Ralem didn’t hear when his dragon snuck in with the craziest hairstyle and a dazed look, long marks on his forearms from the thirty-something shopping bags Arianna had shoved on him. He smelled strongly of perfume and something stained his mouth and smothered his nose. With a sigh, he transformed into smoke and then into a dully glowing dragon, who rested on broken shards of various objects without any apparent discomfort. In seconds, he was fast asleep, too tired to even dream. And when he did, it was vague and consisted mostly of huge shopping bags and delicious-tasting lip-stick. He thought that in one of such dreams Ralem made an appearance, but left as soon as he saw the huge dragon smothered and sucking on an enlarged lipstick case.

              And Ralem also didn’t even so much as twitch when the great dragon crept out of the room in the wee hours in the morning, thinking only last minute to transform and slip out the door.

              Arianna could hear the soft padding of Jaydon as he walked down the stairs to the great hall. “Hey Jaydon. Finally you get up. Have a good rest?” she continued without letting him reply, “Well I hope you got more than me. I was so worked up about this I couldn’t go to sleep! I’ve already got all the connections, everything’s falling into place.” She adjusted a painting of an overweight king, “Now all we need  is…” she turned around to find Jaydon looking half asleep and droopy-lidded. “Jaydon!” She exclaimed as maids hurried around her, hanging banners and setting the table. She rushed to him, “You have a horrible case of Ralem bed-head. Oh no, your pink shirt is all wrinkled. Did you sleep in it?”

            “What?” Jaydon said slowly, before continuing, “No…”

            Arianna raised an eyebrow, “So you just turn into a human and have his clothes on as they are?”

            “Well, yeah,” he said, rubbing one of his eyes blearily.

           “Thought so. So… Ralem slept in it. He really was tired, wasn’t he?”

          “I told you he was. Shopping wears- yawn- him out. And I guess it wears me out too.”

         She cocked her head, “Do you need to go back to bed? Sorry, I forgot baby dragons need their sleep. You need your rest.”

           Jaydon shook his head violently, “No. I’m fine. I just…. Don’t like waking up at four in the morning.”

            “Are you sure?” Arianna asked, “You can go to bed if you like.” She almost laughed at his face. His mouth was half-opened and his long eyelashes fluttered sleepily as if he were fighting to stay awake

            “No. I’m fine,” Jaydon persisted, swirling the air around his hand so rapidly that it was actually visible, effectively making his eyes bright and awake. “So, what’s first?”

            Arianna leaned back, her hand covering her mouth as she thought for a moment, “Clothes. You need new clothes first. Good thing I’m always prepared,” she said, shuffling to the corner of the room where supplies were steadily being drawn from. “Hey!” she said to one of the maids, “The refreshment table goes over there! No, not on that side! That’s where the… there, you got it. Perfect!” She gave the thumbs up before spinning on her skirts to a yellow shopping bag. She picked it up and hurried over to the dragon, getting out a fancy outfit, “Try this on. We need to know he’ll fit it anyway. Now, go on!”

              Jaydon looked at her for a moment, the outfit in hand, before starting to unbutton his shirt.

              She grabbed his hand lightly, smiling up at him, “Not here. You have to change in private. Go to the chamber room.”

               “Why?” Jaydon said, exasperated.

              “Because… because you need to. Just do it, Jaydon,” she said busily, turning around to reprimand a maid for folding the napkins wrong.

           Arianna had sent a boy out to check on the bakery and had put the finishing touches to the table decorations before the dragon came out looking extremely uncomfortable. Arianna looked him over, adjusted his collar, and fluffed out the feather on his hat. Then she looked at the pants and cringed, “Definitely too small. Okay, take these and try them on,” she said, giving him a new set. He took it with a yawn, feeling like this was extremely stupid.

           This time it fit him perfectly, or so Arianna thought. She looked over the ridiculously bright purple and white outfit and whistled, “It looks great, but it would look even better if you would button up right.” She re-buttoned it muttering, “Brings out the green in your eyes and makes you look like a royal! He’ll love it!”

             “Is this what being a royal feels like?” Jaydon squeaked, “Because it’s squeezing my shoulders so tight I can hardly raise it over this,” he raised his arms to just below shoulder-length sadly.

           “You’ll live. That’s nothing,” she dropped her voice to a whisper, “You ever try a corset? These horribly fashionable contraptions are so tight you can hardly breathe.” She pointed to her stylishly small middle severely, “No pain, no gain, dragon.” She realized that what she had said was dangerously inappropriate (girls, and especially Princesses should never talk about underclothes), but the dragon just frowned and tried to roll his shoulders to give him more room, “Why do you do it if it hurts you then?”

           “It’s the necessary sacrifice… What are you doing? Stop! You could break the fabric!” Arianna said, stretching her palms out.

           He froze, muttering, “The stuff I do for the sake of my Rider…..So… what’s next?”

           “Your hair. Sit down.” She said, pointing to a chair.

           He sat down with a sigh. “I thought I was going to help decorating, not getting dressed up like some ridiculous royal.”

           She pulled a brush out of her fancy purse and slapped him on the shoulder with it, “Don’t be so grumpy. I’m sure that he will love to see you all dressed up. Besides, I’m almost done.” She brushed his hair amiably while he groaned like a… well… a grumpy baby dragon. She got some gel from her purse and worked it into his hair, fixing it up so that it was a sideways wave of jet black. Then she leaned back to admire her handiwork, “Fabulous! Ha ha, look at you! This is going to be perfect! Now… to get to work. But I’m warning you…. If you so much as muss your hair you will hear it from me!” she raised her brush threateningly.

             “Oh… ohkay,” he said, backing away.

            The next hour was full of intense decorating and preparing. Arianna was a whirlwind, coming up with crazy party decors or special effects. Of course, only a few of them were actually carried out but she was in her element and soon the place looked like the party.

             And suddenly, while she was pushing in the finishing touch, Jaydon yelled, “He’s awake!” Arianna nearly screamed with excitement, ushering the maids out and sending out servant boys to bring the King, Queen, and heck, all the Riders as soon as possible because the breakfast was ready! She shoved Jaydon, “Tarry him for a while, we need to get everyone here. Oh, never mind you’re all dressed up. Hmm…. Hey Ryan!”

              Ryan, who had just ambled in with Thistle, looked up blearily, “Hi, Princess,” he yawned. Thistle grinned at her amiably, shifting his wings so he could fit through the door.

              “Ryan, could you be a sweetie and make Ralem a little late for breakfast? We got a surprise and want everyone to be here,” Arianna flashed him a beautiful smile.

              “Uh… anything for you ma’am,” he stuttered. Thistle flicked him gently with his tail and laughed. Ryan hurried up the stairs, mumbling darkly.

            Thistle settled on his haunches in the middle of the room, surveying the room with big hazel eyes, “Wow, I’ve never seen the place so festive. Who did this?”

              “Who else?” Arianna twirled her hairbrush and hit Jaydon square in the jaw. He said a light, “ouch” but she didn’t seem to notice. “Like it?” she asked the forest dragon.

              “Yes, especially the bacon smell. I love bacon. What’s this for? You really did this place up!” Thistle grinned.

             “I’ll tell you when everyone’s here. Could you tell Ryan to keep Ralem busy until I tell you to tell him to let him down?” she said, confusing even herself in the statement.

             Jaydon scratched his neck and she slapped his hand, hissing, “Stop it, you’ll mess up the collar.”

