Dragon Dreamer by S. G. Ricketts (ereader for android .TXT) 📕

surprise at her rider’s fury, and Steephi pushed herself to her feet, pausing only to give the queen reassurance. Pivoting around, she saw that Moher had his back to her, and she stormed over to him. One of the men in the brown rider’s group leered at her, and Steephi glared at him until the blue rider shrank away from her glare. “Hey, Moher,” she said as sweetly as she could. The blue rider shuffled his feet and looked away from her and into the air. “Can I ask you a favor?”
The old brown rider grunted, but didn’t turned around. “Hey guys, the Dragon Lady wants to ask me a question. Mabbe it’s on how to properly take care of a dragon.” Some of the men laughed, and his friend, the blue rider, squirmed as she fixed her gaze on him again. Egged on, he continued, “Or maybe she wants to give up like a good little farm girl and admit that her dragon is inferior, even to mine. At least mine is a more re-spect-able color.” Steephi gritted her teeth as the man drawled out the words. The men laughed harder, and he turned around. His dark eyes danced with anger and malice. “What can I do for ya, Missy?”
“You can do me a favor and shut up!” she yelled, bringing up an arm from her side. She felt the soft tissue of his mouth and heard the satisfying yelp of pain. She grinned vindictively as the older man sank to the ground, his hands cupping blood that flowed from his mouth. “You should get something for that mouth of yours.” He groaned and spat out blood. “Heavens, man, the way you’re acting, you’d think someone with a ‘good’ dragon hit you.” Smirking, she turned around and started to walk off. Then, she turned around again. “And just so you know, my name is Steephi, not Missy.” She paused, looking over to her dragon, then back to the hunched-over man. “And no one

insults my dragon.” Talarth reared on her hind legs, bugling agreement, her forepaws landing close to the man’s bent over head even as she mingled her bugle with a whine of pain as the wounds stretched. With a yelp of surprise, Moher leaped back, slamming into the men who had been encouraging him. Talarth snorted, and Steephi laughed as the men held the brown rider up, and then grinned as the blue rider scornfully dropped Moher onto the ground and stalked away. “Or me, ‘cuz my dragon will deal with you!” she yelled back over her shoulder to the frightened Moher as he looked around for his deserted cronies.
With that, she turned and marched back to Terevoor, skirts flaring out behind her like a sail. The young dragonrider stared at her open-mouthed. Angrily, she asked, “Did you expect me to stand there and not defend Talarth? You would do the same thing for Ragul!” Huffily, she sat down, her weariness overcoming her. She had had a busy day. Blinking to keep her eyes open, she spoke to Talarth. How are you feeling? Better?

Yes…but they hurt bad, and I don’t think that stretching them like that helped any, you know. I hope Rosealee hurries up.

The queen shuffled away from where she had been standing, moving carefully to a more open area. Gingerly, she opened one wing. The sail was all intact, but something was wrong with how it folded out. It took too long, and the wing wouldn’t come out all the way. Ouch! Quickly, but carefully, she folded that wing back up. Again, she stretched out the other wing, its predicament not much better than the other. I think I pulled my wing muscles!

the gold moaned as she refolded than one, too.
Steephi pushed herself up off the floor with Terevoor’s help and walked over to the dragonet. Talarth was still small enough that Steephi could reach the top of her shoulder. Slowly, Steephi helped her queen stretch the wing, gently massaging whenever it stopped. Finally, the right wing was fully extended. Thank you! That feels better.

There was a pause, and the little queen turned her head to look at her rider. Why do you think I came out in that place from

beyond? How could I go so far—so far away from here, and somehow manage to get there from Siani? A gusty sigh came from the dragon, and Steephi soothingly scratched the eye ridge. Where is Rosealee? I wanna go to sleep,

she whined.
“Steephi, what are you doing!” an angry voice yelled from somewhere behind her. “You could hurt Talarth by doing that! Stupid, selfish, big-headed riders,” she muttered, thinking that Steephi couldn’t hear her. Gasping for breath, the City’s healer-nurse struggled up to the dragonet queen, pulling out numbing salve, cleanser, and some of the gala tree’s juice. Her brown eyes scanned the golden body, and she let out a gasp of surprise. “Steephi, what did your dragon do to herself?” she asked in a shaky voice, a slender finger pointing to the long, shining, green wound. “I haven’t ever see that before…”
Steephi delighted in the uncomfortable, worried look. So the healer didn’t know everything. Then, she realized that her dragon’s well being rested on Rosealee finding a way to help her. “Um, she says she went out of beyond

and was attacked by something. So, I guess she’s been attacked.” The healer stared at her, and Talarth snorted at the obvious. “She came out somewhere from beyond

