Chapter 18

The following characters reappear from previous stories:

Nicolae Maier

Manager of Dragon Security office in Charleston, SC, 5’-10’’ (1.78 meters) tall, 170 pounds (77 kg), appears to be 32 years old, dark brown hair, violet eyes, a very strong Talent, he is a Brown Dragon

Sara Hankel

Nicolae’s wife, 5’-4’’ (1.63 meters) tall, 130 pounds (59 kg), 34D-23-34, 27 years old, long brown hair, sparkling green eyes, a strong Talent, she is a Gold Dragon

Myles Graham

Dragon, 5’-11’’ tall (1.80 meters), 200 pounds (91 kg), 68 years old, short gray hair, violet eyes, retired assassin; he was known as The Fixer, he is a Green Dragon

Vivian (Viv)

Myles wife, 5’-2’’ tall (1.58 meters), 115 pounds (52 kg), 34D-22-34, 24 years old, long red hair, violet eyes, super strong Talent, she is a Dark Blue Dragon

Yuryi still has the Narrative

“The next guests WILL be of more interest to you. They have had more active lives than the others,” Maddy told me, and I followed her into the large parlor. There were four people in there also.

“This is Nicolae Maier and his wife Sara. Nicolae is presently the manager of our new Charleston office. You will want to talk to him but later,” she told me. I could tell that both were strong Dragons. It would be difficult to tell Nicolae’s actual age if he is as old as Maddy had indicated previously. Other than that, he appeared to be a reasonably tall guy who wasn’t overweight. His wife was several inches shorter than Yvonne and a good fifteen pounds lighter. She did have a nice figure.

“Lastly, there is Myles Graham and his wife Vivian,” Maddy said, introducing the last couple. Myles was an older man, fairly tall but not overly heavy for someone his age. When we shook hands, I noticed the callouses on his. His wife was very good looking with a fine figure, and much younger than he was. They were both Dragons, but she had an enormous Talent and a huge amount of Magic. I didn’t think anything of meeting them at the time, but that would change. Maddy left us then, and I moved back to Nicolae.

“Are you really as old as Maddy told us?” was his first question. She had told me how old he was previously.

“As closely as I have been able to determine through research and the dates of things that occurred during the first couple of centuries of my life, I was born in 802 AD give or take six months to a year,” I told him.

“How long have you been a Dragon?” he asked next. “Was it after you found the books?” he added.

“No, it was long before that. I first achieved my Dragon form when I was attacked when I was twenty years old. I incinerated five of the six attacking me before I realized what I was doing. Then, I didn’t know how to return to my Human form, or what I really was. But I have been a Dragon for something like 1250 years,” I told him. Myles Graham and their wives had been listening to us.

“While you boys talk about old times, we ladies are going over to talk to your wife. We understand that she may be pregnant with twin girls,” Myles wife, Vivian, told us before the ladies departed.

“Twelve hundred and fifty years!” Nicolae said with a bit of wonder. “And I thought six hundred years was a long time to be a Dragon,” he added.

“I’ve only been a Dragon for ten years or so, and that seemed like a long time,” Myles told us. “I couldn’t imagine being one for that long, but I may be able to achieve that,” he added. I looked at him questioningly.

“Dragons can live 4,000 years, at least, some of them,” I said.

“Myles is also part Immortal, as am I,” Nicolae told me following that.

“Immortal?” I asked not understanding.

“They prefer to be referred to as long life. My somewhat removed grandmother is over 500 years old. Her mother is over 750 years old, and her great grandmother was born in 975 AD and is still alive. None of them are Dragons,” Myles told me.

“And both the daughter and granddaughter recently had children,” Nicolae added with a grin.

“Really! That is exceptional, and you share this Nicolae?” I asked.

“Oh yes. I was killed five or six times before I learned enough Magic to prevent that,” he told me. This definitely startled me.

“The same thing has happened to me. It was only four times, but yes, I came back to life after an hour or so. I had started learning Magic early in life, and had learned enough to protect myself as well as being a Dragon early on,” I told them but had a question.

“What color is your Dragon?” I asked Nicolae.

“I’m a Brown Dragon. We seem to be very few, as all of those I have talked with are surprised by my color,” he told me. Again, I was surprised.

“I am also a Brown Dragon. We could be related, at least at the clan level,” I told him before turning to Myles.

“What color is your Dragon?” I asked.

“I’m a dark Green Dragon. It seems to suit me,” he said.

“You know our friend Myles here was ‘The Fixer’ for many years, but he is retired now,” Nicolae said much to my surprise, yet again.

“Really!” I asked before relating my recent experience with ‘The Closer’. They were both surprised by this revelation.

“What do you do now?” I asked Myles in a more respectful voice.

“I was in custom furniture most of my life. Now, I teach craftsmanship in wood as well as search for Mahogany trees in the Dragon Lands,” he told me.

“Dragon Lands?” I asked in surprise.

“Have you never been there?” both men asked in shocked surprise.

“No, this is the first time I’ve heard of such a place. Where is it?” I asked.

“You ARE in for such a surprise. We’ll get the Queen or someone to take you there while you are here. It’s wonderful,” Nicolae assured me, but we were interrupted then by Maddy.

