Chapter 57
By lunch time, the dragons had become so accustomed to all the people crowded around fussing over them, Calla actually feared they may not want to leave. It was is if they had found the perfect place for dragons and humans to reintegrate after a thousand years of separation. Once work had commenced, word had gone out to the rest of the Leclerc extended family so even more people had poured in to have the experience of seeing the dragons for themselves, and they were all soon been drafted into helping the more expert leather workers with their tasks. There were now so many offspring running about, that the adult workers had been forced to shoo away the smaller children who were always under foot, not to mention under dragon. Fortunately though the Terrible Terrors made very good playmates and babysitters; all except for Firefly who had been taken into the workshop by one of Jeremies more inventive sons.
As soon as Jeremie had returned from the rear of the farmhouse, he had made straight for Calla and steered her away from Windstorm to introduce her to one of his daughters.
"Calla my dear, zis is Collette" he told her "She is married to a very nice young man from Austria, and she has a few things to show you."
"But I..." Calla tried to say she was too busy.
"But nothing sweetie, you must come with me" Collette smiled as she half dragged the young Dragon Rider away.
"Now who is next?" Jeremie asked himself "Ah... the tall girl with the metal leg."
He had just spotted Haley returning from her short walk with Mallory, and had instantly decided she too needed his help.
""Excuse me my dear, but this old man has forgotten your name" Jeremie admitted.
"It's Haley sir" she answered.
"Of course Haley; a beautiful name for a beautiful woman."
"You really are French, aren't you?" Haley smiled.
"Of course, if course... now come with me."
Over at the Zippleback, Abigail and Gage were still sitting high in their saddles while more Leclercs took measurements of the dragon's chest. One bright young woman had pointed out that this particular dragon had a very broad flat body and could use some protection from ground fire.
"Gage, I would like to talk to you" Mallory called out.
It only took a whisper and a pat on the neck for Gage to get Ricky to lower him to the ground but when he tried to get off, Zippleback jealousy returned for a second round so Abigail had to dismount too, just to keep the dragons life in equilibrium.
"Oui Mama?" the boy answered when he was finally on the ground.
"I can promise you nothing, but when we get home your father and I will discuss this whole Dragon Rider idea, and you will abide by our decision; alright?"
"Er... oui Mama... merci Mama" the young boy could not stop his heart from beating faster.
Early in the afternoon, Blue and Calla finally returned and both were looking rather sore and tired.
"You wouldn't believe what I've been doing" Calla said to Blue as she rubbed her shoulder.
"Oh... I rather think I I would" Blue replied having noticed the woman accompanying Calla was carrying two fencing foils.
"I don't know about you, but I could use some lunch" Calla noted.
"Non non non, lunch will have to wait a little longer" Jeremie Leclerc declared as he to returned with Haley, who now sported some new accessories.
"Get a load of this lot" she smiled as she showed off the harness, cross strapped across her chest.
"I have had similar items made for the rest of you, so you must come for the fitting" Jeremie ordered.
Inside the workshop, Blue was presented with a type of vest he had never seen before. The front of the soft leather consisted of two inverted triangles; the left flap crossed the chest and was hooked just below the right shoulder then the right flap crossed the other was and was buckled down the left side. On the upper front, close to the left shoulder, was what appeared to be a long upside-down leather pocket with hooks on each side of the opening.
"What's this for" Blue asked.
"For this" Leclerc replied as he produced a small hunting knife.
"But I've already got a pocket knife" Blue shrugged.
"Pffft, pocket knife" Jeremie snorted "and what will you do when someone throw a rope around your dragon? Will you take out your little pocket knife you use to peel fruit, and spend half an hour trying to cut the rope and free the dragon? NON! You will take this and do the job in mere seconds. Based on what I have been told of your journey so far, you need to be better prepared for what faces you out there; each of your riders will also have a necessary tool such as this to carry on their person."
"I must admit, I like this" Calla said when she appeared wearing a cross strap similar to Haley's, but with shoulder guards where her knife was mounted.
"What about these little thingies? Blue asked about two eyelets hanging just below each hip.
"I have had hook straps sewn on to each side of your saddles. A horse only travels with its hooves on the ground, but a dragon can fly in any direction. These will help you stay firmly in place should you need to use a little finesse while you are flying."
"You've thought of everything Mister Leclerc" Calla grinned.
"I wish I could be sure that I had" Jeremie replied "Now you will send in the other young lady to receive her flying outfit."
"What about Gage?" Calla asked.
"What about him?" Jeremie shrugged.
"Didn't you see him on the Zippleback? He might be joining the Dragon Riders, if his Dad says it's okay" Calla answered.
"MON DEIU! WHY DOES NOBODY TELL ME THESE THINGS?" Leclerc threw up his arms and stormed outside.
As he left, one of the old man's many relatives came up holding Firefly.
"Where is Uncle Jeremie going? I needed to get his approval for this."
As soon as the little dragon saw Blue, he jumped out of the man's arms to greet his friend.
"Hey little buddy, what are you wearing?" Blue asked the dragon, but of course it was Jeremie's nephew who replied.
"We had the idea to fit zis little harness to your tiny dragon. It has the tube attached so he can carry the notes."
"Ah, Terror Mail; just like the Dragon Riders used to do" Blue smiled.
"You mean... it has been done before?' the poor man looked disappointed.
"Uh... no... I mean not for over a thousand years. It was very clever of you to rediscover this method on your own" Blue said encouragingly "I've done a lot of study on the old Dragon Riders of Berk, and I didn't even think of it."
"I suppose... but I really thought we'd come up with something original."
