Elodia's Dragon (11 page)

"The stirrups have two buckles," the saddle maker said. "These must be snug. One is above your knee the other below." Elodia found the buckles and closed them. Then she put on her flight jacket.

"Then you have the flight straps. Bring them up over your shoulder, that’s good now cross them and buckle."

Maryann climbed onto the rear saddle and made the adjustments, buckling herself down. Then with a nod from Ruth they were off. Davida soared and dived, rolled allowed herself to stall plummeting hundreds of feet. Elodia and Maryann laughing and screaming as Davida pushed the limits of her flight. Then too quickly she cloaked and landed quietly in their yard by the barn.

"That was wonderful Davida!" Elodia gasped as she kissed her dragons cheek. "I could fly forever."

"I thought I would soil my pants breathing and pushing like Aunt Ruth showed us!" Maryann said as she kissed Davida's other cheek. Then they both laughed.

"But you didn’t black out," Davida said. "I'll meet you here in the morning. I will be cloaked." Davida flew off.

They wore their uniforms for the rest of the day. Eli and Walter held them close when they returned. They had spent the day working in the barn. The repairs were much more extensive than anticipated.

"You look so beautiful my little dragon rider!" Eli said as Elodia laughed.

No one slept well that night. Eli and Walter worried for their safety. Elodia and Maryann were too excited to be flying. They ate a light breakfast, but carried a generous lunch and dinner in the saddle bag. They mounted Davida and with a wave the dragon cloaked and they were off. They climbed quickly and out over the ocean Davida uncloaked. Almost immediately they were joined in flight by more than a dozen dragons.

They flew together for a while then one by one the dragons vanished with a pop. "Where did they go?" Maryann asked.

"I will follow," Davida said.

Suddenly they were thrust into an airless, freezing void. Then they were flying high over a frozen ocean. They saw before them a dark mountain that appeared to be on fire.

"A land of fire and ice," Davida whispered.

T
hey flew over and around the burning mountain as other dragons flew in close pursuit. One large dragon was flying aggressively close.

"That large male dragon scares me!" Davida said.

"Let's do that maneuver we practiced, climb slowly and wait for him to follow," Elodia said. The large dragon fell behind, content to chase. "Now lose speed, then just before you stall, do a flip roll and dive at him breathing fire." Davida started a stall and executed a perfect flip roll. "Fire away, just miss him."

"Whoops!" Davida whispered as the flames reached the pursuing dragon. The dragon rolled out laughing.

"Well done little dragon. Why do you stoop to carry men?"

"MEN!" Davida said with disdain. "It's women I carry."

Davida's tart remark had the other dragons laughing. "Follow us little one, and bring your wo-men riders."

Davida followed the dragons down as they flew through a misty cloud and into the bowl of a huge cavern. The cavern floor was covered with a soft sand. There were fires burning scattered on the floor and at least four large dragons with eggs. Even with the fires the cavern was cold with huge icicles hanging from the opening and ceiling. Davida landed and Elodia and Maryann dismounted.

Elodia walked slowly. They counted seventeen dragons, the dragons ignored them as they walked. The large male dragon approached, "I am Loki, son of Brave, son of Flame, son of Tor, son of Blade, son of Loki of the first hatching. You are witches. You have brought us another dragon."

"We had hoped there were more dragons. We are pleased to see you. We hope to continue the peace between us," Elodia said.

"What of the promise?" Loki asked.

"We honor the promise, man and dragon shall never join in battle against another," Elodia announced loudly.

"You speak the truth witch. We are grateful to the witches for bringing us back."

"We are happy to know that you are thriving. It has been our hope that you remain free."

"Your home and numbers will be held as a secret by the witches," Maryann said.

"What do you want?" Loki asked.

"Companions and a mate for Davida when she comes of age. We want you, all of you to thrive."

"We could achieve that by eliminating both of you," Loki said. "We will counsel, be our guests for now."

"I will protect you," Davida whispered.

"Thank you, let's hope cooler heads prevail."

