Chapter 11

“Sorbo?” says Dakota, twisting to look back at him.

“Hmm.”

“Tell me about dragons.”

“Dragons, huh! Well, I already told you there are two species of dragons on our world of Kara. There are Loki’s Dragons and Thor’s Dragons. Loki’s Dragons are, for the most part, called that because they are black. It is true there are other Gods of Mischief or Gods of Night, however you want to call them, on our world, but because Loki’s Dragons often have mean temperaments they call them Loki’s Dragon. Most of the other Gods of Mischief are happy just causing little tricks and they live their lives along with the rest of us, but Loki has never been satisfied keeping his chaos contained. He wants to share it with the world on a grand scale, which of course will make him more powerful. In truth though I don’t know why he bothers because it’s not like he already doesn’t have a lot of power. After all he is a god. Loki is just never happy or content with what he has. To him the grass is always greener on the other side.”

“Oh, I heard of that saying before. Doesn’t that mean something like we always want what we can’t have or don’t have?”

“Something like that,” says Sorbo, smiling. “Anyway, Thor’s Dragons are beautiful. Of course you’ve already seen a golden dragon, but there are also silver dragons, bronze dragons, and platinum dragons. Pretty much they all have metallic hides, although if you look real close at them you can sometimes see patterns in them that are most marvelous.”

“I guess you’ve seen a bunch of dragons, huh!”

“As a Knight of Andromeda we are bound to each other. We are Andromeda’s Children of Light. So yes I have seen many, many dragons, and so will you.”

“I will!”

“Yep! You remember Andromeda telling us and Ledger that once a year we will meet in the Crystalline City of Divinity to keep the world up on your progress?”

“Aye!” she says, nodding her head.

“Aye? Where did you hear that?”

“Lawson said he used to say it when he was a pirate along with arg.”

Sorbo laughs and smiles, “Did he? What else did that old timer tell you?”

“Oh, you know this and that,” she says, with the smile of a Cheshire Cat.

“Does it have anything to do with that little cloth bag you are hiding from me?”

He feels her jump. “No,” she says, in her small voice. Dakota is royalty and very adept at redirecting conversation. “Will you tell me what happened to the last princess you were in charge of her protection?”

Now it is Sorbo’s turn to jump. “Okay, okay, we can have our little secrets for now.” After a few seconds of silence he says, “But yes I will tell you someday. Okay.”

“Okay. You were telling me about the yearly gathering at the City of Divinity.”

“The gathering at the City of Divinity? Oh, yes! Every year, on your birthday as it turns out, as the full red moon rises and the white radiance moon goes into darkness for a bit the City of Divinity becomes visible to the corporeal world. Once there you will see many Dragons of Light, unicorns, and many other beautiful and wondrous magical beings. There will also be many wizards and witches there for you to talk to about your magical schooling with. I even met Thor there once.”

“Really?”

“Yep!”

“Wow, when is that going to be?”

“Figure it out for yourself, young lady. You are smarter than I am.”

“I am?”

“Don’t you think you are smart?”

“Well, yes, but smarter than you!”

“I believe so.”

“Wow!”

“Any way, this is the beginning or maybe the middle of October now and your birthday is at the end of February, is it not?” She nods her head prettily. “So I guess that means in a little over four months on your ninth birthday we will make our first pilgrimage to the City of Divinity.”

“Wow! Sorbo?”

“Yes, darling girl”

“Thank you!”

Sorbo smiles and bends down and kisses her dirty blonde wavy curly hair. “You are most welcome, princess.” She giggles and cuddles back into him.

Before long the stretches are once again turning into leagues. Storms come and go, as they are known to do in a continent called The Isle of Lakes. They talk long about everything that comes to the beautiful mind of an eight-year-old girl. The sun rises and the sun sets and they fall into a perfect harmony of setting up the camp, with Dakota always starting the fire with her magic, making their bed, eating, sleeping and getting up in the morning and hitting the trail refreshed and well-prepared.

One warm afternoon Sorbo is walking because his back is sore from riding all morning. Dakota is looking regal atop Hugs, their brown mare. Sorbo is leading Hugs around by the reins turning this way and that to make it through the thick forest when the trees start to thin and then all of a sudden the trees end and before them is a crystal clear small lake beckoning to them like a bastion of hope and fun.

“Oh, wow! Get me down, get me down!”

“Alright! Alright! Keep your cute little tush sitting for another second.”

Dakota is reaching out for him and once he puts her down she is running for the lake stripping off her clothes as she goes. By the time she reaches the lake all Sorbo can see is her milky white hinny disappearing into the lake.

As an after thought Sorbo goes running towards the lake and when Dakota comes back up he yells out to her, “Dakota! Dakota?”

“What?”

“You can swim can’t you?”

“Oh, yes very good.” Sorbo takes a deep sigh of relief and he stands there calming his heart that is beating unbelievably hard. “Come on, Sorbo, come swimming with me.”

“I will. Let me get Hugs squared away and the camp set up a little since we mind as well stay here for the night. Does that sound good to you?”

“Oh, yes!” she says, as she falls backwards disappearing into the water again with her hands raised high.

It takes Sorbo about twenty minutes to get things set up and then he too strips and goes swimming. He gets a running start and splashes through the shallows and dives as soon as it is safe.

“Come on, Sorbo, let’s race.”

“Okay. Ready, set, go!” They start racing out to the deep, but a little ways out Sorbo calls out, “Okay, now for the other half we’ll race back in.”