Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
C adeyrn strode through the village common, laughing inside as the children playing there surrounded him as if he were a spirit pole, their shrieks and laughter so amazing.
He rarely smiled, but he was tempted now, because he did love all of these babies so. They did not fear his reputation as so many of the other dragons did. They just accepted him as he was.
He righted one of the smallest ones, who had bounced off his leg and almost fallen on his tiny arse, then tugged at the many braids of one of the girls standing there. “Enough, wee ones. I need to shift, so I can fly.”
“Well met, Cadeyrn,” said Mirian, one of the dragons who taught the children. “Are you going up to the new enclave?”
He wasn’t certain how long the dragons who had come across the veil would have to be there in order to not be “new”, but he was still the “new” village protector, and he’d been doing it for decades, at least. “Indeed. I am meeting with their eldest dragons. Zeke and Tyson and Gavin.”
“How very exciting.” Mirian smiled. “Zeke is quite the storyteller, as is Tyson. They often come and tell stories from their homelands. The children love them.”
Cadeyrn noticed that she didn’t have anything to say about Gavin, which surprised him. Gavin was actually the dragon that he knew the best.
Gavin came down often to town to visit, or to explore. He was fascinated by the village, while Tyson and Zeke seemed a little bit more insular. It made sense, he supposed. Gavin had told him that before they crossed the veil, he had been quite the traveler, whereas Zeke and Tyson had not. Zeke most especially.
“I will tell them you send your regards.”
“Yes, tell them anytime they’d like to come and read, they’re welcome to tell their stories. We’d love to hear them. Especially the one about the pirates. The pirates seemed to be very popular with the little dragons.”
“Duly noted.”
Cadeyrn moved into the clearing to shift. He had a small basket of things, little gifts for the children, some fresh fruit, that sort of thing. And he shifted easily, the laughter and joy of the children buoying him as he rose from the ground.
He took flight, the summer sun’s rays gliding over his scales and warming him. The houses up on the mountain were no longer shocking, the buildings slowly morphing to suit the landscape.
Dragon magic was a determined thing.
It still astounded him how much things had changed in a very short time. It did seem to be how the world worked here in Lunastra. There were short periods of change and then long periods where everything was the same.
When the veil had begun to close, though, the houses began to appear, seeming to grow from the mountain itself.
And then, once everyone was across the veil, those houses had exploded with life. Roses and tomatoes and sunflowers and apple trees grew. Younglings could be seen, and then trails began to appear down the mountain.
The adults and older children, of course, could fly down and trade, come to school. But the younger ones needed to either be carried or driven down.
And Samuel, one of the younger of the adult new dragons was incredibly fascinated with the bocapal. He’d come to the farmlands around the village along with a dragon named Myk, and had studied the animals and plants, sharing knowledge and offering tomato plants, chicks, and two baby larparcas in exchange for seeds and a mating pair of bocapal.
Now Samuel had traded for a number of them, and he had trained the beasts to carry the children up and down the mountain, lugging a study wagon behind. It also helped with the supplies of course.
All in all, the new members of their mountain had been…well come. Cadeyrn approved.
He soared, catching a thermal so it pulled him up the mountain, enjoying the heat of the sun on his back. His wings beat strongly, and then he banked, coasting for a bit before he turned back along the slope to fly up so he could come to a smooth landing in the clearing before the enclave’s homes.
Oh, something smelled delicious. He wondered what new food he would learn about today. These dragons had taught him about brown bread and about cookies. Glorious, sweet, crunchy or chewy cookies.
The mountain was alive with children, many of whom came running up to the wooden fence that contained the larparcas, totally unafraid. “Cadeyrn, Cadeyrn, hello!”
The greetings almost brought out his smile again.
Sebastian, the oldest male child, came hurrying over to help with his basket after he shifted and dressed. This white-haired boy was a ray of sunshine, which tickled him given that the lad blew the coldest of ice when he had had a fit of temper apparently. “How are you today? It’s a lovely day, so nice and warm. Uncle Justin is cooking, along with Uncle Owen and the Grannies. You know what they’re making?”
