Dragons Life Series (Book)

Frost on Leaf, Fire on Scale

Prologue

                Moonlight seeped into a cave. A beautiful orange dragon watched over her eggs. The silence and the chirping of crickets lulled her. She wanted to drift off, but her mate was out hunting, and she worried for him. Flafire watched the play of trickling moonlight on the rocks in the cave. She was a Higher Trainer in a Dragon Flight, the Hrowl Flight. She wanted to be promoted to Hunter, two ranks up. No more training young Dralours! But she wouldn't mind training this bunch. Flafire marveled at the patterns on her eggs. Each was different and unique. She was startled when she heard footsteps and a scraping sound at the entrance of the cave, which was reached by a tunnel. She turned.

                "Hunfog! You're back! And you've brought a nice Thunderbird to eat."

                Hunfog hefted the weighty bird to a corner. "It's enough for both of us and the hatchlings." They settled down, Flafire curling protectively around the hatchlings and Hunfog crouching beside her, soon falling asleep.

                The next morning, the eggs were due to hatch. Both mates watched as the first hatchling fairly shoved its way out of the shell. A black scaled and handsome dragon with sparsely webbed wings, he was unusually large for a hatchling. The next hatchling to hatch was a fire-orange hatchling just like Flafire, with the long claws of Hunfog. Some of the hatchlings hatched at the same time. One was tan with fur-lined wings and a tail with jutting out spikes, one was black that faded into grey on its undersides, and many were bi-coloured.

                As the rest hatched, Flafire started to feed them bits of Thunderbird when they opened their eyes to the world. "I wish we could name them now," Flafire sighed.

                "I do too, but we can't go against tradition, can we?" Hunfog asked.

                "I guess not," Flafire replied.

                Hunfog and Flafire fed more of the Thunder bird to the hatchlings, but before long it was clear that they were getting sleepy. They snuggled close to their parents as they took an afternoon nap. Once they woke up, Flafire decided to hunt. Telling Hunfog to guard the hatchlings, she flew off.

                Deep in the forest, Flafire prowled. Something didn't feel right to her, but she just shrugged it off. A rustle of a leaf alerted her to a Silforest wolfe, which she brought down with a single snap of her jaws. Taking it in her teeth, she flew it home. They ate, and drifted off to sleep.

                Over the next few weeks, the hatchlings grew speedily. Flafire and Hunfog let them go out of the cave that they were in. They went into a forest, and with the other hatchlings watching, Flafire taught the black hatchling how to hunt.

                "You know I haven't named you yet, right?" Flafire asked the hatchlings.

                The hatchlings uttered a bunch of squeaky, "Right!” calls, before they calmed down again.

                "Well then, you," she nodded to the black hatchling, "will be Nighwhisper. Flafire looked at the fire-orange hatchling. "You will be named Firflare."

                "Firflare," the hatchling repeated.

                "The rest of you will be named soon," Flafire promised.

                 And so a few days passed. Flafire taught the hatchlings to hunt, and finished naming all of them. Just as she was done telling the hatchlings how to bring down a stervole, she felt a strange presence in the forest.

                "Hide!" she whispered as a creature slid out of the darkness.

                A long body with two pairs of wings and legs short in comparison to its body, Flafire recognized it right away. Snake! Hunfog looked frozen to the ground, paralyzed by the snake's glare. Flafire screeched for help. She could only stare helplessly as she backed against a tree. The snake approached slowly, knowing that she was trapped. Hunfog leapt to help her only to be knocked aside by the snake's huge tail. This wasn't right. Snakes were not supposed to be this big.

                They heard a hushed whisper- "Look! They're there!" -and dragons started streaming from the sky.

                Quick as lightning, the snake grabbed Flafire in its fangs and Hunfog in its claws. As it lifted off the ground, Nighwhisper jumped out.

                "No!" He roared to the dragons now around him. "Do something!"

                The leader of the group shook his head. "Haven't you seen how strong the snake is? I will not risk the lives of my comrades."

                By this time the snake was out of sight. Nighwhisper drooped his head as the other hatchlings crept out of hiding. Many started wailing.

                The leader turned his head away. "It's best if we go."

                The group of dragons rose out of the forest. When they were gone, Nighwhisper turned to his siblings, a horrified expression on his face.

                "There's nothing left for me anymore," he says, and walks away.

