Serali soared high above the plains, following Cherval with her wings outstretched. Cherval in turn trailed behind another dragon who formed the point of a wedge shaped formation of dragons. They flew over the plains rapidly, scanning the ground below for certain signs. Suddenly Cherval spoke up.
"There! Look, they've been this way!"
The lead dragon nodded his head and altered his course, the others following after. They flew further until finally they spotted what they were after. The formation broke up as the dragons spread out to approach from different sides. Serali stayed near Cherval, since she was new at this. Looking down at the scene below she was amazed.
"I never imagined that this was what I've been having for dinner! It's incredible!"
The green grass of the plains looked as though somebody had spilled a heap of beans out onto it, but these "beans" were alive and they moved. Stretching nearly from horizon to horizon was an immense herd of creatures. They were big shaggy animals with humped backs and impressive curving horns. The sound of their movement was like thunder, and they left a trail of trampled ground behind them that was a hundred times wider then the sweep of Serali's wings.
The other dragons were in position and as the leader gave the signal they dropped out of the sky, falling on the herd below. Serali swooped down, hitting a huge bull. Cherval had explained to her the rules of the hunt, you didn't take young, nor mothers of young, nor the lead animals, but all others were fair game. As she slammed into the creature, who probably weighed at least half what she did, the others around her startled and took flight. Where the other dragons landed the creatures also fled, spreading panic, and it wasn't long before the whole monstrous herd was moving, racing away from the hunters.
Serali had hit the bull just right, breaking its neck with the first blow. After making certain it was dead, she quickly took to the air again, soaring after the departing herd. She could see the winged shapes of the other dragons doing likewise. It was a mere moment before she caught up with the fleeing creatures. Picking out a limping cow that trailed the rest of the herd, Serali dived again. Hitting a moving animal proved harder than hitting one that obligingly stood still and Serali struck the cow in the side of its barrel-shaped torso rather than in the neck. The cow fell over and Serali somersaulted over its back, tumbling head over heels. When she picked herself up, she saw the cow struggling to get to its feet. Serali leaped at the cow, landing on its back and grabbing its huge shaggy head. One quick twist and the cow collapsed, neck broken.
Serali had taken her hunter's share and was licking her lips when Cherval landed near her, followed by a dragon that looked nothing at all like the plains dragons she'd seen. For one he was easily three times Cherval's size, and for another his scales were glossy, a deep forest green, where plains dragons were pearlescent and seemed mostly to have lighter colors. The plates that ran along his chest were a slightly lighter shade of green, while his forest green sides shaded up to a green that was almost black along his spine. His head was crowned with an impressive set of jet black horns, one large pair that twisted back from behind the ridges above his eyes and several smaller pairs set below it, tapering down as they ran along his jawline. Between his horns she saw the beginning of a crest of spines that ran down his back to his large, spade-shaped tail. The undersides of his wings were pale and veined with pink, and his heavy claws were black. A mountain dragon, Serali thought, feeling suddenly both excited and nervous. Here was somebody who was not only her own species, but more or less her own race as well.
Cherval didn't seem the least bit daunted by the differences in their sizes and he was angrily chewing out the larger dragon, whose stammered apologies weren't having the least effect on the irate sky-blue dragon. Cherval stormed over to Serali, trailing the mountain dragon behind him.
"This idiot decided it might be entertaining to turn part of the herd back around after we got it running. I was nearly trampled!"
"Calm down Cherval, there's no harm done, from the looks of things. Besides, I think you've already given him an ear full."
The green dragon broke in. "I'm truly sorry sir, I didn't think that…"
"That's right, you didn't think!"
"Cherval, he knows you don't approve, he's trying to apologize, can't you accept his apology?'
The smaller dragon gave the big green one last glare, then said, "Very well, I accept. I realize you're sorry for what you did. But if I catch you at another stunt like that…!"
"You won't." the larger dragon said firmly. Serali grinned at him. There was something, some nuance of his voice, a slight lifting of the corner of his mouth or perhaps the tiniest little twinkle in his eye, that suggested that just because Cherval wouldn't catch him at another stunt like that didn't mean there wouldn't be any others. The stranger returned her grin, then spoke.
"Thank you for defending me, my name is Kethro."
"I'm Serali, and this," she gestured to the still irate sky-blue dragon "Is Cherval, in case you haven't already been introduced."
"As a matter of fact, it seems we managed to forget such little formalities," responded Kethro with a grin.
Cherval just scowled.
Serali grinned back. She liked this dragon. He had a sense of humor, and he proved to be willing to make up for the trouble he caused when he offered to help Cherval haul his kills back to the dragon stone.
A younger dragon, a third Serali's size and probably three times her age, who had been circling above through the whole hunt now landed. Children were not allowed to hunt, it was too dangerous, but one of the older ones always got to go along to be the pole bearer. Strapped to his sides were an assortment of long wooden poles. The other dragons quickly assembled them into stretcher-like frames on which they loaded the carcasses of the huge beasts, the combined weight of which in several cases outweighed that of the dragon pulling them.
Cherval had outdone himself and caught three of the huge creatures, and without Kethro's help he might not have been able to even budge the huge load, but the larger dragon moved it with ease, and soon the party was headed back to dragon stone with the youngster flying scout overhead
Serali walked near Kethro as they made their slow way back to the dragon stone. "What brings you here? I'd gotten the impression that mountain dragons don't visit the plains often."
"No, they don't much. But I've always enjoyed the new and different, ever since I was a hatchling. I've been flying all over the northern mountains since I was able to fly, much to the dismay of my parents. I wanted to see everything! But now that I'm more than grown I decided that I'd seen enough of mountains, and that it was time to see something different. And the plains are definitely different!" He looked over at her. "You're different too. I didn't think there were any other gold dragons, besides old Brethor. And, uh, no offense but your accent is really strong. Where in the world are you from?"
"From a place called Land's End," said Serali. "But you won't have heard of it. There are no dragons living there now that I've gone. It's a human village. I was raised as a human. I've only been living among dragons for a few months."
His eyes went a little wide. "Wow. That's amazing. I've met a few humans, I speak a bit of their language. There are a few that live in the mountains, though we usually avoid them. But as I said, I like new and interesting things, so I spent some time talking to them. They're odd creatures."
"I suppose they must seem very odd to you. To me though it's dragons that are odd. I'm still getting used to the way the plains dragons do things, and I've no idea what it's like among mountain dragons."
