Page 5 of The Arrival of the Dragons

CIVILITY

Valerius flew down to the courtyard outside of his throne room. As tempting as it was to land in Dragon Strike Square to excoriate and humiliate Illarion in front of his people, he resisted, and landed only to an audience of Chione, Simi and Ngoye.

Valerius shifted and landed in what some people called the Superhero pose before gracefully rising to his feet. Immediately, Captain Ngoye was offering him his favorite silk robe embroidered with silver dragons to slip on. He drew the cool silk over his body and tied the belt.

“Thank you, Ngoye,” he said to her.

“My king.” Her eyes went up to the White Dragon. “Did Iolaire just… Well, did I see what I thought I saw?”

“That Iolaire made Illarion transform into his human form? Yes, Ngoye, you did,” Valerius could not hide the satisfaction in his tone.

While ice breath could be useful in a fight, this ability was a true game changer. Caden was so much safer now than he had been before.

“The other Dragons will think twice now before attacking him,” Ngoye said with a nod.

“There will be no more attacks in my skies,” Valerius told her.

Illarion’s actions had been beyond the pale, if predictable. But his just desserts were incredibly satisfying. Ngoye bowed and moved back to her post by the doors to his throne room. Valerius turned to watch the White Dragon slow its descent and then, like a helicopter landing, drop all the way down to the stone flagged courtyard. The wind from the White Dragon’s powerful wings blew Valerius’ hair back and he sheltered his eyes from the dust and leaves that were stirred by the air currents.

Chione stepped over to Valerius. “Are you all right, my king?”

“You cannot possibly believe that I am harmed. I think you are referring to my temper. And my temper is… in check. Besides, how could I not be amused by that?” Valerius pointed to Illarion who was still caught in one of Iolaire’s large clawed hands.

Illarion roared, “Put me down! Put me down now!”

“He reminds me of Fay Wray trapped by King Kong,” Chione giggled.

“You will pay for this, White Dragon!” Illarion howled as he kicked his bare legs.

Both Valerius and Chione were laughing now though there was some hysteria to it. Chione brought up a tablet to show him what the local news were reporting. There were helicopters hovering at a safe distance recording everything, and he could see what they were seeing.

“Illarion will never live this down,” Valerius said, a smile curling the edges of his mouth. “This is almost better than me sending him slamming towards the ground and roasting him.”

Chione agreed as she turned up the volume so that they could hear the anchor breathlessly saying, “... and after the Green Dragon King Illarion’s unexpected--and clearly unauthorized--flight over Reach, the White Dragon emitted a call that appears to have shifted Illarion back into human form! Have you ever heard of a Dragon Shifter having that power, Tom?”

She was asking the anchor that was in the studio while she was filming from Dragon Strike Square.

“No, Carol, thisiscompletely unexpected. But let’s hear from our Dragon Shifter expert, Dr. William Tanaka.” Tom, whose hair looked lacquered, turned to a distinguished looking man in his fifties.

Valerius had spoken to Tanaka once. He gave him no answers to his questions, but the professor of Shifter studies at Harvard, had known more than he’d thought he would about Shifters despite Valerius’ reticence.

Dr. Tanaka answered in his pleasant voice, “As we all are aware, each Dragon Shifter has a mainbreathability. In the case of our own Black Dragon King Valerius, fire is his main ability, but as he demonstrated today, he has a powerful air breath ability that dissipated the Green Dragon King Illarion’s main breath ability, which is poison. It is rumored that the Black Dragon King Valerius, for certain, has many more elemental powers than we have ever seen. But as to the White Dragon’s ability to actually force the shift, well this is beyond anything we’ve seen from the Dragons so far.”

Carol broke in, “But, Dr. Tanaka, are we certain that Iolaire truly caused Illarion to shift? Perhaps he simply had an accident and Iolaire caught him.”

Dr. Tanaka gave her a slightly repressive smile. “Dragon Shifters like Illarion are simply too old to have anaccidentlike that. And, I think, it is pretty clear from his current reaction that Illarion is none too pleased with the actions of the newest addition to that Shifter group.”

They showed Illarion’s current behavior of hissing and spitting at Iolaire. Chione turned off the tablet.

“How are you going to deal with this, my king? Illarion has broken so many of the rules, and he attacked you,” Chione said.

“Let him dig his hole deeper. Violence is not the answer for now,” Valerius told her.

She looked surprised and one of her eyebrows rose. “I thought you would beeagerto do something physical to him.”

“Oh, I am finding his humiliation far more satisfying. Besides, Iolaire should have its moment of triumph.”

“You will release me!” Illarion screamed.

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