by Karine Green
He would have to assemble Air and Water Dragons on the training field tomorrow for some testing, right after he visited Wester the dragonsmith with some ideas.
They napped for about a half an hour before they heard Shway's excited voice as she ran around the living room. "Look, a pup's room! A real pup's room!"
Méi got up. "You go ahead and nap. I can show the pups to LaDeara."
"Nope, I am good," he said, forcing himself awake. He hadn't realized how tired he was, but tired or not, LaDeara would not examine the pups without him there.
They walked out into the main living room where Wren and Shway were running in circles biting each other's tail, and trying to roar at each other. Luckily, they were still too little to do much damage or injury.
"It's okay, you can go in the room and play with the toys. We'll see if we can find some Earth and Water toys for you later," Mack said, smiling as they ran into the room. He turned to Sarnia and Arlen. "That room is for grown-ups." He nodded to the room that overlooked his private training grounds. It had a private balcony, and could be modified to be comfortable for different types of dragons. "I can have the staff fill the pool, and set the coal bed on fire for you."
Wren yipped, and wiped out as he reached the door to the pup's room. Shway had bitten and pulled his tail, hard. “Me first, I am the oldest!” Shway yelled.
Arlen shook his head while Sarnia caught Shway by the tail. "What did I tell you about tail biting?"
"He started it."
Wren arched his back up and hissed at her. He scratched at the floor with his tail straight in the air. It was classic dragon body language for I-am-really-angry-at-you.
Arlen frowned. "He did no such thing. Although, he would do well to remember that if his parents are right here to handle it, fighting back is inappropriate," he said to Wren, but the look on his face suggested he was actively working at not being appalled by the fact that he had just sounded like a parent.
Mack glanced over at Daphne, wearing a silent smirk on her face as she looked Arlen up and down.
"K, Farter," Wren said, running into the pup's room, without his tail-biting sister.
"That's father! Actually, there is nothing wrong with Pa."
Mack smiled, while trying to look like a stern adult in charge at the same time. Farter, he’ll never live that down.
"Come on, Arlen, let's go check out our room, with Shway, since she can't seem to keep her teeth to herself," Sarnia said, eyeing Shway who sniveled, with a limp tail dragging the floor. She followed her parents into the other room without further drama.
LaDeara, Romayo, and Daphne were still paused at the top of the stairs.
"You may enter," Mack said, nodding them in.
"Thank you, Majesty," Romayo said, leading the ladies in.
LaDeara walked up to Méi, smiling, "May I see them now?"
Méi smiled as she took their daughter out, "This is Parana."
"Yes," Romayo said with a happy tone of victory. "She will be well versed in both the physical aspects of Air and Fire without one being stronger than the other. I can tell by her striping."
"Romayo, we are pleased with all of the pups," Méi said, "You cannot show the pups any favoritism, any more than you can show children favoritism. Only certain royal security will be allowed, otherwise, our pups are to be treated as any other pup, or they will grow up to make the Mad Dragon King look like a picture of sanity."
Mack nodded. She would no doubt have a fit if Romayo favored them, or spoiled them into thinking they were better than others. “I would listen because Fire Dragon fits never end well.”
"Of course, your Grace, I meant no disrespect. I have only heard of the legend of purple dragons, and the Lilac Princess fairytale. I am very excited to see what she can do on the training field. Did you know purple dragons are only of royal lineage?"
Méi paused for a second, her frustration evaporating as the title of Queen finally sunk in fully. "Uh, Romayo, you can call me Méi, no need for formalities for you."
"In private, of course, Your Grace, Méi." He nodded.
LaDeara took Parana, who tried to nip at her fingers. "Her scales are perfectly blended. I too am excited to see how she will do on the training field in a few weeks."
Mack thought for a moment about what Romayo had just said. "Those scrolls you gave me, the last purple dragon was from my family, over a hundred years ago. It was just a genealogy, there were no specifics."
