FicWad

"I cannot believe that a rider would let his dragon feast upon the lives of equals" said Aellia turning away from the scene. Baldric had found a dirt mound; a small hill with rabbit holes poking from every corner and angle. Indeed a whole colony must be resting in there; Baldric rolled stones along the ground with his head and blocked off all exits with rocks and then stood on the summit and started digging with his back legs- his front legs were to small and weak to be of much use. Large dirt clods and muddy soil had been flung out on the south side of the burrow hill. Already he had devoured three rabbits and was onto gulping down another two.
Flamel was lying down on the cool long grass with his back leaning against a tree. He was caught between wincing as the rough bark rubbed against his sores, and laughing as he watched the emerald dragon shove his mud stained snout further into the ditch in reach of his lunch.
"Hey Baldric! Save some for me"
The dragon lifted up his head and gulped down a fury bunny. He then stuck his scaly neck into the muddy hole, took another rabbit in his jaws and moved his neck like a whip and cracking the rabbit's back on the ground. Baldric then tossed back it to his master; the limp animal hit the ground and rolled until it was right beside him
Flamel picked up the rabbit "Cheers"
"Agh!" cried Aellia "you're not going to eat that are you?"
"Corse not; I'm going to have it later when I have the time. I said to you, you cannot hunt, or light fires. You cannot stand to see any living creature suffer or die. So what can you do?"
Aellia lifted her head high "I have great knowledge of magical amulets, charmed objects and use to be highly skilled in the field of expert magic"
Ooh, somebody pinch me Flamel though sarcastically. She will slow our journey down! And it is vital I speak to Queen Sharlet as quickly as possible... Ah, I have not told Aellia that the meeting is with the eastern queen yet...that'll make her even more determined to come he stood up, wincing once more at the pain in his back
"Come on Baldric, we must be moving on. The road is far and we must get to our destination soon"
Feeling very relieved, the fairy climbed on top of the dragon's cold back, pleased that he had stopped his rabbit killing spree.
Baldric turned around and let his master take his seat behind his shoulder blades between his folded wings. Flamel gave him a quick pat and they set off for the path again. Meanwhile Flamel's mind was not on what was happening in front of him, but caught up in memory lane.

Fifteen years ago he and two other men; Jock, a large bald man built like a mountain and Jalin, a thin man with dark hair and skilled with a spear were on a hunt to stop poachers from destroying the Clawthorn; a race of dragon hunted for their skin, horns, meat and blood. Clawthorns are identified by their facial features; from the tip of the snout up to above the eye and the eye horn is a long bone. The scales are a different colour while the bone offers some protection of the sharp eye.
It was dark, beside Flamel lay Jalin on his stomach. Jock was back at camp tending to injured ankle.
A bush hid the pair as they spied on the poachers below. His voice barely above a whisper, Jalin said "I swear Flame, this is our last hunt. After this I am settling down and not leaving my family again"
"Quiet fool!" hissed Flamel "They'll hear us!"
The pair lay in a hole in the hill, and were spying on the camp, egger to learn their next move
"We shouldn't be doing this" continued Jalin "Let the monarchs decide whether it is worthwhile to save a few dragons, but I want to see my children grow up. All this nonsense and no prophet, Flamel, when will you settle down? Are you really going to be roaming around Pangaea for ever?"
Flamel shot him a look, bitterness was thick in his voice "This is Eldora; the land of the north. The King will do nothing! Not even for his own people, let alone save the last of the dragons. We owe them this. Remember whose blood it was that saved your life once"
"Clawthorn" replied Jalin. Clawthorn blood has healing properties. Jalin glanced at his friend. He was squinting, trying to get a better view of the poachers
"They're packing up. They must be calling it quits for the night" he said "Come, we must head back to our camp. Jock had better not have stoked the fire, if it shows too much smoke, then we are no better walking out their and introducing ourselves now"
Camp was a sandy clearing with a fire ringed with stones in the centre. Near with his foot resting on a rock and leaning back onto a log was Jock
"Discovered anything?"
"Nay, they're not killing tonight"
Flamel and Jalin sat down on opposite sides of the fire, leaning close to warn their stiff hands
Jock looked into the fire and stared at a burning log, watching as the flames coated the log in a red blanket "I've been thinking..." he started to say
His company did not say anything, Flamel studied his face.
"Jalin...you are not the wealthiest man...neither are you Flamel, nor am I...there is a lot of money to be made in Dragon hunting..."
"We are not going to do as you suggest Jock"
"But Flamel, I know some of these hunters. They are not bad men; they are only trying to make a living"
"If we do then we would be going against everything we went for!"
Flamel did not want to remember the rest as he sat atop Baldric. That night had grown violent, and two men he thought to have known well died that night when a vicious fight broke out between them. One went on to the next life as a murderer, the other passed on without seeing his children grow up. What hurt Flamel even more is the next night a massive dragon raid occurred, and the last of the Clawthorns died out. Flamel wounded two poachers, and was able to take possession of five dragon Clawthorn eggs. As long as he held the eggs, the species may still have a chance to flourish.
