Chapter 7

The following characters are mentioned or appear in this chapter or the next:

Vishnagupta

The oldest purple Dragon, Very faded coloring, forty feet tall when he arrived.

Virupaksha

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, maybe 60 years old, gray hair and stringy beard, brown eyes, wrinkled skin where visible

In a short time, the surrounding mountains were covered in Dragons. The majority of them, about two thirds, were from the Purple clan. The remaining third were from the Green Clan. Once all of them were settled, two of those from the Purple Clan flew toward us where we were on top of the mountain where the Nest was located in the Human Reality.

Though it had been some time since I had seen them, I quickly recognized both of them as they approached. They were Vishnagupta who was the Leader of the Purple Clan, and Virupaksha who we had met met previously near the large lakes when we first visited the Dragons-lands. They both settled on the mountain near us. It was only a little crowded with all of us at the forty-foot-tall level.

“Perhaps it would be wise to reduce your size and to speak in something besides the Dragon language. It is very loud and can disturb the offspring,” the Queens of Old suggested, and we all shrank to the twenty-five-foot-tall level.

“Welcome Vishnagupta and Virupaksha. To what do we owe the honor of this visit?” the Queens of Old then asked in Gaelic.

“We must speak to the New Queen,” Vishnagupta told us.

“The New Queen is not here. She is at the other Nest with her new chicks ... three Daughters,” the Queens of Old told them in a very satisfied voice, before continuing, “instead her male is here in her place along with his nest-mate. They will assist you in any way they can,” the Queens told him. He appeared to be less than happy to hear this.

“What can we assist you with?” I asked before he could say anything.

“We are ... concerned, I believe is the word, about our offspring. We were not prepared for there to be so many of them,” Vishnagupta told us.

“There are not just the young offspring and their parents. There are also the old offspring plus their offspring and mates. We have also brought a number of those with strong Talents here with them. There are many more than we expected to have here,” Virupaksha added.

“Already some of the offspring and their others have begun gathering the various animals into larger herds and moving them to other pastures. They brought tents and other things with them to live apart with the herds,” he continued, describing the nomads.

“Fortunately, the Chinese trained many of our offspring very well in the building of things and the care of offspring. Our worry is that they will have insufficient food and fuel for the cold time. Even here in the Dragon-lands, the cold time can be very severe, We need a way to ensure their survival,” Vishnagupta told us.

“What of those in the other parts of China and the rest of Asia? Could they not provide food and fuel for the winter?” I asked.

“The other Clans have their own offspring to worry about. Some could obtain these things for themselves and others, but they would require some form of...?” Vishnagupta paused looking for the correct word.

“Compensation,” I inserted. “Something of value to trade for the things required,” I added.

“Yes, that is what we and several other Clans lack. Things of value are hard for us to determine in these times. It is not like before when many things were easy to locate, as we had large areas to ourselves,” he finished.

“There are things in the Tribute rooms that could be used, but I must confer with the New Queen and the Queens of Old before removing any of it,” I told him, but didn’t mention our contacts with the Black-market.

“We will need to know how many offspring and others will need food and fuel for the winter before we are able to obtain the money needed to purchase those things,” I told him.

“I will send Virupaksha to determine the number of offspring and others in need of food and fuel. After a time, he will return with the number and to learn what you have determined. In the meantime, we will continue to assist our offspring as much as possible,” Vishnagupta told us before they both returned to their full size and took off. Shortly, most of the Dragons left, leaving only two from the Purple Clan and one from the Green Clan to assist their offspring and to teach Magic.

It wasn’t until we were back inside the Nest in the Human Reality that Keith said anything.

“There are at least hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of things in those Tribute rooms. Couldn’t some of it be sold to obtain food and fuel for the winter for the offspring?” he asked as we looked at the contents of some of the Tribute rooms.

“That is a possibility, but remember that all of this, the entire Nest and all that it contains, belongs to the New Queen and by extension to the Queens of Old. It will need to be their decision if any of it will be sold to support the Dragons’ offspring,” I reminded him.

“Yes, Doreen told me that the Queen had only disposed of a few things to finance the start of Dragon Security,” he acknowledged. “Do you believe that Jorani or Maddy will be willing to raise money for the offspring?” he asked following that.

“Jorani takes her responsibilities as Queen very seriously. She is also a very giving person, so yes, I believe that she will be willing to do that, but it must be her decision, and her choice of what to sell to obtain the money. Mother may advise her on what to dispose of and how much of it,” I told him before exhaling heavily.

“That means another trip through the portal to talk to her, and then a return trip to gather what she decides on. On top of that, there needs to be a decision made on where to sell whatever she decides on,” I told him. The trip through the portal was not something I looked forward to.

