Dragons of Monte Cuan - Arrival

         Tak-Riel soared high above Monte Cuan, bronze wings glistening in the spring sun. The morning light had not yet reached the valley floor; as soon as it did Tak would be expected to join his classmates in suffering through hours of boring lessons on history and other such nonsense that everyone knew he would have no use for once he got older. He looked down to take in the beauty of his home.
         He lowered his head to watch the vista pass beneath him. Mountains on the east and west, dipping together north and south, before separating into individual ranges. Cliffs and caves in the Eastern Mountains were home to the thirty or so dragons that lived there. Another glance at the valley floor, let Tak know he was almost out of time, soon the sun would illuminate the open field which was their classroom and his freedom would be forfeit.
         The young dragon stretched his massive wings as far as he could, soaking up every bit of warmth the golden sun had to offer. Most days he was your typical male; dashing here and there, always in a hurry. Today he just wanted to enjoy the sunshine and the beauty of the world passing beneath him.
         Tak watched in dismay as the sunlight marched steadily across the valley floor towards the field of stifled dreams. Grudgingly, he rolled to the side flared his wings hindering the flow of air and decreasing altitude gracefully toward his target.
         Tak was startled as another young Bronze, Fafnir, shot past him like an arrow. "Out of the way Jumbo!" Two more Bronze and three smaller Browns also flew by shouting insults. He kept dodging to miss each new tormentor; with his wings no longer flared, he lost altitude and increased speed much faster. With his attention on the other young dragons he failed to notice how close he was to the ground until it was all but too late. With only moments to spare he flared his large wings grabbing an enormous amount of air and felt as though his shoulders would be ripped out of their sockets. He managed to adjust his attitude enough so that his powerful back legs took the majority of the impact, but not enough to keep him from tumbling forward. Several youngsters were laughing uproariously and Tak wanted to crawl under a rock to hide; then he noticed that when he'd finally come to rest it was not without some satisfaction. He made sure that as he clumsily stood, he stepped on Fafnir with all four feet, multiple times, before apologizing profusely and finally getting his footing on firm ground.
         "Get off me, you giant Ogre!"
         "Sorry Fafnir, after you guys buzzed me like that I didn't even see you there. Are you okay?"
         "No, I'm not okay. You're huge. I think you probably broke every bone in my body."
         The Blue standing in front of the class cleared her throat menacingly. "Fafnir, I doubt very seriously that you have any broken bones. However; if you do, I'm sure your father will be happy to escort you to the healer . . . after class. Tak-Riel we may need to address your lack of coordination with a healer if this continues. Do you think that will be necessary?"
         "No teacher." The Blue was a very pretty female with brilliantly colored sapphire scales that Tak would normally enjoy staring at during lessons. With her intense gaze boring straight into the core of his being, he dared not lift his head. He couldn’t risk it, lest she actually read his thoughts.
         Tak and Fafnir labored through the first hour of class; anytime they believed the teacher to be looking away, they would shoot visual daggers at each other.
         "Tak-Riel!" The sound of his name being almost yelled by the teacher startled him out of his staring match with Fafnir.
         "Yes, ma'am?"
         "What did I just say?"
         Tak thought for a few seconds before replying "Tak-Riel." The entire class burst out laughing.
         "You are so busted," Fafnir leered at him.
         "Fafnir, since you seemed to be just as attentive as Tak-Riel, maybe you can tell me what I said."
         "Um, it was something about Monte Cuan."
         "Well, that certainly took a lot of thought didn't it Fafnir, seeing as we've been discussing the history and geography of Monte Cuan for days now."
         Several light snickers flickered around the class.
         "Tak-Riel and Fafnir; I want both of you to come to the front. Come on move now!" Both young drakes moved in front of their peers. "Tak, take a few steps to your left and Fafnir a few steps to your right. Now I want both of you to stretch out your wings."
         With their wings stretched they were overlapping by almost a foot. "Okay, Tak two more steps to your left and Fafnir two more steps to your right. Okay, now I want you both to stretch your wings as far as you can."
         The Blue teacher watched both drakes intensely; not satisfied with what she saw she stepped in front of Fafnir and leaned in close to his face.
