"Put him down Miro," said Delphi.
The dragon unceremoniously dumped Alton on the ground and walked off disdainfully with his fellows, where they settled themselves further down the tunnel.
Alton dusted himself off and strode over to Delphi, gripping her arm. He watched in amazement as Delphi wiped the poison off on her dress and showed him her arm, which looked perfect.
He raised his eyebrows at her. "What the hell Delphi?"
"I know," she shrugged. "That's the secret I was trying to tell you before you shoved me outside and locked the door." She raised both palms at him in a WTF gesture.
"Well excuse me for trying to save your life. I'm not going to apologise for it if that's what you're hoping. What is this?" he gestured at the group of dragons. "How long have you known you can control them?"
"Since a few days ago. We discovered it by accident when we were attacked by them at Dadswell's Bridge. I was being dragged by the ankle by Miro when we think he got a taste of my blood. The minute he drew blood; they stopped attacking us and lay down."
"Is that how you got that injury to your butt?"
"Yup," she laughed. "That's why I couldn't tell you what happened."
"So you already knew you could control them when I came to warn you about them at the Town Hall," he growled at her. It wasn't a question.
She nodded. "You were pursuing us then, trying to tie us up and take us back to the Island. Why would I tell you something that might help you with those nefarious aims?"
"Fair enough," he said grudgingly. To be fair to the woman, he hadn't agreed they might not carry out their orders until a few hours ago. "So what do you know so far?"
"It seems to be a link through my blood to the dragons. My ancestor was General Thibault Chastain who helped create them and lead them in their biggest battles. Maybe he put a biomarker in their DNA to recognise certain trusted people by their blood? I have no idea. In any event, I can control them. I'm not sure if they understand what I say, or if they understand gestures and sign language, but I've been able to give them basic commands. We can all ride them, but they ultimately answer to me ahead of any of the other girls. I can override my team's commands if I want to," she said seriously. "They have a hive mind; I communicate with Miro, and he shares the orders with the other dragons. We haven't started battle training with them yet, but that's what comes next," she said with excitement, her eyes lighting up at the prospect.
"Incredible," Alton breathed. "This could be a game changer…"
"Not 'could.' 'Is'."
Alton felt the dark cloud that had been hanging over him for the past few days, lift.
With the ability to control the tubiàn dragons, they actually stood a chance against the Empire with the right planning, campaign and recruitment.
He could in good conscience, let his men choose their path ahead. The dice had rolled in Delphi's favour, and he could lead his men alongside her.
"You're a crazy woman, you know that," he said happily, grabbing her head and sticking it under his arm where he mussed her hair the wrong way.
"Hey!" she complained.
Miro hissed angrily from his position halfway down the tunnel.
"It's alright Miro," she called lightly, laughing.
Alton set her free and nodded with approval at the big dragon.
"He and I are going to get on just fine," he grinned.
Any beast that wanted to protect his woman as much as he did, got top marks in his book.
"Only you would get yourself in a situation where you were so close to death that a dragon tasted your blood, without killing you, woman. The secret of the dragon riders has been hidden for so long because anyone else with the right blood either hasn't been tasted by a dragon, or died before they could control them. I shudder to think about what must have happened that day. You must all have been inches away from being killed…"
"No comment," she said sullenly. "And I wasn't planning to go down without some serious fighting."
"These guys would eat your fighting for breakfast I'm afraid. They could brush their teeth in the morning with you lot."
"Alright, alright, enough with the over-protective insults."
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Come and introduce me to them."
Delphi walked Alton up to the beasts and started to point them out to him.
"Alinta, Winter's dragon. That's Jannali, she's Lili's. This is Bouddi, Ruby chose him after her first dragon was killed, but that's another story. Pawee is Arrie's, and he is a rascal. Balai belongs to Indy, Menny is Loveday's and Rulli here is Feifei's boy. And this big boy here who you've already met, is Miro."
Delphi gave him a familiar pat on the side and the dragon proudly held his head up high.
"He's the leader and he's very strong. A good fighter."
"Miro, huh? Spear. I thought you were shouting out 'mirror, mirror'. I hoped you hadn't gone cray-cray. Can I touch him?"
"Sure, while I'm around. I wouldn't risk it if I'm not…"
Alton reached out slowly and gave the creature a stroke on the chest. Miro looked down at him dismissively, but didn't object. It was more like the man was beneath his notice.
Alton laughed. "So that's how it is, is it big fella?"
"There are two more dragons we brought along as spare fighters. We haven't named them yet," Delphi pointed at the two as yet unnamed creatures.
"Were there more? It would be ideal if we had mounts for all of my men. It will make a big difference to their mindset. I'm not planning to force anyone to join this rebellion, so they all have to make up their own minds."
"There were others, and that's a great idea. Why don't we head out together at dawn and bring back enough dragons for everyone?"
Alton nodded decisively. "Dawn it is. We may as well stay up and watch the sun come up together now then."
"Perfect. I'm too wired to sleep for a few hours anyway."
Delphi and Alton sat perched on their rooftop eyrie, watching as the dark night sky gradually became streaked with shades of yellow and orange sunlight.
"How beautiful," Delphi sighed.
"Mmhm," Alton agreed, staring at her from his position just slightly behind the woman.