             Thistle nodded, but could hardly keep himself from letting out a hoarse laugh, “Jaydon, what are you wearing?”

              Arianna glared, but even her deadly gaze couldn’t match Jaydon’s, “Don’t… say… anything,” he growled, blowing the huge feather out of his face, his eyes a lethal green.

              Thistle looked sharply away, trying to not laugh his head off.

              Soon, the royals drifted in, most tired but all, as usual, regally attired. Once they were all gathered, (and very wondrous as to why they had been so rudely summoned) Arianna stood very unladylike on a table and announced why they had jacked up the place and why they had been gathered. Soon their grumpy faces turned to amazement, then excitement and they started talking to each other in low whispers. “Okay, Thistle you know what to do. Everyone else, hide,” Arianna smiled.

                  “Hey, I think it’s great to learn about all these bird calls but I’m getting really hungry,” Ralem said wearily, his eyes coasting the treetops. He had awkwardly patted down his hair and shoved another shirt on, but he truly looked starved. And something enticingly delicious hovered in the air. Where are you, Jaydon? he asked absentmindedly,  but the dragon didn’t reply. Ha ha very funny, Ralem said, tapping the railing. He glanced at Ryan, who seemed to be staring into outer space. “Hey, are you okay?” Ralem asked. No reply. He waved a hand in front of the little Rider’s face, “Yoo-hoo, kid. Come back to earth,” he said. Suddenly Ryan blinked hard and shook his head, “Hey, Thistle said that food is being served. I’d love to teach you the turtle dove’s call, but the eggs sure are calling me!”

               Ralem was so relieved he could’ve died. He didn’t remember when he was this hungry. “Finally,” he breathed, about bowling the smaller Rider over as he fast-walked down the corridor and into the winding stairwell. Oh, the smells that were coming out of the room….

                Then he jumped to the entrance of the door and looked in, expecting to find tons of people gathered around steaming plates of food. But all his eyes took in was the Dining Hall decked out like the carnival. He froze.

                  Then, out of nowhere came one hundred and ninety pounds of hyper dragon and he was almost flung backward in a fierce hug. “Happy Birthday!!!” Jaydon yelled in his ear, hugging him so tight his eyes were bulging out of his head.

                   Arianna rolled her eyes, “Jaydon! You weren’t supposed to do that!” she hissed, before making the most of it and motioning everyone to come out of their hiding places bellowing Happy Birthday. The only ones that didn’t participate were Daemon and Fraylon, who sat stony-faced on the other side of the room. Behind him, Ryan started laughing his head off, joining in the halting birthday song.

                   When Jaydon finally let him go, Ralem sunk to the ground, so surprised his hair was sticking straight up. He looked at Jaydon, all dressed up and fancy, then to the group bellowing the Happy Birthday, then to Arianna smiling at the center of it all. He took a sharp breath as his cheeks turned a fiery red and Ryan slapped him on the back. Then, as the song died down, everyone studied him closely with festive smiles to see what his reaction was.

                All he did was stand there, mouth halfway open, before suddenly finding words just to say, “It’s my birthday?”

                  Jaydon laughed, “Of course it’s your birthday! How could I forget that? And it’s my birthday too! I’m two months old now!”

                  “Two… months?” Ralem said slowly, everything too hard for him to absorb.

                   Arianna laughed, “Breakfast time!” the cooks came out and served Ralem’s favorite; cinnamon rolls, bacon and eggs. Ralem just stood there like an idiot until Arianna crooked an arm around his and led him to his seat.

                      He sat down hard before the deliciously sugary smell invaded his nose. Suddenly remembering his appetite, Ralem grabbed three rolls, “How did you know these were my favorite breakfast food?”

                      Arianna shook her head, “Using my telekinetic abilities,” she said sarcastically, “Duh! Jaydon told me. He helped this all happen!” she pointed to the dragon who smiled sheepishly.

                      Ralem bit into a bun wolfishly, “You know Arianna, you shouldn’t have done this.”

                     “What?” Arianna asked, biting into hers delicately.

                     “This,” he managed, waving his fork to the room, “And that,” he jerked the fork to Jaydon.

                      “And why not?” Arianna said, raising an eyebrow sarcastically.

                      “Because… I don’t know… a party, for me? It seems a little much,” he said shortly before digging his face into a particularly big roll.

                        “He’s never had a party in his life,” Jaydon explained. Ralem elbowed him.

                        “Never!?” Arianna exclaimed, “Why, then this makes it all the more special! And believe me, this is going to be quite a bash. I’ve been planning this for a week!”

                         “You mean, this is not all?” he said, pointing to the quickly disappearing sugar rolls. His voice was incredulous, and his eyes seemed to bug out of his face.

                    Arianna laughed, “Of course not! This is only the beginning! I’m a princess, Ralem. I know how to throw a party. The question is, are you ready?”

                    Ralem didn’t know what to say. Then he smiled hesitantly, taking in the beautiful decorations and laughing and chatting royals, “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had Arianna,” he said appreciatively.

                   “But it hasn’t even started yet,” Arianna replied, bopping him on the nose.

                    “I know,” he looked down at his plate, “I just…. I just wish my family were here.”

                    Arianna and Jaydon looked at each other with the same, Oh man looks. Jaydon bit his lip and edged closer to him, “I’m sorry,” he whispered. Arianna reached out for his hand tentatively. He looked up at her, his eyes full of emotion. She met his gaze evenly and pulled his hands to her lap, “I understand. I wish my father was here. I know he would have loved to meet you. I know you miss your family, and I promise I will do everything in my power to get your family back together again. And that’s the word of a princess.”

                     Ralem smiled and in an impulse, they were caught up in a hug, “Thank you,” he breathed before pulling backwards embarrassed. Everyone had been staring at him covertly before turning back to their food with exaggerated relish.

                     The breakfast went on nicely, and the king even gave an impromptu speech that nearly embarrassed Ralem to death. But the festivities was broken when Lauri stabbed one of the last cinnamon rolls with a fork, her gaze like iron,  “Don’t think that these festivities will get you out of your training. We leave after you are done breakfast.”

                    Arianna huffed, “What!! But it’s his birthday! I had plans! You can’t do that!”

                   Lauri tossed the roll over her shoulder and Vali snapped it up in a fluid movement, “Yes. Actually I can. And I was originally going to do it tonight when all your precious festivities are so be glad I changed it to the morning.”

                   Arianna fingered her ring angrily, “Can’t you just let it go for just one day? I mean, birthdays only come once a year! And it’s his first one!” she said, waving her arms dramatically.

                   Lauri didn’t looked impressed, “Sorry, but after a while birthday’s don’t seem quite so glamorous anymore,” Arianna opened her mouth to say something hotly but Lauri held up a hand and continued, “Okay, think of it this way, Princess. I’m giving him the present of my own precious time to train them to defend themselves. Does that sound fair enough?”

                   Arianna started out sarcastically, “That sounds like..”

                    Vali cleared her throat and everyone in the room turned to look at her. “Peace, Princess,” the dragoness said, her booming words rolling across the room almost like the bellow of a lost cow, “As Commanders-in-Chief, we hold the right to do whatever we like with our men. You should not be questioning our authority.”

             Arianna didn’t make eye contact, furious at having been reprimanded. Finally, gathering her skirts, she stomped out of the room, her eyes a cold blue, muttering something in her native language. Before she disappeared through the door, her bow appeared and a bag shimmered on her back, full of feather-tipped arrows.