         "Stretch!" Finally happy with the effort put forth by both pupils she stepped back again. "Now, fold your wings and sit properly. If I catch either of you looking at the other I will get your fathers involved."
         "Okay, back to our lesson. Fafnir, what is the length of Monte Cuan's valley floor?"
         "Um, about fifty miles?"
         "Was that a statement or a question?"
         "I don't know."
         "Well from the way it was spoken it was a question. In my class we do not answer questions with questions. So try it again, what is the length of Monte Cuan's valley floor?"
         "Fifty miles"
         Snickers were heard around the class.
         "I don't think they agree with you Fafnir. How about you Tak-Riel, do you agree with Fafnir?"
         "No teacher, I wasn't paying attention in class."
         "Well, at least we got an honest answer. Nidhug, would you care to answer this question for us?"
         "Yes, ma'am. It’s approximately seventy-five miles long and eighteen miles wide."
         "Very good Nidhug, thank you for paying attention."
         "Tak-Riel, we have two mountain ranges surrounding Monte Cuan. What is the height of the tallest peak when measured from the valley floor?"
         "I don't know, ma'am."
         "How about you Fafnir, any idea?"
         "Um, about 25,000 feet."
         "Well, at least we got a statement out of you this time. The answer is wrong, but at least it was a statement. Does anyone else care to answer this question for us?"
         "No volunteers? Very well Pythios, what is your answer?"
         "I think it's ten thousand feet."
         “Thank you for trying, that is not correct, but it is fairly close. Anyone else?" She looked over her class of twelve. Two were green, the smallest of all dragons in Monte Cuan. When grown, they would stand just over six feet and would become healers and nursery attendants. The four blues were next and would stand seven to eight feet; still considered small and fast they were typically scouts, guards, and messengers. Her two browns would vary most in size and could be anywhere from eight to ten feet tall when fully grown; they were the intellectuals. Typically a brown would be teaching this class, but since the Age of Storms there weren't enough left. Only one adult brown lived in Monte Cuan and she was an aging seer, a prophetess who couldn't be bothered with what she apparently considered the mundane task of teaching impressionable young minds.
         Finally, there were the bronze; always male they were the largest of regular dragons; they would stand around twelve feet tall only to be surpassed by a queen who was always Gold and could be fourteen to fifteen feet. The bronze dragons were warriors and the four she had in her class now certainly had the mentality she would characterize as a typical warrior. They were not interested in using the only muscle she cared to exercise with them, their brains.
         “Katia, do you have an answer for us?”
         “Yes, Miss Pylian, the tallest peak stands just over 15,000 feet from the valley floor.”
         “Thank you Katia; you may be the smallest in the class, but you are proving to be my best student thus far.”
         “Since we seem to have so much trouble answering questions today, maybe it is time for a lecture. Monte Cuan is surrounded by two mountain ranges one on the east and the other on the west, here they create a deep valley which we call home. The range to the east, the one that has all of our dwellings, are known as the Guardians to the west we have the Spiny Backs. Of course, those are just the closest ranges further east of the Guardians, we have the Breakers and west of the Spiny Backs we have the Dragon Scales.”
         “Miss Pylian?”
         “Yes Nidhug?”
         “Why are they called the Dragon Scales mountains?”
         “Good question; we all know that at different times in a dragon's life we shed some of our scales and they are replaced with new ones. Sometimes this can be very uncomfortable.”
         “Yeah, my dad said it can make you itch like crazy.”
         “Yes Pythios that is correct. So many times dragons who are extremely uncomfortable will rub up against the side of a mountain to get relief, this can also help to dislodge some of the stubborn scales. Apparently a ship of human and elf explorers were sailing past and saw what they believed to be reflections of precious metal veins in the mountains. They spent a lot of money on supplies and came back a year later to mine the gold and other precious metals out of the mountains.” She made it obvious that she was keeping her eyes on Tak-Riel and Fafnir while giving her lecture to the entire class.
         “They were very disappointed to learn that the mountains were nothing more than granite; the reflections they saw were simply dragon scales. While our scales do contain small amounts of these precious metals; and the scales themselves can be used in various ways. There was not nearly enough value to pay off the tremendous debts they incurred. The crew mutinied taking all of their dragon scales and mining supplies. The explorers were left there at the base of the mountains to die of starvation and exposure.”
