"Stand back," Rohan said at the mouth of the Caves of Dare. "I don't know what mood Pyre's in; or if he's hungry..."
Angus agreed, placing his hand on the three-pronged hilt of his terra-mace as Rohan stuck his head into Pyre's lair.
"Pyre...are you busy?" Rohan said, stepping foot inside the cave. There was a loud rumble...Angus assumed it was a dragon-belch...and then a soft snort. Rohan turned to look at his friend, a grin on his handsome face. "He said to come on in. He just finished lunch."
Angus smiled as he followed Rohan into the caves. Looking up at the dragon, Angus wished he had eaten something before leaving the castle. Pyre looked very...satisfied.
"Pyre," Rohan asked as the dragon nudged him with his head, earning a soft pat on the nose, "Pyre, I need to ask you about Angus' dragon."
*Your mate is to get a dragon?* Pyre questioned. Rohan's eyes got round as saucers, and he laughed, shaking his head.
*Angus isn't my mate, Pyre. He's my friend.*
Pyre snorted in amusement.
*Sorry,* he thought with a chuckle. *You smelled the same; among us dragons, when one smells like another, it means mates.*
Angus nudged Rohan with an elbow.
"What's he saying to you?"
Rohan turned to his friend.
"You don't want to know," he replied, and Angus scratched his head and shrugged. Rohan turned his attention to Pyre. "Anyway, can you help us find his dragon? If you even know who his dragon is."
Pyre nodded his great red and gold head.
*The name of the Earth dragon is Terran. He resides in the mountains to the west; among the highest cliffs that have withstood the tests of time. But Angus will not like taming Terran, I fear.*
"Why? Why won't he like taming his dragon? Not that I cared much for taming you, but..."
*Terran is a trickster. He jests too much, and enjoys watching others struggle with his riddles and games. Even Angus is no match for his wit.*
"Ah, it'll be no trouble for Angus. He'll just have to use his head is all."
*That's just what I'm worried about.* Pyre replied ruefully, and again Rohan laughed.
Angus spread his hands helplessly.
"What's so funny?" He asked. He smacked Rohan's shoulder hard. "Would you lads mind telling me what's so bloody funny?"
That just made Rohan and the dragon laugh harder. Angus shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Overgrown fire-lizard. That's all he is. A big dumb fire-lizard."
Pyre lifted a great eyebrow, closing one nostril with a claw and shooting a fire-ball at Angus with the other; a fire-ball which narrowly missed the thief's backside as Angus jumped out of the line of fire.
"Hey; watch where you're aiming those things, Pyre!"
"The mountains to the west?" Deirdre asked as she adjusted her pack and crossbow. "That's a journey of several days."
Angus shrugged into his own pack, letting his sleeping mat hang from one shoulder. He gazed at the princess.
"You don't have to come with me, Deirdre," he said softly. He turned his head to study the others. "None of you do."
"We want to come, Angus," Garrett said, grinning as he had a sublime thought. "It'll be worth it just to see the one creature who can tell better jokes than yourself."
Angus smiled, buckling his belt and sheathing his newly polished sword. His dragons-breath dagger was safely concealed inside his tunic; a new one Aideen had crafted especially for his journey. It was a soft silvery-gold; the colors mixed together to form something not quite like either color; that felt silky against his skin. Aideen said that no matter how soft it felt, it was more hearty and hale than any of his other tunics. Still; he didn't feel right without his leather jerkin, and it went with him; although his leather half-kilt looking thing stayed behind.
"Well," said the thief as he reached up to hook his thumbs into the shoulder-straps of his pack, "let's go find my dragon."
Ivar smiled, knowing that Garrett would probably be the next to tame his dragon; unless something drastic happened. In a way, he almost hoped Deirdre was next in line; he wondered if her dragon would be female; and probably the only girl in the group, like the princess herself. Of all the wonders, that the knights would all receive dragons. It was absolutely a fantastic prophecy.
"Are you sure we should've brought horses, Rohan?" Angus asked as darkness fell on their first day of travelling. "I mean; what if there are other dragons flying around under cover of night? What if they're...hungry?"
