Free Dragonvein Book Four by Brian D. Anderson Page B

spirits,” Martok heard him gasp.
    Slowly he opened it fully. Martok was quickly at his side.
    Standing just near the edge of the canyon was an absolutely enormous dragon. Its bright violet scales, caught in the reflection of the morning sun, sparkled as though made from a thousand precious gems. The pure white horns atop its massive head were worn like a crown denoting it as being the king of all beasts and the ultimate authority in power. With silver eyes staring unblinkingly at father and son, it blew out small gusts of steaming hot breath.
    Ralmar remained rooted to the spot, looking on in absolute astonishment. Only when Martok moved forward and stepped outside did he snap out of his stupor.
    “No, Martok,” he said in a hissing whisper. “Stay back. Do not approach it.”
    Martok smiled at his father. “It’s not going to hurt us.”
    “Dragons can be unpredictable. Please. Just stay behind me.”
    The creature let out a deep rumble.
    “He thinks you should be more trusting.”
    Ralmar looked with a stunned expression at his seemingly fearless child. “You can hear it…him?”
     Martok crinkled his brow. “Can you not?”
    “No, son. I can feel his presence. But my connection to these creatures has never been very strong. Others I know of could sense their emotions, but very few have ever been able to actually communicate with them. It’s a rare gift.”
    He could see an odd look of concern on his father’s face. “Heather said I was special. Maybe this is what she meant.”
    The dragon shook his head and hissed.
    Martok nodded in understanding. “He says that you don’t hear him because you're afraid. He says you could hear, if you really wanted to. But most of our family ignores the dragons these days. It's not like before.” He glanced over his shoulder and sighed. “I think they miss us. They want us to come and see them more often.”
    Ralmar slowly advanced and touched Martok on the shoulder. “Stay here, son. Just for a moment.”
    He opened his mouth to protest, but his father persisted. “Please. Just for a minute.”
    Though frowning, he nodded his agreement.
    With his right hand extended in a gesture of friendship, Ralmar cautiously moved forward. The dragon eyed him closely every step of the way. As he drew near, it raised its back. Instinctively, Ralmar cast a protective ward around himself.
    “He’s not going to hurt you, father,” Martok called. “He’s just nervous.”
    A tense laugh slipped out as Ralmar banished the ward. “ He’s nervous?”
    He continued on until only a few feet away from the dragon's maw. A sharp breath grumbled from somewhere deep inside the creature's throat. Ralmar reached up. At first the dragon raised its head away from his touch, then, in a change of heart, gradually lowered it until making contact with just the tips of Ralmar’s fingers.
    “I can hear you,” he whispered in sheer wonder. “Only faintly…but I definitely can.” He turned to call back: “I can hear him, Martok. You were right.”
    After a few seconds of this contact, the dragon raised up and spread its colossal wings. Ralmar took the hint, stepped back a few paces, then hurried over to his son. With a mighty leap the creature was sky born, the wind from its wings howling like a gale. Ralmar could only stare after him as he vanished beyond the tree line.
    “Are you all right, father?” Martok asked, tugging on his sleeve.
    His father lifted him up, cradling him in one arm. “How did you do this?”
    Martok shrugged. “I don’t know. I just did. Heather said I could hear them if I wanted to. She said that before the great mage houses formed, the Dragonvein’s were like a real family to the dragons.”
    Ralmar looked at him in wonder. “What else did she tell you?”
    “Just that I had a great destiny ahead of me.”
    “Nothing else?” he pressed when Martok did not enlarge on this.
    “No, father. Mostly we just played games.”
    “What kind of games?”
    He opened