by S. E. Smith
As if by magic, the lights around the courtyard and down through the lower gardens came on. With each flick of his finger on the tablet, Trelon’s face relaxed. The dancing lights around the courtyard took on a life of their own when everyone heard Abby’s lilting voice as she sung about a heartfelt Christmas in the mountains, swept over the crowd.
Ariel watched as Abby’s eyes turned to Zoran in surprise and her eyes filled with tears as the melody continued and more lights around the palace lit up the night. Her eyes softened when Zoran stepped up to where Abby was standing near the stage and held out his hand to her. It was magically watching Abby and Zoran as they began to dance.
She started when she felt a pair of hands gently turn her around. Smiling up at Mandra, she moved into his arms. She passed Cara and Trelon and sent them a beaming smile. Everything was perfect until one of the servants plugged in a warmer for the dessert. With a loud pop, the palace plunged into darkness. The courtyard was still lit with the glowing flowers from the lower garden. Refusing to let the night end on a sour note, Abby began singing. Soon, the other girls joined in.
High above in the trees, no one noticed the two orbs of golden light floating high above. Arosa and Arilla sank down onto a branch and gazed at the dancing couples far below. A soft smile played around the corners of their mouths.
“I like the story of the Old Dragon of the Mountain,” Arilla said, gazing with affection at the Dragonlings, Roam, and Alice as they played with each other and the symbiots.
“That was such a wonderful evening, wasn’t it?” Arosa asked with a contented sigh. “I wonder what their Christmas morning will be like? We must return to see what they do.”
Arilla turned to her sister and nodded. “Yes, I would like to see how the children react to their first Christmas morning. Come along, sister, Aikaterina is still gone, and we have our own young ones to keep an eye on,” she replied, fading.
Arosa sighed as she began to fade. She paused for a moment when Phoenix looked up to where she was sitting. A faint smile curved the little dragonlings’ lips before she bowed her head and turned away.
“I hope Aikaterina knows what she is doing, little one,” Arosa whispered as she faded and let the wind carry her back out toward the sea.
Chapter 7
“Go,” Zohar whispered, pushing on the small symbiot next to him. “Go!”
The tiny golden symbiot looked back at Abby and Zoran’s living quarters before turning into a small bird and launching off the balcony. Zohar shifted into his dragon form and followed the symbiot as it glided over the tall walls of the palace toward a meadow not far from it.
Tonight, while their parents had danced, the dragonlings, Roam, and Alice had made a pact. They were going to go find the Old Dragon of the Mountain and save Christmas. Amber and Jade had suggested meeting at the meadow where their mommy and daddy liked to take them to play.
While the adults couldn’t seem to understand everything they said to them, the dragonlings, Roam, and Alice understood each other perfectly when they talked to each other. Zohar decided that children and adults must be born talking different languages until they finally learned the same one. It was very frustrating sometimes when he tried to talk to his mom and dad and they just looked at him with a confused or blank expression. He didn’t have that trouble with any of the other kids.
It didn’t take long for him and his small symbiot to reach the meadow. Amber and Jade were already there. They were in their dragon forms and chasing after their two symbiots that weren’t much bigger than them. The symbiots bounced around trying to avoid being pounced on by the rambunctious twins. Zohar’s nose wrinkled. If he didn’t need those two so much he would have left them home, especially after they wrapped him up in the colorful paper.
He turned and grinned when he saw Jabir and Roam arrive. Roam clung to the back of Jabir’s small symbiot as it strained to keep up with Jabir. Zohar saw Spring first. It took a few extra seconds to realize that Phoenix was flying just above her. He twisted his head and glided in for a landing.
He shifted after he landed all the way, not wanting to fall down as he was still learning how to shift and land at the same time. Turning in the tall grass, he watched as the others and their symbiots landed as well.
“Where’s Bálint and Alice?” Spring asked, pushing through the purple grass that was taller than she was.
“They’s coming,” Zohar said with a shrug before he looked at Amber. “Did you’s gets the tablet from your mommy?”
