Dragon Bound

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Chapter Eleven

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As far as conversations went, that really couldn’t have gone much worse. Damon felt as though he were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Despite their outward appearances, Damon could feel the inner turmoil between them. Jason was frustrated, angry and a little ashamed. Lune was also frustrated, angry and ashamed. It would have been funny if the situation wasn’t quite so dire. The white dragon and the rider were pointedly ignoring each other as they marched, and Damon was left to sigh.

He could neither pacify his angry rider nor comfort the upset Kagame without getting his head damn near bitten off. So, Damon said nothing. This confrontation had made things very real for the little dragon. He now knew that his captivity could be a lot worse, that his freedom could shrink further. It still might.

One of the larger problems that Jason had yet to even address with their new charge was that Lune would need to be accepted by the other dragons in Damon’s squad. It they did not accept him; they could very well attack him and that would be bad. Primarily because Damon would have to put himself in between. Flying squads grew and trained together for years, decades even.

New dragons could be added but it had to be done gradually. Lune was too big to be a strike dragon, was without a rider and had no knowledge of dragon squad etiquette. They didn’t have years for Lune to get used to their scent, and them to his. They had months. To say the odds were against them was a hideous understatement.

And that was without the added… complication.

Lune finally looked up from the cobblestone he had been glaring at to look at Damon. ‘What complication?’ he asked. Damon blinked. He hadn’t realized he’d dropped his mental wards. Jason opened the door to his rooms and the two dragons stepped inside after him, Lune looking expectantly from Damon to Jason.

‘We may as well tell him. He’ll hear about it soon enough anyway,’ Damon sighed. Jason shot him an angry look, but the black dragon only stared back, unruffled. Jason stalked over to his decanter and poured a healthy measure of scotch into a glass.

‘The new riders that went missing during patrol,’ Jason said darkly.

‘You found them?’ Lune guessed. He nodded.

‘More or less.’ Damon said with a shrug of his massive shoulders.

‘Let’s go with less. The bodies of the three apprentices were found. Their dragons were gone,’ Jason growled. Lune frowned. Had the dragons escaped? Thrown off the control of the collars against their younger, less experienced riders and fled?

‘I know what you’re thinking and no. We don’t think so. At first sight it appeared that the dragons may have escaped but the wounds on the corpses were from animals far bigger. The collars of the beasts were not recovered. There were claw marks, blood, and scales. All from the young dragons that are missing not from wild dragons or the dead humans.’ Jason refilled his glass. Damon padded over to his human, growling in a low purr that usually helped soothed the man. Jason shot him another nasty look but didn’t rebuke him.

‘So… what? They were attacked by someone else?’ Lune asked quietly.

‘They were taken. It would take multiple riders to steal three young training dragons. Several foreign riders entered the Sun King’s land with the intention of stealing dragons. It’s as good as a declaration of war.’ Jason stared into his glass as he spoke, his shoulders tense.

Lune hesitated then asked, ‘Who?’ Lune knew little of the human world. He knew vaguely that humans, like dragons, had territories. He understood that the human kingdoms were large and segregated from one another.

‘We don’t know. It’s been nearly a century since the other kingdoms have even shown any interest in invasion. We have a large stable and our king is powerful. We have open lines of trade with the Kingdom of Glass, but the other two kingdoms are basically unreachable.’ Jason explained. Damon gave a nod to one of the well-worn chairs and Lune took the hint and sat.

‘How so?’

‘The Kingdom of the Sky is on the other side of the Kaempe Stor Mountain Range and the Kingdom of the Storms is across the ocean. Both can be crossed but only in small groups with very experienced dragons and heavy supplies. I just can’t imagine an army crossing either, but the Kingdom of Glass has always been an ally to us for hundreds of years so it’s hard to believe they threaten war now. Trade has been stronger than ever.’ Jason sipped at his drink, staring moodily out of the massive window.

Lune frowned. ‘What are we, this kingdom, I mean?’ he asked.

‘Ain’t that obvious? We are part of the Kingdom of the Sun,’ Damon grunted. The group lapsed into silence for a long time. Damon gave an annoyed huff. He wasn’t built for this negotiating shit. ‘I’m going to order us food,’ he said finally, already sick of the silence. Jason shot him a glare which he ignored. As usual.

