The Fiery Crown Cycle: A Dragon's Rebirth

Chapter 5

“What was that for?” Bianca snapped, annoyed at the interruption.

Aiden ignored her irritation. Ill-temper was the nature of their kind. “We're not digging,” he stated flatly. “We're listening to Azure. We'll use smoke.”

Bianca eyed him skeptically. “Are you sure that will work?”

“It has a better chance than this,” Aiden replied, gesturing with his snout at their half-dug hole.

“Fine,” Bianca relented. She abandoned her digging and began gathering the nearby dead brush.

The three wyrmlings set to work. The soil here was thin and stony, the withered shrubs pulling free with almost no effort. They had no roots; they hadn't been alive for a long time. A sobering thought chilled Aiden. In a land this brutal, life was scarce.

Shaking off the grim thought, he joined the others, piling the shrubs high at the cave entrance.

“Is this really going to work?” Bianca asked again, still doubtful.

“It will,” Aiden said. “But I'll need your help.”

“As long as I get to eat, I'll do whatever you say.”

Aiden nodded and turned back to the hole. He began to work the earth again with his claws, not digging deeper, but shaping the entrance into a downward-sloping funnel—a natural chimney to draw the smoke inward.

Seeing him digging again, Bianca tilted her head. “I thought we weren't digging? Do you need help?”

“No, just some prep work. Wait.”

As Aiden sculpted the entrance, Azure watched and began to understand. He's so different from other reds, she thought. A normal red wyrmling, especially one in charge, would have simply ordered them to dig until they dropped.

In less than two minutes, Aiden had finished. He arranged the brush in the new fire pit, opened his jaws, and exhaled a small flicker of flame. The tinder-dry brush ignited instantly, burning hot and bright but producing little smoke.

Aiden turned to Bianca. “Breathe on the fire,” he instructed. “But be careful. Dampen it, don't extinguish it. Can you do that?”

“No problem,” Bianca declared. She stepped forward and opened her jaws.

A torrent of white frost blasted from her mouth. The moment the cold touched the fire, the flames were extinguished instantly. Not even a wisp of smoke remained.

Bianca froze, her eyes wide with shock. Aiden and Azure stared in stunned silence.

“Sorry,” Bianca squeaked, her eyes darting nervously toward Aiden. Is he going to hit me?

“It's fine,” Aiden said, his voice even. Accidents happened. “Try again, but with less power.” He grabbed another bundle of brush and added it to the pile.

Azure watched him work, making a mental note. His temper is different, too. For a red, he

's remarkably slow to anger.Hearing she wasn't going to be punished, Bianca was overjoyed. “Okay, okay!” she chirped, nodding vigorously.

Aiden relit the pile. “Bianca. Again.”

“Right!” Poised for action, Bianca released another puff of frost. This one was visibly smaller. The jet of cold air hit the fire, smothering the tall flames and reducing them to a smoldering, hissing mass that belched thick, acrid smoke.

Aiden knew they had succeeded. “Azure, fan the smoke into the hole.”

“On it.”

Azure stepped up and began to beat her blue wings with a steady rhythm, creating a gentle breeze that guided the smoke down into the burrow.

Time passed. For a minute, nothing happened. Then, the fire began to flare up again.

Azure stopped. Aiden looked at Bianca. “Another puff.”

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Bianca obliged. They fell into a routine: Aiden added fuel, Bianca controlled the fire, and Azure fanned the smoke. It was a tedious, repetitive process.

After more than ten minutes, a new sound reached them.

Squeak!

It was faint, but unmistakable. The three wyrmlings exchanged a look, their eyes locking onto the smoking entrance. In unison, they dropped into a low, predatory crouch, muscles coiled.

SQUEAK! SQUEAK!

The sound was louder, more frantic. A moment later, a black shadow burst from the hole.

Aiden was already moving. A single, powerful paw slammed down on the fleeing shape.

THUMP!

The creature went still. Now that it was motionless, Aiden could see what it was: a rat, monstrously large, the size of a mastiff.

Squeak! Squeak!

Before he could examine his kill, he heard the same sounds again from within the burrow. His red eyes narrowed.

There are more.

Hearing the sounds, Bianca and Azure's eyes lit up. One giant rat might not have been enough to share. But if there were more… surely Aiden would share?

SQUEAK!

Another cry, and then the floodgates opened. A swarm of giant rats poured from the burrow.

The three wyrmlings, coiled and ready, did not hesitate. In unison, they opened their jaws.

