Duty, Honor, Love

He needed a flashlight to search this cave properly. He inched along the wall, his head a bit fuzzy. How did I get here?

He checked his belt, and the flashlight appeared there. Flicking it on, the beam revealed nothing spectacular, rocks and the scurry of a mouse at the edge of the light. He hoped it was a just a mouse.

He ventured farther, feeling compelled to keep going. The farther he got into the cave, the warmer he became. Not colder as he expected. A few drops of water dripped from the stalactites. Well, that was something. Bears didn’t sleep in caves with running or dripping water, he was sure of it.

He rounded the tunnel into an open cavern, and bears were the least of his worries. Cameron blinked, and then blinked again, and he clued in that he must be dreaming—he hoped he was dreaming.

Lying in one corner of the cave were dragons. Two, actually. A large green one with a yellow underbelly and dark green spines, and a tiny black one. Every time the green one breathed out, fire flared a good five feet from his nostrils, just brushing over the other much smaller dragon tucked under his wing. The smaller one had wicked silver spikes running down her backside. They both appeared to be asleep.

Cam backed out of the cave. The last thing he wanted to do was awaken two very mean dragons.

He had almost inched out of the area when a low rumble of a voice reverberated off the walls. “How dare you enter my cave.”

Turning around, Cam shook as he watched the larger of the two dragons getting to his feet, careful not to disturb the tiny black one. Somehow he knew the larger green dragon protected the smallest of the pair. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to.”

The green one turned and breathed fire on the smaller dragon. He seemed to be warming her, and then he stalked toward Cam. “Who are you? How did you get in here?”

For whatever reason, a talking dragon didn’t seem unusual to him. “I don’t know. I just came here. I’m sorry.” His eyes darted to the exit, mentally calculating if he could make it there without getting roasted.

“How did you get here? No one can come here.” The dragon roared and stomped his feet, fire flying from his nostrils, hitting the wall of the cave next to him.

“I don’t know. I just appeared here.” His repeated explanation seemed to upset the dragon further.

“You cannot just appear here. It does not work like that. You can only come here if I bring you here.” The dragon came a foot from him, sniffing him from head to toe.

He shook with fear. One wrong move and he would be toast. “I’ll go. I promise I won’t cause any trouble,” he offered.

The dragon laughed. “Don’t be silly. Now that you’re here you might as well be my midnight snack. I was feeling a bit hungry.”

“You can’t eat him, Paul.” Jaden’s panicked voice filled the cave.

The green dragon turned to look at the black dragon hurrying toward them. She stood on her hind legs, and Cameron could see she wasn’t all black. A green starburst the exact color of Jaden’s eyes splashed across the dragon’s chest.

“You should be resting,” Paul admonished.

It made perfect sense to him the black dragon with the green star was Jaden.

“I was cold,” she explained.

“Go lie down. I’ll be there once I take care of our guest.” He tried to give her a small push with his tail, and she reacted by raising her spikes.

“I told you, you can’t eat him!” Her deadly spikes swished to and fro with menace.

The green dragon sat on his haunches. “I wasn’t going to eat him. I was going to show him to the door.” He gestured toward the opening to the cave with his shorter forelegs, doing his best to appear innocent.

 

Cam watched in amazement as Jaden, the dragon, grew in size until she towered over the green one. “Do not lie to me, Paul! You were going to eat him.” Smoke curled from her nostrils.

“Now hang on a moment. He’s an unwanted visitor here. We cannot have people like him here, luv. They’re dangerous.” Paul, the green dragon, stared at Jaden.

“He’s not dangerous. I brought him here.” She shuffled closer to him, spreading out her wings to shield him.

“How could you bring him here?” Fire shot from the green dragon’s nostrils. He flinched and leaned in close to Jaden, convinced they were both going to be barbequed.

She fluttered out her wing, protecting him from the fire. “I didn’t mean to bring Cameron here, Paul. It was an accident.”

“Cameron. He’s Cameron?” He reached out with his broad green wing and lifted Jaden’s black one. “So, you’re Cameron.”

“Yes.” He hid behind the black dragon’s large hind leg, protecting himself from Paul.

The green dragon leaned in a few inches, regarding him with large yellow eyes. “Well then, why didn’t you say so?”

Jaden ruffled her wings, and slowly she decreased her size to normal. She nuzzled Cam with her snout. “I’m glad you stayed.”

“Dragons?” This all seemed a bit much. He felt calm, but the logical part of his brain screamed something wasn’t right, this wasn’t real.

Jaden smiled, or at least he thought it was a smile—her teeth were large and pointy. “It’s my natural dream guide. Come.” She folded her wing out and picked him up, tucking him into her side. She moved to where Paul had settled, waiting for her.

Paul sniffed Jaden. “I suppose you want him to sleep with us.”

“He’ll be cold.”

He huffed, smoke curling out of his nostrils. “Fine, we’ll sleep in a proper bed, then.”