Unexpected Guests

"You mean she tried to feed you?!" my sister said in an awed voice.

"Yes, and it wasn't easy to slip away from the camp." I said, "She was totally blind in the thick mist. She never had a chance."

"I want to go next time Aaron." she pleaded, "Please, I really want to see a human for myself."

I saw she would go down anyway if I said no, so I quickly agreed. "But if there is any trouble, you make your way back to the cave while I lead them of in the wrong direction. Understand?" She nodded and we made our plans for the following night.

Father checked on the camp periodically over the day, but something happened as the sun was starting to set that put a doubt in my mind as to whether Catherine and I should venture out tonight.

Father came into the cave, and as he came into the main cavern, we heard the thrumming noise again, only this time stronger and more spread out. "Three more machines have just flown in and each is carrying a metal cage beneath it. I say we are not to leave this cave for the remainder of the time the humans are here."

"What about food?" mother asked, "Are we going to eat rocks while we wait them out, or are we going to go hungry?"

"I will sneak out during the night and hunt for what I can find," he said, "but I fear we must indeed go hungry for a time so as to avoid detection."

"Then I will give the children my share so they can continue to grow." she said, "Aaron is putting on a growth spurt, and Catherine is starting to form her crest."

"No," father countered, "you need to keep up your strength as well, in case we must flee from or valley. I will give my share to the children."

And so father hunted at night from that moment on, making an escapade to the camp impossible, but then one night he chose not to go out because the wind would carry his scent to anything within the valley. He stayed in the cave that night, and so Catherine and I were able to sneak out in his place. We crept down to the camp in the same way I had that first night, and I made sure to steer Catherine away from any spots that she might knock a rock loose and make unwanted noise. I lead her down past the first machine and into the camp. There were also six new tents along with the three new machines. I made sure to let her know that we must stay completely silent through the entire visit, or we might be caught out in the open. The mist was thinner than the last time I had been here, and that would mean hiding if they spotted us would be much harder.

"If they see us, run straight for the cave." I whispered in her ear, "I'll lead them away in the wrong direction and meet you back at the cave once I've lost them in the mist."

"Ok brother." she said in a tiny voice.

I showed her the containers with food in them, and how to open the latches. Once she had started eating, I turned and watched the camp for any signs of movement. If both of us were not paying attention, they might be able to sneak up on us and we could be in trouble. Once Catherine had finished her tasting of the food, I lead her into the camp itself, careful to avoid making any noise. I pointed to an open door in one of the tents, and she looked inside to see the sleeping form of a sleeping human lying on the floor of the tent. Before I could stop her, she quietly ran over to the opening and took a closer look. I ran up to her side and watched in case her movement had grabbed unwanted attention. So far we had not been noticed, but I knew if we stayed any longer we were bound to be spotted. I nudged her side to get her attention, and she started, knocking over a metal pole that had been leaning against the side of the tent. We watched in horror as the human inside the tent woke with bleary eyes, and looked out the door. It was the same female I had seen the last time, I would recognize her long dark hair and blue eyes anywhere.

Those deep blue eyes opened wide as she saw us in the door to her tent, and she called out in a loud voice, "Boys! Come quick! That animal from last time showed up again! And this time it's not alone!"

Before we could move an inch, ten men came out of the tents around the camp, fully dressed and armed. I looked around to see if we could escape, but I needed to make an opening in their wall of legs. I turned to Catherine, "When I make a gap in their line, run for the cave as fast as you can. I'll be with you shortly." She nodded and I drew a deep breath, aiming for the end of the line. I breathed my flames onto their feet, and they jumped out of the way to avoid becoming enflamed. Catherine raced through the gap and flames without a scratch, and before they could turn to follow her, she was swallowed up by the mist, now thickening once again.

With Catherine now safe and on her way to the cave, I turned my attention back to the humans as they once again made a wall of legs and arms. One raised his weapon, and I recognized the term firearm that Sava had told us of. I knew that if it fired, I would be dead before I could move a muscle. As I braced for the end, one of the other men near him knocked his weapon out of his hands, saying, "You fool. If you kill it we would only be able to study its biology, but if we capture it, we can study its habits and movements."

I turned around to see the woman had climbed out of her tent, and I saw that, like the men, she was about as tall as I was long, adding my tail. I knew without even thinking that she out-weighed me, and any of them would be better than me in a match of strength. I knew in that instant that I had to be smarter than them if I was going to escape. From what I could tell, they thought of me as a dumb animal that could not think past its first instinct. I knew I could use that to my advantage, so I walked up to the woman, and sat down in front of her. She looked at me with an expectant look, and then to the men that had surrounded me. She looked back at me and reached out to touch my head. I didn't flinch as my instincts told me too, but instead let her hand come closer and closer, until it was about to touch the small bumps that would later become my horns. As her hand rested on top of my head, she visibly relaxed, and I took that moment to twist my head around and softly bite the side of her hand. It happened so fast that she froze in that position, and the men raised their weapons to point at me once again. Just as the tension built to a fever, I let go of her hand, and she swiftly removed it from my reach. She checked it for perceived bleeding, but my bite had not broken her skin.

