Upon Wings Of Change

Chapter 29

He clipped the leash on my harness before holding me up to his shoulder. I was used to the drill and hopped up on the shoulder pad. He left the house and went to meet our usual two companions. I had found out that their names were Tran and Vick.

Taureen really didn't care what I did on the shoulder pad, as long as I stayed on his shoulders. I preferred to lie down, and I suspected that it made others wonder about my lazy appearance. It didn't fool Taureen or our two companions though.

During the last week, we had stumbled across another crawler in a building as well as a young sicora on an incoming trading ship. The appearance of the creatures had the Kymari worried. They weren't supposed to be on this planet, and they weren't sure where the planet-bound crawler had come from.

We exited another trading ship, which was now cleared for landing. The man in charge of the docking area greeted Taureen before discussing several ships he was expecting this week. He wanted certain ones inspected due to where they were coming from. The man said, "I can't wait for the day until there are enough trained fire lizards to check every inbound ship coming to this city."

With a nod of agreement, Taureen said, "I suspect that we will see that in the next decade or so since it will only take two or three fire lizards to manage that. Although it will probably take several centuries before every city on this planet has such protection."

I hoped that day was long in coming. It was bad enough that I was being kept captive, but I knew it was only a matter of time until another dragonet got injured seriously enough that outside help was needed. We weren't the largest animals in the park and aerial blunders were always a possibility.

The man agreed with Taureen and went back to his work. We continued down the street and into more buildings.

Later that afternoon, we hitched a ride on a hover vehicle. I turned and spotted Alec down the street as he waved at us. He jogged over and looked relieved to see us. "We found the other fire lizards."

It immediately caught Taureen's attention, as well as mine. Taureen asked, "Where? Are they all right?"

I raised my head higher in surprise, waiting impatiently for Alec's response. They had found Drake and his group? Drake hadn't mentioned anything to me last night when he had mindlinked me for our daily conversation.

"Yesterday, a wall guard on top of the north wall thought he saw a glimpse of red in the park along the wall and mentioned it to us. This morning, I took about twenty volunteers and we thoroughly searched that park while the sun was rising. We managed to find them dancing as they usually do at that time. We kept our distance and tried to stay out of sight as we did a head count and compared pictures. Every single one that was missing is accounted for."

Taureen paused, clearly confused. He asked, "What are they doing in that park? How did they even get over there?"

Alec shrugged. "We have no idea. All we know is that they are there now, and that all of them seem fine from what we could see."

"Did they see you?"

Alec made a face as he replied, "We hope not, but we aren't sure. They aren't any easier to spot or follow in that park. The forest is denser there, and the ravine runs through it, so the terrain also complicates things slightly."

I blinked in surprise. "Hey Drake, are you aware that you had an audience this morning?"

I felt his shock in his reply. "What?!"

"Someone managed to video you this morning. They are quite relieved that they have accounted for every missing individual. You have seriously confused them by going to that park though."

He growled some rather unflattering words before sighing. "So much for that plan. I am tempted to head back to the main park now that they have discovered us. I miss the company of the others. There is safety in numbers as well."

I considered the matter. "We know that they will be trying to watch you now. You might try searching around as if looking for something, and throwing in some odd behavior, before heading back. Perhaps we can keep them searching for that mystery plant we supposedly need. Anything that throws them off balance and makes them reluctant to try and drag us into captivity would be a good thing."

I felt his agreement and determination to confuse his spectators. "We can definitely do that and increase our searching over several days before leaving. Perhaps it will add some leverage to you getting your freedom."

I sighed slightly in resignation. "I can hope, but it is highly doubtful since I am not ill. The fact that we can scent those sicora means that they will never forget about us at this point."

"Well, I see someone skulking around in the distance. Let's see what I can do to confuse them in the meantime."

"Take care." The mindlink faded out as Alec and Taureen kept walking.

We reached our house and went inside; Alec joined Taureen in the living room, discussing how much progress I had been making lately. Taureen removed my harness and used a bit of fruit to bribe me into doing most of the commands he had been teaching me. I went from his hand, to his shoulder, and to various objects. I sat and came when called along with a few other simple commands.

I cooperated, but both of them could tell that I was not entirely thrilled about it. Alec said, "Pretty good considering you have only had her for a few months and she was wild at the beginning. I wonder... Tasha, to fist."

He held up his arm the same way Taureen had, but I snorted in derision at him. It was bad enough listening to Taureen. I am not a dog... Alec dropped his arm back to his side before saying, "Tasha, Sit."

I remained standing on Taureen's shoulder, watching him with narrowed eyes. Taureen turned his head to look at me as he held up his hand. He said, "To fist." Just to irk Alec, I jumped onto Taureen's hand. "Tasha, Sit."

It wasn't the easiest to sit on his wrist, but I still dropped my rear end down, digging my claws into his glove for balance. The look on Alec's face was more than worth it. Taureen seemed to find it quite hilarious that I would ignore someone else's commands.

Alec shook his head. "Well, it looks like Tasha is a one person fire lizard. This makes me wonder if the others will behave in a similar manner. Whoever becomes a handler will have to be prepared to do all of the work."

Taureen said, "That does make things quite difficult if I have to go off-world for some reason. She won't be able to follow me to many places due to the atmospheric differences. Even if she remained on the spaceship, malfunctions do happen, and I am not sure how she would handle zero gravity."

Alec shrugged without much concern. "I doubt they would allow her off-world without the Elders' approval. It will likely be centuries before they even consider it when the population is so small. They won't risk any of them."

Well, that was one good point. I had no idea what we would do if they started scattering us across the galaxies. Alec pressed a few buttons on his wrist comm before commenting, "It looks like they spotted another crawler outside of the wall. This is making me wonder if there is a hive somewhere out there."

Taureen was silent for some time. "That would explain the sudden appearance of the creatures. It is rare for them to establish a hive, especially on a newly-colonized planet. You may want to mention that to Leo. He can send a few scouts out to see if they can find any signs."

Alec nodded before changing the subject.