“Yuryi, you need to change for the reception. Yvonne has already gone up to your room,” Maddy told me. I hurried upstairs, still wondering about this Dragon Land. Yvonne was nearly finished changing when I arrived there.

“I take it that you were busy talking,” she said, as I entered.

“Yes, I learned a number of interesting things. I take it that you were talking with the other women,” I said.

“Yes, they all have at least twin daughters, and some of them also have a son. They offered quite a bit of advice on what to do while pregnant and after the twins are born. They were all very understanding, and most of them were Dragons. Eve was the only one who isn’t a Dragon besides me. We got along very well,” she told me with a smile, while I changed into the clothes that she had laid out. Shortly, we were ready to rejoin the others.

Arriving downstairs, we found everyone ready to leave. There were enough Female Dragons to get everyone through the Nesting Ward with no trouble. On the way out, I noticed that there were more Familiars than people and thought it a bit strange before realizing that some of them belonged to those at work, or other places where they didn’t normally take them.

Once through the Ward, everyone split up and began to vanish. Maddy took Yvonne and me along with several of the Familiars. In a second or so, we appeared in what had to be Stone Mountain Park at the base of the huge, monolithic, stone mountain there. There were already a good number of others there before us. Some I recognized from meeting them previously, but others were strangers to me. They were obviously known to the others, as everyone was talking and joking. I later learned that many of them were senior people from Dragon Security. They all stopped talking when Maddy appeared with us.

“I’ll need to open the Nest, then Kennith and I will transfer you up to the landing platform of the Nest. While we are getting everything set up for the party, some of the girls will give you a guided tour of the upper rooms of the Nest,” the Queen told us, as that was obviously who she was now, before casting the spell that opened the Nest. A landing stage extended from the opening for us to transfer to. We were followed by the Queen of the East and her family, and then the others.

Dallas’s two daughters, Carry and Casey, were the ones who gave us the tour. The entrance, the huge hallway, and the various rooms on this level of the Nest had been carved out of the solid rock of the mountains. The finish on all of the surfaces was very smooth, but there was some wear on the floor from the passage of many Dragons over the ages.

There were several meeting rooms that were decorated with very realistic paintings of Dragon scenes. These were followed by the ‘Tribute Rooms’, as our guides called them. These huge rooms were filled with things like gold nuggets the size of footballs, huge pearls, and other types of jewels such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires and other precious gems. All were of sizes larger than usually found today and often much larger. There were also large pieces of various types of crystals such as jade that could be carved into statues or other things. Yvonne and I were shocked by all of this, and what the materials here were worth. There were other rooms with less recognizable things in them.

“These things are worth billions of dollars at today’s prices and will be worth even more in the future,” Yvonne said at one point to Carry’s smile.

“The Nest in Tibet has even larger amounts of Tribute, as it was established some four thousand years or so before this one,” she told us.

After a time, Deirdre appeared and informed us that it was time for the party to begin. We followed her down to where it was being held in the ‘Queen’s Reception Hall’. Maddy had told us that it was large enough to hold a thousand full size Dragons ... she hadn’t been kidding at all. The place was a huge cavern. Apparently, it had been hollowed out just as the area above it had been, but this area was significantly larger. The party had been set up in one corner of the huge room. It would have required a large restaurant or a hall elsewhere, but it filled only a tiny bit of the space in this gargantuan hall.

There were a number of tables that held a huge variety of foods, pastries and drinks of all kinds. There were plates and bowls plus utensils for eating and cups and glasses for drinking the various liquid refreshments. There were many additional tables for people to gather in groups or families to eat together. Yvonne and I were seated at the table with the Queen of the West, her husband, and her youngest daughter. The food, while mostly Oriental, was delicious, and available in large quantities. There were many types of drinks available as well. There was everything from coffee and tea to soft drinks, beer, and stronger drinks.

One thing I did notice was the separate area set aside for the Familiars to eat and drink. There was a bowl for each Familiar and a number of bowls of milk and water. There were also a number of scat boxes for later. The Familiars also returned to the ones they were linked to after eating to beg for additional food from them.

“Do not feed the Familiars,” the Queen told us. “They have already had their meals, but they are great beggars,” she added. I noticed that some of the young people had a problem keeping things from falling off their forks or spoons.

When everyone was full, or at least mostly, the dancing began. Yvonne and I were the first ones to dance to some recorded big band music. We were joined by a number of the older people present after a few minutes. The younger people had their own music to dance to. Additionally, there were demonstrations of the dances and music from the countries where various members of the group originated, especially those of Oriental extraction, but also some European and even Eastern European music. Everyone appeared to be having a good time. It was quite late when the party broke up, and everyone prepared to leave. Maddy was the last one out and closed the Nest before she and Kennith transferred us to their home.

The celebrating by some of those present had been rather strong, as had what they had been drinking. A number of those leaving the party had needed the assistance of their wives to transport them home. I had a few beers, and Yvonne had been drinking sweet iced tea as had Eve and a number of the younger women. Others had soft drinks of various kinds or fruit juice. It was well after dark when we arrived at Maddy’s house.

“Goodness, that one kind of got out of hand. I don’t remember there being that much drinking at previous parties. I’ll have to have a word with my daughters about future parties,” she told after we had entered her house.

“Yes, too much was spilled on the floor,” one of the Familiars who had come with us told her in a knowing way, before they left to sleep in the kitchen.