Dragon's Den

“There weren’t always dragons in the Valley,” I read to the group of kids sitting in a group on their miniature mats. The museum lobby has been taken over by these little ones with wild eyes and open ears. I am only sixteen but being able to have this summer internship at my favorite place has made almost all of my dreams come true. “The Valley is where most of the fossils in this museum have come from!” I point to the bones strategically designed to display the dragon fossil hanging from the ceiling. I have spent most of my time in this lobby reading and studying the fossil of the dragons that have been found throughout the world. I know this pamphlet from front to back and the kids get engulfed by it. It is nice to look at all their little faces and see so much diversity but only two kids that are humans also.

An orc kid raises his hand, “Did the dragons eat all the humans,” laughing under his breath and elbowing another orc kid beside him. The teacher shushes the group of kids whispering and giggling at the comment but I do not think she is upset by the comment. The human population has been slowly declining since tribe violence has elevated. I walk around the class sitting and waiting for what to say next. I look at the class which is made up of elves, orcs, a little fairy girl, and the two human kids. I walk over to the wall where there is a massive black and white picture of a man standing in front of a two-headed dragon.

“Humans aren’t growing in numbers but many of them died fighting for the sake of the Valley. Dragon riders and human soldiers fought with many even though they were weaker, which helped lead to the war ending more quickly. Knowing the history of the war is more informative than assuming that humans are weaker.” I have been studying the history of human’s part in the war ever since my mother started working here. She would read the legends of the humans fighting with the orc and elves. “Being able to practice magic can be difficult for most but the humans,” I look the orc boy in his yellow eyes, “Can you do magic?” The two human kids laugh under their breath.

I look at the front desk assistant Solang, an elf, as she taps on her tulip watch. “As I was saying!” I start telling them about the civil dismay that had begun with five of the seven tribes led by the Dragon becoming uneasy with the Prime Dragon demanding control of the Valley. The legend of the Prime Dragon was for another day and too terrifying for these kids. Told them my favorite part, how humans would lead the orcs into battle with their dragons while the elves fazing in and out of the landscape into the opposing human opponents.

“As the battlefield started to fill with the blood of humans the dragons started to feel the pain of the land. The five dragons came to a conclusion to sacrifice themselves to protect the rest of the human race. Even though they were against the change of the war no human is worth losing.” I walk across the kids one last time to point to a hologram of a huge dragon balled up into itself rotating around underground. “The Five Dragons had abandoned their riders, used their gigantic claws to dig their way underground. Never to be seen again.” I take the moment for the kid's mind to wonder what has happened to the legendary dragons and surprise them. I quickly switch the light to the lobby off. A screech of frightened kids fills the room. I laugh as an elf girl whispers an incantation and a glowing cloud appears above her head.

“Henry,” a deep voice shouts causing the kids to screech again. I turn around to see the Georgia Museum Curator, Mr. Celeste. He is in charge of the largest Dragon Fossil Museum in the United States and I’m lucky enough to work with him, even if it is just as an intern.

“Yes, sir. I’m on the way” I responded, “Okay kids, can everyone pack up their mats and drop them off at the front desk. Ms. Solang will put them away. Then follow your teacher to the first hallway towards Key-lee.” I point to my fair1y coworker down the hallway as she waves. The kids jump up and head over to the desk and I get the same excitement as I head over to Mr. Celeste.

“I have some paperwork for your mother that I need you to take to her. It looked like you needed a break from the class also.” He laughs as he rubs his gray beard. He is the oldest human that I know and when he talks to the younger staff, he tells them that they are the ones keeping him young.

“Yes sir, I can take it to her right now.” he hands me a worn leather booklet and a folder with pictures in it. “Can you tell her that a relative of the original rider has opened a family lock box? He donated this information to us. Can you ask her to check her U-mail and send me what she finds?” he takes his massive hand and gives me a reassuring gesture. He walks past me on as he heads to the lobby, “I’m going to walk with this kids’ tour; keeps the information fresh in my mind.”

