Dragon Child

Reunited

Rhzvanzin cringed as the camp entered the city, the entire city was down right disgusting and horrifying everywhere, he looked.

The streets where covered with trash and sewage with dragons with torn clothing and hide sitting in it. The buildings where rotting and had countless gaps between the boards that would hardly make them suitable shelter. The dragons in the buildings would sit in front of their construct and chase away any other dragon that came close, even some tiny little dragons that where practically skin drawn over bones.

Rhzvanzin took the food he had been given for the day and walked over to one of the starving younglings. The youngling cringed back away from him as he drew near but was too weak to run. Rhzvanzin bent down and handed the youngling his day’s rations causing the child to smile but remain silent.

The youngling slowly started to eat the salted meats as Rhzvanzin wrapped his shirt around the youngling. Several stronger younglings came to try to take these things from the youngling in Rhzvanzin’s arms, but they backed off when Rhzvanzin glared at them from the corner of his eyes. Rhzvanzin was content to wait until the had finished eating but the knight was not.

“Rhzvanzin!” the knight barked, “leave that urchin alone! It’s just a waste of food and time. Come we have more important people to see.”

The knight flinched back as Rhzvanzin spun to glare at the knight with rage creeping into his eyes.

“There none more important than a youngling,” Rhzvanzin hissed angrily, “If you that blind I pity you.”

The entire camp seemed taken aback by Rhzvanzin’s statement, though the knight only seemed stunned that someone would talk back to him. The knight regained his composure and let his anger show on his face as he road towards Rhzvanzin.

“If you will not leave the street rat then I will simply chase it away,” the knight growled, “go on you scat.”

The child was too scared to move from Rhzvanzin’s arms and simply cowered when the knight spoke. The knight growled and lifted the sword high in preparation to strike the child. Before he could bring the blade down, he was lifted into the air by his wrist. Rhzvanzin’s face hovered in front of him and it was contorted with furry and starting to turn a deep crimson.

“Never,” Rhzvanzin hissed so quietly that the knight could only just hear him, “try that again or you be my first murder.”

Rhzvanzin dropped the knight back onto his horse, walked over to the child, and asked if it was ok. The child simply nodded before it started to hobble away. The child stopped and turned to say, “Thank you.”

Rhzvanzin smiled and walked back to his place in line before turning to look at the seething knight. The knight grunted and turned his horse to march down the street towards the large construct in the center of town. The entire camp breathed a sigh of relief as the knight moved off.

“That was very noble and stupid of you,” Sara whispered to Rhzvanzin.

“Why?” Rhzvanzin asked cocking his head a bit.

“Because you challenged your superior’s direct order and even came close to attacking him.” James growled from behind him, “You could have been thrown out of the army you joined in because of that.”

Rhzvanzin shrugged and said, “Then find dragons my way.”

“Why are you so eager to find dragons?” Josh asked.

Rhzvanzin just said, “Home. Friends.”

Everyone who had been following the conversation knew exactly what Rhzvanzin meant, they had all heard the rumors of dragons attacking villages. Rhzvanzin must have had his home attacked by dragons and lost his friends to the attack and sought revenge.

The camp followed the knight into a richer part of town that had many nobles walking the street and plump child walking around with there noses in the air. Rhzvanzin marveled at just how shallow and uncaring this race of strange dragons seemed to be. If Rhzvanzin did not know better, he would say that they where all humans. However, he had seen humans and knew that they looked nothing like this.

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Soon the group had reached the castle and the knight shouted something up to the men on the walls. The men waited and the massive drawbridge slowly clanked down to admit them. Once the bridge hit the ground with a loud 'Thump', the knight signaled for the camp to move forward.

A small man met them inside the gate and told them that he would guide them to their sleeping quarters. The small man lead the group to a part of the castle called the barracks and opened the door saying that this was where they would sleep.

“The great hall is straight through those doors over there,” the man said in a dull voice as he pointed toward a large set of doors on the castle, “meal times are at sun up, noon, and sun down.”

“Why don’t you all go in and set up your bunks for the night before you head to supper,” the knight said nonchalantly.

The men of the camp and Watchman clan walked into the barracks and started setting their hoards near something Sara told him where beds. Rhzvanzin started to walk in next to Sara to pick out a place to sleep when the knight laid a hand on his shoulder.

