Serali soared high above the plains, following Cherval with her wings outstretched. Cherval in turn trailed behind another dragon who formed the point of a wedge shaped formation of dragons. They flew over the plains rapidly, scanning the ground below for certain signs. Suddenly Cherval spoke up.

"There! Look, they've been this way!"

The lead dragon nodded his head and altered his course, the others following after. They flew further until finally they spotted what they were after. The formation broke up as the dragons spread out to approach from different sides. Serali stayed near Cherval, since she was new at this. Looking down at the scene below she was amazed.

"I never imagined that this was what I've been having for dinner! It's incredible!"

The green grass of the plains looked as though somebody had spilled a heap of beans out onto it, but these "beans" were alive and they moved. Stretching nearly from horizon to horizon was an immense herd of creatures. They were big shaggy animals with humped backs and impressive curving horns. The sound of their movement was like thunder, and they left a trail of trampled ground behind them that was a hundred times wider then the sweep of Serali's wings.

The other dragons were in position and as the leader gave the signal they dropped out of the sky, falling on the herd below. Serali swooped down, hitting a huge bull. Cherval had explained to her the rules of the hunt, you didn't take young, nor mothers of young, nor the lead animals, but all others were fair game. As she slammed into the creature, who probably weighed at least half what she did, the others around her startled and took flight. Where the other dragons landed the creatures also fled, spreading panic, and it wasn't long before the whole monstrous herd was moving, racing away from the hunters.

Serali had hit the bull just right, breaking its neck with the first blow. After making certain it was dead, she quickly took to the air again, soaring after the departing herd. She could see the winged shapes of the other dragons doing likewise. It was a mere moment before she caught up with the fleeing creatures. Picking out a limping cow that trailed the rest of the herd, Serali dived again. Hitting a moving animal proved harder than hitting one that obligingly stood still and Serali struck the cow in the side of its barrel-shaped torso rather than in the neck. The cow fell over and Serali somersaulted over its back, tumbling head over heels. When she picked herself up, she saw the cow struggling to get to its feet. Serali leaped at the cow, landing on its back and grabbing its huge shaggy head. One quick twist and the cow collapsed, neck broken.

Serali had taken her hunter's share and was licking her lips when Cherval landed near her, followed by the strangest dragon she had ever seen. He was a vivid green, his scales shining with a slick glossy sheen and the undersides of his wings were a contrasting pale yellow touched with pink, but that wasn't the half of it. He was obviously a male, broad-chested and heavily built with the characteristic spade-shaped blade at the end of his tail, but he had no horns! Instead he had a ridge of spines that began over each eye and swept around to follow the line of his jaw. These ridges, as well as the ridge of cresting that ran from the top of his head down his spine and the blade at the end of his tail, were all vividly colored, beginning with a green the same shade as his scales and blending into yellow, then orange, and then red. The overall effect was as if he wore frozen flames.

He was also quite big, not only did he dwarf Cherval, but he was considerably larger than Serali as well. Cherval didn't seem the least bit daunted by the differences in their sizes and he was angrily chewing out the larger dragon, whose stammered apologies weren't having the least effect on the irate sky-blue dragon. Cherval stormed over to Serali, trailing the odd looking dragon behind him.

"This idiot decided it might be entertaining to turn part of the herd back around after we got it running. I was nearly trampled!"

"Calm down Cherval, there's no harm done, from the looks of things. Besides, I think you've already given him an ear full." Then lowering her voice a bit she asked, "What kind of dragon is he? I've never seen anything like him."

"He's what they call a fire green, a truly rare type of mountain dragon. They say that one out of every four or five hundred green hatchlings comes out like that, and since there's hardly been a couple thousand greens since the world began, I doubt that there's been a hundred fire greens in all of creation."

The fire green approached them tentatively.

"I'm truly sorry sir, I didn't think that…"

"That's right, you didn't think!"

"Cherval, he knows you don't approve, he's trying to apologize, can't you accept his apology?'

The smaller dragon sighed, then said, "Very well, I accept. I realize you're sorry for what you did. But if I catch you at another stunt like that…!"

"You won't." the larger dragon said firmly. Serali grinned at him. There was something, some nuance of his voice, a slight lifting of the corner of his mouth or perhaps the tiniest little twinkle in his eye, that suggested that just because Cherval didn't him catch him at another stunt like that didn't mean there wouldn't be any others. The strange returned her grin, then spoke.

"Thank you for defending me, my name is Kethro Fire-green, for obvious reasons."

"I'm Serali, and this," she gestured to the still irate sky-blue dragon "Is Cherval, in case you haven't already been introduced."

"As a matter of fact, it seems we managed to forget such little formalities," responded Kethro with a grin.

Cherval just scowled.

Serali grinned back. She liked this odd looking dragon. He had a sense of humor, and he proved to be willing to make up for the trouble he caused when he offered to help Cherval haul his kills back to the dragon stone.

A younger dragon, a third Serali's size and probably three times her age, who had been circling above through the whole hunt now landed. Children were not allowed to hunt, it was too dangerous, but one of the older ones always got to go along to be the pole bearer. Strapped to his sides were an assortment of long wooden poles. The other dragons quickly assembled them into stretcher-like frames on which they loaded the carcasses of the huge beasts, the combined weight of which in several cases outweighed that of the dragon pulling them.

Cherval had outdone himself and caught three of the huge creatures, and without Kethro's help he might not have been able to even budge the huge load, but the larger dragon moved it with ease, and soon the party was headed back to dragon stone with the youngster flying scout overhead

When they reached the dragon stone, a small crowd of dragons was waiting. Cherval had explained this. Since there were so many dragons at dragon stone the plains dragons, always more willing to cooperate than their mountain cousins, had worked out of system of hunting and sharing so that most of the dragons could devote their time to other things.

