Chapter 1
The sun rose over the country of Draconia. All over the nation dragons were either waking up or falling asleep. The many cities and small villages came to life. Dragons filled the sky.
In the large castle on the northern shore, the royal dragons were waking up themselves. Queen Aurora opened her silver eyes to bright sunlight streaming through the windows, almost blinding her. She yawned and sat up. Her mate, King Re, was still sleeping beside her. Their two dragonets, Prince Apollo and Princess Avalon, were sleeping on a smaller bed of their own.
Aurora gently nudged Re's head. He moaned and hid his head under his wing, without waking up. Aurora narrowed her eyes. She crawled off the bed and stretched. Then she tried again to wake up Re.
"Re, wake up," she snapped. "The Berkians are coming this evening." Re's blue eyes snapped open. He sat up, smacking his lips. He yawned and stretched his wings.
"Alright, I'm up," he said. He crawled off the bed, beside Aurora. "This'll be interesting, our first outside visitors."
"Yes, Draconia must look her best," said Aurora.
"We've been preparing the country for the entire winter," Re pointed out. "And the castle."
"True," said Aurora. She went over to the two dragonets. She nudged them. Avalon opened her eyes first.
"Waky, waky," she cooed. "Our allies are coming today." This news made the two of them jump out of bed. They shook themselves.
"When will they get here?" asked Apollo.
"This evening," said Aurora. "I want the castle to look as neat as possible, so please don't make a mess today."
"Yes, mama," said the two dragonets in unison.
"We'll play outside today," said Avalon.
"Very well," said Aurora. The two dragonets spread their wings and flew out through an open panel in the wall of windows. Re turned to Aurora.
"What's left to be done?" he asked.
"Well, our guests will be tired after that long flight," said Aurora. "We should prepare rooms for them, when they arrive. I also need to secure my antiques. Those items are valuable, and irreplaceable. Those vikings would just love to steal them. Not to mention some of them are very dangerous."
"You go do that, I'll take care of the rooms," Re said. Aurora nodded. She spread her wings and flew out of the room.
She flew down to the castle gallery, where she kept most of her connection. She landed on the bridge that led into the gallery. She entered and looked around. The room was large and round. Items sat on glass pedestals, in glass cases on the walls, or hanging form hooks. The items consisted of mythical objects such as: The Holy Lance, the Aegis, the Ring of Gyges, Poseidon's trident, the Chintamani Stone, the Philosopher's Stone, The Seven-League Boots, the Book of Thoth, the Golden Fleece, the Magic Lamp, Merlin's staff, King Arthur's throne, the Pied Piper's flute, the Cap of Invisibility, Sol's Chariot, and right in the middle of the room was the Cup of Life or Holy Grail.
Aurora glanced at each item in turn. Then she she spat her blue flames all over the room, casting a powerful protection spell. After a while the flames died down, none of the items were burned. Then Aurora made her way down to the lower level of the gallery, where she kept larger items such as the Argo and the Trojan Horse. She cast the same spell on those items as well. With her job done she left the gallery and made her way towards the throne room.
Re and the two dragonets were waiting for her. Tenor, Windwalker, and Black Widow hadn't come in from Mt. Vulcan yet.
"Well my collection is all secure," Aurora said.
"Really I'm amazed that you even have all those items," said Re.
"Yes, I imagine that the whole human race would go to war just to get their hands on just one of them," said Aurora. Re nodded in agreement.
"You sure they're safe from these vikings?" asked Apollo.
"Yes," said Aurora. "I put a spell on that whole gallery, if any one of them tries to touch one of them without permission gets a nasty shock. The only ones who can touch them are everyone who lives in this castle."
"Sounds good," said Re.
"Where's Chris and those guys?" asked Aurora.
"Cleaning their room," said Re.
"I'll go help them," said Aurora. She turned and flew up to the balcony.
She trotted down the hallway, up through the castle to the room the three Draconian humans lived. She crossed the bridge to the blue door, which was propped open. Aurora entered the room. Chris was sweeping the floor, Serenity was washing the Round Table, and Edelweiss was cleaning Excalibur's glass case.
"Everything going swimmingly?" asked Aurora.
