by Karine Green
Zeke smiled and nodded. "May I?" He pointed up to the saddle.
"You are my rider, you don't ask. You just say, 'I am saddling up.'"
"I am saddling up," he said, climbing and locking into the saddle, and then locking his cane under his bow.
They made their way slowly back to the barn. Mack walked back into the living room, closing the door behind him with his tail after he let Dunia and Zeke through.
Wren was chasing and biting a bone from the breakfast deer. He tossed a little bit of bone up in the air, hissing at it as it landed next to him.
Mack smiled. "You know, in some circles it is rude to play with your food?"
He yelped, and sat down, stretching and scratching at his tiny new wings as they grew out of the little buds on his back. The horns were another matter. He was constantly butting things in the barn to scratch at them. All three riders had expressed frustration at him running from a far and smashing into their armor, denting it with his new little horns. His stripes were also coming in clearer, they were black, and his overall color was a very dark navy blue with a silver underbelly. His pearl-colored obsidian claws stood out in stark contrast. He scratched at the barn wall, earning the frustration of the barn keepers, who blamed Shway. He also liked to ride on Mack's neck with his little wings stretched out as they flew. It wouldn't be long before he tried to fly on his own.
Dunia smiled, as she watched Mack, who was watching Wren play. "I think you are excited to have your own little pups on the way."
Mack smiled and nodded, "Méi, Sarnia! We're back."
"Right here," they both said from the training closet. They came out with Shway riding on her mother's back, wings spread out.
Shway looked almost exactly like Wren. However, her personality was calm like her mother's. Dunia was proud of her progress. She was flying low, without adult help. For higher altitudes, she flew with Dunia or Méi.
When the pups were in their private yard Sarnia circled the grounds on foot, while Méi and Suki circled low overhead. Luca's patrols usually kept everyone away from Mack's private training yard, because Méi and Suki had already demonstrated they would do anything to protect the dragon pups. The hillside still bore the scorch marks from where Méi had driven off a curious villager four days ago.
Dunia and Zeke were moving as a cohesive unit. He was also walking using only a cane with the rider braces on. He wore the braces all the time, only taking them off at night. Mack had suggested to the blacksmith he fit braces for the other six villagers with one leg missing. The results were an even bigger increase in Mack's popularity. The blacksmith was happy with the additional business. Now, he couldn't get the villagers to stop greeting him as Your Majesty or My Majesty. He seemed annoyed with this title.
It is time for me and Méi to put more pressure on him to accept it.
Dunia walked over to her dragon desk, and pulled out a scroll to record some things before she forgot them.
Luca had formed a new elite unit called the Stone Knights. Since the formation of this unit, it was all the rage amongst the knights to be chosen by their dragons. The results were phenomenal. The new unit was so impressive that the village jeweler engraved the face of the knights' Stone Dragons onto the shoulders of their armor. Many knights then went directly to the tattoo artist and had their dragons tattooed on their shoulders. Mack and Dunia were both pleased with this shift in thinking. This formidable unit would help protect the village while they were gone. Not out of loyalty to him, but out of loyalty to their newly unified home. It was exactly the thing Mack liked; home first, then kingdom. One would take care of the other.
Dunia finished recording, and then brought Mack the scrolls the White Witch had given him. "You might not find the genealogy as boring as you thought it might have been last week?"
He nodded. "Thanks." He took the scrolls from her and unrolled one, before allowing Wren to distract him from reading further.
"Fwy," Wren squealed, to fly. He wagged his tail so hard that he spun in a little circle.
"Yes, we should take an evening flight." Mack got up and helped Wren onto his back where he dug his claws into the saddle, before the two took off, flying low in the backyard. He glided effortlessly about two feet off the ground.
Dunia had to smile at Wren. He looked so serious about flying he frowned in his concentration. His new little wings stretched out as far as he could reach with them. He was lucky, a Water Dragon based in Earth and Fire was being taught how to ride the wind currents by an Air Dragon.
She pulled the scroll over. There has to be a reason the White Witch gave him these. It wasn't to take up space in the saddle bags.
