Dragon Wars: Destined Through Fire (Book 2)

Chapter 29 (Jangras POV) I Challenge You!

I looked at the dragon for a few moments, as I saw that a lot of the dragons that were in the crowd were nodding in agreement. I saw that a lot of them had a bit of a disgusted look on their face when they looked at my father as well.
I saw that a lot of them had their eyes squinted at my father too, as they were waiting to see how he would respond to what that dragon had just said. I only saw a couple of dragons with looks on their faces were it seemed as though they might disagree with what that dragon had just said.
I shook my head though, as I then looked at my father to see what his response would be to what that dragon had just said to him at the same time as well. I stared him down for just a few moments, as it seemed as though the look on his face was almost emotionless too.
It seemed as though my father was just lost, and he did not know what he was even thinking about in the first place. Well, I could get a good idea of what it was that he was thinking about I suppose, as it was usually what he was always thinking about.
After a few more seconds, and before I even had time to think about any of it at the same time as well, Socra then stepped in and spoke up to the rest of the dragons in the tribe. My father just stood there and let her step in front of him, as it seemed as though he had no response to any of what had just been said to him.
I then turned my head away from my father, as I focused my eyes and my ears on Socra, as she began to speak up quite loudly for all of the dragons that were in the clearing to hear her, as I could tell that a lot of them were not very happy at the moment.
I was not quite sure as to why that could be so as well, as it had been clear that a lot of the dragons in our tribe had wanted my father out of the role of leader for a long time now, but as soon as he had resigned, all of the dragons seemed to be upset. I then shook my head and listened to Socra, our new leader of the tribe.
"Everyone! Relax! I think you forget how much pain it is for a dragon to lose someone that is so close to them. He needs time to heal, and unfortunately we do not have the time, so I will step in as the leader for the time being." She said to all of them. I saw that a lot of them had their eyes squinted at her, as I could tell that once again, a lot of the dragons disagreed with this.
No one seemed to say a word, as they had their heads and their eyes swiveling back and forth between Socra and Himla, wondering which dragon was going to speak up next. But it was neither of them that decided to speak up, as I saw a female dragon step in this time.
"He is not the only dragon that lost their family through the battle! We are dealing with it a lot better than he is, so it seems." She said to Socra. Socra sat there for a few moments, but it was clear that she had nothing to respond to that dragon with.
It was because she knew that she was right, as she lowered her head down to the ground, as I saw the dragon that had just spoken, as she grinned a bit, knowing now that she was in fact right with what she had just said in the first place.
To my surprise, this time, my father then stepped up, as he did not have an angry look on his face, but when he spoke back to the rest of the tribe, it seemed as though he had quite a menacing growl in his tone of voice in the same instance. I focused my ears on what it was that he had to say back to all of them however.
"It is not just that! I trusted a black dragon! She was a snake! I betrayed the whole tribe, do you think you could go through all of that... Knowing that it was your own fault? This is why you never trust a black dragon!" He said to all of them. They looked at him a bit surprised, but to my surprise at the same time, a lot of them nodded.
One dragon that I saw in particular on the far right side of the clearing, as she nodded to my father, was my mother, as it seemed as though it was quite a strong nod at the same time too. I knew why she agreed with my father at the same time as well, though I did not want to say why.
I shook my head, and then looked over at my father, as I nodded to him as well, as I was happy to see that a lot of the tribe now understand where he was coming from. Though my father did not seem to be too happy at all, I could tell that he was still in quite a lot of pain.
I sat there for some time, as I had no other choice but to do that, as I listened to the dragons in the tribe speak to each other quietly for a small amount of time, until it began to grow louder and louder. I looked at both Socra and my father, as they both had their heads to the ground, as it seemed as though none of them cared.
It was getting a bit chaotic in the clearing now, as I looked over and I saw that Kota had his head to the ground a bit embarrassed, though his mate did not seem to notice it at all. I knew why he was like that as well, as it was just meant to be a secret between my, him, and Socra.