“No,” the knight said, “you and Captain Sara will not be sleeping in there Rhzvanzin. You will be sleeping in the castle with me.”

“Why?” Rhzvanzin and Sara asked almost simultaneously.

“Because you are both my lieutenants,” the knight said simply, “Sara because she has experience in leading people and you because you are my best fighter and the men respect and fear you.”

“Come,” the small man said turning to the castle.

The group entered the castle and Rhzvanzin smiled and sighed a bit. The long twisting hallways of the castle where a welcome change from the wooden walls filled with woe and pride in the city. He almost would have thought himself back in the clan hold if not for the fact this was not a natural tunnel and the smell of the strange dragons was still here though not as strong as it had been in the city.

The small man turned to face them as several other strange dragons stepped forward and watched the group. Rhzvanzin tensed expecting an attack from these dragons.

“You shall be prepared to see the duke,” the small man said, “you will be escorted to your rooms and made ready. He will be ready for you in two candles.”

Sara made a motion for Rhzvanzin to with the strange dragons so he knew it was not an attack. He followed two of the dragons up a log staircase and they lead him to a moderate sized cave with a much larger bed than the one he saw in the barracks.

The dragons lead him to a small tub of water and asked, “Shall we wash you or will you wash yourself?”

Rhzvanzin was not sure he understood the question but he did wish to be alone and said, “Myself.”

The two strange dragons bowed and left the cave. Rhzvanzin studied the cave he had been given and nosed around it to see if anyone else was in here. Rhzvanzin smelled no one so he quickly dropped to all fours and took off his clothing.

It felt good to be free of all of the restrictions that Sara and the other strange dragons had set on him. He walked over to the tub of water and hopped in, causing a great splash as he did so. Rhzvanzin submerged himself as much as he could before he emerged from the tub and shook himself dry with a laugh.

He wandered over to the bed and tried to find a parting in the frilly curtains that hung around the bed. Unable to find the parting, Rhzvanzin made a new one with his claws, if fact he decided to make two. Rhzvanzin observed the bed and noticed that it was soft, though rather flat and moldable. He figured this was because dragons each had a preferred nest shape and they where to make there own. Rhzvanzin turned the moldable parts of the bed into a proper nest and curled up in it to make sure he had shaped it right.

Rhzvanzin had just finished making everything the way he liked it when there came a knock on the door. Rhzvanzin quickly donned the clothing Sara had given him before he answered the door, except he forgot the shirt. He got back onto two legs and opened the door.

The two dragons from earlier where back with a large assortment of random objects.

“Milord,” one of them bowed, “we are here to make sure that you are presentable to the duke as Sir Knight has asked us.”

“Ok,” Rhzvanzin said, “Do as he asked.”

“Thank you Milord” the other said bowing, “Will you please sit down.”

“Ok,” Rhzvanzin said a bit confused.

The two women descended on him forcing him into oddly colored pants and multiple shirts and vestments. They ran things through his soft scales yanking and pulling on them and making Rhzvanzin’s head hurt. They even stuck strange brushes in his mouth and rubbed cloths along his face. When they tried to cut his soft scales and his claws however, Rhzvanzin drew the line.

“No,” Rhzvanzin hissed as he jumped away from the two dragons pulling them of their feet.

“But Sir!” one of the dragons said aghast, “We must make you look presentable to the duke!”

“I am fine as I am now,” Rhzvanzin growled, “Return when it is time to meet this duke.”

“But how will you wear your gloves and boots with such long nails?" the other maid asked, "at least let us tie your hair into a tail!”

“Give me tail and leave the gloves and boots," Rhzvanzin said still eyeing the two, "I shall apply them the way I do.”

The two women took his soft scales and tied them into a braid before leaving two articles of clothing he had never seen before. The women bowed themselves out and closed the door.

Rhzvanzin felt his soft scales and sighed, they had made them shaped like a tail but they hadn't given him a tail which was disappointing. Rhzvanzin looked at the gloves and knew instantly that they where to go on his foreclaws, but the fingers closed over so he could not fit his claws through. Rhzvanzin solved that problem by biting the end off the gloves before he slid his foreclaws through, he noted that they tasted like dry cow skin.

