Chapter Four: Ryoch and Glenna

The last feast of The Seasons will take place at Saber’s lair instead of the castle.  A wonderful celebration is planned for the return of Saber’s son, Ryoch, who’s been away at the dragon wars.  He went as his grandmother’s, the Queen’s, emissary to try and negotiate a cease-fire.  Unfortunately the dragon clans that are fighting would have no part in it.  Ryoch felt as if the whole six months had been a colossal waste of time and vowed to retire as an emissary.  He was just waiting to tell the Queen that evening, after he’d sprung his other little surprise on the family!

           

            “How is he settling in?”  Cherna asked.

            “Great!  He only had a small room at the castle that he shared with two other dignitaries when they stayed there on rotation.  I think maybe I over did it a little but Ryoch is pleased and will settle in here perfectly.”  Saber replied.

            “Have you met Glenna?”  Saber asked. “I think Ryoch and Glenna are a good match.  They have been best friends since the nursery and inseparable when Ryoch is home from his castle duties.  There haven’t been any formalities but.....maybe this time Ryoch is home, you know, now that he has his own space...” Saber faded off.

            “You’re match making!”  Cherna teased.

             “I am not.”  Saber said in a huff.  Cherna smiled at him, as she left the room.  “I’m not!”  Saber tossed at her back with a secret smile.

            Saber was not mated to Ryoch's mother; it was a one-time occurrence when a maid went into heat while working at the castle.  Servants are required to remain away from the castle when in heat due to the uncontrollable response of male dragons to the scent.  The castle occupants,  ladies-in-waiting,  personal servants and such are cloistered during their heat.  If a hatchling is desired then the mating is done in a controlled environment for the safety of the female dragon.  A female’s heat is a dangerous thing unless she is life-mated.  A life-mated female has the protection of her mate and knows when her time of heat is approaching…every five years for the second century then every ten years after that.  Their first heat is the most dangerous due to the unpredictability of it.  It’s usually in their first hundred years or near their one hundredth birthday.  When a female mates during her time of heat a hatchling is guaranteed.  Without the heat, eggs can be laid and then fertilized up to one year later as long as it is the same male dragon fertilizing it.  Sabers son, Ryoch, was born due to a “first heat” mating.  Six weeks later the maid approached Saber and placed a sweet rainbow colored bundle in his arms and walked away.         A little rainbow colored hatchling indeed!  The two-legged dragon standing in the spacious back quarters circled the area and appreciated each and every square foot of it.  At seven foot six inches tall, Ryoch would always be shorter than his father, Saber.  But that had never discouraged Ryoch because no dragon he’d ever met could match him in pure solid muscle!  From the bulges at his neckline to the ridges of his tail, Ryoch was the greatest warrior dragon ever born into the royal lineage.  Along with the talons, rows of slashing horns and grim reaper facial structure, Ryoch could thank his Berzerker mother for his good looks.  However, he didn’t have the venom or the Berzerkers crazed pink irises.  Ryoch was mostly a deep aqua color with sporadic blue and purple from Saber and his wing span was just as impressive as the rest of him.  Ryoch could lift off and reach upper sky travel within only a second or two.  His record was Cave Dweller territory to castle in less than three months. 

            Ryoch has lived his entire life at the castle but Saber would like him to move into the lair now that he has returned.  Ryoch would have the largest space on the backside of the mountain.  One day he will mate and will need the extravagance of the largest area.  It’s wide-open spaces were made for two dragons to share.  Ryoch looked among the living quarters and imagined bringing Glenna here.  Having his own space, and so much of it, they could raise a family just as they’d talked about.  Ryoch laughed and jumped on the bedding.  He was ready to settle down and have hatchlings running around.  Would she agree?  Ryoch dozed with dreams of a family, finally.

 

            With the last rays of sunlight Glenna streaked through the forest as fast as her four legs could take her.  She dared not fly this close to nightfall, so her long elegant wings were tucked tight against her dark green sides.  Glenna was petite in both height and length but she made up for it with her wingspan of twelve feet and her tail of ten feet.  Along her forelegs and back legs she had bands of dark brown scales raised up almost as a defensive guard.  The same dark brown scales covered her breast plate and the spinal ridges of horns from top of head to tip of tail.  Glenna’s face was feminine and beautiful with a softly sloping snout and small yet lethal fangs.  Some might even consider her feline.

