I am Dragon (Dragon Fires Rising Book 2) by Marc Secchia (famous ebook reader TXT) 📕

of his light gleaming against the backdrop of stars, for when they were yet a mile off, the first mighty white body breached the surface in a breathtaking leap, wings outspread to shimmer delicately above the waves. ≈Welcome!≈

Barely had he remembered to breathe again, when another pair leaped free, as if they were low-skimming seabirds. ≈Welcome, our kin!≈

≈Brother!≈

≈Friend!≈

≈Kinsdragon of the air!≈

≈Be welcome, o kin of the wave!≈

Suddenly, as one, the entire pod surged free of the water, spreading their mighty wings to float for long seconds above the surface before they slipped smoothly beneath the waters once more. Dragon’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. Thousands! They must cover a surface area of tens of square miles. Or was that just because of the thrilling play of lights spangling off the ocean?

As their comparatively miniscule Dragonwing of two plus one drew overhead, the Sea Dragons breached a second time. Celebratory white fire gushed from their throats, rumbling across the waves like thunder. Instinctively, he responded with a massive salute of his own:

III – AAMM – DRRAAGOONN!!

Thunderclap!

As they submerged, the white fires continued to bloom beneath the waters. He became dimly aware of unfamiliar chemical or magical processes firing off due to their power, and then a single female soared from their midst. She had to be all of seventy or eighty feet long, muzzle to tail, and wider still through her wingspan. Her colour was the lustrous white of pure pearl.

≈My wave is Sirensong!≈

≈SIRENSONG!!≈ His very hearts poured into the outcry.

Dragon glanced across at his companions. They both gestured: Go on!

Nothing could have stopped him now. Pouring all of his strength into his wing stroke, he shot over to his dam. Laughing. Mewling with grief-joy. Every scale on his body tingled. This was her, at last, at last!

≈Join us!≈

How did they know? How were they certain? Every iota of their welcome proclaimed that something had changed during the days since he had first contacted the Sea Dragons; was it his tell-tale white glow, or something to do with the sound imprinting they had insisted upon?

Who cared?

He rocketed into the water ahead of his dam, and had the shivery pleasure of seeing her have to leap to avoid him, for with his poor eyesight he had completely underestimated her speed. Now that he was underwater, matters resolved. A minnow thrashed between giants, getting in every Sea Dragon’s way as they rushed around him, chortling, spinning him in their wake and stroking him with their passing wingtips; then, an immense song boomed over him and a huge, hoary beast caught him up in paws that bracketed his body with ease, and righted him as an adult would correct a wobbly-kneed hatchling.

≈My wave is Thundersong, your great-grandsire!≈

Overwhelmed, he tried to twitch his wings in time with the behemoth.

≈My wave is Lifesong, your great-aunt!≈

Voices chimed all around him, ≈Echosong!≈ ≈Lightsong!≈ ≈Farsong!≈ ≈Ripplesong!≈ ≈Starsong!≈ ≈Eversong!≈ ≈Descantsong!≈ ≈Sweetsong!≈ ≈Truesong!≈ ≈Lovesong!≈

≈SWIM WITH US! WE ARE SONG!≈

Apparently, his family were the Songs, and there were far more of them than his poor little brain could process. Kerpoof!

The mighty paws of Thundersong gripped him from his upper torso right down to his hind legs, hauling him through the water at a crazy speed. He knew at last how Azania must feel. Thundersong had to be four times his size. This much Dragon was impossible for him to fathom. Amongst the Tamarine Mountains Clans, he had always been a creature of unusual size. The awkward heavyweight in the corner. Now, he was a guppy. Outmatched by everyone apart from a few fledglings and hatchlings of the Songs who swam rings around him, giggling in a state of high excitement that matched the frantic pulsation of his Dragon hearts.

Thundersong passed him over to his dam, roaring, ≈Swim with us, o wave of my loins! Swim, sing and be free!≈

≈Son, I know you by your voice. Wave never lies,≈ she sang to him.

≈Mother! O my dam!≈

≈My long-lost treasure, how majestic your wave. My hearts sing louder than the ocean itself!≈

He wept.

Chapter 39: Ocean, Arise!

DRAGON STAGGERED OUT OF the water onto the beach, shattered. Had he been in any doubt whatsoever as to the power of Sea Dragons, well, he had no illusions now. A couple of hours and he was ready to drop. These creatures had been swimming for months.

The northerly bay where he, Aria and Azania had spent the night was now cluttered with white Sea Dragons – and these were just the Songs. His pod was pure white. Further pods – the equivalent of the mountain Dragon Clans – had spread out all around the Archipelago’s talons, and from Wave Dragonhome all the way around to Aria’s lair on the north-western tip of the island, he understood. Jubilant bugles and the musical chatter of Sea Dragons filled the night.

Most disconcerting.

Creatures who looked like him teemed everywhere. His immediate range of sight took in hundreds, from younglings the size of Aria, to that great-grandsire who floated in the shallows above the reef, watching his half-air half-ocean progeny wheezing fit to burst a lung.

Right. Up on the paws, Dragon!

He glanced about curiously. Each family pod had a subtly different colouration –pale, delicate shades of teal, mauve, pink, green and eggshell yellow predominated, with subtle variations of scale, wing and underbelly patterning. However, since every Dragon glowed like a white T’nagrun lamp, it was difficult to distinguish the precise differences without closer observation.

A deep sense of connection arose when he glanced at the giant white Sea Dragon, but far deeper and more poignant was the tingling sense of belonging he enjoyed as he stood beside the lustrous, striking Sirensong. Dam. Mother. Bearer of his egg. She was sleeker than him, built in the mould of highly streamlined Sea Dragons, but the