Book 5: Chapter 1 (1/2)

Vur frowned. On the floor of his cave, in the spot he claimed as his bed, there was a small silver dragon lying on its back, its wings and limbs splayed to the sides. Soft snores rang out of its mouth, and its tail curled and uncurled with every one of its breaths. Vur scratched his chin and furrowed his brow. Grimmy had taught him the dragons’ code of honor long ago, but there was nothing in it on how to deal with little dragons stealing his bed. However, there was a clause that had to do with dragons ignoring another’s dibs. Vur nodded to himself and walked over to the sleeping dragon. Although the dragon was still practically a baby, it was still larger than Vur, but that didn’t matter to him. Another pair of arms sprouted out from his armpits, and he squatted next to the dragon, placing all four of his hands on its side. With a grunt, he lifted the silver dragon and heaved it, tossing it out of his cave. There was a loud thumping sound followed by a sharp yelp.

The silver dragon, Ramon, shook his head before blinking several times, clearing away the fog in his mind. He was having such a nice dream about swimming through a river of lava, but it had suddenly turned into a nightmare when he was swept off a lavafall and couldn’t move his wings. Ramon wiped at his face with his front paws before rolling onto his belly. He stood up and examined his surroundings. It took him less than a second to realize what had happened. “Vur! You threw me again!”

Vur snorted. “What did I tell you about sleeping on my bed?”

Ramon stomped his way back into Vur’s cave. “You told me not to do it.”

Vur nodded. “That’s right, so why did you do it?”

“Because it’s the comfiest spot in the whole valley!” Ramon said, his head bobbing up and down. “And Papa told me it’s okay to do things I’m not allowed to do as long as no one finds out.”

“I found out.”

“Well, you weren’t supposed to.” Ramon pouted. “Mama said you were on a trip with Tafel. How come you’re back so soon? Where’s Tafel? Did she bring me anything good to eat?”

Vur scratched his head. “Tafel got a message from Minerva, so she went to the eastern continent.”

“Why didn’t you go with her?” Ramon asked, tilting his head to the side.

“She said I’ve been doing a lot and deserve a break,” Vur said and puffed his chest out. “She wanted me to take a nap while she dealt with her thing.”

“Ramon, are you there?” A small voice echoed through the cave, and a shadow fell over the wall behind Vur as a black dragon’s head appeared at the entrance. “Mommy says it’s time to eat.”

Ramon’s eyes lit up. “Time to eat? What are we eating?” He whirled around and dashed out of the cave, leaving Vur all alone. Vur shrugged and yawned, stretching his arms out over his head. It wasn’t often he could sleep for long periods at a time; Tafel preferred following a human sleep schedule and that involved waking up and falling asleep every day. It was tiring having to get out of bed seven days a week. Two times a week was a much more reasonable number.

***

Tafel took in a deep breath. She was standing on the edge of a cliff, and on the horizon, the forest where Minerva lived was in sight. With a simple teleportation spell, she could traverse the distance in less than a second, but she chose not to. The demon had been given a simple mission of keeping watch over two phoenixes, Susan and Emile. It was a simple mission, but it was by no means easy. When she came back from the other world that Prika had gone to in search of a mate, the two phoenix siblings were nowhere to be found. Vur’s grandpa said he’d keep a watch over them, but the green dragon was sound asleep when Tafel went to find him.

Tafel took in a deep breath. It wasn’t like she hadn’t gone searching for Susan and Emile, but the world was so vast, and even with all of Tafel’s connections saying they’d keep an eye out, there weren’t any traces of the two birds. It was almost like they vanished off the face of the planet. Perhaps someone had asked Minerva if she knew where her children were and tipped her off to the fact they were missing. A silver light came out of Tafel’s horns, and she vanished from the cliff. Delaying would only make her anxiety worse; it was better to come clean and see if Minerva had any solutions to finding Susan and Emile.