"Well, perhaps eventually I'll take you north and you can find out."
She smiled over at him. "Perhaps."
When they reached the dragon stone, a small crowd of dragons was waiting. Cherval had explained this to her before the hunt. Since there were so many dragons at dragon stone the plains dragons, always more willing to cooperate than their mountain cousins, had worked out of system of hunting and sharing so that most of the dragons could devote their time to other things.
"It's a custom you won't find among other dragons, but we're rather proud of it. You see, dragon stone is home to many of the greatest scholars and mages in the world. But without such cooperation they would have to waste much of their time hunting." He had puffed up with pride at the very thought.
Serali smiled at the memory. She knew that the little blue dragon was serious, but that only made his behavior more humorous. Without paying too much attention to the crowd she left her kills outside and went back to her room. Drevass had invited her again to eat with him that evening so she had no need to claim any share.
Plopping down in the padded depression in the floor that served as a bed, she picked up her copy of the Book of Truth.
And behold because the dragons were scattered, First Father ordained a time that they might meet together and speak one with another. And also that they might sing together. So it was decided that on a certain day, one year out of every ten, the dragons would meet…
Serali put it down again. She wasn't really in the mood for reading. She looked around the bare room, wondering what to do. Her pack was leaning in one corner, the human sized bag looking very small in the dragon sized room. Her lute case was still strapped to the back of the pack.
She picked up the case, but her clawed fingers couldn't manage the tiny metal clasps that held it closed. Without really thinking about it, Serali shifted into human form. By now the change was almost instantaneous, she had done it so many times. She could remember Janus' surprise when he had attempted to teach her how to shape shift. He had begun to lecture her about the principles involved and the spells she would need to learn, but she had interrupted before he'd really gotten started.
"Janus, I've been shifting shapes since I was twelve years old. I don't think I'll need the formal magic."
"You've been shifting between the shape you were born in and your natural shape. This is going to be quite different."
"But you yourself told me that royal dragons are natural shape-shifters. Let me try it my way first, and if that doesn't work you can teach me the formulas and incantations."
"Very well."
She had remembered the feel of shifting between dragon and human. She recalled the familiar sensations of becoming a dragon from her human form. Then she merely imagined what it would feel like to change into a third form. Picturing in her mind one of the great cats that roamed the high desert around Land's End, she imagined what it would feel like to have fur instead of smooth skin or scales. What it would be like to go on all fours. Her vivid imagination easily provided her with the images she needed and in only seconds she was flowing into the cat form.
Janus had been rather apologetic afterwards. Serali had just grinned. After having dozens of spells backfire on her when she tried something different, it was good to have one of her attempts at improvisation succeed.
Looking down at her now human hands Serali pulled herself away from the past. She had not practiced her lute since leaving Barona. If she left it too much longer her fingers would start to forget the music. She opened the clasps and took out her lute. It was a bit scuffed and battered, and it had never been the highest quality to begin with, but the tone was still true and sweet. Serali spent a few moments adjusting the pegs so that the notes would be perfectly in tune. Then she strummed her hand across the instrument, idly picking out notes and chords without much thought. Gradually she settled down into one key and found herself thinking of a song that she had heard her mother sing when she was very young.
She sang along as she plucked out the melody once, and then she began to play with it, adding harmony first, then a counterpoint, and then a series of flourishes and embellishments, while her voice still carried the original tune. When she'd elaborated all she could on the first song she simply let her fingers wander and her mind wandered after them.
She was snapped back to reality by an inquisitive voice by the door. "Hello?"
She looked up to see Kethro standing in the doorway. "Oh, hi Kethro."
He jerked back, startled, and bared his teeth involuntarily. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
Serali was suddenly aware of how very small she was and how large Kethro was. Each of his bared fangs was nearly as long as her forearm. She'd never been near another dragon while in human form before. "I'm Serali."
"What?"
Serali set the lute aside and shifted back to dragon form. "See, I'm Serali."
"How did you do that?" Kethro asked, startled.
"I told you I was raised by humans. It wasn't a case of humans raising a hatching, I was raised in human form. I didn't even know I was a dragon until I changed for the first time, and even then it was a while before I was sure."
"If you didn't know you were a dragon, how did you change into one then?"
"It's kind of a long story," she said.
"Well, I don't have anything better to do just now than listen." He smiled at her.
Serali paused and considered. It had long since stopped being painful to think about, but it still wasn't something she had talked about with anyone but Janus. But somehow the idea of discussing it with Kethro didn't bother her. "Sure. Come in and have a seat." She patted a spot on the "bed" next to her. There wasn't anything like a chair or a couch in the room, so the padded depression in the floor was the only place to sit besides the bare floor itself. Kethro came in and made himself comfortable. Serali started talking, finding a kind of release in telling the story again. Kethro was fascinated, and also horrified when she explained what Patren had meant to do to her.
"I've never even heard of a dragon doing such a thing!"
"I don't think it's exactly common among humans," said Serali. "But he never actually hurt me, and he got what he deserved for it." Then she kept talking, telling him about her childhood, about her mage training, about Galen, and about anything else that crossed her mind. When Sleeah came to tell Serali that it was time to go to Drevass' chambers for dinner, she was still talking.
"Perhaps we can talk again tomorrow," she said as she headed for the door.
"Drevass has asked Kethro to come and eat as well," piped up Sleeah. "You can finish talking there."
Serali glanced at Kethro, suddenly aware of how long she'd been speaking. He'd been very patient to put up with her chattering so far, but she doubted he wanted to hear any more of it.
But if Kethro was bored at the thought of more talk, he didn't show it. He only smiled and told Sleeah that he was delighted to come.
The three of them made their way through the spacious halls of the dragon stone to Drevass's chambers together. Drevass was, as usual, lounging on the raised dais at the end of the room. A dark heap beside him proved to be the almost whole carcass of one of the shaggy creatures that Serali had killed earlier that day.
They all made themselves comfortable on the floor. Drevass cut the meat up with his diamond hard talons and served each of the others a portion.
Dragons had impeccable table manners, though "table manners" might not be the right term, as they didn't use tables. Of course to a human being, used to plates and knives, their dining habits might seem a bit uncivilized, but there wasn't really any point to forks and knives when your own claws would do much better. The four of them devoured the food neatly, without any mess. They spoke of little things at they ate, indulging in small talk that was not much different from that heard around human tables. After they had eaten Drevass asked Serali about what she had read that day.
