It was almost midnight by the time we were settled for the night. We had set up camp on the tiles and we leant against the walls in the dining room. Our dragons were wrapped tightly in a blanket and we sat on more stacks of the soft, woollen blankets we’d taken from upstairs. We had a stack of small cypress branches beside each of us and Morgan had reset the temperature of the house so we were no longer cold, and neither were our dragons. Baby dragons were kept warm under their mother’s wings out in the wild so, wrapped in their blankets, our dragon’s slept contentedly now as they lay in our laps. Now that they’d eaten, tiny puffs of smoke escaped from their snouts as they breathed, and Morgan had deactivated the smoke alarms on the lower house level. He’d turned on the extraction fans in the kitchen too, to help clear the dragon’s smoke as quickly as possible from the house.
Dominic and Seth’s dragon had thrown up the oak wood as I’d feared it would, and they’d had to clean up the soggy, acidic mess. Dominic had been furious with both Evangeline and myself, of course, and he’d claimed it was our fault. For once, I’d been grateful for Seth’s fascination with my family. He’d told Dominic to leave me alone just as Morgan had felt obliged to get involved.
It was quiet in the dining room now, and although it smelt strongly of smouldering cypress, it was peaceful. I looked at the sleeping dragon that lay in my lap and it was completely relaxed as it breathed evenly. All of a sudden, it didn’t look quite so ugly and I smiled suddenly, and looked at Morgan.
“Forget it. We’re never getting a pet,” he said quietly, and I smiled even wider at his serious expression. Evangeline was asleep with her dragon on her lap and her head had fallen against Caspian’s shoulder. He frowned to himself as he wrote furiously in his book of parchments and I could hear Dominic and Seth speaking together quietly from the other side of the table.
My shoulder was leaning against Morgan’s and I leant my head back against the wall. Morgan picked up his pendant from where it lay against his chest and he held it in his hand as he looked at the time. I glanced at his pendant too.
“It’s just after midnight,” I said quietly.
“I know. May you have many happy turns Livia,” Morgan said softly.
I didn’t know what to say for a moment. I hadn’t told anyone it was my birthday.
“How did you know?” I whispered, and Morgan smiled.
“After lights out last night, Seth decided to entertain us with some of the many fascinating facts he knows about the Royal Family of Aldiris,” he said softly. I smiled shyly.
“Thank you,” I said quietly, and Morgan smiled again and glanced over at Caspian.
“Did you know Caz writes in that book of his until the small hours of the morning? I don’t think he needs much sleep,” whispered Morgan, and I glanced over at Caspian too.
“He’s in his own world,” I said, and we watched Caspian as he continued to write frantically in his book, oblivious to our conversation. Morgan looked at me before glancing quickly at Caspian again, and when he looked back at me again, he leant slowly towards me. I looked into his eyes as my heart beat faster all of a sudden…….and….……the ear splitting screech of our dragon as it woke suddenly was enough to rouse Evangeline from her sleep.
Morgan let out his breath and looked at the dragon with impatience. It screeched again and Evangeline groaned and swore quietly before she curled up and covered her ears with her hands. Morgan swore too as he fed our squalling dragon a piece of cypress branch and it moved about on my lap as its yellow teeth splintered the wood. I frowned as I watched it break up the small branch in its powerful little jaws. I wasn’t as happy with it as I had been a few moments ago.
It was almost rise one before our dragon settled down to sleep again. Dominic and Seth’s dragon had just finished screeching and I leant my head against Morgan’s shoulder wearily.
“I have to sleep,” I groaned, and Morgan put his arm around me as I closed my eyes……..
CHAPTER 15:
We were woken many times during the night and not only by our own dragons. The dragons demanded food every one or two hours and they would only sleep again when they’d crunched through at least two small branches. Sometime in the early hours of the morning, I gained new respect for mother herd dragons. I couldn’t imagine having more than one of these babies to feed………
In the morning, I woke slowly when Evangeline’s dragon screeched and I opened my eyes to daylight only to find myself laying against Morgan’s chest with my arm laying heavily across his waist. Our dragon slept on his lap too, and Morgan’s arm was still around me. I could feel the even rise and fall of his chest and I moved quickly as Morgan stirred too. I sat up and put my hands to my hair immediately as I self-consciously tried to run my fingers through its tangles lengths.
