178 The Dragons of Erenveil

High above the dazzling blue skies filled with puffy white cumulus clouds, the red dragons were hovering around in circles above a cliff overlooking the capital city of Erenveil.

They took advantage of the wind drifts that whorled up the cliffside, hang-gliding on their ample dark red scaled wingspans.

From a distance, they looked like large predatory raptors hunting prey. Up close and it was obvious that these were dragon people, flying in a loose formation of sorts.

With a high shrill whistle, the lead of the dragon men launched himself up into the deep blue sky and led the group away from the capital city, towards the Palisades Cliffs overlooking Baria Ocean.

There, the mountains dropped off straight down into a dazzling sandy beach so soft and white that it looked like ground flour.

The Palisades' jaw-dropping line of steep cliffs faced the deep blue ocean like sentinels, holding up the platform that was the very ground under the feet of the capital city of Erenveil.

The dragons landed on the plateau and regrouped.

There were six of them. All men. All dressed in red and black dragon warrior outfits.

Their leader whistled a few sounds and one of his subordinates whistled in reply.

With another wave of his hand, they launched straight into the sky, towards a hovering pod.

Once they were safely ensconced within the pod, the men changed back into humans. They had sharp angular faces and beautiful brown almond eyes with long black hair so thick and straight that it glistened and shone a deep dark blue.

"Your Royal Highness." One of them began.

The lead waved a hand to silence the man. He snapped a finger and a visual popped up of a young girl with long raven hair and dazzling blue eyes.

"The Princess Lyra of Erenveil." He murmured, his eyes narrowing.

"She just celebrated her fifteenth birthday not too long ago, Your Royal Highness. She currently lives with her mother, the Royal Consort Gwendolyn and her father, Emperor Rex."

"She is still very young." The lead dragon rumbled in his throat.

"Yes, Your Royal Highness."

"Send a message to the Emperor of my intentions."

"Yes, Your Royal Highness."

"One more thing." He held up a hand. "Find out everything about Princess Lyra. I want to know more about her."

====================

"Not going to happen." Slate announced.

"You haven't even heard his offer yet."

"Not happening. My sister is barely fifteen."

"Slate, he's not saying he wants her now. He's saying he will wait the three years for her to grow into adulthood. He just wants to be considered as a candidate."

"But he's a dragon." Slate compressed his lips.

No one was good enough for his sister. Most especially NOT a Reptilian.

"Your Royal Highness. Reptilians are no less respectable than Avians or Insectoids. No less respectable than even us Mammalians."

"But they live clear across the galaxy! Once she leaves to go to him, it would be a very long time before we can see her again!" Slate growled.

He jumped up off his command seat and paced the floor back and forth.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

Suddenly, Slate heaved a sigh and waved a hand into the air.

"Lyra." He called out.

For a moment the screen was dark, but then the familiar beautiful face of his little sister popped up.

"Hi Brother!" She grinned and waved her fragile thin hands. "Did you get the news???"

"What news?" He gave her a deadpan look.

"About the Crown Prince of Avalia, of course!"

"Wait. You've already heard?"

Lyra nodded, her bright blue eyes shining.

"Isn't he CUTE???"

"Cute?" Slate muttered, reaching into his recollection of the last time he had met the Crown Prince of Avalia. He could hardly consider the man as 'cute'.

"Lyra, the man is older than me by three years. How is that cute? He is MUCH older than you!"

"He's very cute, Brother. He has pretty brown eyes and a cute face, and he's very large. Almost as large as you!". She chattered excitedly. ***

"And he is twenty-five. That's hardly old, Slate. Brother Leo is that age!"

"This is not Leo. This is a strange man from across the galaxy."

"Fine. If we get to know him then he won't be so strange, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I want to get to know him better."

"Lyra. You're barely fifteen. Your debutant ball is not for another year. There will be so many men who will be asking for your hand. He's just the first of many."

"Yes, and I've met most of them." Lyra's face scrunched up. "Theo, Brad, Shaun, George, Vlad. I know them all."

"But Lyra, this man…I can't even pronounce his name!"

"His name is Lkhagvasüren. You pronounce it Lag-va-suren. You can even call him Süren for short."

"And how do you know this?" Slate narrowed his eyes.

Lyra grinned. "I asked him."

"Oh my God. You already talked to him?" Slate scowled. This was far worse than what he had feared.

"Well, it wasn't anything unusual. Süren popped up in the middle of my recital and played his flute alongside my mandolin. He knew the song and was accompanying me!"

Slate just about had an apoplectic cow.

"You met him already???"

"Oh Slate. It was a recital. There were hundreds of people there, all performing some instrument. He was there to perform on his flute. Besides, I was with Mother."

"Don't tell me Mother has met him and she didn't take you and run the other direction!" Slate's eyes glittered dangerously.

"Of course she met him. She was the one who asked him what his name was."

"Did she know that man is the Crown Prince of Avalia?"

"At that moment, we didn't know." Lyra's face crinkled in laughter. "I don't think he knew who we were either."

Slate's mouth turned into a single grim line.

"Where are you now? I'm coming to see you and Mother."

"I won first place in my last recital. We're getting ready to go to my next recital. If I place within the first three positions, I will be allowed entry into the Haribou Music University next year."

"Where?"

"We're going there now. Mother has transportation already set up for Haribou."

Slate sighed. "Be very careful. We are on the cusp of a war right now between the birds and the insects."

"It will be fine. Haribou is not really located in any of the hot zones."

"I will send a couple of warships to accompany you."

"Don't you dare!" Lyra spat. "Do you know how embarrassing it is to have warriors follow me everywhere I go? Nobody wants to talk to me because they're afraid of getting beat up!"

She waved an excited hand and popped off the call.

Slate cursed under his breath.

It was tough being an older brother of a girl about to hit womanhood. She was going out of her way to make it hard for him to protect her.

He turned to the attendant who was still standing next to him.

"'Cute'? What the hell??? Who calls a full-grown man 'cute'???" Slate spat with venom.

The attendant stood staring at the suddenly very interesting looking grey rug under his feet.

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***. This is what Süren looks like.