by Logan Jacobs
feel she was right.
Much like I could sense the emotions of Blar, Inger, and Uffe, I could
feel the tenseness that came off the mother dragon. She wasn’t scared of us,
and she didn’t think we were there to hurt her or her children, but she didn’t
like us being there, either, and she wanted us gone.
As the mother dragon held my gaze, I thought about my encounter
with the wolf in this realm just days before. He and I had been able to
communicate somehow, and I wondered if I’d be able to communicate with
the mother dragon as well.
I didn’t know what I’d done before, though. I’d heard the wolf in my
head, but I hadn’t initiated the conversation, and I hadn’t spoken back to him
in thought, only with words.
The yellow dragon mother let out a low breath of air through her
nostrils then, and the babies immediately got behind her as she pushed her
long neck up toward where my crew and I laid by the edge of the valley.
“Rath,” Asta whispered, and her voice was panicked. “I think it is time
for us to leave.”
“Wait,” I said, but I was focused more on the words in my head than
those that came out of my mouth. I knew somehow the mother dragon didn’t
want to harm us, and I could use that to our advantage. It would only take a
second to see if I could communicate with the creature, and if I couldn’t, then
we would leave, but either way she wasn’t going to attack us without
provocation, that much I knew.
As much as I could sense her calmness with the situation, there was
something else I couldn’t place at first. After a moment, though, I realized it
was fear. The mother dragon was scared of something. It was a small fear,
and it was hidden behind her other emotions, but it was there, I could sense it.
I wondered why such a massive creature would possibly be scared of
us, but then I remembered the issue in Asta’s home world of baby dragons
being taken and attempted to train. It seemed Vinrar had started more of a movement than I’d originally thought, since I didn’t see who else could be
credited with the idea to use fear to train dragons.
I am Volrath, I thought as hard as I could as I maintained eye contact
with the huge, yellow female. We are not here to harm you.
I thought if I could only communicate with her then I could tell her we
didn’t want her children. I could explain Blar and the twins were orphans and
that we were caring for them.
I could feel her emotions, but I wasn’t sure she could feel mine. Maybe
my abilities worked better with Blar and the twins because they weren’t fully
grown, and they were open to a different way of thinking than a fully
developed dragon was.
The dragon’s eyes only narrowed at me more then, and she took
another step closer to us. Her babies peered out from behind her tail and
watched us as their mother huffed once more.
My name is Rath! I thought as loud as I could, but once again the
female didn’t respond, and I could see out of the corner of my eye that
another female further down the valley had caught wind of what was going
on, and she now walked in our direction.
“Shit,” I breathed, and I slowly got up onto my knees as I kept eye
contact with the huge mother dragon.
Blar jumped in front of me as I stood up onto my feet and held my
hands up at my sides to show the mother we meant no harm. The little blue
dragon looked up at the huge beast in front of him, and I knew it was an
attempt to explain to her that we were no threat.
The mother dragon narrowed her eyes at me again, but then she gave
me a slight nod, and I knew she was going to allow us to leave.
“Kas, Asta,” I whispered. “Slowly get to your feet. Blar, Uffe, Inger,
come closer to me.”
The girls did as I commanded, and they stood up slowly as the mother
dragon watched all of us.
“Back up toward the woods,” I instructed my crew.
The girls began to back up slowly, and I waited until they were behind
me before I moved at all. Inger and Uffe followed my directions as well, but
Blar only backed up until he was in line with me, then he paused and waited
for me to move. I knew if I ordered him to go that he would, but I also knew
all he wanted to do was protect me, so I allowed him to stay there.
Once the girls and the twins were behind us, I carefully nodded to the
large female before I started to back myself up into the woods. She kept her
eyes on me until I disappeared through the trees and we could no longer see
each other. It was only then that I managed to take a full, deep breath for the first time since she’d spotted us.
After I exhaled, I felt a cool hand on my arm, and I turned around to
see Kas and Asta. Uffe was on the blonde’s shoulder, and Inger sat on the elf
girl’s shoulder, and all four of them looked at me with huge eyes filled with
concern.
“Rath,” Kas breathed. “I’m so sorry, I--”
Before she could finish, I pulled her into a hug, and Asta, too. The
twins each nuzzled my cheeks, and Blar climbed up my back to be a part of
the affectionate moment as well.
“It’s alright,” I told the blonde sorceress after I pulled away. “You did
nothing wrong.”
“It was my fault she saw us,” Kas whispered.
“I believe she knew we were there already,” I told her. “I think she was
scared.”
“She was angry we were there,” Asta said, and she looked at me with
yellow eyes that were still filled with fear.