“Hey,” said Morgan softly in Synthetic Era language. I smiled.
“Hey,” I said, and he smiled too.
“Your right. We should never get a pet,” I said, and Morgan looked at the dragon asleep on his lap.
“I don’t know. Maybe, I was wrong. He’s not that bad when he’s asleep,” said Morgan slowly, and I looked at him in surprise.
It was at that moment that Zurina marched into the room. She walked straight over to Morgan and put her hands on her hips as she stood over the two of us. I looked up at her guiltily.
“It seems I have to add a new rule to those I’ve already outlined. It has somehow escaped your attention that it is I who runs these challenges, not you. This is my house and, as such, I’m the only person permitted to touch the panel that controls it. Don’t touch it again. I don’t expect to have to repeat myself,” she said sharply, as she glared at Morgan. He looked up at her innocently but she wasn’t expecting a reply. She turned around and addressed all of us then. Evangeline had woken now too and she stretched out her legs awkwardly.
“The six of you are excused from this morning’s run,” Zurina announced briskly, before she strode from the room.
“I don’t know why she decided to accuse me of changing her house controls,” muttered Morgan, as our dragon stirred too.
“Because it was you,” I said dryly, “And, it wasn’t difficult for Zurina to guess that, thanks to the way you answered her Titanic question,” I added. I passed Morgan a branch for our dragon and he managed to shove it into our dragon’s mouth just before it could get out a screech. Unfortunately, Caspian’s dragon had finished its branch and he didn’t manage to feed it another one quickly enough. Evangeline and I had to cover our ears as their dragon screeched its outrage at Caspian.
At least I didn’t have to go for a run on my birthday. Today, I was eighteen turns of a marker and I smoothed my hand across our dragon’s hairy little head as he munched contentedly on his cypress twigs. My hand brushed the course hair on his head apart and I caught a glimpse of his beautiful gold and silver scales. Our baby turned his soulful black eyes towards me then and he puffed his first smoke of the day as he began to digest his breakfast. I smiled at him fondly and glanced at Morgan who smiled at him too.
Aldirites didn’t celebrate birthdays in the same way as the people of +2013. We didn’t have parties, or receive unnecessary gifts just for marking another turn, but anyone who was close to you was expected to wish you many more happy turns and give you special consideration on the day of your birth. When Morgan had wished me many happy turns during the night, he’d basically been saying, in Aldirite terms, that he cared about me deeply and wanted only the best for my future. Normally, only close family members, lovers, or very close friends wished each other many happy turns and I’d been more than touched by Morgan’s wish for me.
All three of the dragons slept through the morning meal which was nice of them. Morgan was starving, as he was before every meal, and he made us all eat in complete silence so we didn’t wake them up. We were all more than happy to oblige. Erin and Imogen weren’t yet aware that they were going to fail the challenge, and they ate silently for us too.
After we’d eaten
, and fed our squalling dragons yet again, it was finally time to return them to their nests and Zurina appeared to escort us out to the back courtyard marker.
“The good news is, we have two Aldirite markers in that particular dragon territory and, as dragon hatchlings can find their mothers easily by themselves, you may drop your hatchlings at the rising marker and return home straight away. You’ll need some sleep and I suggest you get some before the midday meal. After the meal, I’ll be outlining the next two challenges and you will all need to meet me in the sitting room at set one,” said Zurina briskly. “Erin and Imogen, you will remain here. It will be impossible for you to return your dragon egg to its nest and you’ll have to repeat this challenge at a later date. Marko will travel with you in half a clock turn and you can show him the nest from which you took your egg. That way, he can return it with the use of a fire shield. I suggest you do some research about dragons before you repeat this challenge because it may not be exactly the same the second time around,” she said, and Erin and Imogen frowned at one another.
