Chapter Seven

"Boys, meet your dragons," a female voice spoke up, belonging to none other than the princess – however, only Leopold didn't know that. She approached them from the side before joining Christian. "Leopold Colburn, your dragon is the one to the left, the only living descendent of my grandmother's dragon, Kaloua."

Leopold looked at the dragon with awe before his jaw dropped. "Y-Your grandmother?"

Avery nodded, "Yes, Queen Arabelle, my grandmother. Ah, that's right, we told you I was someone else before. Truthfully my name is Avery Tiona, the second child to the current King and Queen of Tiona." She did a brief curtsy for the two boys, ignoring the fact that Leopold was in complete shock. "Casimir Ivanov, your dragon is to the right. Don't be too afraid of him: he actually likes the fact that you are of dragon hunter lineage," yet even her voice sounded doubtful about it.

"It's a stygian dragon," Leopold said in complete awe of the two rare dragons standing in front of him, "and my dragon is an ice dragon. This is amazing!"

I can't believe he is actually a decent swordsman under all that bookworm, Casimir thought snidely before cautiously moving forward to where his dragon stood. It was still eyeing him, but now he could see it was less aggressive than before, no snarling. At least that was a start. He turned to Christian and Avery, who were watching both of the boys sternly, prepared to remove them at any moment if they didn't agree with their dragons.

"What exactly am I supposed to do?"

Avery burst out into laughter, pointing to her head, "Use your brain, speak to him. Everyone had to start somewhere. Just don't be freaked out when he speaks back through your thoughts, alright?"

Leopold didn't hesitate to start speaking to his dragon, whereas Casimir was doubtful. Staring at his dragon, he wondered how they managed to grow up so fast, considering Christian had said they had two eggs at the beginning of the tournament. He had heard stories of dragons rapidly growing after they hatch to match their riders age, but it seemed to surreal. That being said, so did the idea that the huge beast in front of him was supposed to be his partner.

It's scales were dark and glossy, and as he got closer he could see they were quite large too. Unlike many other dragons he had seen with long, swooping necks, this dragon's was a little shorter and rougher looking, almost like the takapan they had met earlier. Although its wings were tucked away at that moment, he didn't doubt they would span to twice his current length. He looked between Leopold's dragon and his own and noticed that his was clearly bigger. While the ice dragon was probably a bit larger than a horse, his was probably the size of two horses standing on top of each other. He could only guess that the stygian dragon was more closely related to the takapan than the  elemental dragons.

'How long to you plan to simply stand around and admire me?' A deep male voice interrupted his thoughts, bringing his eyes back to the storm dragon in front of him. It's head was cocked to the site as it waited for Casimir to actually say something.

"You're a stygian dragon," he wasn't sure whether it was a question or a statement.

The dragon snorted, 'Did your friend not tell you that earlier? Try saying something else. Something that actually has a purpose.'

"Okay then, what do I call you? Do you have a name?"

'Every dragon is born with a name.'

"Then what's yours?"

'Why should I tell you?'

"Because I'm your rider."

'Are you?'

"Would you stop that?"

'Stop what?'

"Giving me pointless answers!"

'Then stop saying pointless things.'

Casimir give a frustrated sigh and gestures to himself, "I have never actually spoke to a dragon properly before okay? The only other time I've ever done this was when it was trying to eat me."

The dragon stretched out his neck as though he was tiring, 'Then try and figure out my name.'

"And how am I supposed to do that? Keep guessing until I get it right?"

Christian intervened by clearing his throat, getting the attention of both the rider and the dragon. He flicked his eyes up to Nadi, "You know, even without realising it, riders and dragons form bonds that allow them to delve into each other's minds. There are no secrets between them. Originally it was a vital part of the bond between people and dragons because they didn't trust that the humans truly meant them no harm. It's a bit of a forgotten art now, but I'm guessing your dragon won't be happy with that. After all, his rider is a dragon hunter."

The younger male clicked his tongue and stared at his dragon. "Alright, how do I do that?"

"I believe the best way to describe it," Avery said, walking over to where Casimir was and gently tapped the side of his head, "is to imagine that the dragon's brain is like a room full of boxes. You just have to open the right one."

Guessing until I get it right might possibly be faster, he thought to himself. It was such a stupid concept. The dragon's mind was like a box? It reminded him of his early days as a swordsman and his instructor would tell him to imagine the final swing of his sword before the tournament had even begun. He had never really understood how to do it at first. It had seemed like a waste of time and energy when he should have been focusing on how to start the match, yet as he got older the concept of planning the outcome was a lot more useful.

Looking up at his dragon again, he knew there wasn't going to be any way around it. He had to, somehow, figure out it's name using the mind-like-a-box theory. He closed his eyes and imagined that he was in a room with a few boxes scattered around. He moved around the room, opening each of the boxes and looking inside, surprising himself when there was things inside them that he never would have imagined himself. Was this what they meant? Just imagine and it would happen?

After closing the first box, he looked around the room to find there was piles upon piles of boxes that hadn't been there before. What was all this? He had specifically imagined only a few boxes to make it easier for himself. He stood still and glanced around. Where was he even supposed to begin? There had to be at least a hundred boxes of various shapes and sizes stacked up around the room. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, which felt strange considering that they were meant to be closed anyway. Mentally, he truly had been transported into this imaginary room. Find the name, find the name, find the name, he chanted to himself.