One

                She woke up, ‘hunted’, ate, walked in circles around the tree she lived in, got tired of walking in circles, ‘hunted’, ate, walked in circles again, and fell asleep. It was the same every day, a cycle of boredom and loneliness. It was about hunting time. She tried to locate some creature that was edible. A stervole nibbled on some seeds. She flung herself at the stervole, bashing herself with her tail. “Uhh…” She checked her tail thoroughly. No scales were missing. None of the fin spines were broken. Faced with the problem of checking her face, she spun a whole circle before conceding that it was quite impossible. By this time the stervole had already gone. Shaking herself, she sighed. Once again she had to climb the Crunchfood tree.

                As she chomped on the food from the tree, a flicker of movement appeared at the corner of her eye. Swinging her head to the side she saw a strange creature, or rather, strange to her because to only creatures she had seen lately were stervoles. Its fur bristled out nervously as it saw her staring at him.

                “Ah, maisday, maisday to you too,” he stammered, “um, I don’t taste good, and dragons don’t like to eat me.” He sprinted away without looking back.                      

                She called back, surprised. "Wait! Come back! Where are you going?” She listened for any sign that the creature was coming back, but could only hear her own restless shuffling. She hadn’t seen him go far, but he seemed to have disappeared without a trace. “Maisday? What’s maisday?” she called desperately.

                The creature poked his head out from behind a bush. "Well, you’re not going to eat me, right?" said the creature hopefully.

              "Ahh... no," she said. She sat back, noticing the wings at the sides of the creature. Could it fly, then? “What are you? Where did you come from? Where am I?”

                “I’m a wolfe.” The creature moved cautiously forward, came to a stop in front of her, and turned around slowly so she could get a good look. He had had russet and light grey fur, long legs, and a bushy tail, along with two dragon-type wings. "I’m from the Rivsilver pack. I come from Tingselvis, but my pack is Silforestian. My name is Flighivent and right now you are in the Forest-On-Cliff.”

                "I don't have a name."

                "Your name could be Silv," Flighivent says, “because of your silvery-blue scales.”

                She nodded. "Okay. Where's your home?"

                "I don't really have a home, but I guess my pack could be a moving home. Er, I gotta go. Oh, and ‘maisday’ is the greeting of the wolfes."

                 Flighivent ran off. Silv drooped her head. Now all she had was the company of herself. She contemplated calling him back, but she was hungry and restless. Silv decided to explore. Making her way out of the forest, she walked towards the edge of the trees – and got hit by the most beautiful cliff view she had ever seen. The sun rippled on the river that stretched so wide that she was sure she couldn't swim across. Dragons and shorebirds chatted and flew on the shore. Grass edged the shoreline, and many trees of all different colours grew in clumps. Crystals under the water sparkled, and a few dragons dove for the best.

                Silv sighed yet again. She wished she could go down there, but until she could fly she figured she was stuck on the cliff. How did she get up there in the first place? Silv walked along the edge, trying to find a way down. She was sure there was a way. However her stomach growled, reminding her of her hunger. Silv walked back into the forest, tried hunting, and had to settle for the Crunchfood again.

                She feasted on the Crunchfood, and the sun was high in the sky when she went back to her tree to take a nap. She saw some movement below the branches of the tree and looked down just in time to see someone looking up at her.

                "Ahh!" Silv screeched, and promptly fell out of the tree. She landed on her head, then fell onto her back. Groaning, she nursed her head. Flighivent looked down at her with his head and tail lowered. If expressions could talk, his would have been saying, "Oh high and mighty dragon, please don’t get mad." Silv almost laughed. She was so small it was quite funny that he would be scared of her.

                "I won't eat you."

                "Okay..." Flighivent shifted his weight from left to right.

                Silv shook her head. "Flighivent, I’m not going to eat you. And even if I wanted to, I can’t. Don’t think I’m so intimidating, because I’m not. I’m little."

----------

                Flighivent turned his head upwards, gazing at the dragon sleeping in the tree. His relatives weren't so lucky as to encounter a dragon and survive, but then again, this dragon was so young. Who is she, he wondered. Where are her parents? Flighivent didn't know if she was planning to eat him later when she grew up. He fidgeted. The meeting with the other wolfes was on his mind. There had been more wolfes killed lately, but the cause was unknown. He certainly did not want to be the next to die, so he had been watching his back ever since. Flighivent sighed and dropped his head. A wolfe couldn't rest, but it was so peaceful...

----------

                Flighivent yawned. He stretched. The first thing he noticed was a big tree. That's ok, he thought, big trees are normally what I see. Then he noticed the dragon watching him.

                "Ahp-" Flighivent cut off his yelp. "Ah, Silv."

                "I was waiting for you to wake up. Come take a walk!"

                Flighivent cocked his head one way, then another."Oooookay."