LaDeara smiled. "Purple dragons always become the King or Queen. And if you read the genealogy then you know you are the King, so if you will kindly stop passively resisting your position and make sure Parana or Apis are ready to take the throne when it is time, the rest of us would appreciate it. To answer you, not all entries had specifics, but some did. Did you know you are only the third ruler in two thousand years who was under twenty-two when they took the throne? Those entries have details, with the wars that surrounded them. You could cause an international incident by simply having someone walk in the wrong place next to you. The details are in that scroll."
Romayo smiled, staring at Parana, enamored with her. "There was once an orange dragon King, but that was more than nine hundred years ago. Don’t forget the Lilac Princess’ father, the Earth/Fire Blood King. Even stories about him are scary. Almost as bad as the Mad Dragon King. Your Grace, these dragons are in your family bloodline. You need to take the scrolls and stop denying your role in ending this war. I think you would find the story of the Lilac Princess particularly interesting." He pointed at Parana who tried to jump and nip at his fingers. He smiled and pulled them back so she couldn't reach them.
Mack nodded. "I may have only read half of one, or so," he stammered and shrugged, "It was boring reading. Was the Blood King in my family line?"
"The Lilac Princess, Agne was your great grandmother, the Blood King is her father," Romayo said. “We are all relieved that the proper Royal Dragon family is back in power.”
Daphne also smiled. "Purple dragons are one of the most formidable warriors that can exist. The other is the only black elemental, the Coal King. He was an Earth-Water hybrid." She bent over Parana. "She is a beautiful little one. You must take caution and guard them not only physically, but also in their education," she said, motioning for LaDeara to give Parana back to Méi who was looking at them with narrowed eyes.
Méi took out their son. "This is Apis. We have two purple dragons."
"Twins are able to draw on each other's power," Romayo said, looking even more pleased with the little purple dragon pups.
Méi rubbed her cheek on Mack’s shoulder. "I would really like the humans to leave us to rest until the village meal tonight."
"We'll see you tonight," Romayo said, guiding LaDeara and Daphne out.
"Daphne," Mack said, leaning toward her. "If we die, do not allow LaDeara to send our pups to the other realm. They are to be raised as proper Royal dragons in this world. Take them to be with your hoard at Sea An'Tia."
She nodded, as they started down the stairs. "I will protect them with my life, I swear it, Majesty."
Operation Katrina
Two days later, Romayo stood in the village square, staring, confused at a contraption Mack and Arlen had Wester's apprentice make. It was like a wooden bathtub big enough for two adult dragons, and it was sealed like a boat would be. It had four long handles running through the front and back. The handles could also be oars, but more importantly, they were long enough to accommodate the wingspan of two adult dragons.
Misty and Ridder smiled from their positions in their saddles.
"Give up," Mack said smiling.
Romayo smiled right back. "Indeed."
"It's a troop and/or equipment carrier that can be a boat if necessary. And please tell me why this wasn't considered before?" Mack asked.
"Troop carrier. Brilliant," Romayo said, stunned as he smiled. "No Elemental would have consented to haul things."
"Well then they were snobs, tragically idiotic ones,"
Arlen said sitting up on his hind quarters and folding his forelegs, being careful to not accidentally knock Shway off his horns. She had been his constant companion, rarely leaving his sight. She watched everything like a hawk and asked an extraordinarily annoying amount of questions about the design process.
Shway nodded in agreement, also folding her forelegs. "Yeah, snobs. What's a snob, Pa?" Ridder steadied her as she let go of Arlen's horns.
Arlen smiled at her, as he looked back at her. "They are people who think they are too good to do what they are supposed to, so they don't do it."
"Oh, you mean just like the people who let our village be destroyed by the Mad Dragon King," she said shaking her head with a curled lip and one eye squinted.
All adults gave pause. Romayo nodded in agreement. "Yes, Young Lady Shway, like those people."