              Daemon leaned back on his chair, his arms folded like a tie behind his neck in a relaxed posture. He whistled. “She’s going hunting. She hasn’t changed a bit.”

              Lauri ignored him, “Now, Riders and dragons, follow me.” Then she spotted Jaydon’s ridiculous costume, “Ralem, get you and your dragon properly dressed. I’ll meet you in the front.”

               Ryan and Thistle swooshed out the door, followed by Vali and Lauri. The King and Queen just watched in silence before talking in low voices to one another. Ralem wondered if they enjoyed watching interactions between Riders as much as they loved watching plays. The King and Queen hardly spoke when the Riders were talking, and when they did talk it was only to their attendants or to their little daughter. But sometimes it felt like there was an invisible wall between the royals and the Riders and the two hardly intermingled. Jaydon must have caught part of his vague thoughts on royals and asked Now would be a good time to talk to the King….

                   No. Forget it, Jaydon. Ralem said, getting out of his chair. Now, get up before Lauri throws a javelin through our window. He started up the stairs and Jaydon trailed behind, scratching his itchy neck.

                      Up in their room, Ralem quickly got changed. Jaydon started shimmering as if he was updating his clothes status, but Ralem about screamed. “STOP!” Jaydon froze, the mildly purple mist still hanging over his form. “What?”

                      “You can’t just make those clothes disappear! They cost almost as much as my house! Undress and put them in a drawer, please,” Ralem said.

                    “Seriously? These super itchy coverings are valuable?” Jaydon asked, incredulous, before turning to the mirror, “Is this what you call even attractive? To me it looks like something an insane person would wear.”

                    “I admit, I think they look kind of silly, but this is what royals wear. And we’ve got to fit in to the style, I guess. I don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb, you know what I mean?” Ralem said meditatively, buttoning his own shirt.

                    “No. And I can’t even raise my own arms high enough to do anything. It’s so tight,” he complained.

                    “Then let’s save this for important occasions, shall we? Go on then, you’re free. Take the clothes off.” Ralem said sarcastically, grabbing his sword.

                    When Jaydon was dressed appropriately, they slipped out to meet Lauri and the other Rider and dragon. Thistle and Ryan seemed intent by the fountain, their faces blank as they conversed privately. They stood as still as storks before they caught sight of Ralem and Jaydon. “Happy Birthday,” Thistle bellowed, “We’ll try not to hurt you too bad just because it’s your special day!” Lauri stood by her dragon, who stared at them with dewy yet intelligent aqua eyes. She snorted and nudged her Rider before turning and heading to the castle gates. Lauri adjusted her javelin strapped to her back, “What are you doing, just standing there? We need to get started now if we are going to finish before lunch!” She trotted off at a fast jog, the others running and chatting in her wake.

                       Suddenly Daemon and Fraylon ran up beside them, looking harried. Daemon’s eyes were shifty and as Lauri slowed down so he talked to her directly. “Can I ask you about something?” he asked, evidentially embarrassed.

                        Lauri didn’t stop, “What?”

                         “I mean, in private,” Daemon said. Fraylon bobbed his head behind him.

                          Lauri sighed, “Listen, I don’t have all day. Tell it to me now or hold your peace.”

                       Daemon looked pointedly at the village, “Well, I was just wondering if, you know, I could perhaps join you in your training? It’s just that… with the other Riders getting specially trained-”

                      “You’re feeling left out?” Lauri finished drily. She rolled her eyes thinking to Vali, a royal’s version of fair is far from it. Frankly, he annoys me.

                      Vali chuckled mentally, We must be wise in dealing with them, though. They are annoying, yes, but can be very determined.

                      I know, Lauri replied before turning back to Daemon. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have all the time in the world. I can only train one dragon and Rider at a time. Don’t worry, you’ll have your turn. Just… have patience.”

                    Fraylon’s made a sour face but didn’t say anything. Daemon looked like he was going to hurt someone but all he did was turn around with a “Yes, ma’am.”

                   As they walked back to the castle, Jaydon couldn’t help but make the most ridiculous face at them as they retreated. Ralem hoped that he would never see that look on his face again.

                  Ralem really enjoyed Thistle and Ryan’s company. They were incredibly witty and hilarious, and seemed like the type that would do anything for you if you earned their trust. Thistle seemed more sensitive than his carefree Rider and was easy to keep a light conversation with. Jaydon had never been very sociable, even with other dragons and had only dropped a comment here and there. Ralem had a feeling it was because he thought he had nothing interesting to say at the moment. Jaydon had never been the wittiest of dragons and had not a single clue on how to retort to a hilarious comment.

                   Ralem tried his best to keep up with the others. Being a new Rider, he had not yet learned to harness the full potential of his energy and speed. It highly embarrassed him that little Ryan could outdistance him easily. Ryan noticed this and smirked, “We’re not judging you. You’re still recovering from a deadly illness. You know, we were really worried about you. We prayed for you nonstop.”

                   Ralem was taken aback by the random yet generous comment, “Thank you. I really appreciate it. From what I heard, I really needed it.”

                  “We really thought you were going to die,” he mussed his brown hair, looking fixedly at the ground, “I realized how horrible I’ve been to you. And… I’m sorry”

                 Ralem realized this was a huge apology and dipped his head seriously, “It’s all good. I’m sorry for any trouble we have caused you guys.” He mentally elbowed his dragon, who had been eyeing another pigeon. “Oh, yeah,” he piped up, “He’s sorry.”

                Thistle laughed, his sharp teeth flashing.

                 “We stop here,” Lauri said, stopping in a different clearing, her sharp eyes surveying the varying clumps of trees and bushes. “Ready, Rider?”

                At first the exercise was the exact same; Ralem on the ground and Jaydon blindfolded. But they knew the concept and on the first try, Lauri was nailed to the forest floor. She kicked Jaydon off him, “You guys learn faster than I thought.”

                  Jaydon flung the eye mask off him, “So are we done?”

                   Lauri laughed, “Ha, you wish. No. Things are just going to get harder. This is where Ryan comes in.” Ryan perked up from where he was slumped against a tree. Lauri paced in front of them as Jaydon helped his Rider out of the bonds that restrained him to the leaves. “This was relatively easy, because Ralem, you had all your attention on your dragon. But in battle, it won’t be so. You’ll have to fight and keep the other’s back at the same time. There is a certain art to this, so I don’t expect you to learn this right away, okay?”

                  This time she put the eye mask on Jaydon and told Ralem to stand about ten feet away. She had a quick discussion with Ryan before coming back to explain it to the other Rider and dragon. “This time, Jaydon and I will be fist-fighting, while you and Ryan also fight. But Ralem, you’re going to have to concentrate on both your own fight and the dragons. Otherwise, one of you is going to be punched. Here’s a hint; keep your connections open so that you know when the other got nailed. That way, you can quickly look over and help them out. Sound good? Good. We start out easy. Go.”

                    Ryan was a lot faster than Ralem had first thought and he started ducking and weaving around him, his much smaller frame making him able to dodge most of Ralem’s punches. At the same time, Lauri started her own attack on Jaydon. Trying to concentrate on Ryan’s flying fists and Lauri’s catlike moves at the same time was enough to give Ralem a good headache. The mental dexterity it required was tremendous and he was punched more than a few times, and his dragon even more.

                     “Come on, Ralem! You’re concentrating too much on yourself! Get over your natural self-defense and concentrate on your dragon without getting punched. Come on, you can do this!” she yelled, and Ralem felt the impact as Jaydon was slammed in the gut.

