The Dragon Healer of Tone (World of Tone) (13 page)

Terra thought with a wry grin on his face.

“You’ll see!”

As they flew over the edge of the crevices’ cliff, Terra saw the path.

It went from the cave to the lake and was covered by sand.

“When did you do this?” Terra thought.

“When I was away.”

“How did you keep this a secret?”

“I did it at sunset when you were asleep. I wanted to surprise you.”

Fienna and Terra landed at the mouth of the cave, and the path made it easy to see the beautiful lake from the cave’s entrance. It was wide enough for Fienna to hop to the lake.

“Why did you do this?”

“Soon it will be time for us to move out of my mother’s cave and find our own place. I thought this would be perfect. You can do things for yourself here, and we will have plenty of room for the two of us.”

Terra hugged the great neck of his companion with love. He now knew he would never lose her. He thought for a brief time after they had seen the mating flight that Fienna would not need him, and she would send him to his people.

“Terra, why did you think that?” Fienna said in a concerned voice with a little anger.

“You keep taking me to see the humans. I thought you might be making me ready to go back to them, and I don’t want to ever leave you.”

“Terra, I could not live without you! It was hard for me to take you there. I thought you would want to leave me and go to your people.

Lowlack had to convince me you should see them.”

“I would never leave you. I have no interest in humans; I love you alone in this world.”

Terra hugged Fienna’s neck tighter and tears came to his eyes, tears of joy. Fienna could not tear, but she curled her great tail up and around until it wrapped around Terra. They were life companions now, and no one could ever separate them.

Terra finally dismounted and looked over the path.

“How’d you get the sand here?”

“Setilan helped me. She found a big basket, and I scooped up the sand from the beach and flew it here. I dumped basket after basket until I filled in the path.

“Let’s look around the cave. I like to see were we could sleep,” Terra said in a jovial voice.

The two walked into the great mouth of the cave. It’s interior seemed like an enchanted place with the light reflecting from great crystal finger that hung from the roof. Terra walked down to the stream running through the cave. It was cold and clear as the crystals that hung form the caves ceiling, and it tasted sweet and clean. Fienna was looking for the best place to sleep. She found a large flat terrace several levels above the stream and slightly above this terrace was a small shelf that would be perfect for Terra. Terra seeing it through Fienna’s eyes agreed that it would be a good place for them to sleep.

The stream led back into the cave and turned a corner.

“Let’s follow the stream and see where it goes Fienna.”

“Let me get to you before you start.”

Fienna hopped down to the edge of the stream where Terra was, and they started walking. The cave turned a corner and in front of the pair was a smaller opening, but it was large enough for Fienna or any dragon to fit through. A strange greenish glow came from the opening. They approached slowly not knowing what the glow was. As they came to the opening, Terra mounted Fienna, and she entered. There they saw the most wonderful sight. A small lake was formed at the bottom of a tall waterfall. The water was coming through a small opening in the top of the cave. The rocks in the cave glowed green. Both the crystal fingers that hung from the ceiling reflected the light, as well as the crystalline covered walls near the waterfall. The water tumbled out of the corner of the caves’ ceiling into a large round pool. The stream that wound through the cave came from the front of the pool. They walked up to the edge of the pool. Through the clear water, they could see that the pool was not very deep. It appeared to be capable of holding Fienna as well as Terra.

“Let’s go in and see what’s like Terra.”

“All right. Let me take these things off.”

Terra dismounted Fienna and removed his clothes, and they both jumped into the water. It was cold, but they didn’t seem to feel it as they played in the sweet water. As they went up on the bank of the small pool, they could see that the cave ended in this chamber. Terra put his things back on, and they walked back to the entrance of the cave. This would indeed make a perfect home for the two of them.

Chapter 31 - Knowledge

(A Young Mind is a Thirsty Thing.)

348 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

Fienna and Terra were at the cove sunning themselves when Setilan came walking out of the water. She sat down next to Terra and leaned up against Fienna with a look of disgust on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Terra said.

“Oh, it is that teacher of mine. She’s always telling me I have to learn how to read and write and the history of our people. She’s so annoying.”

“What’s reading, writing and history?”

“You don’t know how to read or write. Humans invented it!” she said in a surprised tone.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“Well, there are these little scratches that we put on stone, and they mean things. That is called writing. Reading is when you can tell what the scratches mean.”

“What’s history?”

“Oh, over time a lot of nymphs have put the scratches on stones, and they tell what happened when they were writing. Then you can read the scratches, and you know what happened long before you were here.”

“I didn’t know that was possible.” Terra said with a perplexed look on his face.

“Would you like to learn? I’ll ask my father to tell my teacher to help you.”

“I would but don’t go to any trouble.”

Fienna said in a questioning tone, “Why do you want to learn these things?”

“I don’t know. You are always learning things from your mother and Lowlack. I though that perhaps it would help me.”

“Well, if you want to, that’s fine as long as I don’t have to do it. I have enough things to know.”

No, you don’t have to do anything,” Terra said with a chuckle and an amused expression.

“I’ll talk to my father, and I’ll meet you here tomorrow at the same time.”

“We’ll be here.”

With that the three of them settled down for a good sunning.

