Chapter 10

After flying around the mountain several times at different altitudes, we finally located what we believed to be the entrance to the Nest. On landing, we examined the area, but I had no idea of how to open it.

“This appears to be the right place, but how do we open the entrance?” I asked Jorani in a puzzled voice. She only smiled after a few seconds of thought.

“This way,” she said and raising the now larger Medallion that the Spirit of Ley Line Magic had given her, she pressed it against the rock wall of the mountain which slowly began to open. In our forty-foot-tall size, the Medallion and its chain were much larger than when she had received it.

“How did you know to do that, and where to do it?” I asked in surprise, as a huge portal appeared in the side of the mountain. It was easily large enough for a twenty-five foot tall Dragon to pass through it, and we shrank to that size.

“The Medallion told me, just as it has told me many other things,” she answered. “There is much Magic here. Can you feel it?” she asked.

“Yes, there are two ... no, three Ley Lines that pass under the mountain and cross,” I told her after checking. I was greatly surprised by the huge amount of Magic here.

“Yes, there is much Magic available here. The spells have grown weak because there has been no one here to refresh them or cast new spells. WE will need to reinforce or cast replacement spells to maintain the continued operation of the Nest,” she told me before casting a spell that I wasn’t familiar with and drawing its glyph in the air where the entrance portal had opened.

“Now, we will be able to open the entrance whenever we need to,” she told me, as we moved through the entrance and down the hallway to the first area inside of the Nest.

Once far enough inside that our long Dragon tails would not be caught, Jorani used the word for close in the Dragon language, and the entrance snapped shut. As our eyes grew more accustomed to the light after being out in the dark for so long, it was evident that the level of illumination in here was very low and failing. Knowing the correct spell from using it at the other Nest, I quickly cast it, and the level of the light improved immediately.

“Thank you,” Jorani said as we moved into the major hallway on this level. It was high enough for a Dragon at the forty-foot-tall level to easily pass down it. I did notice, though, that the walls and ceiling here weren’t quite as even or polished as those in the Nest at Stone Mountain.

We soon came to the rooms off the main hallway. Again, there were several meeting rooms decorated with faded pictures of Dragons on the walls which seemed to have been prepared better than those in the hall. These rooms were followed by the rooms with the various types of tribute treasures. Jorani seemed very surprised by not only what was in the rooms but by the huge amounts of it.

“All of this is worth ... I don’t know, but a huge amount of money,” she said in amazement on seeing just the first few rooms. There were rooms with gold nuggets, several types of gems such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires, jade, and pearls. These were not small gems or nuggets but were as large as your fist or even larger. Additionally, there were large pieces of jade and emerald that could be carved into statues or other things. These rooms were followed by rooms containing things that had deteriorated over time such as cloth, wood, and leather. There were other rooms with containers made of clay fired ceramic, but we had no idea what they contained or if any of it was still good.

“Were you expecting anything like this?” she asked as we neared the end of the hallway.

“This is very similar to the entrance hall of the Nest in Stone Mountain. The tribute here is worth millions maybe billions of dollars. The artwork on the walls is nearly as good as that there, but will need to be brought back to its original condition. That will require considerable time. My Mother has sold only a very small amount of the tribute that she inherited. She has kept it for the future, as Dragons live a very long time,” I told her.

“How long?” she asked eagerly.

“The remaining old male Dragons are over four thousand years old. At least most of them are,” I told her hedging my bet.

“Four thousand years old?” she asked in shock.

“Yes, that old, and they have quite a number of male offspring that are a lot younger. Most of them don’t know enough Magic or have strong enough Talents to become Dragons,” I told her.

“But what do they do? None have been seen for a very long time,” she asked.

“Many of the old Dragons have moved to the Dragon-lands. The offspring often manage to get into trouble, but quite a number of them now work for my Parents at the various offices of Dragon Security, which is my Parents’ security company, and how we earn a living,” I told her. We had never discussed how I made a living, or how I had so much money. It had never come up, as we had been much too busy with other things.

“What is a ‘security company’?” she asked, not recognizing the term.

“We use powerful Dragon wards to protect things of value from being stolen,” I told her.

“What sort of things?”

“Things like money, jewelry, gold, and other precious metals plus all kinds of expensive merchandise or other valuable things like paintings, or heirlooms. Anything worth a lot of money or important for other reasons,” I told her.

“And people pay you for this? It sounds like Heng’s protection racket in Cambodia,” she told me.

“Yes, it is protection, but it’s not a racket. No one has to hire us. They do it because we have stronger wards than other companies. People, Wizards, or even Dragons can’t break our wards, and yes, we make a lot of money in the security business. It is a business though, and it requires that we spend a lot of time at work. I would normally be at work eight to ten hours a day, if I were not here with you,” I told her.

“Oh! What would I do while you were gone?” she asked.

“You will be the Dragon Queen of the East. You will have many duties to keep you busy. You will also have children to raise,” I told her.

“Yes, children!” she said excitedly. “Will they be Dragons?”

“Since both of us are Dragons, they will be Dragons when they grow up. Until then they will be Human children, but able to learn and do Magic,” I told her before changing the subject.

