Dragons of the Smoking Mountain: Book 1: Odessa

By Donna Louise

In a world where dragons rule the skies while people claim the land, the dragon population is dwindling fast, thanks to hunters. Inside the safety of nesting caves, where magic spells keep strangers away, eggs hold dragons who will one day hatch, grow, and make the long journey to Smoking Mountain to join the dragon society.

Odessa, a little bronze dragon, grows quickly while practicing his flying skillsuntil the day he unwittingly endangers the rest of the dragons. He is asked to leave immediately and reluctantly heads south. But he becomes lost and decides to return home and hide deep within a nesting cave.

As he remains concealed for years, Odessa comes to accept his solitary existence without any idea that the dragons, fearing extinction, have decided to trust people with the fate of their young. Three teens are chosen to accompany the latest hatchlings to Smoking Mountain to protect them from hunters. This sets in motion a chain of events that prompts Odessa to reveal himself and embark on a dangerous quest with a young dragon friend to find fairies who disappeared hundreds of years ago.

In this charming fantasy, two dragons must rely on their ingenuity and instincts to find the fairies before the nets come down and change their lives forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 23, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491706985

Donna Louise

Donna Louise lives with her life partner, Patrick, and her two dogs, Jake and Chester, in Ontario, Canada, where she is writing her next novel.

Book preview

CONTENTS

Authors Note

Introduction

PART ONE ODESSA

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

PART TWO THE CHOSEN

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

PART THREE THE JOURNEY

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

PART FOUR THE QUEST

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

For Patrick Hogan

Without his love and encouragement

I would never have made this step

And to my friend Shana, and my daughter Jennifer for having faith.

AUTHORS NOTE

I wrote this book while taking a computer coarse at the Prince Edward Learning Centre (P.E.L.C) many years ago. If it wasn’t for the kindness and caring from Keith and Linda, I would likely never have written a novel. They have gone above and beyond when it comes to their students. I among many other giving them my undying gratitude. Thank-you all at P.E.L.C.

INTRODUCTION

The World’s history is vast. This was the time when Dragons ruled the skies, while ground inhabitants vied to rule the land. Food was plentiful and times were good for all. There was a place for them, be they large or small. Be it tree or mountain, river, or valley, the World provided everything in abundance.

When the Creator added people they soon began to spread out to occupy more space every day. In the beginning, when these strange animals walking upright first appeared, the Dragons were curious about them. Some of the young Dragons even befriended them. But as the people evolved they changed, becoming more aggressive and demanding. As a result, the Dragons decided it was best just to avoid them.

Many of the intelligent animals of that time, watched as the people felled the majestic trees, and the land was cleared for new homesteads, which appeared on a regular basis. While elsewhere, places were abandoned all the time for various reasons.

Predominantly it was because the surrounding land was too hostile to tame, with many lives lost. When the people finally surrender to the elements, the devastation left behind takes the land many years to heal. The scars remain forever. The wildlife of this time wept to see the ruination left in the human’s wake. They were powerless to do anything about it.

At that time there lived a Dragon, with magic that was his to command. He took it upon himself to lay down a wide-ranging spell from the cave where their eggs are laid, to the place the young journey to after hatching. Its purpose was to turn back any of these dwellers, that had built their homes inadvertently in front of the cavern that leads to the nesting grounds, thus keeping their young safe from discovery. The Dragons didn’t want any of the people venturing too close to their favorite gathering place either, while they waited for their brood to join them. So any people who strayed to within the spells range got the feeling that it was time to go home. The thought of going that way never occurred to them again.

To an acute observer, the benefits of living within the spell’s range were comprehended immediately. As a result many have remained undetected for countless years. Being undetected meant survival.

