by Karine Green
"Arlen is?" Sarnia said holding up a paw. "No, and I don't care. He's a two-timing idiot."
Mack looked at Shway and Wren swimming together. "Obviously. What can you tell us about him, other than that he seems particularly fertile?"
Sarnia explained everything that had happened at the Mad Dragon King's palace, the escape, and then in South Dragons Ridge before she ran away to her homeland. Now LeVa and Terra understood why she had gone into hiding. Shway would stand out like a bright light at night, no Stone Dragon had wings. She would have been found and taken to the Mad Dragon King.
LeVa walked over to Mack and rubbed against him. "So male Elementals aren't as dead set on one mate as it would seem."
Dunia smiled, shaking her head.
Mack noticed Méi's face and jumped away from LeVa again, to publicly display his loyalty to Méi. "I need the mother of my pups, and only her."
LeVa shrugged. "Too bad."
Misty brought the scrolls over. "Perhaps we should let them in about the missing parts of history, and the magnitude of the Mad King's role in it?"
"Yes," Mack said, taking the scrolls from Misty and whispering, “Thanks,” in her ear.
After a couple hours of catching the Stone Dragons up, and watching the little ones play, they bedded down for the night. Mack trampled a bed for Méi who seemed utterly-overly smitten with it. He trampled his own bed next to her and lay down, resting his head on her front paw.
Dunia trampled her own bed, next to Méi, and not Mack. The last thing she needed was a misunderstanding with the dragon who would most likely be the future queen.
Training the dragon Trainer
In the morning, Misty and Suki seem confused. They couldn't find their dragons anywhere.
Dunia had an idea of what they were doing. She and the Stone Dragon sisters sat and watched the pups swimming and playing in the pond.
Ten minutes later, everyone was getting nervous when Mack and Méi returned.
"The village isn't that far, just over that really wide and tall ridge. We can..." Mack said.
"Where have you been?” Misty asked angrily. “You have not done recon without me before. Do you have any idea how exposed you were?"
Suki nodded in agreement, hardening her expression.
Dunia smiled. It's a good thing she is the King's rider. I doubt anyone else could get away with talking to him like that. She shifted to get up.
Both Mack and Méi smiled shyly. "I just needed to be alone with Méi." His cheeks turned a deep blue.
Misty’s face turned red. "Oh."
Mack smiled, slightly wagging his tail. "Nothing happened; I just wanted to check on my own eggs without having everyone looking over my wings. They are fine. Anyway, we can fly the riders there, and come back here for Terra, LeVa, and Sarnia, if she wants to come."
Sarnia nodded. "Since poor Rini is gone, I should help Arlen with the pups. Besides, you are correct, she needs her father to learn how to be a Water Dragon. He can teach her things I cannot. I was so concerned with keeping her from Arlen I didn't consider that I shouldn't be keeping Shway from her father."
Dunia nodded, but didn’t say anything.
She sighed, and scratched once at the ground, concentrating on her paw as it pulled up the dirt. "I still love Arlen. I am just hot angry with him about what happened the night we escaped. Why didn't he refuse me and say he was with Rini?" She smiled at Shway. "No, I can't be sorry for that. Shway is the best pup a mother could want. I wouldn't trade anything for her, but I could not return to our home village without endangering both our lives. She needs her father, not her mother's ire at her father."
"Now that sounds like a new beginning on many different levels." Dunia smiled and trotted over. It was good to hear talk of reconciliation instead of more divisive drivel.
Mack bent down for Misty to pack the saddle. "Are we ready?"
"Ready," Méi said, smiling, "I am glad Suki is a light packer; it only took her seconds to get ready."
Misty and Suki nodded but wore very different expressions on their faces. “I have my scrolls and pens,” Misty defended herself.
"I don't have a rider. I am all ready-ready," Dunia said, dancing her rear legs around while holding her front legs straight.
"We'll be back in about an hour," Mack said, smiling at Dunia. “You’ll have to teach me that. I am not that good of a dancer, yet.”
"You're not kidding. You mean...Elementals really would fly Common Dragons?" LeVa asked.