                      Jaydon was getting really annoyed, “Why do we have to do this? This is stupid!!” He spit out blood onto the leaves, “We could be inside, eating pie or something.”

                       “Believe me, you need this,” Lauri said, “It could be a matter of life or death on the battlefield.”

                       Ralem froze, his eyes narrowed suspiciously, “A battlefield? You mean, war?”

                       “What else would it be? A battlefield in the bath tub?” Lauri said sarcastically, though mentally she was kicking herself.

                      “I thought this was defense from cats- not some war. So this is what the urgency is about. You’re preparing us for war! I see it now, you’re excited about us so you can use us for… for… your own purposes!”

                       Lauri shook her head angrily, “I thought you said you were a soldier! Didn’t you fight for your country? And what did that country stand for… the blood of innocent dragons! What’s the difference? Don’t you remember you became one of our Rider ranks? Honestly, did you think that all we do is sit around and ride dragons? Of course we’re going to aide in war!”

                      “Well, yeah, but then someone actually told me when I was to fight and I knew I was fighting for the protection of my family, which happens to be just outside of Vulnaire if you hadn’t forgotten. And then I was just another soldier. Now,” he pointed to Jaydon, “I have a super-powerful dragon and believe me, I’m aware that people are going to try to use me for the purpose of getting him.” –actually he lied; he hadn’t really thought of this much but it just occurred to him right now- “And I don’t appreciate being told of this ‘war’ extremely late!”

                       Lauri stomped closer to him, her tone low and deadly, “Perhaps you have forgotten your place, Rider. Even though you hold the title, you are under your superiors, which include me. It’s not for you to decide whether or not you will fight. And to be honest, we’re not even sure if we are going to have a battle. But we need to be prepared just in case.”

                       “Then who would we be up against? And why?” Ralem asked, distrustfully. Ryan stood silent, his eyes wide. He seemed to be talking frantically to his dragon, who at the moment was ‘stretching his wings.’ Jaydon was angry along with his Rider, but he wasn’t sure why.

                        Lauri sighed heavily, “We have suspicions of a… country that we may need to defend ourselves from… but nothing solid. Now, no more questions. Let’s get this done or we’ll be out here long after lunch and your Princess won’t be so happy about that.”

                          Hesitantly, Ryan got back to work trying to test Ralem but he was doing it half-heartedly. Something in his eyes made Ralem think that he knew what country Lauri had been talking about and it made him feel sick to his stomach.

                      Ralem was still angry, and he put even more of himself into his work. It became a rhythm; punch, dodge, keep the dragon in sight, block, all the while sending quick mental pictures to Jaydon, who responded quickly. Ryan was quick on his feet though, and kept him constantly moving so it was hard to concentrate. For an hour they kept this up, and eventually it seemed like they were fighting as one. Their connection was almost stretched to the limit, but they could feel it getting stronger.

                        Finally Lauri stopped and grabbed Jaydon’s wrist, “You two are doing great. Now, switch off. Jaydon, give him the mask. Let me warn you, Rider. This will be a heck of a lot harder for you. Keep your head together and try your best. It’s natural for the dragon to respond to their Rider as quickly as possible, but for you… not so much. You have to listen to someone else’s instructions on how to move your body and that takes quite some attentiveness.”

                   “Okay,” Ralem drawled as Jaydon took off his eye mask and blinked in the filtered sunlight. Jaydon handed the mask to him with a mental good luck and walked over to Ryan, who noticeably quailed at the thought of sparring with the six-foot-four man with the power of a several-ton beast. Jaydon smiled a very dragonish smile, “My turn at last.” He said, clenching his fists. Ryan glanced at Lauri desperately.

                   “Jaydon, you are not to fight with him. Ugh…. I hate to use this but I fear it is my only choice.” She dug through her leather bag before coming up with a hollow clay form vaguely in the shape of a person. She held it up to the dragon’s lips, “Breathe on it,” she commanded. He did so, and then his eyes got really wide for a second. He pressed his hand to his chest.

                   Lauri glanced at him sympathetically, “Sorry, it will feel strange for a second.” Then she smashed the clay to the forest floor.

                    For a second nothing happened. It only looked like pieces of clay, splattered onto the leaves . They the clay disappeared and turned to mist, forming a column of dark air, then solidifying…. Into Jaydon.

                    Ralem almost had a heart attack, “What did you do? This is… this is witchcraft!”

                    Lauri shook her head violently, “No… no it’s not witchcraft. It’s magic. Big difference. How could I tell Ryan to fight a dragon? What better to fight him than a model of himself?” She walked over to the decoy and poked it, “Don’t worry, it’s not Jaydon. It’s not even really alive. It’s no different than a decoy you use when you train except that it hits back. But there is a danger that comes with these things if they get in the wrong hands…. Let’s just say that if someone shoves a clay figure under your nose, try not to breathe into it… Okay, ready?”

                    Ralem was kind of shaken by the decoy thing. What other ‘magic’ stuff does she have up her sleeve? He thought. But still, he put on the eye mask. “Ready I guess,” he said, too weirded out at having two other people looking exactly like him.

                  “Okay, go!” Lauri said. Immediately the decoy’s eyes opened and revealed absolutely no iris or pupils, just glaring white. Its face was expressionless and unmoving and not a breath passed through its throat. It just stood there, unmoving. “Go on,” Lauri prompted, “Try to attack it. That’s what triggers the mechanism.” Jaydon faltered before aiming a punch at its face weakly. It ducked and retaliated just as fast as Jaydon would have done, punching him in the gut with the strength of ten lions. Jaydon found himself flying before CRACK he hit a tree ten feet up. He let out a wounded breath as he slid down the tree, blood staining the bark.

                 Ralem bent over in pain, his eyes firmly shut behind the blindfolds. It felt like an elephant had run him over.

                 The thing followed the dragon, preparing for another round of ferocious punches. It moved like the dragon, but with a machine-like quality, its eyes staring at nothing, hands stuck fast to its sides. Jaydon breathed frantically, tapping into his power to heal his broken back as quickly as he could. The creature arched one of its arms to pound the disabled dragon into the tree. Jaydon tried to pounce, but he found he couldn’t move his legs.

BAM!

                  His head cracked against the sturdy tree and suddenly the surrounding area swam as if he were underwater.  He was dimly aware that the thing’s fist was approaching him at dangerous speeds and in his painful state, he thought that it was Ralem punishing him. He whimpered as the fist connected with his shoulder and he found himself face-first into the leaves. “I’m sorry!” he cried as the decoy nailed him on his broken back. “I’m so sorry!” he gasped again, unable to defend himself against what he thought was his Rider. He tried to drag himself out of the way, his unresponsive legs trailing into the ground as the decoy continued to batter him with crushing blows.

                 “Jaydon! Defend yourself!” Lauri screamed, trying to think of what she should do. She decided to let him play this one out. He needs to learn to defend himself better, she thought, this will be good practice for him. Behind her, Ryan covered his mouth with his hand, hardly breathing.

            Ralem shuttered heavily on the ground and let loose a feral yell with the last of his energy.

                Jaydon snapped to reality with her desperate scream and his Rider’s yell, and looking up to find blank eyes staring back at him, he snapped to focus. As his back snapped painfully back together, he gathered his energy into a hard, furious ball and bunched his muscles in preparation.