I smiled softly at Asta, then led us all back toward the portal as I
spoke.
“She didn’t want to harm us,” I assured the elf girl.
“How do you know?” she questioned.
“I could sense how she felt.” I shrugged.
“Could you communicate with her?” Kas asked, and her face was pale
with shock when she whipped around to stare at me.
“No,” I said, and I pursed my lips. “And I don’t think she could feel
what I felt, but I could definitely sense how she was feeling.”
“She wasn’t angry?” Asta asked.
“Not particularly,” I said. “She was somewhat angry, but I think she
was more scared than anything, though she hid it well.”
“Scared?” Kas repeated, and her blonde eyebrows pulled together.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“What was she scared of?” the sorceress asked.
“The dragon trade,” Asta answered in a small voice before I had a
chance to.
“Right,” I agreed. “She didn’t want us to try and take her babies.”
“Only a fool would try to steal babies from a fully-grown dragon,” Kas
said with a shake of her head. “Surely, even the dragon capturers can’t be that
stupid.”
“I don’t know how they capture dragons,” Asta said, and a frown
marred her beautiful face. “But if that mother was scared, then someone may have already tried to take her babies.”
“That was my thought as well,” I agreed. “She was scared for a reason,
and that is the only reason I can think of.”
“That’s so sad,” Kas whispered.
“I know,” I said and shoo
k my head.
“Do you think you could learn to talk to them?” the sorceress asked
then, and she seemed to perk up at the idea.
“You were able to talk to the wolf,” Asta reminded me.
“That was why I thought I could,” I sighed. “But I tried with the
mother, and she didn’t seem to hear me.”
“Hm,” Kas hummed, and her violet eyes narrowed as she thought.
“Maybe we can do some research into it.”
“Some powerful light elves are able to communicate with the birds and
insects,” Asta informed us. “But it’s not so much a conversation as it is them
being able to give them suggestions to do things.”
“If you’re the first person to ever truly bond with a dragon, though,”
Kas said with a frown, “then this could take some trial and error.”
“It could not even be possible,” I pointed out.
“That’s true, too,” the blonde sighed. “But we have to try.”
I only nodded then. I’d tried with the mother and nothing had
happened. The wolf had been different somehow. I didn’t know how he
spoke to me, but he made some sort of insinuation that we shared the same
father, which was incredibly strange. If he wasn’t lying, then maybe that was
the reason we were able to communicate. Or maybe the wolf could
communicate with any other creatures it desired, and I wasn’t special at all.
There were millions of possibilities, but all of this magic stuff was so new to
me I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
I wouldn’t deter Kas, though. If she wanted to try and do research into
talking to dragons, I felt that was a worthy cause. It could be a dead end, but
it could also lead us to a great discovery. There was no telling which it would
be, but I wouldn’t take the chance of missing out on something great because
I didn’t try in the first place.
Besides, Kas liked to keep busy and learn new spells, and it gave her
something to do while the dragons and I continued our training.
We reached the portal and Kas, Asta, and the twins hopped through
first, but before I stepped through, I leaned down and looked at Blar in his
bright blue eyes.
“Thank you,” I told him with a soft smile, and the little dragon smiled
back at me. “I know you wanted to protect me back there, but remember, it’s
my job to protect you, too.”
Blar nodded, and I reached down to scratch him under his chin. He
may not have been in my life for very long, but I knew we would be bonded
forever. Sometimes I felt as though we were already one creature. I didn’t
have to think about his thoughts or feelings, they just came to me as clearly
as my own did, so it wasn’t like the mother dragon where I had to focus to
feel her energy. With Blar, we were just connected, it was as simple as that,
and I knew he could feel my gratitude, but also my own drive to protect him
just as clearly as I’d sensed his drive to protect me back on the edge of
Dragon Valley.
After a good under the chin scratch, he and I hopped through the portal
and came out on the other side. Kas, Asta, and the twins waited for us a few
feet away, and the twins were already on their makeshift leashes.
I looked around then and saw the countryside was full of people today.
I couldn’t blame them, it was a nice day, perfect to soak up some sunshine,
and it was already midafternoon. We’d spent several hours in Asta’s home
world, and between that and traveling to the countryside, most of the day was
already gone.
Luckily, everyone seemed to be in their own worlds, and none of them
noticed us as we came back through the portal.
There was a large family in the middle of the countryside, and the
mother and father worked on making food and shouted at the children to stay
close as they ran all around them. Couples were also scattered around the countryside, and I saw even some lone individuals with dogs or some who sat
out and read books in the sunshine.