"Not much. Just one passage, something about First Father calling a meeting of dragons."
"Ah, the dragon's moot. There is one due next spring, did you know?"
"I don't even know what a dragon's moot is. I just read a line or two in the book."
"It's a meeting of all the dragons in the world," said Kethro. "Held on the spring equinox every ten years."
Not all dragons," interjected Drevass. "There are always some that will not or can not come."
"True. But still, it is the largest gathering of dragons anywhere. There will be thousands of dragons there."
Serali tried to imagine it. Thousands of dragons…
The sight of two hundred plains dragons was perhaps not as stunning as the thousands that would be at the dragon's moot, but it was stunning enough. Spread out in dozens of V shaped formations, they nearly filled the sunset reddened sky. The dragons of dragon stone were migrating.
Serali had been pleasantly surprised that morning to go outside and discover that nearly a foot of snow had fallen in the night, but the other dragons reacted with far more enthusiasm than a little snow seemed to warrant. There was a holiday mood over everything.
Youngsters played in the new fallen snow, but a surprising number of adult dragons had abandoned their dignity to join in snowball fights and in the building of immense snow forts. She turned and asked Kethro, who seemed to have taken Cherval's place as a tag along, following her everywhere she went, for an explanation.
"I don't know. I like snow well enough, but I've never seen dragons react to it like this."
"Let's find Cherval and ask him," suggested Serali.
"Good idea." Cherval still didn't seem to like Kethro that much, but he had come to a grudging sort of acceptance of the mountain dragon's presence, and Kethro had no problems at all with Cherval. Serali wasn't quite sure why Cherval was still upset after so long, but he seemed to be keeping his annoyance with Kethro on a tight leash, and she was sure that eventually they would all get along fine.
After passing through a half-dozen snow fights and getting thoroughly pelted with snowballs in the process, the pair managed to find Cherval. He was helping a group of smaller dragons build a snow fort. Several yards away a second group, this one composed mostly of older dragons, was building another one. "Cherval!" Serali tried to get his attention. "Cherval, what is all this?"
The sky blue dragon looked up at her and waved. "The first and last snow, that's what it is. Today we'll have the snowfest and tonight we'll move south."
"What?"
"We don't live here year-round. When the first deep snow falls we go south."
"Why?" Serali asked, puzzled. "Surely it doesn't get that cold here!"
"It gets cold enough, but that's not why we go. We go because the herdbeasts do. Without them we couldn't live as we do, so we follow them every year."
"But why all the celebration?" Kethro asked.
"We see snow only once a year. That's cause enough to celebrate, I think. Why don't you two join in?" Serali looked over at where the older dragons were almost finished with their fort, then back to where Cherval and the youngsters were building theirs. Most of the dragon children were probably older then she was, she realized. It's about time I had some fun, she thought.
With a grin she ran over to where the youngsters were building the fort. Kethro followed behind. With their help the snow fort was completed swiftly and the smaller dragons began making snowballs.
With mock roars the adults charged over the field between the two forts, flinging snowballs as they went. Kethro and Serali charged out to meet them while the younger dragons provided a covering fire. Serali got splatted several times, but she scooped up snow as she ran and gave as good as she got. Suddenly a large snowball took her from the side. The impact nearly knocked her off her feet. Turning, she saw Kethro grinning at her, holding another snowball in his hand.
"Traitor!"
He just laughed and threw the other snowball.
Serali dodged and, scooping up and handful of snow, she dashed at Kethro. He grabbed up more snow and started to make another snowball, but before he could throw it, Serali launched herself into the air. She dropped her snowball from above, hitting Kethro square in the middle of his back, and then followed it with herself, flattening the larger dragon to the ground. She sat on his back, laughing, and dumped handfuls of snow on his head until he managed to get enough leverage to tip her over. She sprawled in the snow in a tangle of legs, wings, and tail and Kethro picked up an armful of snow and dropped it on her head. Serali shook her head, sending snow flying, and picked herself up. Then the two of them were overwhelmed with a deluge of snowballs. The young dragons had swarmed out of the fort, chasing the older ones across the field and now they were pelting Serali and Kethro, who were the only ones left outside.
"And you called me a traitor!" Kethro laughed and, scooping up and handful of snow he charged back at the fort. Serali grinned and followed. Dodging through a hail of cold white missiles, the pair made it to the fort. With a huge leap, helped out by a flap of his wings, Kethro landed on top of the fort wall. The snow was hard packed, but not enough to support his weight, and it collapsed under him, dumping him into the snow. Serali laughed and bounded over him into the midst of the young dragons only to fall on her face as Kethro caught her ankle. The younger dragons took advantage of the fact that she was now down at their level and piled onto her. Serali tried to get up, but weighed down by a dozen little dragons, she couldn't budge. Cherval was sitting on the ground a few feet away and laughing so hard he could hardly move. The adult dragons had noticed the chaos at the other fort. Deciding to take advantage of it, they mounted a charge. The young dragons were taken by surprise, snowballs smacked into them left and right. But Kethro rose to his feet and letting out a roar, he proceeded to fling pieces of the fallen wall at the enemy.
The young dragon scattered away from Serali, hiding behind the remaining fort walls. Left in the open, Serali had no choice but to join Kehtro in battle. The two of them sent a barrage of missiles at the charging adult dragons. The young dragons joined in, popping up from behind the walls to launch snowballs. Disheartened by the attack, the adults retreated to their fort across the field.
Made reckless by victory, the young dragons streamed out from the fort and charged after them. Serali and Kethro followed, throwing snowballs at both sides as they ran. Serali was hit from behind. Whirling, she spotted Cherval, still back at the fort, hurling another snowball her way. Since she was already facing that direction, Serali charged back at Cherval.
Meanwhile, the young dragons, with Kethro close behind, reached the older dragons fort. Braving a veritable hail of snowballs, they scaled the walls. Most of them fell off as the loosely packed snow crumbled underneath them. Just as Kethro reached the fort, the hail of snowballs ceased. Out through the gaps in the wall came the adult dragons. Alone or in pairs they singled out a youngster or two and pounced.
