“Yes, young one. Do show us how you plan redeem yourself in the next trial. I look forward to it.” Firebrand stated. Her words were not the warmest, but her tone was softer than before. Still, the laughter gave way to their solemn rite after she spoke. Did I push a bit too far?
“And which trial shall we go to next?” Blood Claw asked, looking to the elders. It seemed she had already given up on sticking to the script. Not that anyone could blame her.
“The Trial of Wind, would be most fitting next. Do you not agree?” Dark Flame asked, the other elders glanced at him and nodded in agreement. “Please, lead the young there, honored Den Mother.”
“As you request, Elder.” She replied. A quick glance caused the whelps to fall in line. As she exited, they marched behind her in silence. If dragons could sweat, their little pack would have reeked of fear. Darin was nervous enough, that he might have misinterpreted the hints he was given. The others feared for their own standings, given how easily they had broken formality and joined the mirth. Still, there was nothing left to do but move forward. When they reached the next room of the trials, it was neither empty nor new to Darin. The room was divided by fair sized chasm, through which flowed the murmuring waters with a salty breeze. It was not that the fall was deep, as the waters began about a foot below floor level. It was more that this shallow section of a river, seemed to be about 30 feet across.
“The room without fish.” Darin commented. He realized he’d spoken aloud, when several heads turned to him at once. He shrunk a little under their combined gaze, but to no avail.
“Fish?” Asked an old wyvern, who seemed to squint at him. The wyvern elder had but one tail, though he had a more unique tone of color. He was marbled, from white to gray in a random swirling of patterns. “Why would there be fish here?”
“I just-” Darin began. Unable to say more at once.
“Thought you’d settle in, with a net and some tartar sauce?” Blood Claw inquired. She was having trouble keeping a straight face as she asked. The old wyvern laughed, as did many of the other whelps. Seeing no easy way out, Darin shifted to his hind legs and offered a full shrug with both arms and wings. The others laughed more at that, even Greenie who often refrained. Once the others had gotten it out of their system, he turned back and nodded to the elder.
“Honored elder, the reason I wondered about fish. Is because, moving water often nurtures life.” He explained, trying to sound less like a fool. As ever, others were ready to challenge him on that point.
“That’s salt water, not fresh water. Can’t you smell the difference, or are you just that slow?” Asked the little black whelp with spikes. The adults in the room shared a quick glance, but said nothing at first.
“Salt water can be home to life, just as easily as fresh water. Is there no life in the oceans here?” Darin asked. The whelps were looking at one another as Greenie started to giggle. And yes it is just as weird as it sounds, seeing a dragoness giggle.
“What do you think, elder Tome?” Blood Claw asked, a hint of playfulness in her voice. The marbled wyvern looked at her and laughed before bothering to reply.
“I think the Mother would be quite cross with me, if I decided to believe that salt water could bear no life. That said however, this river is strange and special.” He leaned over and looked down into the waters. “I have never yet seen fish here, so I doubt they travel these waters.” He paused a moment to look at Darin, not bothering to hide his amusement. “So yes, I guess this would be the room without fish.”
Darin would have blushed in his human form. He had no idea if his current body was capable of the same feat. If it was, he had little doubt he must be showing colors. “What an odd thing to say.” Dark Flame stated from the doorway. “Are you feeling quite well Tome?” He asked as he entered the room. Behind him Firebrand and the blue dragoness from before entered as well.
“Oh, it was just the mirth of the young. I’ll explain it all later, so do please take your posts.” Tome requested. A moment later Dark Flame and the blue elder flew across the small river and took their positions by the walls near the water. Firebrand and Tome took similar positions on this side of the water, creating a rectangle of elders. “Blood Claw, would you be so kind as to instruct them. Should some be new to this room,” he paused to laugh, “or simply new to the trial.”
“Whelps, as Firebrand is not known for her great patience I shall make this simple and concise. In this-” She began.
“What does concise mean?” Asked the black whelp, interrupting without apology. She sighed at that, as did Tome.
“Go see the lore keepers later, they can help with the big words, that you remember that you’ve forgotten.” Firebrand replied, adding an extra word play to confuse him further. While the message was confusing, the tone she used made it clear he should shut up. To his credit, he took the hint.
“Ahem. In this trial, you will show us how much you have learned of the Mother’s gift of flight. Land dragons are uncommon, so we expect all of you to try your best.” Blood Claw paused a moment, and shot Darin a scolding look. “Even if the the trial seems too difficult for you, you must try your best. You will be judged upon mastery and distance. I know some of you think this is unimportant. You can breathe flames and push stones, but if you can’t even glide…you will bring shame to your fellow dragons in time. It would be quite pathetic to win a great battle, only to fall to your death trying to get down from a mountain or cliff.”
“Indeed, and those who can not move quickly would be of no use to the Fire Clan. Do keep that in mind. Without your wings in good shape, how would you answer a call to battle?” Firebrand asked, reinforcing the Den Mother’s point. When none of the whelps did more than blink or nod, she nodded to Blood Claw to continue.