“The rest of you, bring your hatchlings and follow me,” said Zurina briskly, and we followed her out to the back courtyard before she gave us the rising marker setting for the dragon’s territory.
We had to hold our dragon in our arms to travel. A small animal could travel with a person using the energy from their pendant. A small child could do the same thing in an emergency. Basically, anything you could hold in your arms could travel with you, but large cargo needed its own pendant. There were cargo pendants in Aldiris. They were slightly larger to harness more energy and these cargo pendants were taken to time segments by questers if they were needed to transport large animals, or large items, home.
Our dragon squirmed in my arms as the temperature dropped and I felt sorry for him as the pain tore at the inside of my bones. He was very young to be making his first drop. Morgan stood beside me with an arrow loaded into his bow and it didn’t surprise me to see Seth and Caspian with an arrow at the ready too, but when we arrived in the Ancient Era this time, there were no tigers, or any other animals, in sight. We stood on the edge of a clump of shredded cypress trees and I could tell we were somewhere to the west of the setting marker we’d travelled to the last time we’d been in this region. The smell of dragon smoke was very strong and our dragon screeched at me angrily for putting him through the pain he’d just endured.
“Sorry, young one,” I said, as I held him close for a moment and buried my face in his course, brown hair. Somewhere, beyond the clump of shredded trees, a mother herd dragon heard her baby’s voice for the first time and she bellowed as she called him back to her nest. Our dragon struggled frantically in my arms and I gave him to Morgan who put him down on the ground.
“Behave yourself,” he said to the little dragon, and he ruffled the course hair on its ugly little head. Our dragon didn’t take the time to say goodbye to us. He waddled away immediately in the direction of his mother’s voice and we watched him go as Dominic and Seth’s dragon waddled away too. I blinked a few too many times as I watched our dragon disappear into the trees and Morgan glanced at me before he put his arm around my shoulders.
“Don’t be sad. He’ll be fine. Look at it this way; his mother can feed him tonight,” he said quietly, and I tried to smile.
“That’s true,” I said, and I cheered up a little as Morgan picked up my pendant from where it lay against my jacket and set it to the rising Quest house marker for me before setting his own.
We were ready to go, but we waited for Evangeline, who was still saying goodbye to her screeching dragon. Its mother was bellowing to it insistently, but Evangeline just couldn’t seem to let it go, and eventually, Caspian had to pry it from her arms before it gave her a nasty bite. When Caspian put it on the ground, it waddled so fast in the direction of its mother that it fell over its own feet and had to get up and start again….twice. I looked at Morgan and he watched it too. Evangeline covered her mouth with her hands and I saw her wipe away a tear or two with her fingers.
“I think we should go,” Caspian said to her firmly, and she nodded tearfully and set her pendant for the Quest house before she let Caspian take her hand in his. We all stood together then in the middle of the marker so we could all go home and get some much needed sleep. It had been a very long night.
It wasn’t long after we left the Ancient Era that we entered our dorm rooms and Evangeline and I only took off our boots and jackets before we fell heavily on top of our beds. We didn’t care that we still smelt of cypress smoke or that we hadn’t even washed our faces and hands……..
Evangeline had to wake me for the midday meal and, by the way I felt as I woke, I think I could have slept all day. She shook me gently and, when I woke with a start, she smiled as I sat up slowly.
“I left you enough time to wash your face and fix your hair,” she said gently, as I picked up my pendant to look at the time.
“Thanks,” I said groggily. I wasn’t used to sleeping in the day.
“Oh, and Livia……may you have many more happy turns,” she said quietly and I smiled at Evangeline with surprise and thanked her again. She looked a little embarrassed. “I’ll see you downstairs,” she said quickly, and I watched her as she hurried from the room. I was beginning to suspect Evangeline and I were friends now, despite the fact that we didn’t like each other, and I smiled to myself as I went into the bathroom to comb and braid my smoke filled hair.
