The Call of the Dragon: Chapter Four

When Kai woke again, the sun was nearly setting over the horizon, his eyes were swollen and gritty with sleep, and he could still feel the warm press of Agrios’s scales against his back.  As soon as he thought the dragon’s name, the large black head turned and one of those glacial eyes raked over him critically.

“Feeling better?”

Kai smiled, all nervousness forgotten in the face of the realization that he truly was safe with Agrios.  If the dragon had intended him any harm, he reasoned, it would have happened by now, and he’d not have slept so soundly against the beast’s scales.  “Much, thank you.”  Stretching his arms up over his head and feeling his back pop and snap in several places, he watched as the black scaled head turned to once again stare from the cave entrance into the fading light.  “What are you looking for?” he asked quietly, not wanting to intrude but wondering if they were somehow in danger.

“My brother is near,” came the quiet response, “but I can not see him yet.  You should have enough time to bathe before he arrives, if you’d like.”

Malachai nodded and stood, trailing his hand along the blue black scales as he did so and admiring the strength he felt in each one.  As he was trailing his fingers along Agrios’s flank, curious now that he’d gotten over his fear and anxiety, he accidentally caught one of the scales on the edge and, with horror blooming in his eyes, he both heard and felt it rip away from the skin beneath.

Yanking his hand back as though he’d been burned, Kai turned to face the dragon, fearing anger, or, at the very least irritation.  “I’m so sorry!” he gasped quietly, hands clutched to his chest and golden eyes wide.  “I… I didn’t mean to!  I was just…”

The look that Agrios leveled on him could be described as amused, and, if Kai hadn’t known better, he’d have sworn the dragon was laughing at him.  “You didn’t hurt me,” came the rumbling mental voice.  “I’m shedding my scales… much like a snake does.  It’s a growth period for me, and these were becoming a bit too small.  Actually, the one you pulled on has been itching rather badly.  I’d be very grateful if you would tear it off for me.”

“You want me to… pull one of your scales off?” the young man asked incredulously.

“Yes, please.”  The reply was droll and without the slightest hint of humor.  “You may keep the scale, if you like.  I’m told that a dragon scale makes excellent armor.”

Though he wasn’t certain what he was going to do with a dragon scale, Kai fitted his fingers beneath the loose scale and pulled quickly, feeling it tear off a little bit more.  Worried that he was hurting Agrios, he glanced up at the dragon’s face, but the large creature seemed unconcerned.  So, getting a firmer grip on the scale that was almost as tall as he was as nearly twice as long, he yanked as hard as he could and nearly fell backwards on his rump as the skin gave way and the shiny scale came free.

Agrios sighed and lifted one of his hind feet to scratch at the area that was now bare, but grew frustrated when he couldn’t reach it.  “Would you mind…?” he asked quietly, then sighed again when Kai plied both hands to his hide and scratched vigorously.

After several moments, the dragon shrugged his shoulders in contentment and fairly purred, “Thank you.  That is much better.”

“Glad I could help,” replied Kai, fairly certain that things couldn’t get any more strange than they already were.  Who would believe him if he said that he’d slept for several hours curled up at a dragon’s side, then had peeled a scale from the same dragon’s hide, been gifted with the scale - which he knew to be quite valuable - and then scratched the giant creature like one might do to a beloved dog or cat?  Shaking his head and hoisting the large scale onto his shoulder, he was surprised to find that it was lighter than he’d expected, and he had no trouble at all lifting it to be carried.  “I’m going to go bathe now.  You’ll call me when your brother arrives?”

At Agrios’s nod, Kai hurried off into the bowels of the cave, pleased to find that there was some kind of natural luminescence in the rock walls that provided enough light for him to see by, and he was able to find the hot springs with little difficulty.

