But, she thought, one of the irritations of being Queen was having to continually deal with less brilliant subjects.
"I hoped I'd find you here, Majesty," Fastarr said while making a smooth landing beside her.
"Ah, you come here as Warlord instead of son," she said. "I can always tell because I'm Majesty when you want to talk policy and Mother when you are just being my son. So, what business does the Warlord need to speak to his Queen about?"
"I suppose your observation is correct, Mother, so, today, I address you as both because today I ask you as son and Warlord if you have lied to both hatchlings and subjects for more than three centuries," he said. She could hear, not challenge, but deep sadness in his voice.
"What are you asking, Fastarr? What do you think that I've lied about; what would the Queen possibly need to lie about?"
"I've been exploring so I could begin planning the attacks against the other dragons and the humans. I went alone, and hopefully unseen, into territory where I haven't ventured since before I was an adult and we retreated to the northern pole. Several times, I had to hide when groups of dragons or dragons with riders, and twice one human and one dragon, came near. My hiding place was always close enough that I could overhear anything said."
"Don't tell me," she interrupted him, "that everyone is still spending their time talking about me, even though they think I'm dead. Well, maybe they dream that the greatest of dragons be resurrected to right the wreck they have made of everything."
"No, Mother, what they were talking about was the extinction of our species and how your last war had caused too many dragon deaths in the reproductive age-group and escalated the timeframe of extinction. I have to know your side of this story, Mother. I have to know your reasons, Majesty."
Genette had been studying her son's face, posture, and voice while he spoke to determine, if she could, what his feelings about this really were. When he finished speaking, she said, "Fastarr, as your Queen, I don't need to answer your accusation or explain my reasons for any decisions that I've made in that capacity. As a mother, I will answer my son's questions and explain my reasons, but not here on the summit. I'll meet you in my chambers after sunset."
She flew off then, leaving him standing alone. She knew that she needed to prepare carefully for her talk with her son, or else she would face exiling both son and Warlord this very night. She would really hate to do such a thing, but if she had to, the next oldest son, Callus, would certainly make a more compliant Warlord. But, she worried, it might reflect badly on her if her oldest hatchling had to be exiled; others might think her less than the perfect mother, which, of course, she had been.
Back in her cavern, she prepared her answers for Fastarr while she cleaned herself and put on some of the soft scents she had worn when he was small, then sprayed the scents throughout the cavern. On the shelf before her mirror, she placed the wooden music maker given to her long ago by a besotted Red. She had left it in Fastarr's cavern when he was small. Now, she wound it tightly to play softly in the background of their conversation.
Just as the sun went down, Fastarr called from her entry chamber for permission to enter her cavern.
"I was waiting for you, son," she called back sweetly, "of course, you can just walk in."
"Good evening, Mother," he said walking into the cavern. "You look lovely as always."
Well, Genette thought, as least he looked a lot calmer and loving than he had on the summit.
"Do you want to start right away with my side of this tale you've brought me?" she asked in what she hoped was a playfully loving voice.
"Yes," he replied reclining on the nearest smoothed boulder.
She lowered herself on the place nearest him and said, "All right, about five centuries ago I was called to meet with the other three queens. At that meeting, Queen Cholae and Queen Hiathe told Queen Mirrim of the Reds and I that two of their scientists had found evidence that made them believe that the dragons were becoming extinct. At first, truly, I felt a little frightened, but after I looked over their evidence I didn't believe that they had any proof at all that we were going extinct, but Queen Mirrim did.
"The other three," she continued, "were in a panic, wanting to tell all our subjects that we were a dying species and start giving away all our knowledge to those human animals, like they would know what to do with it. So, since I am the Black Queen, I simply said no. I told them we needed much more research, done very quietly, on what had been causing the recent decline in our population and then do more research for finding a solution for whatever was causing it. They had to do what I said."
"Let me ask you, Mother," Fastarr interrupted her, "do you now believe that we are going to become extinct since in the last three hundred years the Blacks have only had a hundred and eighteen live hatchlings and the other dragon races about the same?"
"I don't believe we're going extinct. I think there's an answer out there. The Blacks have never been great at science, but I've got my two best in science studying our decline in population. I'm sure they'll come up with the solution soon.
"Now, to go on with my side of this," she said as sweetly as she could after being interrupted. "The other queens did as they were told and didn't tell their subjects that crazy theory about us becoming extinct, but they did start, ever so slowly, trying, with little success, to teach the humans.
"Of course," she said, her voice less pleasant, "at the time, I just thought, 'Well let them waste their time if they want to.' Soon, however, it became a problem for the Blacks. Humans came into our territory then and started building their villages and asking us to teach them things and help them out. I didn't want us to waste our time with them, so I had the humans ordered out of our territory. They didn't leave, so I had some of them killed.
"Then, Queen Mirrim asked if she could send over some of her Reds and let them escort the remaining humans out of our territory. I said yes; of course, I wasn't planning to waste time killing humans as long as they stayed away. I did nothing wrong, Fastarr. I just worked for the survival of my subjects like any Queen should."