Morgan asked me if I’d slept when I sat down beside him at the meal table and I smiled as I nodded.
“Even Caz slept,” Morgan said, and he grinned at Caspian who shrugged and grinned too.
As it turned out, it was a good thing we had slept because, after the midday meal, we sat down in the sitting room to be informed by Zurina that our next challenge would begin in a couple of clock turns.
“You will be going to the Nomadic Era and I’ll give you your setting as you prepare to leave,” said Zurina as she paced around the room in her usual manner. She paused and surveyed us. “As you know, our people use zestonate for making our light cylinders and we blend it under heat and pressure, along with crystals, to make energy discs and light keys. Zestonate, although needed in only very small quantities, is very valuable, and it’s valuable because it’s only available in certain eras. All of you will find yourselves on zestonate gathering quests at some stage in the next few turns,” said Zurina, and she paused once again before continuing her walk around the room. “You are privileged today to be sent to gather the last batch of zestonate from a marker located at a zestonate mine. We’ve been using this mine for the last ten turns, but we know from Early Era recorded history that this particular mine will collapse at exactly set four today, when a few slight earth tremors will dislodge the mining tunnel supports. It will be the object of your quest today to overcome the zestonate merchants who run the mine and gather one bag of zestonate each. You’ll find the bags already stacked outside the mine ready for transport. A team of questers from Aldiris will arrive tomorrow to transport the rest of the bags back home so don’t try to bring home more than your one bag. You will leave together at half a clock turn past set three. That way, you’ll have enough time to overcome the merchants before the collapse of the mine. Weapons will be swords and I want you to return together at five minutes after set four because, before you leave, I want you all to see that the mine does indeed collapse as history recorded. This will be a team quest and, as such, you will be graded as a team rather than as partners. In other words, if one of you fails, you all fail, so I suggest you work together,” said Zurina sternly, and she folded her arms as she gazed at our faces. “There will be another challenge tomorrow afternoon. It will be a partner graded quest and I intend to give you the details of that quest now too. Tomorrow’s quest will require you simply to tell me the object or landmark which lies at a particular bearing,” she continued. “Each of you will travel with your partner to a different marker and you’ll have two clock turns to find you
r way to your bearing and return to your marker again. You will leave here at set two and I expect to see you all again at set four, give or take a few minutes to allow for your entries. May your quests be short and your rewards ever long,” finished Zurina briskly, and she removed four small parchments from her jacket pocket and handed them to Dominic, Caspian, Erin and Morgan. Our marker for tomorrow’s challenge, and the bearing we were to locate there, were written on the parchments and Morgan put ours into his jacket pocket.
Morgan and I went next door to take sword practice when Zurina left us. We had a couple of clock turns only before our next quest and we decided it wouldn’t hurt to warm up before we had to challenge zestonate merchants. We knew from our study of history that zestonate merchants from the Early Era were the equivalent of mercenaries. They were tough, unemotional, and without conscience. They were also some of the meanest fighters we were likely to encounter and our last weapons class had been the day before we left +2013.
We practiced at one end of the practice room and I showed Morgan some of my Samurai secrets.
“I should have known you didn’t make those moves up by yourself,” he muttered to himself, and I looked at him innocently. I’d never said that I had.
We challenged Erin, Evangeline and Seth when they joined us in the practice room too and Morgan practiced the moves I’d shown him with impressive accuracy.
Seth was a studied swordsman. His moves were textbook. Erin was methodical and she attacked with a good deal more force than I could, but with a lot less speed. Evangeline was excellent with a sword and, when she’d lived next door to me in +2013, she and Jonah had talked swordplay for hours. She was light on her feet and deadly in her accuracy, and she evaluated your moves before you could make them. Despite her hand, which was still healing, Morgan and I both lost to her, and she refused to fight Erin and Seth because, according to her, neither of them were in her league.
TRAVELLER (Book 1 in the Brass Pendant Trilogy) Page 23