Chapter 8: Dragon Relocation

~~ September - Week 38 & Tychy Week 3 ~~

Juanita had tossed in spare blankets; in case it was cold.

So, they had no trouble putting a bed together for Kyle. The others had all partnered up with their loved ones leaving Kyle, DT and Terry as singles. Kyle told DT he was happy to share if he was and wiggled his eyebrows at him.

DT laughed but declined. He didn’t think his Leigh would approve and he was perfectly happy keeping his arse in its virgin state. The others pooh-poohed him and said he didn’t know what he was missing.

Sean came to DT’s rescue and pointed out that Kyle probably wasn’t the best choice for breaking in a virgin as he did want DT to walk tomorrow. This, of course, then started the questions on how Sean knew how big Kyle was.

Lee and Kyle cracked up at the memory of Kyle sucking off Sean while Sean watched her do the same to Kyle. Kyle ended up coming to Sean’s rescue. He mentioned they hadn’t been too stressed about the dress code when they went camping and morning Woody’s are hard to hide.

This also caused merriment as the guys had to agree. Kyle also pointed out if DT though he was a poor choice for breaking him in, he was lucky Sean wasn’t volunteering.

DT shivered and shook his head ‘no’ while he covered his arse with his hands. This cracked everyone up again because they all knew how big Sean was.

They got up early the next morning. Gary accompanied Kyle, Lee and Sean back to the dragons’ cave. He looked at the lava pools. He said he and DT should be able to come up with some covers for them. It would take them about three hours to get back.

It would probably be faster to get the shuttle to drop them down some sheets and a plasma cutter here. Sean contacted the Captain, and he agreed. So, they packed up camp and moved the lingers to another ledge out of the way.

Penny and Ed turned up about an hour and a half later. The boys carted the sheets and the cutters over to the cave and in an hour, they had made covers and closed over the pools.

The problem they now had was that the crystals still glowed, as they hadn’t been discharged. Kyle had been busy examining the transporter ring. He wondered if as long as one set was powered if they could still transport to another set with Lee’s help. He had a feeling that they could.

Lee had, after all, managed to bring him here without the ring. He had Sean help him get the two boxes Aronha said were his and they placed them in the middle of the 3m wide silver ring.

Kyle sat on the book box and asked Sean and Lee to think of the Ring near Sparky’s forest and to think of him going there. They were also to think of using the power in the crystals to power the rings.

Lee and Sean linked hands and minds and then linked to Kyle. The air around the transporter shimmered, and Kyle and the boxes disappeared.

“Lee, Sean, are you still getting me? It worked, I’m home,” an excited Kyle thought back at them.

They acknowledged they got him loud and clear. They grinned at each other. While the crystals were not totally dark, they were very dim. Lee had been able to tap their energy and felt recharged herself. They wondered if it was enough to weaken the spell.

Lee thought of how the spell would work and cast her mind out, to see if she could feel or see what was stopping the dragons from leaving. Lee was still linked to Sean. She then decided to link to Aronha as well.

When she did, she then felt the barrier. Suddenly some strange words came to mind, and she said them out loud. Aronha gasped into the shared link. ‘It is gone,’ she said. ‘I can feel it. It is truly gone. You did it! You wonderful wizards, you did it. Thank you.’

Sean and Lee decided to leave the lava pools covered until the dragons were relocated in case, they re-established the barrier when the crystals recharged. Aronha also agreed that this was prudent.

Terry and Penny had been scanning the vids and spectral scans of the continent they had renamed Dragonia. They believed they had located a set of caves and thought they may even have access to a lava source. They had even found a good spot close to the caves that they felt could be used as a landing spot.

Terry sent the vids to Lee to show to Aronha. Aronha was ecstatic and asked if they could go have a look. Lee asked her if a dozen of the younger dragons wanted to come and they could scout out the area for Aronha. She couldn’t fly long distances anymore.

She believed she didn’t have much longer to live and was happy she had lived long enough, to see her people free. She had many volunteers wishing to go see the new home. Aronha asked Lee if she thought they could fit all of the 22 juveniles in the transporter. She made sure one was her daughter, Bellna as she would be the new leader soon.

While she was young, Aronha felt that Bellna would be the better leader for the people in the new home. The fact she had taken a shine to Lee didn’t hurt either.

