To the Eldest! by Jordan Pierce (best classic romance novels .txt) 📕

to contact the ambassador for your army. He believes that having a peaceful meeting will convince the army to stop this senseless war. I am slightly skeptical though. If humans are anything like dragons, the bull-headed ones won’t change that easily.”

 

“It’s worth a shot, Kalli.” Randy said as he walked up with the bound Hounds. “If we get several dragons and meet peacefully, the ambassador will see that your kind are more than what we thought.”

 

“I agree,” said the one named Cameron. “I always carry a pen and some paper. If we write the letter, I can have Butch take it to John.”

 

“Okay, now we have everything we need to get a message to them, but we need a meeting time and place. Kalli, do you know of anywhere good to meet?” James asked me after he got the materials to create his message.

 

“There is a large island to the west of here. It should be sufficient for a meeting. Would I be wrong in assuming that all four of you plus Blake will attend this meeting?”

 

“We’ll all come, but we would need a way there. Humans don’t walk very fast.” Randy explained.

 

Four dragons flew overhead then circled around and descended toward me and the humans. I recognized Cobolt, Blake, Avary, and Jinx—but I’d never seen the fourth one. He was dull silver with emerald eyes. He was young, but had the body of a seasoned warrior. As he landed, his scales caught the sunlight and nearly blinded me.

 

As soon as Cobolt landed, Blake jumped down and ran to one of the Hounds. That Hound seemed delighted to see the human. It had to be Blake’s partner.

 

“Jethro’s been missing you, Blake.” Randy said after the Hound and human separated. “He’s been moping around ever since you two left. You should’ve seen him when Teri told him we were going to find you: he started acting like he was a puppy.”

 

“I’m sorry, boy.” Blake said to his Hound. “I won’t do that again.”

 

I walked away from the humans and padded to the dragons that landed behind me. I stood in front of the four and was about to speak when I felt a stinging pain from my tail. I whipped my head to see what attacked me, but the only thing that met my eyes were light blue scales spreading across my tail. The color crept up my tail and covered my hind legs. Then it continued up my back and to my neck. I watched it climb up my neck until I couldn’t see it any more. I could still feel the stings as my scales changed color, but I was more focused on the looks I was receiving from Cobolt and the silver dragon. They looked at me like I was a ghost.

 

Next, everything around me turned white and I felt light. I continued to grow lighter until my feet lifted from the ground. I stayed in the air and my bones all broke at once. I roared in pain as my shattered bones moved and shifted under my skin and scales. My wings, back, legs, neck, and face all stretched as the bones mended themselves. I felt my feet touch the ground just before my legs buckled.

 

My friends rushed to my side, but the humans were there first. James was at my snout doing his best to lift my head. Teri, Randy, Blake, and Cameron were by me too. It struck me as ironic that the very humans that raided my home and killed everyone are here, trying to help me.

 

Cobolt and Jinx gently moved the humans away and picked me up. When they got me back on my feet, I noticed that I now stood taller than Cobolt and the others—and I wasn’t even standing as tall as I could. I straightened my legs and picked my head up higher. I towered over the others by at least ten lengths. I extended my wings to check for any injury from the sudden growth, but didn’t notice any. One thing I did notice, though, was that—even though they grew with me— my wings seemed thicker than normal. They also felt like they were still folded. I flexed the muscles at the base of my wings and tried to extend them more. They did extend more—they doubled in size now, but were thin. Cobolt’s jaw dropped when he stretched out his wings in comparison to mine. My wings were more than thrice the width of his now.

 

Before anyone could say a word, Avary launched onto my head and squealed excitedly, “Kalli! You’re a Queen now! You’ve gotten your color!”

 

I shook her off and said: “I’m no Queen, Avary. I’m no older than Jinx. Plus the three of us are all that’s left of our home.”

 

“Avary is right, Kalli,” Cobolt cut in. “Your birthright is to be Queen regardless of circumstance. If your mother were still alive, now you would have the right to challenge her for the throne. Age doesn’t determine when you become Queen. Neither does the number of subjects. I saw it when you and Lyna fought. You are a Queen, no doubt about it. You fought and beat a Queen with much more size and experience than you. No ordinary dragon could do that. Not even I can hold my own against Lyna.”

 

“And that black dragon just now,” James chimed in. “He was a guard, wasn’t he? Kalli owned him when they fought. She even electrocuted him when he would’ve really hurt her. I’ve never seen anything like that fight before.”

 

“What do you mean, tiny human?” The silver dragon asked.

