I marvel now to think how naïve I was then. I believed I could do anything, be anything. Well, I was partly right. My strength enabled me to take down almost any beast I could come up against; my fire enabled me to scare away mass numbers of humans or Griffins. Plus, I had made great friends with the new Herd Stallion, Hightail. He was a deep bronze in color, and reminded me slightly of Tanga in his mannerisms. So, with the Unicorn Herd on my side, I really was powerful.
My limits set within my wonderful cave, I began searching the area. There was, of course, nothing in the country that could really scare a powerful dragon such as myself, but it was nice to know my territory. Knowledge gave the owner an advantage over even the wiliest of beasts.
Well, it was there, not far from my cave; I spied one of the loveliest creatures I had viewed before. Unfortunately, she was a human. I had never truly believed my parents words that humans were treacherous and not to be associated with. Perhaps I should have listened to her then! I landed a good distance away, not wanting to scare her. I had figured out by now that a dragon scared most humans. But now, I had no way to approach her. She would run from a dragon, wouldn't she? Then, I slapped myself, mentally, of course. Why was I even trying to figure out how to get close to this human? I was a dragon! I rose my wings, about to take to flight, when a tiny little dragon popped up in front of my face. "Hello, hello, big red!" It squeaked.
For a second, I was amazed, and then I remembered who this dragon was.
"Xabrith!" I roared, showing my teeth. "What is the likes of you doing around here?" I demanded to the bronze dragon.
He jumped backwards, surprised. "I would have thought you would have been happy to see me!"
"You, a little spy like yourself?" I demanded, growling.
"Oh, really. Its called espionage. Not spying. I so dread that name."
Xabrith squeaked, still hovering by my right eye.
"Whatever you call it, it's still cruel to other dragons." I growled.
"Now get. I don't want to see you around here."
Xabrith turned, tail and head low. "Well, okay. But if you don't want to learn how to temporarily change to a human…" He said.
"Xabrith…" I exclaimed, starting towards him.
Xabrith took off, fluttering as fast as his little wings could take him. I bounded after him, and trapped him with one hand. "Speak, bronzling!" I demanded.
"Okay, you convinced me. The Oraci of Silver-water can help you." Xabrith said.
"And where is this Oraci?" I demanded to know. "And WHAT is an Oraci?"
"Like an Oracle." Xabrith exclaimed. "I can lead you to the Oraci, no directions would suffice."
"So take me there, Xabrith." I said.
"Well, Pyre, there's always a matter of payment…" Xabrith began, rubbing his talons together greedily despite the hard grip I had on him.
"For a spy? You're lucky I don't eat you." I growled, once again flashing my teeth.
"Point." Xabrith said weakly. "Let me go, Pyre, and I'll take you to the cave."
"No tricks." I told him, setting him down in the dust.
"No tricks." Xabrith agreed, staring once again at my huge teeth.
He began flying north, towards the sea. I followed him, keeping the little dragon within sight. No telling what he would try! Xabrith had been known to leave his charges in the middle of nowhere. I did not plan to allow him to do that to me.
Another few nights passed, and we arrived at a huge palace set into the stones. "This is the place." Xabrith said. "Now, I shall be going…"
"Not so fast, bronzling. I want to make sure you didn't walk me into a setup." I growled, snagging his little tail between two of my talons. "Come on."
Xabrith did not seem worried… probably a good thing. He trotted up to the front of the palace, and tapped his claws on the door. There was no answer.
"And how are we supposed to communicate with this 'Oraci'?" I asked Xabrith, who looked over at me helplessly.
"I suppose we have to get her to come to the door." Xabrith said, his voice taking on a brass hat type tone, which I found terribly annoying.
"No kidding, bronzling." I muttered, but Xabrith was already scratching again on the door.
It finally creaked open, and we entered hesitantly, or at least I did.
Xabrith might have been moving full steam ahead, and he still couldn't keep up with me. As soon as we entered, a bone dragon, which was sitting just within the entrance met us, watching us carefully. "Pyre, Dragon of Dare, Xabrith, Dragon of Kimono." The Bone dragon said, "I am Ban, Dragon of the Oraci. The Oraci is currently busy… with another… client. Wait for her here."
