Princess of Dragons

Chapter 40

Ciara heard the shouting and yelling of the castle-guards and the growling of what was undoubtedly a dragon, albeit a young one, and immediately set into a run.

"It is quite a high-pitched growling, is it not?" Elias asked as they ran.

"Yes," Ciara said, already panting. She never seemed dressed for the occasion when it came to these things. "It is a young one." It even sounded quite familiar

Just then, Sunrose raced right past them overhead. She was already snarling before she even reached the commotion properly.

The dragonelle promptly landed, snarling and glaring furiously at the Dragon Slayers surrounding herself and the young one.

That confirmed it for Ciara - she knew that young dragon for sure.

Even if it wasn't much, she strained to run just a little faster.

"Stand down!" she yelled with whatever air was left in her lungs.

Surprised, the Dragon Slayers and Royal Guards, holding their swords and spears, all turned to see her struggling to reach them.

"Stand down.. this instant.." she panted as she finally reached them, needing just a few moments to catch her breath again. She swore her shape had disintegrated in the duration of her stay in this kingdom - they were spoiling her too much! "Do not... hurt... the dragon...."

She knew, after all, just how protective her sister was of her dragon. And Sunrose was no different, standing above the young dragon and warily glaring and snarling at the men.

One of the Slayers looked at her skeptically.

"Do you know this dragon, princess Ciara?"

She nodded, smiling when a happy squeal sounded from the little creature. Seconds later, he flew right over the stunned heads of the guards and stormed right into her open embrace, forcing them both to the ground.

"Princess!" someone yelled, followed by the heavy footsteps and the clanking of armor.

She laughed and shook her head. "It is all right." She giggled at the feeling of the drake's rough, cat-like tongue running over the skin of half of her face. "You are just a little over-excited, are you not, Aporo?"

The young dragon yipped as he pulled back to look at her, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

He was a young wind dragon, and as such had the trademark serpent-like, light gray body and two pairs of wings. However, he had a bit of water dragon mixed into him as well, so he wasn't as feathery and soft as the wind dragons were known to be. Rather, he was much more streamlined like the water dragons were. His wing resembled those of water dragons, though it was impossible for him to stand on them the way Kaisog did his.

Because of mixed genes, the double pair of wings and the more streamlined body, he was incredibly fast. Much more so than any other dragon.

Kaisog landed right behind them, curiously moving his snout closer to sniff at the younger drake. Aporo immediately reacted to the big dragon's approach and unflinchingly looked up at him, his tail swiping from side to side on the ground. He yipped once at Kaisog and then jumped off her, running a little away. He stopped once he realized no one was following him and looked expectantly back at Kaisog over his shoulder.

Kaisog understood what the young drake wanted and immediately chased after him in play. One would never think those two were almost a hundred winters apart in age from the way they were behaving.

She smiled when Alex offered her a hand to get up from the ground and quickly brushed the worst of the dirt off her dress.

She turned to the other guards again, some of whom had returned to their posts already. Some had stayed back, keeping a vigilant eye on the dragons. These were primarily the Dragon Slayers, naturally.