The boots where more of a problem to get on though, not only did the end not allow his talons through, the bottom made it hard to get his talons in. Rhzvanzin tore off the bottom of the boots then slipped his hideclaws into the boot before he tore off the toes of the boot. Rhzvanzin then put the bottom of the boots back in place before using strips of cloth that he had used to make his nest to tie them back on.

Rhzvanzin noticed that there was a very reflective peace of glass in on part of his cave. He looked at himself in it and thought he looked rather strange with these clothes on him. He wondered why all these clothes where suppose to make him presentable to this duke dragon.

Then Rhzvanzin noticed that the shirts where very itchy on his chest. Rhzvanzin started to scratch at the itches with both his fore and hindclaws until the itch finally faded. When Rhzvanzin looked at himself again he noticed that he had shredded most of the shirt material over his chest and guts, a few shreds of fabric still clung to his shirt’s sides. Rhzvanzin thought he rather liked his shirts better this way and thought his soft scales looked better the way he wore it.
Rhzvanzin had just finished untangling his softscales when a knock came from the door. Rhzvanzin opened it and noticed that it was the two dragons from earlier and that they had paled their hides considerably. The shoved the door open and started fussing over Rhzvanzin.

“He’s shredded his shirts and destroyed his boots and gloves!” one of them screeched.

“He messed his hair back up to and we don’t have much time left to clean him up,” the other babbled, “Just straighten out his hair while we hurry him down stairs.”

The two women grabbed Rhzvanzin’s foreclaws and dragged him out of the room hurrying him down the stairs with one of them yanking at his soft scales. They stopped in front of a large set of doors and stopped him.

“Now just wait here Milord,” one of the women said, “When they call you name go in and stand next to sir knight. Do you understand?”

Rhzvanzin nodded and waited by the door as the two women scurried off without another word. Rhzvanzin sat down, looked at the large door, and waited until he heard his name called.

Rhzvanzin had been waiting for only a minute before heard someone say loudly, “My first Lieutenant, Sara Savatori.”

Rhzvanzin heard a soft applause that lasted for a minute and waited until the same voice said, “And my second Lieutenant the mighty Rhzvanzin!”

Rhzvanzin shoved on the large doors in front of him and walked into a large well-lit cave filled with hundreds of strange dragons and long tables laiddened with food.

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Sara was not especially happy with what the grooming women had put her in for being presentable to the duke. As soon as the women had left, she changed into her Captain’s uniform, straightened out her hair, and clipped her sword onto her sword belt. The women glared at her when they returned to escort her down to the duke but said nothing.

Sara waited in front of the large doors that she knew lead to the grand hall and waited. When the knight announced her name the doors where slowly open by two burly guards. The crowd of solders and noblemen cheered and clapped her welcome as she walked up to the knight who stood before the duke.

The knight scowled at her as she stood next to him and he whispered, “What happened to the dress I sent to you?”

“Didn’t like it much,” Sara whispered back, “I decided to wear my own clothes.”

The knight continued to scowl for a moment before he turned his attention back to the duke and said loudly, “And my second Lieutenant the mighty Rhzvanzin!”

There was a gasped at the sound of two massive doors being knocked nearly off their hinges by a tremendous force. Sara turned to look and saw that the two guards who where suppose to open the doors had hardly managed to jump clear of the speeding doors. Sara almost smiled at the look of shock on their faces.

Sara failed to hide her smile as she saw how Rhzvanzin looked and the state of the clothes he wore. It was obvious that the knight had planned to make Rhzvanzin look very clean and civilized with the clothes he wore. Nevertheless, Rhzvanzin had ruined it quiet thoroughly.

Rhzvanzin had torn the front of his shirts down to his skin, from scratching an itch most likely. The tears in his shirt showed his bronze and scarred skin underneath. His long while hair had been straightened out but still hung freely from his head. The state of his gloves and boots made Sara chuckle and the knight’s face purple. It seemed as though Rhzvanzin had bitten the end of each finger off his gloves so that he could wear them with his long nails. He had done something similar with his boots, only it looked like he had also ripped off his soles and reattached them using pieces of cloth he’d found.

This mixed with Rhzvanzin’s seven foot height and deep bronze skin showed Rhzvanzin more or less as what he was. A wild child bound loosely by the ties of civilization. The knight continued to glare at Rhzvanzin before he took several deep breaths and turned back to the duke.