"Always remember though, we may be the first Dragon Riders you've ever seen, but we're far from being the first Dragon Riders. Nothing my friends and I are doing is new or original" Blue pointed out.
"Hmm... I guess you're right... merci" the man smiled and walked away.
'
'
"We're ready to power up the new section of the railgun Doctor Spencer."
"Alright people, let's take it slow; increments of 20% please" Sarah ordered.
"I hope this goes well Doctor" Sage remarked.
"I doubt it will, but we have to try and find any flaws in construction before we resume operations."
"Do you expect any delay to first launch?"
"No, we're slightly ahead of schedule so even if there are early maintenance issues, supply launches should still begin when the MTV is ready to receive them" Sarah said with confidence.
As the people in the control room watched the power gauge slowly climb, a very quiet alarm sounded but it was not from the monitoring equipment, it came from the pocket of April Dias.
"With your permission General?" April asked.
"Yes, go" Sage waved her off.
Sometimes there were unexpected advantages to being the mother of a small baby. Sage had become so accustomed to April's alarm notifying her it was feeding time for little Rose, he no longer cared to argue about her disappearances and was now letting her go to her rooms by herself. There were guards posted at all critical systems and at every exit, so he knew she could not commit any form of sabotage, but he did not know there was something else she could do.
"Hello Sue, was Rose good?" April asked her overqualified babysitter.
"She slept for about ninety minutes, but was a bit cranky when she woke up."
"I'm sure she's just hungry."
"Well I'd better get back to work" Sue shrugged "Those solid rocket motors won't refurbish themselves."
"Bye... and thanks again" April called out before locking the door to the corridor.
Picking up her baby, April sat on the couch and began feeding while waiting for the soft sound of someone sneaking though the air vent. It was such an old and clichéd method of keeping concealed, but April was surprised at how well it worked.
"Are you there yet Mrs. D?" a voice whispered.
"Yes Shifty, I'm here" April replied.
"Good; I don't want to hang around long in this pipe, it's really stuffy today."
"Oh, hang on Shifty."
April reached down to pick up a small remote control from the coffee table and pressed one of the buttons a few times.
"Okay I've lowered the thermostat in this room a few degrees, so you should feel a breeze soon."
"Thanks Mrs. D, you're a lifesaver" Shifty said with relief.
"Anything to report?" April asked.
"The good news is there is no bad news, and the bad news is there's no good news; things are pretty static outside."
"Okay then; keep your heads low and let me know if any ships arrive."
"Will do... er... can you tell me what you've got planed for Sage yet?"
"How many times do I have to tell you Shifty, there is no other plan than send Sage and his army to Mars, so we can get back to taking care of the people of Earth."
"Yeah yeah... I just think you're missing out on a great opportunity.'
"That's dangerous talk Shifty, so drop it" April insisted.
"If you say so... I'll talk to you in a few days... unless I have anything to report sooner."
"Thank you Shifty" April replied as the young man shuffled quietly off.
April hated having to lie to him, but then again she hated to lie to everyone. Except Sage of course, she enjoyed lying to him. April and Sarah knew it was safer if they confided in nobody, then there was little to no chance of the wrong person finding out.
It took Shifty close to an hour to make his way back to the point where the air vent turned up by forty five degrees and headed to the surface; here he found the rope that had previously been used to lower him down, attached to an old hessian sack. He placed one foot in the end loop rope, lay down onto the sack and tugged to signal his readiness to his friends on the surface. The rope soon went taught and he began to move up towards the bright daylight, two hundred meters above him.
Alvin Cloud Dancer, known to many as Shifty, had been one of the refugees to have fled El Centro California after the arrival of Neville Sage, and the murder of Prime Governor Redding. While most of his friends and neighbours had moved in to the Railgun Complex and been trapped when Sage's Raiders had followed them across the Pacific, several of the newcomers had hidden out in the jungle forest, roughly halfway between the complex and the town of Panjang.
After much hauling and sweating, Shifty's father Smit and his friend Gavin succeeded in retrieving the young man.
"Any word?" Gavin asked as soon as Shifty reached the surface.
"No Gavin, though I must admit I didn't ask."
"Why not?" Gavin gasped "You know Haley and the others should be back by now!"
"Of course; we all know they're late but we also know they got sidetracked."
"What I really want to know is why" Gavin stated.
"You're just afraid of the way Haley's father looks at you" Shifty said as he untangled his foot from the rope.
"Why is it always me Cid asks if there is any news of his daughter? That look of disappointment and anger he gives me when I say no, it scares the life out of me; he looks like he's about to tear out my heart and show it to me before I die."
"Don't be so melodramatic" Smit Cloud Dancer told the frightened Gavin "He only looks that way because he's worried about Haley; and besides, has he ever hit you before?"
"No... but there's always a first time" Gavin pointed out.
"Well you hang back at the rear and I'll tell him" Smit offered.
"Good... I'd like that" Gavin nodded as the three men walked off into the forest "What do you think is holding them up?"
"Maybe they had to fight of a giant sea monster" Shifty suggested while employing a very creepy voice.
"Yeah and maybe you're an idiot" Gavin replied.
"As his father, I can confirm your hypothesis" Smit nodded.
"... ... ... ... ...thanks a lot dad" Shifty sneered.
'
'
Not sure if Shifty, Gavin, Smit and Cid are remembered, but they were characters from Calafornia in Red Sky Rising, and I had always planed to bring back.
I just realised how close we are to the end of the story with less than ten chapters left to go. All the more reason to get to work on the next one I suppose ;)
With the summer heat gone the grass has made a rapid return so it's out with the electric lawn mower so I can stage a counterattack; I just have to re-train myself not to run over the extension cord (ZAP, sizzle)
Back soon, Marty.