Dragons are a long lived species, some reaching a thousand years old a few going past that age. It’s because of this that few young are born to them. It was unusual for a female to lay eggs more the once in her lifetime. If more were born, the world would soon be overrun by them. This breeding strategy has worked since time immemorial. One of the things the people didn’t know about them, was that Dragons are magical creatures that can communicate telepathically, (if they so choose) with any living creature, to some degree. The exception possibly being insects. Some are better at it than others. They can hear the thoughts that lie close to the surface of the mind, like we hear sound. Usually they block it out, Dragons predominantly prefer only to communicate with their own kind. If something is close by and in distress, it’s almost impossible to block out. That makes them strict vegetarians, after all how could they eat something when the distress can be heard vibrating through the link they had with all the living things around them. After reaching full growth eating becomes unnecessary, but many still eat for enjoyment.

PART ONE

ODESSA

CHAPTER ONE

D aisy was drifting on the air currents, enjoying the wind on her face as she headed toward the nesting cave. Her hands full of ripe red apples she was leaving for the next young when they hatch. Instinct told her where to go not having been back to the place of her birth since leaving fifteen years ago for the Smoking Mountain. As she landed her senses tuned in for any thoughts that someone might have seen her fly by. Not that she was worried, Daisy had confidence in her ability to remain unseen. After landing her second thought was how small the cave seamed compared to the last time she was there. Now she was more than half grown, close to fifteen feet tall her wing span being as wide as she was tall. It had seemed so much bigger back then. How well she remembered her own time here. The Dragon, old Cork was there when she and her brother Leo hatched. Having been taught since hatching by him, and then a new teacher every day thereafter, till they left for the Smoking Mountain, they learned quickly. The trip on their own was a bit scary, but most living within the spells boundary knew better than to mess with Dragons no matter what their size.

As Daisy looked toward the back of the cave she could see the food offerings that others had left for the next hatchlings. She walked over to add the apples to the growing pile. It was a long walk to the Smoking Mountain for the young. A trip they had to make on their own since the area they had to go through was too crowded with ancient trees, making it impossible for the larger Dragons to get through. The young won’t master flying till they reach about seven months old. So they walked on their own, till they reached the Smoking Mountain, to join with Dragon society.

To the left and slightly rising was rough cut stairs, which led to the maze exit that all Dragons prayed to the Creator that no people would ever find their way down. Just thinking about what might happen to the eggs if they were discovered sent a shiver down her spine.

***

In the dead of night, Nessa neared the entrance to the cave. Darkness obscured all but the faint outlines of objects as she winged passed them. Her every thought was focused on entering undetected. Heavy with eggs, the only thought going through her mind was remaining undiscovered. As soon as her feet found purchase in the soft sand, her senses instantaneously scanned the surrounding area for any sign she’d been detected.

Satisfied she had entered unobserved, she went about building the barrier from intrusion on the inner side, and to keep the food fresh for the three months it would take for her eggs to hatch. When the time neared for her to lay the eggs, she along with and others, started leaving food here for the time when it would be needed for her young. All Dragons know about the spell to keep anything from finding their way down through the maze, but being a new Mother she wasn’t about to take any chances. In her twenty-six years of life she’d learned never to take anything for granted. People as of yet hadn’t found their way down through the maze, but they’ve shown great resourcefulness in the past. She wasn’t about to gamble on the lives of her unborn young.

Her job done, she paused to take one last look around. Confident in her endeavor, she took a final look at her eggs, one was bronze and the other was sky blue with small flecks of green. As she left the nesting cave, leaving them to the elements, she said a little prayer to the Creator of all life, to keep them safe and hatch healthy.

***

A little over three months later, two days had passed since they’d hatched. Odessa is a bronze Dragon, and he was more than ready to go. Anise is sky blue with a sparkles of green, glowing like flecks of emeralds from her throat down across her belly, all the way to the tip of her tail. She was smaller than Odessa was, so they chose to wait one more day before leaving the safety of the cave.

The next day he waited impatiently for darkness to obscure their exit from the confines of the cavern. He spent his time staring out the exit and pacing back and forth till Anise had enough.

Odessa, if you don’t stop you’re going to be too tired to travel tonight. You know how important it is that we get as far away from this place as we can before daybreak. And I don’t fancy walking through that cloud of dust your raising when we leave.