"Yes," said Chris. "We're just about done actually." He propped the broom against the wall.
"Is there a table cloth for this? asked Serenity. She gave the Round Table a small pat.
"Unfortunately Arthur never put a table cloth on it," said Aurora. "I never saw a reason to do so either. The table will fine with out one."
"Okay then," said Serenity. She gave the table a final wipe down.
"What about the other items you collected?" asked Chris.
"I put a protection spell on them," said Aurora. "They won't be stolen anytime soon."
"Ah, good," said Serenity. She put the rag and cleaning fluid in the closet.
"The Berkians will be here this evening," said Aurora.
"We're ready," said Chris.
"They probably aren't used to staying in a castle," said Serenity. "The biggest building they have is their great hall."
"They seem willing to adapt," said Aurora. "Well, I let you all know when they're at the Golden Gates."
"Okay," said Serenity. Aurora turned around and left the room. She spread her wings and took off.
Meanwhile in the Draconian city of Apple Grove, Serenity's guardian dragon Ruby and his family were already awake. Harmony was laying on the ledge outside their cave. Ruby and Eider were fishing for trout in the small lake below.
Their cave was located a mile from the main city. The lake spread out in front of the mountain that held the cave. More mountains surrounded the lake, covered in the world's greenest grass. Large Golden Apple Trees formed a forest at the edge of the lake, at the base of the mountains. There were a few meadows in the depths of the forest, colored with wildflowers.
Eider caught a large trout and put it with the other fish he had already caught. He landed and put the fish in a small net that Harmony had made herself. He gathered up the net, spread his wings and flew back towards their cave. Ruby was about to follow him with a larger net of fish, when something caught his eyes. He turned and saw a brown mushroom near the base of a young apple tree. Ruby investigated it closer, something about the shape looked familiar. It looked like a giant, brown prune. He sniffed it. It smelled familiar too. He remembered his older brother Emerald gave him a mushroom that looked and smelled like this one. He remembered Emerald saying it was safe to eat, and tasted like meat. Unfortunately there was only one, so he couldn't bring any back to Harmony and Eider. He shrugged, and gulped down the mushroom, swallowing it whole. Then he spread his wings and flew up to the cave.
He landed on the ledge where Harmony was grooming her feathers, and Eider was climbing the rocks.
"The Berkians are coming today," said Ruby, folding his wings.
"Yeah, its very exciting," said Harmony. "Are we supposed to greet them at the castle?
"No, Re said they'll come here," said Ruby. "So we just to have to wait patiently."
"Sure does save us a trip," said Harmony. Ruby nodded in agreement. He headed into the cave.
The inside of the cave was very spacious and jungly looking. It was lit with glowing crystals. The ceiling was very high, a large hole was cut in the rock to let out smoke. A large pool sat on the opposite side of the room from the entrance. It was lined with white and gold tile and positioned right under the hole above. An enormous, round woven grass mat took up most of the floor, a large fire pit sat in the very center of it. Potted plants were placed in various spots around the room, some hung from the walls. On the wall to the left of the entrance was an enormous, aztec tapestry. It had a brightly colored border and a picture of the Southern Quetzalcoatl dragon in the middle. It had been given to Harmony by the Quetzalcoatl chief himself, as she was a decedent of his kind.
Ruby put all the fish in the small cave off the main one, where thy kept their winter supply. Then he went back outside and laid next to Harmony.
"I hope the jungle theme doesn't bother you," she said.
"Of course not," said Ruby. "You were living in this cave long before we were. I don't mind the jungle theme. Sometimes I forget I'm in Draconia and feel like I'm actually in the jungle" Harmony beamed. She shuffled her feathers.
"I hope to meet the Quetzalcoatl someday," she said.
"At least they know you exist or they wouldn't have sent you that tapestry," Ruby pointed out.
"True," said Harmony. "But they haven't actually met me. Lord Draco sent the chief a vision when I hatched."
"You will," said Ruby. "Even if it means traveling to the jungle yourself." Harmony smiled at him and nuzzled his neck. Just then Eider jumped down from the rocks he was climbing.
"I'm going swimming," he said.
"Alright," said Harmony. "Don't drown." Eider smiled, knowing that the remark was both a joke and serious. He spread his wings and dove down to the lake.