I straighten my suit with a larger amount of confidence than I had before. “Yes, Mr. Celeste. I will let her know. Maybe I can help her out?” I question before he is out of earshot.

“Just keep what you find to yourself. Confidence is key, my friend.” Mr. Celeste says as he nods his head giving me the queue to get going.

I slap the paperwork in excitement, knocking everything to the ground. Terrified, I look around to see if Mr. Celeste is still in the hallway. He isn’t but I can see his back walking close to the young elf lady. I started to quickly gather the papers that were in the folder, the booklet has a few papers shook but nothing in between the pages. Looking at the details of each I notice the page numbers in multiple different dialects. I put my hand on a sheet that has words written on it; that shape themselves into a hand print. My hand fits perfectly to the page as press it flat on the floor.

“Did you get a new job as a janitor?” Adeline says as she squats down to help me with the papers. A peony petal from her flower headband lands on my papers. The whiff of rich dirt and fresh water hits me as I look up into my best friend's eyes. I take the petal and put it in my suit pocket.

“No! No! Still the guy in the suit that you saw at the Conquer King getting a burger,” I say as she does, I comb my hair back with my fingers. She helps me gather the papers before she hands them to me. As she does I grab her other hand and hold it. “Do you want to walk to my mom’s office with me?” Her hands have always been so soft. Adeline’s aqua green skin with the beautiful silver etching though out her skin will always amaze me. She is the prettiest fairy I have ever seen.

“Silly boy, we aren’t kids anymore; you will make it by yourself,” she giggles as she pinches my cheek and hands me the papers. “I have some new letters that I need to go translate. They were just sent to the office so it will be a new challenge.”

“That sounds like a full day's work. Just call me if you need a ride home.”

“I sure will!” she says as she twists away, shooting finger guns at me.

We have been friends our whole lives and just as our parents were friends before us. Adeline was there for me as a kid when my dad went missing and she has been so helpful since then. When she told me about the teacup that showed her that we would be together forever, I believed it.

All the pages are mixed up now, sigh, I need to hurry up and get to my mom’s office. I rushed down the hall to the elevator and made it to the third floor to realize Professor Delgado’s door is closed which is never a good sign. I knock a few times on the door to see what she would say.

“Take a seat,” she says through the barrier.

I know when her door is closed she is doing something that is not my business so I sit in the moss chairs outside of her office. Unwinding the book from its leather binding, I open it to the first page to hopefully see who wrote it. “Our deepest fears are like dragons guarding our deepest treasure. Written by O’Daya the Searcher.” A wispy ink written cursive decorated the front page. I rub my eyes and begin pondering if I have heard this name in my past research. There have been many documents of Dragons found by treasure hunters and scholars that dedicate their lives to finding them. Some are doing it for the money and others for the glory. Most scholars donate their findings to the Georgia Museum. After the war between the Tribes, Dragons, and the Kindred, most humans were on the Kindred side because they were easy to manipulate and use as pawns which is why the human population is so low. Orc, elves, fairies, and some humans fought for the land surrounding the Valley. The Valley was a strong home for all until the Kindred’s force grew and the Dragons went into hiding.

“O’Daya.” I say under my breath.

Click, the door unlocks, and I see my mom, her cheeks red with frustration.

“Son, I thought you were working on a tour?” She says as she ushers me into her office and closes the door behind her.

“I was, but Mr. Celeste wanted me to bring you this booklet and folder of documents. I dropped them so they were a little out of place but I saw something intriguing!” I seem to be rambling while my mom has been blankly staring at me. “Mom what are you thinking?”

She crosses her finger on her desk, “I have just received some life-changing information.”

I jump to attention!

“What kind of entrance is that!” I screech with surprise.

“Oh calm down. You are overreacting! Sit down and let me explain.” she says as she pats her hand on the front of her desk. My mom can be numb to surprises and sometimes emotion which makes her the worst at explaining serious matters. I exhale, straighten my suit, then sit down.