Serali didn't notice much of that though. She was busy washing Cherval's face in snow. She had never much liked getting her face snow washed herself, but the faces of human girls were much more tender than the faces of dragons, so she figured Cherval wouldn't take it too seriously. Having given him a thorough bath, she at last relented and turned to where Kethro still stood just outside of the adults fort. Between the youngsters' attack and the adults' retaliation, most of the fort had been flattened. The battle no longer raged over what was left of the fort walls. Instead little knots of dragons straggled back towards the dragon stone. All of the young dragons had attached themselves to an older dragon, or a pair of them. Serali noticed that dragons of similar colors were grouped together. A pair of sea green youngsters trailed after two adults, one light green, one sky blue. A little ways beyond a trio of hatchlings, two amber and one yellow green followed an amber male toward where a grass green female was waiting on top of a little rise.
They were all families. Mothers, fathers and children playing together. Serali was struck by a sudden pang of homesickness. She turned away from the scene with a sigh. Kethro came up beside her. "Why the sighing?"
"I miss my family. But that's not really it, it's more that... sometime I wish I had been raised by my true parents. Seeing this," she gestured at the family groupings around them, "I wonder what it would have been like to be raised as a dragon. I'm younger than most of those youngsters out there today, you know. I just had to grow up fast. I can't go back to being a child again, but that doesn't keep me from missing the century-long childhood I might have had." She sighed again. "Just one more reason not to fit in here. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever find a place to call home."
Kethro put one clawed hand on her shoulder. For one moment it felt strange, alien, inhuman. Then the moment passed and Serali understood the warmth and comfort the gesture represented. She stood there for a moment, just feeling like that. Feeling like she was part of something, like she belonged. Then she smiled at Kethro and turned and headed back to the dragon stone.
There was a meeting in a huge chamber Serali had never seen before. Drevass had sent Sleeah to invite Serali and Kethro to it. As Serali entered, she saw the whole chamber filled with dragons. There seemed to be hundreds of them, though Drevass told her there was hardly three score gathered there. There were in the process of arguing as Serali entered. A vivid dark blue dragon, very nearly as massive as Drevass and showing the worn horns of age, was standing in the center of the bowl shaped room. He was gesturing wildly and speaking in a loud, offended tone to a smaller dragon, this one a pale amber-orange.
"I'm one of the finest fire mages in all of dragon stone, and I tell you that there is no such thing as a sure guarantee in magic! The spell will likely work, and I will do all I can, but I can never be sure. You will have to accept it."
The smaller dragon was nearly flattened to the floor by the psychological force of the other's shout, but he lifted his head into the mental hurricane and replied, "I will not go without the assurance that my eggs will survive the trip. This is my first clutch, and I am not likely to have another for many centuries, if at all."
"I can assure you that I will do all in my power to keep the spell constant, but again I say there are no guarantees! Magic is unpredictable, wild! There is no dragon mage on the face of the Earth that can guarantee a spell over such a period of time!"
Serali turned to Drevass, who was standing not too far from where she had entered. "What is all this?"
"Vulcnor, that's the orange fellow there being blown away by the force of argument, his mate clutched just a month or two ago. Autumn clutches are rare, most dragons lay in late winter or spring, and if the eggs will hatch after the migration the parents can merely stay behind in the south for a few weeks. The winter lands are hot in summer, but not unbearably so, and there is plenty of game for a few dragons. But to stay here through the winter is almost sure death for the eggs. Neither of them is a mage, so warming their chambers against the coming cold will be impossible. As the weather gets colder there will be less game. To stay alive both of them will need to hunt every day, but if they leave the eggs for more then a few minutes the cold will kill them.
"Thedrill, the large fellow who is blowing like a winter blizzard, is a fairly good mage. He has an overly high opinion of himself, but many mages do. He wants Vulcnor and his mate to move the eggs with the rest of us to the winter lands. But much of the travel will be through the cold, so the eggs will need a warming spell to protect them. Dragon magic is raw power controlled very closely. The warming spell will probably work just fine, but there's always a very small chance that Tehdrill will lose his concentration and let out too much power. If that happens, the eggs would probably be cooked."
"Why doesn't he just seal off his spell then?"
"Do what?"
"Seal the spell so that it maintains itself. It's easy to do, you just need a word or two in the formal language of magic."
"I have no idea what you are talking about. The language of magic?"
"Your mages don't use word spells?" Serali suddenly realized that in all her learning about dragons, she had never bothered to find out how dragon magic worked.
"No. I'm no mage, but I've been told it is entirely a matter of mind mastery." He looked speculatively at Serali. "Could you seal a heat spell that Thedrill had set?"
"Possibly. But why do that when I can set a heat spell of my own easily enough? I spent more than two years learning fire magic. I think I have some small mastery of it by now."
"And you are certain that it would neither grow colder not hotter after you had done this?"
"I have staked my life on such bindings while practicing dangerous spells before this. I am certain enough to stake the lives of any number of unborn dragons on it."
"In that case, I think it's time I put and end to this argument."
Drevass made his way to the center of the room and placed himself between Vulcnor and Thedrill. They kept arguing around him for a moment more before realizing the futility of it and quieting. Drevass waited until he had their full attention, the addressed them.
"If I may intrude into your little feud, may I suggest a solution?" He stared at first one and then the other, daring them to say no. After a long silence he continued. "I have noted that you, Thedrill, said that no dragon mage could guarantee a spell. Tell me, what of a human mage?"
Thedrill looked a bit upset and rather baffled at the idea, but after a long moment he conceded, "Yes, they haven't the power of dragon mages, but human magic is somewhat more stable."
Vulcnor on the other hand looked aghast. "You would allow a human to cast spells upon my eggs?"
"No, he would not, Vulcnor." Serali stepped forward, feeling somewhat annoyed at the prejudice against her adopted race. "Though I've known many a human to care for their children with as much care as any dragon mother. But there are no human mages here in any case. There is only me. I was trained in human magic for several years and I know the spells that would assure the life of your hatchlings."
Vulcnor clicked his teeth nervously, unable to decide between the known uncertainty of dragon magic and the unknown promise of this stranger. Serali stepped toward him and looked him in the eye. "Vulcnor, I would stake not only my life, but the lives of my own future children on this spell. I know fire magic, I trust my knowledge. I know you're afraid of the risk, but I promise, there is no risk here. Trust me."
He nodded once. "I do not know you, but I think you speak truth. Cast your spell. And may the Creator have mercy on us both if it is not as sure as you say."
Thedrill threw Serali an offended glance, but said nothing. After a moment of silence, Drevass spoke. "Now that that has been resolved, are there any other issues to be raised?" He waited for a few moments, but no one spoke. "In that case, let us go and begin the move. Noon is past and sundown approaches."
