Aurora's request
Aurora always wanted a dragon like Flor. When Morteus, the god of trades, answers her request, Lotus's arrival changes the fate of a family of dragons.
Aurora had always wanted a dragon like Flor.
Anastacia's cousin, she knew the little white-furred baby dragon who accompanied the princess well. Anastacia only had to walk into a room for Flor to drop whatever she was doing and run to her. When the princess was sad, the creature settled in her lap and stayed there, even after falling asleep.
Aurora liked helping to care for Flor. She brought food, joined in the training and let her hide under her coat on cold days. But when Anastacia called, Flor would leave.
Aurora wanted to know that same trust. She wanted a creature who would seek her out first.
So she began asking the gods to send her a dragon.
She made the wish before bed, on visits to temples and sometimes quietly, while watching Flor and Anastacia together.
For a long time, nothing happened.
Until the day the two cousins took Flor to practice flying near the mountains.
The baby dragon was still learning to stay in the air for longer. Anastacia called her from one end of the clearing, and Aurora waited at the other with a piece of fruit to reward her when she arrived.
Flor had just landed beside Anastacia when Aurora heard a call coming from the rocks.
It was a short sound, very like the one Flor made when she wanted attention.
Aurora looked at the baby dragon. Flor was looking toward the sound too.
“Did you hear that?” she asked her cousin.
The call came again.
The two followed the sound to the entrance of a cave. Anastacia went first, with Flor at her feet. Aurora followed close behind.
At the back of the cave stood a portal.
A glowing opening filled part of the wall, and through it they could see another small creature. It was the same size as Flor and pressed its snout against the passage, trying to reach them.
Aurora took a step forward.
Anastacia caught her arm.
Both knew what those portals were. The gods used them to speak to the world's inhabitants and, when they wished, let something cross from one side to the other.
They also recognized the name carved into the stone above the opening.
Morteus.
He was the god of trades.
In the stories they had heard since childhood, Morteus granted wishes other gods ignored. He offered riches, protection, knowledge and even rare creatures. But he always demanded something in payment, and those who accepted his offers could learn too late how much they had given up.
“You are the one who called me so many times,” said a voice through the portal.
Aurora squeezed her cousin's hand.
“I asked for a dragon.”
“And here he is.”
The little creature raised his head at the voice. Flor approached the passage and touched her snout to his. The two sniffed each other through the opening.
“What do you want in return?” Anastacia asked.
“For him and Flor to have offspring when they grow up.”
Aurora waited. She thought the voice would continue, but Morteus remained silent.
“Is that the condition?” she asked.
“You must allow the two to grow up together and have descendants.”
It sounded simple. Flor would have company, Aurora would finally care for her own dragon, and one day others might be born.
Anastacia was still holding her cousin's arm.
“We're talking about Morteus,” she reminded her.
Aurora looked again at the creature on the other side. The little dragon followed every movement of her hand.
“Having babies can be a good thing,” she replied. “Flor won't be alone anymore.”
The two talked near the cave entrance. They tried to find some danger in that demand, but thought only of the work of caring for the dragons and their future young. Neither asked who the offspring would belong to.
When they returned to the portal, Aurora accepted.
The opening widened. The little dragon crossed through, stumbled on a stone, and she caught him.
Aurora held him against her chest.
On the way back to the castle, she decided to call him Lotus.
Flor and Lotus grew up together.
They slept near each other, trained in the same clearing and followed the cousins through the castle gardens. Gradually, Lotus learned to recognize Aurora's footsteps and wait for her by the door.
He had a more difficult temperament than Flor. He complained when he had to stop playing, hid things he found and refused to repeat an exercise after getting it wrong. Aurora needed patience to make him try again.
Even so, he also sought her out when he was frightened and would only settle once she sat beside him.
Aurora loved him. As time passed, she stopped thinking about the cave.
Anastacia grew used to Lotus's presence too. She watched Flor sleep peacefully beside him and began to believe that, this time, a trade with Morteus would end well.
Years later, Flor and Lotus had their first brood.
Four young dragons were born: Aster, Rosel, Iris and Azalor.
The news spread through the kingdom. People knew Flor's courage and knew those little dragons, once grown, could help protect the roads, villages and castle.
For days, Aurora and Anastacia received visitors who wanted to see them. They had to limit visits so Flor could rest.
The four grew under the care of the cousins and the two dragons.
But Aster and Rosel were more trouble.
They fought over food even when there was enough for everyone, pushed their siblings out of the nest and turned games into fights. Aurora often had to separate them.
She put it down to Lotus's temperament. She remembered how stubborn he had been when he was little and believed the young dragons would learn with time too.
Anastacia helped with their training. They taught all four to answer calls, land without hurting themselves and return to their shelter before dark.
Aster and Rosel took longer and longer to obey. Sometimes they stopped what they were doing and stared toward the mountains.
No one knew Morteus was already calling them.
One night, after all four had learned to fly, Aster and Rosel woke at the same time.
Flor and Lotus were sleeping beside Iris and Azalor.
From outside the shelter came a call only they could hear. It was the same sound that had led Aurora to the cave years before.
The young dragons crossed the garden, reached the top of the wall and flew toward the mountains.
Whenever they hesitated, the call came again.
In the cave, they found the portal open.
Morteus guided Aster and Rosel through the passage and took them to a distant camp, where men from Black Sea awaited their arrival.
Black Sea was a group of conquerors who plundered villages and seized territories by force. Its members sought weapons, magic and creatures that would increase their power. Two dragons, raised from a young age to obey their commands, were an advantage they would scarcely have obtained on their own.
Morteus had planned that delivery ever since his meeting with Aurora.
By demanding that Flor and Lotus have children, the god had ensured that new dragons would be born into that world. He intended to take half of the first brood and give them to Black Sea. He had hidden that part of the agreement from the two cousins.
Aurora had believed she was agreeing to care for a family of dragons. Morteus had already chosen Aster and Rosel's fate.
The calls also explained some of the young dragons' restlessness: the god had been drawing their attention and pulling them away from the care of Flor, Lotus and the cousins. That night, he had made the two follow his voice to the passage.
When the portal closed, they were too far away to hear their mother.
At the castle, Flor woke and began searching the shelter. Her calls woke Lotus and, soon after, Aurora.
Anastacia arrived as her cousin searched the garden. They found small marks in the dirt beside the wall, but no sign of a struggle.
To them, Aster and Rosel had run away.
Aurora spent the rest of the night calling for them both, with Lotus by her side. She still did not know that the dragons the kingdom had hoped to raise as protectors would now be raised by its enemies.