                 With a full-blown roar, he pounced on it and faltered as his grasping claws and palms met a solid body. They both hit the ground with a solid THUD, rolling in the leaves, punching and scratching like maniacs. The thing felt creepily like real flesh, but its bones seemed softer, as was apparent when Jaydon pounded at its ribs and face. Its chest quickly caved in and its face became a smashed disk of wrinkled facial tissue. And yet, no blood appeared, except where Jaydon’s own life-giving red blood dripped onto its strangled body. Still, it lashed out, meeting Jaydon’s chest in what would have been deadly blows at a terrifying speed.  

                   Ralem gasped for breath, now on the ground, his mind feeling like it had instantaneously blown up. Shockwaves of pain wracked his body through his connection and he writhed on the forest floor, embarrassing tears threatening to burst forth from his shut eyes. Riders had much less pain tolerance than dragons, and his pain was pretty darn close to deadly levels.

                    Ryan couldn’t find words. He stood frozen by a tree, watching the scene play out, horrified.

                    Lauri soon realized that this was not one of her best ideas. The sky above darkened as Jaydon’s mood turned from angry to furious. Wind whipped through the forest, shaking leaves, and blowing the Rider’s hair almost sideways. “Stop!” she commanded the decoy. It froze but Jaydon didn’t. He nearly pounded it to dust, or until it looked like a muddle of vaguely skin-colored substance.

                     “Can I take off my mask?” Ralem gasped, sounding like he was in pain. And of course, he was.

                      “No!” Lauri about yelled, biting her lip at the unpleasant sight of the overkilled decoy, “Stop Jaydon,” she said, but he continued pounding with vengeance. She pulled him forcefully away from the scene screaming, “STOP!”

                       Jaydon finally stopped, sitting back and breathing heavily. He wiped his face with his hand, looking like he was close to tears, “It… was pretending it was my Rider… and he would never hurt me… not like that.”

                        Ralem took a few breaths on the forest floor as the pain deadened and he tried to get his head back together. But as the pain drained away, another emotion intensified across their connection. A mix of fear, dread, and disgust, but mostly fear. Realizing his dragon was more shaken than he was, Ralem slowly staggered to his shaky legs. He took off the eye mask just as the decoy turned into clay once more. Lauri picked it up when Ralem approached the dragon. Jaydon didn’t look up, his eyes glued straight ahead. Ralem sighed heavily as he slid next to the dragon. Jaydon didn’t move as he reached an arm around his shoulders and squeezed his shoulder affectionately. “It’s okay, Jaydon. It was only a decoy. See, here I am.”

                      “It was scaring me,” Jaydon said, burying his head in his Rider’s shirt and breathing in his comfortingly familiar smell, trying hard not to cry. Feeling suddenly very fatherly Ralem patted him on the back, thinking comforting thoughts.

                       “You beat the crap out of it, though,” Lauri whispered, even though her heart was softening to the young dragon.

                       Ralem glared at Lauri before whispering in his dragon’s ear, “I’m sorry. But it’s gone, see? It won’t bother you again. Tell you what…you know what I bet they have at home? A really big pie, just for you. Does that sound good?” Jaydon gave a hesitant smile, but he still seemed a little scared. He sniffed and wiped his eyes.

                    Ralem realized just what the dragon needed. And, being the good Rider he was, he scratched the dragon under his chin. Immediately Jaydon started purring like crazy and gazed up adoringly at his Rider, “I love you so much,” he said, the clouds clearing immediately with his smile.

                      Love you too, Ralem replied gently, sending calming thoughts to the dragon.  

                      “You know,” Lauri said after a slight pause, “You are one of the tallest men I’ve ever seen in my life, but you’re also one of the softest. No wonder Arianna has a thing for you.”

                    Ralem gave a crooked smile, “Thanks, I guess… But Arianna doesn’t really like me. We’re just friends.” Even as he said it, his heart lowered another notch. Jaydon was happily oblivious, his eyes rolled up in his sockets in an enthusiastic purr.

                    “Then she must be an awful good friend,” Lauri said shortly, backing up.

                     Ryan couldn’t help but give a twitchy smile, “She probably likes you. She won’t stop talking about you when I’m hanging out with her.”

                     Ralem stopped scratching Jaydon’s chin for a moment, “Really? Well I guess that doesn’t matter because when I took her out for a date yesterday she told me I was ‘her best friend’”

                      Ryan whistled, “Ouch.”

                     Ralem nodded, “Yeah, pretty much.”

                     An embarrassing silence.

                      Vali took this opportunity to talk to her Rider. What were you thinking? We’re going to lose his trust. You need to apologize.

                     I know, Lauri said, because her dragon was always the more rational one. I guess it was my curiosity. I wanted to see how he responds. And it isn’t good. It seems like he’s hesitant to hurt anything that even looks like his Rider.

                   That’s perfectly natural, Vali said.

                    But…

                   I understand… it’s especially dangerous with the cats. As he grows older, he may develop the instinct on who is and who isn’t his Rider. We musn’t worry, just do our part.

                  Right, Lauri said, before blinking back to the present. The other Riders had been waiting patiently for her to stop her conversation. Then Lauri broke the silence with something she had been clearly dreading to say. “I realize that I owe you an apology. I’m sorry for the pain I inflicted on you and your dragon and I promise it won’t happen again.”

                       Ryan shook his head, “I don’t know how you stayed ali-” he was silenced by Lauri’s pointy elbow.

                       She cleared her throat, “Eh em. Anyway, I’m sorry and I hope you’ll forgive me.”

                       Ralem didn’t say anything for a minute. “I forgive you,” he said slowly, “But next time, I wish you would have told the decoy to stop when it had broken his back.” His words were soft enough, but they carried a certain edge to it. You’re lucky Jaydon’s here, he thought darkly, or things would be a whole lot worse. He didn’t want to have a fight in front of the dragon, or he would surely join in and could possibly even kill the woman with his brute force. He pushed the thought away with disgust. Fighting a woman was just plain wrong.

                       Lauri stiffened, fingering her braid out of habit, “It was a training exercise. He’s going to need to know how to defend himself.” She got the sense that she was walking on thin ice and took a step backwards.

                      Ralem took a steadying breath and controlled his anger with some effort, “I know I’m just a peasant and haven’t much education to my name, but something doesn’t seem right about letting a two month old dragon get most of his ribs broken and back cracked in several places just for training. I mean, I appreciate your tips and all, and I think this has really helped us to have a strong connection in the short time we’ve been training but- I don’t know, just think about it, okay?”

                        Ryan could not imagine that kind of pain. Lauri had always seemed the authoritative type, but he had to agree with Ralem. If he saw Thistle get the crap beaten out of him he would be feeling the same way, if not more angry. He marveled at how Ralem didn’t punch the Commander-in-Chief right then and there. But when he thought about it, he wouldn’t have the guts to do it either. He had seen what Lauri could do. He decided to step up. “Lauri, he has a point. That was wrong.” Lauri shot him an angry look.

                        Ralem was relieved that Ryan had stuck up for them. He was liking Lauri less and less, and didn’t trust her at all. He was careful to keep these thoughts to himself, for Jaydon thought that Lauri was okay, if a bit bossy and kind of really annoying. The last thing he needed was the dragon getting suspicious

                        Lauri was silent for a minute, “Yes. I realize that it was my own terrible timing and decisions that made for this. I’m sorry, it’s hard to remember, him looking like him or…” she motioned toward Ralem, “You. I’m always thinking he’s a lot older than he is. And I’m sorry that I have to force you two to do this, but it’s mandatory. The King and Queen agreed. And I don’t like doing this any more than you do. But we can’t lose you two to another Felinus attack.”

