Searching for Thanksgiving (Dragonlings of Valdier)

Chapter 21

21

C rystal’s heartfelt laughter rang through the air. Deep inside, Devon rejoiced at the beautiful sound. It had been so long since he had heard true, unadulterated laughter that he had forgotten what it sounded like. The last he remembered had been filled with cruelty.

We make mate happy.

Yes, we made Crystal happy, but she cannot be our mate. We cannot doom her to a life of pain and unhappiness the way our father doomed our mother.

We no like him. We fight him.

Not at first. We sought acceptance. It doesn’t matter. Once the royal families of Valdier, Sarafin, and the Curizan know that we exist, our life will be forfeit.

His dragon pulled away from him. He knew it disagreed with him, but Devon was a realist. The royal families would never allow him to exist. He was too much of a threat. He held knowledge that could destroy them.

That knowledge had come at a price. He could taint the powerful symbiots the way his father had. What he could not do was turn them back.

Yet…

His dragon turned his head to look at their companion. There were lines of vivid gold streaking its body. Lines left from their mate’s touch.

She heal us.

There is her home.

His dragon tilted to the left, flying lower. Crystal leaned forward, anticipating their movement by the shifting of his muscles. Gliding through an opening in the treetops, his dragon skillfully maneuvered through the thick limbs until he reached the ground. His back feet lightly touched the soft soil before he lowered his front legs. He took several steps before he came to a halt and lowered his body to the ground so that Crystal could slide off of his back.

He shifted back into his two-legged form once she stepped away. She was extending her trekking pole and looking everywhere but at him.

“I… uh… I can make it from here,” she said, finally looking at him.

“I’ll see you safely inside,” he replied.

“There isn’t—“ she paused when he gave her a sharp look. “Thanks, that would be nice. I might get lost between here and there.”

Her wry sarcasm and the amusement on her lips made him smile. The fact that the hut was clearly visible in the growing light of the moons made her statement more humorous. He tucked his hands in his pockets to keep from pulling her into his arms and kissing the smile off her lips. His nether regions appreciated his restraint. She must have seen him cautiously eyeing the staff in her hand because her next words made him chuckle.

“Sorry, not sorry about earlier. I hope I didn’t do any lasting damage,” she muttered.

She turned away and began walking toward her cottage. He caught up with her and walked beside her. He kept his hands in his pockets—for good measure—in case the temptation to kiss her and chance another blow struck him.

“Thank you,” he said, breaking the silence.

She gave him a startled look. “For what?”

“For sharing what happened with me.”

“Oh. Well… thanks for listening—not that I gave you much of a choice,” she mumbled.

He pulled his hand out of his pocket and lightly touched her arm. She stopped and looked up at him. He could see the confusion and uncertainty in her eyes in the faint light. He tenderly stroked her cheek with his knuckles, needing the simple, brief contact.

“You can tell me anything. I will hold whatever you tell as the precious gift that it is.”

She gave him a crooked smile. “You can be quite the charmer for someone living in a cave.”

His chuckle was cut short when a flash of warning swept through him. His symbiot sensed they were not alone. He instinctively pulled Crystal closer to him, stepping in front of her to shield her.

“What—?”

“There is someone here,” he cautioned.

She looked around. Her brow furrowed when she noticed the thin line of smoke coming from the chimney and a light glowing through the window.

“It might be Christoff,” she said.

He sniffed the air and shook his head.

“No, there are multiple scents and they are different from the one on your cloak.” He turned to his symbiot. “Eliminate them.”

“No! You can’t just eliminate someone without knowing who it is,” she hissed.

“I smell dragon and cat.”

“I don’t care if you smelled a Heffalump! You don’t kill things first then ask for forgiveness,” she retorted.

The muscle in his jaw ticked as he fought against his need to protect her, his desire to please her, and the darkness inside him. He curled his fingers into her long coat.

See who is inside. Do not harm them, he reluctantly ordered.

His symbiot shimmered and almost disappeared as it blended in with the darkness.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“My symbiot will assess the danger. I have instructed it not to harm those inside. I should take you to Christoff and your grandmother.”

“No, you shouldn’t,” she muttered.

There was a catch in her voice that struck him as odd.

“Why do you not want to go there?”

She pursed her lips before responding. “My parents are there. I’m… I’m not ready to face them yet.”

“Why?”

She glared up at him. “I really don’t think now is the time to discuss this. Let’s find out who is in my house first.”

“Then you will tell me?”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. His lips twitched even as he focused on what his symbiot was seeing as it slipped inside. The interior was warm and cozy. His symbiot padded on silent feet, exploring the kitchen. It rose onto its hindquarters and sniffed the counter before lowering itself back to the floor. His symbiot was passing the table when it was suddenly attacked from multiple directions.

“Stay here,” he ordered with a low snarl.

