I watched silently and sadly as my dam laid eggs. That would mean that we, her cubs, would no longer be allowed to stay with them, to be protected. That was the way of dragons. Of course, I could stay in Autsehgio, but that was not recommended. Autsehgio was a dragon breeding and growing ground. I had to go find my own den. But that did not mean I couldn't deny the fact as long as I could.
I hurried off, finding Tanga and Grainger. They were waiting for me, apparently. "We… have to go." Grainger said, his black hide shaking. He was not the bravest of braves, but he was bigger then I.
"No… we'll stay until they make us go." I informed them. "We are dragons. We belong here."
"I don't want to go out there." Tanga said, shaking. "The only times we've been out there our parents have come with us… there's humans out there!"
"Humans are just a myth." I said sternly.
"But mother and father said…" Grainger began unsteadily.
"Mother and father just wanted us to do as we were told. Have you ever seen a human? No? I rest my case. Humans are not real." I growled.
"Already you're being a leader." Tanga noted. "So I guess you can go off and find your own cave." She turned to leave.
"Wait, Tanga! Don't go." Grainger pleaded with her.
She turned. "Why don't YOU come with ME, Grainger?" She demanded, her bronze hide lighting up.
"But…" I began.
"We can leave together." Grainger said, trying to make peace. "We can find a large cave, and live together until we're big enough to defend ourselves."
"Good idea. I wouldn't want to be eaten by a monster before my time." Tanga said, and then turned to me. "Or by a human…"
From that statement, I guessed she had forgiven me. "Or by a human." I echoed. "Do you want to go now?"
The two dragonets in front of me scratched their claws in the dirt. They obviously didn't want to leave this sanctuary any more then I did. "How long can we wait here?" Tanga wondered aloud.
"Leave now." Freygon, one of my brothers, warned. Travail and Reatie, two of my other siblings, followed him. "They are chasing us away from here."
I watched my brothers and sisters departing in groups of threes. Each were of groups that had hunted well together before. We were all still very small, half grown, and depended on each other to make any substantial kills for food. "We should go." Grainger urged me as Freygon and his clan raced past, taking to the wing. "To the south. Far south."
"To the south." Tanga and I said at the same time. "To the beaches of the south."
We leaped into the air, cocking our necks back and stretching our wings to the fullest to catch the winds. I did not want to leave Autsehgio, not at all. I did not feel like I could take care of myself, though I made it look like I thought otherwise.
As my little clan moved southward, I noticed a change in the climate. It became warmer, with more trees and grasses. Soon, we reached the ocean, the first big body of water I had ever seen. I was amazed.
"Isn't that pretty?" Tanga asked.
"Looks more like something fun to do." Grainger said, and folded his wings. He plummeted in a nosedive towards the ocean waters.
I followed him, loving the thrill of diving. Tanga was close behind, taken slightly aback by our suddenly playful nature. I wanted to get the thought of perhaps never returning to Autsehgio out of my mind. I didn't know why Grainger was so excited, but I guessed he had the same reason.
"Pyre, bet I can go deeper then you!" Grainger exclaimed, just before we hit the water.
"No way, I can…" The rest of my words were cut off by the water. I allowed myself to go further into the water, propelled by the force which I had entered it. Grainger and I flew down towards the ocean floor. Tanga had landed lightly on the surface of the ocean, for some reason not wanting to play with us. Maybe she thought we were foolish for wanting to play. We should have been looking for a suitable cave. But that could wait. Right now, I wanted to play.
I ended up winning. We sped towards the surface, shooting out of the water like a top from a bottle, and gulping in massive amounts of air into our lungs. I laughed, and dunked Grainger's black head under the surface of the water. He grabbed my tail and yanked me under.
Tanga dove down on top of us, beating us unmercifully with waves of water created by her bronze wings. I laughed, and tried to dunk her, too, but she stayed out of range.
We played in this huge swimming pool for almost three hours, scaring away all the fish in the area and whittling away the time. Then, as we lay on our backs in the cold water, Tanga reminded us of what we had to do.
"We can't sit here and play forever." Tanga said. "We need to find a cave, and food."
"We could eat fish, here." Grainger said.
"But not enough to survive." Tanga countered, as I watched silently. "They would stay away. And where would we sleep, on top of the water?"
Grainger nodded. "Let's go to the mainland, then.
We rose out of the water heavily. I was tired from all that play, but was determined not to let anyone know that. We flew on, and finally, at long last, came upon an island. It was a neat place, with a group of mountains sitting in the middle. We walked along in the shallows, letting the current suck at our feet. I snapped at small, elusive fish. "Well, what next?" I asked.
Grainger waddled onto shore, shook out his scales like a dog, and slinked into the forest. "I'm going to see what's ahead."
Tanga and I stayed behind to investigate the shoreline. There seemed to be no dangers at all. It all was peaceful… almost too peaceful. But Tanga and I were having too much fun to be worried about the silence of the island. Or the shifting sands…
"Hey, look at this, Pyre!" Tanga called. "Look at the size of these oysters!"
I ran over, and looked. They were huge, as long as my arm, and hard to open, too. Tanga and I spent a few minutes attempting to crack open the heavy shell with teeth, claws, and tails. We finally gave up, throwing the Oysters back into the water in frustration. "So, now what?" I wondered, looking back over the isle.
Tanga had wandered down a little further of the beach. I followed her, noting how silent everything was. It was strange… I didn't even see small game. We came upon a huge herd of deer a little later, on the opposite side of the island. I stopped, amazed. "We walked around the entire island! It was pretty big. I wonder how long we spend exploring?"
"Grainger is probably waiting for us." Tanga said. "We had better go let him know we're okay."
"Oh, you know Grainger, he won't worry. He knows we can handle ourselves." I said.
"Well, you never know with Grainger." Tanga noted, and we both laughed. I suddenly stopped. I smelled something strange in the bushes. "What is it?" Tanga asked, as I trotted over to something half-buried in sand.
"Eew. Looks like a half-eaten Griffin." I said. "Wonder what got it? Grainger, maybe?" I paused. "Griffins are tough, if Grainger didn't eat it, then there's something else on the island."
Tanga nodded. "We had better find Grainger." She said.
We hurried on, until the sand stirred around us, and formed a cone almost between my claws. I jumped back, at first frightened. Tanga and I retreated, but then dragon curiosity took over, and we went out to investigate this living sand…