Maryann and Elodia walked about the cavern. There was no way out without flight and no where to go. Elodia saw a small female dragon, she was lying in the sand with an egg. "Is she crying?" she asked Davida.

The three of them approached the dragon. "You appear to be crying," Elodia said as she gently touched the dragon. The dragon at first was startled then saw Davida standing with the witches. "Can we help?"

"My egg. It was to hatch today. My baby ... my baby," the dragon wept.

"What happened?" Elodia asked gently.

"The fire went out. My egg chilled and went into torpor. My baby is lost."

Maryann knelt by the egg. She looked at the grieving mother and slowly reached out and touched the egg. The egg glowed and was surrounded by fire as she held it. Elodia realizing what was happening rushed to the saddle bags and grabbed the two fried chicken breasts they had brought for lunch. She thrust the meat into Maryann's hands.

"Feed it!" she said as the egg rocked and began to crack.

The little dragon greedily took the chicken. It ate so fast that Maryann was afraid it would choke. It ate both chicken breasts, Elodia removed two more, their dinner, and handing them to Maryann as she continued to feed the hungry little dragon. Finally sated, the little dragon flew to Maryann's shoulder. It wrapped its tail around her neck, nuzzling her gently.

"It's a boy!" Elodia whispered happily.

All the dragons had been watching silently. Davida stood between the other dragons and the witches protectively.

Loki approached, "You speak truth. You mean us no harm. We lose about a quarter of our eggs. We need the fire but it is fickle."

"What do you do with the lost eggs?" Maryann asked.

"We eat them," Loki said. "But no longer. We will honor the promise forever. May we bring you our eggs if they go into torpor?"

"Yes. We will accept and guard all that you send. We will search for witches to touch that egg and awaken it."

"Then all is well between us witches." Loki then turned to Davida, "I like you little one. When you come of age I will look for you in the sky."

Given permission to leave Elodia and Maryann climbed onto their saddles and Davida flew out of the cavern. The tiny dragon following. They flew through the airless void and found themselves high over their home. The tiny dragon still in pursuit. Maryann laughed overjoyed to see her tiny dragon following.

"Have you picked a name for your dragon?" Elodia asked.

"Oh gosh! I can't decide," Maryann laughed, "I know, Ragnar!"

"That's an excellent name for a dragon," Elodia said, Davida agreed.

Davida cloaked the little dragon, copyied and landed in their yard. The fruit trees easily hid the dragons. Elodia removed the saddle and stored it in the barn as Davida flew off in search of food. They brought the little dragon into the house as it chirruped happily as they fed it again. Walter and Eli were both surprised to see the little dragon perched happily on Maryann's shoulder when they arrived home.

The next day Elodia and Maryann reported to the coven. Ragnar was happy to curl up in a canvas sack, sleeping, until they were at the meeting sight, then he perched on Maryann's shoulder.

"You have more than met our expectations dragon riders," Ruth said smiling warmly. "We are very happy that you have a dragon too Maryann. I have this for you." Ruth took a necklace of a dragon hatching and put it around her neck. "Welcome sister-daughter."

"Thank you, Mother Ruth," Maryann said.

"Your powers have yet to emerge, Maryann, be assured they will. You, Elodia, still have only limited knowledge of your potential. Together you will change the wind, cause storms and control fire. You will find your healing skills greatly increased. The necklace also has power. You will be instructed its use later. You have done well. We are pleased."

Elodia and Maryann returned home. "Thank you Elody, You have given me so much," Maryann whispered.

"You were my very first sister and girlfriend Maryann. You have given me much too."

T
he summer passed slowly. The schools were in summer recess and Eli and Walter freed from teaching, worked on their homes. Midwife school started in September, freeing Elodia and Maryann so they had a lot of time together. The fruit trees produced a plethora of cherries and plums most of these were dried and stored. The later bearing trees were also doing well. Eli was pleased that his first attempt at pruning had been successful. He had found an old overgrown grape arbor behind the shed and this had been pruned and they were enjoying grapes at the table.