“I have been tracking and documenting our ancestry over the past few months after I found your father's last postcard from the Outer Gate. It seemed like he had found a few documents with our last name written on them. I have sent a blood sample and other samples needed to do an analysis of our ancestry. It seems.” My mother covers her mouth and closes her eyes. “Well, this has taken some years. Your dad sent the same samples before he went missing four years ago. He had mine and his as his sample results sent to me when they were done. Our results have verified suspicions. Your father and I are relatives of 2 of the 7 Ancient Dragon Riders. You could possibly be a Dragon Rider.”

We sit in silence looking at each other. I’m not sure if I should be ecstatic or looking for a rock to hide under. Many families have been completely destroyed, children’s hearts ripped out, and villages burned down, with just the rumor of being a dragon rider. I think my mother is feeling the same as I am. This is beyond bitter-sweet. More like fight or flight.

“What is the next step, mom?” I break the silence with a worthwhile question, “Start the quest of a lifetime or fake our death then move into a cave?’

“We can not tell anyone. The more that know the higher risk we put ourselves in. This-” she is interrupted by a knock on her door.

She grabs and puts all the paperwork from her printer, desk, and booklet into her tote beside her desk, “Come in.”

Adeline enters, it seems like a gust follows her where ever she goes.

“I thought you all would be together. Henry, I am off for the day, the researchers didn’t need as much help as I thought they would. Do you think you can give me a ride home?”

“You are in grace. We are leaving early today also. Do you have anything that you need to grab before we leave son?” My mothers ask as she gathers her tote and orange rain shawl from her chair.

I take my mother’s hint even though I had a full locker, “No ma’am. Let’s get out of here.”

My mother’s computer dings, a message from CELESTE.

She nods her head towards the door and we flock out.

My mother and I are walking quickly and don’t realize that the only reason that Adeline is keeping up is that she is floating at our walking pace. She doesn’t use her wing as much indoors to be polite, so floating is quicker. Once I notice that we are looking suspicious, I take Adeline’s hand then2 cough loudly enough for my mom to hear me then she looks back and slows her pace.

“Can I ask why you are in such a rush?” Adeline whispers as she take my hand in both of her hands. We have known each other so long she said she has gotten used to me grabbing her hand. I am years younger than her but when we were children she offered me her hand once when we hiked a mountain. We were separated from our parents and I was terrified. She has always been able to read the thoughts that are written on my face.

“Sorry, I will explain in the car,” I say just loud enough for Adeline to hear.

“We have to beat the Unicorn Traffic. You know some of those companies leave the roads quite shitty.” My mom says with a nervous giggle.

We are stopped by a pass tour group that has Mr. Celeste weaved in with others. He looks up towards us as my mom ducks to the wall of the hallway out of his view. Mr. Celeste starts walking toward us but the tour group wave blocks his way. My mom takes advantage and we flow into the crowd to the exit. Mr. Celeste is a few people behind us.

“I found your parents' sir names in the documents I found today,” Adeline whispers to me.

Shocks bolts through my face, “When were you taken off the translation? Before or after you found this?”

“After.” she say with concern in her eyes, “I was only able to take a quick picture before I had turned it into the researchers. It was some documents that had come in the other day. I will show you in the car.”

We follow my mothers bobbing head to the lobby, front door, then out to the car. Once we get to a clear area we quickly walk to my mom's car. We jump in and head out. Adeline takes out her phone and starts going through a few things. I’m tapping my foot rapidly because my nervous energy needs somewhere to go.

“Adeline, can you show Henry what you found today. We are heading to the house to get a few things. I need you to let your parents know that we will be going on a hike today.” Mother says as she

weaves through the traffic. A group of chariots is parked beside the sidewalk. “We beat the unicorn traffic just in time.”

Adeline giggles, “So, I had gotten a few of the papers and started to translate them. Seems a treasure hunter possible mage named O’Daya was searching for someone.” she shows me the picture on her egg-shaped cellphone. The tan parchment paper in the picture was written in purple ink.