"Then how did the war between us and the other dragons start?" her son asked, "and why did you retreat?"
"The Reds didn't just escort the humans out of our territory; they and the Blues and Greens decided they should patrol the borders of our territory 'to protect' the humans. Of course, that also meant our movements were monitored. It was absurd; I was the highest of the Queens and could counter the commands of the other Queens. I tried to be reasonable with them. I went alone to call a meeting with the other Queens; I even answered one of the Greens patrolling our border about where I was going. I commanded the other Queens to remove their subjects from our borders, but they told me I was no longer a part of the Queens' Council. So, I went home, and we removed them ourselves. Foolishly, the other three Queens declared war on us just because they didn't save their own subjects by removing them from our border."
She fell silent looking at Fastarr to watch his eyes to determine how he was accepting her story. She couldn't tell; his eyes seemed almost flat.
Suddenly, he said, "That doesn't explain why while the war was going on, you retreated to the frozen North and have kept us here all these years, or why you assume the others think we're dead?"
"I did it to save the other dragons. They had lost many more adults than us, so I had to save them. I was still in my heart the Queen with the final decision. As a species, we had always avoided the far north because we thought the environment too difficult for survival, but I knew the Blacks were the strongest and could survive. I knew the other dragons, assuming the North a deadly environment, would believe we never returned because we had died here."
"So, Mother," Fastarr interrupted her again, "why do you want to go to war again now if our move here was to save the other dragons? Why would you want to kill them? Are you not still the final decision maker for all dragons in your heart?"
"I will tell you once my reasons," she said impatientl
y, "and then I don't want you to ever question my decisions again. The other dragons have let themselves sink to the level of pets to the human animals who now ride their backs like dragons were no more than pack animals. So, I will kill them all, and the magnificent Blacks will cover the planet, and my descendants will be the only Queens and Warlords with absolute rule."
She saw Fastarr's eyes change; they went from flat to sad, very sad, as she finished speaking. Then he said softly, "I'm sorry, Mother. I won't tell your secrets, but I won't participate in such a war, a war that could totally destroy all four races plus another species. I just can't do it, and I'm begging you not to."
"Then I'm sorry, too," she said, even though she wasn't really. "I'll have to exile you. I want you to leave tonight without speaking to anyone. Your refusal to obey your Queen's command is treason, and I could have you executed, but you're my son so leave tonight and live. If you're still here in the morning, I will order your execution."
She watched him rise and leave her cavern without a backward glance. Well, she thought, it'll be much easier to deal with Callus as Warlord. Tomorrow, she would call a gathering and announce that Fastarr was leaving on a dangerous mission, and that in his absence, his brother Callus would act as Warlord.
~*~
Osane had been waiting in her brother's cavern since he had told her all that he had discovered for himself and that he was on his way to their mother's cavern to get her side of things. She knew her mother, knew she would never back down to reason; she just wanted to know what Fastarr was going to do before she left the Ice Caves forever.
Finally, she heard him coming. When he stepped into his cavern, she was appalled at how sad, beaten, and desperate he looked.
"Oh, Fastarr, was it so very horrible?" she asked, reaching forward to touch him in sympathy. She froze when he moved back to avoid her touch.
"You mustn't speak to me. You might get exiled along with me. I'm just grabbing my things and leaving," he said tersely.
"Well, that's wonderful for me. I've already got my pouch here and was leaving as soon as I saw you one more time. Now, I won't have to go alone," she said as cheerfully as she could manage under the strain of seeing his unhappiness.
"Do you have any idea, then, where an exiled Warlord might be welcome?" His voice held only despair.
"It just so happens that I do, brother," she answered him. "So grab your stuff and let's get out of here as fast as we can."
She watched her brother spin about, throw some things in his pouch, then come stand beside her waiting, so she turned and walked out of his now ex-cavern and headed straight for a large crevice that led out to the western side of the mountain.
When she reached the outside she leapt into the night sky and curved her flight to go directly south. She watched Fastarr as he flew along beside her, wondering how he was going to react to the next news she had to give him. She decided that she wouldn't try to talk to him in the air, but would wait until they were in warmer climate and then land for a while to rest and talk.
About two hours later, she started her decent to a small rocky area on a low hill where they could land. Fastarr landed almost as she did, looked around, turned to her and spoke, "This is where I'll be welcome? My, you certainly had fine accommodations planned."
She couldn't keep herself from laughing, but she managed to say, "We're just resting here a minute so that I can talk to you."
She saw him look at her questioningly. Well, she thought, I might as well get this over with. "I'm hoping when you hear what I have to say that you'll still want to come with me. You know how I told you that I'd been seeing Rafe for a while; the truth is, we've been mated for about four decades. We have a small cave where we secretly stay together sometimes, and last year we finally had a hatchling that lived, a female."
She watched his eyes widen with amazement as she spoke, then he blurted out, "Osane, that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you, but I'm not sure that the former Warlord of the Blacks will be welcome in the Reds' territory."
