Page 18 of The Arrival of the Dragons

Thorin’s expression surprisingly softened. “Yes, I can imagine this is hard when all you want to do is be with people. But things are tense right now and?—”

Thorin did not get another word out as there was the unmistakable thunderous flap of wings. Another Dragon Shifter had arrived in Reach. And they were alone with Caden and Iolaire. Valerius ran to the balcony and shifted. Raziel did not object. Instead, his Spirit had billowing fire leaving their mouth as they took off into the air.

THE GOLD DRAGON

Caden looked up into the sky from where the sound of massive wings was coming from. The sun was much lower causing the sky to be painted with purple, blue and crimson. It was a magnificent background for the giant Gold Dragon with spikes on its powerful tail that hung suspended fifty feet above him.

“Oh, wow! It’s the Gold Dragon King Tezcacoatl!” Tilly cried.

“His Spirit’s name is Eldoron!” Tobey informed them all proudly of his Dragon knowledge.

“He’s so big!” Macauley said faintly. “Like four times Iolaire’s size!”

“He’s classified as a Titanic-sized Dragon. In terms of size, Raziel is the biggest then Mephous and then Eldoron,” Tobey supplied helpfully. “Iolaire is the smallest!”

“Eldoron could crush us.” Macauley scrunched down low on Caden’s back.

“Being crushed is the least of our worries really if Eldoron attacked us.” Tobey pushed his glasses up onto his nose. “It breathes liquid metal! We’d be burned alive and dissolved in huge pools of mercury!”

“That’s not helping, Tobey!” Maccauley cried.

“Oh, we’d be dead like instantaneously,” Tobey continued, completely unrepentant. “So it’s not like we’dfeelour bodies being dissolved and--”

“TOBEY!” Maccauley hit her friend’s back.

Tilly patted Caden’s neck and said loyally, “Iolaire held its own against Raziel. So though it’s small, it’s mighty! We’re perfectly fine, Macauley. Iolaire handled the crowd of crazies easily. It can handle Eldoron!”

Iolaire hooted with happiness in response and lifted its head proudly. Caden though was focused on remembering what he could about Tezcacoatl from his Shifter classes in high school. The Gold Dragon King’s seat of power was Mexico City and he ruled over much of South America and the Caribbean so that explained why he had gotten here relatively quickly.

He’s not a bully like Illarion. More like a showboat. So I don’t think we’re in danger from Tezcacoatl or Eldoron, for that matter.

In fact, he’d heard that Eldoron was rumored to be incredibly vain. Though from Caden’s perspective maybe it had a right to be. The golden color of its scales shimmered in the day’s dying light as the Titanic Dragon flew in glorious circles overhead, doing loops and gliding, giving Caden and Iolaire plenty of opportunities to see just how magnificent it was. He realized that Eldoron was not completely gold, but had some silver scales across its belly and tail.

I think Eldoron is flirting with us, Iolaire, Caden realized after the Gold Dragon had done the fourth loop.

Iolaire hooted softly, watching the other Dragon’s moves as if to copy them later.

It’s not as awesome as Raziel though!Caden said.

Iolaire gave a very positive hoot at that as if to say, “But of course not! No one compares to Raziel!” But it was enjoying Eldoron’s flying maneuvers.

“Do you know that Tezcacoatl was a--”

“Tobey, if this is more about how he can easilykillus and in what ways, don’t say it!” Maccauley begged.

“No, no, I was just going to tell the story about how he became a Dragon Shifter,” Tobey assured her with a wave of his hand.

“Okay, I guess you can tell it,” Maccauley murmured. She was still clutching onto Iolaire’s back as if her life depended upon it.

“You’re our scaredy cat, Maccauley,” Tilly teased gently. “But we love you for it! And we’ll keep you safe!”

“Funny you should say that! Because helping other people get through their fear in a terrible situation was how Tezcacoatl bonded with Eldoron!” Tobey went on enthusiastically, “Tezcacoatl was a miner. The mine he worked in was very unsafe, but he needed the money to help his mother and sister so he took on the work regardless. Well, the inevitable happened. The mine collapsed with him and a lot of other workers inside. Tezcacoatl got all the surviving miners together and kept their spirits up as they waited for rescue. But as the hours turned to days and then to over a week, even he realized that no one was coming to save them. The mine owners had abandoned them. It was then he prayed for the Spirits to give him strength to not only get the miners out of this terrible situation, but also take revenge on the greedy mine owners.”

Caden thought about what Valerius had said about how Dragon Shifters did not get their Spirits from simple bravery or even honor. He knew the ending to the story that Tobey was telling, and while it did have some aspect of both bravery and honor, there was also violence to it as well.

“And then Eldoron came to him?” Tilly asked.

Tobey nodded and his glasses slid down his nose in response. “Because they joined underground in a mine, that’s why people think he has metal breath.”

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