. Obviously, there aren’t any ‘serpents’ or whatever she calls them,” Steephi wasn’t ready to admit she had seen the creatures herself just yet, “Here right now. We don’t have any creatures like the ones she described, but the scratches are real.”
Not scratches. Gashes,

Talarth corrected passively.
“I’m sorry!” Steephi teased Talarth. “The gashes

are much like any other a dragon could get, just deeper, and bloodier.” Rosealee still stood frozen. “Are you going to treat her or not. Some healer you are!” Snorting, she turned back to scratching Talarth’s eye ridge. The stupid quidah-brain doesn’t believe me. She wanted to know what happened…

Suddenly, she looked up into the round eyes. That is what happened, right?

Yes!

Talarth sounded weary too. I’m going to sleep while she fixes me. You should sleep some, too.

Careful not to move too much, Talarth settled herself and shut her first two eyelids. Good night, Steephi. Tell Rosealee to give me the gala juice quick, because I don’t want to wake up in the middle of it all.

She belched again, conveniently catching a still sitting Moher’s shirt on fire. Rosealee quickly had him taken care of, and Talarth nudged her rider towards a silent shadow a few yards away. I will be fine! Go and sleep. You will need it.

Good night, Love.

Stifling a yawn, Steephi stumbled away from her dragon. She hated how much Talarth’s tiredness came onto her. Sometimes the bond could be so bothersome. She felt heavy with sleep, and she knew she could never make it to her own room the way she was. Her fist was pounding now that the adrenaline was leaving her body, and she felt weak with exhaustion. Even the small nap she had had on the beach hadn’t prepared her for all this excitement, and she could feel herself wilting at the thought of navigating through the big Dragon City, even though many people would be willing to help her, as she was the Dragon Lady. There were so many hallways and other things and… Her legs gave out under her and she collapsed, her knees connecting painfully on the stony ground of the landing area. Biting her lip, she pushed herself up, tenderly stepping forward. Suddenly, a warm arm was around her waist, and she glanced up again, surprised. Terevoor grinned down at her, winking. “Couldn’t let you just collapse in the middle of the Bowl, now could I? And Ragul’s more than happy to escort you to your room with Talarth’s being unable to fly.” His face became sly and mischievous, and Steephi was reminded of her younger brother, Jeshi, in the man’s tanned face. “I am, too.”
Tears sprang to her eyes as she thought of her sweet brother, and Terevoor anxiously wiped them away, his blue eyes clouding as he watched her. “Thanks, I’m fine! Really!” she insisted as he continued to watched her. “I just want to sleep is all,” she mumbled, too tired to say much more.
“Couldn’t let the new Dragon Lady fall asleep in the middle of the Bowl while I’m standing right next to my dragon, can I?” he teased. “C’mon. I’ll help you to your room. Which way?” She looked up at him, and his eyes were unfocused. He was talking to Ragul. The air pressure changed, and the big bronze settled himself on the Bowl floor, a leg outstretched in appeal. “Can you tell me?”
Her tongue felt heavy and thick and dry in her mouth. She licked her lips to moisten them, and nodded to accept his offer, but was unable to think straight. His face started to become blurry, and she fought with the urge to shut her eyes. “I—don’t know…I was supposed to talk to Johua…and Bryan was mad at me…and I wanna sleep…” Her speech was slurred, and she blinked blearily. How had she gotten so sleepy. Looking over to Talarth, she saw Rosealee spooning the sour gala juice down the queen’s throat. That was it. “I’m gonna go to sleep now…” she breathed, her eyelids drooping as she spoke, forgetting the man’s earlier question as sleep overcame her. Terevoor tensed, and she relaxed against his strong shoulder. She could feel the gala juice, and she gave into the warm feeling. The bronze rider said something, but it sounded far off and gurgled. Shards, Rosealee used a lot of fellis. Enough to subdue a dragon! Wait, that was why she had given it, right? To settle Talarth. She shook her head to try and get rid of the flurries that gathered at the corners of her mind. Numbly, she was aware of Terevoor lifting her, then being on Ragul. Sleepily, she patted the dragon’s soft bronze hide, like a little child. It felt warm to her touch, and she stroked it softly, enjoying the feel of the dragon underneath her and Terevoor behind her, his strong hands keeping her from falling off his dragon. She let her head fall against his shoulder. She felt the big dragon takes off beneath her, his launch smooth and practiced, not like hers and Talarth’s bumpy take off. She smiled as she felt Terevoor’s arms tighten around her to keep her on his dragon. Then, she was asleep.