~~~
Mack held a dragon meeting in the main barn the next morning. Terra and LeVa and their riders would stay and help further the new training program using Dunia's training scrolls. They would also move into Mack's barn and make sure his interests were attended to here. Dunia, Méi, and Mack would go find Arlen. Wren and Shway would go with the Elementals and learn more advanced flying techniques. Mack also suspected they would need the pups to charm Arlen out of his depression long enough to reconsider his options. He would need to see he had a reason to come back with them.
"We can provide ground support in your search. We should not separate ourselves from the pups," Terra objected.
LeVa nodded. "Yes, Stone Dragons can run at up to sixty miles per hour for very long periods. We can keep up."
Mack shook his head. "The Sea Village scouts reported that Arlen flew out over the Endless Sea. We cannot fly everyone. We need you to stay here and help secure the village, along with your new home here. It will most likely be a true sister village to yours once everything settles down. Your work here will pave the way for peace to be...well, peaceful. South Dragons Ridge is an important military asset, and it must be protected."
Tears welled in LeVa's eyes. "We will miss you."
He smiled at her. He was happy she now seemed resigned to the fact he was loyal to Méi, and there would be no convincing him to have pups with others.
Riders came in carrying small woven cargo baskets specially designed to attach to the rear of the saddles, but not interfere with the dragons' wings.
Zeke was still beaming. All those years acting as an accounting assistant had paid off. He knew where everything in the village was, even things able-bodied people had long forgotten about. "Found some.” He held up the baskets. “We can put the winter gear in here, and fit additional supplies for the cold of the Endless Sea."
LeVa started crying. Terra leaned hard into her sister. "We have to secure the Great Dragon King's interests here. We can do this. It is a step toward doing what we promised to do when the Dark Secul...The Mad King took Rini from us. I miss her so much. We can continue what she was building here; a united front with the humans."
Terra nodded. "I am going to miss them."
Sarnia had not said a word, she just listened to everything in the meeting.
Mack sighed. "Why is everyone calling me the Dragon King; and when did anyone say this was good-bye? We will be back, hopefully with Arlen."
All the dragons and humans bowed to him. It was Méi who spoke. "Even the humans are bowing to you in that role." She rolled onto her back in submission. The other dragons followed, with all four paws in the air.
"King?" Mack said, confused. He felt Misty dismount. She knelt in front of him.
Terra took a deep breath, leaving all four paws in the air. "We beg the real Dragon King to remember the Stone Dragons as his friends when he restores Shestafa."
"I will remember the two of you as members of the court, but you cannot do anything for the court if you continue to lie on the floor in that position," he said, hoping he could clear up this king business later.
They got up and began the final preparations for the journey. Zeke was the most excited. He had never left the village, not even to visit outlying villages. He packed his basket with blankets, heavy coats, and camping gear while Dunia ate a g
oat the villagers brought for her. Shway was already in place, gripping the saddle and bridle neck brace while she finished a chicken leg that Sarnia had brought over for her.
Sarnia leaned up to head-butt Shway. "You obey Dunia. You can learn much from her. I'll be waiting for you here when you get back. Then you can show me how much you learned about flying."
Shway head-butted her mother and nodded with a full mouth.
Méi pulled Mack to the side. "I can't take Wren in my pouch."
"Why not?"
She opened her pouch to reveal two eggs, a little bit bigger than ostrich eggs. One was a deep very dark purple, the other was much lighter. "We have our own little ones to consider. Their shells still must harden. He could rip open the fragile shells accidentally. It should only take a day or two for them to fully harden."
"When did this happen? I thought we had more time."
"It has been three weeks." Méi shook her head. "Overnight, I have been breathing fire on them to keep them warm, and help their shells harden. I don't' remember ever hearing of a purple egg, not since the Lilac Princess."
He smiled and closed her pouch, "Don't let the heat out. We'll rig some space in the basket for him; perhaps a dragon shell blanket? You could heat it, and it would hold the heat for a long time."
She nodded, as Wren ran up her leg and sat on her neck spreading his wings out. "Up!" he squeaked out.