"Yes, we will fly you. We are not the Elementals of old. The Mad King didn't spread his madness to us," Mack said, as Misty finished packing the saddle. She mounted the saddle with Shway smiling as she clung to Mack's bridle. "We'll be back."
"Fly! Fly! Fly! I get to fly!" Shway squealed. "Really high."
Sarnia looked worried, "Hang on baby."
Shway nodded, still smiling, and trying to flap her little wings. "Go!"
"We have to get your mom settled with Dunia, and we will be off," Mack said, smiling, but Dunia noticed his eyes trained toward a conversation LeVa and Terra were having.
LeVa smiled. "An Elemental Dragon is always the Dragon King or Queen. Do you think this is really him?"
Terra nodded. "And so far, I love Mack in this role. He is so open to working with and understanding other dragons and the humans too." She smiled. "He's...a breath of fresh air. No pun intended, given that he's an Air Dragon."
Dunia did not understand how impressed the Elementals also were with them. However, Mack seemed unaware of his position of Royalty, or willfully denying it. She couldn't tell for sure what his issue was.
Dunia smiled. "Well, just remember, he has a fire breathing mate who is about to hatch his pups." Her smile grew wider, as both sisters sighed loudly. "Come on, Sarnia. We need you and Méi so you two can guard the pups. Let's get this figured out and get onto South Dragons Ridge."
"I know how. Arlen flew me," she said, smiling a wide toothy grin while climbing on Dunia's back.
"We will be back." She took off, bringing up the rear.
~~~
About an hour later the Elemental dragons returned with Shway still clinging to Mack's bridle. Sarnia couldn't get her to let go.
Dunia was wearing a spare saddle that Suki had put on for her to avoid any complications. One of the stable boys had tried to lend Dunia a saddle and had nearly gotten himself bitten. She was still ashamed of herself for snapping at him like that.
"You still have your bridles and saddles," LeVa said eyeing them, with her brow raised. “There is no way Stone Dragons will fit in saddles.”
Mack nodded. "Yes, I started to take mine off, but their dragon trainer said it was easier to have you lay across them and use the saddle as a base to dig your claws into. Wrap your tail and right leg around the saddle’s horn. That should secure you in for as far as we are going. It's only a twenty-minute flight, as opposed to a three-day walk for you."
"Yes! I can't wait to meet an official dragon trainer!" Terra said, climbing on Mack's back.
Dunia felt LeVa dig into the saddle horn and bridle as told.
"I'm ready, Great Dragon," LeVa said, with a slightly higher pitch to her voice.
"Dunia, you may call me Dunia."
"Yes, Great Dunia. Let's go."
Dunia had to laugh.
~~~
Twenty amazing, yet terrifying minutes later, they arrived in South Dragons Ridge.
Mack touched down in the private training grounds of the Air Dragon's barn.
Shway was still whooping and hollering about the feeling of flight. Her wings were spread wide. “Wwwwhhhhooo.” She flapped, concentrating like they were still flying.
Mack smiled back at her. He had tried to leave her with Sarnia, but she wouldn't stay. She cried...loud. As a happy consequence, the village now thought Shway was Mack's pup. That would help her hide in plain sight without the villagers badgering Sarnia about Arlen.
"Did you see me fly like a big dragon?" She yelled from Mack�
�s horns as she climbed up his neck to hang off them.
"Yes, we did. You are off to a good start," Mack said, offering a quick, but polite head-butt of approval to Shway, as Terra shakily peeled her claws out of the saddle. Misty would be upset about that, hopefully, they had a good dragon gear shop here.
This village was much bigger than Blue Valley and had the definite feeling of a small city. A group of knights rode by on their Stone Dragons, looking over the fence that marked off the Air Dragon training yard. They nodded respectfully to the Elementals but ignored the wild dragons. Mack even heard whispers about them fearing the influence of the wild ones on their highly trained beasts. Their Stone Dragons looked forward, almost afraid to turn their heads to greet him.