         Tak struggled through the rest of the day, but didn't miss a word. Finally, he heard the words "Class dismissed." Without taking a step he leapt straight into the air, just as his body got higher than everyone's head his wings sprang out and he was instantly airborne.
         He flew southwest, and continued climbing until even the tops of the mountains were far beneath him. He leveled out and flew west for a few minutes and then started his descent. Unlike his climb out of the valley, his descent was slow and easy. He took his time again enjoying the panorama below.
         His recent lessons had taught him that Monte Cuan meant Mountain Harbor in some long forgotten language. Tak was pretty sure they'd also covered what a harbor was but right now all he could remember was that it had something to do with the "fleshies" and so he wasn't real concerned about it.
         Now, well west of Monte Cuan he turned north and continued flying well above the mountain peaks on either side. The terrain beneath him was rugged; there was no valley floor here, not like Monte Cuan. He wondered if these were the Dragon Scale Mountains Miss Pylian mentioned in class today. Here there were few trees, shrubs, vines and no grass. Mountain goats loved the area and seemed to be very prolific. That's what he was after today; mountain goats. He began using heat vision and scanning the area several hundred yards or so ahead. He also double checked the direction of the wind and the position of the sun.
         Don't want any stray scents or last second shadows spooking dinner. He saw the red glow of heat off to the west, further than he'd intended to hunt, but he realized instantly that it was not goats. These were dragons, flying just above the mountain peaks, about twenty of them, and they appeared to be heading straight for Monte Cuan.
         His heart began to race when his imagination went immediately to a surprise attack, and only he was in a position to provide the warning that could save his family. This was ridiculous of course; it had been hundreds of years since dragons warred with each other. That daydream was short lived when he switched back to normal vision and the glint of gold scales caught his eye.
         The Gold was beautiful and obviously still young, probably around Tak's age because she was not much larger than a Green. “Help me please” came a faint voice in his mind. None of the group seemed to have noticed his presence. “I've fallen behind, can you help me please?”
         Tak was confused at first, he was looking at the Gold but it didn’t appear she had even noticed him. He began looking behind the group and almost a mile to the rear and much lower he finally spotted a Green that was obviously struggling to keep aloft. He dove quickly and glided beside her. “How can I help?”
         “I don't know . . . I don't know if anyone can help. I saw you and cried out without thinking about what you could possibly do.”
         “Well, let's start with what's wrong?”
         “It's my right wing . . . well and my back too. I was closest to Queen Kara when the cave collapsed; some of the rocks hit me before I made it outside.”
         “Oh No! Did she . . .?”
         “No Queen Kara did not escape, there were two other Greens in the nursery with her, we were waiting for one of the eggs to hatch. It would have been the first in over eight years! Our largest bronze, Princess Adelind's father Aelik was there; the last thing I saw was him trying to cover the queen. Now they are all gone; Queen Kara, Aelik, the other nurses and all the eggs. Our only hope is Princess Adelind; but she is too young and will need a good mother to teach her how to be a proper queen.” She winced and dropped a little lower.
         “You're never going to make it over the mountains at this rate,” Tak told his new friend. He flared his wings and dropped beneath her, then he climbed until her feet touched his back.
         “What are you doing?”
         “I'm helping, just like you asked. Now just use your wings to balance and let me do the rest. He began to climb steadily, but it wasn't as easy as he'd thought. Tak was stronger than any of the other young drakes in the village, and stronger than some of the adults. But every time he tried to climb, she would almost fall off his back. “Hey, my name's Tak by the way, well actually its Tak-Riel but everyone just call's me Tak. What's yours?”
         “My name is Mydre.”
         “Well Mydre we seem to have a problem, we're coming up on the mountains really quick and every time I try to get higher you almost fall. You need to hold on really tight, and even though I'm sure it hurts, you need to use your wings as much as you can and act like you're trying to help me gain altitude. Maybe if you use your wings like your trying to fly instead of just trying to balance it will feel more natural and you'll be able to balance better.”
