Fireball

Securing Their Home

Dronin happily agreed and then raced over to the other dragons, informing them he and Fireball were ready to leave. Fireball looked back at the room, still feeling as if he was being watched. Wait, he thought. The room. Where did it go? They had just left it, but now it was gone. Fireball was really sure now that it was time they left.

The whole swim to the surface, Fireball looked behind him more than he did ahead. As they cut the surface of the water, Fireball shot high into the sky. He was so relieved to be out of the water and far from that cavern.

Fireball and his friends parted with the sea dragons, planning to meet up again in a few days. Then they headed back to their caves and families. Fireball hid the box in a crevice at the back of his cave. He frequently checked on the small chest, wondering why it revealed itself to him, but also concerned it may disappear. It was surely magical, protecting a ruby stone.

For the next few days, Fireball stayed around his cave, helping his mother, not wanting to let the box out of his sight for too long.

The dragon's had decided to build a high wall around their community, at the edge of the treeline, securing a large vegetation area, the two main lakes and all the caves. They wanted to secure their families against wizards, should they happen onto the island. They used large stones to create the wall, but several elders helped to make the mortar, which contained a special potion developed centuries before and handed down each generation. The potion, when added to the mortar, created an invisible barrier that shielded everything behind the wall from wizards. Many dragons enjoyed flying with the wizards, but after many wars and deaths over centuries of fighting, there was a large contingent of dragons that wanted only to live in peace, away from wizards.

Fireball's father had worked with the wizards, but he didn't enjoy flying for them. Malvina had told him his father flew for them to protect his family. In the past, more than once, wizards came to dragon communities in search of fighter dragons, to aid them in battle. When communities refused, sometimes they were massacred.

Fireball had never had direct contact with a wizard before, but he was sure he didn't like any of them.

After a week of hard work, Fireball and the others had finished building their wall of protection. He was sure he had earned some fun time, so he gathered a few of his friends and they headed off to seek out their sea dragon friends.