Destiny and Dystopia: A Tale of Dragons and Humans Book One: The Red Eyes

Guardian

Smokefire had hardly gotten back to his warm, confining cave when the human from earlier returned. With more humans. Oh, right, he'd said he'd come back... Smokefire sighed. Time to pretend he knew what he was doing. Or what was happening.

"You have returned, human, as you said you would." He lifted his head and tried to look regal. He didn't think it worked, he could swear that at least one human was snickering. He self-consciously lowered his head again.

The lead human, who, because Smokefire couldn't remember his name, decided to call 'Leader', dipped his head respectively as he responded. "Yes, Lord Windscales," he smiled. "We are honored that you have decided to assist us."

"The, uh, pleasure, is all mine." Smokefire hoped very much that the uncertainty in his voice didn't come through. Oh, why couldn't this come naturally to him, like Tyrilyth? He was so fake and they all knew it.

"-and I'm Catherine!" A girl with dark brown hair waved at him, she appeared to be the youngest. Maybe about 14, 15? Oh wait, had they all said their names? Oh no, he'd missed that... He'd have to give everyone but Catherine nicknames now... 

"It's very nice to meet you all," he said to the expectant humans. He then shifted awkwardly, not sure what do next. 

"...Our farm, Lord Windscales?" The farm. Their farm. This was something to do with a farm. Okay. That made sense.

"Right, your... farm." Smokefire walked to the mouth of the cave and crouched down, knowing that the humans would be expecting to ride, as uncomfortable as that would be for Smokefire. He wasn't even full grown...

As expected, one by one, the humans climbed onto his back. Luckily, they weren't too heavy... 

Oh, never mind, really big human, help.

Smokefire's short legs shook as he let himself get used to the weight on his back. A few of the humans shifted impatiently, telling Smokefire that he'd better get a move on if he wanted to appear strong and Guardian-like. He spread his wings... jumped... 

...and took fight!

The wind rushing through Smokefire's wings was a feeling he'd always loved. But this was the second time today that he hadn't had a moment to actually enjoy his flight. Well, at least his distraction wasn't an angry mother this time around.

"Fly that way until you see a large farm, you can't miss it!" Smokefire heard the voice of one of the humans call out to him from his back. He wasn't sure which it was, although definitely female. Her voice was sharp, it had authority to it. It was the voice of someone who spent a lot of time giving orders. All in all, it was rather... bossy.

Smokefire decided to call her just that.

He dipped his head in acknowledgement and sped up, as much as he could under their weight and without one or two flying off of his back. That would be REALLY bad. 

Considering Smokefire's luck of late, that was probably exactly what would happen.

Oh, thank Soarath, there was the farm. As Bossy had said, it was large, albeit the farmhouse was built simply. Practically. It had mundane colours, mostly brown hues. In Smokefire's humble opinion, it was rather... boring.

But the fields... they spread for a great distance, and seemed to be full of all sorts of plants Smokefire would never learn the names to. The barn was tall, and Smokefire could smell delicious farm animals inside. Amazing.

He realized this must be the famous Shrier Farm. The Shrier family traded farm food to dragons and humans across the entire region. He felt stupid he hadn't realized sooner, but it couldn't be helped. He'd just keep pretending he'd known all along what was happening, of course.