Rohan shook his head. "No. Pyre would've told me if there was any danger of that. Besides, our journey to the mountains would have taken us weeks had we decided to walk."
Leandra, Deirdre's mare, shook her mane and stopped where she was. Rohan's horse, Moonlight, turned to stand beside her, and no amount of prodding from Rohan or the princess could move them. Rohan laughed.
"I refuse to pry into their thoughts," he said, removing an errant strand of hair from the corner of his mouth. "But I think we've just been told where to stop for the night."
Garrett shook his head.
"I thought I had a way with animals," he said, jumping down from his horse, and Rohan sensed that he was a little jealous. "But you take the cake, Rohan."
"Sorry," the young man said, shrugging his shoulders as he helped Deirdre down from Leandra. "I never asked for this much power. It's not easy, knowing what animals...and people...are thinking. Even though most of the time I have to concentrate to receive anything, sometimes thoughts; feelings; just hit me like a sudden burst of wind. There are times I wish things were back to the way they used to be," he added, rolling out his blanket. Deirdre clutched her own bedding in her dainty arms, studying Rohan sadly. Then she nodded, rolling her own blanket out beside his. Their eyes met for a moment, and Draganta nodded slowly, smiling.
"Ah, Rohan and Deirdre are sleeping together," Angus said softly; only Garrett and Ivar were close enough to hear him as he chuckled and pointed toward them. Ivar and Garrett looked; Rohan had his arms around Deirdre, her back matched up perfectly to his front, like two peas in a pod. Ivar smirked and shook his head, laying down on his mat. Garrett's eyes grew dark, and he looked a little troubled; Angus caught his eye as the two of them rolled into their blankets; he knew where the prince was coming from. It wasn't easy seeing Deirdre with their friend; every man in Kells had his eye on the beautiful daughter of Conchobar; but it was obvious that Deirdre's heart had chosen her champion. Angus shook his head as he laid it down on the soft grass; the moment his eyes closed, he fell into unconscious slumber.
"There they are," Garrett said five days later as the knights crested a hill. Just beyond the valley below them were the mountains Angus had been searching for. He smiled a tiny half-grin and looked at Rohan.
"Here your journey ends. You tamed your dragon alone; I intend to do the same."
Deirdre placed her hand on Angus' arm, and he turned to look into her blue-green eyes.
"Be careful, Angus," she said softly, her gaze perusing his face. "We'll be waiting right here for your return."
Angus nodded, spurring his heels into his mount's ribcage, galloping away toward those still distant peaks.
"The highest cliff," he said to himself as the horse raced on. "I'm coming for you, you scaly-hided dragon! You'd better start praying for help, because you're going to need it!"
Angus sat down hard on the smooth ledge only three feet below the top of the cliff. He rested his head against the reddish-yellow rockface, closing his eyes for a moment as he began wondering for the umpteenth time why he had to be the first of the remaining four knights to get his dragon. Oh well. He sighed, breathing deep of the bitter air. It was better than being last, anyway. He stood shakily to his feet; he was more tired than he had at first imagined; and finished up the last leg of his ascent.
He looked around himself in amazement. There was heather and bright green grass growing way up here; all of it surrounding a big, shimmering rock in almost the precise center of the relatively small mountain-top. At least, Angus thought it was a dragon. He approached it carefully, one hand on his sword and ready to draw; the other reaching out to touch the giant stone.
Angus' finger skimmed along a crevice in the rock's surface, and the huge stone shook, rising up from the ground in one long, slow glide. Two huge wings spread away from the rock's body...by Dagda! Angus scooted away as fast as he could...that was no rock! That was his dragon!
