The Dragon Healer of Tone (World of Tone) (3 page)

As the moon risings passed, Terra’s healing powers grew, and his parents tried to teach him not to show his magic when others were around. Terra was now walking with assistance from various buckets, chairs, toys and any other thing he could reach. He loved to investigate everything, and his mother had to watch him closely to make sure he didn’t hurt himself.

One sun-rising while Adam was in the far field, his neighbor Johhan came riding up. Johhan was a towering man with a long red beard and hair. He had a huge barrel-like body with powerful round short legs.

When he approached, you couldn’t help but notice him.

“Adam, how have you been, and how’s that new son of yours?”

“Oh, we’re fine.”

“How are you doing?”

“Well, very well, except one of my animals was killed two sun-risings ago by a slese cat. I thought you should know. It was a tri-color with red and yellow fur and a black stripe down its back.”

“Who saw it?”

“One of my sons; it happened right in front of him. I thought I’d better warn you so you could keep your family safe.”

“Thanks; I remember one killed old Tarac a few seasons back.”

“Yes, the body was a terrible sight, all cut to pieces.”

“Well, I’d better go warn Reicka and get my bow. I’ll see you later, thanks again.” Johhan rode off to tell the next neighbor, and Adam headed back to the house. Suddenly, he heard a scream from the house, and he began to run.

When Adam was in sight of the house, he saw Terra petting a slese cat. He was holding himself up with one hand on the well and the other was petting the cat as if it were a farm animal. Reicka stood near them looking terrified. Then Terra lost his grip on the well’s side and started to fall. The slese cat curled its tail around his small body and held him up. When Adam reached his wife, he could hear the slese cat purring to Terra and gently rubbing its head against his arm.

Adam, out of breath, could not believe what he was seeing.

“By the moon, what is happening?”

Reicka still terrified by the sight said, “I, I was in the house with Terra. He was playing in the corner with his drum. I went into the bedroom. I came out. The front door was open, and Terra was gone. I went to the door and saw the snarling slese cat jump at Terra, but it came to the ground just short of him. It stopped for a moment and then started to purr like a kitten. It then moved toward him, just brushed its fur against his little body, and then curled up beside him.”

Adam walked toward the two and slowly bent down to grab Terra.

The slese cat lifted its head and licked Adam’s hand.

“He’s completely tame! Come over, Reicka.”

“I’m afraid.”

“Don’t be; come here.” Reicka approached, and Adam carefully took her hand and moved it toward the cat. The cat again reached up and licked her hand. Reicka then reached for Terra and picked him up.

She held him tight and started to cry softly. The slese cat curled around her legs and started to purr.

That sunset Reicka had invited her mother to dinner so they could discuss the sun-rising’s events with her. As they sat by the fireplace watching Terra sleeping on a fur with the slese cat curled around him, the conversation centered on Terra’s magic. After explaining the sun-rising’s episode to Sadi, Reicka said, “Adam, he has much greater magic than I do. I have never heard of anyone who could tame a slese cat, let alone by simply looking at it.”

“I agree,” Sadi said.

“I know, I know, he has much greater power than I thought, but I’m not sure what to do. If the people around here find out, who knows what would happen.”

Sadi spoke up, “May I make a suggestion.”

“Yes, of course mother, that’s why we invited you.”

“I believe you should take Terra to the old one in the Mur valley caves. She is supposed to know more than anyone about magic and the old stories. She might be able to help.”

With concern in his face Adam said, “That’s a long dangerous journey. Are you sure that’s what we should do?”

“I know of no other who could explain his magic.”

“Reicka, what do you think?”

“I think we should go, Adam. We need to know how to train him and what to do when people find out. You know they will. Terra will one sun-rising help someone and the knowledge of his magic will spread like wildfire.”

“I guess you’re right, my dear.”

“When should we leave?” Reicka asked.

“After the harvest, we can’t afford to lose the crop I just planted.”

So, it was decided that after the crops were harvested Reicka, Adam, and Terra would go to see the old one.

Chapter 4 - The Birth of a Dragon

(The New Beginning.)

335 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

Dawra was a young green dragon of power, grace, and beauty. Her body was ten man lengths long, and her powerful tail was of equal length. She possessed wings of a yellow green translucent membrane stretched between a strong but light, bony frame. One fully extended wing was the length of her body and tail combined. Her wings folded neatly onto her graceful back. Her powerful back legs were three man lengths long. She used them for hunting, and they also served to launch her great body into the air. Her front legs, or perhaps arms would be a better description, were half as long as her back legs but no less powerful, with four strong taloned fingers on each. Dawra’s face was a light green with a single series of yellow green armored plates running from her forehead to the tip of her tail. The plates rose slowly into ridges from her head until they reached their peak above her shoulders. Then they slowly flattened out as they reached the tip of her tail where they flowed into a heart shape. With a single whip of her tail, she could cut a half a man length thick tree down. She had four nostrils; the inner two were for small fire streams; the outer two for breathing.

Her mouth held a row of sharp bright teeth from which a flame of tremendous proportions could be generated. In a single blast, she could engulf a farmer’s entire house in searing flames. Her eyes were bright red jewels of unimaginable beauty. Her skin was a series of dark green semi-translucent fireproof scales which she kept shiny and clean with frequent ocean swims.

Dawra was preparing her nest. She would soon be laying her egg and wanted everything just right. The father was the great blue dragon Hectise, but in the custom of the dragons, he would have no active part in taking care of the egg or raising the dragonette. The dragons’ mating was similar to other animals. Dragons could mate as many times as they wished, but it was usually done only when a female was ready to produce an egg. She would screech a high-pitched scream when suitors were needed to start the courtship.

