To the Eldest! - Jordan Pierce (best books for 7th graders TXT) 📗

the ground. He took the vines off of Avary then moved back to me.

 

“You saw those planes, didn’t you?” He whispered in my ear. “Those jets have enough power to out-fly almost anything. They also have enough firepower to hurt a dragon.”

 

“Those birds,” I said, “will die at the breath of a dragon. If they come too close to the Eldest, they’ll wake him and anger him. He sleeps, but he is aware of everything that happens on the ground. He can feel the vibrations of the air and ground. He knows that we are all here.”

 

“Where is this ‘Eldest’ that I hear so much about? And why do you dragons feel so safe here with no cover from the jets?”

 

“Climb back on my neck. I will show you this mountain as only a dragon can see. Then you’ll understand why we came here.” He did, and when he settled down he looped his feet into the vines a grabbed the ones in front of him. He seemed to be more confident and comfortable now when we flew.

 

We flew up and away from the mountain until even the huge earth dragons were barely visible. Then I angled north and scanned for the tale-tale signs of the Eldest’s face. When I found it, I flew in closer for James to see. I didn’t have to tell him what he was seeing. He saw the face of a dragon covered in foliage. The dragon puffed smoke from its nostrils as it quietly snored. James gasped when he realized that the Eldest was the mountain where we gathered.

 

“My God! That’s a dragon?” He asked.

 

“Yes. He is the oldest and strongest dragon. He made the earth we walk on. He is the father to all earth dragons. If those birds from earlier come here, the Eldest will wake. The same goes for the army. Only dragons are safe from the wrath of the Eldest. We can flee the land and live in our sky-cities while the Eldest destroys everything on the land.”

 

“They don’t know about him. The army is still coming. We have to stop them before they get here! I don’t want my family in danger is the Eldest wakes up.”

 

“Now you know why we don’t fear attack here. But we do need to keep the army away from the Eldest. How could we best stop the army without the loss of lives?”

 

“We have an ambassador at the camp. He was sent here just in case there were native humans here. If I could get a message to him, maybe we could have a diplomatic talk.”

 

“And how would you get a message to this human?”

 

“If we flew over the camp and dropped a message into the camp, they might read it. We would need to set a meeting place and a time.”

 

I flew in a huge arc and headed to Cobolt’s community. Maybe there would be something there for the human to put a message on. We flew until we reached the mountain, then we circled the mountain until we came to the entrance cave. The obsidian dragon was still there along with another dragon. His eyes widened when he saw me.

 

“Are you Kalli?” He asked.

 

“Of course I am. Why do you ask?”

 

“I didn’t recognize you. You’ve gotten so much bigger since you left with the others.” He explained. When he spotted the human, his voice dropped into a low rumble. “What is this creature doing on your neck?”

 

“Cobolt and I have discovered that a couple of humans are on our side. This one flies with me and Cobolt carries the other.”

 

The black dragon snorted, but said no more. I walked past him and into the main cave. It was nearly empty with the exception of a handful of dragons unable to make the flight to the Eldest. Among the few dragons here was Lucia. She was nowhere in sight, but I just figured she was in the healers’ den.

 

With James on my neck, I headed to the only place I could think of where there might be something to put a message on: the healers’ den. He could find something there. I stepped into the den and saw one healer talking with Lucia. I had to bite back a gasp when I saw her. The healers amputated her wings! She would never fly again. She had a poultice spread over the area where her wings had attached to her back.

 

Visions popped into my mind at the sight of the flightless dragon. What if that was me? What if those Hounds broke my wings? What would it be like if I couldn’t fly ever again?

Chapter 9: New Wings

“Uh, Kalli?” James asked. “What is this cave? It smells like there’s medicine in here.”

 

The two dragons before us both heard him and whipped their heads to look at us. They were both surprised, but Lucia’s shock soon turned to fury. Her face darkened and she dropped her head as she snorted out a puff of smoke. She wasn’t looking at me, though. Her focus was on the human sitting at the base of my neck.

 

I lifted my head to shield James and hissed a warning at Lucia. A fight here would be terrible. Plus I didn’t think James could stay unharmed if I had to fight. I was much, much larger than Lucia and I used my size to intimidate her. She backed down when I rose to my full height and puffed up my chest.