Mack sighed, leaning into Terra and LeVa to lead them into the main barn. "We intend to keep Wren's existence from them. Once they are in a position to see what is real - and they will, they will understand how woefully undereducated they are when it comes to dragons." He continued to lead them into the barn, which the villagers had offered him without a second thought. Méi was already upstairs making the rooms ready for everyone.
Sarnia came down the stairs, smiling. “Welcome to your South Dragons Ridge barn.”
Villagers lined the training fence, staring at Shway, smiling, and whispering about the baby. Mack felt terribly vulnerable but Shway was too big to hide in her mother's pouch and truly be hidden.
They would have to guard her 24/7. Méi could help, especially since Wren, and her own eggs would be at stake. Suddenly; traveling here didn't seem like a very good idea. He should have insisted Méi stay home, and then flew Wren's family to Blue Valley, or just went to find Arlen on his own. Misty and Dunia were more than capable of helping him.
LeVa smirked as she walked next to Dunia. "Undereducated is an understatement."
"Focus," Dunia said, patiently. "We need to find Arlen, and unseat the Mad Dragon King. Then we can focus on training the knights in regard to what a true dragon/rider relationship is. For now, just remember that words have power because of the definition people assign to them. Once this is over the knights can be taught a new vocabulary. With knights in the role of hero, the population will easily adopt the new understanding because they will want to be like their heroes. They want to be successful, all of them, they just don't know how to do it without pushing someone else down."
"Come on baby," Sarnia said, to Shway, who was still perched on Mack's saddle with her wings out as if she were still flying.
Shway shook her head sliding down his neck and digging her claws into the saddle strapping. She would have to be peeled off the saddle.
Mack smiled. "It's alright, she isn't bothering me." He leaned in. "Just let them think daddy-dragon is in charge. They will leave her alone if they think an over protective father dragon will blow the city to smithereens with a hurricane force wind. They don't need to know you're her mother. That will lead them to discover Arlen is the father, which will cause its own complications as some renegade tries to claim a hybrid prize for the Mad King."
Sarnia nodded.
"I have an idea." Mack smiled. "I think, we may not have to wait long for what Dunia is talking about. And for the record, deliberately undereducating the public is how the Mad Dragon King took over. We will begin educating ASAP. Terra, LeVa, I need your indulgence for a few minutes. If you are willing, we can begin repairing some of the Mad King’s damage right now. But, only if you can overcome your feelings about working with humans."
"Of course we will help you. How did this misinformation even happen?" LeVa curtsied and nodded.
"Because no one knew he was full of crap. No one sought out their own answers, or to even check if he was full of crap." Dunia said, shaking her head.
Mack smiled. "As long as we are all a united front, the humans will follow." He rubbed his cheek on Shway’s forehead, "I need you to go with your mother, then help Méi with your brother. Can you do that? You aren't really going to make your mother peel you off the saddle are you?"
Shway giggled. “No.” She jumped off Mack's back and ran over to sit at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for Sarnia who was still hanging out with the Stone sisters and Dunia.
"Where's Misty?"
"Here. Hey!" she said, running her hands over the claw marks in her saddle.
"Sorry," LeVa said, with her head hanging.
Mack heard Misty sigh. "I think I can fix it." She climbed on, and he could feel her fiddling with the saddle, which still felt tight and comfortably fitted to him.
Again, Terra and LeVa looked impressed with Mack as they ogled the muscles in his hindquarters. He wished they would stop looking at him like that. He wasn't playboy Arlen, he was Mack, Méi's husband, and not interested in a dragon harem.
"You are much different from Arlen," Sarnia said, smiling.
"Of course, all beings are different, with different experiences that make up their personality," he said, nodding politely to a group of humans who opened the barn doors for them. "Besides, I wasn't assaulted, and instantly thrown into a breeding prison the second I arrived. Please remember, he suffered the same as you, without the benefit of knowing what was happening. He had been hidden in the other realm and then blessed with the so-called Forgottenness Blessing. Please, let us not do to ourselves what the humans have done."
Sarnia frowned guiltily.
