The Onyx Dragon Read Free Page A

Islander smirked, “Code brown is what happens when you don’t wipe your–”
    “Maylin!” snapped Yaethi. “Crudity is a sign of a lazy mind. Code brown means we drop everything and assemble in Master Kassik’s office. Snip snap, Dragoness. Undo these chains.”
    Of course, the key Barrion had snatched from the barracks did not fit. After thirty seconds of everyone huffing and puffing and much clinking of chains and unsubtle complaints, punctuated by at least twenty hand-wringing apologies from Barrion, Jerrion took matters into his own hands, literally. He tucked Maylin beneath his left arm and Yaethi under his right and made to march off.
    Pip decided she could grow rather fond of owning a trio of pet Jeradian warriors.
    The Mistress swatted his behind as the giant departed. “Yah know, Jerri, yah still a nice boy under all that muscle.”
    “The indignity!” huffed Maylin.
    “Put me down, or I’ll make my Arrabon sit on you,” Yaethi threatened.
    “Don’t muss Yaethi’s headscarf,” Kaiatha advised. “She bites worse than a Dragoness if you misplace a strand of hair.”
    Glowering at her friend, Yaethi yelled, “Oh Durithion, my darling pet sweetmeat! Dearest little sugar-sap Kaiatha needs her daily kissy-cuddlies.”
    The tall, graceful Fra’aniorian Islander blushed spectacularly as Durithion’s classmates raised a round of lip-smacking and hoots and rude clicks of their fingers to salute this sally. Duri hurriedly pushed aside his dinner and raced to catch up. Pip could practically see the steam rising from beneath his collar. Perfect. These shenanigans were improving by the second.
    Pausing in the doorway, Jerrion bowed left and right. “Mighty Tazzaral. Noble Jyoss. Please take these miscreants in paw and fly them to Master Kassik’s office at once. We’ll catch up with you.”
    “Ah, shall we summon Emmaraz and Arrabon?” asked Tazzaral, visibly alarmed at the state of his passengers.
    Maylin tried to kick Pip. “Why don’t you explain Human humour to these Dragons, genius?”
    “Human? She’s a Shapeshifter,” Yaethi corrected.
    Pip rolled her eyes. “It’s a joke, Tazzaral.”
    He growled, “Such as when you were dragged before the Dragon Elders in chains?”
    “Ah–that was a serious misdemeanour,” Pip stammered. Mercy, had the new Dragons from Ya’arriol heard the story already? Perhaps they ought to be warned about the dangerous Pygmy Dragoness, who had punched a tooth clean out of Shimmerith’s jaw.
    The Copper Dragon was just about to issue a ringing acceptance of the task, when Jyoss slipped past him, seized Pip and Kaiatha in her forepaws, and bugled softly, Try to catch me, thou, my gleaming furnace-heart.
    Tazz blinked. Uh …
    Jyoss flicked his nose pertly with her left wingtip. Do I need to bite your neck to gain your attention?
    NO! A second round of Dragon-thunder shook the dining hall.
    Pip chuckled, Tazzaral, did we place an order for trumpets and indoor storms?
    Engulfing Maylin and Yaethi in one paw and Durithion in the other, Tazzaral thumped after Jyoss, flapping his wings to prevent his tonnage from crushing the precious Human cargo in his forepaws. He growled, Last one there snacks on the pesky–I mean, Pygmy.
    With a rippling laugh, the Albino charged off the portico and launched into the evening sky.
    * * * *
    Crimson-tinged clouds mooched low over the Academy volcano. The league-wide caldera was still active in places, but with the gentle simmer of an aged volcano which had lost its youthful rip and rumble. Within the main crater, five minor cones housed a burgeoning Dragon population, while an estimated twenty thousand Human souls lived in the sprawling russet brickwork Academy buildings, or in the vast caverns beneath and behind the buildings. Pip wondered why the buildings had been constructed more upward than sideways. She fancied an Ancient Dragon had once tumbled a pawful of buildings down the sheer volcanic slope, giving rise to the dizzying