out a thick ring of smoke with relief.

  “So be it. Tomorrow when the sun rises, Dax Hyland, you may go, with our blessing, and visit the human realms. May your experience impart the knowledge and understanding you seek. And may you return to our colony with pride that you are Dragonkin, set above and apart from the savages out there.”

  The Elder’s words earned the loudest of all cheers from the crowd. Dax looked to Ramos, tilting his head sideways, and whispered, “You sure I can’t convince you to join me?”

  Ramos shook his head. “No way in hell am I going near a human.”

  ***

  The sun peeked over the watery horizon. After a sleepless night, Dax went down to the beach waiting to greet the first rays of a new day that would bring with it adventure. He stretched his long wings, testing his muscles in preparation for flight. An island chain to the east, only half a day’s flight, would take him face to face with the humans he’d been so curious about.

  Frantic with anticipation, his heart raced within the cage of his chest as if trying to escape. Dax felt he might burst before he’d have a chance to take to the sky. This was finally happening. All those years of dreaming would now become reality. Were humans as tall as he in his other form? What would he say to them when he finally came face to face with one?

  His head buzzing with questions, Dax failed to hear the flap of Ramos’ wings as he came in for a landing.

  The crafty drake nearly made him spit fire when he snuck up and roared, “Ready for the big day?”

  Choking down his own flames, Dax coughed up rings of smoke as he turned to his friend. “Change your mind?”

  Ramos landed softly in the sand. “Not on your life. I’m just here to see you off and make sure you know the ground rules.”

  “I know. No revealing our true nature to the humans. Don’t get caught flying on the Teevee. Don’t burn whole cities to the ground.” Dax blew out a little ring of smoke for effect.

  Ramos hadn’t gotten the joke, it seemed, grumbling as he folded his massive wings against his back. “Can you be serious for a few moments in your life?”

  “Sure, but why waste all my seriousness now?”

  “Because I’m worried for you.” Ramos whipped his tail forward and dropped a satchel on the sand. “Human money from the treasury and some clothes. Please don’t allow yourself to be seen. Don’t fly near airforce-ones. And come home safe.”

  “I appreciate the worry, but I’d much rather have my wingman.”

  “I’m not going.”

  “I know. I’ll be sure to have fun for both of us.”

  “Just don’t end up on the Teevee box. If the Elders catch you making trouble…”

  “Have a little more faith in me than that.” It saddened him that Ramos thought so lowly of him. Curiosity was one thing; he’d devour as much knowledge as he could while with the humans. But only the horrible and most deplorable events were broadcast on the Teevee. Troublemaker though he might be at times, Dax was no criminal.

  “You know what I mean,” Ramos said.

  “Can
I go now?” Injured as his pride was, he would not let his friend’s remark ruin the day. Dax grasped the satchel in his front claw and beat his wings hard, lifting slowly into the sky.

  The sour edge to his mood faded as he flew over the other two islands in their territory. A flock of wyverns were doing maneuvers below him, zooming so fast against the water’s edge it looked as if they were dancing on the waves. They ventured further out than his colony ever would in search for treasures and food. Smaller in stature than the Drakes, they had the maneuverability to help them escape from sight much more quickly, and their lack of internal fire meant they could dive down into the water for short periods of time.

  Dax caught sight of a large floating beast out in the distance. At first he wondered if a Hydra had surfaced, but he’d already flown well beyond their hunting grounds. No, this beast was not living. Another human creation, like the airforce-one, it was large and built out of metal, but unlike the flying contraptions, this was meant to ride on top of the water. Humans had a metal beast for all occasions, it seemed. He wondered what treasure it might carry within its huge belly. Tempted to take a closer look, Dax remembered his friend’s advice and the tone of his warning.

  Ramos was right – excitement aside, he did need to take this trip seriously, and he dove down, cruising low like the wyverns along the water’s edge, and made use of his natural color as camouflage.

  ***

  The journey took Dax farther than he’d ever been before, and his wings ached from hours of flying without rest. With nothing but water and clouds as far as the eye could see, a minor – but very real – fear crept into the back of his mind. Had he gone off course? Even the metal beast he’d seen earlier had faded into the nothingness of the murky horizon. Worry spread to his limbs, amplifying the ache he felt each time he beat his wings to lift and catch the current again.

  The sun had long since passed him over, warming his back with its powerful light, the only confirmation Dax had that he was still heading in the right direction.