It's been two weeks since I impressed with Demi and admittedly, I still haven't met that many people. We're still shunned by the majority, but the bar fight did wonders in that general direction. I'm hoping it will plant seeds that will grow into thoughts of good will. If nothing else, it seemed to have broken the ice with Elfred and Thomas. They act like friends now, and perhaps others will see that I'm not what they thought I'd be. I'm a relatively nice guy. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part. Time will tell.
Tonight, Demi and I were supposed to go on our first diplomatic run, and we had chosen the Gold Grotto. Might as well get the rough one out of the way. Scuttlebutt around the mountain says that those guys were pretty angry with me, and in some ways, I could understand that. However, most of the other riders were apparently having problems with the gold riders too. They just hadn't done anything about it. What Demi and I were hoping was that by establishing some sort of rapport with the gold, maybe it would ease the tension between us and everyone else. A tall order, but hell, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I secretly thought the other riders were pleased with the downfall of the Gold's Pub. It's just that nobody had said anything publicly, and I think fear of reprisal was the chief reason why.
As a secondary thought, I had mentioned to Demi the possibility of performing a bad landing right in front of the Gold Grotto. Would that be good or bad? It isn't like they hadn't seen her land, but I'm not sure I wanted to start the mission with embarrassment in front of the very people we were trying to gain respect from. On the other hand, it might work in our favor for her to seem new and inexperienced.
In the end it was taken out of my hands. Demi and I had just emerged into Commons from the Green Grotto when she stopped and before I could say anything, she crouched down. If I haven't learned anything else, I've learned what that means, and I gripped the two handles on the front side of the saddle just as she sprang into the air. The inertia is amazing. We went from being on the ground, to airborne at fifty feet in one movement. Demi's wings beat furiously as she struggled to gain altitude, and the first half mile went quickly.
"Demi, what's up. You okay?"
"I can land correctly and I'm not afraid of what they think.You'll see."
"Oh Sweetie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"I'm not mad at you Tanis, I'm just mad, and I'm tired of people laughing at me. Especially the Gold's."
"Demi, maybe we should tackle this some other night. We don't have to..."
I could tell she was angry, and she didn't even let me finish.
"No... We go and we go now!"
We had lifted to about two hundred feet and our speed was increasing with every beat of her wings. It didn't appear as if she had any intention of slowing down, and our first flight flashed through my head. Only this time I didn't hear any bells and she wasn't laughing. The Gold Grotto was coming up fast and we still weren't slowing down. Glancing in front of us showed me that several of the gold riders and their dragons were milling around the entrance to the grotto. It also appeared to me that they had known of our arrival and had begun to arrange themselves to get out of the way in case of a botched landing. Demi roared, and I jumped involuntarily.She had never acted like this before and it took me by surprise. Admittedly, I didn't have all that much experience, but everything I had seen so far had shown Demi to be a gentle soul. Right now, that gentle soul had left the building and had been replaced with hot smoke and sassafras. Startling, but this was the first time I had seen the dragon within.
We still hadn't slowed, and when I thought that it was too late to do anything but crash into the far north wall, Demi's body arched upward, and her wings furled into two air-catching cups. Our speed reduced from immense, to stopped in mid-air roughly twenty feet above the ground. I was forced into a standing position, leaning forward just to stay in the saddle. Demi's wings beat in a reverse manner as we came to about ten feet above the rock floor. Then five feet, then three feet and finally her back legs, angling downward touched the ground. The front legs and feet were running in place as fire blew from her nose and mouth into the air. The noise was deafening. Finally, she brought her front feet down, and as soon as they touched, she undulated back and forth in a serpentine configuration as she approached the rider closest to where she had landed. Her wings were pulled tightly back against her body as we made our way toward the Grotto's entrance corridor. Now that we were down, I was beginning to feel a bit more confident, and I knew I wasn't going to fall off. As a new rider, trust me, that's a big deal.
As we drew nearer the grotto entrance, each of the riders tried to bar her way but she would have nothing to do with it. The flames alone began to push them back. The ones who were braver, slowly started to move to the sides of the opening as Demi began lunging at them when they barred her path. As for me, I just hung on and tried to lean into her movements as she carved out an erratic lane toward their entrance. That's when I noticed the riders we had passed were closing in behind us, and we had virtually nowhere to go but forward. I kind of think that was Demi's plan from the start, but it showed a tad bit of short sightedness on her part because plan A didn't have a way out. Something that was obviously needed but was sadly missing. Blocking the entrance was only one more dragon and we would be in. But to what end? I had no idea what she had in mind and what she would do to accomplish her goal - whatever that was. She finally came to a stop, and I glanced around trying to get a body count. That's when I took stock of the dragon and rider in front of us. They constituted the only hurdle left to actually gaining access to the Gold Grotto. The dragon was immense. Not as large as Basiliskos, but certainly ten times greater than Demi. The rider was sitting casually in the saddle with a bored look on his face like he didn't have a care in the world.