The garden at both homes was thriving with an abundance expected. Elodia and Maryann rode their horses daily, often joined by other young women equestrians. Maryann and Walter were in the great room setting up the clinic. Walter had just finished building an examination table. They had about two hundred remedies on hand. Eli and Elodia were in the kitchen. Eli stood behind Elodia holding her.

"What shall I make for dinner?" Elodia asked.

"I don’t know, why not ask old Walter?" Eli said as he kissed her neck.

"He's the same age as you. He's a very nice man with an excellent bedside manner."

"How's my bedside manner Elodia?"

"Terrible!"

"How?" Eli asked as he kissed Elodia's neck again.

"You’re just plain bad."

He kissed her again a little higher and felt her press tighter against him. "What else?" he asked.

"You're demanding."

"Yes, that's true." He kissed her again, this time just below her earlobe.

"You're incorrigible." Eli began to nibble her ear. She trembled then took in a deep breath. "You give me goose bumps all over!"

"I'd like to see that." Elodia turned to face him. Her face just a little flushed her eyes dark. "Let's eat at the tavern tonight, then we’ll have time for you to show me those goose bumps," Eli said.

"Maryann, we're all eating at the tavern tonight. Eli and I need some alone time," Elodia shouted. Eli smiled at her, then lifting her into his arms carried her to their room.

They walked hand in hand to the tavern. They had not been to the tavern in Old Novi before. Walter and Eli dressed in black pants and vests with white shirts. The women were in their red saris. Both were barefoot. As they passed through a crowded market they got some whistles, both responding by smiling brightly and twirling around.

"Do you always respond to whistles?"

"Not unless you're with us," Elodia said.

They entered the tavern. Being a harbor tavern it specialized in battered fried cod and fried potatoes sliced very thin and then salted. They ordered the fish and ginger beer. They were talking quietly when they were approached by a male student from the school.

"You're the dragon riders?" he asked. Brittany, Leeann and another male from the school also joined them.

"Yes, It's good to see you all again," Maryann said.

"And you're sister?" Elodia and Maryann just looked at each other grinning. "Did you both really marry your brother?"

"Did we marry you Big Brother?" they both purred to Eli. Eli was wordless, not knowing how to respond. Elodia and Maryann were laughing with delight. "Actually, I married her brother. We aren’t really twins and sisters only by marriage."

"Maryann is my wife!" Walter said looking very dangerous."

The two couples quietly sought seats on the other side of the room while Walter continued to glare at them.

"I don’t think we'll ever live that prank down," Maryann sighed.

They were joined by one of the owners of the 'Shaman's Modiste', "I really love your riding uniforms. It was a pleasure to be in on the design."

"We like them too," Elodia responded.

"How's business?" Maryann asked her cousin.

"Fantastic, with you two modeling our designs a lot of women are coming to our shop. You two are good for business. If we could get our hand on some imperial purple cloth we could make a fortune."

"How?" Eli asked.

"The Imperial Government has destroyed its only source of the color. They are offering big money for any cloth. We have some weaver contacts in the delta. It's too bad we can't find any colored wool."

"I think I may have a possible source," Elodia said. "If I can get a few skeins of the color to your friends would they be willing to buy the secret?"

"You know the secret?"

"Let's just say I have access to someone who does." The young woman from the shop was happy and promised to talk to her weaver friends."

"Elody, who is this someone?" Maryann asked,

"Us of course."

Later when dinners were finished the tavern brought out musical instruments and the patrons were encouraged to sing and dance. Elodia and Maryann sang well together and also danced together and with their husbands and other patrons. They returned home very late. Elodia and Maryann still laughing over their infamous hoax.

"E
li could you make me two wire baskets that would fit in those copper pots."

"Yes."

"I'll also need a chain fall to lift them out and clear of the pots."

"Walter we will need skeins of wool yarn. Worsted or carded, some of both would be best. At least two hundred skeins. All of it undyed,"

"I'll start on it tomorrow."

"Great, we are going to make purple," Elodia said.

"One more thing, we’ll need a large flat surface for drying the skeins. Nothing elaborate."

"What will I do?" Maryann asked.