I had been getting tired from all the flying I had been doing. This ocean didn't seem to stop, just more water, water, and water. I was getting thirsty, and salt water was not good to drink. I was sort of hungry, and the fish swimming in the ocean looked good. I angled towards the ocean, ready for a landing.
I landed in the water like a swan. A large, red swan, but still it was very graceful for a dragon. I looked around, and under the water, but knew nothing would attack. The only dangerous things there were in this area were sharks, and they were all a lot smaller then me.
There was a roar from above, and I turned my head. Tanga flew down, though not as gracefully, as her wing hindered her flight. She landed in the aqua waters, and skimmed towards me. "Tanga! I didn't think you followed me." I said.
"Well, I thought you needed some protection." Tanga said, giving me a toothy grin.
I really knew she had just wanted some company. I realized I too wanted someone to talk to. I wasn't used to being alone. "Then we can travel together until we each find a nice cave." I decided.
Tanga grinned. She seemed relieved. We glided along the waters silently for awhile, occasionally fishing for small sea bass, both with our claws and jaws. After we grew tired of that, we paddled faster. Soon, another island came into view. Tanga and I did not trust islands, they were dangerous. It was then a ship came gliding across the waters, catching the fine breeze in its sails. The crew was a band of humans dressed in bright clothes that were none the less dirty. I traded glances with Tanga. We had at first not believed in humans, but after we finally let ourselves believe in them, we hadn't ever seen any. These were the first humans I had ever seen, and they did not look too impressive to me. They did, however, look like they could be dangerous to little dragons.
Their ship made a U-turn and got away from us as fast as it could go. I laughed, and Tanga echoed me, though weaker. "They might bring more humans." Tanga said. "I suggest we get onto that island and hide."
I agreed with her, and we paddled towards the nearby island. This one was also too quiet, though beautiful, but we had no choice but to hide on it. Humans were terrible in large numbers, I had heard, and I was not anxious to meet any humans, no matter how many.
There was a dark cave in this island, so Tanga and I went down into it, not bothering to check for marks. That was our first mistake. We went deeper, and I admired the cave. This would be perfect, maybe one of us could stay here!
We stood in the deepest part of the cave, and when my eyes no longer picked up light from the outside, that's when my other senses kicked in. The ones I should have listened to from the beginning. "Griffins… there's Griffins in these caves!" Tanga whispered in my ear.
That set off the creatures, which had been sleeping on ledges of their caves. Each Griffin had an eagle head, front claws, and wings, and a lion body and tail. They were powerful fighting beasts, pound for pound the most vicious thing there was. They were at first confused, then angry, then enraged, and attacked the invaders.
I swatted at the Griffins as they latched onto Tanga and I like a cloud of gnats. I didn't use fire, as I didn't want to hit Tanga. "To the entrance!" I roared, and snapped at a Griffin.
As we ran, Tanga in front of me and clearing the way with fire, I could feel their sharp ebony claws digging into the overlapping parts of my scales, digging up to try and pull them off. I whapped my tail, crumbling parts of the cave walls and some Griffins. Tanga was covered in the animals as well, and was having more trouble then I was. I cursed myself for wanting to hide from the humans… could they have been worse then this? I doubted it. Tanga burst out into the light, and a swarm of ebony Griffins attacked her. She spread her wings and took flight, but it was clumsy, as her left wing had been badly damaged. She fell, still clawing, and all the fight wasn't out of her yet.
I burst out of the cave, followed by the rest of the Griffins. They were cawing excitedly, knowing they were fighting inexperienced dragons. Dragons were a threat to Griffin cubs, and had to be killed, in the Griffin's point of view. All I knew was that I wanted to get out of here.
I blew fire, but I was already exhausted from all the scales I had lost just fleeing the caves. I was beginning to wonder if I could survive this experience, when I heard a keening wail behind me.
I wheeled, just in time to see Tanga hit the ground, blood pouring from multiple wounds. The Griffins flying above her were cawing in triumph. Tanga… they had killed Tanga!
THEY HAD KILLED TANGA!
My vision turned red, and I attacked the Griffins with a new frenzy, in complete bloodlust. I have never felt that way after, and hope never to again. The pain I was in from loss of scales no longer mattered, the rasping of my lungs as I pumped out fire blast after fire blast was ignored. I was berserk, killing anything ebony that moved. The Griffins at first fought back, but they soon realized what they were up against, too. They turned tail and escaped back into the cave, and I followed.