 

“I’m sorry Lucia, but I won’t let any dragon harm this human.” I told her when she got over her fury. “He and another have valuable information about the human army.”

 

“You?” She asked. “Of all dragons, why are you carrying that pest? They took everything from you! You should want them dead more than I do!”

 

“I’ve gotten over my grudges. This man did nothing to wrong me. He was acting under the order of his leader. When he realized the leader was wrong, he and the other came to us. They risked themselves to attempt to redeem themselves. I respect that quality.

 

“We came here to find anything that can be used to carry a message to the humans. James has explained that they have an ambassador that may be willing to meet me and a few others. If the Eldest wakes, he will destroy the land to rid it of the humans.”

 

“What could a human possibly put a message on,” the healer asked as he stepped towards us. “We send messages with flame. How do your kind send them?”

 

“We write them on something,” James explained. “We normally use paper, but I’m sure you don’t have any.”

The healer was about to reply, but a howl cut him off. Hellhounds were outside of the mountain!

 

Acting on instinct, I raced to the entrance cave where I saw the black dragon take flight. I followed after him, but he flew to the other side of the mountain. Instead of running away like him, I dove at the nearest Hound and was about to shred it when James yelled at it.

 

“Kilo! Down!” He yelled. Immediately the Hound sat down and looked confused. This was James’ Hound. Three people came out of the foliage with four Hounds on shining, looping vines. When none of them moved to jump on me, I landed in front of the humans.

 

“Teri! Randy! Cameron! What are you doing here?” James called to the humans. I laid flat and let him climb from his perch. He ran to the others with the Hound called Kilo on his heels. The Hound knocked James down and began licking his face. The Hound seemed so happy to see James that is was clear: Hounds are like family to the humans.

 

While the humans reunited, the black dragon came back. When he spotted me with the humans he bellowed and dove at the humans. I saw him readying to spew flames on top of the humans while they didn’t pay attention. I sprung forward and stretched both wings out to cover them right as the black dragon breathed his flames. The fire deflected off my wings and I hissed at the obsidian dragon. I leapt back then took to the air. I may be young, but I am a Queen now. I am Anantila’s daughter. This dragon will respect that and he will obey me even if I have to force him to.

 

I flew at the male and we collided. We grappled as we fell to the ground. I used my smaller size to my advantage by ducking under one of his legs and wings to get on top of him just before we crashed. He landed on his belly while I was safe on him back. I dug my long claws into his back and dug in as he reared up and beat his wings. He craned his head back and grabbed me just above the harness James made. He ripped me off his back and threw me with all his might. I landed and bounced before I could regain my footing. When I did regain my footing, I rose to my full height and sent a column of blue flames right at the male’s face. He barely managed to duck under it, but the blue-hot fire still singed his back. Before he recovered, I got in close and battered him with wind from my wings.

 

My scales tingled now, but I paid it no mind. I was unconcerned about myself. My sole focus was beating some sense into this black dragon.

 

I lifted into the air and the male rammed upward and connected with my armored belly. The impact made a low noise, hurt and winded me, but it seemed to hurt him more. He fell to the ground and convulsed for a moment then he shakily rose to his feet again. He looked at me in fear and awe at the same time. I even heard the humans gasp when the dragon bowed his head to me.

 

The male nodded at me then slowly spread his wings and made a slow flight to the entrance cave. When he left, James spoke to me.

 

“Kalli, how long have you been able to do that?” He asked.

 

“I learned to fight when I was only a year old. You’ve seen me fight before, why ask me now?”

 

“I know I’ve seen you fight before. But I’ve never seen that. I’ve never heard of any dragon being able to electrocute another dragon.”

 

“Electrocute? What do you mean?”

 

“What James means,” the small female said as she stepped forward, “is that you made lightning in your body. When you got off the ground, the lightning wanted to get back down. It went into that other dragon to get to the ground. When the lightning went to him, it really hurt him.”

 

“I was getting there, Teri.” James said jokingly.

 

How did I make lightning? Can Cobolt do it too? Maybe it’s because we’re the fastest dragons alive. We fly like lightning and we can make it.

 

“Hey, Kalli, you still with us?” James asked as he prodded my foot.

 

“What? Sorry, I was lost in thought. We should get back in the mountain and find something for you to put that message on.”

 

“Who are you trying to send a message to?” Teri asked me.

 

“James wishes