Mack put the dragon shell blanket in Méi's basket. "Meanwhile, he can ride there for now." He brushed his head against hers. "Let's get our riders in the air, really high."
Mei nodded smiling shyly. "When I first met you, I thought you were strange, now I could not imagine lying on a bed you have not trampled for me."
Mack smiled. "I love you too, my Queen."
Suki saddled up. "Wren riding here?" she asked, gently running her hand down his back.
"Fwy! Sook Fwy," Wren wagged his tail, shaking his whole body.
Méi smiled. "Will he bother you there?"
"No, I have him corralled in here pretty good. He should be fine."
He felt Misty saddle up. "Ready?" he asked.
"Let's go."
~~~
Over the next day, Méi started growling at people again. Although this time they did not take it personally. They just left her alone with the eggs, which only Mack and the pups had seen so far because of Méi's aggressiveness. She was also scratching up the ground no matter where they landed. Both Wren and Shway helped her scratch, constantly demanding to know when the new pups would play with them.
Two days into their journey, they reached the shore of the Endless Sea. They camped just off the beach in the woods. Ice was everywhere, and a bitter wind coming off the water told them they had arrived at the edge of the Southern Polar Zone.
Méi started a warm fire ring by gouging out a circle with her tail and spitting in the trench. She breathed fire on it and it flared up, burning a circle large enough for them to camp in. The weather inside the ring felt almost warm. Mack trampled a bed for her while she waited, and then she curled up into it and went immediately to sleep, as did Dunia, with Shway curled up under her wing. All three riders shared a small tent designed for two to keep warm.
Mack smiled. I’ll bet Zeke is enjoying the company.
He pulled out the scrolls the White Witch had given him, as he had numerous nights, and read. He was getting better at reading them on his own without translation. This was the scroll Dunia had been bothering him to read. He scowled at it. He was not king, and he couldn't be a descendant of the Blood Dragon King. He put the scroll away and pulled out one about the Dragon War. Wren climbed onto his neck and looked at the scroll.
Mack smiled at Wren. “I wish I had a pup’s scroll for me to read to you.”
Wren nodded. "Yee Pa."
Mack smiled, "I am your Uncle by segregate, and I love you dearly. Your Pa is lost, and we are off to find him."
"Unca." Wren head-butted him.
"Yes," Mack said, returning the head-butt before turning back to the scroll. Then something in the wording caught his attention. "Ah, only one Air Dragon pup was spared in the Great Losing. He was sleeping between his parents. His mother's wing covered him, hiding him from view."
Mack put the scroll down. He hadn't thought about them in a while. "That was me. I was the little one hiding under his mother’s wing. The White Witch kept me safe, so I could grow up and see you safely to your Pa." He patted Wren, who wagged his tail, shaking his rear end. He put the scroll away, pulled the dragon shell blanket up, circled three times, and curled up next to Méi. He laid Wren next to him and covered him with the warm blanket. "We should rest. We have a long day tomorrow."
He smiled and resisted the urge to pat Wren as he fell asleep. He didn't want to keep him awake, by patting him.
It seems I have found what I am meant to do, and since I am the new king, I may as well use the power to initiate an entirely new education system for the young. I’ll bring all breeds of dragons together at key intervals to foster unification. Then they would be sent to schools tailored to individualized and specialty training. Potential rider-children will also attend with them at key intervals. No more divisions. My kingdom will be made stronger by encouraging people to be different, and be strong in those differences.
He appreciated having lived in the United States, where different people of all races and cultures lived together. He knew the history well, and now it would serve him well in structuring a new government, provided he could find Arlen and unseat the Mad Dragon King. He drifted into an uneasy sleep.
In the morning, he and Dunia caught two deer. Méi used her claws to cut steaks for the riders. After they ate and packed, they flew out over the Endless Sea. After several hours of nothing except water, Mack was about to suggest they turn back when he saw an icy island, or perhaps it was another enormous iceberg? He couldn't be sure.
"Let's land there and get warm," he suggested.
They landed. Thankfully there was land. A terrible dead fish smell came from some place. “We need to keep an eye out, there is a stink coming from somewhere. One that suggests we are not alone.”