He snorted softly. “I don’t.”
“Cinnamon rolls. I love cinnamon rolls. It’s so good. Cinnamon, I mean.”
“Cinnamon?” What an odd name.
“It’s a spice. It comes from a tree, I think. It’s sweet and spicy and wonderful. We get it from Uncle Cosmo.”
“Oh yes, the guardian.” Cadeyrn wasn’t one hundred percent sure that he approved of all of this outside nonsense coming in. It seemed a bit dangerous to him, but the elders assured him that the magic would stop things when it wanted them stopped.
Still.
“I cannot wait to try it. There are some little goodies that I brought in the basket. Oban berries, for one. They’re coming into their ripeness, and they are at the best right now.”
Sebastian’s eyes lit up. “Can I try one?”
“You can. Take care of your clothes, because the juice stains.” How many times had he heard those same words from his mother? She said it to him this morning, in fact, when he’d delivered a basket of berries to her home.
Sebastian grabbed one of the fist-sized black berries and bit into it, the ebony juice freezing in parts on the young man’s face. The others clamored for some, and a small red dragon zoomed over to them, sparks flying.
“Careful, Arielle!” Sebastian blew at her, the ice dowsing her flames. “Cadeyrn brought us berries! They’re tart and sweet. It tastes like it would make an amazing pie.”
He tossed one over to Arielle, and she snapped it out of the air, teeth clicking. “Very nice. Traditionally you dip a berry in honey, take a bit of pastry and wrap it around, and bake it, so that it’s like a hand pie.”
Sebastian started offering little bites to the others. “Oh my gosh, let’s go take them and then show everybody. How exciting. I love when you come to visit.”
Arielle roared in agreement.
No one ever loved when he came to visit.
He was the protector. He was the one who maintained order and followed the rules.
But Cadeyrn had to admit it did feel so good to hear that, and to have Sebastian mean it.
He followed the horde of children to the house, where Zeke met him at the door. “Cade! Well met. Come in, come in.”
These dragons all tended to shorten names to one syllable…
“Ah, Cade.” Gavin came to clasp arms with him. “Good to see you.”
“Well met, all. How does the day find you?”
They had created the most amazing courtyard and gardens here. This had been a bare, empty spot, and Lunastra had been obviously waiting for these three families to come and join to become one.
“It’s a wonderful lazy day. The beehives are doing well. Flowers are blooming. Plants are growing. The sun is shining. I have nothing to complain about.” Gavin beamed.
Personally, Cadeyrn thought Gavin’s pleasant humor was way less likely attributed to the sunshine and much more likely that Gavin’s mate was beginning to show the smallest of a baby bump, the dragon pregnant with his second child.
“It is good to see you happy and well. Mirian says to tell everyone that they welcome your stories, should you decide to come and read again. Especially, the little ones like the ones with the pirates.”
“Little dragons are fascinated with pirate ships,” Zeke murmured. “Ask Preston.”
“I am aware,” he said, inclining his head. “I brought some trinkets.”
“Well, come in and have some food and drink, and then we can all settle in and bullshit,” Ty said. He was a mountain of a dragon who had little use for niceties, but he was the soul of kindness to all the children and omegas, and he had some grand rocks in his hoard. He made stunning objects.
“That would be my pleasure.”
It was too. Every time he came up here, it was like learning a whole new world, like experiencing a culture he’d never imagined.
The children each came up and got a little candy or polished stone or something out of his bag of tricks. And of course, he brought the berries, which were whisked away to explore for later.
Cadeyrn settled with a mug of hot cocoa, which reminded him very much of cazik, the warm drink that the entire township shared in the mornings. The village lined up outside of Tamryn’s store every single morning to get their cup of steaming cazik, and in return, they provided the materials for the drink as well as food for Tamryn and her family.
He also got a giant cinnamon roll, which was—while not a cookie—an amazing coiled sweet bread with spice, and it was pure heaven. He moaned over it, licking icing and butter off of his fingers. “This is amazing. Sebastian will be pleased to know that we have this cinnamon here as well. We call it loxen.”