The dragons all began moving toward the exits in ones and twos, discussing the day's events as they went. Serali turned to Vulcnor as the last of the others left the large chamber. Her voice echoed slightly in the almost empty room. "Where are your eggs?"
"I'll show you, follow me." He led the way through the twisting corridors of dragon stone to a small chamber. Serali had to go into the room on all fours, and even then it was a tight fit. Inside a yellow-green dragon lay curled in a circle around a dozen cream colored eggs. Sitting against one curved wall was a basket. It was the first such thing that Serali had seen among the dragons. The only furnishings in dragon chambers were things carved out of the stone. Bookshelves that were nothing more then alcoves in the walls, beds that were mere dips in the floor. Benches that were ledges. She hadn't thought that dragons made things like baskets.
With a mental shrug, Serali turned her attention to Vulcnor and his mate. Fortunately the chamber was bigger inside than its tiny door suggested, otherwise the three of them would never have fit.
With great care the two of them were placing the eggs in the basket, one by one. After they were secure and a lid fastened on top, Vulcnor turned to Serali. He looked somewhat nervous still. He was risking his most precious possession on the word of a stranger. But she had spoken convincingly, and she was a royal gold. The royal golds had always been true and loyal to their people, even the plains dragons. Surely this strange dragon could be trusted. "They are ready. Cast your spell."
She drew a circle in the sandy floor with one claw, and stood in the center of it. She took a deep breath and relaxed, letting her mind reach a state of balance and calm, and then she summoned the power. She summoned it in much the way a dragon might, calling on raw fire, but then she began to speak. The chant was short, repeated only thrice, but it calmed and bound the fire from a raging inferno to a gentle glow.
She finished the last word, and felt the spell settle into place. "It's done."
"It is?" Vulcnor looked as if he didn't quite believe it.
"Yes. See for yourself." Serali placed one hand on the basket. Vulcnor did likewise. A slight warmth, no more than the warmth of touching a dragon's scaled side, radiated from the basket. "The spell is on the basket, not on the eggs, so do not remove them. I've set the spell to break when any of the eggs are taken out. You can, however, lift the lid to check on them without disrupting the spell."
"And you are certain of this?" asked Vulcnor.
"As certain as I have ever been of anything."
"Thank you."
The sun was low in the sky, casting twisted shadows over the trampled snow as Serali lifted off. Kethro, tagging along as always, launched himself into the air after her and they set off after the rest of the dragon stone dragons, all two hundred of them. They flew south as the sun set, vanishing into the night like the tragic hero of an old ballad.
The dragons had flown steadily south and west for weeks. For several days they passed over the unbroken flatness of the ocean of grass. The featureless grasslands defied navigation, and they were directed in their flight only by the position of the sun overhead. They flew mostly by day, stopping at night to rest. The dragons would settle themselves in a circle, with eight dragons remaining awake to watch in every direction. Then those dragons who were parents would settle in the middle of the outer ring, with the children in the very center. As the night wore on, the watch was changed several times to allow every dragon a chance to rest. When the sun rose they would get up, form into wings of a dozen or so and be off.
Serali had become thoroughly bored of grass when at last they left the plains. They passed then over the western end of the broken lands. Here the ground was seamed with rifts and pocked with craters. Tiny streams ran at the bottoms of impossibly deep, narrow canyons. But they were over those lands for little more than a single day before they left them. Now they entered a country of rolling hills. Small copses of trees spotted the land here and there. It was not as featureless as the grasslands, but it didn't take Serali long to become just as bored. After more than a week of traveling over this land at last she saw something different. A line formed on the horizon. Serali could see the tiny specks of the lead dragons descending on it. As she herself drew nearer it resolved itself into a river. On the far bank a long line of cliffs rose, dotted here and there with caves. The river itself was full of dragons, laughing and splashing in the cold waters. Serali landed in the river with a splash that threatened to swamp the dragons near her. Kethro, who had followed behind her the whole way as usual, splashed down beside her, drenching her.
Serali laughed and shook her head, sending water flying. "It looks like we've arrived. I wonder what we do now?"
"I think we should find Drevass or Cherval and find out," Kethro replied. Swimming strongly with sweeps of his powerful tail he crossed to the far bank and hauled himself out of the water. Serali followed, moving somewhat more slowly. She had never swum as a dragon before, and the motions were different from those required in human form. Good thing dragons float, she thought, otherwise I might be in trouble.
The bank was crowded with a veritable rainbow of dragons. Serali scanned the crowd looking for familiar faces and not finding any. Turning and looking in the other direction, she still couldn't see Cherval or Drevass, but she did spot Vulcnor and his mate only a few yards off.
"Vulcnor!" She walked over to them, waving.
"Serali! It's good to see you again." He held up the basket. "They are still warm. As soon as we pick out a good spot we'll take them out."
"Pick out a spot?"
"Ah, of course, you've never been on migration before. When we arrive at the winter lands, each dragon can pick a cave. Whoever gets there first gets first choice. But there are many more caves here than are needed, so I'm in no rush."
"So I can just move in wherever I like?"
"Yes. The only cave that's reserved is a particularly large one near the middle of the cliffs that Drevass gets every year."
"Thank you. I'll go take a look around."
"It is I who should be thanking you, Serali. You have saved my hatchlings."
"Anyone would have done the same if they could, Vulcnor."
"But it was you who did."
Serali shrugged.
Vulcnor's mate interrupted them. "Come. I know a place I would like to claim before another does."
He smiled at his mate, and bid Serali farewell. Serali waved goodbye to the pair. Then she set off to inspect the available caves with Kethro trailing behind her.
She located an excellent cave of modest proportions. It consisted of two chambers, the first with a wide entrance and spacious high ceiling, the second much smaller. She had to duck to go through the entrance and Kethro needed to bend almost double to get in. It boasted one remarkable feature that made up for the difficulty of entering. A natural opening in the rock made a window to the outside, and some previous occupant had actually installed a pane of thick wavy glass.
"This is amazing. I've never heard of a dragon making glass."
Kethro stuck his head in the entrance and looked around. "Then you haven't been paying attention," he said with a laugh. "What do you think the light globes in dragon stone are made from? Dragonsmiths crafted every one of them."
"Oh." Serali felt a little foolish. "Dragonsmiths?" she asked.
