Page 11 of Drakhana's Secret
I escort the cows to one pen. The horses to another. The chickens I return to their coop. Despite the hole in the roof, it will still do.
Then I move to the garden and start picking all the vegetables that are ripe enough for consumption. We can make a stew that will feed everyone. I don’t want us wasting what little we have because I don’t know how long we’ll need to ration our food supply until we get back on our feet.
I’ll probably need to send a communication to the city, informing the earth dragons there that we have been attacked and that we need them back home. I’m recalling everyone. We need all the help that I can get.
There isn’t even enough time to grieve. We have to get our lives back together before we can even begin to figure out why we were placed in this situation. I should have listened to my gut. Had I told someone of what’s been troubling me then maybe this could have been prevented.
I bring the back of my arm to my forehead and wipe away the sweat that’s gathered there. I haven’t even seen my house yet. That can wait until later. But knowing the state of the village, it might be gone as well.
When I take a breather from my gathering of vegetables, I look up and see figures flying on the horizon. At first, I think that it’s our dragon warriors returning from their sweep. They shouldn’t take too long since they’ve left us unprotected.
Then the sun shines and reveals the white and blue scales that are indicative of the ice dragons. They are flying toward us in attack formation. I drop the basket of vegetables and make a run for it.
Eight
Gallant
We can always count on the effectiveness of our salves and tonics. They are almost miracle cures for dragons. Baba and those like her know what they are doing when making them. As if each pot is imbued with magical powers.
The supplies they use on the wounded work so well that a majority of them are ready to fly back to Purple Mountain. Those who still need more time to recover, they leave behind on the promise that they will follow as soon as they can. I’m not worried since I know that by the next day, they will be able to make their way back home.
We call to our dragons and take flight. I have much to answer for to the elders. The fire clan attacked because I kicked them out of San Francisco. It’s the kind of retaliation they would resort to.
If I had followed the results of the vote and stayed out of the fighting, would the outcome be different? I’m not sure. Either way, the fighting was bound to happen. War is like a virus. It has the tendency to infect everything in its path.
We are over the great expanse of forest that surrounds Purple Mountain when Branson spots a group of dragons on the horizon. At first, they are too far for us to make out if they are friend or foe. Then a cloud releases the sun from its shade and shines on the approaching dragons.
The shining scales are various shades of white and blue. Ice clan dragons. They are heading our way.
Ambush!I send the psychic yell to all the dragons with me.
The last thing we need right now is another attack. We begin evasive maneuvers, but we’re a little too late. The ice dragons are upon us.
Battle begins, both in the air and on land. Some of the more injured earth dragons elected to fight on solid ground than in the sky. I can’t blade them.
A bright blue dragon comes at me, claws first. I’m barely able to defend myself. I last out with the barbs on my tail against his side.
The ice dragon sinks his teeth into my shoulder. I roar. I claw at his belly as best as I can, but the pain is blindingly intense.
It’s bad enough to be bitten, it’s made worse by the fact that the dragon blasts my shoulder with ice. I feel my scales there freeze. I plummet from the sky.
I do my best to flap my wings, but with a frozen shoulder, I cannot maintain altitude. I turn my head toward the shoulder on ice and do my best to bite away chunks. I need to melt the tendon so that I can move.
Just when I think I’m about to plunge to my death—or surely become badly injured—Branson swoops in and grabs me with his claws. He flaps his wings hard until we’re hovering a few feet above the canopy. He’s forced to release me because another ice dragon slams into him. I fall to the ground in a thud.
I roll to my side and order all my brethren to shed their dragons. We can’t win this fight. The powers of the ice dragons are also insane. We have nothing to go up against them just as we were no match for the fire dragons. I know when we are beat.
Immediately, those in the sky land and shed their dragons just as I do. The forest is thick enough that we can hide from the ice dragons. We know this terrain more than they do. We scatter, knowing that our goal is to make our way home.
The ice dragons hover above the canopy for a few long minutes before they fly off. That’s only when I allow myself to breathe. A hand goes to my shoulder and a yell is a surprise, my fists already up and ready to punch.
I turn around to find Branson standing there with a couple of our brethren. They all wait for me in anticipation. I lower my fists and pull Branson into a hug.
“Thank you for what you did back there,” I say. “I would have died.”
He slaps my shoulders, forgetting my injury. “Not today.”
I wince and he looks at me apologetically. “I fear that I got us into this mess.”
