I barely got the Elles through the gate before having to land, due to all my extra cargo. Once everyone realized they were no threat, the sisters simply fell about themselves in laughter. Apparently I once again looked hilarious. Immy however, seemed to seriously consider the situation before deciding to add the Oristns to her growing collection on D2. The little creatures lived close to the Elles on this world so it made sense to put them through at the same location where the bat like creatures could inhabit the surrounding trees the Elles enjoyed napping under.
Immy explained that the Oristns helped keep the Elles free of insects and the Elles presence protected the Oristns. Her only concern was the potential lack of insects currently on D2. But she reasoned it would be okay given that the Elles carried vermin on their bodies as they crossed over.
I was grateful when she finally gave the nod, having had to stand there being chirped at and rubbed on by my newest besties while she had deliberated. Once I had the okay, I’d stiff leg walked to the gate where the sisters plucked off my adoring passengers and gently shooed them through to their new home.
No doubt, it had been our least dangerous extraction.
It was morning on D2 and Immy had gone to check the book or imbue some essence or maybe she had to cut her hair again. It had grown another eight inches or so. Anyhow, I was expecting her return shortly. She had already told us the next planet would be a bit different than the others. Though she neglected to tell us in what way it would be different.
The previous evening she had sent most of us through the gate along with a herd of Ibaks, before she and Anete had joined us. Ibaks are long legged, grey and black antelope like creatures with a rather curious nature. Once on D2, the Ibaks had hung around making of themselves pests, while we tried preparing a place to rest for the night. The males in particular were curious about the Centuaresses. A situation that seemed to embarrass the sisters until I finally took pity on them and shifted. One look at me in my dragon form and the Ibaks made a hasty retreat into the nearby forest. Probably a good thing, since they looked yummy enough to snack on. My co-adventurers were strict members of the no meat eaters club, and Goldy had already started grumbling about berries and nuts going only so far.
I sighed as I glanced about our overnight camp then back to the fire. It was still early on D2 and Lekees was busy stirring a mixture of oats and fruit in a pot over the flames. Back home I would have called it oatmeal, but that wasn’t what the sisters called it. I didn’t feel the need to correct them. Who knew, maybe Quaker did have it wrong. The other sisters, had taken an early morning stroll. I’m guessing so they wouldn’t foul our camp. Which, I obviously appreciated. Or maybe they wanted to get a look around. The planet was without predators at the moment. Excluding any overzealous Ibak’s, they really had nothing to worry about.
So I was left with Lekees, who was the most taciturn of the sisters. I’d taken to raising my shields around her because she became cranky at my mind leakage. I wasn’t worried that she’d strangle me or anything. But she was the only one that carried a spear, in addition to the rest of her weaponry. Actually, she was so well armed it was amazing she didn’t rattle when she walked. If Jocara was the leader, then Lekees was the enforcer. When she spoke, which wasn’t often, her voice was like velvet steel and the others automatically listened. I’d seen her take down a Brindal Boar with two foot long wicked tusks that must have weighed five hundred pounds. She did it with but a single toss of her spear. The spear had been thrown with such force that it completely pierced the boar and buried itself in the ground, pinning the boar to the spot. Lekees had only impaled it to stop its charge at Anete, who was busy holding the gate open and unable to defend herself. The boar had been the size of small pony. I’m still not convinced it should have been included with the rest of the non-predators we’d brought over. It sure looked like it wanted to eat Anete.
It was strange to think that not a single carnivore existed on the planet. Well, except for me, and I was currently abstaining. The creatures we relocated were mostly of the deer-antelope-buffalo and weird version of farm yard varieties. With the exception of the Elles and Woolly Mammoths…yeah there had actually been those too. And like the Elles, they would never have gone willingly had it not been for my assistance. Of course the flame I could still generate had nearly caused hypothermia for my team, who had accidently ended up completely drenched in melted ice water. Oops.