“These are my two Lieutenants your highness.” the knight said bowing.

The duke was a man nearly as monstrous as Rhzvanzin with short well-mannered red hair. The man had a large scar across his left eye and had a very intimidating glare. At the moment, he was glaring at Rhzvanzin and Rhzvanzin was looking him back in the eyes with a curious look on his face.

After nearly five minutes of mounting tension the duke asked, without taking his eyes off Rhzvanzin, “Why is this man dressed the way he is and where is his weapon.”

The knight sighed and said, “He is a wild child your highness, he probably shredded the clothes I gave him and he has no weapons.”

“Then how do you know he won’t turn on you or will even fight for you?” the duke asked still glaring at Rhzvanzin.

“Because he has already proven himself on both accounts,” Sara said causing both the knight and duke to turn their attentions to her, “He has saved men in the camp from being crushed under a tree and almost single handedly killed an entire group of thieves that had trapped the camp with avalanches. He dose not carry a weapon because he is one.”

The knight’s face purpled again and the duke glared down at Sara before asking her, “Why, Sara Savatori, have you joined the knight on his quest to slay a dragon?”

“Because,” Sara said trying not to sound nervous, “Several people under my command have joined this group and I intend to make sure that they come home safely.”

The duke nodded and turned back to Rhzvanzin and asked, “Rhzvanzin wild child, why have you joined in this quest to slay dragons?”

Rhzvanzin said one word in response, “Home.”

The room fell silent at the sound of this one word. Many of the nobles refused to look at Rhzvanzin and the men from the camp fidgeted nervously. The duke continued to glare down at Rhzvanzin for a while as if waiting for him to continue.

When he did not, the duke leaned back in his chair and said, “Truly a noble reason to go on such a quest. In fact I can think of almost no better reason.”

The entire room let out a relieved sigh and applauded Rhzvanzin’s statement. The duke raised his goblet and told the three to sit down at their places on the table. As soon as they sat down, he called for a feast to be served to the brave men under the knight’s command.

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Hundreds of plates filled with meats, fruit, and vegetables where brought to each of the tables. Rhzvanzin eyed the roast turkey and grabbed it as soon as it was within arms reach he grabbed the entire thing and dug into it. Those from the camp who knew how Rhzvanzin ate near meat kept their hands well clear of the turkey; a few nearby nobles nearly lost some fingers.

Rhzvanzin growled when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. When the finger continued to tap him he looked up to see who it was and saw Henry.

“Looks like someone is admiring you lad,” Henry said pointing at the table the duke sat at.

Rhzvanzin looked at the table with one eye and kept the other watching the bird he had been eating. This was a trick his mother had taught him when he was young. Very few dragons knew how to do this even among the strange dragons. While it made his head hurt, Rhzvanzin used it to watch multiple things at once.

Rhzvanzin saw that there was a squat woman wearing a pink dress and pearls waving a finger at him. Rhzvanzin waved back and smiled as Sara had taught him to do and smacked Henry’s hand as he tried to take a piece of Rhzvanzin’s turkey. Rhzvanzin returned to devouring the bird before him before Henry had a chance to try to steal another piece of turkey.

When Rhzvanzin had finished eating the bird, he was full and ready to head back up to his cave. When he tried to get up Henry grabbed his arm and tried to yank him back down.
“You’re a wild child so you probably don’t know this rule,” Henry said looking Rhzvanzin in the eyes, “you are not allowed to leave the table until the duke leaves his table.”

“Mmh.” Rhzvanzin hummed in a daze from his meal as he almost always got whenever he had a large meal.

Rhzvanzin wobbled on the edge of consciousness for almost half an hour before the duke got up to leave. Rhzvanzin got up himself and staggered up to his room before he curled up in his nest and fell asleep. He thought about how nice it was to have a nest again, but wished he was sharing it with his nest with his mother or friends.

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Rhzvanzin was fitfully bored with the next two day in the castle. The duke preformed the same questioning of everyone in the camp why they wanted to **** dragons with the knight. Despite having been together for a while, Rhzvanzin had asked Sara what the word meant but she stubbornly refused to answer.

