10
Three months later Ash and Lady Ariel were flying patrol hunting for any black monsters in the area. In all the time since the big battle they had only run into 4 of the beasts. And they were quickly and easily taken out. Lady Ariel and Andrew were looking over the land when he thought he caught some movement below. Lady Ariel said she would circle around again and see if they could get a better view. As they were watching a dog darted out of the brush and made a run for a cave opening on the mountainside.
Something is going on down there Lady Ariel. Andrew felt the dogs’ terror. He’s afraid of us. And the scorched land in the area means there is a dragon somewhere nearby. If we could catch it and destroy it for them, they just might talk to us. Do you think it’s worth a try?
I agree that this should be our priority here. Ash chuckled, Let us set up a trap for this beast.
They flew off and hid behind a small mountain in the distance. There they waited, as they knew the dragon would come at sunset looking for food.
“Emily, I could feel the fear in the dog. He was running to the cave for more than shelter. I think there are people down there hiding. Maybe they are the ones from the town we saw earlier. There were signs there of the dragon burning the town. So they must have sought shelter in the caves.”
“I think you are right Andy,” Emily agreed with him, “I could feel the people in there. They are very frightened. If we can save them, then it would be a good beginning. They would start to pass the word that there are good dragons out there protecting humans.”
My friends, I believe we have company. Ash informed them.
The mist started to form across the mountains; they were well hidden from the insane ones view. They could see that there were two of them. They were much smaller and less healthy than Ash and Lady Ariel. They watched as they circled the area.
Andrew, look below, thru the mist. Lady Ariel told him. There is a wounded child trying to make it to the cave. He is a young boy, and very brave to try to make it thru the field before the evil ones see him. We must help him if we can.
Ash spoke up now; let us see if they spot him. We must stay hidden for as long as possible. If the boy is careful he may be able to make it before they see him. If they do see him I will take on the beasts, and Lady Ariel and you, Andrew, will go and get the boy.
The boy was slowly making his way. He was trying not to create any movement that would attract the beasts. Then he lost his footing and rolled down an embankment. The monsters saw the movement and screeched loudly and headed towards the area. The child was scrambling, trying to get up. He lay there thinking that this was it for him, expecting death he started to cry. He saw them getting closer and he shut his eyes preparing for the worst.
The black devils flew above circling and then one screeched and went into a dive. Ash took off at lightening speed and flamed him before he got anywhere near the boy. The devil took a hit on his right wing and went down in a spiral dive. Ash followed and flamed it into dust. He went back above and searched for the other one. While this was going on, Lady Ariel landed near the boy and Andrew jumped off and ran to him.
“Come with me if you want to live,” he yelled at the boy reaching out his hand to him. The boy ran into his arms crying. “I’m going to take you for a ride on my friend. She is a good dragon; she is here to protect you. Don’t be afraid. OK?”
The boy was wide-eyed, scared to death, but he nodded yes. As Andrew rounded a large bush, Lady Ariel was standing there waiting for them. The boy froze for a second, but he saw that Andrew wasn’t the least bit afraid, so he hung onto him for dear life. Andrew put him between one of the ridges just behind Lady Ariel’s neck and he climbed on himself.
“Hold on little one, here we go.” Andrew wrapped his arms around the boy and they took off. Lady Ariel glided over the meadow and Andrew could see that the people in the cave had seen what had just taken place. They have seen what happened my Andrew; there is hope now.
As Lady Ariel was making her way to the heights, the other dragon swooped down trying to flame her. She dodged quickly away and Ash dove down on him flaming all the way. This was no fight, simply an execution. He went down in a heap and Ash flew low and flamed the carcass into ash. He then flew up to Lady Ariel and they both flew low over the meadow and landed just beyond the cave opening. Both riders jumped down and Andrew helped the boy down.
“Wow! That was neat! You guys are great!” A dragon enthusiast had replaced the scared little boy of a few minutes ago; his face was all smiles now. He was in awe of Lady Ariel and Ash.
He walked up to Lady Emily wide-eyed, “Hey, you’re a girl! Holy-moley!”
“Tommy!” A woman came running from the cave, “Oh my God, I thought I’d lost you for sure!” Tommy ran to his mother, she held him to her and began to sob. “Oh thank-you so much.”
