Dragons

“Shhh.”

“Don’t shush me.”

We were standing at the edge of the clearing. Two small voices were speaking softly. The sounds seemed to come from somewhere in the bushes behind us, and had a high pitched, almost childlike tone.

We looked around to try to spot the source of the voices.

“Great! Now they’ll know we’re here.”

“Then talk to them!”

“I’m not going to talk to them.”

“But they already know we are here. Now we have to talk to them.”

“You do it then.”

There was a pause.

Then, “Psst!”

This time, it seemed to be directed at us. Mark looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

“Psst. On your right. Look around.”

We turned to see a yellow glow behind a heavy green bush. Three small red figures, about two feet high, emerged and walked toward us slowly and hesitantly. They looked like little chubby dinosaurs with elephant feet and long tails. On each side, they had a hand-sized wing, which was carefully tucked against their bodies. Their large yellow eyes shone with curiosity.

The first two seemed as if they’d wanted to speak with us. The third was smaller and walked behind them in an attempt to remain out of sight, trying to look away, but failing and observing us with evident curiosity.

Behind them, twelve others emerged. They were much larger, about three feet high. Some of them were blue; some were green. Their wings were bigger in comparison to their bodies and covered their bellies on each side. They looked like older dragons and had a yellowish glow around them.

Another group appeared, approaching us from the other side of the clearing.

They stopped in front of us, smiling.

Mark looked at me, his eyes shining.

One of the little red creatures took another step forward and looked up at Mark. Then, it spoke with a tiny, resolute voice. “We are here. You’re safe.”

Mark chuckled.

The little red creature turned to the other small red ones and proudly informed them, “I think she has cookies!”

“Shh!” the other red one standing next to it answered. “Don’t you know? You don’t take candy from strangers!”

The little red creatures turned and talked among themselves. We easily made out the words “witch” and “cookies.”

Then, the voices grew louder.

“Wait, which one is the witch?”

“I think it’s the man.”

“Which one is the man?”

Mark looked at me, then he came closer to them and bent. “Hi, I’m Mark. This is Julie, and she is the witch.”

“He speaks!” exclaimed the little red one closest to us. The other two got scared and moved backward. One of them cried, and the larger creatures started to laugh.

A large green dragon, standing on my right, stepped forward and approached us.

He spoke in a low, masculine voice, and said a few words that I could not understand. By the accent, I could tell he was speaking a local dialect. I turned to look questioningly at Mark.

“Pardon me, lass.” The dragon spoke more deliberately, a warm smile on his face. “I forget myself at times. I am Leonard, second tae the Protectress of Loch Ness. We are the dragon clan of Longnorth. We have been watching ye since ye arrived at our wee loch. Ye are welcome tae our home and tae our protection.”

“Thank you,” Mark said. “We greatly appreciate this.”

Leonard smiled. “Follow us. You’re going to meet our clan and our Protectress.” He turned to the small dragons. “Come, waens!” He started to move and the other dragons walked with him, escorting us from both sides.

Mark looked around, mesmerized.

We walked slowly, adjusting to the movement of the group. The kid dragons stayed close.

“She’s tall.”

“No, she’s not. We’ve seen taller.”

“You always argue with me.”

“You said the guy was the witch.”

“I thought she was the guy.”

“She’s not.”

“I know.”

“I still think she has cookies!”

“But you can’t ask her, ‘Do you have cookies?’ That’s not polite.”

“What is polite?”

“It’s when you behave like grown-ups.”

“Oh. Okay, then I will say, ‘Madame, I shall be indeed excited if thou will give me some cookies.’ Do you think she has chocolate?”

After a short walk, I heard singing and rhythmic movement. Soon, we reached a large clearing and in front of us was a group of about one hundred dragons. There was a soft tune in the air; they were singing and dancing. At first glance, their movement and colors made it all look like a large rainbow. We walked toward them, and some of them looked at us and smiled.

When we reached them, they parted to make space in the middle and the music was suddenly softer. The dancing continued, but it was more mild. Leonard motioned us to sit.

From the other end, walking toward us in the space where the rows had parted, was a dark-blue dragon. The dragon walked with grace, its body language commanding respect. The others observed and made way, enlarging the gap. When the dragon stopped in front of us, the singing stopped completely and the other dragons stood still, almost frozen, observing, eager to see what would happen next.