“Excellent.” Zeke pulled out a pad of paper from his pocket, scribbling something down. “I’m trying very hard to learn the different terms that we have for different things so that we can share information.”
“Yes, it must be hard to integrate yourself into a whole new world, a new culture.”
“Challenging sometimes, but exciting.” Tyson grinned at him, and Gavin nodded.
“But I’d like to have a manual for the new dragons who come back through, sort of a newcomer’s guide,” Zeke murmured.
One of his eyebrows rose as if it had been drawn up by a string. “Other dragons, new ones? It was my understanding that the veil was closed for now.”
Zeke snorted. “Closed seems to be a strong term. There are openings. That house is one of them.” Zeke pointed to the big odd home that was away from the others. That was one the magic had touched the least, and it seemed as if it were floating in midair. “And dragons are going to find their way there to come through. There are two in there waiting, in fact—a little girl and an adult.”
Oh, this didn’t sound safe in the least.
He frowned. “I will need to discuss this with the elders.”
The three big alphas shared a glance. “Of course. We’ll be happy to come down and meet with them, if you like.”
He nodded. “Please. I am the only protector of this village at the moment, and sometimes diplomacy is not my strong suit.”
Gavin chuckled. “I fully understand.”
“Beau would be a good help to you as protection,” Zeke said. “He was a warrior before he came to us.”
“Hawk, as well. Hawk is working with the triplets as a guardian in Myk’s old house, and I guarantee you, especially with Elliot in there, no one the least bit dangerous will be allowed through.”
It was a comfort how sure Tyson sounded.
“Then I should talk to both of them. We can make a coalition to assure that these lands are safe.” They would just tell the elders that this was what was going to happen. He had discovered after many years of being a guardian, that was often the easiest thing to do. If the guardians were allowed to make their own decisions and given the opportunity to ponder things, they inevitably made mistakes. And he didn’t have time for that nonsense.
“Works for me. I think he is with Samuel in the barns right now, but I can’t bring him out.” Zeke smiled at him, the expression wicked. “Or we can just sit here and drink coffee and wait for them to show back up. The sun is so nice. Do you know that on the other side of the world and the other side of the veil, it’s snowing? Cosmo brought us pictures.”
“Fascinating. So you said there are others in the house?” Could they see him from where they were?
Gavin nodded. “Yes. My team found an adult male and a young female dragon. They were being attacked by vampires, and they had managed to break free, but they weren’t going to make it far. We brought them back to one of our safe houses and helped them heal.”
“Vampires?” A cold chill climbed up his spine, a bone-deep revulsion filling him.
“Yes, you know what those are?”
Cadeyrn bared his teeth, the act pure instinct. “An ancient evil? The vamfyr. They were thrown out of Lunastra a millennia ago.”
“Well, they exist in our world,” Tyson growled. “Under the ground. And they crave dragon blood.”
“But you said they escaped?” Cadeyrn didn’t have to trust the new dragons to wish for their health and wellbeing.
“Yes, and they’re healing. They’ll be coming out soon, I’m sure, coming to stay with us.” Why didn’t Gavin seem concerned?
Arielle sat down with them, along with her heart sister, the one they called Nevvy. “We’ll take care of them, Uncle Ty. The little girl, especially. We’ll make sure she gets to school, and no one thinks she’s scary. She’s a victim. Victim shaming is?—”
“Wrong,” Nevvy said. “Purely wrong.”
“No one will think she is scary. We all know that the veil opens and closes, and we all know that you are here for a reason, yes?” He couldn’t have any of the younglings believing they didn’t belong.
“Oh, we’re definitely here for a reason,” Arielle said, her near golden eyes shining. “It’s just that no one knows what that is. We’ll probably just take over.” Then she winked, managing not to look repentant. “I just wanted you to know that we have her back whenever she decides to come out.”
“Of course you will, kiddo,” Ty said. “You’re a champion for justice.”
