"We're home!" Kate announced, Edith was more than thrilled. "Unusual."
Who's this? Ohh, yes! A dragon! Finally, a friend!
"Maybe we should have left Arrow outside." Kate muttered.
"Yea, really." River replied as Edith knocked over Natalia.
"EIDTH! what have I told you about knocking guests over?!" Kate glared at Edith.
Sorry. I didn't mean to hurt her. Is she ok? Arrow translated for Natalia.
"I'm fine, just please don't do it agin, ok?"
Ok. Edith nodded and turned to Kate. Who is she anyways?
"Edith, this is Natalia. Natalia, this is Edith, my dragon."
Nutella? Nutella's good. Ohh! Does this mean she's food? After a glare from Kate, she added, I will not eat a person!
"No, Natalia. Na-tall-ie-a" Kate sounded out. "Natalia. Not food, Friend."
Oh, ok. Who's the dragon? Arrow stepped forward, and made some gestures, clearly while talking in dragon.
Hi, Arrow. I'm Edith! Edith narrowed her eyes suspiciously before tagging Arrow with her claw. Tag! Your it! Edith darted off, and Arrow dashed after Edith. Kate laughed "At least they get get along."
Kate pulled out an extra cot. "Here you go, Natalia. Unfortunately we don't have an extra rug for the dragon, so either Arrow and Edit share, or one of us sleeps with our dragon."
"I'll get dinner." River walked over to an open chest and dug through it till the found a macaroni and cheese box. "How does Mac and cheese sound?"
"ADD SOME MEET! I killed a turkey." Megan walked in with her bow on her back, quiver tied around her waist, and a Turkey dripping blood in her hand. "Let's just go to the fire. I think this will work wonders to make a... interesting meal. You guys combing? This turkey will provide entrees for all of us. It's Wednesday, after all." The campfire Meg was talking about happens every Wednesday. All who participate bring a serving of something per person, some leftovers, and eating utensils. Everyone eats a bit of... a lot. "Ok. I'm in." Kate stood up. River looked at Natalia. "You wanna come?" Natalia nodded. "Ok. let's go!" River grabbed Natalia's hand and led her to the door. The dragons looked up from where they were play-fighting. Kate sighed. "You two as well, Edith and Arrow." The two dragons happily followed the humans to the fire.
The fire was a huge stone dome carved into the rock. Small slits let smoke go out the roof. Meg walked up to a stone table. "4 people, 1 adult dragon, 1 Juvenile dragon." She set the turkey on the table and walked back to them. "This week was Mac and cheese, and things that go with it. I figured turkey might work." She explained. Kate looked around. "Ok, divide and conquer. We need to hold a meeting after campfire with the Elite Fighters given the... new information. Split." The Meg walked away, and rivers did to. Campfire was a lot of Mac and cheese with some turkey, ham, hotdogs, and ground beef. One person even brought Tomatoes! Campfire meals sure were interesting. After the meal, the Elite Fighters met up at the registration area.
The members of the Elite Fighters were specially selected for their role. Iona was a great fighter, Malik was the head of an elite fighter squad, Melinda was a strategist, and Carol was the critic. They made a good team when combined. "Ok," Kate started. "We recently got some information from an escaped prisoner of the pillar of fire. They have about 12 prisoners, and 23 members, all marked fighters. They use prisoners as shields, so if we attack, we'll need to get the innocents out first." Iona asked, "do we even know what their camp looks like?"
"I do." The Elite Fighters jumped; the rest of them hadn't realized that Natalia was there. Natalia set down a piece of paper she was holding. "I drew a map." Iona got to work recreating the map well everyone else crowded around the map that Natalia placed on the floor. "Ok, so the main tent is here." Melinda started to strategize. "If the campfire is here, then we should be able to slip in up... there." Melinda pointed to a spot that the pillar of fire couldn't see from the fire. "Form there, we take the prisoners from that side of the tent away, and then come back for the rest." Melinda paused, looking at Carol. "No errors yet? Sweet! Once the prisoners are out of the way, we send our main crew to attack, and we win!" Carol rolled her eyes.
"You realize that the prisoners will make noise, and how do we hide our army? This is not going to work. Besides, who's to say they're all at the campfire? That's the dumbest strategy imaginable."
"Unless Neil uses his mist, and we keep the prisoners quiet." Natalia spoke up.
"They are hungry, they don't talk much. I think some have forgotten how to talk." Carol chimed in,
"Ok, but Neil isn't healthy enough to travel. So, how can we use his dragon, unless we have an unmarked rider ride it? Such a thing doesn't exist. No one knows how to ride a dragon unless they themselves have a dragon, and we can't split a pair."
"Hear me out," Melinda begged, "River can talk to and understand any dragon, so all he has to do is ask." Kate looked at River. Could she really let a seven-year-old do this? Her sibling?!?! He nodded. Sighing, Kate capitulated,
"It's a plan. Let's go set Damian free."
"Wait! What about the guard rotations?" Carol asked as everyone else left.
YOU ARE READING
Dragon Marked
FantasyNEW PARTS FRIDAYS AT 5:00 EDT 13-year-old Kate Sword stone was once a random girl... until her village burnt down, and she became adopted by royalty. After a mysterious burn mark, she finds herself bonded with a baby dragon- a creature her kingdom i...
