Dragons of Skylark: The Four Heirs

Little Pride

     The first new rule to be set in place was that we weren't to wander the tunnels alone. Despite being a safe haven, getting lost in the vast territory of the mountain was still a worry of Mum and Pop's. Very often, the four of us would travel as our own miniature pride. That's when we discovered what we called the Hidden Room. It was a small pocket in the rock that only a hatchling could reach, as the crack we squeezed through to get there was very small.

     It was covered in soft, dry, den moss and the warmth of sunlight peeked in through the crack. Seth climbed up on of the walls and perched on the outcropping above our heads. He let out a hatchling chirp of triumph.

     "I'm Pop!" He explained. "The big leader."

     "I'll protect you from our enemies!" Ronan added, gleeful as he ripped up some of the most.

     "Who are our enemies?" Seth suddenly sounded fearful.

     "The beetle pride!" I grinned.

     "Aha!" Ronan bounced across the floor to the exit, "they've taken the rest of our territory, and our gold, but they won't get everything. We'll rally together, and take our gold back."

     "There's an enemy scout right there!" May shrieked, darting towards a beetle scuttling across the ceiling, and snapping it up in bite. "Our enemies are delicious."

     The gold ended up being the deer Mum brought back at dusk. We swore her into Seth's pride over the meal, as she was our champion in overcoming ferocious beetle pride. Soon we adopted the name little pride, due to the fact our home base was for small dragons only.

     Our prime directive was to protect the tunnels from beetle pride, but any other dragon would have said it was cause havoc wherever we went.

     Our rank soon grew, as other hatchling became old enough to travel the tunnels under Seth's "trustworthy responsibility as the eldest out of all of us". The first to join us was Kiri. She was a wyvern hatching from the den closest to ours, I was told she was a deep red in color. Apparently similar to my brother's coloring, whatever that means, and she became quick friends with May. Kiri was loud and had an affinity for leaves, especially eating them.

     She made a good addition.

     "Onwards leader!" Ronan roared with all the force his tiny lung could master, pumping his tiny wings as he and Seth shot down the tunnel, with us tumbling after them.

     Nothing could quite compare the adrenaline rush of running through the dark, our night vision still massively undeveloped, with a dim sense of where we were going. Here in little pride, if the leader crashes into a rock because he can't see in the dark, we all do. The first time we came back with bruises and a few missing scales Pop laughed and said he admired our loyalty.

     There was a shriek and Seth my have stopped because all tumbled into him, forming into a giggling ball of thrill-happy hatchlings.

     "A new comer!" Ronan was the first to figure out what we'd hit.

     "Stand down," Seth ordered. "Hello? Are you all right?"

     The new hatchling let out an indignant snort. He was a wyvern, and smelled of running freshwater, exposed mineral, and of the cold. "Uh, I think so."

     "Are you bleeding?" May rushed forward, "It's when juice comes out of your body. It's supposed to stay inside."

     "No," the hatchling replied. "Who are you guys?"