I can’t help it Ani, I’m too excited about discovering the world. I want to see everything the senior Dragons have told us about since we hatched.

There’s nothing wrong with being excited, I’m just saying don’t wear yourself out before we leave. Exercise your wings more if you have to do something to take your mind off leaving.

As night shadows finally started to blanket the area in darkness, Odessa was laying by the back egress on his belly, spellbound by what he knew, but could only imagine, was waiting out there. His impatience to start discovering it vibrating through him. It was barely dark and he couldn’t wait any longer.

Are you ready to go, Ani?

Alright Odessa, you go first, I’ll be right behind you.

A couple of days before they hatch, an experienced Dragon is designated to watch over the brood. When the eggs hatch they begin educating the young. Every day another takes their place till the hatchlings leave on their first journey, to reach the Smoking Mountain.

Morph is a burnt orange Dragon, around twenty-seven feet tall, and he is almost a hundred years old.

He was the designated watcher on the night they were to leave for the Smoking Mountain, and while Odessa was flapping his wings to break his fall to the ground, he was laughing at how clumsy he was. Every new hatchling was awkward the first time they used their wings, but to him it was always amusing to watch. That’s why he invariably offered to watch on the last day. It wasn’t unknown for the young to injure themselves in landing, rare in fact, but not impossible, hence someone was watching. After Anise made it safely to the ground they headed in the direction of the Smoking Mountain as fast as possible.

Morph flew back to the Mountain and reported all was well and they were safely on their way. The young at this age, since time began, were on their own.

***

When the sun crested the ridge and the night shadows were dispersing, Odessa and Anise were miles away from the place of their birth. They found a suitable place to hide for the day and settle for the duration. They found a tree with roots so thick, showing above the ground, that there was enough space between two for them to lay down comfortably, and not be noticed by anything not passing close to the enormous tree. Both were asleep in minutes.

Odessa didn’t stay that way for more than an hour though. He wanted to see everything in the light and discover whatever wonders the area had. He stood in one spot and did a slow circle looking at trees, birds, bugs, it all fascinated him. Knowing he couldn’t leave the shelter on fear of discovery he went and laid back down beside Anise, and dreamed of a time when he could see everything in the daylight without fear of being discovered.

After a couple of weeks travel they made it to their destination on the Smoking Mountain with few problems, and took their places within the Dragon society.

Once there all Dragons take part in the education of young Dragons, they unconditionally share what they know for the benefit of all. Odessa started asking questions as soon as he got there. Almost but not quite driving the other Dragons to distraction, they are a very patient species.

Odessa wasn’t content to stay in one area for long. One day he approached old Gordy with a question.

Do I have to stay here?

Where would you prefer to be, young one?

I was just thinking about exploring the realm we live in.

I don’t see why you can’t, but you must be very careful in doing so, Odessa, have you been shown how to blend in with the background yet? Instead of answering he just disappeared to show that he’d been paying attention to what he’d been taught. Gordy just chuckled and wished him luck as he went to join others not far off enjoying a shaded spot under a large tree.

As Odessa left the area he was so fired up he had a hard time keeping himself composed. He stood at the top of a hill and tried his wings out. Each time he did this he always flew a little further. After a few months of investigating the surrounding area, each time going a bit farther, he was primed to experience something different.

Odessa was scarcely past seven months old, still learning to fly, but hadn’t quite mastered it yet. He’d been told that it takes months and years of practice, to truly master flying. It didn’t matter to him, he was still full of the vigour’s of youth. As far as he was concerned he could fly almost as well as the old ones. So what it took him a bit longer to reach the same height as them!

The area he was in, was as yet unfamiliar to him. He was at the edge of the magic spell that kept people from finding the Dragons, but it ended part way through a large forest area with huge trees for cover, some up to and some surpassing ten feet in diameter. On the other side of the trees was a large meadow. Lush green grass with purple, pink and white clover splashed all through it, past that there was a large fresh water lake.

A calf was playing with him at the edge of the tree line. He would chase the calf, then the calf would kick up his heels and chase him. They were enjoying themselves and having great fun. They were both young and full of energy.