To get the Mammoths here, Immy and Anete had opened a gate on their home world in a somewhat narrow ravine. I had shifted and…um urged them toward the head of a valley with sides that grew steeper the higher I pushed them. At one point the overgrown hairy elephants had decided they’d had enough and tried to turn back. My breathing fire had convinced them otherwise. Unfortunately it also caused a mini meltdown. And it is true; water will follow the path of least resistance. In this case, it went right back down the ravine and onto the sisters. They had been holding back in the valley, innocently waiting for me to finish the job so we could move on to the next one.
By the time I got the herd through the gate, everyone except me had been soaked to the bone. The Mammoths had crossed into a landscape of undisturbed snow and ice. The last I saw of them the entire group of several hundred looked to be making their escape towards the mountains in the far distance. Probably hopeful they never had to deal with another dragon ever again.
Just like with the Mammoths, every other species we encountered left through a gate that opened into a location that appeared suited to support them. In fact, each gate Immy and Anete opened, showed a different vista or location upon D2. Which made sense I guess? Spread the wildlife around the planet to increase their odds of survival. I had to assume that Immy had done her homework and already knew which animal went where. Obviously she and the sisters had been at this conservation gig a long time. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d help create the original vegetation I thought, glancing around at the pristine forest. Or maybe she had just pulled in a favor from a vegetation deity. Perhaps one of her Keeper Sisters, or a nymph had been pressed into charitable service. I’d seen enough gates to D2 to know that there were as many forests as there were plains. And forests didn’t grow trees overnight. Well none that I knew of anyway.
I yawned then pulled one of my numerous knifes and cleaned my nails. No doubt, between the sweating and sleeping on the ground, I was going to need some serious grooming if I decided to keep this little adventure a secret from my men. Not exactly a spa day, more like the strangest zoologist- fancier-pioneer boot camp ever. I likely smelled of Slimeryan and Cahigua a couple of our more odoriferous acquisitions. And I definitely could use another couple hours of sleep. But there would be time enough for that later.
In my estimation we’d only been on planet a handful of hours. Just long enough to brush off a patch of dirt and pass out from exhaustion. But then I honestly had no idea how long night lasted here on D2. And I wasn’t certain if it was Immy or the Everlasting that seemed to be manipulating time. It had occurred to me, that with the time differential, if I stayed long enough I might technically be older than my men by the time I returned. At least the men that Dad helped make.
Smiling at my musings I decided I might as well take a look around at this Xanadu I’d been slaving away to help create. I hadn’t slept on the ground in years! Must be getting soft, I muttered while my joints popped in protest when I got to my feet and stretched. Lekees continued to ignore me then merely nodded when I mentioned I’d be back shortly. I started walking towards the meadow, not far from where we’d made camp at the edge of the woods. When I felt I was far enough away I wouldn’t get debris in the cooking pot, I took a running start, shifted and lifted into the air.
The rest of the sisters turned and waived to me from where they were bathing in a small pond not far from our campsite. I’d have to remember that. No one likes a stinky sidekick. I dipped a wing then turned and headed toward the peak in the not too far distance. At some point there had to have be
en a fairly violent eruption on this continent which forced a shift in the plates. This uplift would have made the ground move straight up, subsequently forming a steep jagged mountain which lifted the ground at least fifteen hundred feet above the meadow. Either that or the peak was once an unwarped mountain filled with maga and the subsequent erosion helped shape it. Either way I was curious, and decided to take a look.
As I flew closer I noticed caves with large flat rock areas in front of their openings. They looked as if someone or something had carved holes in the rock and smoothed out a front porch of sorts. Hundreds of these cave with porches dotted the side of the mountain. Could this have been a strong hold of the Dwarfs I wondered? The mountain was much too steep for foot travel, so if it were a former stronghold, they would have had to build stairs and tunnels within the mountain itself, with an entrance somewhere near the valley floor. If this was the former home of Dwarfs, perhaps there would be evidence within the caverns. Maybe even treasure. Dwarfs, like Dragons, had a tendency to collect sparkly things. The difference being that Dwarfs actually used treasures along with their craftsmanship to build beautiful weapons and architectural wonders. Dragons…well let’s just say my ancestors didn’t have a history of artistic or philanthropic behavior. Not that Dwarfs were known for giving away their works. But at least they made beautiful things instead of just hoarding them.