            Glenna is a very special dragon.  She was fostered to the castle right after birth for protection and education.  She grew up in the nursery with Ryoch and has been his best friend ever since.  Glenna is a Forest Dragon and there are some Forest Dragons that are fey creatures.  They live between worlds, dependent upon their magic, and have been hunted and killed for thousands of years.  It has been said you could capture a Forest Dragon and their magic could be harnessed and used by their captors.  This is an ancient tale and never really proven.  Ryoch and the Queen are the only dragons that know Glenna’s true identity.  There is no record of her being a magical Forest Dragon.  Glenna’s magic is not something she can control and with good cause she‘s kept it hidden for a century now.  Every night Glenna becomes a human.        

            She was cutting it close; the sun was almost setting but the lair was just ahead.  She could get in and hide in Ryoch’s rooms before anyone saw her.  Jeez, I really hate it when I have to make an appearance so close to sunset!  Queen Dana knew that Glenna could only show during daytime events but this was for Ryoch’s family.  It’s probably time to let Saber know.  It’s been a secret for so long, can I trust him?  Would he treat her differently?  It has been so long since she’s seen Ryoch. Would he be different?  Glenna always worried when he went on an assignment for the queen and this time he’d been gone longer than ever before.  Glenna had a surprise for Ryoch’s return and she was so excited!

           

            Ryoch woke to a warm hand on his brow.  He smiled as he opened his eyes and laid them on her.  “Glenna.”  Love and dragon musk filled the air.  It’s sunset, he thought.  She was so beautiful… as a dragon and a human.  His heart swelled.

            There was a noise at the entryway and Saber came in.  He didn’t see her at first but it showed on his face when it registered and he took it in.  Happiness changed to outrage and disbelief as he looked from his son to the human and back again.  The mating scent still thick in the air.  “No!”  This would not happen!  Saber stalked towards Ryoch.

             “Are you insane?  Bringing a human here?  Today of all days?” 

            That’s all that was said as Ryoch jumped up snarling, rage and protectiveness masking his features.  Father and son faced off and bodies hit the rock walls of the chamber with loud thuds.  Roars, snaps, and crunches echoed all around.  First blood was drawn and neither knew from whom it came or cared.  Claws slashed and tails whipped;  a blur of colors spun off the firelight.  Suddenly both were hanging mid-air by their tails and the whole clan, brought by the noise, stood laughing.  Cherna smiled and lowered Saber first sealing it with a kiss.  Then Ryoch, angry and embarrassed.  The human was long gone.      

            “What's going on?”  Cherna asked but Ryoch barely registered her as he turned his back, searching the room for Glenna.  Saber pushed through the gathered dragons and made his way to his and Cherna's room, silent.  Saber paced in his rooms, trying to fit his thoughts around it.  A human…in his lair…on the night Ryoch comes home.  His mother should be here soon and he has a human running around the lair.  She had to be found and dealt with.  They‘re in love.....the truth hit him in the gut. 

            Breaking the Ancient Laws is still punished.  Death to the human and banishment for the dragon.  He could save Ryoch but the human must still die.  They’re in love, it’s so unfair...Saber knew how powerful that emotion was.  Ryoch entered the room and fell to his knees in front of his father. 

            “Please!  Let us explain!”  He cried.

             “There is no explanation!”  Saber roared. 

            “Please…there’s an egg involved…she........”, he stopped not sure how to go on.  “Please Father, let me explain.” 

            Ryoch had never, not in one hundred years, called him ‘Father’.  Saber stopped pacing and looked at Ryoch on his knees.

            “Please, don’t kill Glenna.”  Ryoch whispered.

            “No one is killing Glenna!”  A voice came from the entryway.  Queen Dana stood there with a scowl on her face.  “It’s past time he was told child.”  She shifted and the human hiding behind her stepped forward.

            Saber plopped down stunned.  His mother?  Protecting a human?  Glenna?  Did they call her Glenna?  He was confused and angry and didn’t know which one he was supposed to be.

            “Mother?”  Saber looked to her for understanding.   

            The human moved to Ryoch and urged him to his feet.  She laid a hand on Ryoch’s arm comforting him.  Saber could not find the energy to complain.

            “Yes Saber, this is Glenna.”  Queen Dana motioned to the human. 

            “Glenna?  What’s going on?  Who did this?”  Saber asked in a whisper.  “Glenna?”