“I am too cold to smell anything.” Méi started a fire circle to warm them up. She also breathed fire on both Wren's and Shway's dragon scale blankets, but they seemed unperturbed by the cold. Twice, Wren jumped through the ring, and ran up a hill to dig in the snow. On the third time, Méi and Mack followed him. He ran to a larger hill and scratched at it yelling 'niff' for sniff.
Mack sniffed at it, and the unmistakable smell of a dragon came strong from behind the ice. He also noticed the ice was a deep crystal blue, which indicated that the ice had been flash-frozen. Only one thing could flash freeze water. "Arlen!"
“Back off Mack, I am going to burn a hole in it.” She turned to Wren. "Go get the others!" She reared and breathed a fine spiral tube of flames.
Wren immediately obeyed and scurried off, yelling 'Pa!'
By the time everyone came running over to them Méi had burned a huge dent in the ice wall.
"Let me take over. You save the fire for the eggs," Dunia said coming forward. "Stand back, I am told I have a sonic boom roar. That should crack the ice."
Dunia waited for everyone to back off to a safe distance and roared. The ice shattered, revealing a cave. Everyone came running back and they entered the cave. A blue dragon with darker blue stripes was curled up in a corner of the cave. He was a darker blue than Mack. The ends of fish tails were scattered around him.
He didn't move.
Suki made a face. "Is he alive?" She pulled out her scope “He is a faint yellow.”
Mack also made a face. "Arlen, I am Makani and this is my rider, Misty. May I enter? We brought your son and daughter," he said, regretting allowing the pups in. If Arlen was dead, or dying, this would be a terrible, traumatizing first memory.
Arlen heaved a great sigh, "I don't have pups. Leave me."
Mack sighed in relief, blowing the little fish tails abou
t. "Sorry, I was just worried you were...well, I was worried." He glanced down at the pups who both wagged their tails.
The others nodded, wide-eyed. Apparently, they had been worried too.
Wren ran forward before Mack could catch him. "Pa!" he yelled, excited as he ran up Arlen's tail, and jumped in little circles with his wings spread out. "Pa, pa. Unca sav’ me for ya."
Shway would not be outdone by her brother, so she also ran forward. "Father! It's me Shway, Sarnia's daughter!" She scampered up his foreleg to cling to his neck.
Méi rushed forward. "I am sorry, I'll get them right now." She grabbed Wren by the neck with her jaws and walked off with him in her mouth, and Shway in her right front paw, both yelling for “Pa.”
"I have pups?" He shook his head. His eyes widened "My pups! They are alive! I didn't think I would ever see them," Arlen said, picking his head up to look at Wren. He jumped to his feet. "You are all Elemental Dragons!" His dark sapphire eyes widened as he looked around the room. "The King said I was the only one. Where are Rini and Sarnia?"
Misty shook her head. "This is the real Dragon King, right here. King Makani." The others bowed to Mack.
Wren wiggled free of Méi by using her own saliva against her to force her jaws open. It was liquid, even if it was flammable. He ran to Arlen, and climbed up his front leg and clung to his neck. "Pa!" he pointed at himself "Wren."
Arlen craned his neck to look at Wren. "You have your mother's beautiful face. And you, young lady, have my eyes." He smiled.
"And your everything else. You have some strong genes," Dunia said looking Arlen up and down. "I am Dunia, this is my rider, Zeke. This is Queen Méi, and her rider, Suki."
Méi sat straight up and did a double take at Dunia's introduction of her. Mack smiled. "Well I am King, and you are my mate, that does make you the Queen."
"You really need to go over that scroll." She frowned, and then let go of Shway. “I am Méi, the Queen Consort; not Queen Méi.”
Shway ran to Arlen, climbing up his leg to join her brother. She pointed at herself. "I am Shway."
"Arlen," Mack said, looking down. He didn't want to keep Rini's death a secret or give the appearance of keeping it a secret, but it felt awkward to talk about her death in front of the pups. "Sarnia is waiting for you in South Dragons Ridge, and they all need you home." He would talk to him about Rini when the pups were elsewhere.