A glob of fire, a crackling arc of lightning, and a blast of frigid air erupted simultaneously.

The three distinct breath weapons converged, creating a kill zone that blanketed the fleeing rodents. They poured every ounce of their nascent power into the assault.

For five, maybe six seconds, the torrent of elemental energy continued, until a sharp, stabbing pain in their throats forced them all to stop.

In the sudden silence, they surveyed their work. The ground was littered with twitching, dog-sized rats.

Some were scorched black, others were convulsing, and the rest were frozen stiff. None were dead, but their limbs spasmed uselessly. They weren't getting up.

Aiden did a quick mental tally. Nine here, plus the one he'd crushed. Ten in total.

The scent of roasting meat wafted through the air, and his stomach issued another loud protest. Alright, alright, I'm coming, he thought.

He padded over to a scorched rat and tore off a large chunk of flesh. As he chewed, his slitted pupils narrowed in pleasure.

The meat was tender and incredibly juicy. He had thought his human sensibilities might rebel. He was wrong. It was magnificent.

As Aiden ate, he felt two pairs of eyes fixed on him. Bianca and Azure were staring, their gazes locked on his blood-soaked snout, drool dripping onto the dusty ground.

Right. I forgot about them.

He dragged his first kill aside, then hooked three more with his claws, adding them to his personal pile.

“The rest are yours,” he announced, gesturing to the remaining six rats. “Three each.”

Hearing his decree, Bianca and Azure transformed into ravenous blurs, tearing into their promised meal. They felt no resentment at the division; it was the law of the clutch.

The strongest ate the most. In fact, Azure was privately stunned by his generosity. A typical chromatic leader would have been well within his rights to give them one or two at most. Three was a feast.

His own portion secured, Aiden turned back to his meal and began to eat in earnest.

…

Ten minutes later, Aiden lay sprawled on the ground, his round, full belly facing the sky. Nearby, Bianca and Azure were in the exact same state of blissful repose. He lazily licked the last of the blood from his snout. He was so full he never wanted to move again. Three of the giant rats had sated him completely.

He glanced at the one remaining rat from his share. Propping himself up, he hooked it with a claw for a closer look. He'd been too hungry before to really study it. It looked vaguely like a gerbil from Earth, just scaled up to a monstrous size, with enormous buck teeth and unnervingly long foreclaws.

Satisfied, he tossed it aside. He'd save it for a snack. Maybe he could even try a barbecue.

Aiden lay there for another few minutes as the roundness of his belly began to subside. A dragon's digestion is incredible, he mused.

He saw Bianca and Azure stirring, pushing themselves to their feet.

“Aiden, what now?” Azure asked. “Back to the cave?”

“Yeah! Let's go back and sleep,” Bianca proposed. Dragons were an inherently lazy species, a trait she embodied perfectly. Both looked to Aiden, waiting for his decision.

“We're not going back yet,” he said. “We've eaten for now. But what about our next meal?” He was already thinking ahead. “In a desolate place like this, we can't afford to be complacent.”

“But I want to sleep!” Bianca whined. She was full, therefore it was time to sleep.

Aiden turned his head to face her. “And would you like to wake up starving again? To wander this desert and pray for another stroke of luck? Do you really think you'll be so fortunate next time?” He let the questions hang in the air. “You can go back if you wish.”

Bianca fell silent. Sleep, or the gnawing agony of hunger. The memory of that ravenous ache was still fresh. She never wanted to feel that again.

She shook her head, her gaze now serious. “I don't want to starve,” she said firmly. “If you can keep me from starving, I'll do what you say.”

Aiden gave a satisfied nod. Good. The simple-minded one isn't completely stupid.

Azure, who had watched the entire exchange, was silently amused. A reasonable red dragon. How fascinating.

With Bianca convinced, Aiden turned to the other wyrmling. “And you?”

“I'm with you,” Azure said without hesitation.

“Good. Here's the plan. We split up. We fly in three different directions for half an hour. No matter how far you get, turn back then and meet here. You two can choose your directions first.”

He fell silent, waiting. Their cave was high up on the canyon wall, leaving three clear paths forward along the canyon floor: left, right, and straight ahead.

“I'll take the left,” Bianca said decisively. With a powerful beat of her wings, she launched into the sky.

“Then I will go right,” Azure stated, launching into the air as well.

Aiden remained on the ground, now alone. He looked forward, into the hazy distance where the great canyon stretched on, seemingly without end.