Setting the scale down on the rocky, loose dirt, he made certain that it’s surface wouldn’t get scratched on the rocks that littered the ground before sliding the headband from his hair and taking his clothes off to slip into the warm water.  He remained as long as he dared, enjoying the heat of the water against muscles that been stretched and overworked, before sinking down and wetting his hair to rid himself of the tight ringlets that Mary had created.  With the heavy mass of his hair weighing him down, he scrubbed at his body with his hands, doing his best to rid himself of the dust and sweat that had clung to him from his fear the night before, and then from being tied to a stake all night and most of the morning.

Finally, satisfied that he could get no cleaner without soap and a stiff bristled brush, he climbed from the hot spring and stood, dripping, wondering how he was going to dry off.  Just then, he felt a warm breeze blowing through the cavern and realized that he would be dry in no time; he would just have to wait a few minutes before putting his clothes back on.

As he waited, he crouched down and lifted the scale up to see it better.  It was hard and smooth on both sides, though it curved slightly to fit the body of the large dragon it had come from.  He ran his hand over the surface and was surprised to find that it was still warm.  In the sparkling luminescence that came from the walls, he saw that the scale shimmered with the same blue black radiance as the rest of the scales that covered Agrios’s body, and he wondered if it would sparkle as brilliantly in the sunlight as it had when it had still been attached.

Deeming himself dry enough to don his clothing, he slid his trousers back up over his hips, and was grateful that he’d thought to bring the waist in enough to fit him when he’d been sewing the garment into the skirt of the dress.  He left the top off, as it was too tight and was uncomfortable across his shoulders, and instead tore a strip of the material from around the bottom of the bodice.  He braided his long, wet hair into a thick plait and tied it off with the thin piece of material from his top, then, gathering what was left of his shirt, Mary’s headband, and the scale that Agrios had given him, he began to make his way back up the cave tunnels to the main room just as he heard the large dragon’s voice in his mind.

“My brother is flying overhead and should be landing momentarily.”

“All right,” Kai answered back, glad that he could speak to Agrios in his mind since his breath was busy being huffed out during the uphill hike out of the hot spring cavern.  “I’m on my way.”

By the time he arrived, breath heaving, in the main room of the cave, it was to see another dragon, wings outspread, touch down on the rocky ground just outside the mouth of the cavern sanctuary.  This dragon was a silvery gray in color, and his scale pattern was different than Agrios’, though he was no less magnificent and beautiful than his larger brother.  Though he was still massive and Kai knew that, if he wanted to, the dragon could easily crush him, this brother of Agrios’ seemed somehow more delicate than his bigger, darker sibling.

The human stood back as the dragons greeted each other, and Kai could see in the dying light from the sun that the new dragon’s eyes were a pale green; so pale that they seemed to shimmer into silver with every motion of his large, graceful head.  Like Agrios’, his scales glittered in the light, but instead of being a blue black, these more closely resembled opals in that they seemed to reflect every color over and over again so that looking at this dragon was almost like looking at a giant diamond.

Remaining in the shadows, he waited for one of the majestic creatures to notice him, then jumped when he heard Agrios’ voice in his head.

“This is Niwaye.  My brood brother.”

“Brood brother?” Kai questioned, stepping quietly over to join the dragons and laying his hand against one of the large scale plates that covered Agrios’ shoulder to let him know that he was there.

“Yes,” answered Niwaye.  “We hatched from the same nest, and were raised by the same brood mother, though Agrios is several months older than I.”

“So,” the young man began quietly, trying to understand the concept of brood mothers and brood brothers, “your mothers were not the same?”

Agrios’ rumbling laugh echoed in Kai’s head, and his icy eyes were amused as he swung his head around to look at the human.  “Not in the same sense that human brothers have the same parent.”

A confused frown drew Kai’s eyebrows into little hooks, and he said quietly, ashamed of his inexperience, “I don’t understand.”

