Good Dragon

Chapter Three - Nighttime at the Stables

The dragons lay stirring in the stables, readying themselves for the coming day. The dragons owned by wealthier children, brought in recently, were doing their best to settle in.

A fluffy white one with a stocky build shook her mane, announcing to the others, "It's so warm here, goodness, and it's night, even. I don't know what Hailey's doing at this poor camp if it doesn't even have coolers for dragons like me." She lifted her head and blew the ceiling of her stable, making it freeze. She then lifted her wing to slap it, which made ice particles fall from it. "I have to do so much work."

"Oh Polaris," said the dragon next to her. He was taller, and more slender, with a warm golden colour scheme. "Every year, you act as though you're so much better than us. You know the education here is better than anything else." Polaris just scoffed and laid down with a huff.

The male dragon turned towards the stable in front of him. "Don't mind her," he said to the dragon there. "What's your name again?"

"Yoila," the dragonet replied. She was small, and spindly. She was a pastel yellow colour with pink petals sprouting on random parts of her body. She gave a quiet sneeze. "I belong to William. He's new here; just turned eleven."

"That's exciting to hear," said a dragoness, joining the conversation. She was a soft, deep purple with silver horns and eyes. "I was allowed to see the children; there looks to be  about ten new ones this year."

"They're all brats," a blue dragon commented. He was sitting in the corner of his stable, glowering. "The caretakers know not to put me with those little devils. By the end of the summer, trust me, you'll want to rip their heads off their bodies and-"

"That's quite enough, Chark," the golden dragon snapped. He turned back to Yoila, "Don't worry; it'll be great. Now let's get some rest; we have a big day ahead of us." The dragonet nodded, but Polaris grumbled, "Shut up, Garrol."

Just then, two small dragonlings came prancing into the stables; one red with blue splotches with a small crown atop her head; the other blue with red splotches and running on his hind legs with shorter wings. They skittered about, blowing purple smoke about the face and giggling like tiny hyenas.

"What are you two troublemakers doing here?" the purple dragoness exclaimed.

"Those devils," Garrol shook his head, "Get out of here, you two!" The dragonlings snickered, scuttling out the stable door.

"Princess and Leo," he explained to Yoila, "They're a mischievous pair of siblings that like to run around causing trouble. Poor things, never had a mother to raise them."

"Or teach 'em some screeching manners," huffed Polaris from her stable.

The two dragonlings continued running, puffing their smoke about as they visited the other stables. In and out they swerved, flapping their delicate wings and giggling to themselves. They knocked over small objects and fluttered about the larger dragons' heads. They ran and ran, through stables, A, B, all the way to F, until they reached stable X. Princess stopped at the gate, causing her brother to bump into her. Leon groaned, rubbing his head, hissing at his sister. She turned back at him with a hiss of her own, pointing her snout towards the sign. Looking on, he realized why she had stopped. Both of them slithered away, not even bothering to try going inside.

Besnik was perched atop his wooden beam, doing his best to sleep. A small, brown bat, living inside the stable, squeaked as it flew by his head. With an annoyed grunt, he blasted his green fire at it, and its burnt body fell weakly to the floor, dying on impact. He ruffled his deep violet scales, closing his eyes.

"You gonna eat that?" came a high, scratchy voice from below. It belonged to a long, jade-coloured dragon. He had sharp scales and long fangs, and on his triangular face were sharp, beady eyes.

Besnik rolled over in response, and the jade dragon quickly grabbed the furry body and crunched away at the bones, tearing it open and consuming it.

"I hear they're gonna bring the white one in tomorrow," he mentioned through a mouthful of bat.

"What, the light dragon?" Besnik mumbled, "I thought light dragons were supposed to be, like, human's best friend or whatever."

The dragon on the ground swallowed his meal, shaking his head, "Nah, that's the fluffy mammal ones. She's a reptile. Bikaa says she hasn't been taming well. Not rideable."

Besnik snorted. "And how's Bikaa been doing?"

"Still only for seniors. But they're gonna try to move her to middlers this year."

"They just won't stop." He shifted his body, shuffling until he found a comfortable position on the beam. "Whatever. Night, Jazz."

"G'night, turd."