The dragons were a bit apprehensive at entering the transporter, but they bravely did.

They end up with thirty dragons.

It was a bit tight, but as it only took 35 minutes to get to the new location, the dragons decided they could bear it. Lee and Sean stayed with them in the hold to keep them reassured.

Terry landed the transport on the plateau. It was a bit tricky as it really needed cleaning off, but he got them down safely. The little skid-steer loader was still on the transporter, and Sean got busy making the landing site better for next time.

The Queen wandered down the ridge to out of the way and found a sweet spot, which looked out over the lush valley below. She loved the warm sun and moist air on her back and felt content, as she lay down in the sunshine. Her people happy flew off and scouted around.

Lee sat beside the big dragon and asked, “What do you think from your first look, Aronha?”

Aronha looked at Lee. ‘You are truly giving us this land to be our new home, no strings attached?’

Lee laughed, “Well, now that you mention it, I do have a couple. But I think you will not find them a hardship.”

‘Oh?’ said Aronha worried. She was afraid it had been too good to be true.

Lee smiled, “We would like to come and visit and learn more about your people. We would also appreciate it if you didn’t attack or eat any more humans.”

“However, if they come here uninvited and threaten you, it will be at your discretion what you do to them. Hopefully, you will be able to contact one of us wizards first, but you have the right to protect your land.”

‘Both of these conditions are acceptable. Do you have any others?’ Aronha asked.

Lee continued, “I think it would be best if your people don’t come back to the other island or go to the big continents. If you are invited or if you need us in an emergency, then your protection would be assured as long as I’m the Lord Wizard of Tyche.”

“Hopefully, my successor will also agree to these conditions. Again, with any luck, you will be able to contact one of us first. I ask this more for your protection than ours. Not all humans are good. Some would consider being able to kill a dragon as something that they would like to do.”

“I expect many humans to come to this planet in the future. I don’t want trouble between our peoples. I will be making it quite clear to the people that come here that Dragonia is your land and is invite-only. You have the right to defend it. I will get Dye to write a treaty document to this effect. Is this acceptable?” Lee asked.

‘Yes, what are your other conditions?’ Aronha asked. So far, she was more than happy to comply with all of Lee’s stipulations.

“None that’s it,” Lee said.

‘That’s it?’ Aronha asked not sure if she could believe that Lee was basically asking nothing of her. Her people wouldn’t need to leave this beautiful place or do service to her, as the Lord. And Lee said they could defend it. It was too good to be true. She couldn’t see the catch. Wizards always had a catch.

“Umm, one more thing. I wish to apologise for my predecessor’s stupidity and humbly apologise for your captivity. I will never condone your people being held against their will unless they break the laws first.” Lee said and grinned at the dragon, knowing that wasn’t what she expected.

“Aronha, Sean, Kyle, my daughter and I will do our best to make sure your people are left alone. That they are treated with the same rights as any other sentient being, okay?” Lee said with sincerity, as she touched the Dragon Queen.

Aronha could feel Lee’s genuineness and that she believed what she said. While wizards are tricky like faeries, it was rare that they went back on their word once given. She could also see no avenue for Lee to do other than she said. By also including the other wizards this meant they too could not go against her word. Aronha was very content with this outcome.

Bellna landed beside Aronha. ‘Mother, this place is wonderful we have found a large cave system which is lovely and warm and has an excellent cavern for our hatchlings. There is even a big warm ledge you can sleep on while you watch them grow,’ her daughter said and nuzzled her mother in happiness.

“Queen Aronha, do you wish to go back to tell the others, or would you prefer to stay here?” Lee asked.

‘Oh, they already know. We can project what we see back to them. They want you to hurry back to get them,’ Bellna said as she looked at Lee and gave her a very dragon grin.

Lee found it just as disconcerting as her mother’s grin. Lee had to laugh, “So you really hate it here, huh?”

Aronha went to correct her and realised Lee was making a joke as the humans said.

‘Yes,’ she thought back at Lee. ‘I would be loathed to be abandoned here on the hot ledge in the sun to bake,’ she came back.

Lee laughed and kissed the Queen’s scaly cheek.

Aronha spoke to her daughter Bellna, ‘You will need to go back with Lord Lee and show her the other treasures and the documents. I have a feeling she will need them to help keep us safe.’

‘Are you sure, mother?’ Bellna asked.