I felt a bit sick now, as I thought about it for just a few moments as well, as it seemed like even I was betraying my own father as I was talking to Yikla as well. I closed my eyes, and just did my best to drown out all of the thoughts, and all of the voices around me.
It seemed as it was doing a fairly good job for the time being. That was, until I heard a familiar voice speak up to the entire tribe, making it clear that she wanted to be heard at the same time as well. I opened my eyes, and looked at the dragon, as I saw it was Penta, and I groaned to myself.
I knew that what it was that she was going to say, it was not going to be anything that could be good. I saw that her grand father Ipse, was going over to her to stop her, but it was too late, as she had already began to speak now, and there was no point in stopping her.
I squinted my eyes at her at the same time as well, as I listened to what it was that she had to say, as the entire tribe went quite, as they all noticed that it was her that had began to speak at the same time too. It was very quiet, as it was clear what she was saying.
"Is that what you said, when you were with your mate Runip?" She said to my father. The whole tribe did not say a word, as it was just dead silence, though all of their heads turned to my father, as it was clear that they were in fact a bit excited as to how my father was going to respond to that.
I closed my eyes, as I knew just as well as the rest of them, as to what dragon she had meant by Runip... Though she was never my fathers mate, we all knew what she was speaking of. It was the black dragon that my father had fallen in love with, a forbidden thing.
My father just sat there for a few moments, as to my surprise, he did not have his head to the ground as he would when he was in pain, nor did he seem to be any sort of upset as to what she had just said to him at all, in fact it almost seemed as though he had a bit of a grin on his face.
I was a bit confused as to what it was that was going on at the moment, as I was not sure if I had missed something. I looked at the other dragons as well, as it seemed as though they were just as confused as I was. Then I turned my head over to Himla as he spoke back to Plyma.
"You know nothing about her... That was long before your time. It is funny to me, to hear that come from you... At least I don't fall in love with dragons that do not want me, and deny dragons that do..." He said with quite a bit of a smile on his face.
I lowered my head to the ground, as it was a bit embarrassing that he had brought all of that up again to the rest of the tribe as well. I knew that he had not meant it at me at all, but it still did hurt me quite a bit if I thought about it at times.
I heard a lot of dragons laughing at it as well, as I was not sure if they were laughing at me, or if they were laughing at. It hurt me quite a bit to think about it though, as I had been in love with her at one point. I had been in love with Yikla too, and it had hurt me when she had brought up my fathers long lost love.
I looked up at the crowd that was in front of me a little bit, as I saw a lot of them were looking at Penta whilst they were laughing, as I nodded to myself thankfully, that none of it was meant to me at all. I then looked over at Penta, as I saw that she had a bit of an embarrassed look on her face as well.
I wanted to feel bad for her for a few moments, but she was the one that had attacked my father for no reason. And the past times that had happened between us, it was just hard for me to feel bad for her. I then saw her run into the large cave, as it was clear that she was going there to hide.
It seemed to make the laughing even louder for just a few moments, until they realized that she was gone, and that there was now no longer a reason for them to laugh. I looked over as I saw that Kota had a bit of an embarrassed look as well, as I remembered how it must have felt for him as well.
I shook my head, as I tried my best not to think about it any longer, as the crowd had now seemed to quiet down after all of the mayhem that had just ensued a few seconds ago. Then one dragon spoke up for the whole tribe to hear, as I could tell that he was a bit embarrassed too.
"I am sorry Himla... Please do not blame her for that, she has some problems, I am trying to teach her to control it." Ipse said to him. None of the other dragons seemed to care at all, as it seemed as though they were caught up in their own conversations at the moment, as though we were not having perhaps the most important meeting ever.
