We
traveled through a narrow, stone tunnel located in what looked like a
dungeon area and came to an antechamber with a door at one end.
“Wait here.” Aggie said. She knocked and poked her head into the adjacent chamber. She turned and waved me inside.
We
entered an oval shaped chamber that looked a bit like a court room.
(Was I on trial for something?) Raised benches along the walls held a
group of yawning older men, most of whom were wearing nightclothes and
bathrobes.
On
the floor in front of the walls separating the benches from the floor I
stood on were two steps. On the steps, there stood a semicircle of
dragons and humans. The center of the semicircle was the golden dragon
that had kidnapped me. Two paces to its right was a beautiful aqua
colored dragon with strange fin-like projections on the sides of its
head. Standing in front of the aqua dragon was the young woman I had
seen earlier. To their right, lay curled a long, ruby red dragon that
might have been Chinese; in front of it, stood a boyish-looking woman
with blazing red hair. To the left of the golden dragon stood a smallish
green dragon looked somewhat friendly. Aggie left my side to stand in
front of it. Beside the green dragon, was a black dragon with red ram’s
horns. In front of the black dragon stood a young woman with white-blond
hair. The woman wore a tight, black jacket, knee high boots and a scowl
on her face. She did not look like someone I wanted to cross.
The golden dragon came forward a little. It leaned its head down to my level.
“Greetings.” It rumbled.
“Hi.” I said hesitantly.
“I am called Hornagal. What is your name?” the dragon said.
“Kelise Kennedy.”
“Ah, that is your name! How old are you, Kelise?”
“Fifteen.” I answered.
“Hornagal, she has questions.” Aggie said.
“Ah, well, let us here them.” Hornagal said.
“Um, well, where am I?” I asked.
“Didn’t Aggie tell you? You are in the Dragon Kingdom.”
“I know, but where is the Dragon Kingdom?”
“That is harder to explain. The Dragon Kingdom is above your world, in the literal sense.”
I laughed out loud. “A magical kingdom in the sky, oh, get real!”
“I’m quite serious.”
“I
can tell. I’m sorry; I’m just really confused right now.” I said. “So,
if this ‘Dragon Kingdom’ is above our world; how come we down on earth
can’t see it?”
“This
is still earth, Kelise. The reason it can’t be seen is because it is
concealed with magic. It can only be seen through portals scattered
throughout your world.”
“And how would one find one of these portals?”
“A human probably wouldn’t; dragons are the only creatures that can see these portals.”
“If the Dragon Kingdom is in the sky, why haven’t rocket ships crashed into the bottom of it or something?”
“The Dragon Kingdom can only be touched and seen from within.”
“That makes absolutely not sense.”
“To you, it would only seem to exist if you’re here.”
“Okay,
fine, I’ll try to accept that.” I said. “But, why am I here? Aggie told
me that you guys wanted to talk to me, but about what?”
“I’d like to see if you can guess why you’re here.” Hornagal said.
“I don’t even know who you guys are!” I said.
“Let me rephrase that, can you guess who or what we are?”
The
Aqua dragon next to Hornagal muttered to him in a woman’s voice.
“You’re really going to ask her that? Not one of them has gotten it
right yet.”
I
looked around at the assembly. The dragons were of all different colors
and breeds, and the humans standing in front of them wore the same
color that dominated the dragon standing behind them.
“I think… I might know the answer to this question. I’m a bit of a fantasy geek, and I’ve read no shortage of books on dragons.”
“Great, a reader. Why couldn’t you have picked a warrior, or at least someone of use?” The nasty-looking woman sneered.
The green dragon looked sharply at Silver and said in the voice of a young woman: “Silence, the girl is talking!”
Satisfied that there wouldn’t be another outburst, Hornagal motioned for me to continue.
“If I had to take a stab at it, I’d say that, judging from the way
you’re arranged and the people are dressed, you might be a group of
dragons and dragon riders.”
Everyone else in the room looked absolutely shocked; Hornagal beamed.