As the calf chased him, he decided to try his wings out, with a powerful thrust, up he went. He went farther and faster than he had ever gone previously, as the calf watched.

I love flying, Odessa thought as he spiralled towards the heavens. He was so happy with this new found freedom. As he was lazily drifting back towards the ground, he attempted to communicate with his new friend, he discovered that something was wrong. His friend was calling for help, and there was pain vibrating through the link. As he came in to land, he saw a wolf running away. He landed beside the young calf who was bleeding profusely, from several puncture wounds inflicted by the wolf. Odessa didn’t know what to do. In his panic it didn’t occur to him to try healing, one of his more recent endeavours. After all, there isn’t much to practice the skill on at the Smoking Mountain. Instead he was trying to calm the frightened calf, when he heard someone yelling. He looked up to see a person running towards him, waving his arms and shouting at him to get away. He did just that, with a mighty thrust of his wings he was in the air in no time at all. He knew after scanning the person’s thoughts that he cared about the animal and would do what he could to help his friend, the calf.

I’m getting better at this flying business he thought, not thinking much more about what happened to the calf. When he rejoined the other dragons, he discovered they were already talking about what happened. Unbeknownst to him someone had been going by at the time and had been watching. He didn’t understand what they were saying! Old Gordy asked him what happened. He told them about playing with the calf and having a lot of fun, then when he tried out his wings a wolf attracted his friend.

But it’s alright, there was a person there to help. I could tell he cared about the calf.

He was not prepared for what happened next.

These people are dangerous, Odessa, more so than the wolf that attacked your friend. They think you attacked and killed that calf. We know you didn’t, but we can’t risk retaliation

This confused him. What does that mean, Gord?

That means that you will have to go away. We think that if they see you, many of us may be killed to get to you. So your life and all of our lives are in great danger if you stay here.

But why would they do that?

That’s just the way people are.

Where will I go?

There are others like us, to the south, and we are confident they will accept you. Others have joined them before, and we have been joined by some of them.

When can I come back, Ellie? Odessa asked, as he looked from one to another, getting more frightened by the minute. His eyes finally resting on Ellie. Who just looked at him with sad eyes?

Never. Gordy answered him with heavy sadness in his voice.

They gave him basic directions and told him of landmarks to look out for. Pollie, having lived in the south for many years before, made sure he understood and was only satisfied after he could repeat them back to her.

That evening after he left, the other Dragons tried to comfort Nessa, who was distraught over the situation. Pollie was the most recent of them to reappear from the south. Try not to worry too much Nessa, everyone in the south will accept him and treat him as if he was one of their own. Just as you accepted me back, they will welcome him.

I hope you’re right Pollie. Inside she had her doubts, all she could do was hope everything worked out for the best. After Nessa’s brood-mate had been killed by people, she hadn’t really talked to the Creator more than in short statements. She decided to set her anger aside and silently asked for a little intervention on behalf of Odessa. She strongly hoped he was paying attention.

CHAPTER TWO

O dessa’s mind was in total chaos, his thoughts were a jumble of confusion. Everything had happened so fast he didn’t have time to really reflect on what this would signify in his life. In the relatively short time since he’d hatched, he’d tried to learn everything he could as fast as possible. His motives were so he could do more exploring. He never in his wildest dreams thought he would have to leave his home. It devastated him to think he’d never see his mother or his sister again.

It was only supposed to take a few days to reach the others in the south and it had already been three days. Either he misunderstood the directions or they’d moved on to somewhere else. Or maybe his sense of direction just sucks, and he got himself lost. On the fourth day, not knowing what else to do, he made his way back towards his home. All Dragons are born knowing where the nesting grounds are, so he just let his instinct guide him. When he reached the nesting grounds, he flew in the cave and decided to contemplate his life there and determine what he should do next.

After a few days he realized he couldn’t stay in the nesting cave much longer, for fear of being discovered by a female checking out the site for her eggs. During his nights he’d checked out the area. Although he had adequate night vision he couldn’t make out much detail. He decided to take advantage of his near invisibility and did some exploring in the day time.