The only thing that had been even remotely interesting had been when a minor lordling had taken an interest in Rhzvanzin. Rhzvanzin had visited her room and had dinner with her over candlelit table. Due to an error in communication, Rhzvanzin had mistaken her intent and attacked in order to protect himself from what he thought was a threat. He now was not allowed anywhere near her chambers.

Nevertheless, on his third night in the castle Rhzvanzin decided to explore the city to find the origin of the true dragon scent he had detected. Rhzvanzin had locked the door to his chamber and opened a window. Scanning the ground nearly thirty feet below Rhzvanzin, nobody was nearby or looking in his direction.

Rhzvanzin jumped out his window and landed on the ground silently before sneaking towards the walls. Slipping past he guards and sentries was easy for Rhzvanzin for the guards where inattentive and usually where talking to each other. Rhzvanzin was clear of the walls and leaping onto the first roof he came to before the guards even glanced in his direction.

Rhzvanzin sniffed the wind, smelled the faint scent of a dragon on the wind, and started to head towards it leaping and flipping across the rooftops as he pleased. Rhzvanzin followed the smell back into the part of town the knight had called ‘the slums’. Rhzvanzin was surprised to find that the scent of dragon was coming from this part of town; he had figured the dragon would be in the richer part of the city.

Rhzvanzin followed the scent to a building that had practically fallen down with rot and neglect. He also noted a large hole in the roof. He hopped down into the streets near that building and asked the first strange dragon he saw who lived in that house.

“Naught but a ghost,” the wrinkly woman said, “the sprit has a hatred of all things living and kills any that enter that house. Just recently, the ghost killed some poor little girl that wandered into the house. You could hear her terror filled screams until the ghost killed her in a heartbeat. I would advise you not to go near that house if I where you.”

“I still go in that house,” Rhzvanzin said shrugging.

“Why?” the woman asked shocked.

“I smell something that help me find home again.” Rhzvanzin said as he turned to the house and opened the door.

The door creaked loudly as Rhzvanzin enter and shut the door. Rhzvanzin quickly dropped to all fours as he shut the door and sniffed the air. There was defiantly at least one dragon in here and it smelled familiar. Rhzvanzin quietly slunk off toward the place where the scent was the strongest.

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Mira had been trapped with the dragons for nearly four days now. She had managed to pick up bits and pieces of their language from their conversations by noticing what they seemed focused on at the moment. She had also taken to eating raw rats with them when they ate. She had used hand signs and jesters to ask them if they could breathe fire to cook the rats, but she think they said they where to young. Still, the rats had not tasted as bad as she had thought they would, especially certain parts of the innards. She still slept by herself at night still not comfortable with the way Drazealite glared at her, though she thought she might have a friend with Zahanort.

She was practicing her draconic language skills with Zahanort when she heard the door creek open and close. Both of the dragons hid just to the left the staircase out of the basement and started to whisper to each other.

“Smell like a human,” Drazealite said.

“No rhist gr,” Zahanort said with a few words Mira didn’t yet understand, “smells different from hisst human we grnn smelled before almost vrassht.”

“You’re right Zahanort,” Drazealite said sniffing the air, “dose smell vrassht. Rrgth gr one of those humans from the shtratak though.”

“Mira, make noise no yell, just noise.” Zahanort said to Mira.

“What we can’t zrrnth the human,” Drazealite hissed, “It might grnnth other human.”

Mira simply started to rustle the papers and other garbage around her make the noise Zahanort had asked her. Drazealite glared at her as she made the rustling noises but turned away when they heard a squeaky board stepped on. The two dragons waited patently for close to a quarter of an hour before they looked at each other nervously before they quietly started ascending the stairs.

Both of the dragons squealed as they where knocked back into the basement by a monstrous man. The man rolled around with the dragons before they separated and the man made a deep-throated noise as the two dragons stared at the man wide eyed. The man crouched on all fours and smiled at the two dragons.

“Oh come now you two,” the man said in the dragons’ language in a voice much like that of the dragons’, “I know I’ve rrhvns a bit, but you should still know my scent.”

“Rhzvanzin!” the two dragons cried in unison as they leapt towards the man.

Mira almost shouted in terror as the man leapt forward towards the dragons, the man may seem powerful, but surely he could not beat two dragons. Mira gasped as the two sides met in the air and rolled around in the litter making deep-throated noises and trashing the nest. Mira saw that they had stopped rolling around and knew that the man was dead.

