Dragon

Chapter 4

Jaimin skidded to a halt outside the twin doors leading to the council chambers. They were some of the few proper doors within the Hall, designed to obscure the debates within from those outside. Little more than human-crafted sheets of steel that had been joined together under the heat of dragonfire. They served their purpose well and, in his younger years, he'd found them imposing.

It had been over fifty decades since he'd last faced these doors. The feeling of dread still crept up as he neared. He shook himself, failing to dislodge that nagging fear. It fled to the back of his mind and sat there, constantly prodding his memory of why he'd been here before. He couldn't recall much. His sire had been furious. They'd nearly clipped his wings for it.

You're not a petulant hatchling anymore. And his sire was no longer on the council. How many summers had it been since both of his parents had fallen to the scaleds? Ten ... twenty? Longer? Someone had told him once. He'd stopped listening a long time ago, somewhere between the death of Hurani and the kidnapping of his dame. Then, each sibling lost was been another feather plucked from his wings. Too many who'd been dear to him were now gone. It was better not to think on it.

The doors swung open, groaning under their own weight. He stepped into the chamber beyond before those inside had been given a chance to fully widen the gap for him. His wings brushed against the metal panel's well-worn edges, the hiss of their travels amplified by the roundness of the cavern walls.

Within stood a semicircle of the ancients who'd chosen to stay and govern Mountain Hall. Many had left long ago for the honeycomb lands of Hroff Caverns, a handful more had fled after the attack on Faylor. He'd heard talk of dispersing those still clinging to the jungle surrounding the Great Tree and, eventually, abandoning Mountain Hall itself. Just like they'd done with Midling Hall a little over eighty summers ago. One day, he thought, these caverns will be all that is left of us. That day loomed closer than anyone cared to admit. Why else would they stoop to such measures as the procuring of this human-blind youngling or allowing the procreation of half-breeds like Jipp's get? Ah, but they don't believe either babe or mother will survive the birth.

These males that stood before him, heads held high as if he were to be judged for some distasteful act, were as much to blame as any other dragon. Perhaps more so. After all, if they'd taken the scaled threat more seriously at the beginning and used the power they'd once possessed to drive them back, then their numbers would not be dwindling now. There should've been thousands of dragons wandering these Halls, not a scant few hundred. There should be hatchlings. He should have hatchlings by now.

Jaimin halted in the pool of light before the dais. Here the stone was scarred with its centuries of use. Fireglobes shone on the walls, their pure fire wan under the pressure of the cavern's natural darkness. Those strung before the council proved more effective in their battle against the pressing gloom, illuminating faces both familiar and foreign. Whether they were tropic, grasslander or of mountain stock, it didn't matter once you'd reached the tri-centenary of an ancient.

He scanned the rank facing him. Blue-grey Karoan, not of the council and looking strangely guilty; beside him, the mud brown bulks of the shell-brothers - two of the handful of grasslander ancients still here. Of the powder blue and patchy orange-yellow tropics flanking Karoc, the oldest of them all, Jaimin knew nothing of their names. They must have recently flown in from the Great Tree. To their right sat the last two ancients of mountain stock. Their kind had been hit hard by the scaleds. And next to them...

Teero? The light was dim, but it could be no other. Few of those within the Hall were such an iridescent shade of white and none were old enough to be on the council. Why had he been allowed in here? Of course, he'd brought up the rumour of a hidden female in the first place. He'd been the one to find Maayin's records.