Dragon Dance - MaxTul's Story

Part 23 - T...Asked?

Teena lay curled up in a ball, her diaphragm barely moving. Encircling her, the elders had placed the healed Pip, who also had yet to regain consciousness. 

The former council of Elders gathered in the Queen's chamber. There were only five of them left. The male, of the bonded pair, glanced at his mate. "Did you hear the call?"

She nodded her head. "I think we all did. I think we all knew something was wrong here, when our beloved Queen died. I'm afraid I feel guilty for not stepping forward." She rested her chin on the floor, in almost a bow, tail tightly entwined with her bonded. "How did we let things get so bad?"

A younger dragon spoke up. "I don't understand. I heard the Eldest's war call, but I don't understand who or what we're going to war against."

The Elder sighed. "If you can hear her, then you remember fighting in the war? You have to be at least 10,000 years old?" He waited patiently for agreement. "Four queens signed the accords with blood and magic, making an unbreakable seal, or so we thought."

The Female took over. "It turns out that when our beloved Queen died, her magic was weakened, or Margueritha figured out how to break that seal. In any case, if the Eldest dragon says we are facing war, we are already in a war."

Almost together the bonded pair spoke, "It is our fault, the Royal Dynasty Clutch. We need to stop this. We need Teena and Pip. They were closest to Margueritha."

The youngest Elder curled up on the other side of Teena. "I will stay and guard. There is still great hostility in the clutch, despite the vote to give her a chance." She paused, "Some are saying to hunt for the other females, some are saying bring in Prince Tul as Regent."

The elder shook his head. "No clutch has had a male regent in over 50,000 years, and never while there was a living female. We will not break from tradition while Teena lives. Let us see what happens. The Eldest can bind her magic if we need to."

Slowly, the other four wyrms lumbered out of the Queen's chambers. They had a list of tasks a mile long. First, was disposal of all of her poisons. They had known of them but felt helpless, not wanting to interfere with the Queen. Second, was to secretly start teaching the children to defend themselves. 

Lessons that used to be common and the Queen had stopped. Until they knew what type of Queen Teena would be, everything they would do, as a council, would be done in secret.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Forth, I have a special task for you, and Beam." Talia sighed and shifted. She was tired of maintaining that shape. Four legs was much nicer than two, and if any dragon was honest, holding 9/10th's of your body in another dimension was hard work. 

"Mum? Beam is human." Forth's worry was showing. "I don't want him involved with dragon business."

"He's going to carry my grandchildren! You think I would ever let anything happen to him?" Amusement laced her voice. "Call him here or do you want me to do it?"

"But Mum!"

"But Forth nothing, call him. I need Beam for this. At least let Beam decide on his own." Talia sighed, her tail flicking. 

Forth scrunched his nose. "Beam, do you remember the way to the Queen's quarters? Mum wants to see you. If you don't, I can have a guard walk you here."

"Forth? Umm, yeah, I think I can do it. It was a left, left, right and left?" Beam thought the map in his head clearly the way Forth and his brothers had taught him. Instead of Forth, it was the guard in the hallway who sent back an affirmative.

"Excellent, Consort Beam!" The Guard mentally applauded. "Do I follow you?"

"No, thank you. I'd like to try on my own." Beam rubbed his nose as his face flamed. Forth held back his laughter. Beam gathered his courage and left the huge chamber he was slowly turning into more of a human structure over the weeks since they had married. 

Since they didn't spend that much time here yet, it still was huge and empty. More solid, actual human furniture had been brought in for him, like the bed the Queen had gifted him on their first meeting. Joining it, was a dresser, table and chairs, and a small stove. Beam really appreciated that since most of the other dragons didn't care if their food was cooked or not.

The thought of being offered tasty chunks on his first visit still had him snorting with laughter. 

He was almost there when three voices yelled in his mind, almost at the same time, "Left, not right!" with the guard being the loudest. He could hear Forth almost dying from the laughter. Feeling his face flame, ears burning, he almost, almost - but didn't - bolt back to the room.

Why was this damn place so big and twisty? Did they love circles and mazes so much? Beam shouted in his mind back at all of them "Fine!!! I got IT" 

Angrily, from the embarrassment, he stomped into the Queen's chambers. The Queen raised her large head and blinked slowly, surveying his red face. "Forth? Is your bonded alright? His color is off, like fresh meat."

This made Beam flush even harder and Forth gasp for breath. "Fresh meat! Oh gods, Beam! You'll have to explain, I think I need all the air I have!" 

"Shut it, Forth. You want to sleep with me tonight?" Beam growled lowly. He met his mother in law's huge, shifting eyes. "I'm embarrassed. My face goes red. Can't you dragons stay out of my head?" He whined, almost pitifully. "I know you all grew up inside each others thoughts, but I'm only human. It's a bit overwhelming."

"Oh." Talia sighed. "Do you want me to shift? Is that easier?"

"It may be, for now. I'm sorry, Mum. I can't seem to concentrate properly. I can't hear or send things clearly, and it's giving me the worst head pains."

Talia shifted. "This is not good news. Beam, Forth has been giving me trouble. I need to ask for help and he doesn't want you involved in dragon business. You're married to a dragon. You're involved. We, the dragons, need you."

"Me? I can't do what you can do." Beam felt flustered by her attention.

"No, Beam, you can do this better than any dragon." Talia walked over to her son-in-law, placing both hands on his shoulders. "I need you to be my eyes and ears in the human world. Someone, somewhere will start to exchange large sums of either gold or gems, to become filthy rich."

"Excuse me?" Beam looked startled.

"This person, either male or female, has but one goal. They will want to be the richest, most powerful person in the world. They would have already started. We must find them. FAST!" Talia began to pace. 

Beam shook his head. "I'm not helping unless I understand everything. I know you have computers. You can do google searches too."

"No, this isn't something that you will find in a computer, Beam. They will be in plain sight, but hiding until the time is right. You need to follow the links, like the bonds that bind you and my son." Talia looked at Forth, who twisted his lips, then nodded.

"The Dynasty Queen who died, Pha and Wayo's clutch, set in motion a very deadly game." Talia looked at both her sons. "We have to work together to save both our species."