She looked once again at the men on the other side of me, but before she could look back at me I said, "It was a bad idea to relax when you didn't know I wouldn't bite you. If you had looked into my eyes, you would have known that once you touched me, I would go on the attack."

Her eyes jolted back to me, and she asked in a quiet voice, "Can you understand me?"

I nodded, "Of course. All dragons are gifted with mimicry of language from birth. That is how we learn to speak our own tongue in such a short time. If we didn't it would be very hard to ask for food when we were hungry."

The men stirred behind me and the woman looked slightly confused, "I'm sorry, did you say dragons? They have been thought to be mythical creatures, but they have never been proven to exist. All science tells us is that stories of dragons stopped around three hundred years ago, and we believed that if dragons had existed in the past, that they are now extinct."

"Three hundred years ago was when dragons left the human world to hide within this valley." I said, "They had been hunted to near extinction and sought refuge here from the dangers of the world outside. We have lived here ever since, and any men who trespassed within the mountains were frightened off or killed. We came here to survive the humans who so sought to destroy us, and until you came here we have stayed at peace. If you mean us harm, my father will kill you all without a second glance, and trust me, the last thing you will think of is how it came to this gruesome death."

The men looked from me to the woman and back again, and one man in back of the group asked, "Are your parents much bigger than you or are you about adult size?"

I turned around and told him, "My father is about the same size as one and a half of your flying machines. Mother is slightly smaller, but she can be far worse than father if she gets into a temper. If you are going to visit our cave, you cannot bring any weapons, or they will kill you without a second thought."

This was met with some skepticism, and the woman asked, "What if they attack us? How are we going to defend ourselves?" Her voice shook slightly as she thought about it.

"It wouldn't make any difference." I said, "You would be dead before you could make a move in defense. There can be no negotiation in this. Either you don't bring weapons, or you don't go at all and I disappear before you can follow me."

Slowly, they all nodded assent, and I told them one last bit of information, "We need to wait for daybreak before we go to my family's cave, because if father isn't woken up in the middle of the night he will be less likely to act on instinct. If we talk to him in the morning, he will be fully awake and I may be able to talk him out of attacking you. If we try at night he will simply flame you without a second thought." I looked at each human individually, "Even if we do everything right, he may still attack you, so I want you to know that before we go. I will not fill your heads with ideas that could get you killed. I am going to try and reason with him, but if I can't, this will be your last night alive. If anyone wishes not to go, I will respect your choice, and hope you can get away in time if things go wrong."

With that last sober thought, I walked over to a large rock next to the woman's tent, and climbed upon it to try and get some sleep. I knew it was going to be a long day tomorrow, and I wanted to be fully rested for my family's meeting with the humans.

Dawn broke over the camp, and with the first rays of light, I woke to see the woman sitting next to me on the rock, watching the sunrise. I stretched, and sat up so I could look her in the eye. She sensed my gaze on her and looked back at me, a wary look in her blue eyes.

"Are we going to die today?" she asked, "I don't want my last day on earth to be filled with fire and violence."

"I will do everything I can to prevent that," I said in a soothing voice, "but I cannot make any guarantees. If he decides to attack there will be nothing I can do to stop him."

"Then let us hope he is in a good mood this morning." she said as she looked back at the rising sun.

We made our way up the hillside in single-file, given that the trail was only wide enough for one at a time. We reached the cave entrance as the first light made its way into the cave. I knew this was when father would be waking up to go out hunting, so I called into the cave mouth, "Father! It's me, Aaron! Could you come out here for a minute? There are some visitors here to see you!"

I heard him as he made his way up and out of the cave, his claws clicking on the stone floor. As his head broke the darkness within the cave, I heard as the humans took an involuntary step back. I had warned them about father's size, but it still couldn't have prepared them for his true form. As father's eyes adjusted to the bright light outside the cave, he first caught me in his vision, and he visibly relaxed, but then he saw the group of humans just behind me. He instantly bristled with hostility, and he hissed out in Dragon-speech, "Aaron, get inside the cave and do not come out until I have killed these trespassers."

I stood my ground, saying in Human, "Father, these humans have not come here to attack us, they only wish to study the place that we live in and the creatures that surround us. They are scientists that wish to learn from us, not to kill us. If you let them explain themselves I'm sure you'll find they're telling the truth."

He looked from me to the humans and back, and switching to Human said, "It appears my son has been out on midnight expeditions, as I told him not to do." he added with a pointed glance at me, "I am pleased to see that he has come to no harm, but whether you are a threat or not remains to be seen." He singled out the woman and beckoned her with one claw, "Step forward young lady, and let us find out if what my son says is true."

She made a quick glance at the men behind her, and then took three tentative steps forward, stopping just outside the cave entrance. She looked up at my father's head, now directly above her, and asked, "What is it you need to know?"