Aronha looked at Lee, ‘Yes, the treasures are hers by right, and we don’t need them.’

Bellna agreed to do as her mother bid.

The humans headed back to Island with Bellna.

Bellna said that she wouldn’t leave until all of their people and the eggs were moved. She told Lee that the eggs needed to be kept at a particular temperature to ensure viability. She showed Lee the eggs while the next group of her kin was being loaded on to the transporter.

There were about forty eggs the size and shape of Rugby footballs. The shells looked like they were covered in tiny bubbles but were quite hard. They were all so mottled in brown, green and cream colours, so they blended in with the rocky floor. They were very beautiful as far as Lee was concerned.

One egg called to her, and she bent down and touched it. Bellna was as surprised as Lee was when the egg rattled and cracked. It was one of Aronha’s oldest eggs, and Bellna was shocked that the egg was still viable. She wanted to move Lee away.

It was important that the hatchling saw her bond mother first. Not that she felt that was ready to bond to a hatchling, but she was the only other dragon down here when it started hatching. Lee and Bellna sat enthralled watching the baby dragon rattle the shell, and more cracks appeared.

A little while later, it tried again. Lee wanted to help it but knew instinctively that it had to do itself. They waited, and egg rocked violently again. The top finally popped off, and a little head shot up out of the eggshell. The shell rolled over, and the baby struggled to free itself.

Lee could help herself, and she helped pull the sticky bits of shell off the baby. It wriggled out and flopped into her lap to rest. Their eyes met, and Lee suddenly realised she was in trouble, as she felt the bond form.

‘Oh, dear!’ said Bellna, with a laugh in her voice. ‘You have just become a dragon’s mummy, Lord Lee.’

“Oh, crap! What the bloody hell do I do with a dragon baby?” helplessly Lee looked at Bellna.

Bellna chortled, which is a very disconcerting sound coming from a dragon, ‘You feed it.’

“But what do I feed it? Do I have to bathe it? And how do I toilet train it? What about him needing to learn how to be a proper dragon?” Lee wailed.

Bellna chortled at Lee’s distress again. She could sympathise, but it was just too funny. As the bond mother of her brother, Lee would never be able to harm the dragons as long as she lived. Bellna knew her mother would be pleased.

‘While he is little you just feed him raw meat or you can cook it, he won’t care, he will eat it. Dragons are born with our memories. You will have to teach him your ways, he already knows how to be a dragon. If you show him where he can do his business, he will do it there,’ Bellna said.

“How big will he grow?” asked Lee hugging the little fellow to her, despite her distress.

‘Oh, he will probably take about a hundred years to get to about my size. But he will eventually get to be as big as his uncle was. It will be at least a year before he can fly properly and by then he will be about this big,’ she said.

She indicated a height that was still smaller than Miss Piggy was. Right now, the baby was about the same size as Sparky except for the long neck and tail.

“How do I carry him around if he can’t fly?” Lee asked.

‘Normally, he would ride on the bond mother’s neck or shoulders. You can probably carry him on your shoulder until then. He probably won’t put on a lot of weight until he is about five to ten of our years. And by then carrying him, won’t be a problem,’ she explained.

Lee was resigned to the fact she was now a mummy to a pig, a faerie and a dragon and eventfully a human who was to be a powerful wizard. She hoped the menagerie would stick to human babies in the future.

‘We had better find him some food. Then I will show you the other treasures, my Lord,’ Bellna said, getting up.

‘Other treasures?’ Lee thought at Bellna, still distracted by the baby in her lap. He lifted him onto her arms and followed Bellna from the hatching chamber.

‘Yes, we guarded more than the wizard’s boxes. Wizard Jahn kept all his most valuable treasures here,’ Bellna told Lee as she led her to a small catchment of meat in another cavern.

“Bellna if we box the eggs, so they are at the same temperature as the room they are in, would that work?’ Lee asked. Bellna agreed that was a good solution.

Lee called Gary and asked him to find a solution for the eggs. Juanita suggested they pack them in hot bags and put them into a couple of pallets of straw and took them in two trips so the other dragons could look after them. So, this is what they did.

Bellna and Lee heard the humans going down to collect the eggs with some of the other dragons, while they Bellna showed Lee how to fed the baby.

Lee cradled her new son after he had eaten his fill. “What’s his name?” she suddenly thought to ask.