Burning Hearts

Prologue

A small female dragon flies just below white, fluffy clouds, and spins gracefully in the air. Her scales shine a vibrant shade of yellow; her horns, claws, and spikes a deeper orange. She stops suddenly, hovering, and watches as another dragon races up towards her. The obviously male dragon, since he is much larger than the female but still somehow seems to look small for his species, hovers on the same level as her. They greet each other by rubbing the sides of their faces together with closed eyes; his dark grey scales making her yellow ones look even brighter.

Hello, my love, a guttural voice speaks in the female's mind. Did you have to get away from our daughter? She growls lowly in her throat, chuckling.

Mayhap, she answers back. I do hope Ninny is watching her?

Of course.

Very well. Come along with me than.

They fly side-by-side at the same speed, sometimes twirling gracefully around each other or nudging the other playfully. They pay no heed to the passing scenes below until the lush and forested hills turn to cold and stony mountains that touch the clouds.

Slowly, they make their descent to a clearing that borders the forest and mountains. Wild flowers dot the grassy ground and a small river gurgles on not to far away.

The two lay facing each other, the male dragon's head resting on top of the female's head that lays gently on the ground. Both of their eyes are closed as they bask in the summer sunlight.

I still find it odd that our daughter was born not in the spring, but in the summer. The male dragon says.

Not only that, but on the summer solstice. The female adds in.

Just like my great grandfather . . . She acts a lot like him. I only hope no one finds out her birth date.

Why should any-dragon care? The female dragon's mental voice has a hard-edge to it now, sounding nothing like her usual soft voice. If any-dragon wants to judge my daughter for her birth date, she hisses as her eyes fly open, I'll teach them a lesson.

The male dragon chuckles. Of course, Tan. And I would side by you. He opens his eyes and stares into Tan's with a burning expression.

Now her mental voice is amused. Always the charmer, Cirrus.

Suddenly, a pain-filled roar echoes across the valley. The cry comes from not far away, and Tan's and Cirrus's head shoot up at the same time to stare in the direction where the roar came from, fear for their young one in their eyes.

Humans! Humans have breached the cave! A single voice rings out to the two. Tan and Cirrus look to each other and in one single movement, are up in the sky and flying quickly to where smoke can be seen. Storm clouds gather above the two and they spark up gold lightning sometimes. The clouds follow the two dragons.

Tan and Cirrus circle around the cloud of smoke and assess the situation below. A campfire is below them as two humans use some of the smoke to fan it into the cave. Cirrus reaches a claw out to touch the smoke and hisses as it burns him. They put silverleaves in the fire, he states.

Douse them! Tan nearly screeches. Our daughter is trapped in there!

Rain suddenly pours down from the clouds and the fire is quickly put out. The humans by the fire notice the two dragons that are soaring down towards them and quickly dash deeper into the forest surrounding a cave entrance.

They both land in the cave and jump inside, snarling wildly at the scent of fresh dragon blood.
Your daughter is safe with- a screech cuts off the thought as the alarming sound bounces around the dark cave. Cirrus and Tan look to each other with fear shinning in their eyes as they quickly make their way further into the cave, disappearing into the darkness.

Silence.

More silence.

And even more silence.

Suddenly, snarls and growls come from within the cave accompanied by loud and human cursing. The growls and snarls stop altogether as one lone and small figure bolts out from the cave. A young dragon the color of flames with an orange underbelly and orange legs looks back into the cave with worried-filled purple eyes before closing it's eyes then taking off into the sky. At the same time as the young dragon makes its escape, two pain-filled roars ring together out into the world. The roar brings pain and sorrow to all of those who hear it as in the sky the aurora borealis forms, showing off its red and green colors below even in the daylight.

The dragon roars back quietly as the roar suddenly stops just as quickly as it came; the aurora borealis still shinning brightly in the sky. The little creature quickly disappears into the clouds that had been formed by its parents, but not before large tears can be seen leaking from its eyes as it whispers in a language that only dragons can understand, "I love you mom and dad."

The two dragons are Tan Electric and Cirrus Storm.