Page 15 of Dragon Fire

He’d missed her so much since her father’s edict. The man was a tyrant and ruled his home like he must rule his ships, with an iron hand. The sea captain had a justly deserved reputation as far as Seth was concerned.

Flurrthith spiraled down from the high cliffs on which the Lair was built, flanked by Gowan and Genlitha. Hrardorr had gone on ahead, but they could still see him. In fact, Seth was watching his progress closely, ready to warn him if he should somehow run into danger. But it was clear. Hrardorr dove into the water quite a ways out into the sea, where there were no obstacles to hinder him.

His entry into the water was near perfect, without much of a splash. If Seth hadn’t been watching closely, he wouldn’t have noticed much of anything happening out there. The water truly was Hrardorr’s second home. Seth was glad he had that at least. The dragon’s spirits had been down since the battle, which had confused Seth at first, but he soon realized that the fight had brought back memories of Hrardorr’s glory days. Memories that were hard to live with in his current condition, Seth figured.

As they made their way to the beach, Seth noticed another dragon already there. It was a dark blue. Had to be Xanderanth. He was a relative newcomer to the Lair, blessed with powerful wings. He and his young knight had been sent to the Southern Lair for their first assignment, partly because of Xander’s youth and flying abilities, but also because his knight, Leonhardt—Leo for short—was from this region and still very close to his family. Rumor had it that his parents packed up his siblings and moved to be closer to the Lair once they found out Leo and Xander would be stationed here for a few years while they both learned the business of being a team.

Xander trumpeted a greeting when he saw Genlitha, and Seth felt Flurrthith tremble under him. But when Gen signaled back in a similar way, the gryphon seemed to relax again.

“We are in luck,”Gen said into all their minds as they glided closer to their landing point and the young blue dragon.“Xanderanth is only a little older than you, Flurrthith. His knight’s family lives nearby, and he is visiting them, so Xander is at loose ends for a bit. He’s a very nice dragon.”

There was no time to say more as they came in for the landing. Seth held on tight, expecting to get jostled around a bit because of Flurrthith’s age and relative inexperience. Plus, he’d never been on a gryphon’s back before and had no idea if they landed the same way dragons did. But Seth needn’t have worried. Flurrthith set down with all the grace of the most elegant dragon, and Seth was just as comfortable as he would have been on dragonback—perhaps more so because of the fur, but he’d never tell a dragon that.

When Seth jumped down from Flurrthith’s back, he was sure to go around and face the young gryphon, thanking him formally for the ride. Gryphons were formal. Everyone said so. Seth didn’t want to be the one to mess up the budding relationship between gryphons and Draconia. No, he thought, holding in a grimace, he’d leave that to the idiots up at the Lair who were even now discussing ways tonothelp, in all likelihood.

“Thank you, Sir Flurrthith. I have never had a more comfortable flight,” Seth said as he bowed, keeping his gaze locked with the gryphon’s out of respect. He figured he could get away with that little bit of truth. The dragons would think he was just being polite.

“You are very welcome, Sseth. You ride well for one who hass no dragon partner of hiss own,” Flurrthith surprised him by saying.

Seth rose from the bow and regarded the gryphon. “I was raised in the Lair. My fathers have dragon partners who raised me as their own. It was a great treat to be taken aloft, so I have flown before, just not very often. Thank you for the kind words. I am glad to have not caused you any difficulties.”

The blue dragon’s head appeared over Seth’s shoulder, ending that avenue of conversation.

“Hello. I’m Xander,”the blue dragon said to them all, not waiting to be introduced. He was still quite young to be in service, but he’d found his partner young, as well, and had been sent here to grow into his duties.

Seth stroked Xander’s neck, already very familiar with the young dragon. He’d treated him for a sore wings after Genlitha put him through his paces a few times.

“Sir Flurrthith of Gryphon Isle, may I present Sir Xanderanth of the Southern Lair?” Seth said politely, hoping Xander’s eagerness wouldn’t somehow offend the gryphon.

“Hello, Xander. I like your sshiny color. You ssparkle like the ssouthern ocean beyond the Bay of Forgetfulnesss.”

Xander seemed to preen at the gryphon’s words.“Thank you. I don’t know where that is, but I’d like to fly there someday. I want to see everything,”he declared with the enthusiasm of youth.

“That ssounds like fun,” Flurrthith agreed.

Seth ducked out of the way while the two youngsters got acquainted. If he wasn’t much mistaken, he believed he’d just witnessed the start of a friendship.

Hrardorr rose out of the water like a sea creature, stalking forward onto the sand with Genlitha’s gentle—and silent—guidance, Seth knew. Steam rose from his hide, adding to the unearthly appearance. He really was something to behold when he came out of the ocean.

Gen and Hrardorr moved off to one side, talking amongst themselves for a bit when a newcomer joined their group. In fact, it was several newcomers. Xander’s young knight had appeared over the dunes with some of his younger siblings in tow.

Seth knew Sir Leo and liked the lad. Leo had always shown great interest in learning all he could about how to help his dragon, which put him squarely in Seth’s good books.

“Sir Leo, we didn’t expect to find you here,” Seth greeted him with a friendly outstretched hand. Leo was one of the few knights who had always treated Seth with respect, even before Seth had led such an effective defense of the harbor.

Leo came forward with all the enthusiasm of his more youthful age. If he’d seen twenty summers yet, Seth would have been surprised, but he wasn’t rude enough to ask outright how old Leo was.

“Seth! Good to see you.” Leo let his youngest sister off his shoulders and set her down on the sand before reaching out to share a warrior-like handclasp with Seth, a broad smile on his face. He then seemed to catch sight of the other knight.

“Sir Gowan.” Leo’s demeanor changed slightly, from open friendliness to slight wariness.

Gowan held a position of authority over Leo and his dragon, since Gowan and Genlitha were leading his fighting wing and Gen was tutoring Xander in the use of his exceptionally strong wings.

Gowan stepped up and offered his hand to Leo, breaking a bit of the tension. “It’s my day off, Leo. I’m sorry we intruded on your family time. It was not our intent.” Gowan shifted his gaze to the curious children gathered behind their older brother. One girl was nearly as tall as Leo, the rest ranging in size—and age—on downward from there.

“My day with the sibs,” Leo explained. “And then dinner with the family. My brothers and sisters love Xander almost as much as I do.”

Seth was pleased by the young man’s candor about his feelings for the dragon who would share the rest of his life. Theirs was a very good match, indeed.

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