“I’m glad we were able to help.” Andrew said loud enough for all to hear. “We, and our dragons have been assigned this area to patrol and protect. My name is Andrew, and behind in the field is my dragon, the Lady Ariel.”
Emily stepped forward and began to speak, “I am Lady Emily, and beyond in the meadow is my dragon, Ash. We are called the Dragon Riders of the Light. We are here to rid this area of the black ones and to protect you.”
Andrew continued, “The main lair of the black devils has been destroyed along with all of them. The worst of it is over now folks. There are however a few remaining stragglers around the countryside that we need to hunt down.”
The rest of the people started to come out of the cave, and they parted for a man, “I heard what you said. Is it really possible that they are gone now?”
Andrew stepped forward and answered him. “As I said, there are a few of them still out there, but we are hunting them down and destroying them as soon as we find them.”
Offering his hand he continued, “My name is Paul. We’re a small group, only about a hundred of us. We can’t thank you enough for ridding us of those beasts. We had to leave town almost a week ago. Those monsters had us trapped in here.” He looked at the boy and saw that he was bleeding from a wound on his shoulder. He turned around and shouted back towards the cave, “One of you bring my medical bag please Tommy is hurt.”
Lady Emily perked up at this news, “you’re a doctor? A…um, real doctor?”
“Yes miss, why do you ask?” He spoke as he checked out the boy, Tommy. “This will be all right. It’s just a flesh wound.” He bandaged up the boys shoulder and stood and faced Lady Emily.
“Are you a specialist, or a regular doctor?” She asked smiling.
He looked at her and then at her slightly protruding belly. He smiled at her and said in a kindly way, “I’m a GP miss, and I will be here when your time comes.”
Lady Emily blushed big time, “no, no, you misunderstand sir. Back at Dragons Hill there are 12 of us, and we are all due at about the same time. Do you think you would be able to help us when the time comes? We have been searching for a doctor for several months. We can equip a hospital, or rebuild an existing one, if necessary, for you.”
He looked at Lady Ariel and Ash, his brow furrowed, “My God, who are you people?” He turned and looked back at Andrew and Emily. “Oh, we need to talk. I want a lot more information. Everything is so changed, so different. These people have been thru a lot in the past several years, and I don’t want to get their hopes up. My gut tells me that you are telling the truth. But God Almighty man,” he said pointing at the dragons, “those are dragons!”
“Yes they are,” said Andrew, “beautiful aren’t they? They are Dragons of Light Paul; that means they are the good guys. Look, we can settle this easily, if you want, you can come back to our camp and speak with our leaders, see for yourself.” Andrew hoped that he sounded sincere. “You have my word that you will be safe, and I will return you here the next day. As good faith I will leave Lady Emily and Ash here at your camp. What do you say?”
The boy Tommy spoke up; “they’re telling the truth Doc, you know I can tell.”
He looked at the young boy, and back at Andrew. “All right young man, I’ll go with you to your camp. If what you say is true, I know of three other communities that could use your help, protection, whatever you call it.” He turned and went back into the cave and came out with his jacket. He picked up his medical bag and swung it over his shoulder by a strap he had fastened to it. Seeing Andrew watching him he explained, “It’s easier to carry it like this; now my hands are free. I have told the others what I am doing; they will treat your friend with utmost courtesy.”
“She is my mate doctor, and I wouldn’t leave her if I was concerned for her safety. Now, do you mind riding on Lady Ariel? It will get us there and back much faster.” The doctor shook his head and agreed to a ride. Andrew went to Lady Ariel and bowed and made a big show of asking her for a ride for the doctor. It was mainly for the benefit of the people in the cave. She nodded her massive head and lowered her wing so the doctor could climb on. He was clearly afraid, but he climbed up behind Andrew anyway, very much in awe of this great beast. He was instructed as to how to hold on, and Andrew also told him that when they landed it would be proper etiquette to thank Lady Ariel for the ride. He looked at Andrew as though he were out of his mind. But Andrew would not yield on this point, so the doctor agreed.
Lady Ariel took off and glided around the town. Dr Paul’s whole attitude changed, he was thrilled immediately, as Andrew knew he would be. He could see the damage that the beasts had done, and also the areas that were untouched. It took only 25 minutes flying time to reach Dragons Hill. As they approached Andrew could see several dragons coming in for a landing, and he slowed. Andrew purposely let them land first as he wanted the doctor to see that they lived in harmony with the dragons. As Lady Ariel landed Daniel and Kate stepped forward to greet them. Andrew climbed off and the doctor followed.