Mira jumped and stared as she saw that the two dragons had wrapped their wings around the man as the man had his arms around the dragons. They all seemed to be getting along rather well and making that deep-throated noise they had made during the fight. Mira heard them all muttering to each other but could not make out the words as the three held each other and smiled happily with tears running down their faces. When the three finally stopped hugging, they all stayed near each other and talked happily with each other.

“Drazealite, Zahanort, how’d you two get here?” the man asked, “I’ve been wandering around lost looking for you and the rest of the grrn.”

“The grrn-rzsh said you had been killed by humans,” Zahanort said, “We knew that couldn’t be true so we went in looking of you. We found a Grnnshhashi and followed it a bit too far and got rnnchs in this rowlnths. We’ve been here close to a week eating rats.”

The man’s face paled when Zahanort mentioned Grnnshhashi and said softly, “There are humans in this rowlnths,” the man whispered, “Where?”

“We gravnshis one,” Drazealite said waving a wing towards Mira, “they’re sshvnsa in this rowlnths.”

“Hello,” Mira said in the draconic language drawing the man’s attention to her, “what is your name?”

The man’s eyebrows shot up when Mira spoke and the man said, “My name is Rhzvanzin. You are the first of your kin that I’ve met that can speak our grnnvarsh.”

“Don’t be to shrvrnis Rhzvanzin,” Drazealite snorted, “it has been learning from listening to our rrnvashnsi. It knew nothing a few days ago, the shissvern human.”

Rhzvanzin looked at Drazealite surprised and said, “She’s not a human!”

“What!?” the two dragons demanded and Mira was sure that she had translated wrong.

“She’s not a human,” Rhzvanzin repeated, “She is an grnnzvnshi dragon like me. They seem to be grnrshis from other grrni and they group together to form large grrni of their own.”

“How do you know they aren’t really humans and you just look like them?” Drazealite demanded.

“Because I have vrrnshis several humans on the way here,” Rhzvanzin said his face darkening, “They are vrnsh grrowsh and have hishvnis rhshi as well as the rrngsh the story mentioned.”

The two dragons looked at Rhzvanzin for a moment in silence before spontaneously saying, “COLD!”

Rhzvanzin smiled and said, “That’s not all I’ve done, watch this!”

Mira watched as Rhzvanzin made several quick hand signs and inhaled deeply before blowing a small tongue of fire the size of Mira’s hands. Zahanort and Drazealite where both awed by this and sat there, gapping at where the flames had been.

“How are you already able to do that!?!” Drazealite demanded, “I’m hardly a day younger then you are and you can already Vrnnshi SSHRN!!!”

Rhzvanzin simply smiled at them, leaned close, and whispered something to the dragons. They both started nodding vigorously and seemed to be quiet happy as they ran up the stairs. Mira looked at Rhzvanzin who tossed her up onto his back and followed the two dragons up the stairs to the roof of the building.

“Where are we going?” Mira asked so shocked that she forgot to speak in dragon’s tongue.

“To there,” Rhzvanzin said in English pointing at the duke’s castle.

Mira was startled that this man seemed to speak both English and Dragon’s tongue fluently as well as saying he was taking her and two dragons to the duke’s castle.

“Are you serious!?” Mira demanded.

“Yes,” Rhzvanzin said smiling in a way similar to the way Zahanort smiled.

Mira was blinded by Rhzvanzin’s long white hair as he started running forward. Mira brushed the hair out of her face and regretted it when she saw that she was being carried along rooftops at speeds faster than any horse she had ever seen. She also noticed that Rhzvanzin seemed to be jumping nearly twenty feet high. She hid her face in his hair until she felt like Rhzvanzin had moved to walking speeds.

When Mira looked again, she saw a stone wall just in front of her face moving by at a walking pace. Looking down she saw that they where nearly twenty five feet high and climbing. Zahanort and Drazealite where climbing the wall just behind Rhzvanzin digging small holes in the wall with their claws.

Mira sighed as Rhzvanzin climbed in through a window and shook Mira off of him and walked towards the door. When the two dragons climbed in through the window Rhzvanzin told them to stay here and be quiet before he walked out a door and vanished.