“Uh-huh,” Amber replied with a grin before turning to her sister who was dragging a bag across the ground. “Jade has it.”
Jade grunted when the bag caught on a rock. With a mumble of frustration, she turned and pulled on it, falling when it pulled free. Still sitting, she tugged on the long strap until it was in her lap.
“Stupid bag,” she said, opening the flap of the bag. “Here’s it is.”
“Do’s you knows how’s to work it?” Zohar asked, tottering over to where Jade was sitting.
Jade looked up at Zohar and scowled. “Of course we’s do,” Jade answered with a roll of her eyes. “We’s plays on mommy and daddy’s all the time. Mommy has fun games on hers.”
“Plays the movie,” Amber said, looking over her sister’s shoulder. “We’s watched mommy when she made it.”
“Yeah,” Jade said as she pressed her palm to the screen. “Mommy showed us how’s to puts the numbers and letters together. It’s makes it do things. She called it programably.”
“Programming,” Amber corrected with a snort. “It’s that one.”
Jade lifted her head and stuck her tongue out at her sister. “I’s know which one it is,” she snorted. “I’s better at programably than you are.”
“No’s you’s not,” Amber growled.
“Here’s come Bálint and Alice,” Roam said. “Look’s! Alice is on Bálint’s symbiot. We’s can go now. I’s wants to tells the old man of the mountain that he don’t have to be sad no more. I’s gonna be his friend.”
Zohar pressed his lips together to keep back the growl. It was hard, since the dragon in him wanted to tackle Roam. Instead, he remembered what his mom had told him about being nice to others.
“We’s all gonna to be his friends,” Zohar stated with a stubborn tilt to his jaw.
Zohar turned to watch the grass move where Bálint’s symbiot had landed. It took a second for him to realize that Bálint, in the shape of his dragon, was making a path through the tall grass for Alice. Only when they were all together did he turn back around to where Jade, and now Amber, sat on the ground touching the tablet.
He jumped when the holographic image of the old dragon of the mountain appeared. Roam let out a startled hiss, and swatted at the image with his right hand, his fingers curled like a claw. The picture looked so real, that it took Zohar and Roam a second to realize it wasn’t.
“There’s it is,” Jade said, pointing to the mountain. “That’s where he lives. How’s we gonna find him?”
“All’s we gotta do is follows the river,” Roam said, pointing to the bottom of the mountain. “Sees? This is wiggly thing.”
Zohar glanced at where Roam was pointing. Sure enough, there was the river. He looked up. Over the top of the tall trees, he could see the top of some mountains.
If we’s follows river, it shoulds takes us to thems, Zohar thought.
“How’s we gonna follow the river?” Jabir asked, scratching his head. “I’s don’t know how’s to swim yet.”
“We’s makes a boat out of the symbiots,” Spring replied, looking at where the small golden creatures were wrestling with each other.
“Why don’t they’s just fly us there?” Alice asked, looking puzzled.
“Cause we’s don’t want the old dragon to knows we are coming,” Zohar said with a frown. “We’s got to take him by surprise so’s he don’t hide in his cave.”
“Yeah,” Roam said with a nod. “He don’t know that we’s are trying to be his friend
. He mights get scared.”
“I would be,” Phoenix said, staring at the map that Amber had pulled up. “If’n I don’t know what a friend was, I would’s be afraid. Especially if’n everyone I’s ever knew didn’t like me because I’s was different.”
Spring moved closer to her sister and hugged her tightly against her. “I will always loves you, Phoenix.”
Phoenix bowed her head, a shy smile on her lips when the others said the same thing. Zohar reached over to touch Phoenix’s hand. When she looked up, he nodded.
“We’s need each others,” he said. “You’s can turn invincible just like your daddy.”
“Invisible,” Spring corrected with a grin. “I can’s dig. I’m good at digging.”
“I’s can climbs really good,” Roam said. “I’s reals quiet, too. When I’s wanna be,” he added with a grin.
“We’s good at escaping,” Amber and Jade said together. “And’s at programming.”
