The Last of the Dragons-Set 1

90

      Several weeks Later

"Amy, is that deer leg almost clean?" I shouted as I cooked a deer rib.

"It would have been done by now if these guys would leave me be." She replied.

The hatch-lings surrounded Amy as she cleaned the meat, whining as the snapped their tiny jaws at the deer leg. Doron and Veracon were napping by the river, while Ragon drank from the water. Bailey was sitting at the edge of the river beside Ragon with Magar in her arms.

"Come here you little runts." Tahli said as she started picking them up.

Tahli went over to Bailey and put the hatch-lings down beside her. She put Magar down with the others and got up to join us.

"Here. Have some." I said as I handed her a piece of meat.

She took the meat and quickly devoured it before I even had a chance to start eating. Amy came over with the cleaned deer leg and placed it on the hot coals to cook.

"That should be ready later on." She said as she sat down in the grass beside me.

"Do we have any for them?" Bailey said while pointing to the dragons on the rivers edge.

"They hunt their own food." I said as I got up and walked over to Doron.

"Go find something for them, alright?" I said to him.

He purred momentarily, before turning away from the river, and making a running start into the air down the river bank. Veracon followed, but Ragon stayed behind to keep watch over the hatch-lings.

"They'll find something close by. They never return empty handed." I said as I began eating.

I heard a rustle in the grass, so I turned around. All seven hatch-lings were sitting behind me, with their heads propped up in attention. Ragon was casually making his way over to us, every step he took shook the ground.

"Be patient you guys. They will be back soon." I said as I tapped Yilio on the head.

The hatch-lings crawled between the four of us towards the fire, or what remained of it. The seemed curious, even thought they had seen fire several times already. Yulion let a tiny flame fly into the hot coals, followed by Yulion and Cumano. Tegon flapped his wings as he shot fire into the pit in an effort to fly, while Derion turned and wandered away. I picked him up and set him back down beside Tegon and prodded him forward, until he also breathed a tiny flame. Alio was beside Magar as he added to the fire, but Magar looked to Bailey instead of joining the others.

"Go on." She said with a big smile on her face.

Magar cawed before turning and adding a seventh flame to the fire.

"That should get it cooking." Amy said with a chuckle.

"How long before they can fight for us?" Tahli asked.

I hesitated for a moment.

"If we use ever do use them, it wont be for several years. They have to get much larger than this. They can't even fly yet, and their flames aren't anything to fear. The first time our three dragons fought, they were much larger than any of us, and that was a highly risky situation for them. It isn't worth the same risk again." I said.

There was a pause for a moment.

"We lost nearly all of our army fighting several futile battles. And the few who survived can't do anything for us. If we give these dragons time to grow larger, and give the young men of the villages time to mature and gain strength, we may still be able to bring the king to his knees. The majority of his men have died, and the few who survived wont be able to produce nearly enough sons to replace what he lost. Next time, we will win." I said firmly.

No one said anything. Ragon hovered over us as the hatch-lings looked up at him waiting for direction. Just as the silence started to become awkward, we all turned our heads as we heard a screech in the distance. I looked up to see Doron and Veracon approaching. Doron flew over head and dropped several deer and a bison down in front of Ragon as Veracon landed and dropped another deer down in front of him. The hatch-lings hurried over to it and tore into the meat as Doron landed beside Ragon.

"Welcome back." I said as I turned to greet him.

Blood was dripping from his teeth as he lowered his head to return the greeting. Amy went over to Veracon and gave him a hug. Ragon hovered his head over Tahli, grunting and looking around. Bailey went to pick up Magar, but he jumped back. He tried to flap his wings to fly, but didn't get very high up before falling back to the ground.

"She's trying to fly!" Bailey shouted.

We all came running over to watch the tiny dragon try several times to fly upwards, and failing every time.

"Doron, come." I said as I turned my head to face him.

He lowered his head down to the ground beside me. I picked up Magar and placed her on one of Doron's backward facing horns. She latched on instinctively and raised his head up. Magar looked down at Bailey for direction.

"Come down!"She said while motioning for Magar to come down to her.

The little dragon spread her purple and silver wings, screeched in a high pitch, then leaped off Doron's horn, flapped her wings, and glided down towards the ground.

Hey Everyone!

If you're enjoying this story, be sure to check out my new story "The Dragon's Bond"! It can be found on my profile page and is still in progress, updates are daily or bi-daily on average.

Enjoy!