Prologue:
Ruby, Nolan, Bonnie, and Shamus tell their parents they are going for a picnic. They meet Donzereli in a secluded spot to be flown up to Donzereli’s home on the backs of dragons. Dr. Allen figures out their little scheme and hitches a ride by bribery.
This adventure begins when they arrive at the mountain greeted by Donzereli’s parents, who look not pleased to see them, but the unease starts when the kids realize the dragons have prepared for an extended stay.
Donzereli gives them a tour of the “keep” thrilling them with the marvels of the sky mall and the solar-powered flying cars. The thrill comes to an end when the kids learn their parents are arriving to take them home the next day.
Without asking his parents, Donzereli borrows a flying car; arranges another exciting adventure before they go home, and are “grounded for life.” Dr. Allen didn’t have to bribe his invitation this time; the kids realized he was a big kid.
What could go wrong with a fishing trip?
After all, they have an adult along.
Could it be getting kidnapped?
Or could it be meeting the “Others.”
Chapter 1 Time to face the music.
Nolan /Donzereli, Ruby /Windstar, Shamus /Octavius, Bonnie /Malaki, and Dr. Allen /Green pressing tightly with their knees to their dragons, now feeling comfortable enough to no longer have their hands locked onto the soft spines. They assumed they were cloaked because Donzereli was told by an adult that was true. They felt invisible flying close to the snow-capped peaks, Oohing and Ahhing seeing the magnificent view of the Keep of the dragons of the north mountain.
Lucky no one fell off being startled, and scared; when suddenly popping into sight one at a time, was a dozen adult dragons surrounding the children with fierce, angry faces. The contingent of dragons said nothing out loud or silent but gently herded the group by circling slowly, moving them toward the most massive veranda. Seeing the looks on the faces of the adult dragons surrounding them, they reluctantly followed directions and landed on the terrace they indicated. Donzereli saw the look on Rainbow and Sunset’s faces standing silently, tapping their feet in rhythm, and he knew it spelled trouble.
“How did they find out we were coming?” Donzereli shouted silently.
“I don’t know; I didn’t tell anyone,” Everyone answered at once.
“Are you sure that your folks can’t listen to our conversation?” Nolan asked
Donzereli.
“I know we aren’t able to listen in on theirs if they don’t want us to, dang maybe that comes with age. Guess the birth impression doesn’t tell me everything.” He answered sadly.
“What are we going to do now? Ruby, Bonnie, and Shamus, and I will be restricted for years when our parents get wind of our “trip,” Nolan moaned.
“Sorry, buddy, but I am sure they were informed by my parents as soon as they found out about our plans. What about Dr. Allen? Can’t he put in a good word for us? After all, we did have an adult with us.” Donzereli commented hoping that would help.
“I suspect that he will be in that same hot water that we will be in; after all, he went along with us instead of turning us in, which is the adult thing to do,” Ruby commented looking depressed.
As they circled for a smooth landing in front of Donzereli’s parents, all of them including Dr. Allen looked like a bunch of kid’s caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Sunset and Rainbow were standing in front of the massive doors to their “Keep” with their arms folded in front, looking angry, and disappointed.
When they had all landed, Rainbow said, “Ruby, Nolan, Bonnie, Shamus, and Dr. Allen, please dismount. Octavius, Malaki, Windstar, Green, and the rest of you young dragons need to go home immediately, your parents are anxious to speak with you. Not you, Donzereli, you will stay here and face the music with your friends. All six bowed their heads and took flight, knowing they were in big trouble; if it were possible to have flown with their tails between their legs, they would have done so.
Turning to the group standing with their heads bowed including Dr. Allen, looking like that cookie jar smacked shut on their hands, Rainbow spoke, “Please come inside, this was your first trip and a long one at that, you are probably tired.”
They followed her into the first room, which was a large circular foyer, with doors set into three sides Beautifully hand carved wood paneling reached to the children’s shoulders, the entire domed ceiling, was alive with colorful inlaid mosaic.
Rainbow spoke, “You will be our guests for several days; arrangements have been made for you to be comfortable. Donzereli will show you to your rooms, where you may want to rest for a little while. We invite you to be our dinner guests tonight at 8:00.”
