Princess of Illea

Chapter 5: Fuji

            It was around noon when we landed in a valley near the prominent snow peaked volcano. We were later than we had anticipated due to the skirmish we had with those dragons. Once we were safely on the ground, Cerridwen immediately leapt off and placed her hand on Ciaran's side. A moment passed, then Emmalyn appeared.

"What a rush!!" Emmalyn hollered. She began patting herself down, as if checking to make sure all of her limbs were still intact.

"Oh, Emmalyn, I'm so sorry!! I was so scared, I totally forgot about the touchy thing!" It took everything in Cerridwen to not remove her hand and go tackle Emmalyn in a bear hug.

"It's alright squirt. No big deal." Emmalyn said, uncomfortable with how worked up Cerridwen was.

"No! I was selfish and should have let go the minute I realized you had appeared. I'm so stupid..." Cerridwen's eyes began to fill with tears. Ciaran looked openly concerned with the small child crying by his side.

"No really! It's ok! Iasc got me," Emmalyn smirked at me, I think we were friends now, "And if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have gotten this valuable intel!" Cerridwen and I both watched her smug face as we waited for what intel she was able to acquire.

"Apparently Dh'aona are escaping the dragon realm through a tear in the barrier," Ciaran winced at her comment.

"Who are the Dh'aona again?" I inquired.

"They are dragons who do not believe in pledging loyalty to the Illean people." Ciaran interjected before Emmalyn could reply.

"Right, and it seems they're forming an army with the world's greatest warriors, binding them to dragons." Emmalyn excitedly waited for our reactions to the intel she risked her life for.

"Is binding different than welding?" Cerridwen asked, Emmalyn deflated at the question.

"I give up!" Emmalyn plopped down on the ground and rested her chin on her hand.

Cerridwen and I both turned to Ciaran, he rolled his eyes at our ignorance and began his explanation.

"All Illean can communicate, but not everyone can form a relationship with a dragon." Cerridwen adjusted her hand so she could sit on the ground as Ciaran continued to explain.

"There are three types of relationships Illean can make with a dragon; Bonding, Binding, or Welding. Bonding is when an Illean forms a friendship with a dragon. The Illean gives the dragon food, the dragon gives the Illean a gift. Whether that be good health, never ending sunshine, wealth, it depends on the dragon and its abilities." Ciaran could see more questions about to spill out of both of our mouths so he tried to continue quickly, but was caught by me.

"Can they ride the dragon?" Ciaran rolled his eyes dramatically.

"No. Bonding is just friendship. Binding is where there is loyalty. This is where the dragon trusts the human enough to let them ride on their backs."

"Are we bound to you?" Cerridwen asked excitedly.

Ciaran paused, sympathetic to her excitement. "Not quite. I let you ride me because we have something greater than myself to accomplish." Ciaran was about to begin talking again when I interjected.

"So not everyone can ride a dragon?"

"No. Around 80% can bond with a dragon. About 35% can be bound to a dragon. And only 3% are welded to a dragon."

"And welded is when you both share one body in a sense?" Cerridwen added, rubbing her chin like she was a great mathematician, calculating a problem out.