“We should explore the rest of the Nest to see what else is here,” I told her.

A short distance past the rooms on this level there was a ramp leading down to the next level. Dragons are not configured to use stairs. There were several landings and reversals on the ramp. We also needed to renew the lighting spell for the ramp area. The ramp came out in a huge open area that was the Queen’s receiving area or assembly hall. It was easily large enough to hold four football fields including the sideline areas for each of the fields and was very similar to the Queen’s area in the Stone Mountain Nest. The ceiling was easily 60 feet (18 meters) above the floor.

At the far end of this huge room, there was a raised area and the throne of the Queen. Even while approaching the throne area, we could see the remains of the former Queen. Her bones, horns and scales were slumped on and over the throne. There was no ghost here to greet us, as the ghost of former Queen Lalhimpuil had greeted my Mother. I had told Jorani about the ghost and how Mother had become the Dragon Queen before we left Chiang Rai. She was disappointed by the lack of one here to greet her.

“How can I become the new Dragon Queen of the East if there is no one to grant me that title or position?” she asked in a worried voice. “Has all of this traveling been for nothing?” she wondered.

By now we were very near the throne area, and something fell to the floor from the pile of bones, horns, and scales on the throne. It was a large round piece of Amethyst that was attached to a long heavy gold chain. There was a small round hole in the center of it.

“What’s that?” Jorani asked on recovering from the fright of the sudden noise of the object striking to the floor. In this vast room, there had been no sound but our voices for an extremely long time.

“This would appear to be the Emblem of the Queen, but a piece of it seems to be missing,” I told her pointing to the hole after picking it up. Immediately following my words, the medallion that the Spirit of Ley Line Magic had given Jorani rose from around her neck by itself, and it grew smaller as it and its necklace approached the Emblem of the Queen.

By the time it reached the Emblem, the gold chain and rim of the Medallion had separated from the Amethyst part which slipped right into the hole in the center of the Emblem for a perfect fit making it whole. The gold had melded into the chain that held the Emblem. A voice came from the Emblem then.

“Place US on the head of the new Queen with the chain around her horns,” the voice directed. I raised the Emblem while Jorani lowered her head so I could put the chain around her horns and the Emblem sat on her head between her horns.

“You are now Queen Thangakili. WE, the Queens of Old, have already sent out the message of your Coronation to the remaining male Dragons. Also, the Spirit of Ley Line Magic has made us aware of the current political situation in these lands. Because of that, your subjects will not be visiting you here. When next you go to the Dragon-lands, those who can will come to see you. Until then, WE will speak to you and inform you of your duties as Queen,” the voice finished and was quiet. Jorani and I were staring at each other in shock and amazement.

“So, this is where the Spirit of Ley Line Magic got the Medallion that he gave you. Obviously, it had been in the wall of that Temple in Phi Mai for a very long time,” I said on recovering.

“Yes, a very long time,” she agreed but had a question. “What should we do now?”

“It’s rather late, perhaps we should get some sleep. We can continue to explore the Nest tomorrow. There should be two or three more levels below this one, if it is similar to the Stone Mountain Nest,” I told her.

“The next level has a sleeping area for the Queen and her ... consort was the word that the Spirit used when here some time ago,” the voice from the Emblem informed us. We soon located ramps on each side of the hall going down to the next level.

On reaching the third level, we were surprised to find that it was as large or even larger than the assembly hall above it. It was a bit difficult to tell its exact size as it was filled with nests, many of which still contained the remains of those who had chosen to die here. The smell had long since dissipated, but the remains of those who had died here still littered the area. It was a very demoralizing sight.

“We will need to do something about this, but not now,” Jorani told me before we moved down one of the aisles guided by the voice of the Queens in the Emblem. Eventually, we came to an area free of remains where there were three empty nests. They were still lined with ancient Yak hair that was so fragile that it turned to dust when touched.

“The larger center nest is the Queen’s. The two other nests were for our favorite daughters. You will need to clean the Queen’s nest before using it,” the voice told us. Jorani used a cleaning spell, and the nest depression was ready for our use. We quickly called our sleeping bags and other things to us from the Timeless Zone after changing back to our Human forms. Those in the Emblem didn’t seem shocked or surprised when we did that.

“You don’t seem surprised,” Jorani said on noting their lack of reaction to our returning to our Human form.

“The Spirit informed us of this new breed of Dragons, and how they obtained their form. We were not happy with that initially, but we have grown more accepting of the idea over time. It is not the old or original way, but at least there will continue to be Dragons and perhaps better ones since they must earn the right to have that form,” the voice of the Queens of Old told her before going silent for the remainder of the night.

Once in our combined sleeping bags, Jorani was very amorous. We hadn’t had sex in several days and she was in need, even after all that we had done this evening and night. We hugged and kissed for a time, but Jorani was too passionate and in need for that to last very long, and she pulled me over on top of herself in short order. We had long passionate sex then with each pushing into the other. Jorani seemed to have an orgasm every couple of minutes, but she didn’t seem satisfied despite this.