         “Okay Tak I'll do my best, but if this doesn't work you just fly over the mountains and don't look back.”
         “No, ma'am, that's not gonna happen. We may have to circle around once, but we'll get over.”
         “You seem to be a very stubborn boy.”
         “I don't think Miss Pylian would argue that point.”
         He felt her grab his shoulders and hold on tight. He started forcing more air downward with his massive wings trying desperately to gain altitude without losing her. “Who is Pylian?” Her voice sounded very weak.
         “She is our teacher,” Tak replied, obviously straining. “She's a Blue because we don't have a Brown that can be bothered with us.”
         “I'm sure that's not exactly how it is.”
         “Sure it is, I mean I'm not mad about it or anything. Miss Pylian is very pretty, our only Brown is Miss Dirgel; she's the seer. She's way too old and impatient to put up with us.”
         “Well, if Queen Aurora agrees to let us join your village I'm sure Saehar will be willing to help Pylian with her teaching duties.”
         “Hold on tight, this might get a bit rough.” Tak thrust his powerful wings down and felt her claws dig into his back and shoulders; in three mighty beats they cleared the closest peak. Tak was breathing hard, but showed no signs of being ready to give up on his quest.
         “Tak, I have to admit I didn't think we were going to make it, that was very impressive.”
         “Oh, I'm not even showing off yet . . . uh, and, er, I won't seeing as how you're hurt and all. We've still got to get a bit higher but that won't be a problem, we've got some distance before we hit the last mountain peaks surrounding Monte Cuan. We'll go a little more north than your friends did 'cause the peaks aren't as tall there.”
         “You seem to know a lot about your mountains.”
         “Not according to Miss Pylian, we studied the history of Monte Cuan for the last week or so. A couple of us got in trouble today 'cause we weren't paying attention and couldn't answer her questions.”
         “Well, I find that teachers are a very sensitive bunch. They get their feelings hurt if you don't pay attention to them in class.”
         “Well, I guess she's an excellent teacher then, she didn't just seem hurt she was pi . . . uh angry.”
         “Tak, you will learn with time that doe's get angry when their feelings are hurt. You should try thinking about how pretty she is and pretend that she is talking just to you. I can't imagine you'd have much trouble paying attention if she were talking directly to you.”
         “Paying attention to her? No, I wouldn't have trouble paying attention to her at all. Remembering what she said afterwards seems to be the problem.”
         “Oh Tak, you seem to be a very typical young Drake; how old are you?”
         “Eight ma'am.”
         “No you're not, I know I spend most of my time in the nursery lair, but I do still get out you know. Eight year old Bronze are about the same as a full grown Green, Princess Adelind is a little larger, but that is to be expected, you are easily the size of a Blue.”
         “Yes, ma'am, all of that is true, but I'm still only eight. Okay, we just cleared the last peaks. It's a smooth glide from here on in.”
         “Tak-Riel I think I owe you my life. Everyone was so intent on protecting Princess Adelind that no one even realized I was injured and had fallen behind.”
         “I'm sure they'll realize it as soon as they get to Monte Cuan and you aren't there.”
         “That's very sweet of you to think so, but I really doubt it. Everyone was so upset over the death of Queen Kara and the loss of the eggs that we didn't even count to see how many of us there were, we just left. As a green I'm not exactly the center of attention. We are very rarely seen outside the nursery lair. Something would eventually be said about nurses and everyone would assume that we'd all perished with Queen Kara and the eggs.”
          “Well, if that's the case, they'll all feel really bad when they find out you were hurt.”
         “Right now let's just concentrate on getting there. I need time to rest before I can attempt to start healing.”
         Tak flew in low and slow so that he didn't attract a lot of attention and didn't jar his passenger unnecessarily. The whole group finally noticed him just before Mydre left his back and tried to glide the last few feet on her own. Her right wing was weaker than she'd anticipated and she simply fell the last twenty or so feet. She crashed to the ground in a heap and yelled out in pain. Tak was there in an instant to help her stand.
         “Tak-Riel, who is this?” His father's voice was full of compassion; he was the largest bronze in the village and pushed through the crowd to his son.