The doctor almost fell over himself starring at all the huge dragons that were about the landing area. He went around to the front and facing Lady Ariel, bowed as he had seen Andrew do, and he told her “Thank you Madame for the wonderful ride to your camp. You take my breath away!”
Andrew relayed to Lady Ariel and she keened approval at his manners. “She approves of your manners doctor, you have just made your first dragon friend,” Andrew told him.
Daniel stepped forward and extended his hand, “Welcome to Dragons Hill! I am Daniel, and this is my wife Lady Kate.” Kate came forward and extended her hand also.
The doctor shook their hands and starred at these two exceptionally handsome people, “Glad to meet you both, my name is Paul, but everyone calls me Doc.” He turned around and looked at all the dragons. “I can’t believe what my eyes are seeing, this is unreal!”
“We have over 30 dragons here. They all have riders and they all patrol and protect this great land of ours.” Daniel explained to him. “Would you like to go below and get something to eat or drink? It’s still lunchtime, I’m sure we can find something.”
“Yes, I would like that; it’s been several days since I’ve eaten a meal.” He was still looking all around the mountaintop.
Kate smiled at him and extended her hand to point the way. She hooked her arm in his and smiled sweetly, “So you’re a doctor…”
“Yes Ma’am, just an ordinary GP. This place is huge, I had no idea it was here.” He was amazed at the size of their camp. The people were all quite friendly and stunning in appearance. And several of the women, he could see, were pregnant.
“Andrew informed us that you and your people could use our help in getting your town back up and running.” Daniel was trying to put him at ease. “We can send our engineers over when you return, and they can look it over and see what needs to be done.”
“How did he tell you all that; I didn’t see any communication devices?” The doctor was starring intently at Daniel.
Daniel stopped at the last landing and turned to him; “Paul,” he answered him, “we are in constant communication with each other thru our dragons. We all communicate telepathically.” The doctor seemed relieved at this bid of news; a reaction Daniel found puzzling.
As they entered the mess hall, Kate gave Sam the eye, and he came over and introduced himself. It seemed to put Doc at ease. Sam asked him what he would like to eat, chicken or roast. Doc just about choked, the fact that they had food and plenty of it won him over. They all sat at one of the tables and Doc was looking around the mess hall at all the people, clearly impressed.
“Please tell me what all this is here? I am obviously out of my league.” He perked up when Sam came back to the table with two large steaming plates of food. “My Lord, oh yes!” He dove in with great gusto. Kate brought a platter of biscuits and honey and placed it before him along with some iced tea.
“Doc, Paul, we are a small group of people who have been given the task of restoring order to our world. We have managed to destroy the pack of black devils that were entrenched on the west coast creating havoc throughout the country. They were the black bastards that burned up our world.
Well they’re gone now – for the most part. There are a few of them still wandering about, unfortunately, but we are hunting them down one at a time.” The doctor was listening intently.
Daniel took a swallow of his ice tea and then continued. “We are here to serve and protect humanity. The world has changed, Doc, and it will never go back to what it once was; hopefully we can all start over together.”
“I will agree with you on that for sure.” Doc said between bites. “Between the dragons burning, and the crazy dreams, I figured out for myself that things would never be the same again.”
“Well Doc, we are going to have a great need for a doctor in about 5 months. Although Jake has promised that the Dragons will see to it that the women will not feel any pain, I would feel better if a doctor was present. We can offer our services in payment.”
“Jake? Who is this Jake?” He asked.
Daniel gave him a brief history of what had taken place during the last couple of years. He was very interested in what Daniel had to say about the dragons in the egg stage. “Let me get this straight, you and the dragons talk to each other, and are friends. This happens after you touch their egg. They give you a nasty jolt and then knowledge and other things bind you to each other. Am I right so far?” He asked as he starred at each one of them.
Daniel perked up quickly, “Suddenly you know a lot more than you did when you arrived. Who has an egg? You, or is it someone else in your camp?” Daniel was deadly serious now. “I don’t mean to alarm you Doc, but this is very serious.”