Liam grabbed my arm and pulled me off down. “What the hell are you doing!?” He hissed. “Looking for what’s mine.” I said, scanning the tops of the trees. A few moments later, a screech sounded from our left and a gleaming red creature dove at us from the air. Liam swore and dove to the side, but I stayed put and stretched my arms out. I staggered as the creature collided with me. He’d gotten bigger even in the short time since I’d last seen him. Soon I wouldn’t be able to hold him like this anymore. Leathery wings wrapped around my arms as my dragonling nuzzled his head against my neck. Liam was staring at me, slack-jawed. I shrugged. “This is Thunder.” While Liam was trying to find something to say, something small and blue skittered out from the brush into the open. It approached cautiously, moving forward little by little, keeping its eyes on Thunder and squeaking as it went. It was another dragonling. Thunder turned his head to the little one and made a chittering noise. I looked from the new dragonling, then back to thunder. “You made a friend.” The blue dragonling came up to my foot, squeaked, and started climbing up my leg. I could feel the little one shaking as it climbed. Thunder didn’t seem bothered by the intrusion, but he made no move to make room for the little one either. “Would you mind?” I said to Liam, nodding at the blue dragonling that was just above my knee. “I think it’s cold and my hands are full.” Liam approached and reached for the dragonling. It turned its head around and hissed at him and he pulled back. “Ignore that.” I said. “They’re like kittens at that age. Worst they can do is scratch you a bit.” I wasn’t sure who was more afraid of whom, Liam or the blue dragonling, but the little creature was finally removed from my leg. Within moments it was curled up against Liam’s chest, and while it was still shaking slightly, it seemed content. Even Liam was looking at the creature with less trepidation. I could practically see the bond being made between the two. “Looks like you made a new friend too.” *** The rest of the journey passed quickly. The people following us were quite taken with the two dragonlings, and both of them had no lack of attention. As darkness fell on the third day, we emerged from the forest to rolling fields, houses, and a keep not far beyond. A few of the people with us broke away from the group, heading toward the houses. The rest stayed with us right up to the wall surrounding the keep. I was preparing for some resistance from the guards at the wall gate, but as soon as they saw Liam they bowed and gave orders to let us enter. Inside, other guards and servants led the other people to a
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