He was out on one of his daily scouting adventures, when he discovered another opening in the back of the cave wall, higher up than the one used by the females. It was a lot smaller than the one used for the eggs. After a tight squeeze through the opening there was scarcely even enough space to stand upright in it. He decided to make it his temporary home, till he could figure out what to do.

For months his time and energy were taken up expanding on the inside of this space. Only being able to work at night using the darkness as cover, made the effort take longer than it should have. He also had to find a place to deposit the debris so it wouldn’t be discovered. He constantly had to focus on his surroundings. If a female came to check on the site and caught him there, well he wasn’t quite sure what would happen to him. As a result his skill at blocking his thoughts and becoming invisible grew immensely during this time.

After the first year he’d enlarged the space enough to make a comfortable niche for himself. The only thing left to do was to broaden it more on the inside, leaving the opening as small as possible so as not to be accidentally discovered. On his previous trip to the south he’d discovered different foods that weren’t available in this area. Going to gather them gave him something to do.

On one such excursion he forgot to blend in with the sky. As he was flying letting the natural currents guide him over an open area, he could see Indians below with their hunting equipment looking for game. The area itself from the air had bare ground with rocks and a few boulders laying here and there, in the midst of scattered trees and weeds. Not far away was a meadow with a small creek meandering through the centre of it. He was doing a lazy circle in the air as he watched what was going on below him.

Before he knew it they were shooting at him. He realized then that he’d forgotten to blend in with the sky, consequently he was exposed as a big bronze target and they were intent on bringing him down. He threw his head toward the heavens to gain elevation and faded out. Not before one of their arrows went through a back foot. Pain was vibrating through him as he turned and headed for home.

He landed on the ledge as his energy gave out. He limped into the cave and dropped onto the sleeping platform. Between the blood loss and exhaustion he was asleep for two days. When he finally came awake he had to deal with getting the arrow out of his hind foot. At least the blood had stopped flowing during his mind induced slumber.

When he examined the projectile protruding from his limb he knew the only way to remove it was to break the point off and pull it out. He took a deep breath as he grasped the shaft and used his fingers to break the flint tip off it, as close to his foot as possible, trying not to jiggle it too much and induce more pain. Fortunately he had strong fingers from all the digging he’d done making his temporary home bigger, and he didn’t hurt himself overly much. Taking another deep breath he grasped the bottom of the shaft and pulled as fast as he could. As the object left him the excruciating pain hit him like a rock and he lost consciousness once more.

This time when he finally came around he examined the wound. To his relief he found it healed over, with a round lifelong scar to remind him of that day. This was a time in his life he wished he had one of his own kind around to rely on for healing. It was abundantly clear that the next time, he might not be so lucky.

On one of his many exploring forays he’d discovered a patch of wild strawberries. While he was alternately picking and eating, he let his guard down and he missed the tell-tale sign of imminent discovery. By the time he realized it, it was too late. He’d been discovered by a family of Ogres out to pick their own berries.

As they were entering the patch of berries, Mari saw the Dragon. She is seven and a half feet tall, but by this time Odessa had grown to just over ten feet. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen one, but she hesitated so she could recall what was known about Dragons. Her first instinct was her kid’s safety. There was nothing in her memories though that said that a Dragon had ever threatened an Ogre so she felt safe in carrying on with the picking, but kept one eye on the Dragon, just in case.

When Odessa looked up he was shocked to discover the mother ogre looking right at him. He said hello to them, and they seemed surprised he could speak. The female said hi to him and carried on picking the berries. The one he deemed the youngest of the family approached him and asked what he was.

I’m a Dragon, and my name is Odessa. What is your name?

Avid.

Why are you limping Avid, did you hurt yourself?

A long time ago, when I was a little, I followed my brothers out into the forest. They were trying to push a tree over, it was a big tree and it was dead already. I laughed at them, and said they couldn’t do it. They got mad at me, so I was going to run home. I guess I got them so mad they finally did push the tree over. When I ran by, it fell on my leg. It wasn’t their fault, and it doesn’t really hurt much anymore.