         “This is Mydre, she is one of their nurses, the only one to survive the collapse. She was injured trying to escape, but apparently none of them noticed.” Tak then turned to the injured nurse. “Mydre this is my dad, Tar-Riel.”
         “Sir, if it weren't for young Tak-Riel; well, I would not have made it.”
         The crowd parted as a large, elegant gold stepped forward. “So Tak-Riel, you finally decided to show everyone else what I've known you had in you all along.”
         Mydre ducked her head low when Queen Aurora spoke.
         “Raise your head Mydre dear, we don't do the whole bowing thing here. There are far too few of us left after the great storms to get stuck on ceremonies of that sort. Tak help her onto your father's back, he can take her up to the nursery lair.”
         “What? You're going to put her to work already? She's hurt!”
         “Tak-Riel! Mind your manners!” His father barked.
         “It's okay Tar-Riel. Seeing as she was forgotten by her own village I can understand where Tak would get the idea.” She turned to Tak with compassion and pride instead of the anger he was expecting to see. “She is going to the nursery lair because that is where our healers are. They will be able to make her comfortable so she can rest. After she's had a chance to rest they will be able to help her heal.”
         “I'm sorry Your Highness, that was very rude of me.”
         “That's okay Tak, now help Mydre onto your father's back, tomorrow after she's had a chance to rest you can go in and check on her.”
         “I can go into the nursery?” Tak asked in disbelief.
         “As long as the nurses don't let you get too close to any of the eggs, Yes, you can go into the nursery.”
         Tak was preparing to help Mydre onto his father's back when a young voice got their attention. “Mydre; I'm so sorry for not realizing that you were hurt or that you had fallen behind.” It was obvious she was struggling to maintain her composure.
         “It's okay Your Highness, you just lost your parents, it is understandable.”
         “First the atmosphere seems to be much more relaxed here and I am too young to be honored with that title, so from now on it's just Adelind. Second, it may be understandable, but that does not make it right. I lost my parents, but our village lost its queen. Instead of taking responsibility for our village I became distracted by others telling me how important I was and how I had to be immediately protected. The collapse was an accident plain and simple. We had felt small tremors for several days. There was no reason for us to panic and leave as quickly as we did. I am truly embarrassed by my part in all of this, I hope you can forgive me.”
         “There is nothing to forgive Your High . . . Adelind, thank you for your kind words.”
         “Tak-Riel, as the Princess who should have been looking after her I thank you for doing what none of us, her true family, did. You took the time to help a complete stranger, that was obviously difficult and very commendable.”
         “Close your mouth Tak” Mydre's voice entered his head softly. “Yes, she is beautiful, drooling at her feet is not the way to impress her.”
         Tak snapped his mouth shut and stood up straighter “No thanks are necessary Your Highness; it's the way I was raised.”
         “Good save! You impressed her and smoothed things over with your father at the same time.”
         “Tak could you help me on your father's back please? I'd really like to go see the healers now.”
         “Oh yeah, sorry Miss Mydre.”
         “Please you saved my life today, the title is not necessary, it's just Mydre.”
         Tak along with one of the new bronze assisted Mydre onto Tar-Riel's back.
         Queen Aurora addressed the group before Tar-Riel left. “Adelind, you and all of your village are welcome here. You will stay with me. Once Tar-Riel has Mydre settled into the nursery he can show the others to the closest unoccupied caves. Monte Cuan has more dwellings than we could possibly need, so there will be plenty of room. Please make yourselves comfortable, you are now family. We will send a team back to Monte Huis to find out if we can recover any of the bodies, and in a couple of days we will honor their passing and mourn with you.

*****

         No bodies or eggs were recovered from Monte Huis. The ceremony to honor their passing was somber. Tak had never seen anyone cry as hard as Adelind did. Then again all he had to do was imagine being in her shoes and he understood completely.
         Mydre's back injuries were worse than anyone had expected, it would be more than a year before she would fly again. Tak came to visit almost daily and made sure she had plenty of food. Of course the upside to that was he got to eat what she couldn't finish, and he always brought more than she could possibly eat. Despite Mydre's best efforts, it would be months before Tak-Riel would gather up enough courage to talk to Adelind face to face.