The males vied for the females by aerial acrobatics and provided fresh killed animals for the females’ enjoyment. The females eventually picked a single male from the admiring group. After the selection, the dragons flew to one of the many high cliffs and landed.

They would then take off together gaining as much height as possible.

There they would couple; plunging down until they almost struck the ground. Just before plunging into the ground and dying, they split apart and flew from each other in a beautiful arching motion.

Dawra had mated only twice, but her first egg was destroyed in an accident. Once a dragonette was born, a female dragon would not mate again until she was ready to take care of another small one. This usually was sixteen set of seasons since it typically took a young dragon that long to mature. The dragons lived three to four hundred sets of seasons before they stopped mating.

Dawra lived in a cave that she thought was perfect. The cave was high on a coastal cliff and faced an opposing cliff that created a V-shaped crevice. This protected the opening from high winds and storms. A small stream with fresh, cool, and drinkable water flowed through the cave from a small hole in the back. It rounded the edge of one wall and flowed out the corner of the cave opening where it dropped into the sea.

The nest was a pile of sand surrounded by rocks, which Dawra had carefully arranged on the floor. She had learned with the loss of her first egg not to place one on the many terraces in the cave. Her first egg had started to rock and move when it was close to hatching, and it rolled off a terrace and was destroyed by the fall. She heated the rocks with her flames every two to three hours. The egg lay in the center of the pile on the soft sand surrounded by the heated rocks, keeping it warm and safe.

That sunset Dawra felt it time to lay her egg. Dawra had no pain during the birth, and by morning, the new mother was lovingly caring for a beautiful blue-green egg, half the size of a full-grown man.

Over the next two full moon cycles, Dawra carefully took care of her egg. She constantly tended it by rolling it gently in the sand until it started to move. At first just a little then more and more violently until it cracked. After a few moments of struggle, a blue-green female dragon emerged. Her eyes were bright orange, the color of the sun at dusk. Dawra was so pleased she hopped from foot to foot and screeched with pleasure. She had her first child; the first blue-green dragon in generations. It made her special to her mother and the Dragon world.

Dawra had already picked her name for the shape of the egg foretold the sex of the dragonette. Dawra chose her mother’s name, Fienna. Her mother had died in a terrible storm just a few full moon risings before.

She was trying to fly into her cave during the heavy rains of a storm, and a powerful gust of wind had blown her into the rocks to the left side of the entrance. She fell fifty dragon lengths to her death on the rocks below. Dawra was very sad, for dragons knew love and sorrow.

Chapter 5 - The Tragic Accident

(The Pain of a Child is the Pain of the Parent.)

336 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

Fienna, the young dragonette, grew slowly. She was intelligent and constantly explored her cave. Her mother was always bringing things home that her daughter could examine. In one case, it was an odd looking thing that the humans used. It contained turning wheels and other odd things. Neither of them understood what it was for, but Fienna delighted in taking it apart and playing with its innards. They rolled and spun to her amusement; one even bounced up when she pressed it down and let it go.

One sun-rising while playing with her hop-up toy it popped onto one of the high terraces in the cave. Her mother was out hunting and had told her never to go onto the terraces. Fienna wanted her toy back, and as many children, she ignored or forgot her mother’s orders. She slowly climbed and hopped from one terrace to the next until she reached her toy. It was on the edge, and as she reached with her mouth to pick it up, some loose rocks under her feet moved. She felt herself falling over the edge and instinctively started flapping her underdeveloped wings.

Although she was able to slow her fall, she hit one of the lower terraces hard. Fienna rolled from that terrace and onto the next one hitting her left wing. The pain shot through her like a bolt of lightning. She started to screech so loud that a passing male dragon named Lowlack heard her.

Lowlack was a three hundred set of seasons old bronze-colored dragon in his declining time. He still had one hundred set of seasons or so of life left, but the younger dragons always won the mating rituals, and he was losing his strength slowly as the seasons passed. Even his fire was not what it once was. When he heard the screeching, he landed at the mouth of Dawra’s cave. This was risky since mother dragons were known to kill intruders, even males larger than themselves. He carefully peeked into the cave and saw Fienna on a terrace screeching and holding her left wing close to her body. Lowlack cautiously looked around to see if the mother was present and then stepped inside. He moved toward Fienna and nuzzled his nose against her small body.

“Are you all right?”

“My wing, it hurts. It hurts.”

“Did you fall?”

“Yes, from up there,” Fienna pointed her head to the terrace three levels above.

“Where is your mother?”

“She left a little while ago.”

“What is your mother’s name?”

“Dawra!”

“You stay right there and do not move. I know your mother, and I will find her and bring her right back. OK?”

“Please find mama; it hurts so bad.”

“I will. I’ll be right back.” Lowlack flew off to find Dawra.

Lowlack was flying over the coastal cliffs when he spotted Dawra with a small running beast in her talons. He flew down and signaled her to land. She did, and he landed next to her.

“What is it, Lowlack? I must get back to my daughter.”

“I was passing your cave when I heard your daughter screeching.

She has fallen and hurt her wing.” Dawra dropped the freshly killed beast and flew straight to her cave with all the strength and speed she possessed.

When she landed, she heard Fienna whimpering in pain. As she approached, she could see the wing was badly cut and possibly broken.

Dawra immediately went to her daughter and placed her wing over her.