Everything was silent. The blue dragon looked at us with old, wise eyes. I immediately recognized these eyes as the same ones I had seen in my dreams.

“I am Lucy,” the dragon said, in a rich voice with a tone that was commanding and motherly at the same time. “I am the Protectress of Loch Ness. Welcome to my clan.”

“I’m Mark.”

“Julie.”

“Mark and Julie,” she said out loud. The other dragons repeated our names.

“It’s nice to finally meet the two of you,” Lucy continued. “Some of us spotted you when you came down to our loch. You were out in the cold and kept casting the tent spell so we knew you had come for safety. These lands are well guarded. Stay with us and rest.”

“Wow. Thank you,” I said, breathing out slowly. Few have had an invitation to such protection.

“You are very kind,” Mark added, “and we appreciate this very much. We also know you’ve helped us earlier today, and we wouldn’t be alive now without that help.”

Lucy smiled at Leonard. Then she looked at us again. “Come, follow me,” she said. “We can speak where it’s quieter. We’ve got a rare gathering of different clans here tonight.”

I gave the colorful clearing one last look, before we turned to follow Lucy.

She led us away through a short forest path and into a smaller clearing closer to the loch. Behind us, the singing resumed.

We took a seat on the ground. On my right, I could see the loch, through the trees, and on my left, I caught a glimpse of the dancing dragons. A few more dragons came to join us, along with a group of ten kids.

I took out a bag from my backpack, closed my eyes, and created cookies and chocolate. Then, I opened my eyes and showed the bag to the kids.

They were overjoyed.

“I told you she had cookies!”

The bag was snatched and a few minutes later, it returned empty, and I made more cookies for them. Then again. The third time, I went for chocolate chip.

“She’s an all-powerful witch!”

Mark sat with his back against a tree, watching, amused. I leaned my head on his shoulder, and we watched the fight over the bag of cookies.

“Kids will be kids,” said Lucy.

“I can see that!” Mark said. “I can’t believe I get to meet you for real.”

“Few have.”

“How do you keep all of this hidden?”

“We are magical creatures. We are only seen by those we desire to reveal ourselves to.”

Mark smiled. “We’re very fortunate, then.”

Lucy looked at me. Her eyes had soft wrinkles. I had only noticed that for the first time. Her whole face spoke of a wisdom far older than what I had known in mages.

“What are you running from?” she asked.

“A mage named Eduard Davies,” I replied. “And a couple of others who work for him. Mark is very rich. They want to control him.”

“But surely you are powerful enough to protect your Charge.”

“Well…actually, Eduard is the new head of the Guild.”

Her reaction surprised me. In her eyes, I saw a mixture of spite, pain, shock, regret, and deep sorrow. She looked away.

Leonard observed her with concern. There was a moment of silence, after which he said, “We dinnea like the Guild here. We can smell a finger with a Blue Diamond from miles!” He spat on the ground beside him.

Lucy looked at Mark. “You are both safe with us.”

“Aye,” Leonard continued her words, “no place is as secure as that protected by us dragons.”

“Again, thanks,” said Mark. “It must be great to have your power.”

“Och, aye,” Leonard said.

“But no magic comes without a price,” Lucy said.

Once more, Leonard looked at her, concerned. Her wise eyes were now on me. I somehow felt that her words had a deeper meaning than the simple perspective that all mages shared about the secrecy that comes with our way of living, or the mortal friends we lose on the way, and that it had something to do with the Guild.

Slowly, the gloomy shadow in Lucy’s expression passed. She looked at the kids, playing around a tree. One of them was trying to climb it. “I’ll be right back.” She got up.

We watched her walk toward the kids. The red dragon immediately climbed down when he saw her. They gathered in a circle around her, and she sat with them and spoke to them in a low, calming tone. She pointed at the tree and shook her head. They nodded. The one who had tried to climb it looked down.

I turned to Leonard. “I couldn’t help but notice the Protectress’s reaction when we mentioned the Guild. Have you had trouble with them before?”

Leonard observed Lucy. “Aye. Unfortunately, this ain’t the first time the Guild has become corrupt. Eduard’s following in the footsteps of a previous mage.”

“What happened then? If you don’t mind me asking,” I said softly.