                      Ralem shifted on the tree’s roots and Jaydon nudged him, “Please scratch me under the chin again,” he whispered. “Shh,” Ralem said, waving him off, all attention on Lauri. “So… Felinus again. So, what is this training really about? Self-defense or offense?” Jaydon snorted and turned into smoke, annoyed that he wasn’t getting any attention.

                       Lauri rolled her eyes up to the heavens, “Do you usually ask this much questions?”

                       “No. But now that I have more than my own life at stake, I think that I deserve some answers,” Ralem said stubbornly, folding his arms in resolution.

                       “You deserve?” she laughed bitterly, “Ralem, you really are getting too big for your britches. You’re lucky I won’t punish you for your insolence. Just because you ride an especially powerful dragon doesn’t give you a higher rank than you deserve, so stop acting like it. Just do what you’re told.”

                         Jaydon solidified again, this time because he was actually listening. He stood right in front of Lauri, looking down at her in an intimidating gesture, “I don’t like the way you’re talking to my Rider.” He said, eyes narrowed.

                         Ryan made slitting motions with his hand flat across his neck frantically, but nobody noticed it. Getting on Lauri’s bad side is a bad idea! He thought.

                        Lauri didn’t flinch, but stared back evenly. “Are you questioning my authority?”

                        Jaydon stood there for a moment, not sure what to do or say. No. No you’re not, Ralem said. “No.” Jaydon said, stepping back even though it was clear in his eyes that he was.

                       They were silent for a moment. Then Lauri called a break, “I need to get my head together,” she said. Then she jumped up in a tree and sat there, looking over the treetops and conversing with her dragon. My authority has never been questioned so much in my life, she said, and by the most powerful dragon I’ve ever trained too. If they turn against us….

                       They won’t. Remember, we know a lot about them that can be turned against them if they get restless. Besides, they have no other home to turn to.

           Yes, but we need them. If we have them on our side in battle, we can finally gather enough power to……. Lauri said, picking apart a leaf.

          “This is consuming you, Rider. I know you have wished for this for years but… this is a dangerous game. You need to keep them happy. The Rider is key. You keep him content, his dragon stays with him. Babies are happy as long as their Rider is. This is not exactly your cup of tea, dear Rider. I admit that my opinion has changed. Breaking them in, as I thought previously, is not the best idea. That would only make them a stronger adversary.

              “And as for questioning authority… you need to tell him enough to satisfy him. Remember, he is new to this country and it seems he doesn’t fight for fun: rather he likes to fight for a purpose. Oh, how much easier it would be for both of us if he was as passionate as his dragon… But you must make him believe that he is to fight for something worth dying for.

              And what would that be, Vali? Lauri asked, throwing her leaf down the tree and watching Ryan and Ralem talk.

             A silence. Then, Arianna. He loves her. I know that.

            How would we incorporate that? I couldn’t say, ‘Arianna will die if you don’t fight for our country.’

           No…. Vali said…But maybe he’d fight for revenge. The Felinus… say the Felinus are employed by the enemy and it is because of their open attack on them that we are preparing for war.

          But the Felinus comes from Ladon!

          He doesn’t know that.

          Lauri almost laughed out loud. He would probably fall for that… Vali, what would I do without you?

          You’d be dead, she said in her blunt way. Then she was gone.

          Lauri carefully tiptoed to the edge of the sturdy tree branch. She took a deep breath, analyzing the jump. Then she sprang off the branch, flipping mid-air before landing smack in front of Ralem and Ryan. Ryan didn’t even flinch but Ralem jumped ten feet in surprise. Lauri shook her head, “You should never be caught off guard, Rider. Always be alert.” She solidified her resolve in her head before holding out a hand, “Okay, I will tell you why we may be fighting. But I want you to realize something. You have no right to be asking me why. When I say fly you ask ‘how high?’ You listen to me, soldier. Although you are getting what you were asking for, I want to say this is a warning. Next time either of you act in this insolent way you will be punished. Understand?”

            “Yes ma’am,” Ralem said, looking sharply away. He was a soldier. He knew his boundaries. He knew he had been pushing it tremendously. He had just wanted to see how high in rank he was to Lauri. And apparently, she was being easy on him today but he could tell by her cold aqua eyes that she wasn’t going to take it next time.

            “Good,” Lauri nodded, picking a leaf out of her hair before continuing, “The creatures that attacked you- the Felinus? Well, they are the reason we are readying for war. The way they openly attacked you is a clear sign of  their intentions. The country that we spoke of, they have a small army of the despicable beasts that were created for one reason; to kill dragons. They have been undercover for a while, probably to renew their ranks. Once before, we did go to war with this country and beat them. A long time ago. I was a new Rider. Back then we had nearly fifty Riders,” she looked down, “There was a mass slaughter. I was one of the few that survived.”

                 Ralem staggered backwards, “Fifty Riders? That’s.. that’s horrible. I don’t know what to say…”

                 Ryan nodded, “I’ve only heard about it. It was a century ago when this happened, but if Lauri hadn’t told me about it then I would have thought they were creatures who only existed in children’s stories.”

                “I didn’t want to tell you this because I didn’t want to scare you of the possibility of there being a small army of the things, being that you just survived an attack and all…” she looked down dramatically. Ryan cocked his head. Lauri never talked like this.

                 “Oh, no. I’m glad you told me. I’m sorry about that, Lauri,” Ralem said, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

                 Lauri smiled inwardly. Boy, were the young gullible as anything. “It’s fine. So now you understand why we are training you for war and defense against the Felinus. Because if we are unfortunate enough, we will have to engage in both at the same time.”

                “So, the war will be against the great city of Ladon?” Ryan peeped, “How will we survive against-”

                 Lauri silenced him with a glare. He shut up pretty quick. “Anyway, we’re not absolutely sure if the Felinus is from them, so you might not participate in the war after all! Now we must train. It’s almost eleven. Where’s Jaydon?”

                   Jaydon…

                   “What?” his voice came from behind him. They turned around to find Jaydon tearing into a rabbit raw, blood all over his face. Ryan looked like he was going to puke when Jaydon ripped the head off the rabbit nonchalantly and threw it in the bushes. “Hey,” he said, offering it to his Rider, “You want some? I just caught it.”

                    Ralem took one look at the torn rabbit, with guts spilling out of the gash in its stomach and apparently without a head and shook his head.

                     Jaydon frowned, then it seemed as if he suddenly got an idea, “Ohh, you want it cooked? Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” His eyes narrowed and he made a noise like he was gathering saliva for a good spit or like he was a cat hacking up a hairball. Hack, hack, HACK!

                     Ralem waved his hands, “It’s okay! I’m totally fine…”

                     Jaydon gave one more hack then a full blown flame exploded from his mouth and enveloped the rabbit. Almost immediately the smell of burnt hair filled the air with its stench. Smoke gathered like a cloud even as Jaydon stopped breathing fire on the rabbit and offered the charred object to his Rider. He smiled and burped a puff of smoke before wiping his face with a free hand.

                     Ralem almost lost his appetite, “No thanks. I’m fine.”

                     Jaydon just shrugged, “You’re missing out.” Then he started tearing into the scorched rabbit, “It’s delicious,” he puffed, sending little tufts of brown hair flying.