And a fire dragon who could make the earth shake, Cadeyrn knew. “You will make a fine guardian someday, Arielle.”
She flushed but didn’t duck her head or shy away. “I think so too. I want to keep everyone safe.”
“You will.” There was no doubt in his mind.
Nevvy nodded. “She does. She keeps everyone safe, and I fix when they’re hurt.”
Oh, how dear. “Are you going to be one of our gentle healers?” Cadeyrn asked.
Gavin nodded. “She’s amazing and so sweet.”
“Ha,” Ariel snorted, smoke curling from her nostrils. “Right. You obviously have never seen her bring down the lightning on somebody when she’s pissed. She’s fierce, and she will make you sorry that you ever did something awful. You watch and see.”
Oh dear, there must be a story there.
Nevvy, though, just sat there, her face beatific, eyelashes fluttering. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ari.”
They all giggled, to a dragon, the laughter starting low and growing to a wild, joyous sound.
Arielle finally managed to calm enough to say, “No? Ask Esther. She smelled like burnt hair for a week.”
Nevvy’s eyes flashed, and her hair began to stand on end. “She ate all the honey cakes that were made for me for my birthday. She deserved it.”
“Esther?”
Gavin smiled. “One of our bear shifters.”
“Oh, yes.” One of the fascinating things was the interesting people that these new dragons had brought through the veil. He hadn’t thought it was possible, yet there were bear shifters here, an entire family of them. As well as a werewolf of all things. A werewolf nanny. There were also brownies. And gnomes. So many magical beings.
Fascinating.
“When you have babies, Mr. Cade. Do your babies all get familiars? I mean like me and Tiny?” Arielle asked, speaking of her huge dog companion.
“Oh, here each family gets its own protector of the home, but it is not an animal. It is a being that protects and offers itself in service of the home.”
“Interesting,” Ty said. “What does it get in return?”
“Some of the energy from the home itself, from the dragons within. As well as a safe place and a family that loves it. Some families have their asosi for generations and generations.”
“Oh, how amazing.” Nevvy clapped her hands. “Do you have one?”
His shoulders tried to rise up about his ears. “No. I live in rented rooms in the village.”
He didn’t need to explain all of that to this wonderful family. Cadeyrn had a feeling they would never understand why he chose not to live with his parents, because they all dwelled together.
Summoning a smile, he finished his cinnamon roll, then licked his fingers again. “So. Beau and Hawk?”
“Come on.” Zeke rose. “I’ll take you to Beau.”
“Thank you.” He walked across the big yard with Zeke, noting the way things were coming together so perfectly. “All the children are well?”
Zeke chuckled. “They’re going to be the death of us.”
He barked out a laugh. “That good, eh?”
“Yes, it’s amazing. All of the babies are. I know we’re so very lucky to have one another, but I think Arielle and Sebby might actually try to kill one another one day.”
He shook his head. “You have two growing alphas.”
“Three.”
“Three?”
“You know Ophelia? Esther’s mate?”
He frowned, confused. “She’s only small.”
“Not that small, and I’m not saying they’re having sex, Cade. I’m saying they’re mated.”
“I see.” That wasn’t unheard of, of course, but—“Esther’s a bear.”
“And Esther’s people are here along with her and her siblings. Obviously, they couldn’t come here if they weren’t meant to be here.” Zeke arched an eyebrow at him, watching him closely.
Dragon bears? What a thought. It was amazing.
“Hmm, I wish them well, and when they come to into their adulthood, we will find them places to be so they start new, strong families.”
Even if Cadeyrn did think it was strange and odd. Just because it was strange and odd to him didn’t mean it wasn’t wonderful.
Zeke beamed at him, rainbow-faceted eyes wheeling. “See? It’s wild and woolly out here.”
Cadeyrn thought that he was jealous maybe. The village could be very normal and?—
His eyes traveled up to the house in the distance, the portal.
And there, in one of the big bay windows stood a dragon. An amazing, prismatic dragon.
