Winark

Hunt First Sun-Cycle

I was glad to leave behind the two-leggeds. Adner could parley with them. Hunting with my clan always made the ecosphere appear right. The mountains that we were in differed from the ones we lived on. The lower areas of our home had trees, but the tops were bare and rocky. We had the room we needed to stretch our wings and bodies. Centered in the valley, the shallow lake left little room for animals such as dragons, except in the air.

Prey on the ground proved difficult to spy because of the various kinds of trees that cluttered the mountains. We observed a large river a short distance beyond the colony and followed a gorge on the far side of it. As we moved higher along the ridge, we spotted two peaks similar to the dwelling we left. Neither was as tall as our home, but they were better than the valley. The peaks stood the same height and sat directly across from one another. The only difference was one bore a rocky red top, the other a white one.

“I will talk to Adner about these peaks, and he will have to understand we are coming here. These twin mountains are better suited for our kin.”

As my clan rested, I examined the locality that was to become our new hunting grounds, and I knew something was amiss. I remembered what the colony leader had said—that something lived here, a “Keeper.”

Something else was there to the north. I turned and gazed out that way. The scent that floated on the wind was unfamiliar to me. What I inhaled was pungent, but all I saw before me was familiar. A floral scent filled the mountain air that sun-cycle.

“Let us find food.” We took flight as one and flew west, and the first valley we came to that gave us room to hunt was empty. A few stayed by my side, and I sent the rest to explore further. Our large white bodies were challenging to hide in the greenery, but we have learned through the years. We waited in the shadows of the mountains.

Our wait was brief, but what rose from the thicket made me pause, and the others followed my lead. Being clan leader, I always made the first kill.

The creature had been lying in the tall grass by a stream, and none of us spotted it. We had not been hunting for anything that bore this creature’s colors. The only creatures I ever observed that came close were sky-lings. This was no bird. It was a herd beast. It had four strong, thin legs, a smooth body, and a long neck. The creature’s eyes were set so it could watch for predators, and antlers sat upon its head.

I had seen everything many times on various-sized herd beasts. This one possessed two things none of the others bore. One was a set of short wings. The other was the colors that covered its body, green and blue. It took a few steps and drank from the stream nearby. Around the herd beast, others moved, showing many inhabited the valley.

I shifted my stance without a feather’s ruffle and trusted my clan to be at my side. I pushed myself from the mountainside, heading straight for the prey that my clan needed. Before I managed to get halfway there, something large and fast flew from a crevasse between two mountains. It stood tall between me and the herd beast.

I filled my wings with air, slowed my forward motion, and dropped to the ground.

“Halt!” I roared at the ones with me.

What stood before me, regardless of his appearance, was no herd beast. He looked similar to the others, only taller and stouter. His wingspan was greater. From his throat, covering his chest, was a thick mane of white hair. Atop his crown was a crest of antlers. The creature rose on his back legs, and when he came down, the ground shook with his power.

I did not cower, for I was our clan leader, and what I showed established what we all were. I stood tall and stared into the creature’s mixed blue-and-green eyes.

“You are the Keeper?” I asked in a steady voice, showing no fear.

“I am the Guardian of many things,” his voice sounded of countless.

“This is your valley, or does your protection go further?”

“This valley is mine, and these beings are mine, no matter where they are. Do you understand?”

“I do. There are many of us and other kinds of us…”

“I know,” he said, cutting me off, “and the one you called Adner may come and see me.”

“Why…”

Again the Guardian interrupted me.

“Because he wants answers. Now go.” The Guardian started back to the narrow mountain pass from which he had appeared.

“Let us go.” I unfolded my wings; the ones with me followed.

When we found the others of my clan, they had caught several large herd beasts and lone beasts. It was sufficient for our clan and the ones back in the valley. The Water Dragons needed to eat soon. Of all our kind, they were having the hardest time. They are enormous dragons meant for water, not land. Their bodies were not doing well with the pressure.

I hoped discovering the river would help them. Five of their kind remained, and a newling was coming. They were precious. We could not afford to lose any of them. We gave each Water Dragon a kill, and my clan portioned out the rest.

I told my mate to consume as much of our share as she wanted. I went in search of Adner and found him with the colony leader. The fires for the Fire Dragons caught my attention, and I wondered if they were Adner’s idea. Whatever was burning in them stank, but the embers were hot. The heat filled the entire valley.

When I arrived at the top of the hill, I saw that they had spread out the sand the Spirit Dragons brought with them. Adner and the colony leader were drawing in it.

Adner looked up at me.

“How is it going?” I asked, not sure if I cared.