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“The trial itself is simple. You walk up the ramp on this side, and line up on the shelf behind it. One by one you will go forward to the ledge and try to fly or glide your way across the river. These are the Mother’s waters, so do not fear harm. That is unless you anger her, or try to cheat your way across.” Blood Claw stated, leaving the last bit as a cryptic warning. She hadn’t seen many attempts to cheat, but she had never seen them tried twice. With a single word, she sent the whelps up the ramp. Darin marched along, letting himself fall into last place. As he’d never seen the trials before, he wondered if there was some trick to it.
“I’ll go first.” Offered the wyvern. His performance in the last trial had been hindered by his natural flight build. It seemed he was eager to prove himself as he got up to the start of the ledge. Each ledge ended about five feet short of the water, putting them at about forty feet apart. Will he fly to the other ledge then? Darin wondered.
“Begin.” Blood Claw told him. At that the gray wyvern took two dashing steps forward, and leapt with all his might. As he left the ledge he spread his arm-wings wide like a glider, and coasted across the gap. He landed on the dry stone below the other ledge, seeming quite proud of his achievement.
“Well done lad.” The elder wyvern told him. The others saw no reason to scold Tome for breaking the mask of an impartial judge. Or perhaps he’s here to be the encouraging one, Darin mused. A moment later, the wyvern whelp walked up the other ramp and waited, out of the way, on the shelf. The blue whelp was the next to step up, he eyed the water for a moment and shook his head.
“I know, I know. You’d rather go for a swim. Not today young one.” The blue dragoness advised him. It caused a few soft chuckles, but no one took offense. The whelp gave her a brief nod, took a running start and made his way across with several wing beats. He landed much closer to the water than the wyvern had, his tail almost getting wet. A moment later, he joined the first whelp up on the shelf.
“I’ll go next.” Greenie said with a huff. It was clear that she didn’t have high hopes for this, but she at least intended to try. Despite a good jumping start, she didn’t even reach the land on the other side. The water around her splashed and frothed for a moment, making sure she got quite wet. After that it returned to it’s tranquil flow as she climbed back onto the land. She sighed and made her way up the ramp, dripping as she went.
“One swimming lesson coming up.” Stated the black scaled whelp. A moment later he dashed down the ledge. Despite his best attempts to fly or glide, he fell more like a stone. The water thrashed where he landed, swelled up in anger and washed him down to where Dark Flame waited to fish him out.
“You should have been much more respectful if you intended to swim today.” The elder dragon chided him, after scooping the sputtering whelp from the waters. Spikey just looked confused and didn’t bother to reply. Blood Claw simply shook her head and looked up at the remaining whelps. She raised the ridge over her right eye and waited to see who would go first.
“You went last, on the prior trial. You go first this time. Once you start drying off, I’ll show you how a real dragon does it.” Scorch stated, his voice filled with false bravado. You’ll show ‘me’ how?
“If that’s what you want.” Darin agreed, walking up to the very end of the ledge and stopping. This caused a few of the others to give him odd looks. Thus far, no one had given up the advantage of a running start. “So I just need to get to the other side?” He asked. They nodded, so he pressed further. “How far I go before I land, and my level of Mastery are what you’ll evaluate me on?”
“Yes. So if you’d be so kind as to give us something to evaluate. Unless you’re afraid of getting wet, that is…” Said the blue dragoness. Darin laughed aloud at the suggestion, and then stepped of the ledge into free fall.
“What?” Blood Claw gasped out, before his little wings spread and flapped. A few feet above the ground, his direction changed and he shot forward over the river. The waters churned and bubbled, excited by the display. As he passed back over the land he pulled up, oblivious to the small spouts of water behind him. A moment later, he ended his graceful arc and landed on the ledge. The other whelps, waiting on the stone shelf, were frozen stiff. More than one mouth was hanging wide, as the soft sound of laughter filled the air. Tome was eying the small stretch of river, as if he’d never seen it behave that way.
“The Mother’s blessings.” The elder wyvern muttered, before giving Darin an appraising look. As the waters began to calm, several dragons began to whisper back and forth.
“Well, I really hope I passed.” Darin stated in his best false-innocent voice. A few of the others laughed, while the rest still doubted what they’d seen. Not being one to pass up a chance for payback, Darin turned around and looked across the room. Locking eyes with the red whelp, he called out to him. “It’s your turn Scorch. Now you can teach me how a real dragon should fly.”
If looks could kill, he had little doubt he’d be respawning again. But he doubted it would matter much in the long run. After all, the red whelp had more than started their rivalry. With an angry roar, Scorch took off for flight. A few seconds later, Darin got a screen shot of a most glorious splash…
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Author’s note: I hope you liked the chapter. We all knew how it would end, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun with it. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. It does brighten my day to see the numbers of Views Follows, Favorites, and Reviews slowly climb. I’m still trying to manage a (good) chapter a day. I can’t promise I’ll keep the pace, but I am trying. An extra thanks goes out to the people finding my mistakes. I haven’t found the time to fix quite all of them, but I do appreciate knowing where they are.