            The human and his mother exchanged looks then the human stepped forward and opened her hand.  Green scales glistened across her palm sparkling in the fading light.  She smiled at Saber and that’s when Saber saw her, in her eyes, Glenna.  Saber had dangled Glenna on his knee as a hatchling, dreaming she were his daughter so that he could provide for the Crown.  Her sweet petite form had always brought out the deepest protectiveness in him. That this human before him was that same little female was almost more than he could grasp.

            “By the Gods!”  Saber swore as the scales sparkled.

            “It’s really me, Saber.”  Glenna spoke for the first time.  “I am still me, just......different”. 

            Glenna stood tall for a human female, yet still very petite by dragon standards.  The green scales seemed to sparkle along her scalp and down her spine as well, camouflaged by her thick multi-shaded brown hair.  She had olive toned skin and a figure that was voluptuous with ripe curves and firm limbs.  The eyes that Saber recognized were her same emerald green with slashed draconian pupils.

            “But you’re human.  You can’t be human!  You’re supposed to mate with Ryoch and have lots of hatchlings and how are you gonna do that?  As a human?”  He trailed off.

            Glenna smiled showing miniature fangs and sat down with Saber.  The Queen motioned to Ryoch to ease back and let them talk it out.  If anyone could get through to Saber, it was his beloved little Glenna.

            “Come Ryoch, let’s put that egg where it belongs.”  The Queen commanded.

            Just outside the entryway, Cherna sat guarding the door.  She smiled at Ryoch, and took him into her embrace before he knew what hit him.  Ryoch huffed out his air and gasped for more.  Cherna sat him back and nodded her head.  Ryoch finally noticed who had interrupted the battle between him and his father and he knew without being told that this was his new step-mother.  Ryoch stepped four paces back and looked up…and up to the beautiful face of the largest dragon he had ever seen.  Ryoch shook his head in wonder at the sheer massive amount of muscle she racked…everywhere!  Then with a deep respectful bow he lifted her hand and kissed her claws.  She would keep his human safe; no one was getting by Cherna.  Without even an explanation, she gained Ryoch's trust and love in that moment and would have it all of his life.

            Ryoch and Glenna’s egg was laid right after he left for the northern dragon war.  Ryoch received the news and anxiously watched the time slip by.  When he was finished with his treaty duties, he received orders to return back home and within the safe time frame to fertilize it, Ryoch almost leaped with relief and happiness.  If everything went okay with this hatchling maybe he could finally talk Glenna into a real mating ceremony. Before, there had been no private living space for them at the castle and Glenna had to have privacy.  His new space here at the lair was enormous compared to what he had before.  Plenty of room for a young family and private enough for Glenna.  Check!

            There was the egg, on the pelts, safely tucked into a recession in the wall, in Ryoch’s sleeping quarters.  A beautiful soft pink egg.  It wasn’t a large egg, but still perfect.  Dana gave Ryoch privacy as he saw it for the first time.

            “It is beautiful”, Ryoch said.

            Together they brought the egg to the nursery where Darna waited.  She showed him to the safely enclosed pallet lined with thick fur, to keep the soft shelled egg protected, that was set up for it.  Darna was almost as happy as Ryoch with the first hatchling to be born at the lair.  Soon she was quietly humming to the pretty thing, all alone and think Saber really needed a rocking seat made up for in here.  Darna had found her bliss!

            Later that night, Saber entered the nursery to see the egg for himself.  He was still unsure but willing to wait and see.  Would the hatchling have scales or skin?  All kinds of strange questions roamed in his head. But he was a thinker and he would work them out.  For now, Glenna had returned to Ryoch’s room and everyone would talk tomorrow.

            Within a matter of weeks, no one at the lair can remember a time when Glenna wasn’t a part of their lives. Ragnor is almost gleeful watching all the new life around him.  Some days it seems he is slipping into dementia and other days he is bright and alert, either way he seems to have developed a crush on Glenna.  She can do no wrong in his eyes. Darna is far too happy to have an egg to fuss over to be concerned about Forest Dragon magic.  Torch is familiar with the tales of Forest Dragons and treats Glenna with the utmost respect and awe.  The greatest thing of all was the fast and ferocious friendship between Cherna and Glenna.  After being outsiders their whole lives they had clicked and were thick as thieves.  Ryoch and Saber had come to forgive each other and their relationship too soon deepened.