Setilan approached her father that sunset and explained what Terra had asked. He thought it was an excellent idea. He called the teacher Seana to his chamber after Setilan had left.

“Seana, I want you to go with Setilan tomorrow and start to teach a human.”

“A human!”

“Yes, it is the human that healed Setilan.”

“I had heard of the incident from Setilan, but why teach it.”

“This human is special, and one sun-rising he might again help us.

Plus I owe him my daughter’s life, and teaching seems a small price for a debt so large. I think my daughter might do better with her learning if she had someone to learn with and help.”

“As you say your majesty.”

The next sun-rising Setilan took Seana to meet Terra at the cove. As they approached the shore of the cove, Setilan transformed her back fins into legs and Seana followed suit. They stood up and started to walk out of the water. Seana saw only the great dragon. As she started to leave the water, she immediately turned and fled pulling Setilan with her. Setilan struggled to be released from her grip as she pulled her behind a large underwater boulder just off shore.

“What is wrong with you?” Setilan said in an angry voice.

“That dragon probably killed your friend and would have killed us both!” Seana said with a look of horror on her face.

“Don’t be silly. That dragon and Terra are inseparable. She protects him and won’t leave him out of her sight.”

“A human protected by a dragon?”

“Yes, she won’t hurt you unless you try to hurt Terra.”

“Come on. I’ll introduce you to her.”

“Wait! How does this human know our language? No human has ever understood it.”

“He does.”

“How?”

“I don’t know he just does. Come on,” Setilan said as she was pulling on her arm.

“How does he talk to the dragon? Their language is impossible to understand.”

“Are you coming, or do I have to tell my father?” she said in an angry voice.

“All right. I’ll come, but we approach them slowly, and I lead.”

This time Seana left the water in front of the princess. The dragon appeared to be sleeping, and there was a rather large human boy sitting in the sand leaning up against the dragon’s side. Seana could hardly believe what she was seeing. As they approached, the boy stood up and walked to them.

“Ah Setilan, I didn’t think you were coming. Who’s this?”

“This is my teacher Seana. My father said she would teach you as well as me.”

“Can we sit on the rocks by the sea, over there for our lessons?”

Seana said eyeing the great sleeping beast.

“If that’s where you prefer. Don’t worry about her; she won’t hurt you,” Terra seeing Seana’s fearful looks at the dragon.

The three of them walked to the rocks and sat down.

“Now, I would like a little information about you before we start.”

“All right. What?”

“Where did you learn to speak our language?”

“I didn’t.”

“Well, you’re speaking to me. So you know how.”

“I simply touched Setilan, and I understood what she was saying.”

“With a simple touch, you understood our language?”

“Yes,” Terra said looking as if what she said was a strange thing to ask.

“Isn’t that how you do it.”

“No, we can’t simply touch someone and learn a language. Is that how you learned the dragon’s language?”

“I suppose. It was such a long time ago. I don’t really remember.”

“I see. What is the amulet around your neck?”

“I don’t know. I’ve always had it. It is the only thing that’s always been with me.”

“Can I touch it?”

As Seana reach to touch the amulet, it started to glow red, so she withdrew, and its glow disappeared.

“It’s never done that before,” Terra said seemingly unconcerned.

“Perhaps we should start the first lesson. I’m going to teach you to read,” Seana said with a questioning look on her face.

Over the next week, Seana concentrated on teaching Terra to read.

He learned so rapidly that Seana was amazed by his mind’s quickness.

After only six lessons, he was able to read and write their script fluently. So Seana felt it was time to start history lessons, but first she wanted to discuss some things with the king. She arranged a time to talk to him when they could be private. This was not unusual since she would often discuss the princess’ progress with him in private.

“What do you wish to talk to me about? It is not time for my daughter’s evaluation.”

“I’s about Terra, sir.”

“Oh what about him?”

“He is a strange being. I found out he learns languages by simply touching.”

“What do you mean?”

“It appears that he can absorb the language with a simple touch. He then fully understands and can speak the language from that time on.”

“That’s amazing!”

“Yes, it is, but what is even stranger is that he learned to read and write our language in six lessons. It normally takes over one hundred.”

How powerful is his mind?” The king asked.

“I don’t know. I can’t feed him enough information fast enough to slow him down let alone reach his learning capacity.”

“Well, keep on teaching him; I want him to see us as friends.”

“I will sir, but you should know something. I have been studying our ancient scripts. They talk of a Draman and a Wogan. These beings are unique and powerful. They learn fast and will one sun-rising be great.”

“What does this have to do with Terra?”

“Terra and the dragon Fienna, the two are so intertwined that they are in fact inseparable. No dragon has ever bonded with a human, and no human has ever even survived an encounter with a dragon let alone become that dragon’s companion.”

“You’re right, but what are these Draman and Wogan?”

“The scripts don’t say; they just refer to them and the fact that they are bound together.”

“This is all very nice, but what use is it?”

“I just wanted to bring it to your attention. Are you sure I should keep training this Terra?”

“What do you think, Seana?”

“I believe these two are more than just an accident. I feel you are following the right path. Terra is the gentlest being I have ever encountered. I don’t believe he could hurt us even if he wanted to,” she said.