                Silv headed for the edge of the tree line.

                "Come here. Take a look."

                Flighivent cautiously stepped out of the forest, beyond the tree line. He whisked his tail. “I’ve never taken a glance on this side of the cliff.”

                "I want to go down there one day," Silv said thoughtfully.

                "We can,” Flighivent said, “but I think it would be safer for you to stay here for now. I’m a bit bigger, so I can go elsewhere, but many things would want to eat you.”

                “Well, can you stay with me? So I won’t be lonely?” Flighivent looked into the depths of her luminous blue gaze, which brightened to a lighter blue with hope.

----------

                Silv spent the rest of the day playing hide-n-seek with Flighivent. After they scrounged around for food, they trotted back to their tree."I'm taking a nap." Silv yawned, climbing into the tree. "You can go if you want." She twisted into a more comfortable position. The tree was still cold from the frost, but at least the frost had disappeared before midday.

                "No, I think I'll take a nap too," Flighivent replied. He curled near the bottom of the tree. Silv put her head down, shading it with one wing. Her breathing was soon steady, and deep.

**********

                "Silv! SILV!" Silv jerked her head around. Flighivent was dragging a cerpaw, obviously hurt. "She's going to die!" Silv instantly ran over. She could see long gashes on the cerpaw's side, its black and tan hide stained with blood. The gashes seemed to be made with some sort of creature with claws that almost rivaled Silv's.            

                “We need to stop the blood. We need-” She looked around. “We need a big wad of leaves.” Flighivent jumped and snatched some leaves off a tree. He spat them out. Silv pressed the leaves onto the wound. She lashed her tail in anxiety. “Flighivent, I can’t stop the bleeding.”        
    

                Flighivent thought for a while. “What if we used something to bind the leaves to her? How about I go find some vines?” Silv nodded. It was worth a try. Flighivent ran off into the forest, returning with willow branches dangling from his jaws. Silv wrapped them around the cerpaw. She exchanged a glance with Flighivent. What had happened to this cerpaw?            

                The cerpaw woke up in the morning, confused and dazed. “Griffins. They were everywhere.” Silv bent over her.            

                “What did you say? What’s your name?”            

                The cerpaw didn’t open her eyes. “My name… is Shallow. Who are you?” She blinked, and struggled to raise her head.            

                “My name is Silv and this is Flighivent.” Flighivent walked over at the sound of his name. Silv told him that she was going to hunt. She soon came back with a Stervole, which they split. It was not nearly enough.            

                “I’ll get some of the Crunch – er, apples.” She had only recently learned that what she had been calling Crunchfood was actually a type of fruit called an apple. As the season dragged on, there were fewer apples, and Silv could only salvage a few. Silv rolled some over to Shallow. “Here, you need these the most.” She tried to ignore the fact that she was also hungry.

                “When Shallow gets better, we have to migrate south,” Flighivent announced.

                Silv was confused. “What is migration?”

                “It’s when we journey south to follow the prey and good weather. There, I can teach you how to bring down big prey. We might have to postpone our journey because of Shallow, though.”

                Shallow shook her head. “You don’t have to do that. I’m not your friend, so you don’t need to wait for me to heal. Just leave me here, I don’t mind.” There was a hint of sadness in her voice, but only acceptance in her eyes.

                Silv and Flighivent protested firmly, saying that they wouldn’t leave any creature to die, friend or not. “Don’t worry, you won’t die for a long long time,” Silv said, “and anyway, you kind of are our friend now. So, we will wait for you. Now I’m going to hunt a bit more. I won’t be long.” She bounded off. Sniffing around, she caught a trace of a scent that she didn’t recognize, but had smelled before. She slipped around bushes, not disturbing any leaves. Then she saw what the scent belonged to: It was a curious scaled creature with slender, furred legs, and a plumed tail. Two pointed ears protruded from its head, along with a long muzzle. Quickly and quietly, she slipped behind it and killed it. It was almost as big as Silv, and she was sure that it could feed all of them.

                “What creature is this?” she asked when she got back.

                Flighivent examined it. “A grey moxin, by the looks of it. Grey moxin are native to Silforest, but you don’t see them because there isn’t much to eat on the Cliff. Not even the stervoles come up here.”

                They finished eating, and soon the midday sun warmed them up. Silv helped Flighivent move Shallow to a sunny spot. Shallow tried not to cry out as they moved her. When that was done, they lay next to Shallow and sunbathed for a while. “It’ll be all right,” Silv said, “it will be better tomorrow.”

