Nine Lives

Chapter Seven

     Yuki kept dragging me forward as I ignored her advice and kept staring at the dragon. It was massive, its scales a gleaming ruby red. The belly seemed to be a sky blue, probably for camouflage when flying.

     It let out a kind of chirp as Yuki smiled up at it, "I call him Dragon Dean."

     The dragon rolls his eyes and grumbles something. I tilt my head in response and out of curiosity, "I think he said his name is Vendevorex."

     Yuki shakes her head, "No, it's Dragon Dean! Besides, how would you know? Do you speak dragon?"

     I look at her, "I don't know. DO I speak dragon?"

     She opens her mouth to reply, then stops as she thinks about it before saying, "Shut up." She crosses her arms and looks away, "Yes you do."

     I smile and shake my head, "So how do we get on?"

      "Oh that's easy," Yuki heads over to one of his wings and climbs up to a saddle strapped to him. I go over and take a look at the harness, then nod and climb up.

     "Ready to go?" After I nod, Yuki pats Dean's neck, "Alright Dragon Dean, let's go."

     Dean shakes his head as he stands, then leaps up into the air. The sky was clear as we gained altitude, there wasn't a cloud to be seen, which a good sign. It wasn't going to rain while we flew.

     I looked up at Yuki, "So how do you think that portal was formed?"

     She turned her ears back and yelled, "What was that? Speak up, it's hard to hear."

     I smacked my forehead and nodded, then raised my voice and asked again.

     Yuki shruged, "Not sure. Portals have to be opened from this realm."

     "So it's possible that one of your men opened it?"

     "Maybe," she turned her ears back forward, "I just hope it's not going to be a recurring issue."