As the last Griffin's tail disappeared I lost it. I turned back from the cave, after roaring once more, and then turned to Tanga. I raced over, nudging her with my snout. Nothing I could do would help… she was dead. I roared again, more of a wail then a roar. Tanga, my beloved sister, Tanga was dead! I couldn't bring myself to believe it. But what could I do now? I was completely lost. I didn't know what to do. I could return to Grainger, but yet, how could I? I let Tanga die…
From behind me, I heard the Griffins rallying. I turned tail and fled. I couldn't take another fight with those monsters. I flew south, heading towards what I thought might be some freedom from my pain.
About halfway to the next island, I lost it. I stopped flying, and hit the water, sinking quickly. My wounds were pouring blood, I hadn't been able to heal yet. And I could see the sharks hovering around me. I couldn't bring myself to swim… Tanga was dead! I couldn't believe it, but I had to. She was gone. I continued sinking, until the first shark bite came.
That snapped me out of my stupor. Another thing had attacked me, bringing on a reaction I had never dreamed I could have possessed. I snapped up the shark that had bit me, and whirled to get the others. They swam out of reach. My lungs were beginning to burn, so I surfaced. The sharks hovered near me, their fins sometimes cutting the surface of the water.
With a few strokes of my wings, I launched out of the water, flying with speed I had never known I had possessed to the South. Something there was calling me, calling about my destiny. I had yet to find out what it was. The next island I reached was larger. Deer ran away from me, Unicorns neighed and stood their ground. This seemed to be well balanced, no sand monsters, no dragons, and hopefully no Griffins. I walked over this island, curious about it's nature. There was a presence I couldn't help but shake. The presence lead me to a swamp. I entered it cautiously.
It was not a bad swamp, by swamp standards. The moss was bright green, the leaves were shiny and covered in a coat of sparkling dew. The ground threatened to suck up your feet, but there was always a tree trunk for you to perch on. That where I met Tyrune, the Swamp Hydra.
He was actually a dragon, but for some reason, everyone called him a Hydra. It was true he had three heads, and could detach them, but many dragons had more than one head, and hydras had 9 or more. He was a dragon in species, Hydra in nature, I suppose. Because he sure did act like a Hydra, always slinking about. You could never quite be sure about him.
"Hello, I am Pyre. Son of Trebren the black dragon and Zreba the gold dragon. Who are you?" I asked. I was really in no mood to be friendly, but I didn't want to fight, either.
"I am Tyrune, the swamp hydra. I don't know my parents, they abandoned their clutch in the sands of this swamp." Tyrune's middle head said.
"Nice to meet you, Tyrune." I said, and was about to push past him, but he barred my way.
"What happened to you, friend?" The Middle head asked. "You appear to be all beat up."
"Fight with some Griffins." I said.
"So, where are you heading to?" Tyrune's right head persisted. Boy, he was talkative.
"I'm looking for a suitable cave." I said. "One in the South."
"I don't know of any around here." Tyrune's right said. "You look hungry. When was the last time you ate?"
"I don't know, five hours ago? Six?" I said with a shrug, which also dislodged a scale. It fell to the mud, and was sucked in. I shifted uneasily, the mud was sucking my feet in, too.
"Hmm, you must be hungry then." Tyrune's left head said.
"No, not really." I said.
"Well, I'll let you go your way, then." Tyrune's left head said. "Just watch out for the quick sand a little further on, it's a killer."
I thanked him for his advice, and hurried on. Sure enough, I soon came to the quick sand. The bones of animals lay half-buried in it, and even as I watched those bones were slowly pulled under. A tree was being pulled over because it's branches descended into the sand. I shuddered, and walked around it. No need to tangle with that stuff.
I walked further, unsure of what I would find next. I was still wary, and very beat up, and that made me vulnerable to an extent. I did not want to get attacked again. Despite my sadness over Tanga's death, I wanted to live. Upon leaving the swamp, I entered the country in which I wanted to live. It was, I later learned, part of a country called Ireland. There were hundreds of rocks strewn everywhere like a giant playing knuckle bones had left out his game for the world to see. I stepped around them. It was interesting, some were not even as big as my eye, others were almost as tall as me. Some were set in odd configurations that did not seem to have been put that way by humans or other animals. I was amazed, but even more so when I saw the chain of mountains just off the horizon.
'Yes, Pyre, this is the place for you.' I said to myself. 'This is the place for you… Kells.'
I then paused… how had I know what the humans called it?
