Dragon Fey by Mara DragonClaw (top 10 books to read txt) 📕

“Ha! Jack was right, you’ll make a great Coulve Mater. My name’s Jynx,” he stuck out his hand for Aria to shake.

“What do you think I am, an idiot? I am not shaking your hand,” that’s when the rest of what Jynx said registered, “Wait, Jack was right? What do you mean? Jack knew about this!? Urrg!” Aira kicked a small shrub that was growing out of the side of a pillar, “I am so going to kill him! I don’t even care if his wings are gone when I get back! Heck, I hope they're gone!”

Aria was fuming. She had trusted Jack, even if it was only a little, and had been willing to help him with the wing rot. The next thing she know’s, she’s finding out that he was involved in getting her kidnapped by a crazy guy without irises.

“Yes, my brother knew about this. In fact he arranged it. He knew you’d never come willingly, so he asked me for a favore. I can’t say I liked doing it, but we do need a new Mater, and you seem perfect. It can only help that you're Anim Tamier.”  

“Ooo, I am so going to- Did you say, ‘brother’?”

“Yes.”

“Jack’s your… brother?”

“Yes.”

“You two look absolutely nothing alike.”
“Why do people always say that?”

“Because it’s true.”

“No it isn’t. We’re twins.”

“Uh, it is most definitely true. If you two are twins, you must be fraternal, and that doesn't mean you look alike.”

“No, we are identical twins, and we do look alike.”

“Why do you keep saying you look alike? Nothing about you is the same! You two can not be identical twins. Identical twins come from one bulb that splits apart, they look identical. You two could never have been the same fey.”

“It doesn't work like that for dragon fey.”

“It works like that for everyone.”

“You’ll see. You’ll have to.”

“No, I won’t see. And no, I don’t  have to. I’m going home,” Aria tried to fly up to the top of the pillar, but Jynx grabbed her foot.

“You can’t go back to that place. They want to kill you. Why would you even want to go back to a place like that?” Jynx sounded both sad and mystified.

Aria’s reply just sounded sad, “Because,” she said.

“Because isn’t much of an answer.”

“Only because you aren’t sure of the question.”

Jynx smiled, “Jack taught you that one, didn’t he?”

“Yep. And even after saying it it doesn’t make much sense.”

“I still can’t let you go,” Jynx’s grip grew tighter around her ankle, “Please, just come and hear us out. Whatever you want to do up there, you will need our help down here.”

Aria considered this, “Fine, deal. But you can’t drag me there. If I’m going to go I might as well be the slightest bit dignified,” Jynx nodded and let Aria’s ankle go and she flew back down so that the two of them were mostly at eye level.

“Good. You are almost a Mater already. The only thing that holds you back now is simple ceremony,” Jynx grinned; he was teasing her.

“Sop it! Just because I’m willing to go the you're Hollow thingy does not mean that I’m going to agree to become it’s Mater, whatever that is.”

“Alright, fair enough. We should get going. We don’t want to keep the high council waiting, do we?”

“High council?”

Jynx laughed and put a guiding arm around Aria’s shoulders, “You’ll see, you’ll see.”

Aria and Jynx flew down into the Hollow, or as Aria was told it was called, a Coulve, “So that’s what Jack was talking about when he said Coulve!”

“He actually mentioned the Coulve to you? Wow, I didn’t realise my brother ever went into any detail about anything at all. That’s why he isn’t a teacher.”

Aria laughed, “I can so see him as the worst teacher in the world.”

“Really? You only met him a few hours ago, and you can already see him as things? He must have made quite an impression.”

“Well duh. He was the first fairy other than myself that I had ever seen with dragon wings. And it’s pretty hard to forget someone who was being that much of a… well, Jack.”

Jynx laughed even harder than Aria had, “Nice how that worked out, isn’t it?”

“Ya.”

There was an awkward silence while Aria tried to figure out what to say next. She finally settled on, “How is it light down here? One, we are in a cave, and two, it’s night right now.”

“The Luminary help heat and light out cavern. You will learn about them and all the other classes when you become Mater.”

“You mean, if I become Mater.”

“Right, if you become Mater.”

When the two of them entered the Coulve, Aria heard lot’s of doors and windows slam. The streets were empty. Occasionally, Aria would look up at some of the windows and see the face of a child that would disappear quickly when it realised it had been spotted, “What is up with everyone? I know it isn’t my wings freaking everyone out, because they all have these wings too.”