“Why is the ink purple?” I ask.

“The development of the printing press must have been going on at this time. I can tell because of the type of paper that was used. The purple ink was used specifically by mages. This ink was used to write spells by many and was very hard to make. Mostly made by treasure hunters when they would find Cyphochilus beetles. These beetles are found in the Cold Mountain caves,” the excitement builds in Adeline’s voice as she taps her finger on her palm. She grabs the phone out of my hand and uses her fingers to zoom into the phone, “Here. Look at the names.”

I look at the screen. Most of the words I do not understand but I can clearly read Delgado and Chewey. That is my mother and father! It is nice to see his name written in history but a sad reminder that I can not savor this moment.

“The documents were found near the Outer Gate, where your father went missing. I don’t think the other researchers realized I knew the history but this word here means map.” She points to the word on her screen, “Hold.”

“Adeline, you are a jewel. Today has turned into an adventure. I’d gotten some information today stating that Professor Chewey and I are direct bloodline ascendants of these people. They were Dragon Riders.” Mother looks at us in her rear view mirror, “This changes so many things! I have been3 hearing rumors of a lost tribe that is searching for the bloodlines of Dragon Riders, to build an army; an army to take control of the Village again. The tribe could be made of Kindred or shifters.”

“Shifters like the humans and elves that can change into Dragons if they drink the dragons’ blood? That is a myth!” Adeline questions as she pulls her long braids into a rose-colored ribbon.

“A myth or a conspiracy but we do not want to find out which is true!”Mother says as she pulls the truck into the driveway. “There is a bag that your father packed years ago. It was just a prep bag at first but seems like it was packed just for this day!” She gathers everything.

DING-DING.

Her phone alarms so she checks the screen, “Celeste. We can’t trust him! Let’s go!”

Adeline and I follow my mother into our moss-covered cottage, “Adeline please go to the kitchen and gather a few items. Spring waters travel food and clothes. Lock the door and follow me to the study.” Adeline and I nod in agreement and split up. After locking the door, I trail my mother's path to the study.

“Help me with this,” she says pointing to the end of my father’s desk that sat in front of a gala of windows. We slide the desk over just enough to uncover a board that my mother lifts up, pulling out two black book bags, and throws me one. “If I am correct there is a map in here.” She says as she pulls out the few parchments that have been hidden. Looking through them quickly she finds what she is looking for. “Here! Put this in my tote that is at the front door! I will meet you downstairs.” she gives me a tattered piece and pointed to the door.

“Okay meet me at the front,” I say as I rush out, stopping briefly to look back. My mom is pulling out a picture and holding it to her chest.

I go down the stairs almost running into Adeline as we meet in the foyer, “So I have been thinking. This could be super dangerous. Do you know what you’re getting yourself into? That hike can be pretty steep for inexperienced hikers. Not to consider the vampire bats that have been attacking people close to their caves.” Adeline has many questions and I’m guessing has limited them to the most important.

“Adeline, this is a moment you need to make a dyer decision. I haven’t talked to your parents today and we have little time. If we can figure this out, I’m guessing, the Kindred will not be far behind. My husband, your parents, and I use to play a board game called Dragon’s Den. We would go on quests imagining this mythical journey to become Dragon Riders.” my mother hands Adeline a picture, “We were much younger and my knees were a lot stronger. This is what we based our lives on!” My mother picks up her tote and takes out the leather book and opens it to a page that unfolds, and sets it on the ground, reaching her hand out. I hand her the parchment that matches the picture in the book. She places it down at the bottom right corner of the three-part picture that must have had that piece ripped off. Adeline and I look at each other with wide eyes! 4

“Wow!” I say with nostalgia.

Adeline looks at me and takes my hand, “Teamwork.”

I have a flashback to the night in the woods when Adeline said this to me to calm me down when I was scared.

“Teamwork!” I say as she takes my hand.

“Text your parents Dragon’s Den. They will understand. I hope you, Adeline, understand the consequences.” My mother says as she looks Adeline dead in the eyes.

