♧ Chapter 3
"All dragons please gather under the rock of high stones!" Leader called, waving his tail together with everyone around. "I want three groups out now." He hissed firmly, gesturing Beta with a flick of his ear to come forward.
"Yes, Leader." Beta herself seemed a little shocked at the quick announcement.
So beta doesn't know anything about this? Well, then I guess it's something important.
"Three groups. Okay," she breathed in, her expression now more normal.
"Two of them are for battle training. Send one more for hunting, the prey pile is running low." Leader stepped back backward, gesturing Beta to choose the patrols. Beta looked a little overwhelmed, having to choose three patrols on spot.
Stem suddenly realized how old and frail the Leader looked; he must be preparing Beta to take over his role. But even in his senior age, he has not lost the proud, determined look when he was younger. Cripple would always say that the younger Leader was full of patience, smiles, and stories.
Beta's voice snapped him back into reality, as Stem looked up. "Fall, Hurl, Marsh. You three can go hunting." Leaf- the Beta turned his gaze upon the dragons, gathering together. "Vine, once they are back, you can share some prey with Flower. She's been getting tired, treating Root's injured wing." He announced, gesturing to Vine and Flower, watching as they slowly got up.
I should be the person eating the prey! Not spoiled Vine and wasteful Flower. Stem thought bitterly, biting back a sharp insult. As Stem watched the three dragons fly out of the cave silently, Stem pondered whether the other dragons knew about this secret. They must have realized we need to live in secret. He smiled in sly proudness, thinking he was very smart.
"And Stem. You can go with them to practice battle training." Beta glared at Stem when she realized he wasn't listening. Sighing, she flicked her ears at Hurl, Fall and Maple. Her glance was sharp, but hiding beneath that was amusement coated with worry.
"Can I train myself?" Stem growled, locking eyes with Maple- the grouchy senior. He expected a long lecture on what he just asked.
Beta's reply though, was only an angry snort. "We have to learn how to cooperate with other dragons. Now, shoo." Beta flapped her wings towards the sandy rocks, letting them train there.
He saw Leader give Leaf a proud smile, and Beta shrinking with delighted embarrassment after. Before briefly giving him a nod, racing after Flower to see how Root was feeling. She'd better come back soon. She breaks her promises easily, getting carried away at such an important role. I suppose.
❀❀
After battle training was over, Stem gasped with exasperation, heading to the Healers hut after Maple "accidentally" scratched him with unsheathed talons.
Humph. And what did everyone do? Gasp with surprise and amusement, thinking it was all a joke. "Oh how could Maple dream of hurting you?" "It's just a small mistake." All the other senior dragons defended her. Stem felt small and insignificant, seeing how his only friend- Hurl had slowly distanced around him.
As he stepped into the hut, his greeting was a big flap of the wings, and a gasp of worry. "Oh my goddess! Sorry Stem. Come in." Flower exclaimed, giving an apologetic smile.
"That's quite alright." He huffed in reply, his eyes blazing with fury, turning away to make sure the spotted dragon could not see. How dare she! Such a faker. Wanting me to get in trouble huh? Stem thought, stomping louder than he thought.
"Here, please lay." She pointed at the pile of moss and braken, coated with rabbit fur. Flower applied some cobweb, making Stem's flank feel better.
As stem made himself comfortable, Flower gave him a quick nip, peeling away the cobweb to apply more weird-smelling herbs. "An accident from Maple, I suppose?" Flower yawned, settling down at the patch of sunlight after putting on the herbs.
"A scratch from Maple." Stem grunted in pain as he rolled over, feeling the moss hit against the herbs. Flower gave back a silly smile, as if she could not believe it.
"Well then, if it hurts again, come back. I'll be sure to let Leader and Beta know." Flower got up, giving a bundle of berries to Stem. "Eat those if you feel pain. It should ease it," she gave him a nod as he trotted away, with sweet-smelling berries wrapped around by a thick piece of fern. Trying hard not to take a bite, he held on, igorning the tempting smell.
"Tmoak youth." He replied, trying to speak without dropping the berries. The she dragon just gave an amused flick of her tail, shoving him lightly out of the den.
"Stem!" Beta's voice echoed through the cave wall, slowly approaching him.
"Yes?" He dropped the bundle of berries, wanting to sound formal in front of her.
"You should get these berries back into the storage. You might lose them later." Beta took a few berries, padding forward, taking glances back every few steps to see if Stem was following. "Youth knows how sheps like when dragonths loset herf stuff." Beta wrinkled her eyes all Flower like, creating a funny expression of her.
"Yea I know." He spat out the seed in his mouth, licking his lips as his gaze turned to Beta. "What is it?" He noticed the earlier amusement of Leaf was gone, replaced by a worried glance.
"We've found some traces of humans." Beta sighed, her eyes then turning sharp. "We're planning war."
"WAR!?" Stem jumped in shock, looking around before he realized everyone's expressions were exactly the same as his- round, worried eyes that betrayed anger and fear, mixed along with impatient glares. "How can we possibly win? We're outnumbered by millions! Wait- no. Billions!" He gasped, finally realizing how easily humans can wipe the dwindling population of the dragons. There was no way they could kill all of humanity.
"Yes. We're having a heavy discussion about how to wipe the dragons out. Tomorrow, you're invited to the senior's den to talk about it. Marsh practically begged you to come." She shook his head, slowly the calm persona of Beta came back, flowing through the air.
"And Vine too, I suppose." Stem could not help frowning, his rage boiling, ready to explode.
"No, not Vine." Beta looked down at Stem, shaking her head back and forth, noticing how easily he can rage. It happened again! Stem thought. Backing away before trotting to the prey pile, hoping he could be in time for the prey dispuse.
I guess prey is the only thing all the dragons feel comfortable with.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ 2 Months Ago ⋆ ⋆ ⋆
As Stem padded in the Cave of the dead- the cave where her dad, Blizzard was buried, he noticed something strange. This isn't where Stem would spend his afternoons, no. This was the first time he went in this cave, after learning why his dad died. As he settled next to the light dirt covering his father, he found a patch of flat dirt with strange foot-prints. Is this a monkey? Maybe a large rabbit perhaps. Is this part of the tradition? Stem twitched his ear in interest, trying to remain calm while fear poured into his lungs. Eh, it's probably not important. He shrugged the thought of being invaded by humans away, stepping out of the cave.
♘ ♘ ♘ Present time ♘ ♘ ♘
As the sun rose, hearing the dragons start to stir, he woke up. Blinking his eyes open, he noticed a strange era waving across the dens. This tense feeling everyone felt was not helping at all. Beta raced across the clearing, poking her head in the den, calling out patrols.
"Hurl, bring Vine and Maple out for hunting." She spoke clearly, more confident than yesterday. "Once you're back, I'll just have Root take care of Vine as we have our meeting." Leaf nodded, gesturing the three dragons out as they scurry across the den.
"All of you come out soon, we will start the prey distribute now." Beta shrugged her wings, walking out, with a few dragons following. "Right. The seniors can share these rabbits and sparrow," She used her tail to shove it lightly towards the gathered seniors, Stem watched their frowns as they started eating the prey. Leader always gave them so much. I guess Beta wants a fair share for everyone now. Stem sat on his haunches, watching beta. "Save this for the patrol," she put her talons on the vole. "And finally, the rest of you can share those two rabbits." Leaf nodded at Marsh, who divided the prey.
Beta picked up a sparrow and padded towards the Leader's hut, bending her head to give him the prey.