Jabir frowned for a moment before his eyes widened. “I’s good at animals. I’s can talks to thems, sort of, like my mommy. Animals like me.”
“I’s like red,” Alice said with a happy smile. “I can makes things red.”
“I’s not very good at anything,” Bálint said with a glum look. “All I’s good at is playing tag.”
“I’s like tag,” Alice said, smiling at Bálint. “It fun.”
Bálint smiled crookedly back at Alice. Staring at her face until Roam hit him in the arm. Turning, he scowled at his friend.
“What’d you do’s that for?” Bálint asked, rubbing his arm and glaring at Roam.
“You’s looking at her funny?” Roam said with a roll of his eyes before he leaned in and whispered. “Don’t you knows she’s a girl?”
Bálint looked at Alice and smiled again. “Yes, I knows,” he said.
“What’s wrong with you?” Roam asked, glancing at where Alice was squatting next to Amber and Jade.
Bálint continued to look at Alice. “She’s got pretty colors around her. My dragon and I’s like that,” he said with a raise of his shoulders.
“I don’t see no colors,” Roam grunted with a frown.
The smile on Bálint’s face grew. “Good.” Was all he said in response before he looked back at Zohar.
“Okay’s,” Zohar was saying. “We gonna go downs the river to the edges of the mountains. Then’s, we’s gonna go through the forest and up the side of the mountain.”
“How’re we gonna climb the mountain?” Spring asked. “We’s just younglings.”
Amber and Jade giggled. “We’s good at climbing. We also has our symbiots with us. They’ll help us up. Ours does it all the time,” Jade stated with a confident nod.
“Yeah,” Amber added, pointing to the two wrestling Werecats in the grass near them. “Ours can help us if we need it.”
Zohar looked up at the sky. Dark clouds began to block the light of the stars high overhead. He glanced back at the small group waiting for him to say something. With a sigh, he swallowed and nodded.
“Let’s go find the old dragon of the mountain,” he said with determination. “I wants to be home before morning.”
Zohar glanced at his symbiot. It had changed shape into a Werebear. The symbiot rose and shook before it moved ahead of him and began making a path through the tall grass. Worried that he would lose the others in the tall grass, he paused several times to look back at the others. He wanted to make sure they were alright and hadn’t already gotten lost.
Amber, Jade, and Jabir were in the forms of their dragons while Roam had shifted to his tiger cub form and was pausing every few feet to sniff the air. Bálint and Alice were behind Roam.
Zohar paused when he didn’t see Spring and Phoenix. His eyes swept over their two symbiots that were circling around him. One had its nose pressed to the ground while the other kept pace with him.
He turned when the one in front of him sniffing the ground suddenly stopped several feet in front of him and sat down. Almost immediately, Spring’s delicate white, pink, and gold head popped up from a hole that formed in front of them. She turned her bright, dancing gold eyes on him and smiled.
“I likes digging holes,” she said. “It safer way to travel underground. No one see me.”
“Where’s Phoenix?” Zohar asked.
“Here,” Phoenix replied in a soft voice, appearing out of the shadows of the tall grass next to him. “I’s was beside you the whole time.”
Zohar jumped and turned with slight squeak that caused the others to giggle. He frowned at Phoenix when she stepped back and disappeared again. Shaking his head, he glared at where she had been standing just seconds before.
“How’s can I tells if you are here if I can’t sees you?” He asked, folding his small arms across his chest. “I’s suppose to take cares of you. I’s the leader.”
“We can take care of ourselfs,” Spring said with a sniff. “We close to the river. There’s more rocks in the ground and it is wetter.”
Zohar opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again when Amber and Jade pushed ahead of him and raced to the edge of the water. He wanted to tell them that animals could be there, but he figured if there were, the twins would scare them off. Instead, he followed them.
After a few trial and errors, one very wet hissing tiger cub and several new red blankets to keep the chill off, the symbiots finally figured out how to form together to make a raft. The golden raft was barely big enough to hold all of them, but it made it easier to keep warm as the air grew cooler.