He felt a sudden shiver and opened his eyes again, glancing around the room. All of a sudden one of the boxes had to begun to glow slightly and he could have sworn he could hear a slight humming sound coming from it. He walked over to it cautiously, briefly pausing before reaching out to open the box.

The moment his fingers brushed the surface of the box, he was thrust out of the room and back into his own body. His eyes snapped open and he fell backwards on his jelly-like legs. It didn't make sense that they were suddenly so shaky, but he found himself sitting on the floor anyway, staring up at the dragon. He seemed satisfied with himself now.

'So? Did you find it?'

"I found it all  right," he said, slowly lifting himself back onto his feet, "you're name is Kuroz."

'See, it was not that hard, was it?'

Casimir finally let himself snort, after all the times he had held back today, "Yeah right." He wouldn't admit to that prideful dragon that it had, in fact, been very easy to do. He turned to Leopold, suddenly processing what he had said earlier. "Wait, you said he was a strigran dragon?"

The other swordsman shook his head, "No, a stygian dragon."

"I've never heard of that before."

"It's another ancient species much like the takapan dragon we met earlier, but not quite as big or rare. They don't have a particular elemental ability but simply breathe fire like all of the other ancient species of dragon do."

Casimir looked over to where Nadi was resting. Being an older dragon now, participating in the tournament must have drained her energy a bit. "Then what about the fire dragons?"

"What about them?"

"They breath fire too."

"Yeah, but they are still elemental."

"Are they closely related to the ancient dragons?"

"I'm not sure," Leopold said honestly, "but I don't think so. I don't even know when or why dragons changed to have the elemental species rather than just the ancient species. No one knows because there is no records kept about them. I think it all happened back in the days where humans feared the dragons, so it didn't really phase them whether they breathed fire or not. A dragon was a dragon."

Casimir looked up at Kuroz and went to ask him, but the dragon shook his head, 'Unfortunately I do not know the answer, either.'

"Alright boys, we're running short on time," Avery interrupted them, glancing between the two young swordsmen, "need I remind you of the attack currently happening on the city? We need to get out of here. The others are waiting to meet you both at the main camp."

"There are others?" Leopold said curiously, moving towards his dragon.

"Of course there is. Did you really believe it would just be the three of us trying to stop the rebels?"

"Well when you put it like that..."

Casimir looked at Kuroz hesitantly, turning to Avery who was making her way towards the door. "Where are you going?"

"There wasn't enough room for my dragon in here so he is waiting for me outside," she looked around at the room that had enough space for another dragon or two or Nadi and Leopold's dragon's size, "he's a big boy."

Leopold was already climbing onto the back of his dragon confidentially, "We ready to try out some flying, Yakob?"

Casimir snickered a little, What a lame name.

'You shouldn't judge a dragon by it's name,' Kuroz scolded him, lowering himself to the ground so that he would be able to get on.

"And you shouldn't eavesdrop on my thoughts," Casimir snapped back, folding his arms across his chest and staring at the dragon. He could feel Christian and Leopoldo watching him anxiously, waiting for him to get on. Avery had already gone outside to her dragon.

Kuroz looked at him strangely before simply resting his head on the ground in front of his legs, 'You can walk to the main camp if you do not wish to fly.'

Why did I end up with the dragon who has a smart mouth? Casimir thought as he turned around, his back to the dragon.

'Are you sure you want to turn your back to a dragon you have only just met?' Kuroz questioned, 'I would not say that was an intelligent choice.'

Christian walked over to Casimir and placed a hand on his shoulder, one that was stronger than the young male would have imagined for an elderly man. "The Princess is right, we don't have enough time for your little fight with the dragon. Fly to the main camp now, sort out your superiority issues later."

Casimir went to snap something back at the old man, but when his fingers tightened around his shoulder he instantly zipped his mouth shut. He looked back at Kuroz warily, "If you try anything—"

'Do not worry, I will take care of everything. All you have to do is find a way to hold on,' something about the way he said it made Casimir's hair tingle.

He walked over to the dragon and cautiously reached out to touch his back. The large black scales felt as cold as ice but were nowhere near as slippery – rather, they were very rough. It wouldn't be exceptionally hard to hold on so long as the dragon didn't try pulling any stunts. Following what he had seen Leopold doing earlier he threw the upper part of his body over the dragon's back and swung his right leg over the top, just like he would do if he was trying to get onto his horse bareback. Once he was laying securely on the dragon's back he shuffled up so that he was sitting in an upright position.

"What will happen to my horse? He is still in the stables back at the sword-fighting tournaments from earlier today."

Christian had already gotten into Nadi with practiced ease. "We will send for someone to go and bring the horse to the palace and we'll look after him until you have finished. Don't worry so much and let's go!"

Nadi didn't hesitate before lifting up off the ground and shooting through the space in the roof with extreme speed. Yakob followed in suit, with Leopold cheering loudly as try vanished. Casimir had only ridden on one dragon before Kuroz and that had been Adaline's water dragon earlier in the day. He wasn't sure he was completely ready for this.

'You do not need to worry so much. We are only going just outside this building and landing. That is where the princess and her dragon are waiting for us,' Kuroz said, as though it might be of some comfort to the nervous rider.

He felt his hands around, "What am I meant to hold onto?"

'Anything you can,' Kuroz didn't wait even a second longer than that before he also took off.