Mystery At Midnight - Part 3

“Wow,” said Fiona in a hoarse voice.

“Wait, it’s not done yet.” whispered Aerya.

The remaining male hovered another few moments, then it howled in despair. It was the sound of sadness as profound as the earth itself. The cry seemed to soak into the trees, into the ground, and saturate the air with the feeling. Fiona felt tears in her own eyes for the heart broken dragon. It flew upward in a spiral, getting higher and higher, until it stopped without warning, and cried out one last time.

A shower of sparks cascaded around the lonely dragon. Bright, cold spots spread out and poured down like a fountain of light against the dark sky. In that fiery instant, the dragon disappeared. Fiona watched, enchanted, as the gold dots flared, twinkled, and flashed through the air, growing brighter as they fell until they lost their light to the night.

The falling streams were light golden ostrich feathers, waving in the air, eaten by the darkness before they touched the ground. It was like a fireworks with the sound turned off, right above her head.

Fiona thought the display was over, and then she felt something touch and tangle in her hair. She reached for it, expecting a pine needle, or even worse, a spider. Instead, it was a flake about the size of a dime, thin as a finger nail, and when she looked at it, it glimmered faintly golden in the dim light.

“Aerya, what is this?”

“Oh, Fiona, that’s awesome! You got a dragon scale! You are so totally lucky!”

Looking at the scale, Fiona began to cry softly.

“What’s the matter?” asked Aerya, stroking Fiona’s hair and patting her shoulder.

“That dragon was so beautiful, and now --”

“What?” asked Aerya.

“Now he’s gone! That's awful!”

“What do you mean, gone?” asked Aerya.

“I saw it explode in the sky,” sniffed Fiona.

“That wasn’t the dragon; that was just his scales falling off, like a bird losing its feathers. Fiona, the dragon’s okay! Every ten years, adult dragons choose a mate. The male dragons grow golden scales for the mating dance. If they get a mate, they keep the scales. If they don’t, the scales fall off, and then they have to wait another ten years.”

“He’s not dead?”

“No, he’s not dead. He just shed his scales.”

“What is the regular color of dragons?”

“Hmmm,” Aerya considered the question. “They are kind of dirty grey, with a light blue belly.”

“That doesn’t sound very pretty.”

“It isn’t. Those colors help them to hide, though.”

“How long do dragons live?”

“A seriously long time - like hundreds of years. They can be ancient”

“Wow, that’s a long time.”

“Keep that dragon scale, Fiona. It is a really special thing to have.” Aerya smiled.

Fiona wiped her eyes, then wiped her nose on the sleeve of her pajamas.

“Aerya?”

“Yes?”

“I’m freezing cold. Can we go back home now?”

“Yes, let’s go. The dragon dance is over.”

Aerya called, and the deer appeared from the woods. They laid down, waiting for the girls to climb on their backs. Fiona was careful not to get poked in the eye by the antlers as she straddled the deer and wrapped her arms around his neck. In her right hand, she held the dragon scale tightly. As the deer stood up, Fiona’s heart fluttered, but for a different reason. She had a real dragon scale!

The deer went even faster down the mountain, so that Fiona felt she was flying through the woods, like a witch on a broom. Was this what the dragon felt flying in the air, his wings wider than three buses? Fiona smiled to herself, wondering what her Dad would say if he knew she rode a deer to the mountains - to watch dragons dance! Before long, the deer were leaping the fences that circled the yards in Frederick, and shortly after, the deer stopped. It took Fiona a moment to recognize her own yard. The deer lay down, their breath making small white clouds in the air. Fiona slid off, and as she put on her slippers, the deer stood up. Fiona went over, hugged it, and thanked it for the ride. The deer rolled its eyes, snorted, and then both of them were gone.

“Come on, let’s get back in the house before we turn into ice!” said Aerya, fumbling her feet into the bunny slippers.

“Too late,” said Fiona, feeling the dragon scale still in her fist, “I think I’m already in the slush stage.”

They went into the house, quietly locked the door, and when they got into bed, it felt a hundred times softer and warmer than the cold ground in the forest. Fiona opened her hand and looked at the dragon scale in the light. It looked like a fishing lure, and was about the same size. However, the scale was thinner, and Fiona found she could faintly see through it.

“Turn off the light,” suggested Aerya.

Fiona did. In the darkness of the room, the dragon scale glowed faintly.

“Whoa! That is too cool!” said Fiona, putting the scale in her other hand.

“That’s how you can tell it is a real dragon scale, and not a fake.”

“A fake?” Fiona held the scale out to Aerya, who took it and studied it carefully.

“Yes. I had a fake one. A fairy at a fair sold it to me. Just a piece of junk - not like this one. I should have known better. What are you going to do with this?”

Fiona had been thinking about that, and all of a sudden she had an idea.

“Hold on a minute,” she said, turning on the light, and going to her jewelry box. She took out a silver locket. Back to the bed, she opened the locket, and put the scale inside. It fit perfectly.

“Will you clip this for me?” asked Fiona, turning around and holding the ends of the chain. Aerya knelt behind Fiona, and clipped the clasp together. Fiona let the locket dangle. It hung right over her heart.

Aerya watched the whole time, not saying a word. Fiona reached over, and turned off the light. At last Aerya spoke.

“You are so lucky,” she said.

“Yes, I am lucky. I probably have the only dragon scale in the country!”

“Do you want to sell it?” asked Aerya, hopefully.

“The only dragon scale in the country - the only dragon scale I’ll ever get?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t be stupid, Aerya. I’ll never sell this.”

“Oh.” said Aerya.

“But I’ll let you wear it sometimes.”

Fiona could almost hear her friend smiling. What a night it had been! She thought about all that had happened, her eyes slowly closing. Soon, she was asleep, holding the locket with the dragon scale against her chest.

Her last thought was, it is cool to have a fairy as a friend. What other magical adventures were possible with this wild little fairy?

-- The End --

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