exact moment she lost her fear of the great Dragon; when he told her that he was the last of his kind.
“The last?” she asked. “Are you not lonely, Amaryllion?”
“Not anymore,” he said.
She puzzled over this. “You mean–oh! Really?” Tears sprang to her eyes. “You lie … uh, sorry, Amaryllion. Without disrespect …”
He spoke excellent Human. In his fantastically basso earthquake-voice, Amaryllion said, “A person such as thee can hold herself in too low esteem, Hualiama, Princess of Fra’anior. I find thy heart neither undersized nor immature. For what worth mine words may hold, I value thy friendship more than thou knowest. This time thou hast given of thy freewill has accorded me great joy, as though a choice, molten droplet of the twin suns themselves came to reside in this dark cavern.”
“I … thank you.”
“Thou asked why I wait. Simply put, the time hath not yet come to fruition, little mouse. I will wait until it is time for my soul to depart this mortal flesh and return to the eternal fires of the Dragonkind.”
Lia ducked her head. It was too much for her to contemplate friendship with an Ancient Dragon, but there it was–he had put words to the softening sensation in her heart, to the warmth which she had begun to sense inhabited their interactions. What did it say about her that she struggled to make friends among the Human-kind, but she counted a dragonet and an Ancient Dragon among the finest friends she had ever known?
Amaryllion said, “I have a task for thee. For thou cannot tarry beneath this mountain forever, Princess. Thou must know that the man Ra’aba oppresses thy people, and foments war with the Dragons. Thy family must be found. And thou canst not reside upon Ha’athior Island–”
“I don’t want to leave, Amaryllion!”
“Wilt thou not learn to listen before spouting thy hasty words?”
Sometimes, the several thousand years’ difference between their ages became painfully clear, Lia thought. She nodded, but then essayed a cheeky grin. “Speak, o mighty Island-biter.”
“I am no Land Dragon,” said he, chuckling so mightily that the ground trembled beneath her feet. “I would have thee return here as often as thou might like to pester me with thy endless questions, Hualiama, to take instruction, or to keep me company.”
“See? You do think I’m a pest.”
“Oh, you Humans multiply like lice on a warm, furry body,” Flicker put in.
Lia scowled at him. “Overgrown mosquito. Desist before I swat thee mightily.”
And now she was beginning to speak as the Dragon did, in ancient speech patterns? Lia tasted these words with amazement, coupled with a sense of peace. They fit. Perfectly.
The Ancient Dragon said, “But there are other types of instruction, and the mellow company of those of thy own kind. Therefore, I propose that thou take up residence upon the small volcano just south of here. Within the cone, thou wilt happen upon a monastery of warrior-monks, who are worshippers of the Great Dragon, Fra’anior himself.”
Hualiama exclaimed, “There’s a secret warrior monastery … it’s been that close all along?”
“Didst thou not express a need to learn the weapons and techniques to defeat Ra’aba?” said Amaryllion. “The monks can teach thee the uses of weapons, and much besides. When the time is right, in thy judgement, ask to speak to their Nameless Man.”
“He exists?”
“Aye,” Amaryllion rumbled.
So, the mysterious, magical leader of the warrior monks was real. Her father would be–Lia clamped her jaw shut. The less King Chalcion knew about the Nameless Man, the better, for he had oftentimes ruminated upon taking the warrior monasteries ‘under his command’ or ‘breaking their subversive influence’. Now his daughter was about to join the undesirables. How would a Princess of Fra’anior be received if they knew her father’s view of them?
Still, the idea was excellent. She could learn the monks’ combat techniques and use them to defeat Captain Ra’aba! Maybe they would even have Dragonships. She could find out where her parents had been sent …
Lia enthused, “Thank you, Amaryllion! You’re the best. I’ll definitely come back, as often as I can. I’ll keep you up to date with everything that I’m learning, and sing you songs–”
He growled, “Forget and I shall be insulted, little mouse, so don’t make me shift this Island to come and fetch thee to thy fate.”
Her tiny laughter was drowned out in his thundering.
* * * *
The following day, as dawn outside the caves stretched Ha’athior Island’s shadow like a vast, animate finger across the Cloudlands, Lia and Flicker walked and