 

“The black dragon attacked us,” Teri explained.

 

“I understand that. What do you mean my ‘electrocute’?”

 

“It’s like being hit with lightning. Kalli made lightning in her body and used it to stop the black dragon.”

 

“No dragon can make lightning, James.” I said.

 

“You can, and you did. That’s why the dragon convulsed the way he did. Humans use lightning all the time to stop others. You didn’t make enough to really harm him, but you made enough to stun him and scare him.”

 

Cobolt stepped forward and lowered himself as much as he could. “Whatever the case, we need to get you humans to safety. James and Kalli ride together, Blake is with me, the small female can ride with Avary, and you two males take your pick between Jinx, the gray male, or Aisher, the silver one. Introductions can wait until we’re in the sky.”

 

“What about our Hounds?” the humans asked in unison.

 

“They will likely be killed,” Cobolt explained, “if they come within the range of many dragons’ flames. It’s safer to let them return to the other Hounds.”

 

“Then let’s send the message with the Hounds. Can I have some paper, Cameron?”

 

The humans called Cameron handed a white, square leaf and black stick to James. James ran the end of the stick in a pattern and then folded the leaf. He returned the stick to Cameron after. Then Randy took the leaf and tucked it under a flat silver vine looped around Cameron’s Hound’s neck.

 

Cameron gave a command to the beast and it took off toward the human army. Soon, the other Hounds were following. When they were out of sight, the humans each climbed onto the back of a dragon. I had James; Cobolt had Blake; Avary with Teri; Jinx and Randy; the silver dragon—Aisher—and Cameron.

 

The others took to the sky, but I couldn’t lift off. These new wings were too thin to lift me! I pumped my wings as hard as I could, but no amount of force or speed took me off the ground. I was about to give up and start walking when an idea came to mind. Maybe if I tried using my wings while they were half-way folded. I folded my wings and pushed downward. I somehow soared into the air by using only half of my wingspan. James hugged my neck as tightly as he could when I lifted from the ground. He must be uneasy since the vines he had on me snapped when I grew. I flew fast enough to catch up with the others then slowed to match their pace.   Now I felt as though I should unfold my wings fully and see what happened.

 

When I unfurled my wings, the added width instantly smoothed my flight. I felt James relax as he realized that we wouldn’t plummet to the ground. With my new wings, I could glide and not use any energy at all to stay in flight. Yet, I could only take off when I had my wings half folded.

CHapter 10: Brynioth the Eternal

 “This is Aisher. He is one of the few dragons I would trust with my life. Crusher would have accompanied us, but he was too busy with planning. In his place, I brought Aisher.”

 

  “I’d heard about the humans armies, but I never thought they would attack us. I was a part of a group that was going to greet the humans and help them settle. Once we heard of the attack on Skarre, we all got scared and decided to stay away from the humans. Now we see that not all humans are evil. These five have seen the truth about us—we are not beasts to be slaughtered.”

 

   “We heard James talking about the raid in the mountain,” Cameron said from Aisher’s back. “James saw a dragon get mortally wounded by Kilo. The dragon let James approach it, then the dragon spoke. I was skeptical at first, but now I know better.”

 

“Blake saw something similar.” Teri called from the middle of the group. “A dragon was about to fall and crush him, but a gold dragon grabbed Blake and saved him. It told him to be careful and watch the skies.”

 

Hearing Teri mention the only gold dragon that lived in Skarre made me unbalance myself and turn to look and speak to her. “The only golden dragon to live in that mountain was my mother. She was the leader of all of the dragons there. Also, that gold dragon happened to be one of the best warriors that ever lived.”

“Seriously, Kalli?” Blake asked me. “That was your mother? She was so strong that it took almost every Hound to take her down. She almost killed Jethro even when she was the last one standing.”

 

“Then you came back in the mountain after you must have sensed her fall.” James continued. “Everyone saw you when you nuzzled her and burned her body.”

 

“Queens are normally buried when they die. I had no choice then, however. To keep those HellHounds from mangling my mother, I gave her a funeral that common dragons receive.”

 

“Had the Hounds sensed your return, they would have killed you too. You took everyone by surprise. You even helped us see the truth,” Cameron replied.

 

“What’s done is done. It’ll be best if we all forget what happened there,” was all I said in return.

 

I drifted into my thoughts and blocked out the other dragons quickly falling behind me. I could feel air currents pushing me faster and faster. I fell into a fantasy where I was the Queen of Skarre and humans had never come to kill dragons. In my fantasy, I was flying. I was trying new acrobatics and