Chasing Promises

Chapter 3 - Barnabas - 1519

Barnabas found in Ling a sound companion; she was exotic hailing from 'China' (wherever that was), she was well read and small. Her size was the best thing about her, it meant she could scout ahead like a ghost - in contrast to his 'scouting' where everything seemed to snap and shake, alerting everything to his presence.

Together, he and Ling had managed to find the other three green dragons with relative ease - as the dragons had taken the time to pillage villages all around Norfolk, stealing cattle and children. No one was sad to see the back of them and every village it seemed had asked the King for help but recieved none.

One evening when they were near the border of Norfolk and Suffolk, Ling asked him a question.

"Why does you King not help his people?" Barnabas had stared at her for sometime trying to accumulate an answer. He did not want to make excuses for the King for his non actions cost killed his father, but he was also his King, apponted by God but before he could speak Ling began to talk again."My Father the Emperor created a small unit within his army to deal with the dragons. He even had some of these man train dragons."

"Train dragons? How do you train dragons?"

"From when they are first hatched." She said dreamily, her almond eyes staring at the sky as if looking for something, "but only certain kinds."

"There are different kinds as well?"

"Well yes. There are white dragons which my people called the Seers. They're blind but can see into the future, they also can't fly because they're so large and because of that reason they're also very rare."

"Have you seen one before then?"

"I've seen a dead one, if taken care of properly they can live for many many years."

"And how old was the one you saw?"

"About five hundred years old. It had advised Emperors and other rulers of China for half a millinea."

"Are there any more?"

"I believe my father sent the last surviving one in China to your Pope as a gift, about a decade ago."

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know," Ling laid back beside their small campfire and stared at the stars, having gone quiet, Barnabas surveyed her small form for a moment before she spoke again. "I could return one day you know."

"And how would you do that?"

"With a messenger dragon."

"A messenger dragon? Thats a bit of a crummy name for a dragon isn't it."

"Well it sounds better in my language," she snapped at him, making him laugh a little.

"Forgive my intrusion. What do they do? Carry letters around?" He said his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No they carry people around. China is such a vast country that we used them to travel vast distances."

"And are these dragons trainable too then? What colour are they?"

"They are trained, they're quite uncommon as they live in the sky. They sleep on clouds you know as they're wings are so large. Very hard to see as well because they're sky blue. I  imagine my father has been training one to come find me..." Barnabas sat upright, the dragon which had saved him was blue with big wings, it had appeared when he was near the clearing - could that have been Ling's only ride home? Or was the dragon still above them, circling still looking for Ling? Or was it just a wild blue dragon that had just saved his life for no apparent reason at all?