He released her and sprinted towards the hut. Bursting through the door, he skidded to a stop when he saw three small symbiots clinging to different parts of his symbiot. One was attached to its tail, one to its leg, and the other dangled from its ear. They were each in different shapes. The symbiot clinging to his symbiot’s tail was in the shape of a werecat. The other two were in the shapes of creatures he had never seen before. The one clinging to his symbiot’s ear had long front teeth and big ears that almost dragged on the ground. The one on its back was smaller, with rounded ears and a big, long fluffy tail.

“Buttercups, lets him go,” a very young, but stern voice ordered.

“Oh! I’ve never seen a symbiot that color. It’s so pretty,” another voice exclaimed.

Devon watched with confusion as three Sarafin cubs, one a blue-black panther and the other two identical tawny-colored leopards with black spots peered over the back of the couch. His confusion deepened when he saw one had its nails painted a bright pink with tiny flowers on them.

“What is… they’re kids!”

He wanted to release a snarl of admonishment to Crystal for not listening to him but the words died on his tongue when a small black and gold dragon bounded up to sniff him. The boy shifted and looked up at him before turning to stare at Crystal.

“Hey! I think we found her!” James exclaimed with excitement.

“Is it Thanksgiving?” the pink and flower nailed little girl asked.

One-by-one, the children who had been in their four-legged forms shifted. His symbiot had given up trying to get the three golden forms off itself and had laid down at the feet of the first little girl with hair the color of midnight. Devon’s eyes widened when he noticed the faint, but powerful dusting of gold surrounding her.

He lowered himself to one knee and bent his head in deference to who she was regardless of her age. Every Valdier child knew of the powerful Priestess to the symbiots. Fear of what his symbiot could do to her and the other symbiots coursed through him. The three smaller symbiots were playing more than attacking now.

“Priestess, you should not be near mine. It is… dangerous,” he said, his voice low with urgency as he tried to connect to his symbiot.

The damn thing was ignoring him. He rose when Crystal placed her hand on his shoulder. His focus was locked on his symbiot which looked as if it were being colored with gold stripes.

“No. He’s good,” the tiny Priestess announced with a regal toss of her head. “I can tells.”

“He’s so cute! Rainbow likes him,” the little girl with bright green eyes exclaimed, sitting down next to Devon’s symbiot.

“I likes him better when he was all black. Can you makes yours black, James?” the young Sarafin asked with excitement.

“I don’t knows. I’ve never seen one befores. I’ll have to experiments with Prime,” James replied.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Crystal asked.

“We came to help you,” she said.

“Help me? Do what?” Crystal asked in confusion.

“We came to helps you not be scared and lonely. Alice says you needed help. That you needs friends to help you find the magic inside you so you can protects yourself and find the one you loves,” the Priestess explained.

“The one I love—,” Crystal repeated, growing even more confused.

“I don’t likes that part of the story. I wanted you to be a zombie with blood and guts and your eyeballs hanging out, but Morah says—,” the Sarafin boy piped in.

Morah turned and glared at the boy. “We didn’t wants a Halloween story, Leo. No zombies!”

Leo made a face and sat down to stroke Devon’s symbiot.

“I likes Halloween and zombies. Your symbiot looks like it could be a zombie,” Leo said, looking up at Devon.

“I—” Devon began but the other boy interrupted him.

“He don’ts look like the demented symbiots my sisters make. They are a lot smaller and go like this.”

The boy walked around with his eyes going round and round, his tongue hanging out, while his arms and legs were moving in jerky, awkward motions. He stopped when one of the Sarafin girls pounced him.

“Hey, what’s you do that for?” he growled.

“Because that’s what we does to Amber and Jade’s minions,” the girl giggled.

“I think we should start with a simpler question. Where are your parents?” Crystal asked.

The group immediately grew quiet. They exchanged guilty glances with each other before looking at Morah. It was obvious she was the impromptu leader of the group.

“We’s on a quest,” she stated.

“You’re on a quest… to save me?” Crystal repeated.

“We’s searching for Thanksgiving. The map says Thanksgiving lives here,” the girl with the pretty nails explained.

“What’s your names?” Crystal asked.

“I’m Leo. I’m a Sarafin prince and a mighty warrior!”

“I’m James. I guess I’m a prince, but I would rather make things like my mommy does. My daddy makes things too, but my mommy’s stuff is more funs.”

“I’m Sacha and this is my twin sister, Pearl,” the girl with the pretty nails said with a smile and a curtsy. “We are Sarafin princesses. Our daddy is the King of the Sarafin.”

“I’m Hope. I’m not a princess, but my daddies are the Twin Dragons. They are the most powerful dragon warriors ever,” the petite girl with vivid green eyes added.

“I am Morah Reykill-Groves. I’m a Priestess to the Hive in trainings and a princess! I gets to talks to the Goddesses and my daddy is the bestest daddy in the whole universe,” Morah said.

Crystal’s lips twitched. “I’m Crystal Anderson,” she introduced before turning to Devon. “This is Devon.”

Devon stared at the group with a mixture of horror and panic. He had stepped into his worst nightmare. He was surrounded by his royal kin!