I did not like the way Ban said the word 'client', and immediately wondered what Xabrith had talked me into. This little dragon could be devious.
What's more, I once more had to stop him from sneaking away. "What's your rush, bronzling?" I demanded.
"Will you stop calling me bronzling?" Xabrith asked evasively. "It's so demeaning."
"So demeaning it's true. Now, why are you trying to get away from here?" I demanded.
"Well… the Oraci wants a price for the answers to her questions…" Xabrith said, cringing, "But it's not a big price… and…"
"What KIND of price, Xabrith?" I asked, trying to control the anger that was seeping into my voice. That treacherous little lizard!
"The Oraci will see you now." Ban interrupted us.
I gave Xabrith a long warning look, and we went on, Xabrith beginning to shake. That made me even more worried. What were these 'prices' the Oraci demanded to have? Asking Xabrith did not help, his lip was buttoned. We confronted a pair of double doors that appeared to be made, appropriately enough, out of silver. Since there were no door handled large enough for me to handle without snapping them off, Xabrith had to open it. We walked inside, into a room where the floor was foot-high water, and the walls were made of bricks of silver and what appeared to be ice. However, it was warm, almost sub-tropical, in the room, and it made no sense that there was any ice. "Welcome, Pyre, Xabrith." A voice said from within a block of sculpted 'ice'. "I am the Oraci of Silver and Water. How may I assist you and what price may I take?"
"I have no question." Xabrith said. "It is Pyre who wishes the question."
"You have entered my domain. Therefore you must ask a question and give the price." The Oraci said. It was a feminine voice, I knew, but not like any of a dragon's, or even a human's. More like that of a serpent... or a shark.
"Then I shall ask a question, Oraci." Xabrith said, somewhat sulkily.
"How may I better protect my home when I be so small?"
"I shall give you the answer." The Oraci said after a long pause.
"Venture to the lands of the North. There, there is another herd of Unicorns. Tell them the location of the Unicorns in your land. They shall give you a hoof made of pure gold for your service. You can use that hoof five times, to make yourself as big as the dragon which accompanied you."
"What will the other Herd of Unicorns do to the Herd where I live?" Xabrith asked pensively.
"That is another question. Would you use twice a price?" The Oraci asked.
"No, no..." Xabrith said, backing up.
Almost immediately, the white-ice sculpture in the middle of the room began glowing, and shot at Xabrith, surrounding him. When it disappeared, Xabrith looked more white then bronze, almost a creamy color in itself. "What happened, Xabrith?" I demanded to know.
"Just the price..." Xabrith said. "Not much."
"And you, Pyre?" The Oraci asked. "What is your question?"
I was suddenly having second thoughts about this. But, the Oraci obviously could keep me in here until I asked a question, so I asked my question.
"How may I be able to change from a human to a dragon?"
There was a long pause from the Oraci. "That magic is already within you."
The Oraci said. "Along with the magic of the Unicorn, bat, werewolf, and eagle. You do not need any spell from me to change." Another long pause.
"It is in your ancestry, and the ancestry of all the dragons in your bloodline, and all that shall be in your bloodline, for there shall be many.
Change not without discretion, however... your scales, around the neck of any human will cause the same changes, and if humans see you change, will slaughter you for your scales. I have seen it happen." There was another long pause, and then the ice sculpture shook. "Tell me where Autsehgio, breeding land of the dragons, is."
"What will you do?" I demanded to know.
"Is that another question?" The Oraci asked, and I shook my head. It wasn't. The statue began lighting up once more. I had the feeling that this demoness, for that what she was, was reading my mind. "Ah, in the far north." The Oraci said. There was another flash of light, and I abruptly found myself, along with Xabrith, outside of her palace.
"What will she do with that information?" I demanded to Xabrith.
Xabrith shrugged helplessly. "Whatever she'll do, she already did it. But you had better hope the dragons of Autsehgio don't learn WHERE she learned Autsehgio's location from..."
"What are you suggesting, Xabrith?" I demanded.
"Ah, that you're a conniving little traitor... just like me." Xabrith said, and flipped off into another hole before I could snap at him.
"Where are you going, Xabrith?" I roared after him. "Find that hoof, Xabrith, and come meet me! We have a score to settle, little spy!" But it was too late, Xabrith was gone.