“The Coulve doesn't get strangers. Ever. No one outside of the Coulve except for dignitaries from other Coulves ever come here. We are well hidden, it is the key to our survival. They are only nervous around you now, and some of the children are curious,” Jynx looked up at the window of the nearest house and smiled with amusement as something flashed behind the curtains, “Don’t worry, it won’t last long.”

The Coulve itself wasn’t all that different from Aria's old Hollow, just underground. It seemed to be based in a great tree made marvelously of silver, each gleaming branch a perfect imitation of a real one, “How is it possible?” Aria asked in wonder.

“The Matel Werk, the metal workers, created it for the whole Coulve. We used to live in trees as the fairies do, but when our race was forced underground the Matel Werk created these trees for us using whatever metal they could find in the area they were in. We are lucky to have found such a large deposit of pure silver. Lots of Coulves have trees made of many different metals mixed together, nowhere near as pretty. Of course, while silver is pretty, the dragon fey who find iron are the safest.”

“Why?”

“You don’t know?”

“Aume I know nothing about dragon fey. At all.”

“This isn’t a fact about dragon fey.”

“Just tell me!”

“Alright! Alright! Iron burns regular fairies, most kinds of fey actually, but it doesn't effect dragon fey at all. So if a Coulve is made of iron, then regular fairies can’t mess with it without getting hurt.”
“Uh, that was partly about dragon fey.”

“Whatever,” Aria guessed Jynx just didn’t like to be proved wrong.

“Is that why your knife is made of iron?”

“Hu?” Jynx seemed confused, “Ya, but… How could you tell it was made of iron?”

“I don’t know, it just… felt like iron. You did kind of have it pressed against my neck.”

“Ya, sorry about that. But, only Matel Werk can tell apart different kinds of metal by touching them…”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

The Coulve seemed to be set up in a similar fashion too. At the center of the silver tree’s crown lay a large public building that Jynx labeled for Aria as the town hall. It was made of a similar material as the tree, but darker and less shiny. Curious, Aria walked over brushed her hand against it, “Iron!”

“How did you do that?” Aria looked at Jynx, confused,  “Never mind. Yes, it is iron. that’s one of the Coulve standards. Each and every Coulve has a town hall that can fit everyone of it’s inhabitants, and every town hall is made of iron. It’s a security thing. If the Coulve was ever attacked by the fairies, then everyone would hide in the town hall where the regular fairies can’t get inside.”

“You know, a lot of what you're saying is about how the Coulve defends itself from the normal fairies, but Jack seemed so baffled by the idea that I was ever treated as anything less than royalty. Why is it that?”

“I must say, some would consider Jack rather old fashioned. It used to be that way. We were regarded everywhere as saviors to the fey, and were treated with the utmost honor. Dragon fey are actually the elder of the two races you know. We came before the fairies, but they think that we are some weird mutation because we had chosen to remain hidden to them for too long, and they thought themselves the originals.

“For a while we achieved peace, but all it took was for one dragon fey to do something that went against the beliefs of the fairies for it all to go to heck. There was a war. Neither side one, though the fairies and even some of the more prideful dragon fey say that their side won. We decided to retreat and come back at a day and age that was ready to accept the truth. That time is not upon us quite yet.

“ I have no idea why he would think that you would be treated any different than any other dragon fey. I actually have no idea why everyone else thought you'd be treated any differently…” He stopped himself from saying any more.

The town hall acted as a kind of dividing line. On one side, the one that Aria and Jynx were walking into, was made up of other public buildings along with what Jynx told Aria were the houses of public officials. The side that the two were coming from was the portion of the Coulve that acted as the housing district. As they walked farther into the area with all the public buildings Aria became unsettled at the emptiness, “Where is everyone? They can’t just be hiding. All the shops are completely closed, and the windows and things are open. No curtains drawn, like they were closed before I came. Why?”

“It’s a kind of holiday here. Well, a celebration anyway. Almost everyone has the day off.”

“Huh.”

The two walked down three more streets, flying a little to reach a couple of higher platforms before Jynx stopped in front of an immense building at the very edge of the Coulve, “We are here. I must tell you to be very respectful to the people beyond these doors; they may hold your entire future in their hands,” he then walked up a flight of sweeping steps to the large, ornamental, silver doors and pushed them open in one fluid movement. Aria walked up the steps in wonder of the building before her, only half registering what Jynx said. Jynx politely held the doors open for her as she walked through, brushing her hand against the elegant engravings on them.

After she had passed through the doors, Jynx followed behind her and closed them, “Come,” he said and gestured for her to follow him down a long, wide hallway lined with many portraits done in bright colors. Braziers lined the hall at intervals, the flames in them glowing purple and