“We will go with you,” the Queens of Old told us after appearing near us. “Not today, however. Even for us, the trip through the portal is wearing. We will need to gather energy for it. Tomorrow will be time enough,” they assured us. Keith and I spent the remainder of the day going over the objects in the various Tribute rooms, noting the quantity and condition of the various types of objects in them.

In the meantime, at the Chinese Communists Party’s secret meeting place in Beijing, a meeting was occurring that would have some bearing on future events.

“We have developed several leads, Excellency,” the Chief of the Guoanbu spy agency told the General Secretary of the Politburo after entering his office on the second underground level.

“What are these leads? Explain,” the Secretary demanded.

“The first is part of a confession by one of the leaders of the many Black-market organizations. I will play the important part of his confession,” the Guoanbu Chief told him, and the video screen on the wall of the office lit up. The image showed the battered face and shoulders of a Chinese man of about 35 or 36 years of age. He had a broken nose and was missing several teeth in addition to two black eyes that were mostly closed plus numerous bruises and a few burn marks.

“Why have you done so little business in the last month or so?” a voice demanded from off-screen. The man appeared to smile, if only a little.

“A number of weeks ago, we were advised by those from another syndicate that the Dragons were going to take revenge on the government for something. We were told to lay low. While no time frame was given, we preferred to be cautious,” the man answered.

“Where did this warning come from?” the same off-screen voice demanded.

“I wasn’t at the meeting but was told that it came from a similar organization in ‘the Land of Snow and Dragons’,” the man replied. This was followed by several seconds of silence before the screen went dark.

“Do you believe that he was telling the truth? He answered those questions very quickly,” the Secretary inquired.

“He didn’t know what we were looking for. In fact, we weren’t looking for the reason they were doing so little business, or anything about Dragons. Initially, it was just to get him to talk. He didn’t think he was giving anything away,” the Guoanbu Chief explained.

“When the video was reviewed, it rang a bell with those viewing it and caused us to check on other reports about Dragons and Tibet. Last winter, there were disruptions of the functioning of the government in part of Tibet; in The Tibetan Autonomous Region and specifically in Lhasa. At the time, we sent investigators as did others but could discover nothing. No one had seen or heard anything, yet some buildings were destroyed, the local and regional government buildings lost power, and workers were confined to their buildings for several days as were the police securing the buildings. There was also an attack on the Regional Army Headquarters and their camp with much destruction.

“There were also reports last year of Dragons entering the country without permission. They supposedly entered from Nepal in the area near Mount Kailash. Additionally, we lost an agent in Thailand last summer supposedly to a pair of Dragons. The same pair that are believed to have entered illegally and caused the trouble in Lhasa. Finally, there is the recent report from our Embassy in Washington about the absolute failure of our attempt to remove several Dragons during a meeting with their President. Our Ambassador was warned by one of the Dragons that OUR government must change or it will not survive while he was held upside down by that Dragon,” the Guoanbu Chief concluded in an unhappy voice.

“So, all of this points to Tibet, the Land of Snow and Dragons. That area has been a constant source of trouble despite all of the people we have moved there, and all of the improvements we have made. Have you sent agents there to check on these rumors?” the Secretary asked.

“Yes, Excellency. We have sent a number of our best agents to various sites in Tibet to check on this,” the spy Chief assured him.

“Be sure that they are authorized to use whatever force is necessary,” the Secretary told him to a smile from the Guoanbu Chief.

Initially, the Queens of Old had decided that we would leave at nine the next night. If we left during the daytime here, it would be nighttime at home. However, the Queens were impatient to get help for the offspring underway and just before nine that evening, they appeared at the Queen’s nest where we were.

“The Spirits of Magic have gifted us with extra Magic, and we are ready to use the portal to the other Nest. When can you be ready to leave?” they asked. Keith and I had already eaten and were considering what to do for the next twenty-four hours when the Queens appeared.

“We can be ready to leave in a few minutes,” I told them, as we closed things up and put them away. We were ready to leave in no time. The trip down to the portal went quickly, and we emerged in the Nest in Stone Mountain shortly after that only a little dizzy. From the main entrance of the Nest, we transferred to the driveway of my Mother’s house, and the Queens took us through the Nesting Ward there. Mom and Jorani were surprised to see all of us, but quickly had questions.

“What’s wrong?” both asked. It only required a short time for the Queens of Old to bring them up to date on what was happening. Jorani was upset about the problems of the offspring.

“Yes, we must do something for them, but it cannot go on forever. The offspring must become reasonably self-sufficient. They started late this year, but by next year, they should be able to care for themselves with only a minor bit of assistance,” she said, and the Queens of Old as well as the Queens in the Jewel all smiled at her decision.

“The question is how much assistance is required for the winter? How many villages or settlements are we talking about and are they only in Tibet?” she asked.