"Yes. They aren't common, but there are a few. They say the first dragonsmith explored too far and became lost in the deep caves and was found by a group of dwarves. He lived among them for several years and learned their ways. When he returned to the surface he taught as many other dragons as would learn the smithing art. And since then the term has come to be applied to any dragon that crafts things. Of course a dragonsmith doesn't do the kind of work a human smith does. They make books, and a few other functional things, but dragons don't need plows or swords or any of the things that human smiths tend to make. Most of what a dragonsmith makes is decorative."
Serali sighed. "Sometimes I feel like I ought to have stayed with my human parents. There's so much I don't understand."
"You'll learn. You belong with your own kind. You know you weren't really happy with the humans."
"That's not quite true. I was often happy there, I just didn't fell like I belonged. I didn't fit in at Land's End and I didn't fit in with the nobles at Baron City, but I don't really fit in here either."
Kethro shook his head. "That may me merely because you still are not with your own kind. These are plains dragons. Mountain dragons are quite different."
"Perhaps..."
Serali had settled herself comfortably in her new home and was enjoying the crisp winter weather. Kethro had picked a cave quite near hers, and they continued to spend much of their time talking together.
There was no snow here, but they had not gone far enough south to escape the winter entirely. The wind was chill and the stands of trees that dotted the rolling hills were bare. It was a mere week after they had arrived when the real reason for moving to this location became clear.
"Serali! Come on!"
"What?" Serali looked up from where she had been sunning herself just outside of her chambers. Cherval leaped into the air from the mouth of a cave a few dozen yards away. He headed across the river to the north. All around other dragons were likewise launching themselves. Serali followed them. Catching up with Cherval she asked, "What's going on?"
"The herds are arriving! That's why we winter here, it's near where the herds winter. We leave after they've gone, but we fly much faster, so they usually get here a little after we do."
"But why is everyone going? I thought you said that hunts never had more then a dozen or so?"
"At all other times, yes. But after this move, and also come spring when we move back, all dragons will hunt. Think about it. After what you've been living on these past weeks, couldn't you nearly eat an entire herd-beast yourself?"
Serali considered. She'd eaten nothing more substantial during the move than the mule-eared deer that could be found in the area, and most of her meals had been smaller than that. And after moving here the diet hadn't improved much. Dragons seemed to be designed to go long periods without food, so she hadn't really felt the lack the way she would have in human form, but Cherval was right. Right now she could have eaten a horse and had room left over.
"You're right, I'm starving!"
"If we hunted like this all the time we might damage the herd, and it would be a waste of food. But twice a year we forget the rules and let everyone that can hunt."
Serali had never seen so many dragons hunting at once. But the herd was huge and after much chasing around and stampeding, everyone managed to catch something. Serali even managed to haul hers across the river to her cave. It was far too heavy to fly with, so she had to drag it, and it got quite soaked when she swam the river, but that didn't hurt it any. Unlike the tales, few dragons could actually carry off a cow or horse. Many of the plains dragons couldn't even lift a child. She could lift an adult human, but anything much heavier than that would be totally impossible. She had only been able to fly long distances with Janus on her back because he was quite light.
All of which cast a different light on the tales of marauding dragons carrying off people and livestock.
Serali quickly settled into the winter rhythm of life, and time passed as it has a habit of doing. She was once again sunning herself in front of her cave when she was interrupted by Cherval who landed next to her.
"Serali! Come quick!" He was practically twitching with suppressed excitement.
"What is it?"
"Vulcnor's eggs are hatching!"
"Then what are we waiting for?" With a swift beating of wings she launched herself into the air. It took only seconds to reach the cave that Vulcnor and his mate had chosen. Serali poked her head inside. The cave was just a single hole in the rock, but it was much larger than her small cavern. It easily fit Vulcnor, his mate and the pile of eggs on the sandy floor with room left over for Serali and Cherval as well. Cherval poked her from behind.
"Go in. You make a better wall than a window. I want to see."
Serali moved into the large chamber. Vulcnor and his mate were crouched eagerly next to the pile of cream colored eggs. Of the dozen or so heaped on the floor, two had rolled out of the pile. They were rocking from side to side and small, muffled trilling noises were coming from them. A crack formed down the side of one that was slightly larger than the other. The crack spread until the whole egg was webbed with fine lines. Suddenly a piece of the egg broke off and a tiny snout, tipped with a short egg horn, emerged. There was a long pause while the little dragon simple breathed, resting after its exertions. Then the hatchling began to squirm and rock the egg again. Soon it had enlarged the hole enough to fit its forearms through. Then its tiny wings, and at last the entire hatchling lay on the sand. Its mother quickly scooped it up and began licking it dry.
Serali watched curiously. She had never seen a newly hatched dragon before. It was proportioned somewhat differently from an adult dragon, with tiny wings and small arms and legs. A large head made it look as though it would tip over forward any moment. It was covered all over in soft leathery skin, the same cream color as the shell of the egg it had just left.
Her attention was torn from the hatchling by a cracking sound from the other egg. A small snout poked from a hole in the egg. It wasn't long before the second hatchling emerged onto the sand. The mother picked this one up as well. The two hatchlings easily fit into her hand. They were so very tiny, hardly larger than human babies.
She turned and whispered to Cherval, who was standing next to her. "Do you think they'll let me hold one?"
"Probably. But first they have to check the other eggs."
"What do you mean?"
"Just watch."
Serali looked back to the pile of eggs. Vulcnor was picking them up one at a time and carefully breaking open the shells. Most of them were full of gooey fluid, just like the whites of ordinary chicken eggs. A few had a yolk too, but no sign that it had ever started to develop into a dragon. Near the bottom of the pile however one egg was different. When Vulcnor broke the shell gently there was no leak of clear goo. Instead a tiny foot poked out. Vulcnor's face lit up. Quickly, but with great care, he broke the rest of the shell away from the tiny dragon. It moved weakly, with none of the clumsy animation of its siblings.
"Amazing," said Cherval with a shake of his head. "A third hatchling is very rare in a clutch of this size."
"Is there something wrong with it that it didn't hatch by itself?" asked Serali.
"Sort of. Some hatchlings are just weaker, nobody knows why. This one will always be smaller than its siblings, and will need a little extra care, but it will grow up just fine. I was a runt myself, actually."