“I’s think it is going to rain,” Roam grumbled as he tried to snuggle under the blanket Alice had made. “I’s can smell it.”
“I’ll be right back,” Bálint said, shifting and pushing upward with a quick flap of his wings.
“Where’s he going?” Alice asked with a worried bite to her lower lip. “It’s dark out. He might get lost!”
For several long minutes, only the sound of the water lapping against the sides of the golden raft and the low rumble of thunder could be heard. All of the kids glanced frantically upward, searching for Bálint’s return. His symbiot couldn’t go after him because it would destroy the raft they were in. A shiver of unease ran through Zohar as he scanned the dark sky.
“There he is,” Spring said with a laugh. “I sees him.”
Bálint’s small wings flapped frantically as he held a huge dark object slightly above the raft just as the first fat drops of rain began to fall. In his claws was a huge umbrella leaf a tad larger than the raft. He was breathing heavy from the weight of it and trembling with fatigue. Phoenix, Jade, and Amber quickly reached up and grabbed it out of his claws, holding it to the side so he could land.
“Bálint,” Alice whispered in a tired voice of her own.
“This will keeps us dry,” Bálint said as he shifted and sank tiredly down next to Alice.
“How’d you knows about this?” Jade asked, thoroughly impressed as they laid it over the top of the raft.
The rain began to fall in heavy sheets, but they remained dry, and warm, underneath it. Bálint’s eyes drooped and he snuggled under the blanket that Alice and Phoenix tucked around him. With a wide yawn, he closed his eyes.
“From my mommy,” Bálint replied in a sleepy voice. “She shows me how to love the woods.”
Zohar watched as one by one, each of the dragonlings, Roam, and Alice curled up to sleep. Roam had shifted again and was back into his tiger cub form. Spring was snuggled up close to him on one side. Amber and Jade were lying in a twisted pile. Jabir shifted and pushed until he was under the twins. Once he was, he released a huge yawn and smacked his lips in contentment. Bálint and Alice were snuggled under one blanket, Bálint’s soft snores causing Alice to giggle in her sleep. His eyes moved to where Phoenix lay with her chin propped on the edge of the raft looking out at the rain.
“Aren’t you sleepy?” Zohar asked, scooting over to where Phoenix was sitting. “What do you sees?”
Phoenix turned black eyes
to Zohar. Inside them, he swore he could see swirling lights that looked like the galaxies his mom had shown him on her tablet. He watched as she turned back to look out at the rain.
“I sees… everything,” she whispered in a soft voice. “I don’t understands it yet, but I’s will one day.”
“I likes you being different,” Zohar suddenly said. “It’s a good thing.”
Phoenix didn’t turn her head, just continued to look out from under the huge leaf at the dark shores lit by each flash of lightning. He did see the slight curve of her lips, though. Reaching out, he pulled the red blanket he had around her shoulders.
“Thank you,” Phoenix’s soft words barely registered in Zohar’s mind as exhaustion and the sound of the rain lured him to sleep.
Phoenix continued to gaze out into the darkness until she finally pulled back and snuggled down next to Zohar. Her mom and dad worried about her, but she knew that she would be alright. There was something she was supposed to do. She didn’t know what it was yet, but it was important.
Chapter 8
Zoran ran his hands through his hair and looked up at the dark skies through the windows of the conference room on the lower level of the palace. The fear and worry were hidden behind an iron mask of calm, just as he knew it was for his brothers.
He turned when the doors behind him opened. “Anything?” He asked in a harsh voice.
“No, the underground playground is empty,” Trelon said with a shake of his head.
“The grounds are empty as well,” Mandra snarled, stepping into the room and wiping at the water dripping down his face from the rain.
“We searched the entire area thoroughly,” Creon said, turning as Carmen and Ariel came into the room behind them.
“We’ve searched the entire palace,” Carmen said, answering Creon’s silent question. “They aren’t here.”
“Here,” Abby whispered in a low voice, holding out towels for Creon and Mandra. “What about Trelon and Kelan.”