Jason put down his empty glass and began to strip off his filthy uniform. He wanted to wash and get rid of the smell of sweat. He stalked into his bathing chambers. It wasn’t the grand pools of the underground, but he did not have the patience to deal with other people right now. His own bathing chambers had a deep copper tub. He turned on the water, swirling his hand in it for several moments. The water began to bubble and steam in reaction to the gentle flow of magic from his fingertips.

When he stood up straight again, Lune was behind him.

‘Alright,’ Jason said. He climbed stiffly into the hot water and laid back, his eyes fixing on his white dragon. ‘We are going to start again,’ he said. Lune shifted but didn’t look at him. He played with his own long white hair.

‘I’m going to teach you about our kingdom. Then introduce you one at a time to the other dragons in my flying squad. After that, we will work on your flight patterns with the other strike dragons,’ Jason added. Lune gave a small nod.

The rider sighed. ‘You don’t have to stand there and wait for me. Go sit by the fire and get warm. Damon will bring back food soon.’ Lune padded over to the thick rug in front of the fireplace. He placed his palm on the brickwork, feeling the hot stone. He collected his limbs neatly and lay down on the rug. He stared into the flames for a long time. Jason didn’t call out to him again.

He hadn’t realised he had dosed off until a warm weight settled over him. He jerked, his eyelids opening. Jason eased the thin blankets over his shoulder before sweeping the snow-white locks from Lune’s face. Lune hadn’t even heard him finish up washing or climb out of the tub. The rider sat behind the white dragon and carefully began to work a comb through the long strands.

The heavy door to their chambers opened and Damian walked in with a server, holding several silver trays.

‘Didn’t know what everyone wanted so I just got a bunch of different things on the off chance that would get me snapped at less,’ he said tartly. Jason raised an eyebrow as his big black dragon set down two trays, the young server boy copying his actions. The boy bowed low and quickly skittered from the room. Lune sat up; the blanket still bundled around him as he blinked sleepily up at Damon.

The black dragon felt a rather sharp spike of want and protectiveness at the overtly cute picture his mate made. Jason collected some plates and looked over what his eldest brat had brought them. He was unsurprised to see the thick cut steaks and cutlets of lamb. There was also fluffy gold buttered rice, slices of salmon in an orange sauce and a selection of roasted vegetables. Jason sighed and grabbed Damon’s jaw to steer the tall figure in for a kiss.

‘Thank you,’ he grumbled.

Damon snorted and gave his master an amused grin. ‘I know you well,’ Damon said, placing some of the fish and rice on a plate for Lune. Lune perked up a little at the sight and smell of the food. The recipes the humans made were by far his most favourite thing about the human world. Damon passed him the plate.

‘It shouldn’t have any bones in it but eat it slow just in case. You don’t want to get one stuck in your throat,’ Damon said as he sat down with his own plate of steak. Lune frowned, poking at the pink fish. Dragons never had to worry about sharp pieces of bone. The insides of their mouths and throat were coated in a kind of thick muscular plating. It protected their insides from their meals as well as their own fire, acid or ice.

‘You will both sleep here tonight and first thing tomorrow we will go to the library so Lune can look at the map archives,’ Jason said as he cut into his lamb.

Damon wrinkled his nose. ‘I hate that fucking place,’ he whinged.

His rider rolled his eyes. ‘I’m well aware which is why you won’t be coming with us. You will be going to see Amphion. I’ve decided that Lune will meet with him first.’ Damon nearly choked on his food. He coughed violently, pounding on his chest for a few minutes.

‘What!?’ he spluttered, finally clearing his windpipe. Lune looked concernedly from one to the other.

Amphion was the largest and oldest dragon of their squad. He dwarfed even Damon. Heavily armoured but massive, he generally flew towards the back of the group and made sure no one slipped from formation. He was a fire breather, but his main weapons were his enormous, clubbed tail and huge spiked forearms and back legs. Jason had once joked that Amphion could hardly be ridden because there was barely a square inch of him that wasn’t covered in spikes.

He was not tolerant of young dragons and had never had any hatchlings of his own. He also rarely engaged with the other dragons other than during training or on the battlefield. He wasn’t friendly and the idea of the tiny little Lune meeting that behemoth first…

‘If Amphion doesn’t accept him then none of the other dragons will either. You will go first, speak with him, and wait in the arena. Lune and I will be there in the afternoon,’ Jason said though he didn’t look happy. It was true that without Amphion’s co-operation they may as well not bother but usually new dragons met the younger riders first. They just didn’t have enough time!

