Dragons (#1): Smoke Mountain

Chapter 1

Alla stood proud, raking her emerald gaze across the vallies below.

"Hey! Alla!" Alrot padded over, flopping down next to her on heavy feet. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Huh!" Alla blew a moody smoke ring. "I WAS being Queen Alla, watching over my kingdom of puny humans, awesome creatures, and fellow dragons!"

Alrot peered over the edge of the stone-gray cliff. "I don't see anything belonging to you; only the kingdom that belongs to Alpa."

"Alpa's in our bloodline, you scale-brain! One of us will be the new Queen!"

"Or King," Alrot corrected sassily.

Alla erupted a jet of orange flame from beneath her tongue, nearly frying her brother's eye ridges. While both had green eyes, Alla had the sleek golden scales of her father, Alk. Alrot was silver, like their mother, Amiq. Their mother was the egg-mate of Alpa, the current Queen of the Clan.

"Ouch!" Berm roared. The ocean-blue bull-dragon rounded on Alla and Alrot. "Why were you spraying flame around? I might not be an Ice dragon, but we Gemstone dragons aren't too fond of being roasted, either!"

"Calm down, Berm. They meant no harm. On the other claw, Alla had some spectacular aim and Alrot had amazing reflexes," Eshmire soothed. The beautiful bright white she-dragon, complete with pale-blue markings and eyes, was a Gemstone dragon, just like the vast majority of the Clan. Alla and her family were the few Fire dragons found in the cliff-dwelling Clan.

"Humph. Can't they practice Clan skills without toasting me?" Berm's tone was lighter now, a relief to both Alla and Alrot.

"I'm sure they can. Remember, Alk and Amiq are already choosing Guiders. If you're picked, you'll want a good past with them."

"I was actually hoping for Marlig or Pera to be picked. They keep griping about being Guiders, I wish I could make them one so I could sleep!" Berm joked.

"Don't we all. Bye, you two!" Eshmire hurred as she threw out her wingspan, almost forty yards across, and flew off in a shower of diamond sparks. Berm followed, with a green wingspan of fifty yards.

"Wow. I can't wait till I can fly!" Alrot exclaimed as he fluttered his wings. Like all juvenile dragons, they had to be taught by their parents and Guiders, a dragon picked by each parent to assist with the education of their young.

"Who do you want as a Guider?" Alrot asked.

"Jade would be nice, but I wouldn't mind Smoke," Alla hurred.

Jade was a Gemstone dragon, with rich purple scales and silver eyes. Smoke was another Fire dragon, with red eyes and smoky scales. Both were young and energetic, and extremely loyal to the Clan.

"I'm hoping for Yonj. He's awesome!"

"Jade and Smoke are still better," Alla argued.

"Woah, woah! What's going on here?" Almost on cue, Jade and Yonj touched down on light feet.

"I hope y'all aren't fightin' over us," Jade continued.

"Yeah. We only Guide dragons who are in one piece!" Yonj added.

"We weren't fighting! We can't even fly!" Alrot grumbled.

"Ah, but according to Berm and Eshmire, Alla was playing with her fire-glands earlier," Jade hurred.

"Quite true, quite true. I hope you didn't burn yourselves! Fire from the bloodline of the ancient Queens and Kings of the Clan can sear human flesh right off the bone," Yonj explained.

"Jade! Yonj! Hunting party!" Alla and Alrot puffed their scaly chests out at the sound of Alk's proud roar. "Amiq. Would my darling join me?"

A streak of silver passed overhead as Amiq soared down to meet her mate.

"Grex! Eshmire! You, too!" Alk called as Amiq ran her thick tongue over his cheek.

"Coming!" Eshmire hurred as she appeared in a shower of white.

"Grex! C'mon, lazy-tail!"

"Alk, could you take somedragon else? Alpa wants me," Grex added.

"Of course. Berm! Join us?"

"With pleasure! These old wings need blood rushing through their veins!" Berm announced.

"Show-off!" Smoke teased from his craggy perch.

"I won't see you moving any time soon," Eshmire broke in with an angelic laugh.

Alla and Alrot watched in awe as their fellow dragons soared over to where their father awaited, and let out tiny hurrs as they took off.

"Bring me back a black bear!" Baajkil roared. The heavily-pregnant mate to Berm swayed as she staggered past the two juvenile dragons.