Ideas, Updates and Other Stuff

The Silver Trilogy - Simpler Times

Blaze and Raize scrambled out of the water and turned on each other almost instantly, scratching and bighting with growls and grunts. Elron let it go on for another couple of moments, until a burst of fire erupted from Raize's maw, before getting up with a sigh.

"Alright you two, enough," he said.

Blaze pinned his brother to the ground, both breathing rapidly. For a moment neither of them moved. But with a low growl from Elron they reluctantly removed themselves from each other and turned to their father. Silver watched, silently munching on her fish with a slight smirk on her snout. They were in trouble.

"This isn't a lesson in battle," began their father, "I want you two to learn how to hunt, not fight. It doesn't really matter who gets in first, as long as it gets done."

They were silent.

"Now, back to the bank. What you catch today is what you eat. That is the rule. Neither your mother nor I are going to be getting it for you," he continued, before leaning forward and with a challenging edge on his voice said, "Besides, you don't want your sister to show you up again? Do you? I promise there are far better fish in this lake than what she caught."

Both hatchlings glanced at each other, this time in slight excitement.

"It isn't always a good thing to go for the first thing you see. Remember that," said Elron with a grin, this time a little louder so Silver could hear.

The young dragoness snorted as she gulped down the last of her fish, but when the two boys hurried back to the river she hesitated, before sighing and getting up and running back to the bank herself. She wanted to see what else she could get before the day was up. Elron watched them with a smile. He enjoyed encouraging friendly competition between his children. It made them try at things they never usually would worry about.

Just as he was about to settle back down for a small doze a fury of wingbeats caused him to look up. A genuine smile crossed his face as a red dragoness glided down from the sky, her ruby red scales glittering like gems in the high noon sun. She landed softly on the edge of the bank, casting a quick glance over at the hatchlings, before moving over to her mate. They nuzzled each other with a soft rumble before moving back.

"So...?" asked Elron, "What is the news?"

The dragoness, Scarlet, took one last look at the hatchlings, making sure they were preoccupied, before letting her joyful façade fall away. Her wings drooped by her side and she simply shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

"Surely... surely it can't be that bad," he said, this time worried.

"It's worse," she replied shakily.

"What did Liam find out?"

"Not here, lets move somewhere where we won't disturb them," she gestured toward their children.

Elron nodded. Together they began to walk around the bank of the river to a more secluded area. They were quite happy to leave the three hatchlings by themselves for a little while. The other dragons in the valley were reasonably trustworthy and there weren't really many other threats in the forest that could defeat a dragon, even a hatchling one.

"Scarlet?" the metal drake spoke softly once they were out of earshot.

She let out a shaky breath, "Elron... it's not going to be possible for me to have any more eggs."

"What? But...!"

"No... Liam figured out the problem. Apparently my body isn't... it isn't producing any more eggs. It's not even in the process of creating new ones. I'm... I'm completely barren."