After dinner Jason walked about his chambers, making sure that the doors to the balcony were locked as was the main door. He didn’t think Lune would try anything quite as stupid as to escape in human form in the middle of the night but in all honesty, it was just less stressful and complicated to keep everything locked. It helped his own peace of mind at any rate. His other option was to shackle the little dragon to the bed and whilst that image appealed to his… other tendencies, now was hardly an appropriate time.

He padded over to his large bed. Lune and Damon were already under the covers. It was probably a good thing Lune was so small. His bed was quite large but with Damon’s bulk, it might have been a tight fit. Jason laid down, his back against Damon and Damon clutching Lune to him. Lune relaxed, letting the heartbeat of the other dragon lull him as the blankets were tucked at his chin.

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Lune was mildly nervous to be left alone with Jason again so soon. They had left Damon at the stables after he had transformed back to his massive, winged state. Amphion and his rider were away on an early morning patrol with Amara and her lapis, but they would be back soon, so Damon stayed to wait for them.

Lune didn’t really understand what a library was. It wasn’t a human word he had heard before. From what he had gleaned, it was a collection of various different books and other artifacts the humans had put together. He imagined a giant pile of leather-bound books heaped on top of one another like the iridescent shell piles the little river dragons put together.

‘It’s a bit of a walk from here. The library is in one of the oldest buildings, buried in the side of the mountain,’ Jason explained as they left the draughty stable corridors. Lune looked about, the wall sconces casting them in long shadows. There were no windows in this particular corridor and Lune was struck with the loneliness of it.

‘Where is everyone?’ he asked as they climbed a set of sloping stone stairs. They were well worn in the middle.

‘The king’s stronghold is massive. Guards patrol the main pathways every hour, but this place is too big to have a person stationed in every corridor.’ Jason explained. He turned left at the top and there, they passed a young, rather plain looking woman going the other way. She gave a little curtsey and avoided Jason’s eye. She wore a neat white blouse, a long grey skirt, and a brown apron over the top. Lune had seen the uniform before and recognised it as the servant’s attire.

The cooks on the killing floor back in the stables wore the same colour scheme. Lune watched her go, noting the bright canary yellow ribbon she had used to tie up her hair into a neat bob.

‘That seems… dangerous,’ Lune murmured. ‘The halls are so empty. It feels like it wouldn’t be that hard to get anywhere without being seen,’ he added with a little shiver. Jason looked as though he wanted to reach out and touch him but decided against it. The rider stopped to face him.

‘It’s not that simple. There are spell traps in all of the corridor crossroads. Those unwelcome people who mean ill will or are not citizens of the king are trapped inside them. Though the corridors themselves seem unguarded, all of the major halls have stationed guards or trained servants. Then they would have to get into the stronghold in the first place. We have dragons roaming the outer walls and in our skies at all times. We are never unguarded.’ Jason walked on again and though Lune went too, he couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that seemed to follow them.

There was something wrong with that explanation and yet Lune couldn’t work out what or why. He wasn’t even sure why he felt as though they were in danger. He shook himself, flung his long hair over one shoulder, and hurried to catch up with Jason’s long strides.

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Okay.

So, not quite like a pile of shells.

‘Do you like it?’ Jason asked, amused.

Lune mouth was hanging open as he gaped through the grand archway. The library was a personal favourite place of the king’s. He had spared no expense in its creation, subsequent expansion and upkeep. It was quite over the top. The brick archway leading in was covered in gold leaf, sparkling in the early sunlight. An enormous thick glass circular window had been installed in the roof. The beautiful mosaic patterns of white, clear, silver, gold, orange, and petal pink glass cascaded colours all over the polished porcelain floors. The entire library was a circular room, the redwood bookcase spiralling around and around.

Huge sparkling tapestries depicting the Sun King and his gold dragon hung from the walls. The bookkeepers padded in and out of the shelves, putting away everything from huge tomes to tiny novels. Jason had to admit, the library was a favourite place for him as well. He remembered dashing between the bookshelves as a child.

‘It’s very…’ Lune tried and failed. Jason chuckled.

‘Come on.’ He led the way down the three steps into the centre of the room. Lune was looking up at the huge colourful window. Jason had the guild him to stop him running into a large reading chair. They cut across the centre, zigzagged between several bookcases until they hit the far wall.

‘The mapping room is through here. If you ever get lost just go to the outer wall and look for the tapestries. They are colour coded. The ones near the exit are mostly gold. We are looking for the red ones.’ Jason pointed to one of the extravagant hanging fabrics.