Avid couldn’t be more than seven or eight years old. He was trying to sound so grown up. If it wasn’t for the injury, it would have been amusing Can I touch your leg? I promise I won’t hurt you. Maybe I can make it feel better.

The young Ogre looked at his mother, she had moved forward so she was standing not far off warily watching, just in case. She looked into Odessa’s eyes and he said silently, only to her. I know something about healing, maybe I can help. I definitely won’t make it worse.

She looked at her son and nodded her permission.

Okay, my mom said you can. But you promised you wouldn’t make it hurt.

Odessa asked him to sit down. As he touched his leg he discovered the problem right away. It had almost healed, but it had done so twisted at an angle, caused by the child walking on it before it was fully healed. Exercising his every skill in healing, he first blocked out the pain and as gently as he could, he bent the leg back to the proper position. He then healed the break itself. He warned the boy’s mother. Don’t let him run for a while. It’s healed but if there is too much stress put on it, it might re-brake. After a few weeks he should be able to run again.

As Avid stood up he started to say something. His mouth snapped shut and his eyes got bigger, as he walked around trying out the newly healed leg. You fixed it! Look Boaz, Toan, it’s all straight again. It doesn’t even hurt a little bit!

As the boy’s watched their little brother walking without his normal limp, Odessa could read their thoughts. The guilt of having maimed their brother for life was eating them up. They didn’t have to speak, they nodded their heads to Odessa to thank him. For Odessa that was enough. The female went and took half the berries they’d picked and gave them to Odessa, with her unspoken thanks. She was too choked up to speak.

After thanking him, the young Ogre, Avid, went back to picking berries, (but mostly eating) and barely even gave him a second glance.

CHAPTER THREE

H is days and nights started blending together and time had lost all meaning for Odessa. His concentration and energy was primarily used on remaining undetected. He continuously scanned the area for any sign of intrusion. Be it Man or Dragon, it made no difference, in his mind discovery had come to mean only death. In the darkness was when he couldn’t hide his solitary existence. He was lonely and craved the company of his own kind till it ached through him. He travelled extensively in the hope that exhaustion would see him through another isolated night.

After years in his hidden secluded cave, he had been scanning the people of Pictonia as a means to alleviate some of his loneliness. It worked to an extent. It wasn’t the same as his own species, but it helped some. One rainy day when he was stuck in the cave, he was routinely scanning the area when he sensed someone in the maze. The thoughts were muted and somewhat incoherent.

A person was lost in the maze leading to the nesting grounds. They had been lost for three days already. If he didn’t help he knew they would die there. He was at an impasse, should he help or not? In his time alone he’d discovered that it was mostly adult people that were dangerous, not the children. There was no doubt in his mind, this was only a child. He could do nothing else. He had to help.

He first sent his out thoughts, then in his calmest voice he told her not to be afraid. I can help you, but you have to compose your thoughts first, then I will show you the way out. What’s your name, young one?

When Saddie heard the deep voice of the Dragon, she didn’t have enough energy even to wonder who it was. Three days without food or water had taken its toll on her young body. She was almost 12 and has always been athletic so there wasn’t much in her reserves to keep her going. When she sat down this final time in the maze, she knew in her mind that no one would ever find her. But when she heard the voice her spirit lifted enough that it gave her hope.

Saddie. Came the weak reply. Who are you?

My name is Odessa and I can help you, but you have to settle yourself first, and try to clear your mind.

I’ll try. Her voice was a little stronger now. Hopefully someone was there who could help her. Saddie look around, then close your eyes and think about where you are. Picture what’s around you. After you do that, open your eyes and you’ll know the way.

She did as he asked. But in each direction she looked, she couldn’t see Odessa. But as her eyes came to rest on a softly glowing rock, she remembered to close her eyes. As soon as her eyes closed Odessa knew exactly where she was. As her eyes opened she couldn’t believe it,