Chapter 9

The following new characters appear in this chapter and others:

Bharal

Not a character but an animal. Also called a Blue Sheep. Its color closely matches rock in the areas where it lives. Because of their excellent camouflage, they remain motionless when startled.

Virupaksha

A Purple Dragon, very old and his color has faded, 40 feet tall when he appeared

Tsering

Virupaksha in Human-form, 5’-2’’ tall, 105 pounds, appears to be maybe 60 years old in a long silk robe, gray stringy beard and nearly bald, brown eyes, wrinkled skin where visible

Once the moon had risen, we transformed into our Dragons at the forty-foot-tall level and took off flying basically north and a little west from the location of the fort. We flew for an hour and a half or so and covered about 50 miles (80 km). Long before we stopped, we could see the moonlight reflected off the two lakes, Rakshas Tal and Mansarovar, in the distance. We were looking for a good place to land and set up our camp when Jorani spotted the lone Bharal or Blue Sheep on the side of one of the mountains.

“Look ... an animal,” she told me in a loud Dragon voice. The Bharal was startled by the noise of her voice, but remained motionless, depending on its coloring for camouflage. It couldn’t hide from the eyes of a Dragon however.

We had been looking for a meal for some time now, and I was ready to collect one. As we neared the Bharal, I shot it with a bolt of Magic from the center claw of my right hand, hitting it and knocking it out. Then carefully swooping in, I grabbed it with the claws of my back feet. We quickly located a relatively flat spot on the mountain large enough to land on.

The animal that we had captured weighed about 165 pounds (75 kg) and had horns that were about 29 inches (74 cm) in length. Once settled, I used Dragon fire to roast both sides of the animal after slitting its throat. This heated it and burned off all of the fur that covered it. After removing the animal’s head, I slit its belly open with a sharp claw before breaking it into two pieces along the spine and separating them.

“Now, this is a meal fit for a Dragon,” I told Jorani, as we both picked up our half of the meal.

“You’ve done this before,” she said in an accusing voice before taking a bite out of her half.

“Yes, our entire family went to the Dragon-lands a number of times to feast on fresh kills. There is enough meat here to satisfy us for most of tomorrow,” I told her before taking a bite of my own half of the meal.

“Dragon-lands?” she asked after several more bites and some swallowing. “What Dragon-lands?” she added.

“There is a Reality where many of the male Dragons retreated to after the demise of the Female Dragons. My parents first visited it after the Great Dragon Fight shortly after my Mother became Dragon Queen,” I told her. (See Dragon Wytch, chapters 11 & 12)

“And you’ve been there?”

“Yes.”

“Why is there no mention of this in the Books?” she asked.

“It only happened well after the Female Dragons died out, and wasn’t widely known even in our time. Also, it wasn’t necessary for learning to use Magic. There is much about Dragons that is not included in the Books. We all spent much time in the Nest at Stone Mountain learning about Dragons and their history,” I told her.

“Oh, really! Where is this Dragon Reality?” she asked.

“I’ve only been to the part on the other side of the world where we lived. There should be part of it that we can transfer to here, but it would be better to wait until morning to try to go there,” I told her as we continued to eat our meal.

After finishing, we left the bones and the head there for any scavenger that wanted them. Returning to our Human forms then, we located a sheltered place that was out of the wind to set up the tent that we had purchased in Kathmandu for the night. After adding our sleeping bags, we retired for a good night’s sleep.

In the morning, Jorani made another pot of rice, and we roasted the remains of the Bharal that we had saved to have with it. Later, after returning everything to the Timeless Zone, we returned to the area where we had feasted on the Bharal to find the bones there broken and scattered. Something had also gnawed on the animal’s head. Whatever it had been, it was smart enough not to have bothered two sleeping Dragons.

“Are you ready?” I asked Jorani after inspecting the remains.

“Yes, show me this Dragon Realm,” she said, and we transformed into our Dragon forms before I cast the spell to transfer us there. Instantly, we were someplace else. The first thing that we noticed was that the mountains appeared to be lower. The second was that the plains below were less barren and had more vegetation growing on them. Thirdly, we could see small herds of animals scattered over the area. It was also a bit warmer here. We were both shocked on seeing all of this and just stared at it for several minutes.

