Birth of a Dragoon

Flooding

I awoke as the ground beneath me began to shift. Wait…I hadn't fallen asleep on the ground. "Gwen, wake up!" Rumbled through my mind as the thought of where I lay registered. My eyes snapped open instantly as Cearúil moved beneath me once more. The first thing I realized as I fully awoke was that I was completely soaked, despite the fact Cearúil was still wrapped around me with his wing situated above to keep the rain off.

The ground was squishy, making it a bit annoying getting to my feet; my hands and knees wanted to stay stuck in the muddy grass. My legs were stiff and achy when I finally got my feet under me, which wouldn't have happened if Cearúil hadn't placed his snout behind me to keep me steady.

"What happened? This storm wasn't supposed to be so bad."

"The river overflowed and caused the forest and plains to flood. You'll not be able to reach the College today, perhaps not tonight either. Come, we need to reach higher ground before the flooding gets worse."

"What's the use?" I asked as I began following beside him and he lifted a wing to block out the rain above me. "I'm already soaked."

After a moment's thought, Cearúil shifted and his wing folded subtly and beautifully against his side. I hadn't noticed earlier, but there was a bright silver streak along the outer length of the wing. There were also several small silver spikes along the bottom half of the wing as well.

"Cearúil?" I called out as a memory came to me.

He stilled and craned his long neck around to stare back at me. He was all pitch-black scales, with pure silver ones streaked here and there. Such magnificent coloring, though I had never heard of black scaled, or even silver, dragons before.

"Yes?"

"I thought dragons had only red, green, or yellow scales?"

Cearúil stood straighter as his neck craned around to stare at himself. After a moment, his face shot back to me, his eyes wide in faux shock. "You mean that's not yellow?"

"Oh, I hate you." I stated as I started past him up the steep hill, earning a chuckle in return.

He easily passed me in two quick steps. "Dark coloring is rare, yes, but not completely unheard of. Though silver, grey, and white are more common in comparison to it. Night Shadow was the first to be born with dark scales, though his were dark grey. Three others were born after him, not including me, each a thousand years apart. I am unsure whether any yet live or not. One was silver, one pure black, and the last pure white. They were different, stronger I believe, than all the others. I could be wrong however."

My brow drew together. "How could you not be certain? Don't you, or haven't you, conversed with another of your species?"

"No."

Cearúil's voice was soft and resigned, letting me know I had touched a nerve with my questions. Curiosity, however, is a b***h and forced me to ask the question running around my head now.

"So, what happened?" Oh, I had such great tact. Couldn't I have asked it differently? Better even? Softer perhaps?

"I wasn't raised among my kind. I doubt they are even aware of my existence."

"I thought the birth of a dragon was celebrated and quite welcome?"

"To my knowledge, it is supposed to be. However, half breeds are killed at birth since it's not supposed to happen to begin with. The Draco want their species to remain pure."

"That's not right…Wait a minute. Cearúil, are you a half breed? Is that why you've not spoken with another of your species?"

Cearúil was quiet for so long, that I believed I had offended him. I hoped not, I didn't want him to decide I've overstepped our friendship bounds and stopped speaking with me…or worse. Besides, when would I ever have the chance to speak with another dragon in my lifetime?

"Yes, Gwen. I am a half breed."

"You sound so disgusted, Cearúil. Is it really all that bad?"

"You mean other than the fact that another Draco will kill me on sight?"

Ok, so I really felt stupid at that moment. "Umm, yeah?"

A chuckle was Cearúil's response, so evidently I hadn't upset him as much as I thought. "More or less I have learned to live with the way I am. Both sides of myself I should say. Though it hasn't been easy."

"What do you mean?"

Cearúil stopped beneath a large canopy of leaves and sat, before twisting around to stare down at me once again. "It is hard to accept both halves of yourself, when your parents are of two different species who were raised to hate each other. Though I am still unsure why."

"One of your parents was a Mage then?"

I was glad he stopped, since my legs were aching worse now and my breathing was labored. Though that was probably because I hadn't shut up since we started up the steep climb.

Cearúil dipped his head down in what I presumed was a nod. "My mother was a Mage, while my father, of course, was half human half Draco. My father was killed before my mother was aware she was pregnant. He never even told her what he was, so imagine her shock when she came in to feed me one night and found a baby Draco instead, in the same spot where I had been laying earlier."

I smiled despite myself. "I bet you were a cute baby dragon. I can just picture you as a small, soft black and bright silver, chubby little thing, with big green eyes. Clad in a white diaper."

I jumped back, slipped and landed flat on my butt when his head reared back and a bout of flame came shooting out of his jaws. Cearúil's clear and haunting laughter rang through my mind. I sat staring up at him, unsure of whether to be amazed or annoyed. I settled on aggravated.

"Do you enjoy scaring the crap out of me?"

Cearúil recovered enough to state 'yes', before rising and stretching. And I discovered another stripe of silver trailing from the back of his skull, set between the two horns, all the way down the middle of his back to the tip of the, surprisingly, sharp looking tail. I wondered if that tail could be used as a weapon, but wasn't willing to ask.

I highly doubt Cearúil would continue with his unusual chattiness much longer if I took advantage of it. Would he? I shook my head, no I wouldn't ask. Not tonight. Though I knew, eventually, I would. Sighing, I stood back up and followed Cearúil's slowly twitching tail up the incline.