I swept past the side of the mountain, then turned and rose on the wind to the highest peak. I was surprised there was no snow at the upper levels. In fact it seemed warmer up higher than it had on the meadow floor.
Unable to restrain my curiosity, I came in for a landing about half way up the mountain on one of the ledges, which I now thought of as someone’s porch, and shifted. I could easily have maneuvered into the cave in my dragon form, it was large enough to accommodate even Garth’s dragon. But I didn’t know what was in there and on the ground I was more mobile on just two legs.
There appeared to be no telltale signs of doors. No groves in the stone or hints that rust or hardware had ever been embedded into the cave opening. The entrance led into a large area which held nothing at all. Just a somewhat dusty floor that felt warm beneath the soles of my boots. I walked the cavern checking all the walls to see if there might be hidden entrances, but it was just what it appeared to be, nothing more than a huge empty cavern on the side of a steep mountain.
Walking back out to the porch I shifted and hopped to the next ledge over. I then hopped-flew my way up the mountain side, checking each cavern as I went. They all looked the same; large spaces devoid of any hint as to who might have lived there and what had happened to them. That is, until I got to the last opening at the very top of the mountain. Unlike all the other caves, this one had one smaller antechamber which branched off into several larger caverns. The walls here were veined with a pale substance that allowed me to see without having to use my Dragon sight. In fact they seemed to sputter then grow brighter as I approached. Almost…like magic. Could there be magic here? I smiled then shook my head, more likely the substance was simply reacting to my body temperature or the carbon dioxide I was emitting. There was probably a perfectly logical answer and I was just wishing to discover something that wasn’t really there.
I wandered from chamber to chamber amazed at their sheer size and actually shifted to fly across two of them, rather than walk. The last and final chamber was unlike all the others in that it was covered in coarse crystals, dotted with large jagged boulders evenly spaced across the floor. It was also deeper into the mountain and about fifteen degrees warmer than any other chamber I’d searched. The light from the substance in the walls was brighter here and the floor sparkled like a rainbow. The crystals themselves reminded me of dragon tears, which was odd. And though they were shaped like my own tears, any dragon that could have made these would have had to be tiny indeed. Or should I say, thousands upon thousands of little dragons. Given that the entire floor was completely covered in the crystals. Ha maybe this was the treasure? I thought with a smile then reached down and scooped up a handful of reds and blue, green, gold, silver and black stones. My cupped hand must easily have held several hundred. Deciding I’d save some as a keepsake, I dropped a few handfuls into the covered pocket on the outside of my quiver. Maybe I’d ask Areth to make them into something I could keep on my shelf back at the den. They would be a sort of memento, from my girl’s only adventure. Also, I was pretty sure their owner wasn’t coming back anytime soon. So technically I wasn’t stealing.
I was kneeling on the floor closing the flap on my quiver when I noticed my knee had uncovered something a bit larger. Placing my quiver on the floor, I reached down and smoothed back the small stones and discovered a larger oval shaped rock beneath. It was green like an emerald and looked to be slightly smaller than my hand. I picked it up and cupped it in my hand. The surface was smooth but had small indentations. It was warm, just like everything else in the chamber and not as heavy as I would have expected. If I had to guess I’d say it was some kind of egg. But what kind of creature lays emerald eggs I wondered? I was rubbing my finger over the surface and trying to imagine where it came from when the thing began to glow, much like the veins in the walls. I held my breath wondering if it was going to do something more. When it just lay there inert, I let out a soft chuckle at my flight of fancy. The likelihood of the thing cracking open and attacking me was nonexistent. Who knew how long it had been here. Hmm, Immy probably knew but she wasn’t here at the moment. Besides, it probably wasn’t an egg anyway, or it if had ever been, it was long since petrified, probably from slow cooking through the ages. All that was left now was a large beautiful shining stone. Looking down I realized there was another oval near my knee only this one ruby red. I placed the green and red near my quiver, and on hands and knees, sifted through the smaller crystals. All told I found just over two dozen of the larger stones spread out across the floor. I loaded them into my quiver, which was now missing about half its arrows. I used most of them trying to protect a herd of strange polka dotted sea cows from a rather toothy carnivore. Surprisingly I hadn’t been inclined to retrieve them afterwards. Mr. Toothy had been a member of a rather large pod and I didn’t think his extended family appreciated my turning him into a pin cushion. I could be mistaken though, since they did seem to enjoy making a meal out of him. Waste naught, want naught I suppose. Needless to say I let them keep the arrows. On a good note, there was now room in my quiver for other things.