“Actually, better than I had hoped. What did you find besides food?” Adner looked at the Water Dragons.

“A river. It is not huge, and I did not check the depth, but it might give them ease.”

“Good, when can you show me it?”

“Can I eat first?”

“Of course, anything else?”

“Yeah, I ran into the Keeper. He prefers to be called ‘Guardian’,” I told him.

“So, you talked?”

“Yes, he does not want us hunting in his valley or the beings that he guards. My clan knows who they are and where the valley is now.”

“Alright,” Adner said, “I should meet him.”

“He said you wanted answers, and you are welcome to come.”

“Anything else?”

“They can wait until after I eat, and I show you the river.”

“Alright, you are the only one that has not eaten, so go. Come get me when you are ready.”

Adner turned back to the colony leader.

“Yes, he is their leader. His name is Winark.”

I heard the two-legged try to speak my name as I walked away.

“Good attempt,” Adner said.

I grunted and flew the short distance to my mate.

“We have to move to the mountains,” she said as I ate what was left. “The heat is too much for the clan.”

“The Fire Dragons need it. They have been away from a heat source far longer than we have been dealing with it.” When I glanced up at her, I realized she was not happy with my answer. “Adner and I are going to the river after I eat. I will talk to him then. I do not think it will be a problem, but our clan is strong, and our kind needs us now. If the river works, we will have to move the Water Dragons before the end of this sun-cycle. Which means my beautiful, strong mate will help my clan through this time, and we will have our mountain come dark-cycle.”

She glared at me with narrow eyes, as if she thought I was being clever with my words.

I stood and stared at her.

“If anyone can help our clan through this long period, you can and you are beautiful, like the fresh fallen moon-snow that the sun-peek touches for the first time.”

Narown reached out, tucking her muzzle under my jaw and slipped around to the side of my neck. A purring sound came from her throat.

“Go do what you need to. I will see to our clan,” she told me.

“Thank you.”

A few beats later, Adner and I were heading toward the river. Seemia continued working with the two-legged. We arrived. Adner stepped into the cool mountain water and drank from it.

“It would be nice if it were a little wider and deeper, but it will be better than that lake. It should be adequate to get the weight off their organs. They have not been breathing well since we arrived last dark-cycle, and I do not know if what is in the fires is helping,” Adner said.

“Speaking of the fires,” I said.

“The smell, I realize, is having ill effects on your clan, but the Fire Dragons need them.”

“Agreed, but the heat is an issue as well for us,” I reminded him.

Adner lowered his head. “I had not thought of that, Winark. I am sorry.”

“No, you did well getting the two-legged beasts to start the fires…”

“I did not ask them. They seemed to figure out they needed high temperatures and devised a plan on their own,” Adner said.

I eyed him in disbelief.

Two-leggeds helping us for no reason.

“Well, they are necessary, and my clan is not handling it well. While we were out, we found a set of twin mountains—” I stopped speaking because of the look Adner gave me.

“You have seen them?” he asked.

“You could as well if we were not at the mouth of the gorge.” I glanced over my left shoulder and noted the view was blocked.

“Have you been on them? On the tops?”

“On one of them.” I stared at him. Something in his voice pulled me on. “Three rolling mountains sit between them.”

“A crooked ridge to the left and another ridge across from the red-topped one?” Adner questioned me.

“I never told you one was red.”

“I have seen them, Winark,” he told me.

“Of course,” I felt silly. “They are visible from the valley.”

“I have been so busy with the Chief. I have not noticed,” Adner said. “And the one you met called himself the Guardian, not the Keeper?”

“Yes.” At that point, I figured it best to keep my answers short until he was in a better state.

“And he knew of me?”

“Yes.”

“He was a herd beast you have never hunted?”

“Yes.”

“For he had no fear?”

“Yes.”

“You must show me these twin mountains,” Adner said, his concern for the Water Dragons on hold.

“There was something else. I want to follow this ridge. If the scent is still there…”

“What was it, Winark?”

“I thought,” I paused for the same reason I said nothing to my clan. What I thought was unbalanced. “I sensed another ecosystem.”

“Come, we must go.” Adner was in the air before his last word faded.

I flew above and slightly in front of him. Hunt-lings leaped from trees, knowing with the arrival of dragons they could be the hunted. We followed the steep ridgeline. A noisy stream chattered at us as it rolled its way to the river we had just left. The first time my clan flew among these mountains informed me why the two-legged colonists did not venture this way. I doubted they could climb this part of their ecosphere, which made me wonder how they had met the Guardian.

I slowed when we arrived at the location. I was confident the smell originated from the side of one of the many mountains.

“This is the area,” I told Adner.