"Wester, you have your people load it up with a few weapons and some camp gear for humans. Arlen and I will test it out by delivering this stuff to the ridge," Mack said smiling. “I can hardly wait to see if it works. I am a bit worried that the so-called snob dragons may have refused to do it for a valid flight load reason. Can we haul it?”
“We’re about to find out,” Ridder said, holding Shway steady as she repositioned herself on Arlen’s horns.
They loaded it with timbers and other tent supplies. An archer with a crossbow jumped in.
"You can't ride in there. It hasn't been tested for humans," Arlen said, frowning.
"Forgive me, Great Dragon, someone must stay with the supplies. I can hook a rope to one of your saddles, that way I won't fall that far if something goes wrong."
"He's right," Mack also said, frowning. "We don't have time for proper testing. We have to set up quickly, and we can't risk the supplies being stolen or destroyed by one of the Mad King's scouts. Tie it to my saddle, if something goes wrong, Misty isn't as heavy as Ridder, so I can recover from the sudden weight shift faster. Who are you?"
Wester smiled. "This is my little brother, Kasai."
"Kasai, it is nice to meet you. Hold on tight."
"Yes, Majesty," Kasai said smiling, as he put on a harness and tied it to Mack's saddle. Misty helped make sure it was secure.
Arlen smiled at Shway, "You stay with Wester. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you."
Shway paused, but then climbed down without further incident and sat at Wester's feet. The top of her new little horns was almost level with his hip. Wester put his hand on her horns to comfort her. "Don't worry, we'll have fun. We have a very important job," he said.
She looked up at him smiling as she wagged her tail.
"Shway, you listen to Wester the same as you would me or the King."
Mack stifled a sigh. He had told several people to just call him Mack, or even Makani, but it was no use. He would have to get used to Majesty, or the king. "Let's grab it."
They took the back lever with their hind paws and the front one with their front paws.
"On three," Mack said, trying to keep the strain out of his voice. He and Arlen had flown together in sync on the way back from South Dragons Ridge, but that wasn't the same thing as being connected with a set of poles. "One, two, three."
They both reared up flapping their wings for takeoff. Mack felt Misty shifting, and out of the corner of his eye, he also saw Ridder leaning forward hard in the saddle.
"Riders, move together," Arlen said, slowing down. "Flap, up – down – up – down. Faster! Let's go!"
They both jumped up and took off flying with the load. They circled for a moment, with almost all dragons and villagers looking up to watch.
"How is it?" Mack asked. The load was lighter than he expected.
"Not bad," Arlen said, but he already knew dragons could carry very heavy loads since he’d brought Sarnia with him, and Ridder was no light weight. "How is it, Kasai?"
"Incredible!" he said, his eyes beaming as he looked around so fast that Mack thought he would give himself whiplash.
"Awesome, let's head out to the area," Mack said, hoping everything went smoothly. In terms of importance, the village needed a victory, more than they needed food right now.
They flew to the leading ridge along the only way in or out of the area of Blue Valley from Yellow Hollow. Thankfully, Mack had studied The Art of War; always attack your enemy from high ground. And, if there was a bottleneck in the landscape to funnel the enemy into...use that too. The bottleneck theory was why he’d chosen this ridge for the rear battle line. The two ridges along the east and west sides of the main ridge would bottleneck the enemy troops and make escape an act of chaos for those who were lucky enough to get through the dragons' front line.
Dunia liked to call this ridge Gettysburg Point. He understood how she would think that, but this ridge was much taller than the hill at the real Gettysburg. He hoped the effects for his troops would be the same as it was for the North during the Civil War. The North had crushed the South because of the High Ground principle. The position held many important advantages. First, it was more difficult for the enemy to attack from below. It was also easier to safely do surveillance. And, if push came to shove, high ground soldiers did not tire as easily as the ones trying to fight uphill.
The only thing that worried him was the possibility that high-ground might not have the same advantage in this world. Especially, if there were three trained magical people with an army on Stone Dragons- who could climb the terrain like it was flat.
Why was there nothing in the Art of War about attacking enemy wizards and a witch, he thought, trying not to worry at the moment. There would be plenty of time for that over the next few hours.