"It's a custom you won't find among other dragons, but we're rather proud of it. You see, dragon stone is home to many of the greatest scholars and mages in the world. But without such cooperation they would have to waste much of their time hunting." He had puffed up with pride at the very thought.

Serali smiled at the memory. She knew that the little blue dragon was serious, but that only made his behavior more humorous. Without paying too much attention to the crowd she left her kills outside and went back to her room. Drevass had invited her again to eat with him that evening so she had no need to claim any share.

Plopping down in the padded depression in the floor that served as a bed, she picked up her copy of the Book of Truth.

She picked up the case, but her clawed fingers couldn't manage the tiny metal clasps that held it closed. Without really thinking about it, Serali shifted into human form. By now the change was almost instantaneous, she had done it so many times. She could remember Janus' surprise when he had attempted to teach her how to shape shift. He had lectured her for nearly an hour on the dangers of shape shifting and the difficulty of the spells involved. He had her memorize several long complex chants, complete with ritual gestures. And when he at last declared her ready to begin, Serali had utterly ignored all of his instructions.

Instead, she remembered the feel of shifting between dragon and human. She recalled the familiar sensations of becoming a dragon from her human form. Then she merely imagined what it would feel like to change into a third form. Picturing in her mind one of the great cats that roamed the high desert around Land's End, she imagined what it would feel like to have fur instead of smooth skin or scales. What it would be like to go on all fours. Her vivid imagination easily provided her with the images she needed and before the startled Janus could even begin his supporting chant, she was flowing into the cat form.

Janus had been rather apologetic afterwards. "I tend to forget what you are. You act just like any apprentice I've ever had, so I expect you to be like them." Serali had just grinned. After having dozens of spells backfire on her when she tried something different, it was good to have one of her attempts at improvisation succeed. Looking down at her now human hands Serali pulled herself away from the past. She had not practiced her lute since leaving Barona. If she left it too much longer her fingers would start to forget the music. She opened the clasps and took out her lute. It was a bit scuffed and battered, and it had never been the highest quality to begin with, but the tone was still true and sweet. Serali spent a few moments adjusting the pegs so that the notes would be perfectly in tune. Then she strummed her hand across the instrument, idly picking out notes and chords without much thought. Gradually she settled down into one key and found herself thinking of a song that she had heard her mother sing when she was very young.

She plucked out the melody once and then began to play with it, adding harmony first, then a counterpoint, and then a series of flourishes and embellishments. She let her fingers wander and her mind wandered after them.

She was snapped back to reality by an inquisitive voice by the door. "Hello?"

She looked up to see Kethro standing in the doorway. "Oh, hi Kethro."

He jerked back, startled, and bared his teeth involuntarily. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

Serali was suddenly aware of how very small she was and how large Kethro was, each of his bared fangs nearly as long as her forearm. She'd never been near another dragon while in human form before. "I'm Serali."

"What?"

Serali stood up and shifted back to dragon form. "See, I'm Serali."

"How did you do that?" Kethro asked, startled.

"It's a long story."

"I've got nothing better to do."

Serali paused and considered. She really didn't have anything better to do either. "Sure. Come in and have a seat." She patted a spot on the "bed" next to her. There wasn't anything like a chair or a couch in the room, so the padded depression in the floor was the only place to sit besides the bare floor. Kethro came in and made himself comfortable. Serali started telling him about her childhood, finding a kind of release in telling the story again. When Sleeah came to tell Serali that it was time to go to Drevass' chambers for dinner, she was still talking.

"Perhaps we can talk again tomorrow," she said as she headed for the door.

"Drevass has asked Kethro to come and eat as well," piped up Sleeah. "You can finish talking there."

Serali glanced at Kethro, suddenly aware of how long she'd been speaking. He'd been very patient to put up with her long monologue so far, but she doubted he wanted to hear any more of it.

If Kethro was bored at the thought of more talk, he didn't show it. He only smiled and told Sleeah that he was delighted to come.

The three of them made their way through the spacious halls of dragon stone to Drevass' chambers together. Drevass was, as usuall, lounging on the raised dais at the end of the room. A dark heap beside him proved to be an almost whole carcass of one of the shaggy creatures that Serali had killed earlier that day.

They all made themselves comfortable on the floor. Drevass cut the meat up with his diamond hard talons and served each of the others a portion.

Dragons had impeccable table manners. Of course to a human being, used to plates and knives, their dining habits might seem a bit uncivilized, but there wasn't really any point to forks and knives when your own claws would do much better. The four of them devoured the food neatly, without any mess. They spoke of little things at they ate, indulging in small talk that was not much different from that heard around human tables. After they had eaten Drevass asked Serali about what she had read that day.

"Not much. Just one passage, something about First Father calling a meeting of dragons."

"Ah, the dragon's moot. There is one due next spring, did you know?"

"I don't even know what a dragon's moot is. I just read a line or two in the book."

"It's a meeting of all the dragons in the world," said Kethro.

"Held on the first full moon of the new year every ten years."

"Not all dragons," interjected Drevass. "There are always some that will not or can not come."

"True. But still, it is the largest gathering of dragons anywhere. There will be thousands upon thousands of dragons there."

Serali tried to imagine it. Thousands upon thousands of dragons…

Note: Chapter 14 turned out to be even longer then chapter 13, so I've had to space it out over two pages as well.

Part Two

The Credits:

All the buttons, bars, and other doodads on this page are courtesy of

This page hosted by Get your ownFree Home Page