Adner dropped to the treetops. He skimmed them while I flew higher, looking for anything odd. We both found something.

I was about to call him when he disappeared under the thin canopy, and I heard a sound of distress.

“Adner,” I hollered and circled where I had seen him last.

“Winark, watch out, the trees…” Adner said before something hit me from below.

With my size and scales, the hit did nothing but aggravate me.

“What was that?” I roared.

“It was the trees,” Adner answered. “Good thing you are so large and stubborn, or they would have dragged you down here as well.”

“Where are you? Can you escape?”

“I am right below where I was.”

“Alright, I can blast these branches with my icy breath and be there in seconds.”

“No,” Adner said, “they are just trying to protect something.”

“They are. It is to the northwest. Can you not smell it? Why can you not smell it?” I asked him.

“If I were up there, maybe, but all that is filling my nose here is years of leaf decay.”

“What do you want me to do? I cannot leave you here,” I told him.

“Give me a few beats. Let me see if I can communicate with them.”

“They are trees, Adner,” I grumbled.

“I know that, and one sun-cycle I will let you meet a tree.”

Rolling my eyes, I waited.

Adner

I found myself under a thin canopy of duck-foot-shaped leaves that were a healthy green. The limb that had reached out and grabbed my hind leg had a large wooden thorn. It rested on a tinder spot and dug into it. The wound was minor, and I felt it was not concerning. I sensed soul energy flowing within the trees as if they were a hub for every living being that inhabited the area.

As a Spirit Dragon, I know the connection every living being shares. The energy that flows through us is not ours alone; it belongs to all beings. When we die, it goes back to the torrent in which we are born. I also know there are two unique energies in our ecosphere, the pale blue and the dark. The dark is a dangerous energy, one that corrupts and leads one away from the path all beings must take to return to the pale stream. I have watched beings stray and, when their time is over, they see where their choices have led them. They fight with everything within them to go to the pale.

It is too late, and the dark dribble takes them.

I have seen that this trickle will one season become a river with the consciousness of so many lost beings. This future is distant from now. I will be gone by then, but it frightens me nonetheless.

I stood up before the tree, and my tail swayed behind me over its roots. The limb released me, and the large branch rose into the air. The mighty tree bore flowers that looked similar to tulps. It shook, ridding itself of its nervous energy. As it did, petals fell to the surrounding ground.

The tree sat still, then brought its branches closer. No hostility was present in the branches; within the movements I only saw an invitation bestowed. The limbs lay on my body, and I closed my eyes. I invited it to send me whatever information it wanted. It sent me two pictures. One was of a tree made of many species sitting on top of nothing. Lying nearby was the Guardian. The second was a clear liquid swirling with white crystals inside it. Crowded around the clear liquid were newling trees that would one sun-cycle conceal it from any on high. The transparent ball of fluid was what we were searching for.

I bowed to the trees.

The branches rose, and I saw no more movement.

I left the forest, and we flew northwest as Winark had said. I had thought he would question me, but he did not.

“You can smell it?” Winark asked again.

“I am sorry, but no,” I told him.

“My clan could not either. That is the reason I desire to locate its origin. I must know if I am unbalanced.”

I looked at him.

“I do not think you are unbalanced. We have found ourselves in an extraordinary land. There will be many things we do not comprehend. Before we leave, I hope to understand at least a few.”

We flew the rest of the way in silence. By good fortune, the journey was short. We soon came to a small clearing. Surrounding the clearing were the same kind of trees that had dragged me to the ground. They did not move. I fit in the clearing without a problem. Winark, meanwhile, did minor damage to the trees. After seeing what I had and then seeing so many, I feared retaliation. None came.

We searched and discovered what I was attempting to find. The trees were larger than they had appeared in the vision. As we approached, we felt an energy pulsing from the object. It was not unpleasant but unsettling. The orb was so clear you could see the trees on the other side through it. Small crystals moved around it in a swirling motion to the right. A sparkle of silver sat in the center of the orb.

“This is what the tree showed me,” I told Winark, who did not seem surprised I talked to trees.

“Better than talking to two-legged beasts,” he informed me.

I could not help smiling.

“Alright, let us go look at it,” Winark said, as always eager for the unknown.

I turned and stared at him. “Do not touch it for now.”

“Whatever you say.”

Together, we walked to the object. Winark drew in a deep breath.

“Is this the source?” I asked.

Winged Dragons have down fur on their backs. As he stood there and inhaled a breeze I could not feel, the gentle wind shifted that fur.

“It is water, but not like here. It smells of flora. I sense heat and plants that I do not recognize. And snow.”

“Something for everyone?” I asked.

Winark stared at me.