‘Just don’t touch them. I’m pretty sure I still have the marks from the strapping I got from Madam Elsberry. She’s the head librarian here. Has been for over forty years.’ Lune decided to walk a little closer to the rider. He was imagining a terrifying seven-foot woman brandishing a leather belt.

They found the red tapestries showing a beautiful red dragon ridden by a woman with matching flaming red hair.

‘Who is that?’ Lune asked, transfixed. The woman looked young, her bright green eyes and freckles delicately woven into the image. Her dragon was poised, balanced on its hindlegs. What captured Lune’s attention the most was that the dragon had not spines but long ruby red flight feathers on the end of its tail.

‘That was the queen and her dragon, Ardere,’ Jason murmured.

‘Was?’ Lune asked. He glanced at Jason and was surprised by the sadness he saw there. Jason wasn’t looking at him. He was gazing back into the face of the smiling but still fierce looking woman with her wind-blown mass of red curls.

‘Come.’ Jason opened the door beside the tapestry and went inside. Lune followed.

The room inside was dryer, darker but full of shelf upon shelf of scrolls. In the centre, like a miniature replica of the outside library, was a round table. The surface of the massive table was painted. Lune crept forward, amazed.

‘This is the biggest map of the known region. It gets added to often,’ Jason said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. Lune padded over.

‘Here, stand on this, it will give you a better view.’ Jason pushed a second wooden chair towards him. Lune clambered up and stood to look over the massive table.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Lune said. The man nodded. Lune was looked down at the massive landscape. Every detail was intricately painted into the timber. The scale of it was incredible.

‘We are here,’ Jason said, tapping a tiny intricate painting of a collection of castles.

‘That’s us?’ Lune asked. The miniature castle was barely the size of two of his fingers.

‘Yes.’ There was a soft pastel patchwork of squares representing the crop fields surrounding it. Roads were little more than thin veins across the vast expanse. Lune could see the Kaempe Stor Mountain Range, displayed in towering splendour across one side of the map like a deep jagged slash across the landscape. To the west was a gorgeous depiction of palm yellow and grey sand dunes, the Desert of Glass. There were countless trees, roads, caves, hills, ponds, lakes…

Even from atop his chair, Lune was struggling to absorb what he was seeing. He felt as though he could stand there for hours and never quite take it all in. Jason let him look. After a long time, Lune pointed to several eye-catching places.

‘What is that?’ he asked, pointing to what looked like a massive skeleton just before the desert.

‘It’s difficult to say but we believe it to be a skeleton of one of the world’s last titan dragons. Its remains are bigger than this stronghold and still stand to this day though it is mainly only the ribcage and the top of its skull. The rest is buried in the sand.’ Jason said. Lune stared. It was nearly impossible to imagine that any animal could grow to such a size.

‘And that? What is that?’ That was a massive shadowy impression north-east of the stronghold before the borders of a large pine forest.

‘Again, it’s hard to say. It’s a rather eerie place though I can’t really tell you why. It’s a huge crater but perfectly symmetrical, as though the ground just sunk. It’s grassed over like a weird field but no tree or shrubs will grow there. It’s a very quiet place,’ the rider mused. Lune’s wide eyes travelled further.

‘That’s pretty.’ Lune said, pointing. It looked like a massive town with lots of funny shaped brightly coloured buildings. It was a port town, running along the length of the ocean.

‘Ah. That’s the city of Tungang. It is our main trading port between us, the Desert of Glass and a few of the neighbouring cities across the ocean. Many different people live there so the buildings are built by hundreds of architects from all over. It can be a dangerous place because it is on our border and doesn’t quite fall under our king’s rule. It considered neutral ground.’ Lune glanced at the man.

‘It looks like some of the buildings are on the water,’ he said, fascinated.

Jason nodded. ‘They are. Many small houses were built to be floating homes. It’s a popular way of living for some people.’

Lune stared, wondering before letting his eyes travel again. He frowned. ‘What are those dark spots?’ he asked. Jason leant forward in his chair.

‘Ah. Yes. Those.’ Though much of the massive map had been filled in, there were patches of black. The map seemed to abruptly finish just north of the Kaempe Stor Mountains. There were patches to the east and south as well as a massive patch of the ocean.

‘Those are places we haven’t or rather, can’t explore. Every year riders go out and bring back updates so that any changes can be added to this map here. There are many places though that are just too dangerous to go. Here for example-’ Jason pointed to a black patch painted next to some innocent looking tulip fields.

