Book 5: Chapter 2 (1/2)

“Vur, hey, Vur. Wake up. You have to wake up.”

Vur’s right eye creaked open. A silver dragon’s face was staring down at him, a foolish grin plastered on the dragon’s face. Vur closed his eye and rolled over onto his side while groaning.

“Maybe we should leave him alone,” a small voice said from near the entrance of the cave. “Mommy said we shouldn’t disturb people when they’re sleeping.”

“Shut up, Gloria,” Ramon said and snorted. “Go back to eating moonlight if you don’t want to play.”

“The moon’s not out.”

“I know that, stupid,” Ramon said and rolled his eyes. “Do you think I don’t have eyes?”

“Ramon! Don’t call your sister stupid!” a feminine voice said from outside the cave.

“Yes, Mama!” Ramon said. “It won’t happen again!” He glared at Gloria and muttered under his breath, “Stupid.”

“Mommy! He said it again!”

“No, I didn’t!” Ramon yelled. Then, he spread his wings and pounced towards the black dragon, knocking her onto her back. He slapped her shoulders a few times while she struggled to get free. “Why do you always run to Mama? If you have a problem, solve it yourself! Papa said dragons have to be independent.”

“Stop hitting me!”

A tired voice came from outside the cave. “Ramon, stop hitting your sister.”

“I’m not!” Ramon shouted while slapping his tail against Gloria’s legs. “She’s making things up like she always does!”

“I don’t make things up!”

“Be quiet,” a sleepy voice mumbled. A pair of massive earthen hands sprung out of the ground. They grabbed the two siblings and pulled them apart before pressing them down on their bellies. Two strips of earth rose up and fell over the dragons’ snouts before merging back into the floor of the cave. The dragons could only grunt and squeal, unable to say a single word thanks to the strip of earth clamping their mouths shut. The culprit, Vur, opened one eye and admired Diamant’s handiwork before rolling over onto his back. He closed his eye again and scratched his belly, letting his hand rest on his stomach once he was done. Soon, soft snores echoed through the cave.

Ramon glared at Gloria. He couldn’t say anything, but the expression on his face was more than enough to convey his meaning.

***

Outside of the cave, a silver dragon and a black dragon were laying on their backs, sunbathing on a rock. Leila lifted her head up and raised an eyebrow. Grimmy opened one eye and observed his mate’s expression. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s too quiet,” Leila said and rolled over onto her belly. “Gloria and Ramon should be fighting right about now.” She stood up. “I’m worried about them.”

“When they’re too loud, you worry. When they’re too quiet, you’re worried. When they’re behaving, you’re worried.” Grimmy curled his body up until his torso was upright with his legs and butt still on the ground. “They’re dragons, dear. They’re not like Vur when he was little. If Vur fell off a cliff as a baby, his head would crack open and the world would have one less Vur. If Gloria and Ramon fell off a cliff, then the ground at the bottom of the cliff would break, but our babies would be fine. Heck, they’d be fine even if they fell into a volcano. You don’t have to worry so much. Even if something inexplicably terrible happened to them, it’s not like we don’t have methods to resurrect them.”