More patient than his older brother, Niwaye gazed steadily at Kai and gave the youth the distinct impression that the graceful silver dragon was smiling gently at him.  “When a female dragon lays her egg, she will often leave it in the care of another female dragon - usually one who has no children of her own; what we call a Matron.  This Matron, or brood mother, as her hatchlings call her, will look after several eggs at a time, and then care for the young until they are old enough to fly from the nest and hunt for themselves.  Agrios and I were raised by the same brood mother, though his egg hatched several months before mine did.”  Now Kai had the impression that Niwaye was blushing slightly, and embarrassment seemed to color his voice when he resumed the explanation.  “I was what you might call late.  My mother laid my egg late in her life and died shortly afterwards.  I’m told that, for a while, it was thought that I would not hatch at all.”

Still slightly confused but not wanting to bother the dragons with a bombardment of questions, Kai only nodded and gave a vague, “Ah.”  Deciding to leave the ‘brothers’ alone, he nodded respectfully at each of them in turn, received both of their nods, and then made his way out of the cave to perch on a flat rock several feet away.

Both dragons watched as the human left the cave, and when Niwaye turned back to Agrios, his pale green eyes were amused.

“He doesn’t understand us,” he said quietly, moving forward to check over his brood mate’s injury.  Sniffing the area, the silver dragon frowned, then delicately sniffed again.  “I don’t like the smell of this wound,” he said darkly, pulling away to gaze at the darker dragon.

“Not many who are not dragon-kind do understand us,” Agrios returned lightly, his great head resting on his front legs once again, pale blue eyes following Kai as he found a place to sit and did so, thus leaving the two dragons in privacy.  In answer to Niwaye’s statement, the black dragon huffed and groused, “Kai thinks the wound is infected.”

“Is that his name?” wondered the smaller of the two, and had the satisfaction of feeling his brother’s embarrassment over forgetting to properly introduce the human.  “Did he say what he thought should be done about the infection?”

“He said that he would need to cut open the hide that has already healed, and asked if I had a knife.  I told him that you would be able to cut it open for him.”

“I?”  The tone was incredulous and slightly horrified.

“Yes.  You’re a healer, Niwaye.”

“For small creatures only.  Never for our kind.  I‘m still learning!”

“Regardless.  Use your claw to slice it open again.  You’ll have to ask Kai for further directions.”

With a decidedly unhappy pinch around his mouth, the silver dragon turned to go speak to the young blonde human, while Agrios watched his brother go with something akin to amusement in his eyes.  Niwaye was one of the best healers the dragons had seen in a long time, though his education was far from complete.  He was still learning on smaller creatures, but would soon graduate to healing their own kind, and Agrios was certain that he would excel even further if given the chance and become the best and brightest healer they’d ever had.

He watched as the silver dragon approached Kai, and wondered what his brood mate thought of the pretty human.  It wasn’t unheard of for a dragon to take a human for a lover, thought it was rare and often looked down on as a dragon would long outlive his or her human companion.  It was tragic for the dragon, who then had to live with that loss for many more centuries to come.

Agrios watched as the two conversed for several minutes before they both turned and headed back into the cave.

“Well?” he asked quietly, glacial eyes resting on Kai.

“Niwaye is going to reopen the wound so I can clean and bandage it properly.”  When the large black dragon nodded, the young man said, “I need you to come over to the spring, please.”

Laboriously, Agrios stood and followed his brother and the small human to the natural spring at the back of the main cave, then lay down so that his flank was easily accessible and facing the source of the water.  He winced slightly as he felt Niwaye’s wickedly sharp claw slicing into the still-raw flesh, but he made no sound.  Instead, he turned his large head to watch what Kai was doing, surprised to see that he’d already torn most of what was left of his long skirt into strips, and was using the rest of it as a rag to gently but thoroughly clean the infection from the wound.

As he worked, the blonde tried to keep his mind away from the very real pain that he could feel from Agrios, as it distracted him and kept him from focusing on the gash like he should.

After several minutes, needing something to distract them both, he kept his mouth closed and spoke only in his mind.

“Agrios?”