----------

                The next day, Shallow was feeling much better, so the trio went for a walk so she could strengthen her legs. They decided that they would keep the leaves on for another day, to make sure. Shallow’s side still ached, but other than that she felt fine. However, she started getting nervous, and she didn’t know why. Flighivent noticed Shallow’s agitation, and called a halt. His tail was held straight out, taut with worry.

                “Shallow, what’s wrong?” He sniffed the air and his eyes widened in fear.

                “What is it? What is it?” Silv said franticly.

                Flighivent cast glances left and right. “We have to leave this place, right now, and find a flight that will take us in. There is fresh griffin scent.”

                Just at that moment, four griffins came barreling towards them. The trio started running without a second thought. The griffins were hard on their tails, but since the trio was smaller and could tunnel under bushes, the distance between them and their pursuers got steadily farther. Shallow was tiring out, and her side felt like it was on fire. She collapsed on the ground. Silv and Flighivent skidded to a stop.

                Silv nudged Shallow. “Shallow! Get up, just try to go a bit farther, we’re going to hide you.” The sound of the griffins crashing through plants was getting closer. Flighivent helped Shallow get up, and they hid her in a hole between the roots of a tree, covering her with leaves. Silv burrowed in with Shallow, and Flighivent hid behind a bush. His fur then turned completely transparent, taking on the colours of his surroundings. If he was hard to see before, now it was even harder to see him.

                The blundering sounds of the griffins soon stopped. Silv touched one of her horns to the ground, picking up the words of their pursuers through the flow of vibrations.

                “Where did they go? I was sure that they came this way…”

                “If we don’t get any prey, then Highest is going to be really mad. I wouldn’t want to face him.”

                “Keep looking, then,” one of them snarled, “or I will report to Highest.”

                “Yes, High Rair. I will keep looking. But my sister is tired.”

                “Fine. You may rest for a moment, but only a moment, is that clear?”

                “Thank you, High Speecatail. Forgive us, High Rair.”

                Silv whispered what they said to Flighivent and Shallow. Flighivent reassumed his normal colour fur. “Whew, that was hard work keeping in that pelt state. Let’s go now.”

                The trio snuck off, following Flighivent. After a while, the ground started sloping down, and they suddenly found themselves in a forest full of trees with silver leaves. Flighivent explained that when frost touched the leaves of the gild trees, the leaves would turn silver. The leaves would become green again in spring. As they trekked through the beautiful forest, they were aware of snatches of conversation drifting towards them.

                “…caught a bird…”

                “…dralour coming along nicely…”

                “…careful. Go find Thundrock and…”

                As the trio drew closer, Silv realized that this was what Flighivent meant when he said a flight. A group of dragons milled around a big clearing, on the ground and in the sky. Silv was in awe of the majesty of the place and the gathering of dragons. They drew closer, as if in a dream. Soon dragons had noticed them and were gathering around. They parted to reveal a large dragon. As he passed, dragons lowered their heads and averted their eyes. Immediately Silv could feel the dominance of the dragon. White scales with black markings made this dragon very striking, and he stood out against the other dragons. He fixed the trio with amber-blue eyes and waited. They approached with their heads lowered.

                “What do you want?” he demanded.

Flighivent spoke for them. “Our friend here has been attacked by griffins. We cannot make the migration ourselves because she is not yet well enough to help us hunt food. It would be kind of you if you take us in for just a while, until she is better, and then we will leave.”

                The white-and-black dragon swung his head around, surveying the trio. “Then apart from your friend, you must earn your keep, and hunt for yourselves including others.” Flighivent and Silv nodded. “Good. Now I suppose that I must introduce you to the flight. Our flight is the Eageye Flight. I am the draneral, the highest of the highest. My name is Conragon, and you may address me as Draneral or Draneral-gon. Only honour flankers and flankers may address me with my name.” He nodded to Silv. “At your age, you should now be a lesser dralour. For now you may take part in activities as such. Thundrock, make our guests comfortable.”

                At his summons, a dark blue dragon stepped out of the group. Thundrock motioned for the three to follow him. They walked into a glade of trees.

                “How old are you all?” Thundrock asked. “Do you have names?”

                Shallow tossed her head playfully. “Do you really think my name is ‘friend’?”

                “Well, if you don’t tell me your names, then maybe I will have to call you ‘friend’ after all.” They huffed with laughter.

                The trio introduced themselves. “And I suppose that Silv and Shallow are three months old, while I am around four months old.”