“Yeah!” Adeline says excitedly, “We either go on a super dangerous hike to nowhere or we find a 100-year-old dragon that's overslept and can be seriously hungry!”

I nervously laugh, my mother is still in awe of what she has brought together.

“We’ve got to go!” she says as she packs the page in the book and then places it in the book bag. She opens the bag wider and searches through it. “This is it!” my mother says as she pulls out a silver ball with fairy writing scrolled all over it.

“A Reise! I’ve only seen one of these when I was about 60. Only a little kid and my mom…” Adeline looks at my mom, “Mrs. Delgado did you get this from my mom?”

“Yes, I did. I remember when my husband, your father, and I found it on one of our excursions to the crystal mines near Cold Mountain. We were all so excited but knew that it needed to be translated. Your mother has always been able to read ancient fairy scripts, so we brought it to her. She translated it and Chewey put it in this bag for a quest. For our quest!” My mother’s heartbreaks,” He would have been so proud.” Sigh. “So here is the translation that your mother interpreted. We are trying to get to the mouth of Cold Mountain there is an entrance to a cave that has a sinkhole a few meters inside. Read this out loud as we stand in a circle. GO GET THE SALT!”

I leap into the kitchen and grab the crushed Himalayan salt.

“Make a circle and we will travel together inside the circle to the destination.” mother say as she makes the salt circle. “Come Come!”

“Okay, here we go,” Adeline says as we all step into the pale salt circle, “Vi kommer og gar, men vi er her.” Adeline reads three times, and as she does, the windows in the foyer open up, the wild winds around us raising the salt into the air, circling around us!

“Henry, we need to clear our minds while Mrs. Delgado thinks of where we need to be headed,” Adeline says when the salt touches the ceiling.

“Cold Mountain.” My mother states with confidence in her voice. Using the memory of her and Chewey, young and in love, standing together at the face of Cold Mountain. The scent of Pine trees mixes into the salt gusting around us then with a spark, we are standing on uneven ground.

“Ikke! It worked.” Adeline says brushing her braids back out of her face.

Adeline, mother and I step out of our salt circle to the awe-inspiring scenic landscape that is called Cold Mountains. It is past the autumn solstice so it is a bit cold, “I should have worn a jacket.” Adeline says rubbing her crossed arms. I unbutton my suit jacket and put it around her then look at my mom. She has her fingers in the dirt near the salt circle and then rubs out our portal circle.

“Wait, we will need that to go back to the city.” Adeline says too late, “This is like a 2 hours drive back. How will we get home?”

“There is no going back, Adeline. I’m hoping your parents have gotten your message but we can only follow the map now. This is what I meant.” Mother says as she kneels down to open her book bag. She takes out two knit hats and the leather book. She throws me a hat and opens the book to the area where the map was then lays it out on the ground attaching the ripped piece to complete the journey.

We kneel with mother, “SO we are here.” she points to the top left of the map page. “There is another portal to the en of the dragon named Estoico OR if the legend is miss leading then the dragon is Tohono.”

Adeline and I have matching expressions, “I guess it's too good to be true to have a straight answer when it’s a mythical quest.”

“So,” I point to a triangle that is on the map, “we follow the crystal path to this portal then hope into this portal and go wear?”

“This word means lavender and wall,” Adeline says as drags her finger following the trail on the map. “That’s what lavendel og vegg means.”

“Your completely right, Adeline. There should be a stone here,” mother points into the mouth of the cave, “This used to be an old crystal mine. They used to mine ruby and sunstone for most of the markets in the area. It closed down a few years ago and it was not in the running of a place that would be considered a dragon den due to all the activity. This page has been missing but I was thinking it could be a key to match all of these symbols. The stone has these inscriptions carved into the stone, I think it is a transporter to, maybe, deeper into the core of the cave.” The adventure glows in my mother's eyes. “This is what your dad and I use to look for during hikes. Usually, just an excuse to be alone in the woods but that was really it. This is the key!”