“This is what you meant by a new dwelling? Not finding a place here, but to leave our ecosphere completely?” he questioned me as if what was happening to dragonkind was hitting him for the first time.

The two-leggeds were driving us not only from our homes but from everything we knew.

“Yes, no place on this sphere exists that they will not locate us,” I confessed. “They will always find us.”

“And you do not think they will follow us through there?” He pointed to the clear doorway.

“Not if we have help, and I believe he will help. He gave the tree a message for me.” I watched Winark as he inhaled what lay on the other side. “What choice do we have?”

“I know,” Winark said in a harsh tone. Then, with the harsh tone gone, he continued speaking of other things. “We need to move the Water Dragons before darkfalls, and my clan is going to the twin mountains this dark-cycle. We will talk at next sun-cycle.”

I decided not to push anymore. What he learned that sun-cycle was a lot to process. I had more time to accept them. I had been dreaming of this for several moon-cycles. Those dreams sent me looking for the others. I needed to give them their time.

Rolling thunder rumbled overhead, and the smell of coming rain filled the air.

“Fine, let us go make the Water Dragons happy and talk a little Water Dragon into giving us more time.”

“Will those feathered wings handle the rain?” I asked.

“Rain slides off. As long as we do not get submerged and the water does not get under our feathers.”

We returned to the valley in silence. The rain hit hard and fast. When we crested the western mountain, we knew tragedy had come with it. The peaceful two-leggeds were running from their colony to the marshes and back. I looked at the dangerous mud, and what I saw horrified me. A Fire Dragon had wandered into the marshes, and she was stuck. Worse, she was sinking. Near her, a Winged Dragon was fighting to free himself from the marsh. He tried to help her and ended up stuck as well.

The transportation of the Water Dragons had to wait for the next sun-cycle. Darkfall was too close, and we had two lives to fight for. The colonists were gathering the rope they had, and the Spirit Dragons were testing them.

“Adner!” someone roared.

I turned and saw Seemia. Lightning flashed, and the droplets of rain on her scales illuminated white.

“She has been in there too long. She is getting weak,” she informed me.

I surveyed both of the struggling dragons. The Winged Dragon who Winark was calling out to had one wing caked with the mud that formed the marsh. Narown fought to keep her mate from the same fate as their clansdragon. The one in the mud flapped his free wing, reminding me of a fly stuck in sap.

“Tell him to stop, or we will lose them both,” I told Seemia.

“Both? Have we lost the Fire Dragon?” There were tears in Seemia’s words.

“I am afraid so. We must start with the Winged Dragon. He is the one we are most likely to save. Once he is free, we will focus on the Fire Dragon and hope we are not too late. Go tell them.”

She did as I told her.

I checked the ropes to verify they were as strong as I had hoped. We were fortunate. They held.

I glared at the clouds and wished they would move on. Rain was healing and the Water Dragons needed it, but the Fire Dragon could be lost because of the extra moisture.

“Winark, I need your strongest and best flyers.”

“Bortear and Glaciertin,” Winark said.

I showed the Winged Dragons what needed to be done. We interlocked the ropes to make sure they would rest on top of the dragons; we did not need to put any more in danger. We looped the ropes around the rescuers. The rope hung low so the stuck Winged Dragon could slip the loop behind his legs to be lifted and pulled from the mud.

“How deep does the mud go?” I asked the Chief of the colony, hoping he understood.

He made a few paw gestures that gave me the impression that enormous creatures had vanished in it. My soul energy chilled for the Fire Dragon.

He made another gesture and the images that flashed before me gave me renewed hope.

“She must stay still,” I told the leader of the Fire Dragons, Pyroton.

He went as close as he could and tried his best to calm her from a distance. She was chest deep. The method we were using with the Winged Dragon would never work with the Fire Dragon. Her legs were too deeply buried. I had to think. Her life was in my paws.

When the ropes were ready, the colonists draped them along Bortear’s wither and upper chest. He was going to attempt the rescue. The rest of us watched, hoping for the best, but we were waiting for another sorrowful end. We could have lost four dragons that dark-cycle. We braided several ropes together to make two large ropes to hold the weight of the enormous dragon. I thought it would work, but I feared the mud-coated wing might end up useless. If his wing muscles were not torn from being pulled out of the clinging mud, a miracle would have happened. A Winged Dragon without flight may wish to be dead.

Bortear arrived above his clansdragon. He lowered, holding tight to the rope to keep it stabilized. Bortear had to lower himself further than I had hoped. There was little slack. His great white wings beat in slow, controlled strokes, just missing the marsh. The trapped Winged Dragon struggled to free one leg and move the rope behind it, then the other. Glaciertin hovered out of the way. With one rope in place, Bortear heaved.