Later in the evening, back at the castle, the royal dragons were waiting patiently for their guest. Tenor, Windwalker, and Black Widow had arrived at the castle a few hours earlier. Edelweiss and the dragonets were running about the castle, killing time until the Berkians arrived. The rest of the royal family were moseying about the place. Aurora used her magic vision to watch for their guests.
Then Aurora could see them approaching the giant wall that surrounded the Draconian waters. She became alert.
"They're almost here," she said. "They're at the wall, and closing."
"Are they bringing the whole village?" asked Re.
"No," said Aurora. "Just the riders, Valka, and Gobber."
"We should get into position," said Re. Aurora clicked her talons together and all four of them were wearing their armor and crowns.
They made their way down to the great hall. Serenity and Chris were there already. Since they didn't have thrones, they stood on the platform next to the thrones. Edelweiss and her friends were running around the entrance hall.
The adults crawled onto their respective thrones. They waited quietly.
"They've never seen the whole castle have they?" said Serenity.
"No," Aurora said. "They've only seen the entrance hall and great hall." Serenity remembered that her memory of the Berkians visiting Draconia was an illusion, and never happened. Aurora clicked her talons, creating two armchairs for Chris and Serenity.
Before long they heard the familiar roar of a Night Fury. They heard the Berkians fly over the castle and land on the front lawn. Aurora clicked her talons, making the large front doors open of their own accord.
The younger Draconians stopped what they were doing when the doors opened. The Berkians entered the entrance hall, enthralled by the size of it. Hiccup was the first to notice Edelweiss and her friends.
"Hey guys," he said.
"Hiya," said Apollo, before the others opened their mouths.
"Where are your parents?" asked Astrid.
"In there," said Avalon, pointing towards the great hall. "Come on we'll show you." The young Draconians lead the Berkians towards the double doors.
"Why would you want to leave this place?" asked Fishlegs.
"There's only so much one can learn staying in one place," said Apollo. "That's what Mama says."
"She has a point," Hiccup agreed.
"This is a nice, cozy castle," said Avalon. "And it's always waiting for us at the end of each summer." At that moment they reached the doors.
In the great hall the adult Draconians heard their guests reach the doors. They swung open, pushed by Apollo and Avalon. The Berkians entered, even more enthralled by the great hall. They walked closer to the thrones.
"Hello," said Re.
"How come you don't carry a scepter?" asked Eret. "I thought all kings carried those."
"Stereotype," said Aurora. "It's pretty hard to carry a scepter when you walk on all fours."
"Oh, yeah, good point," said Eret.
"What's a scepter?" asked Tenor.
"It's a stick, usually made of gold or silver, that royals carry to signify that they have power," Aurora explained. "They're not really that useful."
"I forgot how big this castle is," said Hiccup. "I compare it to Dragon Island."
"So do we," said Re. "This castle has more rooms, because this mountain isn't a volcano."
"You want a full tour?" asked Aurora.
"We would like to settle in first," said Hiccup. "Since we've traveled all day and night."
"Very well," said Re. "I'll show you were your rooms are."
"You can go anywhere you want in this castle," said Aurora. "Just don't steal anything. If you do I'll know it."
"We will bare that in mind," said Hiccup. Re stood up on his throne and glided down to them.
"Do you just sit in those thrones all day?" asked Astrid.
"Only when we're expecting company," said Re.
"Then what do you do when you're not fighting a war?" Hiccup wanted to know.
"All in good time," said Re. He headed towards the doors, and they followed him.
They exited the great hall and up the double curved staircase. They went down the hall. No one said anything for a while. The halls were lined with glowing crystals, petrified wooden doors, and the occasional landscape painting. The walls were made of the same rock as the rest of the mountain. The floors had green carpet.
They went up a wide staircase to the next level. It looked similar to the level below, only it was more twisty. Re led the way down the hall, around the fist bend, then turned into a smaller hallway off the main one. About fifty doors lined it.
"You may have anyone of these rooms," Re said. "They may be a bit grander than you're used to."
"That's okay Re," said Hiccup. "We're adaptable. Thank you." Re nodded, looking pleased. He turned and left them to get settled.