Roseweed had to stand on the chair to be eye level with everyone else.  If she sat down, she’d be eye level with the table.  It was becoming to be an annoyance.  Her young human body couldn’t do very much in the sense of height and authority.  It was a good thing that she still had her magic and also good that these humans, sitting at the table with her, respected her as the mother of the Golden Egg.  Being the dragon that had a part in the life of the Golden Egg was all she needed.  Roseweed looked around at the eager faces around her.  Waiting to hear why she summoned them here.  She cleared her throat.

“Anytime you’re ready, Rose.” Aspen said, laying her head against her hand, which was perched on the table.

Roseweed sighed and tried to smile.  “I have some… bad news to tell you.”

The anxious faces turned to worry and nervousness.  “What is it about?” Trinity asked, her hand snaking to her pendent to grasp it tightly.

Roseweed spoke slowly.  “Nemesis and Vamana have informed me through my drakolae contacts that whoever stole my egg, has found a way to get a dragon to protect their castle.  They’ve been flying some reconnaissance as well as “gathering” information from other dragons.”

Aspen and Lauroran groaned in disbelief.  Dion’s lower jaw only dropped for a moment.  Aspen lowered her head. It wasn’t hard to come up with the identity of the dragon. There weren’t many dragons that would ally with whoever it was who took the egg.  “It was Blackveil, wasn’t it?” Roseweed looked at her in astonishment.  “Nemesis told me.  Blackveil was her cousin’s friend at one point.  She’s the only Earth Dragon who can fly.”

“An Earth Dragon?” Trinity asked in surprise.  Earth dragons were earth bound drakolae and usually traveled in family groups, and couldn’t fly.  Their wings were too small and their bodies too bulky.  Though they were the largest of their species.

Aspen nodded.  “Legend has it that when Blackveil was young, an old sorcerer- a good one- was almost robbed and beaten by a large band of thugs, but she saved him.  In turn, he gave her larger and stronger wings so she could fly just as other dragons do.  And a lither body to boot.  She is the largest flying dragon to date.  No one really knows why she went evil.  Possibly got another spell by another sorcerer that she hated or something.  But that’s a rumor.” Aspen told everyone in a neutral voice.  “Some say getting wings upset the balance of things, so she was cursed with a black heart to keep her from getting more gifts that she shouldn’t have.”

There was a moment of deafening silence as the group thought about what Aspen said.  Roseweed cleared her throat.  “Yes… well… now that they have a dragon, the chances of going to get the egg so Trinity can be completely trained are becoming close to impossible.  They surely must know that the Child will be coming for the Egg soon.”

“What do you suggest?” Ranen asked.

Roseweed paused.  “Go now.  It will take about two weeks, give or take, walking to get to the castle.  Trinity knows how to do the important abilities, so I believe she’s more than ready.  She may even learn more on the way.”

“Are you sure this is the best solution? I mean… we barely know what we’re up against.” Ranen spoke up.

Trinity’s downcast eyes went up.  “I might know.”

Everyone looked over at her.  “Care to share your wisdom?” Aspen asked, almost rudely.

Trinity only stared at Roseweed.  “On one of our trips to one of the mountain towns for supplies, we came across someone we think is a dark Sorcerer.  Ranen said he thought the one guy we saw could have been one he’d heard of before.  And that he apparently has an apprentice of some sort.”

“And you think they took the egg?” Lauroran asked.

Trinity nodded.

Aspen looked up suddenly; she remembered what Alec had sad to her. “The other blueprints for the castle you were wanting were taken by some magic user with an apprentice.  That apprentice is probably grown by now.”

The young dragon pursed her lips.  “The fact remains.  Trinity needs to go on her Dra’maka’ran before she can be a true Dra’Sorrian.”

“Dra’makra’ran?”  Lauroran hadn’t heard that term before, not even from his sister.  He looked over at her, but Dion bearly raised an eyebrow.

“It’s what ‘Speaker’s call the journey they make to unite with their dragon half.”  Aspen supplied, patting the mages shoulder.  “It’s a personal journey, even if it leads to the Hatching Grounds.”

A nod from Roseweed confirmed that description.  “It’s really what separates draskena and Dra’Sorrian.”

Ranen reached under the table to take Trinity’s other hand.  Trinity looked at him.  Gold and silver lined her eyes.  “I trust Roseweed’s judgment as much as I trust yours.  What do you think we should do?”

