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Artos tells me that he was very surprised by my actions though I doubt he was more surprised than I was. He finally set me down and I found myself still staying close to him.

Especially after my eyes locked on the man wearing robes who was looking at me with vast curiosity.

I took a step backwards, a bit behind Artos.

"Easy little guy, this is Phaegus, he's a friend," Artos said soothingly.

I was starting to pick up on their language. Language has always come rapidly to me, something that has proven useful to Artos several times. I grasped the name of the person and that he was supposed to treat me well, but was still uncertain of it all.

"So, it is as Ren said. A real dragon," Phaegus mused.

"It would seem so, though as you can see he stands upright and is more human in appearance," Artos said.

"Hmm. Interesting. No one has seen a dragon in countless centuries; it's thought that they are extinct. Very interesting," Phaegus said, still starting at me. "So you found him starving in the woods?"

Artos nodded. "Yes. El saw him watching our camp and warned us about him as she wasn't sure what he was. I decided to bait him with food and see if he would come to the light. He did and Jerim was able to capture him. As you can see he's pretty thin. Any time I've fed him he wolfs it down like he expects it to be taken."

"I wouldn't doubt it! I can't help but wonder at why he wasn't hunting for himself."

"Perhaps he doesn't know how?"

Phaegus squinted, thinking. "That would be interesting. Most animals have instincts that teach them such things. Very interesting."

Phaegus says very interesting regarding me quite a bit.

He took a step towards me, slowly, smiling and I huddled closer to Artos. Artos made me nervous but not nearly so as this man. "He seems to have taken a liking to you."

Artos laughed. "It would seem so! Of course he's really not seen anyone else so there's not much of a choice."

"You've told your father?"

Artos sighed, grimacing. "I've told him that I found an unusual animal, but not exactly what I found."

Phaegus shook his head. "He's going to be all the more angry the longer you hold off, Artos. He'll see it as indecision and you well know how he hates what he sees as that trait in you."

"I know! I'm going to tell him as soon as I know that the dragon will live and is tame."

I tensed at the raised voices, not liking that they seemed angry. Artos carefully ran his hand over my head. "Easy, little guy."

"You say he hurt himself?"

Artos gestured to the bed. "Yes, I think he fell down the steps."

Phaegus crouched down, keeping his hands held out and open before him. "Come here my friend; I won't hurt you." He looked up at Artos. "Have you named him?"

"Not yet."

"Hard to call him if he doesn't know his name," Phaegus said with a chuckle.

"I'm thinking about it!"

Phaegus laughed again and gestured to me. "Come here little guy," he coaxed.

Artos grasped my hand and took a step forward. I followed him reluctantly. While it didn't seem that Phaegus was armed I had not seen anyone in robes before so I did not know what it meant. I finally was in front of him, trembling slightly, looking up at Artos from time to time for reassurance. He patted me on the head a few times and I relaxed a bit.

Phaegus carefully reached out and took my other hand, running his hand over it. "No scales, unlike the stories," he said. "Warm blooded I would say so he's no reptile. Very interesting. Where did he hurt himself?"

"I'm not sure, Pheagus. I think he was favoring his left arm and there was a bit of a knot on his head."

"Hmm."

Phaegus reached for my injured arm and I drew away from him. Artos holding my hand was more than enough there. Phaegus nodded as if he expected it. "I figured he would not allow me to touch him there. Well, there are other ways to see what's wrong."

He stood up and started gesturing, muttering something in a language that I did not understand. I started, seeing wispy blue stands starting to gather around his hands. He finished his incantation and gestured to me and the strands vanished. I felt a force come over me.

Then suddenly I was in great pain.

I squealed and dropped to the floor, thrashing. Phaegus looked startled and broke off what he was doing and the pain left instantly.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Artos demanded angrily. He crouched next to me and helped me sit up. I sat there, panting, shaking my head to try to clear it, rustling my wings. I looked at Phaegus and hissed, then lurched over into Artos arms.

"It was just a simple spell to determine his health!" Phaegus said in surprise. "There is no way it should have hurt him!"

"Well it did!"

"Very interesting," Phaegus said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, really interesting, you hurt him and scared him badly enough that he hissed at you!"

"Poor choice of words. I'm sorry, Artos. I honestly never suspected that could happen."

"Fine. I think you should leave though, before you scare him further. He's trembling! I'll come talk to you later."

"Alright, Artos," Phaegus said and quietly left.

I don't blame you, Phaegus. You didn't know at the time.

Artos held me for quite some time and I allowed it, frightened as I was. I had no idea what had just happened to me, other than Phaegus cast a spell and it hurt me badly. I did not understand enough at the time that Phaegus was not doing it intentionally. Eventually Artos sat me down on his bed and I looked at him a little warily, wondering if he were going to bring that man back in here and what he planned to do next.

"I'm sorry, little guy, I didn't think that Phaegus would hurt you. I don't think he mean anything by it," Artos said soothingly. He sighed. "Well, he was right about one thing: we do need to give you a name. But what to name a dragon?" He paced a bit while he thought. I watched him walking back and forth, rustling my wings periodically trying to calm myself. Finally Artos turned to me. "Well, I think I've come up with one for you my friend. How about Dracius? It means dragon in the old tongue. Not terribly creative I suppose but I think it fits well enough. So what do you think, Dracius?"

I cocked my head, looking at him, wondering what it was he was trying to say. Name? He was giving me an identity? I ducked my head, uncertain. I knew that humans called themselves by particular names to identify themselves and it seemed to set them apart from mere animals like myself.

