by Corin, G.
As he staggered back, his adversary pounced on him pushing him back against the rock with his superior weight and size. Between him and the rock it felt like he was stuck in a vice.
“You’re so dead,” he snarled into Ramaeka’s face, his breath unfortunately foul. I need to get into the air away from the rock, he thought desperately. Wriggling his tail free he raked it across the other dragonets side. As his opponent recoiled slightly in surprise, Ramaeka brought his head up to use the fire spell, flames leaping from his mouth into the face of his brother who cried out in pain and leaped back.
Ramaeka scrambled to his feet and bound across the clearing, his brother snarling inches from his tail. He soared off the edge of the cliff, instantly feeling more confident with the air under his wings; he could hopefully out fly his heavier brother until Ramanae called time. Sensing his opponent behind and to the left he banked and dropped slightly, twisting around to claw across the exposed stomach then dipping to miss the tail. With a cry his brother turned and shot flames at him which were swept to the side by the wind. Ramaeka plunged away flying as nimbly as he knew how, his enemy close on his tail. He dropped suddenly, his wings firmly pressed against his back, shooting down towards the ledge, his opponent right behind him. At the last minute he spread his wings, inches above the ground, shooting to the right then to the left. His larger brother managed to pull out his wings in time to slow his drop slightly though he still hit the ground fairly hard, and bound to the right with all his strength. Unfortunately, he forgot to twist to the left and slammed hard into a wall of rock. Rock element though he was, the dragonet was stunned and staggered backwards. Ramaeka landed in a crouching position watching his opponent warily as he shook his head in a daze.
“Enough,” his father called scowling at them. “Very average. You two next.”
He pointed at the next pair and turned away to mutter something to Tannis. Ramaeka sighed in relief moving quickly over to the side of the ledge, average it may have been but he was still alive and that was what mattered. In fact he thought mischievously, he rather thought that he may have won. He grinned at his battered brother, who glared back baring his fangs.
Trying to keep awake after hours of physical training could be quite difficult Ramaeka thought several hours later as he fought to keep his eyes open. It didn’t help when the class was Amarian history and politics. He choked back a yawn as his teacher nattered on about the rise of the wavaki in the Era of Bones. Most of his teachers were weaker dragons who came to his father’s keep because they liked his conservative view about draconian politics. Ramaeka had long decided that conservatives were the most dried up bunch of yammerers in existence. In return they called him insolent and stupid; they told him he asked far too many questions that were not relevant.
“Ramaeka.”
A voice knocked him out of his boredom, blinking he looked at the scowling teacher.
“Sir,” he inquired politely.
“If you cannot be bothered listening to my lessons, you may stand outside,” the dragon told him sourly.
Sighing Ramaeka stood and dragged himself out the entry of the small chamber. He was still leaning outside when the other classes were dismissed. He winced as he saw the brother he had beaten in combat class advancing on him, Ramanor looked furious.
“You got some lucky shots today lizard,” his brother snarled at him.
Ramaeka grit his teeth together, it was best not to provoke his brother here where there were few escape routes, but no dragon liked to be called a lizard.
“You hear me lizard?” Ramanor taunted, smirking at his friends as they gathered around grinning cruelly like a pack of wavaki.
Ramaeka scowled, biting his tongue firmly to stop it spitting out the insults he wanted to say.
Ramanor smacked him around the head.
“Not so tough now that father’s not here to protect you little lizard.”
Now that was too much, first off his father had never protected him in the entire fourteen years that Ramaeka had been alive, and secondly he was not that little!
“Really?” he said to his brother coldly. “I thought he was protecting you.”
Ramanor snarled and swung his fist at Ramaeka. He ducked around his fist and shoved a fist full of fire down his brother’s pants. As Ramanor squealed and danced in pain, he ducked through the crowd of young dragons and ran for it.
He paused for a moment as Garain emerged from another classroom.
“How’s that for a fire charm?”
Several hours later found him wandering through the massive network of corridors back from the kitchens. He had finally had a chance to get that snack after escaping his brother and his friends by circling back around the long way. He was definitely going to be in trouble with his magic teacher tomorrow, but it had been almost worth it to see the expression of shock on Ramanor’s face.
Ramaeka shivered as a slight breeze caressed his face; it was always so cold despite warming spells in every room of the fortress. He tensed suddenly, there faintly on the breeze, he was sure it was the same scent he had smelt the day that the hunting party had brought in that prisoner. It faded as quickly as he had picked it; he walked in the direction of the breeze scenting the air. Before he got far he caught it again. Sniffing he followed it down a smaller side passage; the scent was getting much stronger, frustratingly familiar but completely different as well.
At the end of the passage a light glowed from an opening on the side. As he halted in front of it, Ramaeka was surprised to find the opening was blocked by solid bars of stone. Peering through one of the gaps he saw a forlorn figure sitting curled up in the corner of the small room. The only other thing in the room was a single blanket which the figure had pulled around them self. Suddenly they looked up startling him backwards. The prisoner hurried to the bars and called out to him in a strange language. He pressed himself against the wall, as far from the cell as he could get. The prisoner continued to talk in the strange language, reaching out to him.
