Dragon Riders:Legacy(Book 2)

Chapter 6:Punishment:Siku

Siku was asleep in his bed when he heard his little brother, Hanta, yelling in his ear.
   "Siku! Siku wake up! Daddy told me to tell you to wake up! Are you dead? Daddy I think Siku is dead!" He ignored his little brother as he yelled in his ear and poked him in the back.
   "Hanta for the millionth time Siku is not dead just because he doesn't get up right when you want him to. Just pull off the covers and give him a shove." He heard his father say.
   Quickly rolling over to face his brother, he looked at Hanta, and said, "I'm not dead. I'm very much alive." He smiled at Hanta, earning a smile back.
   With a huge smile on his face, Hanta started jumping up and down, clapping his hands and shouting, "Yay! Siku came back from the dead!"
   He couldn't help but laugh at the way Hanta talked and never listened to anything anyone ever told him.
   While Hanta was jumping up and down like a snow hare, he quickly grabbed the little dragon and stuffed it under his shirt just as Hanta ripped off the covers.
   "Come on! Get up! I want to play!"
   "Okay, fine, but can I get dressed first?" He asked Hanta, hoping he would leave so he could hide the dragon."
   "Okay!" He said excitingly as he thought of all the games he would make Siku play with him, and then he promptly left the room.
   Taking the cold dragon away from his chest, he got up, and made sure Hanta wasn't coming back, and he quickly hid the dragon underneath his bed, and said to it in a hushed tone, "You need to stay here and not move till I come back."
   The little dragon looked at him with its icy blue eyes, but stayed where it was even though he heard in whine in protest as he left.
   "Shhh." He said to the little white dragon, putting a finger to his lips, and the dragon quieted.
   Then changing out of his clothes he went into the small kitchen.
   He saw his father eating breakfast, his mother feeding his sister, Nuniq, tiny pieces of soft seal meat, and Hanta sitting next to his father, eating his seal meat, but it looked more like he was trying to stab it to death.
   He almost bursted out laughing when he saw Hanta trying to eat his seal meat, which involved trying to tear it apart with his teeth, with hands, stabbing at it with his fork and then finally waving it in his father's face and asking for help.
   Siku took his seat by his mother, and grabbed a plate with a piece of seal meat on it.
   Then he heard his father say his name, and he looked at his father and his father looked back, and then said, "Siku for disobeying me yesterday you will be going to your grandmother's to help her clean up her igloo."
   It didn't sound that bad.
   He could handle helping clean his grandmother's igloo the only thing painful about it would be listening to his grandmother talk about stories older than herself. He would also have to go through all the things his grandmother inherited when her mother, his great grandmother, died a year ago.
   "And you will be taking Hanta and Nuniq with. While your mother and I go to your uncle's." His father finished.
   His heart sank. Now he would be cleaning his grandmother's igloo and watching/taking care of his two younger siblings.
   Now he could see why this was a punishment. Watching his two younger siblings and listening to his grandmother blabber on about things he didn't understand; this was his father's way of testing his ability to take care of and listen to others.
   Then there was his other little problem: the baby dragon.
He didn't know what he was going to do with the dragon.
   He couldn't leave it alone all day. It might get hungry or thirsty or might have to relieve itself or it might leave his parents' igloo to find him resulting in it getting killed or picked up by some little kid and taking it home as a pet.
He was so screwed.
Maybe his father already found out about the dragon and was going to kill it while he was at his grandmother's and use going to his uncle's as an excuse to kill the dragon.
   He didn't know what to do.
   Maybe if his cousins were still here he could ask them to watch it, but unfortunately they already left for the Dragon Rider base.
   But maybe his parents really were going to his uncle's to comfort his aunt and uncle. They just got their children back for two months only to lose them again.
   Finally feeling assured his parents were going to his uncle's, he decided to leave the baby dragon where it was, and come back to check up on it around lunchtime. Hopefully he would be done by lunch.
   After breakfast his mother got Hanta and Nuniq ready to go to his grandmother's, dressing them in thick caribou hides to protect from the Norther Arctican winds.
   Then he went into his room and got ready himself.
   He told baby dragon to stay under his bed till he got back, and gave it some seal meat, a bowl of water, and a old caribou hide to go to the bathroom on; he would have to burn it later.
   Once he was ready to go and sure the baby dragon wouldn't follow him, he grabbed Hanta's hand and picked up Nuniq and took them outside.
   He found his parents harnessing a team of twelve huskies for their sled.
   While his parents were gone his father's best friend, Amaruq, would be looking after things till his parents got back, that included him, Hanta, and Nuniq.
   He actually felt bad for his father's friend for having to deal with the three of them. But it was either Amaruq or his grandmother. And his grandmother might forget about the three of them.
   His mother looked up from her work, and said, "Be good for your Grandmother Tanaraq, and no running off from her." That last one was for him. "And no annoying her and be good to Amaruq." Those were for Hanta especially. "I don't want to come back and hear you've been bad." His mother said to them with a serious face.
   "But why do I have to go clean granny's igloo?" Hanra asked in a half whine half confused voice.
   "Because Hanta, you've been bad all week, and this will keep you out of trouble, and listen to your grandmother. If I hear you didn't then you will be in deep trouble." His father warned Hanta.
   Then his parents got on the sled and took off for his uncle's village, who was the chief of that village.
   His brother kicked the snow in front and of him, and mumbled, "Mommy and daddy are mean and dumb and granny is crazy. She don't even know my name."
   He kinda felt bad for Hanta. He was only three years old, but he was an ornery one, always getting into trouble.
   But he had it right with their grandmother. She did call him and Hanta something like Atiqalaaq. He didn't know why she called then that, but she was in her eighties or nineties and was possibly already insane.
   Hanta tugged on his hand, drawing him back to the present.
   He looked down at Hanta and said, "Ready to go?"
   Hanta nodded glumly, and they started walking through the village of igloos, searching for their grandmother's igloo.