Mack pressed his lips together. "Before you feel too bad for him; two timing lovers isn't acceptable in the other realm he grew up in either. It is just something for you to bear in mind as you consider your future options with him. I mean - we should all strive to keep things in perspective."
"I wasn't feeling bad about him. I was just realizing I was judging all Elemental Dragons using the same Knight-Standard I have been working to condemn." She nodded toward the knights in the courtyard standing guard. "As to Arlen, I studied Water Dragons, and aside from being healers. They are very emotional, and he is obviously not handling the situation well. I should have stayed a few more days that first week, to hear his whole story. If I had stayed, Shway wouldn't have spent the first six months of her life in the wild."
Mack frowned. "Don't do that, you could have been lost like Rini. You did what you had to, to keep your precious little pup safe and alive. We are blessed you have been able to train her to swim like that, despite your aversion to the water."
"I am precious," Shway said, running over and climbing up to hang onto his horns, again.
"Indeed," Mack said, smiling.
Sarnia smiled up at Shway."I was trained to teach the village young in burrowing. I just adapted the teaching techniques to meet her needs."
A man was approaching, with several others following him.
Mack whispered, "Shway, can you go upstairs with your mother and help make sure the pups' room is ready, now."
Shway jumped onto Sarnia's back, and they headed up the stairs.
The man was dressed in a black outfit that reminded Mack of a ninja, without the hood and mask. "I see you made it safely. For the short time Arlen The Water Dragon was here, he taught us so much. Welcome, I am Luca." He spread his hands out in a welcoming gesture, with a slight bow.
"Thank you," Mack said, nodding. Suki had already used her scope to clear him and his staff as bright yellow. He sat down in front of the barn doors. "The Stone dragon sisters would be excellent candidates for rider training, but I wish to put a Blue Valley twist on it. It's the least I can do since the unfortunate incident with Dunia nearly eating your man. I want our relationship to be politically stable. It is of paramount importance to me."
Dunia held her breath, like she was trying not to huff. "Nobody is chaining me. Mack, you know I was raised African-American. It isn't happening." She flared her wings out, arched her back, and bore her long sharp fangs, growling. Anyone in their right mind would have run.
"Really, I think chaining is a bit harsh. Once you have considered all the aspects, you can certainly choose to refuse a rider. However, by no
w you know Méi, do you seriously think Suki has her chained?"
Suki shook her head no, vigorously.
Dunia huffed but didn't say anything.
Luca beamed as he clasped his hands under his chin, "We would be honored, Great Dragon. I heard that Blue Valley had vastly different training techniques, but the Dragon War started prior to me being able to travel there as an understudy to a licensed dragon trainer. Your gesture is more than enough to make up for an overzealous stable boy who should be punished, and not apologized to for approaching not only an Elemental Dragon like that but one of the Great Noble Dragon descendants. The boy will be retrained as to how to address dragon nobility." He bowed his head low to Dunia, who bowed her head in a grudging nod, her teeth still showing.
"Let me demonstrate the first principal. All dragons should take their own riders, not just Noble ones." Mack nodded back to him. "I need eight candidates who were washed out of the program. The reason they failed does not matter. I want them to meet Terra and LeVa, so they can choose which knight will be their rider."
Luca nodded in agreement but had a concerned look on his face. "The dragons will choose, what about the knights?"
"Don't choose a knight that doesn't want to be a dragon rider that will solve one of the main problems."
Luca smiled. "I will gather them right now. There will be some happy people." He bowed, and ran off, returning almost immediately with eight men and women who seemed a bit smaller than the other knights. "Here they are, eager as ever," he said, making a presenting motion over them.
"Excellent, Terra, LeVa give them an initial sniff. If there are any you don't like the scent of, let me know, and we'll send them away. There will be no reason to bite them, so please do not." Mack focused on the recruits, "A dragon's sense of smell is very sensitive. We mean no offense, but if your scent is causing confusion, then one of your dragon's biggest advantages is stifled. Meaning, they will not be able to track as well as they could. If they are hindered in tracking, they cannot effectively help you hunt, enforce the law, defend the village, or even wage war."