He brought his head down to one side so she would not have to strain the entire time, but still kept his head above hers. "I think the first question is by far the easiest. Why have you come to our valley in the first place? It is a very secret place that is far from any major settlement, so why come all the way out here?"

She relaxed as she answered, "My calling has always been to investigate things that are out of the ordinary, and when I heard of strange creatures that attacked expeditions into this valley, I knew I had to find out what was really behind all of the attacks." She looked to one side, "The people I use to work with always ridiculed me for my beliefs, and I always had to work twice as hard to prove I wasn't just a girl with a wild imagination." She looked back at my father, "I thought we would find a wild wolf pack or a rabid bear that was behind the attacks. I never imagined that I would find dragons in this valley. My only wish now is to learn all that I can from you, and if possible, give you a better place to live where you will not have to worry about being found and hunted ever again."

Father nodded as she finished her explanation, "It is one of our Great Gifts that we can detect any falsehood, no matter how well concealed. I am glad that your dedication and pure heart feels so strongly about your desire to learn. I only have one question more, and if you can give me an answer that proves your worth, I will let you into our home and meet the rest of my family. What is the reason that you feel we must live someplace new? If we let you leave with the knowledge you seek, why should we be forced to move our home?"

She looked father straight in the eye, "Because even though my intentions are pure, there are others who would fallow in my footsteps and try and take their own needs out on you. You could become zoo exhibits, or even be killed and sold off for you parts' medical properties. I do not want to be the one responsible for the destruction of the last dragons. I ask you to move to a new home not out of personal need, but as a plea for your own survival. That is my answer."

Father nodded and thought for a long second. The tension built as the humans waited for his decision. When he finally spoke, it was as if the tension flowed out like water from behind a dam. "I see that you only care for our safety, and that you are willing to put your own life on the line to do so. Very well, you may enter my home," he looked at the rest of the men, "but your followers must stay outside. I trust you and only you. If they enter my home I will take it as a sign of aggression, and they will be nothing more than charred piles of ash before they can regret their decision." He looked at the woman again, "Come, I feel my daughter is about to explode with curiosity."

I followed them into the cave, casting one last glance behind me to make sure the others were staying outside. The only sat down on some rocks to wait for the woman's return. I turned back and entered our cave, just in time to see Catherine dash up to the woman to introduce herself. Mother stayed off to one side, watching with a slightly wary eye, but a quick glance from father eased her mind and she relaxed.

I walked up to the woman as she answered some of Catherine's endless questions, and said, "I did not think that a human would ever enter our cave. It is a surprise and I am happy that my sister likes you as much as I do."

She looked at me as she scratched Catherine behind her crest, causing a dog-like leg shake, "I had never believed I would be able to see a dragon, let alone meet an entire family of them." She looked back at Catherine, who had now put her head in the woman's lap, "Your sister is beautiful, and her mother defies the imagination. I have never seen a more beautiful group of creatures in my life." She looked over her shoulder to where father had lay down next to mother, "You father is both breathtaking and terrifying at the same time, and your mother can't be given justice with words to describe her beauty." She looked back at me, "You're the spitting image of your father, but I can see you have your mother's eyes, blue like the most pure gemstone, and deeper than the deepest ocean."

I did a small bow to show my respects, "I thank you for the compliments, but I should warn you that once I am fully grown, I may not look as much like my parents as I do now. Young dragons stay the same color as their parents for the first fifteen years of life, and then it changes to the color that will stay with them for the rest of their life. I will be undergoing this change in a few months."

"How do you know what will be your true color?" she asked.

"There is no way to tell, but it usually is a close match to one of the parent's colors. My eyes will be the only thing that stays the same. Even my body shape will change as my horns grow in and I develop wings."

"How long until your wings grow?" she asked with more curiosity, "You would need them soon before you leave to live on your own wouldn't you?"

"My wings will grow in once I am eighteen years old," I answered, "most dragons leave the home cave soon after, because their instincts become insurmountable. They simply can't stand it to be in the same cave as their parent's. That is why we are the only ones to still be in this valley, all the others moved on." I hung my head, "We believe that they met their doom once they left the valley's protective barrier."

"It would seem that you are the only dragons still alive," she said, "so does that mean you would have to mate with your sister in order to keep the bloodline going?"

I jolted at the thought, "I would never disgrace my sister in such a way!" I then stopped as I saw she had shrunk away from me in fear, "I mean, dragons have the ability to reproduce with other species to have offspring. If need be, I could even mate with a bear if I was the last dragon alive. The rest would continue until there were enough of us to begin mating with our own kind again."

"So you could mate with any species?" she asked.

"I don't see why not." I said, "If the species is a large creature and can care for more than one child, then any should do."

"Even humans?" she asked in a small voice.

I was about to answer outright, but a quick look at her face made me stop for a second. Something in her look told me I should be careful with my words, given if need be I might mate with her. "I do believe it could be possible," I said carefully, "but it would be far more complicated than if we did it with an animal. A bear would only birth the dragonets and then leave them to the care of the dragon parent, simple as that, but a human parent would most likely feel strongly that they needed to be part of the rearing. Being that doing