“Tomorrow, Donzereli, we will talk.” She silently gave him directions to the assigned rooms. At this statement from his Mother, Donzereli hung his head. “Mom, I am sorry, Nolan and Ruby were the only ones that were supposed to come with us; it got out of hand with the extra two people; Mr. Allen discovered our plan
and insisted on coming with us. We agreed because we thought to have an adult
along, would be a good idea.”
“That is all well and good, but what do you think the impact on our relationship with the humans would be if someone fell off a dragon and got hurt, or worse?”
“Mom, we were careful and didn’t go up high until we were sure they were hanging on and they had a great time seeing the valley south of here with the big waterfall. They brought a picnic lunch, and we rested until they were ready to mount up again and fly. Windstar, Octavius, Malaki, Green and I were careful and made sure they were holding on tight before they flew higher, and you know that we could have flown down and scooped them up if they slipped off our backs. They enjoyed flying and seeing the beauty of our planet from the air. At the time we thought it was a good idea, but now I realize we may have put our relationship with the humans in jeopardy.”
“Donzereli, we will discuss this at length tomorrow, now please show your friends to their room, to rest before dinner.”
“Okay, Mom,” and turning to his fellow travelers, he said, “Please follow me.” They could not listen in on the telepathic exchange between Donzereli and Rainbow, but they were familiar with the look on her face and the body language.
He led them through one of the large doors in the center of the foyer, and
down a wide corridor also with a domed mosaic ceiling and carved wood paneling at the bottom. Dr. Allen, looked from left to right as he walked down the hall and was impressed with the quality of the wood carving and the placement of the colorful mosaic. He kept stopping to carefully examined the woodworking on the bottom half of the walls, and his digital camera buzzed filming.
At the first door on the left, Donzereli stopped; opened the door to Ruby and Bonnie’s room. They both said, “Thank you, Donzereli, we think a rest before dinner, will be good, we are a bit tired.” The rest of the group left them to continue to their rooms. Of course, Bonnie and Ruby couldn’t help exploring the entire contents of the room. Neither of them rested at all! The decorations in Purple with Pink accents; their favorite colors delighted them, and with two full-sized four-poster beds, and sheer curtains tied back with purple bows, and an iridescent purple and pink bedspread, they couldn’t stop squealing, things like, “Look at this!”
Bonnie exclaimed, “Ruby, OMG, look at this, we have a full bath, and there’s tons of everything we need.”
Ruby said, “Hurry up and come to see the lovely dresses for both of us, and look, there are lots of other outfits, with matching shoes in the closet.” Upon closer examination, she said, “Hmm, Bonnie, don’t you wonder just a little bit, how these are all in our sizes.”
Bonnie was beyond caring about minor details like sizes, exclaiming, “Wow,
look at the screen sizes of the computers on our desks. Let’s get ready for dinner
tonight, right away so we can have lots of time to check out the internet.”
The next door opened to Nolan’s and Shamus’s room. They noticed the furnishing in shades of green and blue; their Seahawks colors. They immediately crossed the room to the desks with matching computers. They would have got lost in them if Donzereli had not reminded them about dinner. He mentioned that they would find outfits for dinner tonight and several comfortable outfits for each of them for the next few days.
After Donzereli left, Nolan suggested, “Let’s clean up, so we make a good impression at dinner. We will have time to do a thorough search on the computers, and learn everything we can about this “Keep.”
Shamus looking around, thought of mentioning the fact that the dragons were ready for their visit, but decided to wait until Nolan came to the same conclusion.
Donzereli showed Dr. Allen to the next room, and as soon as the door closed, he reacted like a kid, clapping his hands, amazed at the full wall of leather-bound books in an exquisitely carved bookcase. He noticed several sets of clothes in his closet, and in his slim size too; he often forgot to eat when intrigued by a problem, he was trying to solve. Pleased with the computer and set it to alarm so that he would not get lost in a book, or the computer and forget to come to dinner. In the back of his mind, he also wondered at the elegant accommodations, for them if no one knew they were coming.