What is that language? He thought curiously, his fear beginning to fade since the prisoner obviously couldn’t get out. It didn’t sound draconic he thought, but then it didn’t smell draconic either. Everything clicked together in one blinding flash of clarity. This was a human! The smell was familiar and different because the only human he had ever met had been cooked. He peered eagerly at the human, his first chance to meet one face to face. As the human continued to talk at him he realised that it, no she, was in fact female. Incredibly filthy, but definitely female.
“Er, I don’t understand what you are saying,” he said rubbing the back of his neck unsurely. The human stopped talking for a moment and looked at him closely.
“Ah, no understand,” he tried again shrugging his shoulders in pantomime. She nodded, then she began to gesture, Ramaeka quickly caught on. She was hungry and thirsty. He gestured to her to wait and hurried away.
It was no problem for him to slip in to one of the smaller kitchens without being noticed and snitch a few vegetable and meat pastries, stopping only to make sure they weren’t made from humans. He grabbed a few pieces of fruit as well and a jug of water, tying the food together into a cloth bundle. He quickly hurried back to the cell. When he got there the human was once again sitting in the corner, blanket tucked around her, but she immediately jumped up as he approached. Nervously he placed the jug on to the ground and carefully pushed it between two of the bars. The human slowly reached out took hold of it, smelling the contents before drinking. As she did do he pushed the bundle through the bars. The human carefully laid the jug down and took up the bundle. She was pretty smart, Ramaeka decided admiringly as she carefully examined each object of food, obviously checking for poison or whether it was consumable for humans. She took a bite from a pastry then looked up and smiled at him. It was strange really, Ramaeka thought, that they ate a creature that looked so much like them. The human looked almost exactly like a female dragon in lesser form, save perhaps that her eyes were sl
ightly smaller and the tips of her ears less pointed. He felt decidedly squeamish at the thought of consuming someone like her.
The human pointed at the food and said something, Ramaeka blinked at her in confusion. She pointed again and said the same word, then pointed at the jug of water and said a different word.
“Oh,” said Ramaeka. “That’s what you call them.”
He carefully repeated the words pointing at each object in turn; he then said the Draconian word for each which she quickly repeated. She then pointed at herself.
“Alekra” she pronounced carefully. Ramaeka pointed at himself and solemnly pronounced his own name. She listened intently and then repeated him.
“Ramaeka.”
He grinned absurdly pleased, however before he could say anything else, echoing footsteps marked the approach of another dragon. The human, Alekra, quickly shuffled back into the corner, hiding the food and water behind her under the blanket. Ramaeka jumped up and ran up the passage, he slipped around the corner and dashed in the opposite direction of the footsteps, not stopping until he got to his sleeping chamber. Pulling the curtain across the entrance, he flopped onto his sleeper completely out of breath. Isahn was right, humans were intelligent he thought happily, she had said his name, and told him hers! But what on Amaria was his father keeping her for? He transformed into his greater form and curled into a ball tiredly. Surely his father wasn’t keeping her to eat? He could have fresh meat anytime he wanted, including human, so why keep one alive in the fortress. He yawned widely, he was too tired to think properly, it had been a long day, and his entire body was still aching from almost being crushed by a dim rock dragon. He needed to rest and allow his body to heal, tomorrow however he would try to see the human, no Alekra, and find out why she was there.
It wasn’t until after evening meal the next day that Ramaeka had the chance to sneak away to see Alekra again, he had been given several days worth of punishment duty for yesterday’s antics.
He collected some more food and drink on the way past the kitchens, luckily Bakara wasn’t there and he was able to sneak in and out without being seen. He trotted back to the passage, carefully looking around the corner in case any dragon was about. Rocks! he thought as he saw his father and his oldest sister Ramapaiete standing outside the cell, he pressed himself back against the rock. He hesitated, tempted to stay and listen to their conversation, however they were already moving up the passage so he slipped away, turning up the next opening, a short corridor with small cells like the one Alekra was in. Ramaeka slipped into the closest wondering how he hadn’t noticed this area before. His father and sisters voices moved closer and Ramaeka listened intently.
“I want to know,” his father was demanding.
“Of course Sir,” replied his sister soothingly. “But until we can figure out how to understand her language, I don’t believe we can go any further.”
“Then find a solution.”
His father growled as they swept away down the hall.
He crept out of the unlit passage and stared after them. That was strange he thought, his father actually wanting to talk to a human. He walked down to the opening of Alekra’s cave frowning.
Alekra was sitting in her corner again with her head in her arms.
“Alekra,” he called softly.
She jumped looking up wildly. She relaxed slightly when she saw it was him and moved to the front of her cell.