The flight took about twenty minutes, but was easily a two-day walk from the village. They quickly unloaded and returned to the village, bringing Kasai's harness with them so they could carry back another archer. Upon landing, the remaining four haulers were being loaded up.
Romayo was smiling and nodded in approval, as he tried to discreetly point over to a mix of Elemental and Mountain Dragons who’d just finished assisting two Stone Dragons into an empty hauler. He whispered, "They follow examples."
Mack smiled and nodded. "Excellent, two of Sea An'Tia's Stone Dragons are already battle dressed with riders. I am so happy these two are taking you. You will be perfect for the ridge. Not only that, but you can back up Kasai with battle-ready dragons right away."
The Stone Dragons nodded, as did the Mountain Dragon and Fire dragon flying them. "Yes, Majesty."
"As long as we all stick together, there is no way the Mad Dragon King can win," Mack said, smiling as he and Arlen walked away from their hauler, leaving it to be loaded up again.
The other dragons agreed, and scratched at the ground, showing their support of his comment. "Long live the Kingdom of King Makani!"
Mack smiled. "Now that is a chant I can get behind."
Wester's men quickly loaded the supplies, and new archers strapped themselves in. Even Shway was trying to help by moving the riders' tent into the equipment hauler closest to her.
They headed off to Gettysburg Point, where they found Kasai guarding the supplies. Twelve trips later, they were ready to begin construction and put the catapults back together. They had rigged large Molotov's for the catapults. Wester and Romayo had been impressed with the Molotov's, especially the ones with the used cooking grease in them. This made the human catapult crew a fire breathing dragon. And, if an Air Dragon came in behind them it would spread even higher and further.
"Impressive," Ridder said smiling as he curled his nose at the stinking grease.
Mack also smiled. "I am still hoping we will not have to use them. Keep in mind that if the enemy gets this far we'll have bigger problems on our hands than whether or not we can use these here."
Arlen shook his head. "No way. Because this will be so big the only way to fail is to mistime our operation. Come, I think people are getting hungry." He motioned with his tail for Mack to follow him.
Mack and Arlen went into the w
oods and brought back seven deer for the warriors and construction workers while a Fire Dragon named Greer started a fire for them to roast the deer. It seemed like a strange, surreal celebration.
"Do you have it under control?” Mack asked as he finished cutting deer steaks for the man. “Arlen and I need to finalize plans for tonight." He almost immediately realized that it had been a mistake. The men were only lined up to have the King's steak. He would have to remember to be careful about doing things like that. He smiled, making sure his tone was light. “The Water Minister has no waiting.” Several at the back of the line nodded and went over to Arlen’s line.
Kasai said, " Yes, Majesty, we are all set for now." Both Kasai and Greer nodded. "No one is simply going to walk through this pass without severe consequences."
"We'll talk about the rider position later," Greer said, wagging his tail. "Right now, I must return with the King."
Kasai smiled, nodded, and turned his attention to the men. "There is no waiting over here either. Let's get a meal in our bellies, people."
Mack walked toward Greer’s line as he laid out the last of his steaks.
Arlen and Mack, along with their riders returned to Blue Valley for a strategy meeting about the village children and pups, with a council briefing about the main battle plans. They waited with the other dragons and high ranking humans in the village's main amphitheater while everyone was seating themselves.
Mack looked up at the sign, “Queen Agne Community Center.”
Misty leaned forward. “She was big about dragons and humans talking to each other.”
Mack smiled. “We’ll make good use of it.”
Suki nodded as she finished checking everyone with her scope and secured it to her saddle.
Méi glared at him.
Mack tried to ignore her, but she stepped closer, her gold eyes still glaring.
He was getting annoyed. "Alright, you know why you aren't coming. The King," he pointed at himself, "Secures the village. The Queen," He pointed at her, "Secures the village young. That is the final word of the King, whose pups are still too young to survive long term outside the pouch."