PART OF HIS HORDE. WITH MOST FEMALES HE BREAKS THEIR WILL BY HIS EVIL-TINGED POWERS, LEAVING THEM MINDLESS PUPPETS. HOWEVER, WITH THE BLACK OF US, HE LET THEM RETAIN SOME FREE WILL. I WISH TO OPPOSE THEM BUT I SEE NO HOPE. ONLY BY JOINING THEM CAN ANY FEMALE SURVIVE, BUT I WOULD PREFER TO DIE FIGHTING THEM.”
“JOIN THEM FOR NOW,” said the green. “BRING ME A MALE EGG BY HIM AND I WILL ADD MY SEED. THE MALE SPAWN OF AN EGG OF ALL COLORS MIGHT YET DESTROY HIM.”
“IF HE FINDS OUT I CARRY A MALE EGG I WOULD BE DESTROYED, AS HE ALLOWS NO RIVALS,” said the black, “BUT IT IS WORTH THE RISK.”
“SUCH ACTIONS WOULD YET AGAIN BREAK THE PACT,” complained a red female. "MULTIPLE COLORS BREAK THE PACT."
“THE PACT HAS FAILED,” responded the green.
“THE EGG WOULD BE OF ALL COLORS,” said the gold. “IT WILL HATCH AN ALL POWERFUL, WHITE ABOMINATION.”
“YES,” said the green. “I WOULD USE HIS OWN GATHERED COLORS AGAINST HIM. BUT IT WILL HAVE IN THE MAIN MY DREAMS, NOT HIS. MY COLOR WILL DOMINATE THE OTHERS. ONLY GREEN WILL SHOW AMONG THE WHITE.”
“HE WILL SEEK OUT THE EGG AND DESTROY IT,” said the gold.
“OR DESTROY THE HATCHLING OR EVEN THE HATCHLING FULL GROWN,” said the black famale. “THE DARK ONE HAS CONSUMED THE POWER OF HUNDREDS OF DRAGONS. HE HAS POWER FROM SIZE AND MATURITY, AND OF ALL COLORS BUT ONE. PLUS HE IS INFECTED WITH EVIL.”
“AND MY OFFSPRING WILL HAVE THE STRENGTH OF ALL COLORS,” said the green. “LET US HOPE IT IS ENOUGH.”
At that point half a dozen female dragons popped into existence next to the golden male, and seared him with green fire before he could do anything to defend himself. Dozens more females appeared throughout the Gathering, attacking as soon as they appeared. The green teleported away even as eight fire breathing females appeared around him.
George opened his eyes to find himself lying in his bed, breathing hard. Several hours had passed and it was the middle of the night.
“I WAS LATER CONCEIVED AS A BLACK EGG RECAST LATER BY GREEN,” said Freedom. “HOWEVER, THE BLACK-CARRIED EGG WAS ENJOINED FIRST BY THE DARK ONE HIMSELF.”
“The egg shell was green, when I saw it,” said George.
“OF THIS MY TRUE SIRE MADE SURE. MY MIGHTY GREEN SIRE PUT ALL HIS STRENGTH INTO ME, AND AS A RESULT DID NOT SURVIVE LONG AFTER. I RECEIVED ONLY HIS DREAMS AND THE LAST OF HIS STRENGTH.”
“You became what we humans call an orphan,” said George.
“MUCH SO. I MORN WITH YOU THE LOSS OF YOUR OWN LIFE GIVERS, AND OF THE ONE CALLED HARRY. FOR A LONG TIME I ONLY DREAMED, AND HAD NO INTEREST IN MATTERS OUTSIDE MY EGG, BUT HARRY AND YOUR OWN MOTHER CHANGED THAT. THEY RENEWED HOPE AND PREPARED ME FOR BIRTH AND MY CHOSEN.”
“Is Jewel is your mother?”
“NO, SHE STOLE ME FROM THE DARK ONE'S HAREM. IN HUMAN TERMS, SHE IS PERHAPS CLOSER TO BEING A STEP-MOTHER. BUT DRAGON WAYS ARE NOT IDENTICAL TO THOSE OF YOURS. FOR DRAGONS IT IS THE MALE ONLY THAT PASSES ON HIS DOMINANT COLOR AND HIS DREAMS, THOUGH BOTH MALE AND FEMALE ARE REQUIRED AS LIFE GIVERS. THE FEMALE SUSTAINS NEW LIFE, GUARDS THE EGG, AND NURTURES THE HATCHLING. BY THE PACT AND LONG PRACTICE ONLY MALES PASS ON COLOR AND DREAMS. THE GREEN DRAGON WAS MY TRUE SIRE. PERHAPS YOUR OWN MOTHER JOAN WAS MORE A MOTHER TO ME THAN WAS JEWEL, FOR WE EXCHANGED MANY THOUGHTS.”