Zeke’s gaze followed his and nodded. “That one? He’s the new guy. He’ll be coming out soon. Such a sweetheart, at least that’s what Cosmo says.”
“He glows.” Goddess, he must have been a target out there in what Zeke called the human world. He must have drawn all manner of creatures to him, trying to gain that power for themselves.
“He does. They’re trying to ease him into the idea of coming over. Once he does, he can’t go back. Apparently, he comes with a little girl, too.”
His eyebrows climbed. “He has a mate?”
“No. No, they found each other when they were both abducted by vampires.”
Vampires again. He scowled. “That is terrible.”
“It is. The little girl is pretty traumatized. She has no other family, so we’ll take them both on until they’re ready to be on their own.”
“And then what will you do with them?” Cadeyrn found himself curious now because the idea of a constant stream of new dragons meant that there was going to have to be resources allocated, space. Homes for all of these amazing creatures, and, while he was totally willing to facilitate that, he thought it was something the elders needed to know.
Even though privately he thought that the elders should know it already. They were elders, correct? Magical leaders? How come they weren’t in control of all of this? How was all of this happening without their knowledge?
Perhaps the elders were just old dragons who didn’t know any more than he did. It seemed to him that young Arielle and Sebby knew quite a bit, and that maybe these young dragons were going to change the world as they understood it.
“Well, it’ll be up to them, I suppose, whether or not they want to stay and grow here with us, or if they want to go down into the village or explore.” Zeke tilted his head. “I’m assuming that at least some of the children will want that—to just go and explore. That is an option, right? Are there closed borders here? Is that how this works?”
That was a new one to him. “Explain to me closed borders.”
They were coming closer to the barns, and he smiled inwardly at the sturdy, simple buildings. Short and squat, they were obviously intended to keep the animals warm and dry. The children had decorated them, painting them in wild, bright colors so they seemed at a distance to be jumbled blocks. They reminded him of the ones he’d seen in Aonal. It was a wonderful, green kingdom with animals and amazing crops. These were the same shapes, and it made Cadeyrn wonder if all beings with livestock built similar buildings, or if it was just dragons.
“I think that Gavin would be the one to do that best, but…” Zeke pondered. “Territories. Do you all have specific territories that can’t be crossed?”
Ah, that made sense. He nodded. “The big cities have walls, and there are different territories. Some are friendlier than others.” Dragons weren’t perfect. They liked their own families, they liked their hoards, they liked their space, and they didn’t particularly want things to change. “We should procure you a map.”
Zeke’s eyes lit up. “I would love a map. I didn’t even know you could get a map.”
He nodded. “It’s in the library. If you ask the librarian, he can make you a copy.”
Zeke tilted his head to one side. “There’s a library? Do Oliver and Devon know there’s a library?”
Cadeyrn shrugged, confused. “I’ve no idea. We have a bookseller that is larger, of course, but the library is small. Just a room, but it holds all of our village’s important papers. And our librarian curates that. He is in constant contact with the other archivists. They’re a very specialized breed.”
“Oh man. That’s pretty cool.”
He nodded. Yes, they were very chilly dragons. Not particularly friendly at all, but not prone to violence. Unless one threatened their hoards, of course. Then they would eat the brains right out of one’s skull.
“Some of our guys will be over the moon. Hell, maybe they already know about it. I’m more…mechanically minded. I want to make things work. And then Beau and Gavin want to protect everything.” Zeke grinned. “We all have our spaces.”
“Indeed.” That he understood. He took another glance up at the house above them, but it was obscured now by the outbuildings and by clouds. Damn.
“Beau! Look who came up to visit.”
“Ah, Cade.” Beau came to clasp arms with him. “Good to see you.”
“I am glad to see the sun on your scales as well, friend.” Cadeyrn chuckled softly. “I’m here to discuss adding your skills to mine. We must protect our clans.”
Beau’s eyes lit from within. “Oh, hell yeah. Come on and walk with me. Hawk and I have been talking about this?—”
And that was all the opening he needed. He had a brother in arms, and they would assure their spaces were safe.