To keep the stones in place, I ripped my sleeves off at the shoulders. I tied one end of each sleeve, divided the stones into equal shares and placed them inside, then tied off the other end. When I touched each stone originally, they had slowly started to glow. By the time I was ready to pack them into the sleeves I was wearing my sun glasses. While the walls continued to glow softly, the more stones I piled together the brighter they seemed to shine. Individually they let off a soft light as long as I remained in close proximity. Grouped together, they were much more intense. I’d actually tested it. If I was within ten feet of a single stone which I had touched, they glowed. More than ten feet and their light extinguished. No stone glowed unless or until I actually touched it at least once. Since I had physically touched each one, placing them in my sleeves not only prevented their rattling around at the bottom of my quiver, it also shielded their glow so you couldn’t tell they were in there. Once I got the sleeves tucked into place, I worked the arrows back in. This helped to keep the two pouches from banging together, or listing to one side and possibly throwing off my balance. Hopefully I would not need my bow during the rest of this trip, because I wasn’t sure I could get the arrows back out again without a struggle.
After I got everything packed, I turned back to the three stones I’d decided not to include. Something about them just made the hair on my arms stand up. When I’d first brushed my fingers over one of them, Goldy had hissed at me and actually gnashed her teeth in complaint. My crawling around on the floor, sweeping back the crystals had unc
overed two additional stones which I was oh so careful not to come into contact with. In fact I actually stood and shoved them into a pile using just the toe of my boot. I don’t know why, but neither of us wanted anything to do with them. The reaction was purely physical. It wasn’t like they did anything special. These three were slightly smaller yet seemed to weigh more, perhaps their material was denser? The other stones actually resembled various semi and precious gems. The three smaller stones were an off white with heavy dark black speckling. Not like any gem I’d ever seen. They truly looked like large eggs and the one I had touched did not glow, at all. Whatever they were just seemed to set off feelings of antipathy, and I wasn’t about to ignore the repulsive reaction they generated. Despite the fact that I seemed to be working on my must-have-sparklies proclivities, these three stones just didn’t make the cut. Plus with their weird scary sort of vibes, I was fairly sure I didn’t need to infect Earth with an alien life form, even if they were petrified. I was sure the World would thank me for abstaining. The last thing it needed was another bird caused plague. Though technically, I suppose you could argue I was doing the same thing that Scientist had done. Except I was only smuggling rocks…that were petrified, with zero parasites, so maybe not all that similar after all.
Taking a last look around, I stood and hefted my quiver onto my back. The weight difference was noticeable, but I wasn’t worried it would handicap me. I just wouldn’t be pulling any remaining arrows out of my quiver in a hurry.
I made my way back out to the first chamber thinking about this world quickly becoming inhabited. Sometime in the near future someone or something might live in this place. With that in mind, I took out my knife and carved out the words “Lexi Was Here” deep into the stone at the front entrance. I stood back and admired my work for a moment, and then added a simple crown tipped on its side leaning against the first letter in my name. I felt like an explorer what with my treasure and all, so leaving my mark just felt right. Sort of an ‘X’ marks the spot of where I’d found my prize.
Dragon Envy Page 29