George again reminded himself to finish reading his mother’s journal. “Is that why you picked me to be your Chosen?”
“THAT IS ONE REASON. EVEN WITH HUMANS TO KNOW THE PARENTS IS TO KNOW MUCH OF THE OFFSPRING.”
“Why didn’t you pick Harry?”
“I HAD MUCH TO LEARN, BEFORE TAKING THE DANGEROUS STEP OF LEAVING THE EGG. BY THE TIME I TRUSTED HARRY, HE WAS SIMPLY TOO OLD. UNTIL RECENTLY, I DIDN’T KNOW THAT HUMANS WERE SO SHORT LIVED. THE CONCEPT OF AGING WAS NOT KNOWN TO ME. BUT THEN THE DISCOVERY OF MY EGG BY THE BLACK HORDE SISTERS FORCED ME TO ACTION.”
“And I happened to be on hand.”
“AS I DREAMED YOU WOULD BE.”
“Your dreams can see the future?”
“FUTURE, PAST, AND PRESENT, BUT FUTURE DREAMS REFLECT MANY POTENTIAL REALITIES.”
“What do you see in our future?”
“MUCH TROUBLE.”
George wasn’t surprised. “Will we win?”
“THAT CAN NOT BE SEEN CLEARLY; THERE ARE SO MANY POSSIBILITIES THAT NONE STAND OUT. MY SCRYING OF THE NEAR FUTURE SEEMS WORTHLESS.”
“Great. How much of this can I tell Mary and Johnny, or Grog and the elves? Is your name and everything else a secret that I must keep?”
“NOT AT ALL. FOR THOSE THAT KNOW OF ME THEY CAN KNOW MY NAME AND EVERYTHING ELSE YOU HAVE LEARNED, DESPITE WHAT SILLY ELF LEGENDS MAY SAY.”
"So elf legends of warning can be wrong then? That's pretty interesting in itself. I don’t suppose it would do any good for this human to warn you away from human libraries and pets?”
The dragon laughed. Laughter without sound was strange; it was a chaos of emotion and gibberish. “TAKE ME WITH YOU ON YOUR FINGER TO LIBRARIES AND I WON’T NEED TO GO ALONE. AS TO PETS, THEY SENSE ME SOMETIMES AND FLEE; I DO NOT EAT THEM. I EAT WHAT YOU CALL ENERGY: SUNSHINE AND ELECTRICITY AND WARMTH. SOMETIMES I ALSO EAT IRON OR OTHER INERT SUBSTANCES.”
“You don’t eat other life? What about elves?”
“I TASTE WHAT YOU TASTE, THOUGH FOOD DOES NOT MUCH INTEREST ME AS AN ENERGY SOURCE. I HAVE MY OWN LIFE FORCE. FOR ME TO CONSUME LIFE NEEDLESSLY WOULD BE A PERVERSION, FOR I WOULD DEVOUR SOUL AS WELL AS BODY. DRAGONS HAVE AT TIMES CONSUMED ELF WIZARDS OR OTHERS THAT OPPOSE THEM, BUT ONLY IN ORDER TO ABSORB OR NULLIFY THEIR POWERS.”
“Witches do that sort of thing,” George noted.
“SO I’M TOLD. THAT ONE YOU WORRY ABOUT, GREBLE, SHE IS THE CREATURE CARRYING EVIL THAT CAME HERE THROUGH THE PORTAL?”
“That’s the theory.”
“SHE IS ON THIS WORLD NOW, BUT FAR FROM HERE.”
“You know where she is?”
“NOT EXACTLY. AT THIS DISTANCE I CAN NOT SCRY HER CLEARLY. I KNOW ONLY THAT SHE IS FAR: THE OTHER SIDE OF EARTH. SHE AWAKENS EVIL.”
“What do you mean?”
“ANCIENT, DESTRUCTIVE ELEMENTALS OF EARTH. SHE WAKENS THEM.”
“Why?”
“I DO NOT KNOW.”
****