Ranen sighed.  “It will be a tough journey.  I only have a draconete who used to be a dragon.  We’d have to walk.  The other dragons are strong, but they are not even fully grown.  They can’t even be ridden by their own riders yet.  Not counting numerous other obstacles; as well as our number would no doubt arouse suspicion.”

“I’m willing to go through the hard work to save my dragon.” Trinity told him.  “And stealth may get us there safer.  Whoever is behind this is sure to have scouts and spies all over Starza.”

“Then… I’m with Roseweed.  Even if it takes weeks, they will still be organizing themselves and figuring where to put their new dragon.” He said softly and a bit sourly.  “Or at least thinking they have much time on their side.”

Trinity looked over at the remaining three.  “How about you? What do you think we should do?”

Dion looked around the room.  “Well… If it were my dragon, I’d go without hesitation.  Roseweed is right.  We’re as ready as we’re going to be to help you get your dragon.  The longer we wait, the more difficult this will be.  Starza need you now.  With your dragon bonded with you.  I’m with you.”

Trinity nodded.  “I thought you would.” She turned to Lauroran.  “How about you?”

Lauroran hesitated before nodding.  “You can count on me.  If Roseweed is worried about the dragon, then our dragons can take care of her.  Young or not, they’ll outnumber her.”

Roseweed crossed her thin humanoid arms.  “So I guess that leaves just two to put in their vote.”  She said, though there was a slight sarcastic tone.  For her, there was only one option.

“Well, if Aspen agrees with your decision, then we go as soon as possible.” Trinity told her.

“Then we better get ready and get some rest so we can kick some evil butt!” Aspen said with an excited gleam appearing in her eyes.  “How bout we start tomorrow.  No time like the present.”

Trinity smiled and nodded.  It looked as though everyone else was in agreement now that the decision had been made to go.  With that, everyone started getting up and headed to their rooms.  Roseweed stopped Trinity before she left the room.  “Be careful, and trust the people who travel with you.”

Trinity nodded.  “I will.  Don’t worry.” She said.  When Roseweed let her go with a nod, Trinity went to her room.

She looked around for a moment once she entered her room.  She got the pack she’d made herself and filled it with everything she’d need for a long trek.  Then she went to her bed and picked up her special “promising” ring that she took off to do her afternoon training.

The pendent under Trinity’s shirt became suddenly warmer.  Trinity slipped it out and looked to see it glowing warmly.  “We’re coming, my dragon.  Soon, we’ll be together.” She whispered and slipped the pendant back under she shirt.

With all the strenuous combat training she learned and the daily exercise they’ve all taken within the whole mountain to tighten up muscles, she was much stronger and had more endurance then she would otherwise have; Trinity was confident that the trip wouldn’t be too difficult.  As she put the pack down next to her bed so she could have it at hand quickly tomorrow, Trinity looked around her room again, suddenly feeling nervous and anxious.  She was actually going to go save her dragon from the clutches of its abductors.  She was about to make a journey with new friends to places she’d only been told about.  Finally, she will have a dragon counterpart of her own.  The realizations were bewildering and thrilling.

Trinity sat cross-legged on her bed.  Like many times before, Trinity meditated on top of her bed to calm her anxiety and excitement for the upcoming events.  With a sigh, she closed her eyes and was immediately overwhelmed with colors swirling in her mind and heart.  With her inner self always open since first learning about the well where her magic lived, she didn’t have to look for her within every time she wanted to use her powers.  Now she could immediately go deep to find the peace inside her.

As she breathed and concentrated, the colors started to fade to white.  There she sat, and waited, first to float carelessly in the white void and let the peace and tranquility calm her nerves and then to see if anything would appear in the white abyss.

All she could see was white.

After a while strands of color once again crept into her abyss like a crack.  Trinity tried to compress it back so that the white was the only shade she could see, but she didn’t succeed.  Soon, she decided to quit and opened her eyes.

She went to bed with a sigh.  Trinity was hoping to see her beloved dragon again.  She’ll have to wait until it hatched.  She didn’t linger on it long for within the hour, she was fast asleep.

Everyone woke up before dawn to get ready and have one last breakfast in the dragon cave.  May not be able to eat a decent meal again for a while; when they couldn’t hunt or forage, they’d rely on rations.  At the back entrance, Roseweed told them to remember that they were a team and to trust and work together.  “And Trinity…” she finished.

She looked ‘up’ at Roseweed.  “Yes?”