“Just want I have been waiting to hear.” a deep voice is heard all around us.

We stand and turn around to see Mr. Celeste and he has a handgun pointed at me.

“Dawn!” Mother screeches, “what are you doing here?”

“If you would have answered your U-mail or your phone then we could have talked about this. I assume that you have found out that YOU, my old friend, and Chewey, my he rest in peace, are a part of the Dragon rider’s bloodline. Yes, I was surprised but instead of us going on this quest you picked him.” Celeste gestures with the gun for us to move up the mountain path to the cold mountain entrance. “I have had my ear to the ground for years. Years to be able to be one of the first to bring a dragon to our leader.”

“Wait,” mother stops and slowly walks toward Celeste, “ Your leader? The Kindred! You are a part of the Kindred?”

Celeste cracks his neck pocking his chest out, then flaring his nose, “ I am! This will be easier to explain once I’ve taken my true form.”

Mother takes off the book bag that is holding all the new research and throws it to me, “Run!” she screams. Adeline and I run toward the huge silver stone resting in the black dirt where the entrance of the cave is. I am behind Adeline and mother is behind me, I don’t look back to see what Celeste is doing but I can hear his screeches turning into a low roar. Adeline and I reach the stone but my mother is slowly walking backward pleading with Celeste.

“You’ve been a hidden shifter all this time! How? How have you hidden for so long? The Kindred lost ages ago. It is time to move on. You will never be able to find the dragon that has nestled here.” Mother says with her hand reached out.

Celeste has ripped through his own skin and shed it like a snake. Horns are sitting on his forehead and nose, his skin has large scales on his chest and arms. Now his legs have ripped open and blood is over what is left of his pants and his feet have turned into clawed reptile paws. Shifters are real! Humans that shape shift into dragons so they can work for and worship the greedy large monsters.

“It seems you have not read the book in as many details as I have.” a sharp tongue whips around his face. “You’ll need a human sacrifice.”

Bang, bang, bang.

Shots echo in the cave as my mother falls to the black dirt.

“Noooo!” I scream. Adeline grabs my hand before I can run to her and starts reading the description on the stone. Celeste walks over and stands over my mother. The ground starts to soak up her blood and vines come out of the ground to wrap her body then she sinks into the black dirt into nothing. She is gone. Celeste waves as a cloud engulf us.

Then darkness.

I grab onto the stone, patting my hands around it to find Adeline. The darkness has the smell of the sea, salty but stale. “Adeline, where are you?” I say with the echo of my voice surrounding me.

“I’m here. I found your mother.” Adeline says as she beings to glow a light blue aura around her and my mother. I run to the glow of Adeline standing over my mother’s body. I can see the gunshots in her chest but when I stumble to her body she seems transparent. “Don’t touch her. It is just her life force, not her actual body and if you touch her she will dismantle.” Adeline says as she touches my shoulder.

“The book. The book.” I can hear my mother's voice but she is not moving.

“The Booook.” a large voice takes control of the atmosphere of the darkness.

“Did you hear that?” I say to Adeline.

I can feel Adeline’s hand get smaller and smaller on my shoulder. Looking at her she is beginning to shrink. This is not good, when fairies downsize there is a danger they have to protect themselves from. Also, they won't be able to speak, just whisper and squeak.

“Adeline, no! Wait, don’t leave me!” I shout.

Now all of my friend is a red glowing bulb hovering in front of me. Then large red eyes open in the darkness, and a sharp tooth smile streams across my eye site. Adeline’s light flies behind me. The fire builds up behind the teeth.

“A dragon!” I say with disbelief.

The fire turns from red to blue to white as it spits from behind the massive smile. I turn my back to cover my mother's body and Adeline as the fire floods around me. I can feel the gust of flames dancing around me but it is not hot or burning me, it is going inside of my skin. I watch as it twirls me, soaking into me.

Then darkness again.

“Welcome Blood.” the deep voice says as a giant dragon blows flames to light the torches of the cave.