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

The aggressive bellow caught everyone by surprise.

“Brand?” his sire inquired.

Setting his stance pugnaciously, the younger Dragon said, “I call this account a fabrication, and this foul creature the worst kind of liar and deceiver. How do we know he is not working paw-in-paw with the Terror Clan himself?”

Dragon growled, “I swore to –”

“Every Devastator Dragon knows the kind of words that proceed from your mouth, Dragon. Aye, this dilapidated brown is known to us – he is notorious for being a miserable creature, so afflicted by his fireless state that even while part of a Clan and family, he lived as a pariah and cursed his own dam. This is a gentle, pacifist soul who never raided a village or burned so much as a candle in his entire life. He’s an artist and one who, unlike any true Dragon, bears Humans upon his back. Imagine the desperation. The anguish. What vileness of hearts leads a Dragon to curse the egg sac that bore his very life?”

He began to respond, but Blaze held his wings high. “Make your point, youngling.”

“Simply this,” Brand said. “Whenever I hear such a fabulous tale of bravery and sacrifice on the part of an all-conquering hero, I ask myself who stands to benefit? What am I being asked to believe?”

Flare the Bonfire snarled, “You would school your elders, youngling?”

“Never, honoured elder,” he snapped at once. “It was Brutal the Smasher who said it best – which quad of paws comes cleanest in this tale? We are being asked to believe that in a matter of several months, a shy, fireless Dragon jumps from solitary lair to being a decimator of entire armies, all on his own. Here upon his flanks, we are told, lie the marks of a battle with alleged Terror Clan Dragons. Truth or not, one Dragon defeating a trio of greens whilst encumbered with four Humans is a legendary tale, one which even Master Juggernaut would be proud to own – and you are a master, honoured elder, but even your training is limited to the beast and not to miracles, is it not?”

Juggernaut bared his fangs.

Bowing fluidly, his brother turned to Dragon. “Truly an astonishing feat. So, tell us again, how many Skartunese warriors did you blow away with your non-existent fire in the heat of that final confrontation with Jabiz Urdoo?”

“I told you, the lightning machine triggered my fires,” he rasped.

His hearts pounded like massive log drums jammed inside his chest. Acidic bile gurgled in his throat. This could lead to only one conclusion.

“Whereupon you incinerated hundreds with the ravaging breath of your jaw? How wide and far did your fires rage, o Dragon? How many houses did you immolate? Was their regiment as large in extent, say, as this training field? Half the size? A quarter?”

“I swore –”

“With the same mouth that cursed your dam, aye. How are we, and all of these Dragons gathered here, to believe a word you say?”

“Why don’t you breathe fire, youngling?” Flare the Bonfire asked. “Show us.”

“I … cannot.”

“Lost those fires all over again?” Brawl sneered. “It’s all so convenient, isn’t it? Just like the bodies of those three Terror Clan Dragons were lost in the Skaggar River.”

Facing his brothers, he said, “I have given a truthful account. Could it be that you –”

“Your mental state is lamentable,” Brand interrupted. “You know what I see? A shabby coward who is so frantic to regain his honour, he would do and say anything at all. Nothing is beneath you, is it? No taboo cannot be broken. Let me guess – did you kidnap this tiny Princess, or did she kidnap you?”

The Dragons almost fell over laughing as Brawl illustrated her size with his talons.

Horror settled as ice in his bones.

However, his brother was not finished yet. “Or perhaps, a discerning Dragon might smell out another explanation. A plot born in T’nagru, or deep in the foetid bowels of Skartun, against the Dragonkind? Perhaps the Princess has been manipulating you, and all of us, all along?”

“I don’t understand,” Chalice fluted. All eyes turned to her interruption; her eyelids flickered wildly as she put in, in a breathless rush, “I saw him fly, and I can swear I’ve never seen such speed. That cannot be faked.”

“Unless your mind was somehow twisted by the youngling,” another Dragoness put in.

All of the faces surrounding him registered doubt, confusion and even outright fury. The old words wanted to worm their way into his mind, but he refused them. This time, he would stand tall. He would take the dishonour exactly as it was meant – but not for the perverse yet oh-so-believable reasons his brothers had advanced. Above all, Blaze must be protected.

Why not simply breathe fire? Flare insisted.

Brutal thundered, Aye! What is this, youngling? Has your mind indeed been addled? If indeed you found your fires after all these years – Ignis himself be praised! Show us! What are you waiting for?

Chalice put in, Show us, Dragon. Show me.

For by his words, she too stood impugned; bested by a Human child.

No. None of this mattered. For once, this Dragon would do his duty by his sire. He would be the son of his wing who reflected no shame upon the Clan, nor upon his birth.

He said, Dragons, I have nothing more to share and no proofs to offer. I ask only that you consider the existential threat to our kind arising from the South, and act with the wisdom I have always known is far, far greater than any that which this Dragon may claim. Consider T’nagru. Consider the terror of Dragon slaves, and let none – his gaze rested deliberately upon his brothers – let none divide you. May you always soar as the suns, brothers and sisters.

Whirling upon his heel, he began