‘Is a valley made up of sharp limestone and shale. It has frequent landslides and violent winds. There are few large animals that live there because of this. It’s considered a no flight zone. Over here…’ He pointed to another patch by some small rocky mountains that Lune was unfamiliar with.

‘From what we can tell, this whole area is a dormant volcano, but the gas and earthquakes are so frequent that the air is not good to breathe. Again, only a few species live there. The ground is hollow, hot to the touch and many have died from exposure to the gases that leak out of the rock bed. The neighbouring village had to relocate because of it.’

Lune frowned. ‘Why live so close to begin with?’ he asked.

‘The volcano produced a large deposit of sulphur which is mined for many different uses. The poorer villages often go into those lands to mine it rather than trying to make a living as a farmer or other profession.’

‘But, if the sulphur mine can kill them, isn’t it better to stay away?’

‘When you say it like that, yes but these people have families to feed and to them, it’s easier to take the risk,’ Jason murmured.

‘Over here Lune. This is where Damon and I flew recently. This is the village where we thought a feral dragon had burnt up the crop fields and here is where the young riders were found dead.’ The rider stood up and approached the table. He pointed to a neat looking village not too far from the Sun King’s stronghold.

‘That’s… that looks close to here.’ Lune said as he climbed down from his chair.

‘It is. That’s what is so concerning,’ Jason growled.

‘And there’s no chance it could be a wild dragon?’ he asked timidly.

Jason sighed, rubbing at his eyes. ‘Unfortunately, no. So, every day we will come back here for an hour or two to go over this map. These scrolls are all collections of maps. They are more detailed close ups of this table here. I’ll help you go through the ones closest to home for now. A squad dragon must know his or her territory intimately. Should we ever get separated a dragon must always be able to find its way back to the stronghold.’ Jason explained. Lune nodded.

‘Alright. Let’s get started.’

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Damon shifted from one foot to the other. To say that he was nervous was a ridiculous understatement. Amphion landed in the massive courtyard, his rider, a massive bear of a man named Logan, sliding from the saddle. Jason had already written a note and sent it along with his squire. Logan had apparently gotten it already because he didn’t look surprised to see Damon waiting for them.

‘Quite the task the king has set him aye?’ the man grunted up at him. Damon chuffed. He got along well with Logan. The man was older than most riders and had seen his fair share of battles. He didn’t have the arrogant or superiority streak that some of the other riders did.

Damon dipped his crowned head down to receive a pat on the muzzle. Amphion yawned widely, showing off not one but two rows of sharp teeth. His huge, scarred wings folded nobly around his frame. They always sat strangely as his hide was so thickly covered in spikes. He sniffed at Damon.

‘Amphion, you may have heard that Damon has found his mate,’ Logan said as he began to unbuckle Amphion’s riding harness. The massive stone dragon blinked lazily. He glanced at Damon, mild amusement in those green and grey eyes.

Pretty is she? It was an unspoken question. Damon gave a snort.

Not exactly.

‘The Kagame male Jason brought in a month ago. He wishes to join our flight squad as a strike dragon.’ Logan wrenched the thick leather straps from the beast shoulders. Amphion stilled. He looked from his rider to Damon. Annoyance, curiosity, confusion, perhaps a little bit of anger was all readable in the huge male. Damon kept his head bowed respectfully.

Amphion had never met Lune, had no experience with Kagame dragons. To be fair, none of them did with perhaps one or two exceptions…

‘Normally we would see how he went with fillies and studs of his own age but with the current circumstances being what they are, Jason has requested you meet the brat and see if you think he would be a good fit.’ Logan wrestled the thick saddle down, Amphion crouching low to help. Annoyance and anger were definitely more prominent now. That huge, clubbed tail thudded against the ground, scaring several nearby stable hands who were collecting the leather tack. It took two young boys to lift what Logan was hurling one handed.

‘Jason will bring the young pup along to the arena,’ the rider said, dusting off his hands on his riding trousers. The huge beast turned its snout towards Damon. Damon stood tensely waiting. He wanted this to go well. He knew Lune could be useful. He knew Lune could probably outfly anyone in their squad, but he didn’t say anything. He had to hope that Amphion would give the little dragon a chance.

‘Well. Come on then, we haven’t got all day.’ Logan turned and headed towards the arena. Amphion gave a low irritated growl and went after his rider, Damon following nervously behind them.

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END

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