On recovering our senses, we took flight and flew over the area. From the reactions of various animals on seeing our shadows or looking up at us, it was obvious that they were aware of just what flew in the skies here. Still, we saw donkeys, horses, yaks, several types of goats, sheep, and antelope in addition to Bharal or Blue Sheep scattered over at least 1200 square miles (3100 sq km) that we could see below us as we flew around the area for over two hours at a leisurely pace. Many were clustered near the two big lakes, or the small streams that drained into the lakes from the surrounding mountains. Lake Rakshas Tal still appeared to be a saltwater lake as few animals stayed near it. Lake Mansarovar and the many streams were just as clearly fresh water as many of the different animals gathered near them or at least in close proximity to them. There were also obviously other predators here besides Dragons from the remains that were visible.

On completing our survey of the area below Mount Kailash, we found a ridgeline that was reasonably level and wide enough for us to land on and rest for a time. We returned to our Human forms after landing so we could talk together in less than a Dragon’s roar, as our voices disturbed all of the animals that could hear us.

“This place is so much nicer than where Humans live,” Jorani said after we had returned to our Human forms.

“It’s also younger according to the Dragons that Mother converses with. It appears that the Demon-lands are the oldest reality and ours is next oldest,” I told her. “But it’s a lot younger than the Demon-lands,” I added.

“You’ve been to the Demon-lands too?” she asked.

“Yes, a couple of times on business. They don’t really like to deal with Dragons but will if you treat them fairly and apply just a bit of pressure,” I told her.

“What are we going to do next?” Jorani was just asking me, when another Dragon appeared in the sky over the area. He was a much older Dragon, and it appeared that he had already spotted us. He let out a Dragon roar that startled and frightened all of the animals near us and sent them running off.

He quickly dropped out of the sky and landed on the end of the ridge that we were on. He was a purple Dragon, a very old and somewhat faded purple Dragon.

“What are you Humans doing here?” he demanded in a loud Dragon voice. He was a little late with his demand, as Jorani and I were already transforming back into our Dragon forms at the forty-foot-tall level. He appeared to be shocked by this.

“You’re Dragons!” he said in a quieter voice before realizing just what was before him.

“A Female Dragon!” he exclaimed in shocked surprise before adding, “but there have been no Female Dragons for thousands of years.”

“I am Thangakili, and I will be the Dragon Queen of the East,” Jorani proclaimed in Gaelic.

“I am Tezcaoatl, son of Tintaglia, Dragon Queen of the West,” I proclaimed just as loudly.

“How can you be the Dragon Queen? You are hardly more than a hatchling,” he demanded in a doubtful voice.

“Name another living Female Dragon,” Jorani challenged him to a stunned look from him.

“But there aren’t any Female Dragons ... not here at least,” he returned in a somewhat unsure voice.

“In the West, there is my Mother, the Dragon Queen, my two Sisters and their four Daughters. They are all Female Dragons,” I assured him.

“There was a rumor about a Female Dragon a short time ago, but no one believed it,” he told us.

“You now know who we are. Who are you?” Jorani asked.

“I am Virupaksha of the Purple clan. Why are you here on our land?” he demanded in a loud voice before looking around and noticing that all of the animals in the area near us had disappeared.

“Perhaps it would be better to change to our Human forms for our discussions, just as you had been. Our voices upset the animals making them harder to catch,” he suggested. We all changed to our Human forms. Virupaksha appeared as on old Chinese man in a long silk robe with a long stringy beard that hung down from his chin and a nearly bald head.

“I am called Craig, and this is my wife to be, Jorani,” I told him.

“You may call me Tsering in this form. It’s as good a name as any,” he told us.

“Now, why are you here?” he demanded again.

“We came to see Mount Kailash in the Human-lands. It is not a very hospitable place. We caught and ate a Blue Sheep there last night and came here this morning. We have only been looking around at the area so far and stopped here to rest,” I told him.

“After examining the mountain, we will be looking for the Nest,” Jorani told him. “Do you know where it is?” she added.

“The Nest is an hour’s flight from here. You will know when you are there, as there is still Magic there, Dragon Magic, but it grows weaker with time,” Tsering told us while pointing just to the south of east.

“Why would you come to look at this mountain though?” he asked perplexed.

“People from at least four religions have been coming there for thousands of years. There must be something here,” I told him.

“There is Magic there. It is only Ordinary Magic, not Dragon Magic. Originally, there was a source of Magic there. It wasn’t terribly strong, but over the ages, those who have come there have increased its strength with their devotion and prayers, but it is still only Ordinary Magic,” Tsering told us.