Mira sat on the most comfortable chair she had ever been in and would have fallen asleep if not for the fact that the dragons where nosing around the room and nearly breaking things that where probably worth more than everyplace Mira had ever lived in.

Mira leapt up and quickly grabbed two fancy vases before Zahanort knocked them to the floor and sat them on the four-poster bed. She had to dive across the ground to catch a mirror Drazealite had just knocked off the wall when he had recoiled from seeing himself in it.

After a few minutes of this, Mira was sure she had saved everything in the room that was fragile. She lay on the soft bed and was tempted to go to sleep when the dragons started to sniff the air and walk to the door. Mira was worried that they where going to start tearing at the door when Rhzvanzin opened it and brought in a roast boar and glazed ham.

Mira and the two dragons watch Rhzvanzin carry the food in and set it down on the floor. As one Mira, Drazealite, and Zahanort all converged on the boar and started to rip, tear, and devour it as quickly as they could. Mira thought that she had never tasted anything so good in all her life and even shoved at the dragons when they tried to eat parts of the boar she was working on. When the boar had been reduced to bones Mira looked to see what was left of the ham and saw that Rhzvanzin had some glaze on his mouth and that there was hardly even a bone left from the ham.

When Mira wished she had some water, she saw that Rhzvanzin was dragging a huge tub of it out of an adjacent room. Again, the three of them converged on the bowl of water and started drinking. Mira had expected the dragons to drink their water the way a dog would but saw they drank more in the way a horse would. With the help of Rhzvanzin and the two dragons, Mira drained the tub of water.

Mira felt very sleepy after eating and drinking more food than she usually ate in a week and sought a place to lay down. Rhzvanzin moved over to the bed and signaled that they follow him. Drazealite and Zahanort joined him behind the four-curtain bed’s veil and the sound of tearing fabric reached Mira’s ears. Mira wondered where all the fragile stuff had gone and Saw that Rhzvanzin had piled all on a nearby table. When the sound of tearing fabric finally stopped, Mira felt safe enough to approach the bed and look behind the curtains.

She saw that Rhzvanzin, Drazealite, and Zahanort had all torn a large nest shaped hollow in the center of a wool mattress. The three of them had curled up inside of the hollow and where resting peacefully and looking for all the world like three puppies curled up on a blanket. Mira thought about running off to alert the castle staff about the dragons inside the castle and collect the reward that would surely come from that course of action.

However, she was simply too tired at the moment to really think about reporting anything at the moment. She lay down on the bed and fell asleep near the edge of the bed. When she was fully asleep and on the verge of dreaming, she rolled over, lay next to Zahanort, and smiled as her hand touched his scaly hide. Zahanort crooned softly but made no other response to Mira touching him.

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The Boulder Fall clan looked at the small valley before them that had shredded human bodies lying strewn across it. The tracker was walking from one body to another and sniffing Rhzvanzin’s faint trail while the rest of the clan watched in silence.

“Seems like the lad killed nearly half of these humans out here,” he said to the clan.

The clan smiled and seemed to puff themselves up with pride. Only a youngling from the Boulder Fall clan would be able to kill so many humans at such a young age.

“He then went towards an area with close to two hundred humans and wandered around a bit,” the tracker said oblivious to the reactions of the clan, “he walked off towards the river before returning and remaining in place for several hours as either a captive or asleep before moving off with the large group of humans.” the tracker turned to look towards the clan and said, “They are traveling fast for humans though they aren’t trying to conceal their trail at all which means that they don’t know we’re following them.”

“Enough talk,” Zasvron hissed, “Either provide some results soon or you will be exiled from the clan.”

The tracker bowed his head and said, “Yes clan-lord.”

The clan followed the tracker and Zasvron stayed back to talk to Albervork.

“This is bad,” Albervork muttered, “This tracker is getting closer to Rhzvanzin everyday, I can already detect a hint of the whelp's scent here and it is only getting stronger as we follow him.”

“Yes, indeed it is,” Zasvron hissed in annoyance “we may have to say that he is trying to lead us into a human ambush and have him killed soon. Burning hell’s fire why couldn’t the humans just kill the whelp!”

“This is the last time I talk you into going through any plan that relies on humans acting in anyway predictable.” Albervork grumbled.