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Scales and Honor: Swirling Storm

Chapter 3

The next two years passed incredibly fast for Ramakox, as he would go about his usually routine of hunting, overseeing his land from afar , organizing his treasure, and remembering the days long since passed. Each week he was graced with Jandar arriving at his lair with a basket of meats and cheeses that the boy pad procured from gods knows where, but Ramakox paid it no mind each time as he dug into the delightful tributes. He generously would accept each one, and true to his word he would trade a story to the boy. He would tell tales of wonder, magic, heroes, and of course dragons that used to glide above the countryside.

The child would sit and listen to the stories intently. His face full of wonder with each sentence that flowed from the dragon's mouth. He would gasp at the surprising moments, smile at the happy ones, and even tear up at the sad ones. Ramakox hated to admit it, but he was actually starting to look forward to the little human's visits. He would feel a warmth spread through his bones like he had not known before. He could even figure out what time the human would arrive at his lair. He would sit, or pose with his head held high. His tail would twitch behind him softly as his limbs filled with excitement. When the child did arrive he would act like it was no big deal, casually looking away, or inspecting his claws. He had to of course retain that dragon regalness after all.

On one such of these days he was laying down beside one of the creeks near his home. Jandar was now a lad of nine, and was busy holding a makeshift rod with a thin wire stretched out into the water. The dragon was busy gobbling up a block of white cheese in his blue maw, savoring the sharp flavor on his tongue. "You're never going to catch anything like that." the dragon wiped the remains of the cheese from his snout with a single swipe of his tongue. "Better off using magic to catch the fish." he chuckled. His eyes shifted to the small makeshift campfire that the boy had constructed with a ring of stones in the middle of the clearing they were in. There were small sticks leaning up against one another, waiting for a spark to set them ablaze.

"I can too!" the human turned back to stick his tongue out at the dragon, who offered him a snort and tap of his tail against the soft grass.

"You have yet to catch anything the past few times you have done this. Clearly it is not working , do you remember the story of fair dragoness Cratashka?" the dragon waved his paw, gesturing to the trees lining the creek's edge.

"Yes." the human groaned. "But this is not a futile thing!"

"You're not doing a good job of convincing me otherwise." he chuckled in a draconic sort of way as he gazed out to the multicolored leaves of the trees around them. He sighed as he traced each one with his eyes, taking a deep breath and savoring the crisp air. When a breeze rustled his wing membranes he watched a leaf carefully fall from the branches, and then flutter down to rest on his scales. "And you should wear that coat I lent you. You will catch a cold out here." he glared down to a dark tan coat of wool that lay forgotten by the fire pit.

"I will not catch a cold Storm." the boy no doubt rolled his eyes. "I am tough...and besides it's not that cold..Besides you're not wearing a jacket."

Ramakox ignored the casual use of his title, the boy had been doing it for several months now, and it hardly annoyed him like it used to. "Yes, but that is because I am a dragon, boy." the dragon snapped his jaw. "You're a soft skinned human who can catch a fever or his death, put on the jacket." He gestured to the clothing with his talons. "If you perish, who would bring me tributes? Put on the jacket so I'm not forced to go without your gifts."

"Ugh!" Jandar set down his fishing rod and threw up his hands. He turned around to glare at the dragon with narrowed eyes. He stomped over towards the jacket and put it on, without taking his eyes off the blue scales. "There...That better?" the boy fastened the leather bindings of the jacket and held his arms out wide.

"Yes, now you will be fine."he nodded, chuckling to himself when the boy stomped back over to his rod and began fishing once again. He held his head up and looked away from the child to hide his pleased smile. There may have been a tad of resistance, but at least he listened to me. "You may of course return to your senseless fishing."

"I already did!" the boy shouted out. "and once again, it's not senseless!"

"Why not use magic, and easily do it? Have I told you of the gryphon Aria?"

"No.." the boy turned around, his eyes returning back to their interested state.

Ramakox gave a pleased trill as he wiggled his body and settled into a comfortable position. "Well she would have never learned something so senseless." Ramakox rattled off a story that was about how the female gryphon had used her magic to provide for her offspring, and then a nearby village of mortals. They had been so grateful for her deeds that they had constructed a statue in her honor.

"I can't do magic." Jandar wrinkled his brow as the dragon finished the story with his snout raised and his tail swishing. "So I have to stick to the fishing thank you very much." The human quickly turned around once more and picked up the stick.

Ramakox held up a claw and twisted one of his talons around lazily as he stared intently to the running water. One fish caught his eye and he imagined a sphere wrapping around it, trapping it, and it rising from the surface. He gave a pleased rumble from his throat when the fish in question did exactly as he imagined.

"That's cheating!" Jandar groaned in irritation as his eyes followed the levitating fish.

"It is not." the dragon chuckled, guiding the floating fish with his claw to the waiting fire pit. "Now kill it, clean it, and you can eat."

Jandar sighed, throwing aside his rod as he pulled out a small dagger from his leather belt. In a short moment of time the fish was gut, cleaned, and roasting away on the fire that Ramakox summoned up by sparking the dry wood with a spell.

"See? If you learned magic like this, things like fishing would become trivial for you."

"I said I can't do it." replied Jandar as he frowned. "I've tried several times to do what you do. Each time I fail."