Sorry again, Artos.

If I had a name that would mean I was more than just an animal wouldn't it? That perhaps I would some how fit in with these humans, with this Artos who seemed to care enough to give me a name, an identity, and to treat me with respect. Even looking back on it all I am amazed by it.

I chirped at him and he laughed. "Well, I'll take that to mean that you like it. Now I suppose you're hungry. Let me call a servant to bring us some food shall I? I'll have to move you to the closet so they don't see you, but it will only be a short while."

After we finished eating Artos sighed heavily and sat back in his seat. I could tell that something was bothering him. I have long been sensitive to emotion. I remember that it made me nervous at the time, wondering if perhaps I was upsetting him in some way. I went to the bed and climbed up on it and sat down to clean myself, Artos watching me with interest.

"I wonder if you would enjoy a bath or a swim, Dracius?"

I looked up at him, wondering if he was talking to me and he smiled. "Well you picked up on your name quickly enough."

I should probably note here that my name is pronounced with a soft c. In the old tongue, an I next to a c turns it into a soft sound, as opposed to the c in cat. Dray-Cee-Us.

I chirped in recognition of him speaking to me and went back to cleaning myself. He sighed once more and stood, then started pacing the room. "I'm going to need to explain you to my father here soon, Dracius, and he will most likely want to see you. I worry a little how you will act, father can be rather abrupt and forceful at times. He's already annoyed that I took you in, even though Jerim assured him that I had done the right thing. I think perhaps El may have told him otherwise."

He sat down on the bed next to me and I drew back a short ways. "I'm sure I did the right thing by taking you in, Dracius. You're important some how, I can feel it. Father just hates my feelings about things and wants hard facts to make a decision. If he cannot see the benefit immediately then he's libel to object to spending time on it, considering it a waste."

He reached out to stroke my head and I did not draw away, only trembled at his touch. He pet me for awhile and then stood. "I fear putting it off will only make him all the more angry my friend. Sit tight and I'll go talk to him. He will probably want to meet you as I said before, I just hope you'll behave." He gave me a final pat on the head and walked out the door.

I watched the door close with misgiving. Anyone could come into the room and try to hurt me or run me off and without Artos to protect me there was precious little that I could do to stop them. I huffed a sigh and found myself growing sleepy, the stress and strain of the last few days finally catching up to me. I lay down on the bed and curled my tail around myself and fell asleep, hoping that I was safe.

I awoke to the door opening and sat up, looking at the door in alarm, but it was only Artos. He looked upset and I drew back, again uncertain of how he was going to act. He sighed deeply and started to pace. "Well, I was right, father isn't happy and he does want to see this "thing" that I found and feel like I need to keep." He looked at me and sighed again. "I don't know how he's going to act towards you, Dracius, he may get loud and you don't seem to like raised voices much." He shook his head and sat down next to me. I watched him a little warily, wondering at why he was upset.

I found out a few moments later.

The door opened and a large, imposing man walked in, looking around with an annoyed expression on his face. When I say big, I do not mean tall, Duke Grimal is shorter than either of his sons, but rather large in girth and shoulder. Aside from his squat, imposing frame, he carried an aura of command about him. His eyes locked on me and he stopped.

"You found a bloody dragon and brought it into my keep?" he said, incredulous.

"Phaegus doesn't think he's actually a dragon in the normal sense of the word," Artos said soothingly.

"I don't care what word games Phaegus is trying to play, a dragon is a dragon."

"Father I don't think he's dangerous!"

"But you have no idea do you? You know what the stories say about dragons!"

"He was starving father and terrified of us! I couldn't just leave him," Artos said stubbornly.

"Then you should have killed him or left him to die!"

At this point I had backed all the way to the edge of the bed, ducked low in fear of Grimal and of the raised voices. I recognized the word die and knew that it didn't mean well for me.

"Blast it you're scaring him! I told you to be easy with him!" Artos said.

Duke Grimal snorted. "If it's that timid then it deserves to be scared."

"Dracius is a he, father, and you would be scared if everyone tried to hurt you as well!"

Duke Grimal gave Artos a long look. "So you've even named the beast. Wonderful. Grown attached to it have you?"

Artos flinched, nearly imperceptibly. I noticed it and froze. Somehow I knew that if I made so much as a sound or moved at all that I was going to be harmed. Artos looked his father in the eye. "Yes, father, I have. And what of it? He's important father, I can feel it."

Duke Grimal shook his head in disgust. "Feelings again, Artos?"

"You know what Lady Dawn has said."

"I know Lady Dawn has a head full of fluff!"

"Mother would never have let you say that!" Artos said, suddenly angry.

"Don't you dare tell me what your mother would have though, Artos," Duke Grimal said in a dangerous voice.

Artos lowered his head. "I am sorry, father. That was uncalled for."

Duke Grimal glared at Artos for awhile then sighed. "Forgiven, Artos. I miss her too. And you're right, she wouldn't have tolerated such talk. She believed Lady Dawn was right about your gifts and that is good enough, I suppose, even if I do not understand or like it much."

"It's a part of me, father. I couldn't be rid of it if I wanted to," Artos said quietly.

"I know." He looked at me for a long moment then sighed. "Do what you will with the beast, but you're responsible for it. Should it prove to be dangerous I expect you to...take care of it."

Artos blanched. "Yes father."

Duke Grimal nodded and left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.