Some days later Flamel was huddled around a small fire trying to keep his fingers from turning blue. The moon and stars were hidden by a thick blanket of clouds, and the only light for miles away came from the small campfire, lighting the Soleran's ghostly cheek bones and eyes. He took the eggs out the carrier and looked at them closely in what little light there was. There were five in all, and from two separate nests. The red, blue and green eggs were long, had a bronze sheen with a smooth surface. The gold and the violet however had large ends, quite slippery and had a gold sheen. Flamel put them on the fire, keeping them warm as their mothers would have done, by putting them on the fire, they would also be protected from predators. "I am no dragon raiser!" Said Flamel to himself that night "for many decades I have walked the surface of Pangaea and never did I imagine that I may one day have to do this" and as if to answer his statement, the green egg started to move and make a tapping sound. Amazed, Flamel lent closer to the fire to watch the seen unfold before his eyes. A crack grew from the side of the emerald egg and grew right around before the shell exploded into fifty pieces. Flamel threw an arm across his face and cried out as he threw himself back away from the fire. When he sat up and opened his eyes, a small jade lizard the size of a tissue box was perched on top of a blazing red log. The green hatchling's scales were wet, coated from the muck on the inside of his shell. Focusing his large eyes of the person in front of him, the hatchling assumed that Flamel was his guardian and waddled off the blazing log towards him.
Flamel's eyes and mouth were wide with shock and amazement. A small bottle green dragon trotted, stumbled, fell, got up and tried walking before stumbling once more towards him. Then the dragon nibbled on his boot.
"Stop that" said Flamel bringing his boot away. He took off his cloak and picked up the hatchling. He had wide crimson eyes and licked his nose with his fork tongue, and then he stuck his neck out and tried to like Flamel. He sat him down and cleaned the egg gunk off him. The hatchling eventually fell asleep in the pocket of his jacket.
Then the blue egg began to stir and came from the egg in the same manner as the first. Then the red immerged, next was the purple and finally the gold. By the end of that night, Flamel had found them all places to sleep. With his boots, bag and pockets full of dragon, he drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
By the end of the first week, he had seen different personalities and habits come from all of them. Trafalgar, who he named the male dark blue dragon, the largest by only a few millimeters was quiet, calm and tolerant. He had a long neck and three hooks in his twisted tail, and short stubby wings that were yet to grow
Cedric, the crimson one was boastful, the strongest, a showoff and short tempered, and picked on all the other hatchlings, but stayed quite clear of Trafalgar, worried he might slap him with his tail like he did the rocks when he was playing.
Prudence the purple dragon was hard to impress. She liked doing things by herself, like catching mice and didn't need anyone to tell her anything. Occasionally she would play with the gold or red hatchling, but ignored the other two as much as possible.
Gondolar is the gold hatchling and by far the friendliest, softest nicest of the five. She would snuggle up to Flamel at night or try to help him in any way she could.
Baldric was the green hatchling that came out of the egg first. It was his first day of living when Flamel saw that he was the clumsiest, unintelligent, constantly hungry, and funniest of them all. There were times when he would be on the ground holding his stomach laughing.
With the dragons came their appetites. Flamel was forever hunting rabbits, deer trying to keep them happy for the rest of the day. After training, Flamel could get each of them to come at their own whistle
For two years Flamel lived on the mountain, raised the dragons until they were the size of a small house then let them go. Trafalgar and Gondolar became nest mates and moved to the eastern shore where they roost on a cave in the rocky cliffs. Prudence and Cedric went to nest in a dormant volcano to the west and Baldric stayed to live on in the stone circle
Aellia had been watching Flamel for a while now. He had not moved or spoken since Baldric's lunch stop. His eyes had a far away look in them, and were not focused on the road
"Flamel? Wolfgang?"
The sound of his name brought his mind back on the task at hand
"What is on your mind?"
"Nothing" he muttered. Then a thought struck him. He turned around to face the fairy "Aellia, how far is it until we cross over the eastern boarder?"
"Two, maybe three leagues, why?"
"Baldric?" the scaly head turned to look at his friend "Do you still remember Trafalgar?"
His reaction to the question was as though somebody had told a six year old that he could have all the sweets in the world. Baldric nodded his head and gave a strange call, smoke huffed out of his nostrils and he gave a little jump
Flamel laughed "Of coarse you do! What would you say if we met up with him and Gondolar again hmm?"
Aellia was confused "Pardon? May you please tell me who this 'Trafalgar' or 'Gondolar' person is?"
"Trafalgar is his brother and Gondolar is his nest mate. They live on the eat coast... Aellia, we are going at a snails pace. It is vital that I speak with...the person I am meeting. We need to travel faster. Baldric is still recovering",-
"As are you" she pointed out
"Trafalgar would be able to fly me",-
"Us"
"...and will save us at least seven days ride"
"What of Baldric? What shall he do whilst you abandon him?"
"It is alright. He can understand human speech; he is as smart as you or I. He understands the situation...and in any case, he will be overjoyed to see his old friend again"
Baldric gave a joyful roar as Flamel pulled out a whistle