The dragon’s glacial blue eyes sharpened and focused on Kai.  “Yes?”

“You said dragons are telepathic, which explains why we’re able to talk like this.  But it doesn’t explain why I can feel your pain.”

Kai sensed humor from Agrios, but the dragon only said, “Perhaps you are an empathic individual.”

The boy pondered that statement for a while.  He supposed that could be it, and as he didn’t have any other explanation for why he could feel the double-edged sword of the dragon’s pain, he accepted it and let the matter go.

Several minutes later, the young man stepped away and dropped his arms with a tired sigh.  “I’ve cleaned it as best I can, but it’ll have to be washed out at least once a day to keep dirt and such from getting into it.  I thought to wrap it, or cover it somehow, but I don’t have any way to anchor the material to the wound.”

Niwaye, who had retreated to the far wall of the cavern to keep an eye on everything, stood and crossed to them, his pale green eyes inspecting Agrios’ side critically.  He finally nodded in approval and told Kai, “Nicely done.”

The blonde smiled up at the gray dragon, pleased with the compliment, though the effect was slightly ruined due to the bruise that covered almost the entirety of the left side of his face and swelled his left eye nearly shut.  Niwaye studied the bruise for a long moment before blowing gently on the youth’s face.  “I wish I could take away the bruising for you,” he murmured gently.  “It looks painful.”

But Kai shook his head and spoke out loud so that both dragon‘s could hear him.  “It’s not bad, actually.  The worst part was the waiting, and the not knowing.”

“Not knowing what?” Agrios questioned.  He hadn’t heard Niwaye’s original statement, so he was confused as to what the blonde was talking about.

Grinning at the black dragon over his shoulder, the young man answered, “Not knowing if I was going to be turned into a dragon’s dinner was pretty nerve-wracking.”  With a teasing chuckle, he joked, “I’m glad I’m…. how did you put it, Agrios?… barely a decent mouthful…?”

The quiet giggle turned into a delighted laugh when he felt the black dragon’s chagrin over having made that comment, and the silver dragon’s confusion over why his brood brother would say such a thing.  As the human walked away to lay the wet strips of his skirt over the rocks outside the cave, Niwaye turned to his brother with a question shining clearly from his silvery green eyes.

“What are you going to do with the boy?” he asked gently.

“I don’t know,” came the quiet answer, Agrios’ voice sounding strained and tired.  “I suppose I’ll let him go back to the town he came from when he’s ready to go.”

But Niwaye gazed at the black dragon until Agrios growled quietly in irritation and turned his face away from his brother.

“That town tied him to a stake and basically left him for dead.  They were willing to sacrifice him to save themselves.  You truly think he’d want to go back to that town?”

“I don’t know!  The decision is his, whenever he makes it.”

“And if he chooses to stay with you?”

Glacial blue eyes met pale green.  “Then I suppose I shall have a human companion, even if I don’t want particularly want one.”

Still, Niwaye gazed at his bigger brother.  “You’ll bring him back with us, when it is time to return?”

Agrios nodded once.  “If that is what he chooses, then yes.”  Resting his head on his legs, his eyes fixed on the blonde youth just outside the cave, he pleaded, “Leave me be, now, brother.  My side pains me, and I am tired.”

“Of course,” the silver dragon murmured.  He pressed his cheek to his brother’s, then curled up a few feet away to lay down.  He wondered why Agrios seemed so resistant to having Kai as a companion, and whether or not the human recognized the instant attraction between himself and the black dragon he’d been given to.  Considering the boy’s youth and obvious innocence, Niwaye would have to guess that he had no idea what it was; and if he was taking guesses, he’d also guess that Agrios did recognize it and was doing his best to ignore it.

With an internal chuckle, the silver dragon decided that he’d have to stick around for a while.  His scales would begin shedding soon, and the cave was one of the safest places for him to be during that month-long process.  Besides, it would give him a chance to see how the budding relationship between Agrios and Kai progressed.