“Obviously, you’re in charge, seeing that this is a mission to get… your dragon.” Roseweed told her.

Trinity hesitated, and then nodded.  It had taken a while for Roseweed to start referring to the Egg as Trinity’s dragon instead of her child in deference to Trinity’s role in the Prophesy.  Though Trinity tried telling Roseweed it wasn’t necessary, the cursed the dragon insisted.   “We’ll get her, I promise.” She said, and gave the human dragon a short hug.  She felt the cursed dragon mentally calm her fear and anxiety as they said goodbye.  She sighed and looked at the rest of her party.  “Well, we better get going.” They all waved to Roseweed and soon everyone started down the trail leading southeast. 

Ranen’s horse walked beside him, carrying a few heavier things and the very small tents that they were bringing in case they crossed sour weather.  Skyflyer was having a hoot as he flew around and over the group.  Snapping at a few insects, large and small, that got in his way.  The forest around them was alive with activity.  Birds sang and chattered in gossiping groups loudly, other birds flew in many directions above the group as small land animals walked across the path ahead of the group.   The sounds of the flying dragons wings in the distance and many other animals making their presence known added to all the activity.  It was as if the forest itself was all a chatter and gossiping about the six humans walking through it.

As the hours passed, and it grew closer to the time to stop to rest their sore muscles, things seemed to start calming down and grow almost silent until only the sounds of birds remained.  They soon found a road that would led them in the direction they wanted.  When the sun was close to the middle of the sky, the group stopped in a small clearing.  The clearing was just big enough for the dragons that had been periodically checking up on them, to land and sit with room to spare.

Trinity sighed.  She was watching the dragons as Ranen was helping massage her sore calf muscles.  “I have a feeling the dragons are being a bit… conspicuous.  I mean, four dragons of different kinds, flying around a certain area is very ...  well...  noticeable.  No matter that they’ve been flying ahead.  Maybe they can just go elsewhere until we need them.”

The four dragons looked at each other with unease.  They were guardians by right.  They protected their Dragon Speakers with almost a selfish possessiveness.

“Well… it sounds like a good idea.  But what if we’re in trouble and they’re too far away?” Lauroran spoke up timidly.

“There are the two lakes from here to Tazmenzy castle.  And there is a stretch of mountain land also close by.”  Ranen suggested.

“So?” Aspen asked.

“So… the two Air dragons can hang out within miles of us.  Your dragon can go to one of the lakes for a swim.  Or where ever they wish.  Even if we do get into trouble near here, they’d still be here in no time.  Same goes for when we’re near or at the castle.  Dragons can cover great distances and fly extremely fast when not encumbered by a rider.” He told Aspen and the others.  “They may even be able to find out about that dark dragon… Blackveil.”

What Ranen say’s is true… but we’d still worry.  Bluemoon commented.

“If you guys didn’t worry about us, there’d be something wrong with you.” Dion replied.

The dragons all looked at each other at the same time.  We’ll go…but as soon as you run into trouble, call us.  Nemesis said sternly, shifting onto her forearms for extra balance.

“Don’t worry, Nemesis.  You know full well that we will.  And that we can take care of ourselves.” Aspen said, going up to her dragon to rub her black snout.  “Now go.” She ordered, stepping back after grabbing her pack and a large bag from Nemesis’s back.

Nemesis hesitated before nodding her head.  With the grace of eagles, the other dragons and Nemesis lifted themselves back into the air.  They left together, needing each other temporary reassurance that their charges would be okay.  They vanished behind the trees; the sounds of their wings could still be heard, but soon that sound, too, vanished from the human’s senses.

Trinity sighed.  She kissed Ranen when he was done with her feet and put her shoes back on; a cue for everyone else to do the same.  “Well? Shall we continue?” she asked.

Aspen slipped on her pack and flung her bag over her head and shoulder.  “We shall.” She said.

The other’s also got up and gathered their own things.  “We should be able to get a few more miles behind us before night fall.” Ranen said, starting to walk down to the other side of the clearing, where the other side of the trail was.  “Not that speed is needed.  We should try to go at a steady, if not speedy, pace.  That way, if we do run into trouble, we’re not just going on adrenaline.”

“Sounds good to me!” Lauroran firmly stated as he skipped alongside the throng of young adults.

“Anything with minimum amount of work sounds good to you.” Aspen commented, slightly teasing.