Vulcnor handed the tiny hatchling to his mate. All three of them were making little sounds of contentment, halfway between a birdlike trill and a purr. Vulcnor went back to the eggs and broke open the last few, all empty.
Serali and Cherval left the proud parents with the hatchlings and sat outside.
"Cherval, are hatchlings always that color?"
"Yes. In a month or so they'll shed the egg skin and the egg horn, but until then there's no way of knowing what color they'll be when they get older."
"What about gold dragons?"
"Well, it depends. A liveborn gold is golden from the start, but that only happens when gold is mated to gold. If a gold is mated to another color, the mother will lay a clutch of ordinary eggs, and they will hatch out with an egg skin just like these. Some of them may be gold, or they may not be."
Serali shook her head. "There's so much I still don't know."
"But you're learning."
"Yes, I'm learning."
The winter was full of things to do. Serali hunted, slept, sunned herself, discussed the Book of Truth with Drevass and, much to her delight, tended Vulcnor's hatchlings. They were growing rapidly. A month after they were hatched they were three times the size they'd been and had shed their egg skins. One of them was orange-amber like its father, another was yellow-green like its mother, but the little one that had hatched last was a vivid yellow. They could crawl almost from the day they hatched and would quickly escape from their cave given half an opportunity.
By the time three months had passed, they were beginning to stand up to walk and had discovered that Serali was a wonderful toy to climb all over. They were quite a handful, as her mother would have said. Wonder what the dragon's word for that is?
So occupied, the time passed swiftly for Serali and before she knew it, spring was coming. The herd had begun its migration north, and the dragons were preparing to follow.
"This year isn't like most years," said Cherval with evident excitement as the first wing of dragons took off into the air. "This year only a few, those with hatchlings mostly, will stop at dragon stone. The rest of us will continue north until we reach the dragons' moot."
"I remember Drevass mentioned it. When does it begin, and how long will it last?"
"The moot itself begins on sundown of the spring equinox, and will be over by sunrise, but the gathering will have started before we get there and may well go on for weeks after the moot itself is over."
"Weeks? What do they do there?"
"They discuss a great many things. Young dragons, of course, look for other young dragons for mates. Older dragons socialize. And the scribe takes down anything presented in the Book of Thoughts. Sometimes someone will present an entry for the Book of Knowledge. That can take a long time because every dragon that chooses to join those discussions needs to either agree that it is a fact, or choose to abstain from giving an opinion. You can imagine some of the arguments that causes.
"And very rarely there will be an addition for the Book of Truth presented. That almost never happens. To be added to the Book of Truth, it must be inspired by the Creator himself. Not many dragons would claim to be so inspired, and of those that do, many are mad, one way or another. I think the humans' word for it is 'prophet.'"
"Yes. I've heard prophets spoken of. I gather that self-proclaimed prophets are not uncommon, but as for true prophets, I don't know. I'm not sure I could judge."
"I doubt there will be a prophet this decade, but you never know." He grinned. "You'll just have to go and see for yourself."
"I'm going to."
The dragons retraced their path northwards among signs of spring budding around them. Water rushed from melted snow, flowers bloomed, and warm breezes blew. After several weeks they reached dragon stone. The river was swollen to twice its usual size with snow-melt, but all else was unchanged. A few wings of dragons left the formation and landed, but the others flew on without stopping. They winged their way steadily north, following the advance of spring. For weeks they flew over the unremitting sameness of the plains. Twice they soared over rivers that cut deep grooves into the flat grassland. Both times they paused to rest and drink before continuing on.
As they crossed the second river, Serali thought she saw a smudge of cloud on the horizon. As they flew on it resolved itself into a low lying range of mountains. Serali judged they would reach them the next day. But the next day the mountains merely grew taller. They remained in the distance. Two days later they reached the foothills. Serali could see the mountains beyond, almost impossibly tall. Their tops were coated with snow that never melted, their feet carpeted in a dense forest of pine and aspen. At the feet of the mountains the dragons turned west.
They flew for another week before turning north again. Another two days saw them in among the towering mountains and the next day they arrived at a peak that was unlike its neighbors. Where the surrounding mountains were sharp and pointed, this one appeared rounded. As they flew above it and circled for a landing Serali saw that the top held a massive bowl-like depression.
The whole bowl was filled with the bright specks of dragons. An infinitely varied rainbow of colors dotted the bowl's floor. As Serali came in to land she could make out individual dragons. Here eyes were drawn to a pair of dragons near the center of the bowl. Behind them rose four immense pillars of stone. Sitting just in front of the pillars was a golden dragon. He was quite possibly the largest dragon present. He had an elaborate crest of horns and spikes, with a triple ridge of spines running down his back. The tips of them were worn down and blunt.
Standing just in front of him was a dragon that, though noticeably smaller in size, was much more striking in appearance. His scales were a vivid blood red flecked with bright metallic gold. His cresting was jet black, and there was no sign of the blunting of age. The pair were surrounded by a crowd of smaller dragons, mostly metallic shades and bright reds, but with a scattering of other colors as well.
Serali followed the rest of the wing of plains dragons and landed near the edge of the bowl.
The plains dragons milled around on the outskirts of the crowd, but Serali was curious. She made her way through the rainbow gleaming crowd to a spot where she could observe the two dragons that had caught her eye. She was unaware of the ripple of surprise that followed her passage.
A small silver dragon approached the pair. With a bow she presented the golden dragon with a small object. As she handed it over, Serali saw that it was one of the metal books that dragons used. It was tiny in the golden dragon's massive hands. He opened it and paged through it delicately. Then he nodded, said something that Serali couldn't hear and placed the book on top of a small pile of similar books behind him.
It was already late afternoon when Serli and the plains dragons arrived. Soon the sun was sinking below the horizon. As the light faded, the stones that stood in the center of the bowl began to hum. Soft shifting melodies filled the bowl.
All of the dragons turned towards the center, towards the stones, towards the red dragon. The golden dragon had vanished into the crowd, but the red dragon was rearing up to stand upright, towering over the dragons nearby. As the last rays of the sun vanished behind the mountains, he began to sing. His voice was deep and strong, echoing over the bowl. The song was wordless, but the notes were expressive all the same, solemn and heavy with meaning. One by one the other dragons joined in, singing with him. Serali lifter her head and added her voice to the swelling song.
As the night waxed the dragons harmonized, but Serali felt a sense of wrongness. There was something missing, something not right.