The thief looked up at the handsome creature, eyeing the wings first, those scaly things that had almost knocked him off of the cliff. They were silver for the most part; a sort of transparent, sparkling silver when the sunlight hit them. They were outlined in emerald green, the finger-like appendages that moved the wings the same color. The claws were a shade or two lighter then emerald, shimmering with the dragon's good health. The dragon's body was silver, too, with an underlying current of gold rippling beneath the skin like waves on the beach with every motion the dragon made. It had a breastplate that looked exactly like the one on Angus' mystic armor. The creature's head was not as large as Pyre's, but the horns on its head seemed more developed, longer, and gold. The eyes...the eyes were the same color of green as those of Nadia, the ceillach. They stared into Angus' brown ones, searching for something that it seemed to find. The dragon snorted in what the knight assumed was laughter, and it let itself fall from its reared up position, landing its two front legs in front of Angus, shoving at the young man's chest with its huge, dripping snout. Angus drew in a sharp breath, scared half to death that the dragon would eat him before the knight could manage to tame it.
"I don't know what you're so afraid of, thief," the dragon said, his voice deep, a bit rusty, definately male. His S's were a little slurred as well. "Answer my riddles and I'll see if you're worthy of being my master."
"Great," Angus said, frowning. "A dragon who can not only talk back, but knows riddles and has an attitude. Brilliant!" He looked up uncertainly at the dragon. "And my name is Angus. Not thief."
"And my name's Terran, thief. Not dragon." The creature replied, snorting a puff of smoke at Angus. He settled down onto haunches and elbows as he prepared to ask his riddles.
"Thirty white horses on a red hill," he began. "First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still."
Angus laughed, taking a seat amidst the heather, leaning back against a smooth stone.
"Easy," he shrugged, plucking up a piece of grass and gnawing on the sweet stalk. "Teeth. Better make them harder than that, dragon, if you want to give me a challenge."
"What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees; up, up it goes, but never grows."
"Hmm," Angus said, knowing the answer easy enough but not wanting Terran to think so. "Mountains! Hah, I knew it...another easy one."
"Try this one on for size, thief," the dragon said, scratching its claw into the dirt. "It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life, kills laughter."
Angus thought about the one thing he was afraid of; besides letting Rohan down, of course, should that ever happen.
"Darkness," he said softly, then cleared his throat. "Darkness, of course."
"Lucky guess," Terran said. He looked up at the sky; the first star had come out already, though the sun was not near setting yet. The dragon glanced at Angus. "Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters."
"Wind," Angus said quick as lightning. He'd heard that one a long time ago.
"One last riddle. If you guess it, you get to ride me back to your kingdom and tame me. If not...you have to stay here as my slave."
"Agreed," Angus said, although he found the idea of being subservient to a dragon almost vulgar.
"What kingdom am I the dragon of? What do you use to summon me, eh? Can you answer that, thief?"
Angus thought long and hard. Rohan called Pyre the dragon of Dare. The caves of Dare were Pyre's home. He scratched his head as he thought carefully; where were these mountains?
"Terran, earth dragon of Kilmallock!" Angus cried, holding his fist triumphantly in the air. Terran hung his head, then smiled his dragon-smile, sharp teeth glimmering in the half-light of twilight.
"Hop on my back...Angus," he said, flattening his silver and green wings against the ground. "Let's go get your friends...and then I believe I have the right to request a meeting with your king..."
"You are a handsome dragon, Terran," King Conchobar said, touching the dragon's scaly skin. "I am glad to have another defense against Numaine."
"And I am glad to join you, Conchobar," Terran said, inclining his head. "One thing I wish to ask, though..."
"Yes?"
"The cliffs of Kilmallock are so far away...might I beg Pyre's permission to stay in the caves of Dare? Only until I find my own lair, mind you..."
Rohan tilted his head and nodded.
"Pyre heard Terran's thoughts, my king," he said. "It's alright with him; after all, there is plenty of room in those caves. They won't be crowded."
Terran nodded a few times, nudged Angus once more with his nose, a sort of fairwell salute, and spread his wings, flying away toward the caves of Dare. Rohan and the other knights watched him fly off into the distance, and Rohan placed his arm around Angus' shoulders.
"He's a fine looking dragon, my friend," Draganta said. "Almost as handsome as his master."
Angus grinned.
"Yeah, I am handsome. Ravishing, really. And charming. Thoughtful, courageous, daring...charming, handsome...did I mention how good I look? Oh-ho-ho, yeah..."