A twittering laughter followed her comment.  Skyflyer chattered over Lauroran’s head before going over to Ranen.   Skyflyer “laughed” cheerfully on his ‘Speakers shoulders.  Leaving the disgruntled Lauroran to himself and going to the head of the line, Ranen grabbed Trinity’s hand.  “Nervous yet?” he whispered to her.  He would not admit that he was nervous himself.  He’d never really been on a mission that was as dangerous as the one he was on now.  He knew this was only the beginning of a much bigger adventure.

Trinity sighed and looked at him.  “A little.” Trinity smiled.  “Okay, maybe I’m really nervous.  I have never gone this far from home before.  You know that.  Everything seems so strange and different.”

Ranen put his arm around her waist.  “Don’t worry; I know this path as far as Gate Lake.  So does Aspen, though she has traveled more than I and probably knows the area past both lakes.  Beyond that we can just follow the roads before cutting into forest to find the castle.”  He continued and they both fell quiet, enjoying each other’s company enough not to need conversation, silently walked along the path towards certain adventure and dangerous encounters.

The next few days were wet and slippery.  When the rain started, it fell as a soft mist, but as the days continued, the wind got stronger and the rain came down harder.  After the initial down pour, it simply rained on and off, though the dark clouds were ever present.  Ranen had some aptitude with weather manipulation, but it had to be subtle, so there was nothing he could do about the late spring down pour.  Trinity tried drying the mud as they walked with her fire abilities a few times; sometimes Dion and Lauroran would try, but it would just turn back into mud from the constant moisture.  At the end of the whole ordeal, they decided to just live with the mud and be very careful.  Now, four days later, it still poured on and off.  The group became soaked to the bone and very cold and their speed had reduced to a slow trot. 

After many accounts of tripping over many muddy roots and very slimy mud, they came to a very small cave to rest for the night.  Ranen had to make fire the ‘old fashioned’ way as everyone else, including Trinity, that could create fire were all too soaked and too cold to light a spark.  He gathered small dry twigs that were in the cave and thanked Aspen for her waterproof matches.  Soon he got a small blaze going and every one huddled together and rubbing their chests and appendages to get warm.

Trinity shivered.  “I’m… very … cold.” Trinity said, her voice stuttering.  She rubbed her hands fiercely together.

“This cave should warm up quickly now there’s a fire.” Ranen said, taking her hands and warmed them with his.

She cleared her throat as her hands were slowly warmed by Ranen’s equally cold ones.  “I’ve been thinking …seeing as it is a reasonable solution to depend on each other’s warmth tonight…I think that we should all huddle together in the sleeping bags.  We link all of our sleeping bags and all sleep in the same blankets.  We’ll be a lot warmer and it will keep hypothermia away.”

Dion was the first to nod.  “That sounds like an idea.  Don’t want any fingers or toes falling off before we even come up against sorceries and all that.” She stuttered.

After some minutes of trying to get warm enough to start moving again, Trinity stared at the fire, her body becoming warm enough for her skin to find comfort in its heat.  “Ok, I’m just warm enough to do something more about our fire, so back away from the fire for a moment please.” Trinity told them.  They moved back just as Trinity concentrated on the fire for a moment and soon the fire became bigger and warmer.  Everyone made a sigh of relief as the heat hit their bodies like a wave.

When they all got feeling back in their bodies, they started to link their sleeping bags.  As they did, lightning crackled through the night sky outside the cave, leaving behind the smell of static.  Thunder roared loudly from above them and causing the ground to shake below.  The sound of the rain grew faster and harder.  Ranen’s horse, which stood near the entrance, neighed as it saw lightning streak across the sky.  It didn’t run away, just huddled closer to the cave interior and later even knelt on its belly, blocking some of the chill of the storm outside.  The group quickly huddled into the linked sleeping bags.  Before he got too comfortable, Lauroran sat up and rummaged through his bag.  He brought out a small pouch filled with dark, finely grained powder and took a small amount.  “Feri, kepe su wram!” he said before throwing the dust into the fire.  There was a loud pop before the fire went slightly higher.  Lauroran dusted his hands off and snuggled back down under the covers.  “There, now we’ll be warm all night for sure.”

Everyone just smiled and snuggled closer together.

As they drifted off to sleep, the fire went down to coals but did not lose its heat.  The storm outside was ignored, no matter how much it thundered or poured.  Exhaustion tuned it all out and the group slept soundly together.