"Didn't you hear the part about us having a small cave in secret. Our cave isn't in any of the dragons' territories. It's southwest of here on a small island with a huge volcanic mountain that has some caves. We've been taking turns staying there for just over a year with little time together so that one of us would always be with our daughter."
"Rafe will be there?"
"Yes," she said, "but he'll have to leave soon after we get there, so he won't be missed, but I want you two to talk some before he leaves. I'm not asking you to give away any of mother's secret plans. I just want you two to start becoming friends."
"All right, Osane," he said, "I'm coming with you to meet my niece and the first new hatchling I've seen in over seventy years, but I'm not sure that Rafe and I will become friends."
"Just try, please, for me," she said and leapt into the air anxious to be home with Rafe and her daughter.
After what seemed like forever to her, the island of her home came in sight, and she sped up so she could soon begin her descent. She noticed that Fastarr dropped a little ways back behind her; she hoped he wouldn't turn around and leave her.
She landed on a ledge on the side of the mountain near her cave's entrance, and turned to see if Fastarr was still coming. He was still many miles away, but still coming toward her.
When he finally landed, she asked, "Why did you drop so far behind me?"
"I was trying to give you a few minutes alone with your family and give you time to prepare Rafe for my imminent arrival before I actually showed up. So, I guess let's just go surprise him."
She turned and walked through the entrance of the cave with her brother close behind. She reveled in the look of happy love on Rafe's face when he first saw her, then watched that expression turn wary when he saw Fastarr behind her.
"Rafe, Fastarr has been exiled by Mother for refusing to go to war with the other dragons and the humans. I've brought him here to stay with us," she said quickly.
"Rafe," her brother said just as quickly, "I understand if you don't want me here, and I'll leave if that's the case, but I would like to meet my niece before I go."
Osane felt immensely relieved as soon as she saw Rafe's body relax. He was fine with Fastarr coming with her and she saw that her brother would be welcome.
"She's right here hiding behind me," Rafe said. "She's never seen anyone but Osane and I before this. We've had to keep our relationship and her existence a secret until now." Then he moved aside so that Fastarr could see his niece.
"She's a Black," her brother exclaimed. "That's wonderful! Sorry, Rafe, I didn't mean that the way it sounded. For some reason, I had imagined her a Red."
"I guess you should have asked, or I should have told you what she looked like," Osane said laughing.
"Well, one of us also forgot to cover her name. So what is my niece's name?" Fastarr asked.
"It's Genette," Rafe answered.
Fastarr turned and looked at her with painful confusion on his face, so she answered that look, "I do love Mother, Fastarr, just as you do. Because I can't condone her actions and her vanity and pride anymore doesn't change that."
~*~
Even though he hated every time he had to leave Osane and their daughter, Rafe was glad to see the village where Naomi lived coming into sight. He enjoyed teaching her, and she often made him laugh in pure delight with her observations about everything. She looked at life with nonjudgment and an open, curious mind, mostly though, she saw the world through the kindness in her thoughts.
He landed in the valley of wheat outside the village where they always met and sat down to wait for her. The top of her head had just appeared above the closest knoll when one of the young Blue males he didn't know flew in and landed beside him.
"Rafe?" the Blue asked.
"I am Rafe," he said.
"I was sent to tell you that we have heard from Queen Genette's sister Freyja that Queen Genette has changed her plans, and the Blacks plan to attack this vil
lage in force in twenty more dawns. The three other Queens, all adult dragons, and all the dragon riders will meet you here before daybreak on that day. The Queens hope that we can defeat the Blacks if we are all united in one battle, but I think it will be very close indeed."
"Rafe?" He turned at the sound of Naomi's terrified voice and patted her gently on the head.
"Don't worry, young Naomi, or you young warrior," he said, turning to the young Blue. Now speaking to the Blue, he said, "Suggest to the Queens that they let all the humans know what will happen and ask all the human warriors to come to this valley in three days with their horses and weapons along with all the dragons and dragon riders who will fight so that we can prepare. We will give the Black Queen a reception she never expected."
"I will, Rafe," he answered and leapt into the air.
"Naomi," Rafe turned back to her. "I need for you to go to the other dragons and dragon riders of this village and the warriors of your village and ask them to meet me here in this valley tomorrow when the sun is just past mid-way in the sky."
"Where are you going?" Naomi asked, the fear still in her voice.
"I'm going home to tell Osane what is happening and see my daughter. I'll be back tomorrow."
"Okay," she said and reached upward trying without success to give him one of those hugs humans did before she turned and ran back toward the village.
Rafe started flying back the way he had come less than two hours earlier, wondering what he would say to Osane, wondering if after tomorrow morning he would ever see her or his daughter again. It seemed he had only that one thought and blinked his eyes before his island home was in sight.
"Rafe!" Osane said alarmed when he walked into their cave. "Is something wrong? Why have you returned?"
After Rafe told her and Fastarr of the message the Blue had brought him and of the plans for one battle to end a war that had never begun, he said, "I came back to tell you what will happen and to visit with my daughter until morning. Then, I must return to make ready for battle."
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