                      “Okay,” Ryan drawled, “That’ll take a week to get that scarring image out of my mind.”

                     “Moving on…” Lauri said quickly, even though the gory scene didn’t bother her as much. She remembered when her own dragon used to bring her fishy presents, and especially the shark she had caught was pretty gross to say the least. “What I want you to get out of the previous lesson is that you should be able to open and close your connection. Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to defend anybody if either of you got hurt. Just practice that and you’ll be good. It’s not too hard and you two have got the hang of it. As for this next exercise… Jaydon, you don’t even have to stop eating the rabbit. Just sit there and help your Rider out. How does that sound?”

                        “Good.” Jaydon grunted.

                        “Okay, you’re up,” Lauri said to Ralem, handing him another eye mask, “Be ready!”

                        This was a ton harder than focusing on two battles at once. Jaydon was really good at keeping him updated, but taking those thoughts and pictures into actual body movements was a whole different story. He kept on defending himself with the wrong hand and getting punched, dodging in the wrong direction and getting punched, moving too slow because his brain was overworked and getting punched yet again. And even more disconcerting was watching himself through the eyes of a dragon. The colors were all wrong and heck, he did have blue hair! Apparently dragons couldn’t see black very well, which was apparent by his violently blue hair. Everything was sharper and he kept getting glimpses of a nasty rabbit. It hurt his brain to try and process the information being thrown at him.

                    After a while of watching this painful process Jaydon started getting restless, other way! Block her! But his helpful hints only made it worse. It seemed like hours of horror for the poor Rider, and soon he was tired, sweaty, and felt like he had taken enough of a beating to last a lifetime. He was a lot better, but he still wasn’t quite fast enough to retaliate. Finally Lauri stopped, “Okay, Ralem. I think you’ve had enough. Good for you, it’s already lunch time. Otherwise we would fit another hour in. You’re doing great, just need more practice that’s all.”

                      Ralem took off his eye mask, relieved. He found Jaydon as a dragon sprawled out in the clearing on the opposite side looking pained and Thistle and Ryan playing with a coconut.

                      Lauri stepped up to the forest dragon and grabbed the coconut from where he was balancing it on his nose, “Thistle, it’s your turn. Teach that dragon how to fly without using the wind. Don’t worry, it’s just for the way home. I’ll meet you four there. Got that?”

                      “Yes ma’am,” Thistle said, dipping his head. Lauri retreated into the forest. Thistle turned to Jaydon, “Okay, Jaydon. Tell me the truth. Do you already know how to fly without using the wind?”

                      Jaydon snorted, “Why would I want to fly without using the wind? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

                      “I don’t know,” Thistle said, “But every self-respecting dragon knows how to flap his wings. Okay, let me start from the beginning….” Thistle went through the steps of running, bunching his back legs, then powering upwards in the air with a joint mix of jumping and a down-thrust of the wings. “It’s easy,” the forest dragon called from the sky. “Try it.”

                     Jaydon rolled his eyes but took a few huge bounds, jumped high in the air and snapped out his wings. But his tendons just creaked as he tried to flap and he fell forward into the ground. BAM! Trees swayed for a mile around. Thistle landed next to him, “You’ve got to do the wing beat or you’re not going to go anywhere!”

                   “I can’t” Jaydon said simply, annoyed about the whole morning.

                    “Come on. Get to your feet. That’s it. Now show me a flap.”

                     Jaydon tried but his wings stayed obstinately level, “It hurts. I can’t flap.”

                      Thistle looked closer at his wings, “I guess your wings were just made for gliding. I can see they are a lot more broader than mine, like a hawk’s. Well, I guess that’s it for a flying lesson. You couldn’t fly even you’re wings could move. You’re way too big and the lift would have to be tremendous. I’ve heard of larger dragons than you, but they are also not so,” he walked around Jaydon, “heavy. I doubt your bones are even hollow.”

                       “Hollow bones?” Jaydon repeated, “That’s weird.”

                    “Birds have hollow bones so they can fly without the extra weight. Griffins, pegasus’s, rocs, and yes, dragons also have hollow bones. Otherwise you’d be too heavy to fly.”

                    “I don’t need to be light. I am strong!” Jaydon roared, flashing his wings.

                    Thistle couldn’t help but snicker at his childish assurance. “Well, I don’t know about you two but my Rider and I are starved. And I’m sure Arianna has something dee-lish planned to eat. You know, she tried to help making the stew. Almost ruined it! But luckily our cooks saved the day. Oh man, I’m getting hungry thinking about it. Let’s go.” He bent over to let Ryan on and Jaydon did the same.

                    When Ralem was seated with his back to his dragon’s neck and his feet sprawled out before him he felt a snap and a light lift as Jaydon was airborne. Swoosh! And there was Thistle and Ryan next to them, propelled by the wind dragon’s current. Ryan waved, “Nice way to ride a dragon, Ray!”

                       Ralem yawned into his hand, “It’s more comfortable this way. When he’s got a back this broad you don’t necessarily need to straddle your legs, you know?”

                       Ryan laughed, “Sure. Now what are we waiting for? Let’s go flying!”

                       And they did. Jaydon was so happy to be able to stretch his wings that he made it quite a ride. Ralem felt like he had flown to the ends of the earth and back, twisted in the air enough times to make him barf up his breakfast, and his dragon twisted to just about every contortion. Thistle and Ryan were having a blast though, and just rode his current as if they were surfing some epic waves.

                       Jaydon would have never landed if he hadn’t been so hungry. The rabbit hadn’t cut it and he knew just what they were having for lunch. So after a few more loop-de-loops and light tornados, he swerved down to the courtyard.

              It all started with a rather random question. Daemon had been lazing in the shade of one of the huge hedges in the garden, Fraylon coiled around him, his horse-sized head resting just below his Rider’s hand, desperately wishing he could get a scratch under the chin. But no scratching would come from the blonde Rider, his shocking blue eyes cloudy with slowly cooling anger. He had just been refused the special training that the idiot Ralem had received freely. I’ve been a Rider a lot longer than that fool has been, he thought darkly, pulling apart a dark leaf with fumbling hands, why does he get all the attention? Oh, yeah. Because he has his big galumphing dragon. If I-

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a voice say “Hello, Daemon” in his native language. He jumped to his feet in a split second,  snatching  for his absent sword. But when he whirled around, he was just met by the smiling face of the Princess. He bowed his head hastily, “Sorry, Princess,” he mumbled. Fraylon lifted his head and snorted a hello. He had seen her approach so he wasn’t in the least surprised.

“Sorry for disturbing you,” Arianna said, hardly holding back her almost ever-present laughter.  She was wearing a fine cream dress and her bow was still in hand. It disappeared with a movement of her hand and all that remained was a small present bag she swung by her side.

“No, no, fair princess. I’m fine. It’s rather refreshing to hear you speaking in Grundian. This language tires me,” he said, running his hands through his hair nervously. He winced as his hand touched his scalp and he realized that his body temperature was well below what it should have been. He rubbed his hands together and thought warm thoughts as Arianna continued, “Yes, I need to exercise it more. I don’t want to get rusty,” she winked as she slid next to Daemon’s dragon and started scratching him behind the ears, “But what I really came to ask you about Ralem’s birthday today…”

Daemon instantly stiffened, “What about it?” he said coldly, mentally elbowing his dragon as he started to purr.