                Thundrock tipped his head to one side. “Your names are so strange. Silv. Shallow. Flighivent.” He rolled the words around a few times. Flighivent explained that they were from different regions of the world; therefore they would have different names. Thundrock was still slightly perplexed. “No, I get that. But if Silv is from Silforest, why does she have that name instead of a Silforestian name?”

                “Well, it seemed like a nice name at the time, so it became mine. I do have silvery scales.”

                Thundrock accepted this, and soon was talking about how dragon parents chose their names for their hatchlings. He laughed when he recounted how his parents named him. “My father wanted to name me after the legendary Thundstrike, as he thought it would be a fearsome name. But my mother didn’t like it. She wanted to name me something original, Royrock. My dad thought that would be too formal.” Silv turned to Flighivent. Her eyes were questioning. Formal? Thundrock continued. “They decided that they would just mash the names together, and here you have it, a name fit for a prince.”

                It all came together for Silv. Royal-rock, formal, for a prince… “You’re a prince?” Silv asked out loud.

                Thundrock’s eyes twinkled. “Yes, I'm a flight-prince. Can’t you tell? They all say that I look like my father. And you know who my father is.”

                “Conragon!” The trio howled.

                “Yes, but don’t let him hear you say that. Father’s pretty stingy around those that don’t show ‘proper respect’ towards him.” They chuckled again. A few minutes, and they were already fast friends.

                Thundrock suggested that they start taking part in the activities right away. He showed Shallow to the healer’s den, at the end of the glade of trees, then Flighivent and Silv followed him back to the big clearing. At the far end of the clearing there was a cliff about half the height of the Cliff.

                “At this time of the day, the lesser dralours are usually learning flight techniques and aerial ethics, so the small cliff will be free. Come on, let’s get flying!” Thundrock launched into the air.

                Silv and Flighivent barreled after him. “Wait! Wait!”

                Thundrock wheeled back and landed. “Sorry, I forgot you couldn’t fly.” He tipped his head sheepishly. “Maybe that’s why father didn’t assign me to teach dralours.”

                Silv watched as the dralours rose into the air, dipped, and rose again. “So, you’re going to teach us how to fly?”

                Thundrock nodded. “Of course. You are now joining in with the dralours, after all.” He pointed to the cliff that now loomed above them. “We will be using this cliff to help us. There shouldn't be any dralours using the cliff right now, but if there are, I’ll tell them to be careful not to hit you, and then all you have to do is try not to hit them.”      

                At the top of the cliff, Thundrock called to let everyone know that they should watch out, then motioned for Silv to come to the edge. “Spread your wings,” he ordered. Silv did as asked, puzzled. Suddenly Thundrock pushed her off the cliff. “Ahh…wee!” could be heard as Silv glided down. Flighivent howled and bowled over with laughter. He then launched himself off the cliff after her. They climbed up the hill and launched themselves back down. This cycle repeated, and with the instruction of Thundrock they could soon control the direction of their gliding. The sky was slowly flushing as the sun started setting. Thundrock took a look at the sky.

                “Let’s find a nest for you all,” he said. “Come with me to our cave.” They trailed the group of dralours to a tunnel in the side of a mound of rocks. Walking into the tunnel, Silv soon found that the tunnel sloped down underground. She was walking for a while, when she could feel the tunnel opening out into a cavern. A warm orange glow emanated from around the bend. As they rounded the corner, Silv gasped. A magma stream lit up the walls of a huge cave, running along the side. Embers glowed, piled up against the stream on the banks. Tunnels went in four directions, and they followed the dralours, who took the front right tunnel. This also entered a cave which had shallow scoops in the ground. Thundrock went out to get something, saying that he would be right back. Silv and Flighivent sat near the tunnel entrance, and waited for him to return.  

                “Waherleah!” Thundrock mumbled around a bunch of leaves he was carrying. He lined two scoops with them. “I mean, waterleaves.”

                “What about them?” Flighivent asked.

                “Oh, nothing really,” Thundrock said, “but what is important to know is that you should only line the scoops with these leaves, because they are the only leaves that will not burn in contact with fire. They won’t even char. That’s what’s amazing about these leaves.”

                Silv nodded. “Got it.”

                Thundrock then exited again, and came back carrying embers. He arranged the embers thickly around the rim of the scoops, explaining that it would create a ring of warmth which would warm up the ground and the surrounding air.

                “These scoops are more than big enough for you, but if you somehow manage to roll and stretch to the rim, then you might set yourself on fire. Silv, I’m not sure if your scales are fireproof, but you might want to be careful. And Flighivent, I've never heard of a fireproof wolfe. Goodnight!”

                “Cheerful,” Flighivent commented as Thundrock walked away to prepare his own scoop.