I shook my head though, as I looked over at my father, to see how he was going to respond to what Ipse had just said to him in the first place. He kept the same weird grin on his face, as he then finally spoke up so that all of the dragons could hear, and they would stop talking amongst themselves.
"It is not your fault Ipse... But at some point she will have to learn a lesson, maybe that is step 1 for you..." He said to Ipse. Ipse then nodded to my father, as he then lowered his head to the ground, and then stepped back behind the rest of the dragons.
He was nowhere to be seen now, and I shook my head at the same time too, doing my best not to worry about it all that much either. I then looked back over to my father, as I saw he had his head back down to the ground, just as it had been a few moments ago as well.
I shook my head, as it seemed as though that wild interaction that had just happened, was all over now. Now all of this was going to go back to normal as it seemed to be. The clearing all just began to speak to one another once again, just as they had a few moments ago.
This time though, as I turned my head over to Socra, as she had stepped past my father, as she then began to speak up once again to all of the dragons that were in the clearing. This time it took a bit longer for all of them to get into silence, but Socra was patient.
Once all of the dragons had then stopped speaking to one another, they then turned their head over to Socra, to hear what it was that she had to say to all of the dragons that were here at the exact moment. I squinted my eyes at her, as I knew that we were at the end now, but I listened to what it was that she must say.
"Everyone! It is over now! Himla has now given me the role as the leader of the tribe... Jangra will from now on be the new deputy!" She said to all of them. None of them said a word for just a few moments, as they then turned their head over to me, all with quite a surprised look on their faces.
I knew why as well, they did not know how to react to the fact that a dragon as young as I was, was about to be the next deputy of the tribe. Then 1 dragon in particular began to step up, as he began shouting to all of the others, as he looked at all of them to follow his example as well.
"Jangra! Jangra! Jangra! Jangra! Jangra!" Plunk began to yell my name loudly. Then to my surprise, a lot more dragons began to do the same thing as well, as it then lightened up my spirits in the exact same instance as well, as I felt just a slight bit better.
I looked over to Socra, and also to my father at the same time, as I saw that both of them had quite the happy look on their face too. I was surprised to see that my father was happy as well, but he seemed to be in the happiest of spirits than I had seem from him in quite some time.
Everything seemed to warm me up in the same instance, as I then looked up to the crowd that was below me, as I was a bit scared for a few moments, but then I took it all in, and it all felt so good in the exact same instance too.
I saw Socra nod to me from the corner of my eye as well, and I knew right away as to what it was that she was getting at in the first place. I nodded to her, and then locked my eyes on the dragons in the clearing, as I then stepped up to all of them, as I then spoke to each and every one of them.
"I thank you all for this! While I did not expect all of this to come so soon! I am ready! We will win this war! Believe me in that, this is all just the beginning of something far greater!" I said to all of them. All of the dragons looked quite a bit surprised, but I noticed at the same time too, that they also looked excited as well.
It made me feel better, as I was no longer scared at all at the fact that I was now the new deputy. I was so afraid for this day for quite a while, and now that it had come up on me so soon, it did not seem near as scary as I had first thought that it might be.
The dragons in the crowd then began to cheer my name once again, as I stepped up further in front of the rock, past Socra, and I lifted my head up to all of them, just to make sure that they were clear with what I had just said.
It felt a bit crazy to me too, that I was in the position, and that I was somehow acting strong in it too. I seemed to remember my father telling me that I would be strong once I did get there, as it was not as scary as it first might seem.
I kept my head up high, that was until, I heard one dragon speak up much louder than me, as it was clear that he wanted his voice to be heard to all of the other dragons as well. I looked over at the dragon, and squinted my eyes at him, as I saw that it was a dragon not that much younger than my father, and he was clearly a warrior dragon as well.
I sat there for a few moments, not sure what to do, but I just did my best to keep my calm, and listen to what it was that he had to say for the whole tribe to hear.
"This dragon is hardly a child! He is not fit to be a deputy! If that is the case, than I challenge you!"