Dragon Hunters

Chapter 7 Secrets

My grandfather looked at me with defeat and sighed as he placed the picture book back into his drawer. "Zodion, this secret has been kept from my children, my children's children and my siblings kids."

He took a deep breath and let out a low whisper. "Whatever I tell you must never be repeated to anyone, understand?" I nodded my attention on my grandfather.

"Iko is your grandmother's nephew and was a very skilled hunter but he never had patience or honor in hunting. He was too ambitious for his own good and did everything in his power to come out on top."

He sounded a bit cocky but it didn't answer the question that was left in my head. "Why did he have horns and scales?" My grandfather sighed and had a small smile on his face.

"He was known for fighting off a dragon himself and saving fifty people from a terrible flash flood in thirty minutes." He sounded so brave, so why not mention him. When my grandfather started speaking again his smile disappeared.

"During a patrol with him and his sister he took off to fight a thunder dragon. She tried to stop him but he didn't listen and his sister was killed saving him from his mistake."

That sounded horrible! His sister was killed for his mistake must've hurt him so much. "He was allowed to not take part of patrols so he could grieve but he was never sad about her death. Instead he saw it as a sign of weakness and laughed at any mentions of her."

I felt immediate disgust at the thought. How could he laugh as his sister's death and call her weak? She gave her life up for him for gods sake. My grandfather leaned back into his chair and grimaced.

"Around fifteen years ago and a couple of weeks after the incident happened a patrol was assigned to hunt an ice dragon in the mountains. However Iko followed them and soon he was trying to take the dragon on himself."

I faltered a bit but I kept still curious about what happened next. " The ice dragon began to play its song, but we learned that day Iko didn't have the blessing. He attacked Piko and that was the day Jackora lost her father."

My breath hitched and my stomach began to fill with stones. Iko sounded like a hero at the start but now he sounds like a monster. That portrait in the castle. Is that what the ice dragons song does to someone?

"He lost his hunter title and was driven out of the kingdom. The side of the family with the most relation to him were ashamed of him, so they asked to be separated from the family and we erased them from the tree."

I felt the blood leave my face at the end. I didn't accept the blessing and I have to take part of a patrol tomorrow. Thankfully it was just for a dragon in the forest nothing too bad.

However I still had a question. "What happened to him after that grandfather?" My grandfather's breathing stopped for a moment but he soon took a deep sigh and looked out the window.

The mountains were in view and snow sat at the top but he didn't speak until a bird flew by. "He ran to the mountains and we never saw him again. Those of us who knew about him assumed he died, but if you have the ice dragons song you can live on for centuries until killed properly by a hunter."

I watched as my grandfather looked back at me fear and sadness resting in his eyes. "The portrait in the castle is a reminder for those who knew about the incident about what could happen if we didn't have the hunter's blessing."

I was a bit curious about the side of the family that had Iko in it but I saw my grandfather was getting emotional so I decided to keep my mouth shut. "Thank you grandfather. I shall keep this secret."

My grandfather nodded a bit of joy creeping in his eye but it vanished as I left the room. I began to walk over to a room which had a family tree with my entire family since my great grandfather.

I traced around and began to investigate around my grandfather's generation. There was nothing but a line that connected to the end looked strange. It connected to someone but it was cut off.

My grandfather was a bit emotional at the moment so it might be best to ask my grandmother about the missing part. I left the building and began to look around for my grandmother. It was quite late so I didn't expect her to be out.

Thankfully I found her and she was sitting on a bench. She was a retired hunter so she got to rest easily. She noticed me and patted on the spot next to her. "Hello my little hunter. How are things for you?"

I shrugged unsure how to ask her about the question. "It's quite well but I wanted to ask you something." My grandmother raised an eyebrow but she smiled. "Ask me anything, I'm sure I have an answer."

Doubt gripped at me. 'Maybe you don't have an answer for this question' I nodded and took a deep breath nervous about what I'm about to ask her.

"Why is there a missing piece from our family tree?" My grandmother froze and looked around before turning her voice into a soft whisper. "Your grandfather told you didn't he?" I nodded nervous about her reaction.

"Whatever you know about them forget it. They were lost from the family the moment he left." I wanted answers but I wasn't gonna get them by the way my grandmother is reacting. "Please grandmother I need to know."

My grandmother sighed and looked away. "After he was gone rumors began to spread for his family. They were called threats to the kingdom and dragon blooded folks. They left the family by choice but some stayed with family while others left marriages, children, and friends."

She took a deep breath and sighed. "Their family tree was buried underneath an old tree that was destroyed long ago to be replaced by a small cottage."

I suppressed a groan of annoyance knowing I won't be able to get the missing part of the tree and use it as a way to find out more about Iko. I looked up ready to thank my grandmother but saw she was gone.

She may be old but she can move quickly if she can. I got up an returned to the building where my parents and I are staying in. I went into my room and looked around the bookshelf I had for any information about the mountains. I found one eventually but nothing much was in it.

The mountains weren't really explored much since they are quite far and little to no resources could be found in them. Sighing I went to bed feeling defeated that I won't be able to find out more about Iko.

The next morning was normal. I took part in patrols and I found some cool branch's that had strange shapes. When sunset came around I had to take part of the patrol.

My aunt Maninda was in charge of it and she was leading us to the forest. "Alright we need to make this quick and easy so we can report back". Those who were on the patrol grunted with agreement.

We soon spotted a tree with the bark ripped off and a shiny black thing in the grass by it. I went over and grabbed the black thing. It was a claw but it was too big to be a bears claw. My aunt came over and took the claw.

After inspecting it she gave it back to me and smiled with approval. "You found the shedding of a dragons claw. Good job" I smiled proud I found something useful. I placed it in the pouch I had in case I needed it.

The air was cold as it was winter already and spring was still a long way. However the trees were bright green and flowers bloomed. 'Strange' shaking it off i continued to follow the patrol until I felt the ground shake. "Was that an earthquake?" One of the patrol members asked. My aunt shook her head as she did a hand signal and reached for her knife.

"Caution." The patrol understood and grabbed their knifes. I followed along nervous about what that was. A loud growl soon formed behind us, I slowly turned and saw amber colored eyes staring at us through the trees.

"Forest dragon!" We all jumped away and immediately we pulled out our akidio's and began to zip past the dragon. I quickly grabbed the claw from my pouch and rammed it into the dragons eye as I passed it.

It let out an ear bleeding roar and it used its wing to slap me out of the air. The metal rope of the akidio snapped and I soon fell to the ground. My head throbbed but I was able to keep my eyes open long enough to see my aunt slice the dragons throat before closing my eyes and letting myself go unconscious.