“Well… I was just wondering…did you get Ralem a gift, Daemon?” she asked her intense gaze meeting his for a moment and making him incredibly uncomfortable.

“Ummmm.... no,” Daemon said. Like I’d care, he thought.

“Well then it’s your lucky day,” Arianna smiled, “Because I got a gift for you to give him!” She shoved the striped gift bag into his chest.

He looked down at balefully, “Oh…. Thanks,” he said, holding it like it was a dead rat. It was heavier than he thought.

“What are you doing, just standing there? There he is! Go give it to him!” she shoved him towards where Ralem was walking back with Jaydon, Ryan, and Thistle.

Daemon gulped. Every ounce of him did not want to hand the gift over to the peasant. He glanced at Arianna who was like go on. Then he shifted his eyes to his dragon. Come on, he said shuffling behind the rose bushes that separated them from the arriving Riders and dragons. Arianna gave him a look like, you better! Before disappearing to get her own present.

Daemon watched her leave before turning to his dragon. “Fraylon, you give him the present.” He shoved the present to the dragon.

Fraylon shook his head violently, “No!”

Daemon glared at him, “Fraylon, you do this or you will get punished. Remember what happened last time?” His voice was deadly even and effective.

Fraylon gulped, “Uh…Okay.” He took the bag with a claw and prepared to jump over the hedge but quailed. He didn’t want to give it to Ralem any more than his Rider did. Finally, he came up with a solution. Curling his talon around the bag, he settled on his haunches and with a quick flash of his wrist the bag went flying end over end.

At the time the company were nearly to the castle. Ralem was talking to Ryan about their favorite knights (all the while reprimanding Jaydon for picking flowers and putting them in his hair), and Arianna was about ready to run out to announce that food was ready, but could he open her gift before then? But right as Ralem snapped his head up to laugh at what Ryan had said about Sir Arthur’s loincloth underwear, he was nailed by an unidentified flying present. It hit his forehead with a surprisingly loud THUD and as everyone turned to look, he fell like a falling tree in slow motion. Then BAM he bit the dust, knocked out cold.

Ryan and Thistle bent down beside him, but Jaydon only surveyed him quickly before turning toward the maze of bushes in Fraylon and Daemon’s general direction. “WHO DID THIS?” he roared.

Fraylon and Daemon jerked back, initially in fear, before bursting out in halting chuckles. “Did you see the look on his face?” Fraylon said, smiling widely. Daemon just nodded, before bopping his dragon on the nose, “I said to give it to him you idiot, not throw it. But… I admit. His face was surprisingly humorous haha!”

But their chuckles died in their throats as Jaydon appeared, in his dragon form, looming over the garden like an unwelcome monster and blocking out the sun with his humongous form. He scanned the garden before his angry eyes rested on Daemon and Fraylon. Haltingly, he advanced, careful not to step upon any elegantly pruned bushes, his eyes never leaving the accused.

 Fraylon edged backwards as Jaydon lunged forwards, his head snapping to the other dragon’s neck. He roared loud enough to shake the ground, smoke billowing angrily from his nostrils. Fraylon’s eyes almost popped out of his head as his vision became encompassed by massive teeth and a yawning throat. For a second he was afraid that he was to be eaten. The roar that came with it was thunderous and left him staggering, his ears ringing. But the frost dragon stood his ground even as the green dragon drew back to glare at him, wings extended in an aggressive stance. For a whole minute they glared at each other, not even blinking. They looked like wolves meeting each other for the first time, both with raised spikes and vicious snarls. The air shimmered around the green dragon as he stocked his inward fire, the grass around the faded blue dragon freezing up as he lowered his temperature so he could create ice spikes. They glared. And glared. And glared some more.

Finally Vali appeared out of nowhere and roared so loud that both dragons jumped, their eye contact immediately broken. Then came the furious rush of words in the draconic language. Fraylon and Jaydon were intimidated by the stern-tongued elder dragon and eventually backed down with rushed, “sorry ma’am’s.” Vali harrumphed before sliding between the bushes to the downed Rider. The suspects slunk after her, Jaydon intent on seeing if his Rider was okay.

But as Vali was looking away, the Ventus Rex smacked Fraylon into a bush with the broad side of his tail. “HEY!” Daemon shouted. Vali jerked her head back, her eyes narrowed. Jaydon smiled like an angel, well, an angel with fangs and horns. “RRASSSH,” she said (I’m watching you).

As they came to the crime scene, Ralem just woke up, rubbing his head groggily. “What just happened?” he moaned.

Ryan picked something off the ground, “You got nailed in the head by… a present bag?” he tossed it to Ralem and he caught it.

“It was Daemon’s gift for you…” Arianna said helpfully, “I guess it must have slipped out of his hands,” she glared at him meaningfully.

“Yeah… uhm… slipped,” he said, fixing his hair. He elbowed his dragon in the ribs.

Ralem raised an eyebrow before opening it up. “What is it, poison?” he asked.

“Ralem!” Arianna hissed.

“Oh, did I just say that out loud?” he murmured before pulling something out, “A diamond. Yup, that will definitely give me a headache. Wow, is that a big one. And….” He pulled something else out, “A chocolate heart???” he looked at it with round eyes before shoving it back into the bag.

Arianna actually turned a shade of pink. “Sorry that was not your gift,” she grabbed it from him and offered it to the dragon.

Ralem was too disturbed to move, “So Daemon got Jaydon a chocolate heart?” Don’t eat it, he warned Jaydon as he took the present, it’s probably poisoned.

“No, no!” Arianna cried as everyone turned to face her. Daemon was trying to say something but all that came out was squeaking sounds. He nodded furiously to Arianna. “No, Daemon accidentally switched his gift with mine! That was my gift to Jaydon!”

Ralem dipped an eyebrow, sitting in an upright position, “So you are giving the chocolate heart to my dragon?”

Behind him, Ryan and Thistle made a dramatic Oooooh! Noise before Vali silenced them with a glare.  Jaydon just sniffed the bag.

“Why? What’s wrong with that? He’s just a dragon,” Arianna said, “It’s not like… oh. No, it’s not like that. When we went shopping last night he tried some and said he liked it. But chocolate is so rare and this was the only one left in stock!” She looked over the disbelieving faces and huffed, “Okay, okay, I’ll return it. Happy?” She turned to get the bag back from Jaydon.

While she had been giving her halting speech, he had turned back into a human and was shoving broken bits of chocolate into his mouth. It was a wonder how much chocolate he had on his face. In fact, it looked like he had more on his face than in his mouth. He hummed happily at the sugary taste and licked his lips before realizing that everyone was looking at him. He shrugged, “Good chocolate,” then started licking his fingers.

Thistle and Ryan burst out laughing, “There goes your chocolate heart, Princess.”

Jaydon got a large piece of chocolate out of the box and offered it to Ralem, “You want some? It’s really good.” The chocolate piece was coated in spit. Dragon spit.

“No, I’m fine,” Ralem replied, getting to his feet quickly.

Jaydon purred happily, stuffing it into his mouth, “More for me! Ha hah!”

“Well you certainly made his day,” Ralem said to the Princess, easing the Arianna’s tension. She gave a lopsided smile, “Let’s let the hungry bear eat his honey in peace. I’ve got a surprise for you,” she said, leading him back to the castle.

Behind their back, the baby dragon stuck out his chocolate brown tongue at Fraylon and Daemon cheekily before shoving another chocolate chunk into his mouth. “Thanks for the gift!”