It really was a beautiful day, and I was grateful to be home.
I never thought of dragons as bloodthirsty creatures, and I still didn’t,
but our encounter with that mother dragon had made me aware of just how
careful I needed to be with them. Dragons had been oppressed for long
enough, and they were smart enough to understand and remember things that
happened to them. The Aesir might not remember Vinrar and the destruction
he caused, but I knew some of the dragons would, and it was probably
common knowledge that was passed down from generation to generation.
On top of that, I wondered if there was a dragon trade in Asta’s home
world. If there was, we needed to do something to stop it.
The council wanted to bring back dragons to Asgard, and I knew they
respected the beings, so I wondered if Blar could prove himself and if we
could assist with their mission, if they would assist with ours. I didn’t like
having to wait and let any more dragons get captured, but Blar was still an
infant, and since I couldn’t speak to the older dragons to rally them together,
at this moment I didn’t think I had another choice.
If we could assist with the fight against the frost giants, then maybe the
council would give us troops and support the cause to save the dragons and end the dragon trade.
That still meant Blar needed to continue his training, and he’d need to
beat whatever creatures the council was able to find to get him to fight. The
dragon father in me wished I could know what creatures they were ahead of
time, but the fighter in me knew that wouldn’t be fair. You didn’t always
know what you were going up against, so it was important to be prepared for
anything and any enemy.
“Rath,” Kas said, and her voice drew me out of my thoughts.
“Mmm?” I asked, and I realized then the two women were facing away
from me, ready to head back to the house.
“Are you coming?” Asta asked, but she looked slightly concerned.
“Yeah,” I said, and I blew out a long breath. “Sorry, I was just
thinking.”
“About what?” Kas questioned as we started to walk back toward
home.
“I was thinking about the battle the council wants Blar to do,” I
explained.
“Are you concerned?” Asta asked, and her yellow eyes were soft and
understanding as she looked at me.
“A bit,” I admitted. “He’s still just a baby.”
Blar bumped into my leg then, and when I looked down, the little blue
dragon glared at me as if he were insulted by the truth.
“Alright,” I chuckled. “You’re not just a baby, but you’re still growing.
Is that better?”
The little reptile narrowed his eyes slightly, but then he looked ahead
and didn’t bump me again, so I knew he was at least semi pleased with that
description.
“I’m going to add an extra strong protection spell on him,” Kas said,
and she put her hand on my shoulder.
“I know,” I sighed.
“And the council agreed to halt the battle if anything went wrong,”
Asta reminded me.
“That’s true,” I agreed with a nod. “We just have a lot more training to
do.”
“I find it sweet you care so deeply for him,” Asta giggled.
“Yeah,” Kas said. “You’ll do great, I think you’re just shook up from
our encounter with the mother dragon.”
“You’re probably right,” I told her, but I knew that wasn’t it. Thinking
about the dragon trade had me as fearful as the mother dragon we’d seen
earlier. I hadn’t given birth to Blar or the twins, but they were mine just the same, and I couldn’t imagine losing them in such a terrible way.
The thought only made me much more determined to get Blar trained
and ready for the battle. We needed to win this so we could bring dragons
back to Asgard.
We were all quiet as we made our way back home. The sun began to
dip below the horizon as we walked, and once we arrived, Kas went and
grabbed one of her books to do some research while Asta grabbed a basket
and headed over to the garden to grab some things for dinner. Even though
she didn’t know how to prepare most of the vegetables, she liked being in the
garden and picking them out. I suspected it was part of her nature as an elf,
like she wanted to be close to the natural things around her.
While the girls got to work, the dragons lined up in the grass and
waited for me.
“You all want to train?” I asked curiously, and they all nodded eagerly.
I figured they must be excited to try out some of the moves they’d seen the
other dragons do while we were out. The sun was still making its way
downward, so we had a little bit of daylight left, and I figured we might as
well use it.
I decided we would continue to work on flying. Inger did very well,
and she could practice some of the more advanced moves we’d seen earlier, like when the baby used its wings to propel itself so it could dive through the
air. Meanwhile, I worked with Blar and Uffe more on general flying skills.
Blar was getting the hang of it, but he still needed more practice, and Uffe
was in desperate need of more basic instruction.
The little red boy twin didn’t have the advantage his sister had, but
flying would come in handy for him a lot during battle, and it was a skill he
would need to develop, no matter how difficult it might be.
I instructed Inger to practice dives and dodges in the air, and I had Blar
practice flying in a continuous circle without lowering his feet to the ground
at all.
While they did that, I pushed Uffe to try and lift off the ground for as