“Someone’s cleaned you up,” he said frowning, she looked even more draconic without all the dirt and filth. In fact she was rather pretty he thought, with light brown hair and blue eyes. It was clear though that she had been crying, and as she reached out for the food he was offering he noticed that her hands were shaking.
He waited until she had finished eating and drinking before saying each of the three words she had taught him yesterday, pointing at each thing in turn. She smiled slightly and pronounced the draconic words he had taught her, finishing with Ramaeka. They spent the next few hours trading words back and forth until once again his sharp ears picked up someone’s approach.
“Goodbye,” he said waving at her.
“Goodbye, Ramaeka,” she replied in clear draconian. Grinning he hurried away, perhaps he should be a teacher when he grew up he thought, since he was so great at it.
The next few weeks took on a repetitive nature, as soon as he finished lessons and chores in the evening, Ramaeka would sneak away to see Alekra, taking food and drink with him and coming away with more human words. They usually had about two to three hours together depending on when Ramaeka got there, before a dragon would come to check on the prisoner. They were possibly the happiest hours of Ramaeka’s life. He had never had a friend to talk to before, all his siblings either ignored him or beat him because he was smaller than they were, plus he was the only earth element dragon in the fortress. His family and the servers were all rock, ice or magic. Despite being completely separated from the earth by great rock mountains, he had somehow been born an earth dragon. Though the servers were kinder to him they still never had time to talk to him properly or wanted to start a friendship with a son that Ramanae disliked so much.
Alekra didn’t know anything about that stuff, and though their conversations bordered around exchanging words, they were the most fun Ramaeka had ever had.
Despite his best efforts however Ramaeka still could not find out why she was being kept there. Nobody seemed to know except Ramanae and a few of his oldest and smarter siblings like Ramapaiete who were refusing to say anything about it. Alekra herself didn’t seem to know either. In a stilted conversation which after several weeks they were now able to achieve he asked her about the matter.
“Alekra, why are you here?” he asked gesturing to try and get the question across. She frowned and shrugged.
“Dragons catch me,” she replied in draconic gesturing as well.
“Why?” Ramaeka asked in frustration.
“Eat?” she suggested looking at him.
He shook his head.
“There must be another reason you’ve been here too long.”
Alekra looked at him unsure of what he was saying. He sighed, if he knew what his father’s plan was he could try and do something, maybe help her escape. Something warm touched his hand; Alekra had placed her hand over his. He looked up at her, returning her smile, then he pointed at the blanket and told her the human word for it. She laughed and started to point at other objects, testing him though he never made a mistake. As they played Ramaeka vowed to himself that he would figure something out.
Five days later and his lucky break came. He was relaying a message from one of the watch points to his father’s personal cave. However his father was already with another dragon, the door had also been kindly left slightly open so that he could hear everything said.
“We need to keep this completely secret, do you understand that?” Came his father’s harsh growl.
It’s not really easy to keep something secret when you’re having a secret meeting with the door slightly open, Ramaeka thought to himself.
“Yes I understand that sir, but we needed the spell if we want to overcome the language barrier.”
“But from Isahn of all dragons, he’ll definitely become suspicious,” his father growled in frustration.
His unseen companion sighed.
“Unfortunately he is the only one with the book containing the spell. He has the largest library in Amaria. It was a chance we needed to take.”
Ramaeka listened even more intently, a spell to help them talk to humans! From Isahn’s personal library too, he needed to get his claws on that spell.
“Alright,” his father replied. “There are courses we can take if he wishes to investigate the matter further.”
“Absolutely,” was his companions calm reply. “My source will deliver the spell to us in two days. Once we talk to the human we can figure out the best way to set up the breeding process.”
Ramaeka wrinkled his nose in disgust. Ew,
breeding he thought.
“Aye, and once we have everything we can begin capturing more, no dragon will ever be able to put my mountain under siege,” his father growled. “Not when we have a reliable source of meat safe inside the fortress. And humans are so much easier to keep than other animals.”
He laughed sinisterly. Ramaeka backed away in horror. He vaguely heard his father and his companion continue talking but his mind was working in horror. That was why they wanted Alekra alive; they were going to farm humans. The sound of the two dragons saying their goodbyes brought his attention back to the moment. He quickly knocked on the door.
“Enter.”
Walking in he tried desperately not to let any of his thoughts show on his face.
“Message from watch point five, Sir,” he intoned.
“What is it?” his father asked impatiently, waving the other dragon, a tall lean male, out of the room.
“A campfire was spotted several leagues away, Sir. A patrol has been sent to investigate then report back to you, Sir.”
“Alright,” his father nodded to the door.
Relieved Ramaeka rushed out, heading to Alekra’s cave.
He flopped against the wall in front of the cell, half heartedly returning Alekra’s smile. His mind and stomach churned, he couldn’t eat another human again, not after meeting Alekra. They won’t be killing her for a long time though, he pointed out to himself reasonably, not if they want to breed them.
“Ramaeka okay?” came her soft voice. He looked up at her worried face and smiled, she was safe for now at least.