"Perhaps you have the wrong teacher." Ramakox tilted his head to the side.

"Grandma says magic comes from the head, got to study the books, the movements, and memorize incantations."

"That's silly." the blue dragon chuckled. "That's not how all magic is cast. It certainly is not how I cast my own magic."

"Well how do you do it?"

Ramakox threw his head back as he pressed a paw to his dark blue chest. "Glad that you asked Jandar. I use this." He tapped his chest several times.

"Your claws?" Jandar rolled his eyes with a playful smirk. "Everyone know that you need to do hand movements for spells."

"Not my claws or talons boy..My heart." he tapped his scales again. "I trust in my instinct...the feeling...bending magic around you. I have heard that even some mortals can do such things if they have the right blood."

"How can you tell if you have the right blood?" the boy settled down beside him with his legs crossed. He looked up to the dragon like he usually did with his inquisitive eyes. The look sending little shivers of delight down Ramakox's spine.

"Well...in dragons...The magic manifests itself when they are fairly young...sometimes to the irritation of the parents." he laughed, thinking back to when the human had knocked over his suit of armor.

"Did you ever have any offspring?" the boy asked, taking a bite of his cooked fish.

"No..No I did not." he said with a sigh.

"Why not?" the boy gulped down his first bite in a flash, ravenously taking another one before the dragon could respond.

"Things always seemed to happen...dragons move around...heat cycles." Ramakox looked away, irritation filling his heart. Not from the boy, but from his excuses. Each one could have been overcome with effort on his part, he just never did.

"Oh." Jandar wrinkled his nose, "So when does it manifest in dragons?"

"I said when we were young...Oh you mean at what exact age.." Ramakox tapped his tail as the human continued to pick at his meal. "It can vary from dragon to dragon when it happens. I would imagine if it were to happen to you, it would be in the next year or so." The blue dragon tapped his talon against his chin as he tried to wrap his mind around trying to test the boy. After several minutes of his thinking he finally had an idea.

"Jandar. I want you to close your eyes, and picture the fire that you roasted your fish in."

The human did so with a growing smile.

Did I look this excited when I tried to cast spells for the first time? "Okay good, now focus on that fire instead being inside your chest." Ramakox pictured in his own mind what he was instructing the human to do. The cackling raging fire inside of him, starting to spread it's warmth into his limbs. "Now take that heat from the fire and let it flow from your heart and into your hands. He tapped his tail again as he watched the human clench his eyes tight, his hands forming fists.

"I....I think I got it." Jandar said with a smile after several facial expressions of effort.

"Good." Ramakox gave him an encouraging rumble from his throat. He flicked his tail across the grass for a moment as he drummed his talons on the dirt. Now what spell to have him try first?...Something easy...simple.. "Imagine a slight breeze ruffling your hair, it's best to start small like this. I'd have suggested fire or something, but I really don't want to rush you off to a healer."

"O....Okay....gr...grah!" Jandar grunted and clenched his fists tighter as he seemed to be struggling with this portion of the request.

"What's the matter?" he asked, snaking his snout closer towards the struggling child, whose face was scrunched up into rolls. Perhaps the boy lacks the blood after all....disappointing to say the least...but not the end of the world.

"I...I can't do it!" the boy shouted out, his face crimson as he crossed his arms with a huff. Jandar looked away from the dragon. "It's too hard."

"Or it could be that you lack the blood to do it." The dragon sighed as he bumped the human gently with his snout. "Would you keep trying to do it if you lack the blood? Even if you lack any natural talent?"

"I have been trying..I already said that."

"That you did....but maybe if I were your teacher we could see some results. I may not be a wizard, but I can cast magic. I also may have a few dozen books on the subject somewhere in my lair."

"Really?" Jandar spun to look at him with a large smile that threatened to take up his entire face. "You'd do that for me?"

"You already visit me once a week, bring tributes and listen to my stories." He turned his snout away again. "Might as well make an investment out of it."

"Investment?" the boy asked with curiosity lingering in his voice.

"Oh yes. When you are grown, and going on adventures of your own. You can praise my name to all you meet, of my kindness, and how I molded you into a great skilled mage. You can even donate some of your treasure to me." He snorted quickly. "To repay me of course..Your kind and benevolent teacher."

"Then you would teach me magic?"

"Jandar." the dragon lowered his snout to the boy and gave him a great tooth filled smile. "I will do my very best. You can rest easy knowing that if I have anything to say about it, you will be casting magic."

"Thank you! Thank you!" the human hugged his snout tightly, causing Ramakox to snort and pull his head away.

"Less of that though." he chuckled, pushing the disappointed human away gently.

"Aww..but that one night..you held me!"

"That was to stop your crying." he replied, standing to all fours and stretching his wings wide.

"When can we start then?" the boy asked, unable to hold in his excitement. He was practically jumping for joy.

"I think we can start next week, if I remember where the scrolls and books are located."

"Yah!Yah!Yah!" Jandar shouted out, doing a little spin and pumping his fist in joy.

Ramakox just offered the boy another warm smile before looking away to the mountain he called his own. As much as he shared the excitement with the prospect of passing on his knowledge of spellcraft, he could not help but think to the future that was in store for him. I cant wait for all the praises, stories, and songs that will be sung in my name...and all the treasure that will be mine.