Rundimahair: A new hero for a new adventure by Larry Forkner (dark books to read .txt) 📕

“This is a big deal, right?” he asked, as he knelt beside Ashling.

“Dragons were always what gave us the advantage over Grainne and her followers,” Ashling said. “Without more of them, our chances of surviving a full out war with her were slim.”

“So now our chances just got better,” Sean said, with growing excitement. “I can’t wait to start training David, and any others who might be born.”

“You and I both,” she said, smiling at him.

“So how come I came out full on red and he’s kind of light brown. Is it because he’s younger?” Sean asked.

She shook her head and said, “No, it’s just a different breed than a red. Your red breed is the rarest of all dragons–and the most powerful.”

“Oh, so David is not going to be as powerful as I am?”

“Don’t get yourself all arrogant about it,” Ashling said, laughing.

“No, it’s not like that,” Sean said, smiling as he took her hand in his. “I was just hoping for a really powerful guy to help us defeat the crazy woman.”

“Yes, another red would have been amazing but don’t discount our new brownie here. He’s going to be a powerful dragon in his own right.”

“Really? You call them brownies? That’s kind of demeaning, isn’t it?” Sean said.

“It’s just what they’re called when they are first born,” she explained. “No one but a red dragon had better ever call David a brownie. As you know, dragon’s tempers can be somewhat unpredictable.”

“Especially those girl dragons,” Sean said, laughing. Of course, that’s the same with humans too.”

“What do humans call guys like you?” Ashling asked. “Oh yeah, ignorant rednecks.”

“Is that girl dragon humor?” Sean asked, as he slowly backed away.

“You’re so lucky I have to get David back to town, Sean. Now close your ignorant yap before you say anything else offensive. I need you to fly our newest dragon home. After he’s had a chance to rest up, and understand what happened, we’ll announce it to everyone.”

That’s going to be awesome!” Sean said. “We finally have something to celebrate.”

“It will be, but I’ll be doing the announcing. I don’t want you putting your big foot in your mouth again and getting everyone mad at you,” Ashling said.

“Fair enough, darlin’,” Sean said, laughing. “I do all the hard work and you get all the glory.”

A small ball of dragon fire singed the seat of Sean’s jeans. He glared at Ashling and asked, “How’d you do that?”

“Do what?” she asked innocently.

“Try to burn my favorite jeans.”

“Oh, that. I was just reminding you to take those clothes off before you take David back to town,” she said innocently. “You don’t want to go through two sets of clothes in one morning.”

“Good point. I’ve gone through a few outfits already since we started training. What I want to know is how you did that fire trick when you aren’t in your dragon form.”

“It’s a little advanced for someone who’s still a rookie dragon. When we start our class for teaching all of our new dragons, I’ll teach you lots of tricks you don’t know yet,” Ashling said, smiling.

“There’s only me and David, when it comes to teaching our new dragons,” Sean said, while rolling his eyes. You’ve already been teaching me for a while, so I should be ready.”

“There’s only you two so far,” she replied. “I have a feeling that we’re going to be seeing more in the near future.”

Sean was about to demand to hear more when he saw a gleam in her eye. She knew more, but she wasn’t going to tell him anything until she was good and ready.

“Are you just going to stare at me all day or will you help David back to town?” she asked innocently.

“Fine, turn around so I can undress before I light up my dragon self. “Will you bring my clothes with you?”

Before she could answer, she heard an ear-shattering roar. When she turned back to where Sean had been standing, only his discarded clothes were there.

Ashling heard two mighty roars as she turned her gaze upward. There were Sean and David flying side by side toward town.

“You’re going to regret flying again so quickly, David,” she murmured. Her eyes widened when Sean did a series of arching rolls, leaving beautiful, circular trails of fire in the sky. “Ah well, Ashling said, smiling. “Boys will be boys and that’s the truth of it.”

Chapter Fifteen

Count your joys instead of your woes;

Count your friends instead of your foes.

~ Old Irish Saying ~

Grainne was not a happy woman. It had been a month since her troops had attacked Aengus and Ailbe. In that time there had been no significant progress in pinpointing where Rundimahair was located.

They’d been able to ascertain that it was somewhere in the Northwestern section of the United States–most likely Oregon, Washington, or Idaho. After the battle in central Oregon, she’d been sure her sworn enemies were in that state.

The problem was that none of the follow-up investigation in Oregon had provided any evidence they were hiding there. Reluctantly, she’d widened the search to include Washington and Idaho.

She wouldn’t have included Idaho, since she felt they were more likely along the coast, but several reports they’d heard indicated two families living in Idaho were considered quite strange. More than once police had been called about strange lights and fire in the sky above their farms.

However, the last report led to a dead end. After an altercation with their nearest neighbors, both families had disappeared without a trace. When the police searched through their abandoned homes, it appeared that the only things they took were some clothes and personal effects.

There were no photos or personal mail. They left a lot of nice furniture behind, but there was nothing to indicate who they were or where they’d gone.

Her researchers believed they may have been families who’d left Rundimahair because of hard feelings. After being out in the mortal world for a few years, they suspected they’d gone home and made