"Tanis, the rider's name is Alexander, and he is a very bad man. The dragon is called Arannis, and I don't see why he would choose such an evil man." Demi said quietly.
I don't know how to keep my thoughts down to a quiet level, but that's what I was trying to do.
"Demi, what are you doing? Am I supposed to beat the crap out of this guy, and if I try won't that bring the rest of them down on us? Tell me what to do."
"Tell him to let us in so nothing bad happens to him."
"That was your plan? Back the guy up on his own doorstep and demand things from him where the others can see and hear? What in the hell were you thinking?"
He who hesitates is lost, at least that's what I've always heard. While I sat atop Demi, Alexander climbed down from Arannis and moved to stand in front of the golden dragon. He folded his arms across his chest and adopted an "at ease" stance as if he was waiting for something, so I climbed down as well. I can't tell you how glad I was that I had put the suit on before we left. I took three steps to make sure I was standing in front of Demi and then I stopped, slowly looking around. I tried to make it seem like I was unimpressed and maybe just a bit annoyed, but with the helmet closed no one could see the expression on my face. I hoped that maybe it would work in my favor. Finally, I faced Alexander and gradually walked toward him. I'll give him credit; he had balls. It takes a special kind of stupid to stare down the Emerald Warrior. I had Walter reset the interior gases and expel the excess while resetting the plates all over the suit. It makes the suit seem larger for just a second and the intimidation factor is fairly high. When everything had finished, I nonchalantly pressed the gauntlet switch to bring down the helmet, although I left the shroud in place just in case. I stopped when the distance between us was just short of uncomfortable. The length of the silence became awkward, and I was just about to say something, although I was unsure as to what, when Alexander spoke.
"What do you want, green rider?"
His voice was low but somehow didn't match his size. Alexander was about six feet six inches and was built like Charles Atlas. His hair was long and sort of a dirty blonde in color, giving him kind of a "Thor" look. The whine in his voice took me back just for a split second because it just didn't fit his looks.
"We want entrance into the Gold Grotto. A tour of the facilities would be nice. If we don't get these things then something bad will happen, and I don't think either one of us wants that. So, what's it going to be?"
I was hoping Demi was right, but it just seems rude and overly aggressive to demand as well as threaten, as an opener. Wouldn't that just egg the person on to give you the very thing you didn't want? I thought the first patch of silence was bad. This one went on so long that I thought Alexander had gone to sleep, when for whatever reason, he laughed. It was quiet, you know, more of a chuckle really. His arm came up and I brought mine up too and then we shook hands. Just like that. There was no violence. I'm really going to have to start trusting Demi. I can see that now. I was still curious as to how she knew, and I made a mental note to question her about that later.
Alexander looked back at Arannis. The dragon stood up and moved sideways to make room for Demi to pass.
"Welcome to the Gold Grotto, green rider."
We spent almost an hour there and it was interesting, to say the least. Most of the occupants were self-defined elitists, and those that weren't, came across openly as bigots, snobs and caste mongers with delusions of grandeur. All the sentiments seemed to be based on the color of the dragons and their winged state. Near as I could tell, that dictated your status and determined whether you were a burden to their existence. For instance: A gold dragon had the highest status of all dragons, whereas the green and brown non-winged dragons were little more than beasts of burden. The Harlequins were the lowest in the winged caste system and were considered illegitimate and half-breeds at best. The blue, red and grey, occupied a different position on the list depending on who you talked to at the time. The green winged weren't supposed to exist at all and the one who did, was nothing more than an abomination to all dragons, not just the golds. As mad as this should have made me, it did something else instead. I saw clearly for the first time. This is the very thing that Demi wanted me to see, in all its dismal aspects. This is what the mountain had been reduced to and what The Ariella had been fighting since she first impressed. The Ariella had become an opportunist when Demi had called me. Both of them knew what I was capable of and the penance I was attempting to pay. She had seen a way to fix so many problems with the introduction of Demi and me. Assuming we lived through the trials that the mountain and its occupants threw at us, we just might bring about change in The Ariella's monarchy. Oh, and one side note: The two Kings both black and white were never talked about, and I mean never. I could detect a note of fear if the gold's thought the two of them were near, and it was painfully obvious how none of the gold riders mentioned them at all. They seemed to work at not mentioning them, which of course, makes you think of them that much more. I think they may be attempting to stay out of the communal mind that all dragons share. If this proves to be possible, then there will be some rough roads ahead and secrets that I wouldn't have thought possible to keep. None of this looks healthy for The Ariella reign, and I for one have a vested interest in keeping her alive.