The thought kept running through my head.

This will not succeed.

We had no beats to spare if we were to save the sinking Fire Dragon.

The sound came forth, above the pounding of rain. It was the sound of wet ground letting go. The stuck Winged Dragon was close to the edge, and Bortear made a quick decision. Instead of going up, he pulled the mud-covered dragon closer to the edge. His hindquarters emerged, and the caked wing rose into the air, unharmed.

An air bubble surfaced near the Fire Dragon, and she sank a bit more. On seeing this, Glaciertin flew to the terrified Fire Dragon. The sinking dragon’s back was barely visible, and there was no getting to her feet. Glaciertin lowered the rope so she could grab it with her teeth.

“Hold on tight,” Pyroton told her.

“Can you lift your tail?” I asked, focusing on her.

All Fire Dragon tails are stronger than the rest of their body. They have complete control over them. The tail is full of nerves and vessels that make it a vital organ. If the Fire Dragon could get it free and grab one of the ropes, we just might save her from the marsh.

I peered behind me at the Winged Dragon, hoping to glimpse progress, and was pleased that most of him was free of the marsh. I called to Bortear as the colonists freed the rope from the mud-coated dragon. When the rope was released, Bortear rushed to do what he could to save the Fire Dragon.

The Fire Dragon had a firm grip on the rope with her teeth, and Glaciertin worked his wings in steady and smooth strokes. He rose slow so as not to lose the Fire Dragon. If she fell back, she would sink deeper.

“Come down, Glaciertin,” I hollered, seeing the strain in the Fire Dragon’s eyes. “She needs to rest.”

He did as I requested, and instead of going deeper, the Fire Dragon settled higher in the mud. I glimpsed the possibility of her survival at that moment.

“Can you get your tail free yet?” I asked.

“Not yet,” she said. Her eyes were weary.

“Alright.”

I looked up at the two Winged Dragons.

“As long as she is trying, we will as well,” Bortear and Glaciertin said.

Good fortune shone and the rain stopped.

In that dark-cycle, we changed from dragonkinds to one clan. Winark stood at my side with Pyroton. I realized, with the work done, the Winged Dragons still intended to move to the mountains, and the Water Dragons had to be transferred to the river soon. But even apart, we were a clan.

I studied the one still in the marsh.

“You ready?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice steady.

When her tail was free, she grabbed the other rope with it. Bortear and Glaciertin were able to lift her free of the marsh and put her on solid ground.

“Stay clear of the marshland, even the younglings. It is far too dangerous,” I told all the dragons.

They agreed. I hurried to Winark.

“Are your kin going to be alright?”

“Yes, the two rescuers need a good rest, and the one who was stuck in the mud is more exhausted than anything,” Winark informed me.

“His wing?” I asked.

I feared the answer because I knew my plan had been to pull him upward and that would have torn the muscles in his wing. Bortear had pulled along the surface to the shore instead.

“He will fly with us. Bortear made the right choice,” Winark said. He never spoke of it again.

“He did, and I am grateful,” I told him.

“We are going to stay here this dark-cycle. We will help move the Water Dragons at sun-peek and go hunt for the clan. Before coming-dark, we will relocate to the mountains, but if you need us, come and get us. We are a clan always.”

“I think after what has happened here, we feel the same. The marshes are dangerous for the Fire Dragons, and the ground is no place for my kin to sleep. I think for us all, the valley is not our place. The orb we found is the doorway to our new home. The twin mountains and the three mountains between them are where we belong.” I told Winark and he did not seem surprised. He questioned me only concerning one thing.

“We do not know what is on the other side. We cannot send our brethren through an entranceway that we have no knowledge of where it leads.”

“I will take care of that,” I told him.

“No, I cannot allow that. You have gotten us this far. Without you, our kind would have perished. You must be with our brethren if things go bad—wherever that leads.”

“I cannot ask anyone else to be the first to go through the doorway.”

“You will not have to ask,” Winark said and spoke no more about it.

I found my kin where we had spread our sand.

“We are relocating?” Seemia asked.

“Yes, but not far. We will continue getting to know our new friends.”

“Good,” she said. “I am enjoying them.”

“I am as well,” I said as I lowered my head, knowing sleep would not be coming soon.

I lay on the grass that covered the valley. Seemia came to me that dark-cycle and curved her body along my side. She rested her head on my neck and crooned. It was a tune our mother purred, one all Spirit Mothers hummed to their younglings to help them sleep. She understood sleep came hard for me most times, and as we got older, it only got worse. That dark-cycle was no different.