When a silver dragon standing not far away lifted her voice in a different melody, a kind of counterpoint, she realized what it was. All of the dragons were singing the same melody as the red dragon. They were echoing it in a kind of round that build up layers of harmony, and some of them were building chords around it, harmonizing further, but none of them were singing their own melodies. That wasn't how it ought to be! The knowledge of how things should have been was instinctive, she knew that there ought to be a counterpoint, many counterpoints, and there was only the single melody. And she had been singing it too. There was a kind of weight and pressure to the red's song that demanded she echo it. But she resisted, and managed to break off to follow the silver. She harmonized with the silver's new melody, following it but creating her own notes that blended with it. A few other voices joined her, but only a few.
Then the wrongness suddenly became so acute that Serali nearly felt it as a physical sensation. For even as the silver dragon sung counterpoint with all her heart, the red dragon changed his melody and nearly all the others followed him. Serali could feel it still, the force of his song demanding that she move to follow him. Even the song of the stones shifted to match the red's song. But the silver had not shifted with him, and for a few moments dissonance hung in the air, making Serali flatten her crest. The silver fell silent, and the handful of dragons that had followed her shifted back to match the red's song. Serali stopped singing. A few dragons around her glanced at her in surprise.
She listened for a long moment, then came back in. She was singing a counterpoint. She sat up straight and sang strongly, with a voice that she had practiced with and trained to fill a room while in human form. That practice, added to the prodigious lungs of her dragon form, allowed her to be heard across the whole bowl, over all the other dragons. With all her might and with all her energy she sang.
The red dragon heard her. He immediately shifted his singing. But Serali shifted her counterpoint with him, avoiding the jarring of dissonance. He shifted again, and again Serali moved with him. But now other dragons were falling out of the harmony, unable to follow the shifts. Many fell silent, other lingered for a moment in dissonance before shifting into harmony. But several began to follow Serali, first a few, then more and more. Voices swelled in harmony to her song, abandoning the sameness of the red dragon's singing to improvise around her tune. Then the silver dragon again sang, finding a third melody to weave in and out around the tunes that Serali and the red dragon sang. And still Serali matched every shift that the red could make, and the dragons that followed her were somehow able to move with her, the power of the song letting them sense the notes they needed to sing.
A few dragons now harmonized with the silver, then a few more. A fourth dragon somewhere lifted his voice in a new melody, and suddenly the bowl was filled with a complex song, branching into dozens of different parts that wove in around each other. Serali smiled as she sang, knowing that now the wrongness was gone and things were as they should be.
The red dragon stopped singing and glared at her. The song faltered for a moment in shock as all the dragons realized that he had stopped. Then it picked up again without him. The dragons sang until the first rays of sunrise began to light up the sky. One by one they dropped out again until Serali was singing alone. Then she stopped, letting the last note ring out and echo back from the distant peaks.
A few dragons began to leave in ones and twos, launching themselves into the sky and scattering in all directions. Some of the plains dragons made their way to where Serali stood.
"That was beautiful," said Drevass warmly. "Though... I know only a little of mountain dragon politics, but I suspect it was also dangerous as well. I don't know if you had intended to stay here in the mountains when we plains dragons left, but if you do... be careful. Skrissish can't do anything to you here and now, there are too many eyes watching, but I have heard rumors..." Drevass shook his head. "Perhaps they are just rumors, but perhaps they are not, and you are no match for him should he try to fight you."
Serali nodded soberly. The thought had occurred to her as well, particularly given the way the red had glared at her.
Cherval and Trillor came up to her, chattering excitedly, complimenting her on how she had led the song. Suddenly Trillor froze, baring his teeth in an expression of utter hatred. "He's here!"
Serali followed his line of sight to one of the metallic dragons that had crowded around the red dragon. A brass of moderate size, he was chatting with a pair of smaller bronzes. Recalling how she and Trillor had met, Serali had no doubt who the brass dragon was. With a roar Trillor launched himself at the brass. By the time Serali reached the conflict the brass dragon had Trillor pinned to the ground. Serali hit the brass in the side, claws first, and tumbled him off of the smaller plains dragon. The brass whipped around and snapped at Serali. She hissed at him and raked her claws across his muzzle.
Other dragons were backing away from the battle, creating a clear space. Serali took advantage of it to step back a bit from the brass and stand upright. She balanced herself easily, remembering her years of lessons with Cervus. The brass stayed on all fours and leaped at her, no doubt thinking that it would be easy to knock her over. But she stepped nimbly aside and spun as she did, kicking him soundly in the back as he went past. The blow did no real damage, it was moving with him, but it was enough to send him sprawling. He scrambled back to his feet and snarled at her. She snarled right back and moved in to the attack with a quick kick followed up by a jab that took the other dragon right in the nose. He howled, an animal sound, and snapped at her. She wasn't quite quick enough and he managed to get her forearm in his teeth. He bit down hard, enough to crack scales and draw blood.
With his teeth lodged in her arm her options were more limited, but she managed to kick him soundly several times. He swept his tail around, and she hadn't quite been expecting that. It took her feet out from under her, and suddenly she was pinned. He let go of her arm to snap at her face, and she only just managed to twist enough to avoid his teeth.
But she knew exactly what to do in this situation, and brought her knee up hard. A male dragon has no external genitals, but the internal ones are in roughly the same place as they would be on a human male, and the single layer of plating that covers them isn't enough to entirely cushion such blows. The brass shrieked and let go of her.
Suddenly the huge red dragon pushed through the crowd.
"What's going on here?" His voice was deep and harsh.
The brass was too incoherent with pain and rage to offer an explanation, and Serali had no idea what to say, but Trillor had picked himself up off the ground and now he moved forward and pointed at the brass. "That dragon killed my hatchling daughter!"
The red gave the much smaller brass a none-too-gentle prod with one clawed foot. "Is this true?" The brass hissed at him. In an instant the red had him pinned, his enormous clawed hand over the brass's throat. "Is this true?!"
"Yes," snarled the brass, and tried to bite the red's arm. There was a light of madness in his eyes.
The red dragon snarled back, a wordless animal sound, and Serali realized that his eyes were every bit as mad. Without even bothering to say a word he tore the brass dragon's throat out. Then he turned and looked at Serali with blood dripping from his teeth. His expression seemed to say "I could do the same to you if I wanted to." She shuddered.
He licked the blood from his muzzle and walked away, leaving a stunned crowd of plains dragons behind him.