Demi and I had been slowly but surely working our way toward the entrance to the grotto for about half an hour. After the final comment made by the last rider, in what felt like an endless row, there were no more obstacles in our way. I could see the Commons and I desperately wanted to reach an area where the air didn't seem quite so oppressive.
We kept walking for several minutes even after we had gained The Commons proper, and I did not look back. Demi finally stopped, and after taking a long and ragged breath, laid down with her chin resting on the bare floor. She hadn't spoken a word since we left the Gold Grotto. We were out in the open, just out in the middle of Commons. I walked around so that I was in front of her and sat down.
"I know we can't talk about this, at least not here. But know this...I understand. I didn't before; but I see it. I'm not going to let this continue. I promise."
"Thank you, Tanis."
I don't know how long we stayed there, but it felt like hours. Demi seemed distraught and listless, until finally I could tell that her breathing had become deep and even. I sat with her until daybreak, when she opened her eyes and yawned.
"I'm hungry."
"And I've got to take The Ariella back to the city. Go get something to eat and take a swim, Demi. The Ariella and I will be back later. I'll let you know when."
Demi stood and stretched, flexing her wings to full extension. She pulled them in about halfway and shook her whole body like she was trying to get feeling back into her limbs; then without warning, she pounced into the air. I watched her as she gained altitude and flew in the direction of the river.
As it turned out, The Ariella had already gone back to the city and Invectum told me she knew of our ordeal the night before. Beyond that, he wouldn't say much, so I bid my goodbyes and left to rejoin her.
Upon arriving, The Ariella was waiting with a hot cup of coffee and a sad but sympathetic look on her face. We talked for a while, and she told me that the two Kings had filled her in on the Gold Grotto meeting that Demi and I had arranged. We talked around the way Demi and I felt without actually addressing any one issue, but it helped to know she understood and would not keep us from doing what we thought best. I finished my coffee and stumbled off to bed. I was exhausted.
When I awoke, there was an almost tangible tenseness in the air. A steaming, hot cup of coffee was sitting on the nightstand, and I think it was partially responsible for waking me up. The Ariella sat at the foot of the bed looking at me with a strange glint in her eye.
"Hope I wasn't snoring. What's up?"
I quickly wiped my mouth; snoring was bad enough without drooling too.
"It's almost time to leave and we've got a big night at the mountain. A quick shower for you, and then we've got to go."
"What's going on at the mountain?"
The Ariella was already on her way out of the room.
"Shower, Tanis," she said over her shoulder as she walked away.
Twenty minutes and one shower later, we were on our way to the mountain. I flew us there using the Magna, contacted Demi en route, and we didn't even land this time upon arrival. We flew directly into the foyer cave, shot down the corridor, over the ramps and landed directly on the outside of the wheel in the middle of Commons. The Ariella let go of the breast plate handles as I released the restraining strap holding her in place. She turned immediately, walked over to stand in the middle of the wheel and called for the Drago security guards that were standing about thirty yards away. She hadn't spoken once during our trip here and had been all business since our arrival. The look on her face told me not to ask. In seconds, the security team had surrounded her, and she conferred with them in lowered voices. I couldn't hear what was said, but the entire team took off at a dead run toward the medical area. I started to walk over to her, but she held up her hand to stop me. Then her head tilted over to one side and the look on her face took on an absent appearance. Not more than a minute later Demi landed next to me, a perfect landing by the way, and she dipped her head down nuzzling my arm. A warm feeling shot through me that only Demi can evoke. Then in the distance you could hear the sound of wings, big ones, getting closer by the second. Directly overhead from out of the ever-present darkness, two dragons shot down into the light and came to rest on either side of The Ariella. I felt the short hairs on the back of my neck stand out and a shiver went up my spine. I will never tire of seeing the two Kings land, especially when they do it at the same time.
Basiliskos stepped forward until he was slightly ahead of The Ariella, turned to face her and said,
"All section leaders and those you requested are being assembled now, my Queen. They shall arrive momentarily. They are, of course, bringing their dragons and I or Invectum will carry those who need transport."
"Thank you, Basiliskos," responded The Ariella.
When everyone had assembled, The Ariella pointed toward each of the arrivals, and a section on the wheel to indicate where she would have them stand. In each case, the corresponding Dragon would then line up behind them in the section along the same spoke. First big surprise of the evening; she pointed to me and then pointed four sections over from where I stood. I moved to the indicated part of the wheel and took my position, as Demi lined up behind me. I heard a snort noise to my left. The Ariella heard it as well.
"Shut up Alexander."
Alexander closed his mouth, but if looks could kill...
When everyone had taken their places, The Ariella, standing at the center of the wheel, began to turn slowly in a circle and then spoke.
"When I call your name, you will mount your dragon and proceed to the Veranda. Do not leave until all introductions have been made. This is for the benefit of anyone here who has not had the pleasure of your acquaintance.