Claimed By A Dragon Prince-Chapter 62: A Strange Pet

Lily felt herself slip back to the wrold her mother was in but she had someones hand in hers. Dimitri had come with her this time making her happy that he would get to meet her mother. Of course things had taken some odd turns and outing her father was a load of emotions and information she was still processing.

They walked down the hall to a parlor where her mother was speaking with someone. She had told Lily other gods came to visit her, but this was the first time seeing them. It didn’t take long for them to hug and her mother to lead her guest out. "Sorry, my dear, I was far busier then I thought I would be." Her mother looked at the man next to her smiling to him as well.

"And you must be the mate that saved her. Thank you, by the way. Come sit down." Artemis indicated to the sitting area she was just in. "It is good to finally meet you. From what I’ve seen you two have had quite an interesting start."

"Yes, we have. It has not been easy, but Lily has been a strong and courageous woman. Surprising me at every turn and doing her best when she is tasked. She has shown me that even with all the evil in the world there is still a bit of good, even for me." Artemis smiled hearing his words, knowing her daughter was indeed a courageous woman.

Lily was blushing from all the glowing comments about herself. Dimitri always showed her his love, but it was nice to hear his thoughts about her as well. "You freed me from ever having to go back to that place of torment. Then I saved you from your brother’s men in the least likely of places. I am glad you knocked on my door that night." Lily leaned over kissing him sweetly.

"Well, I assume you are here for more than just an introduction. Did you talk to your father?" The goddess was curious about how her interaction went with her father. "I wanted to tear into him when he admitted who he was, but after explaining what happened I understand why he did what he did."

"We all have to make hard choices. Your father did the best he could without causing friction with the people around him. I wish he was here with me every day, but I am grateful you found each other. By the way, I have a gift for you, but you won’t see it until you wake up." They both were curious about what she might mean. The last gift she gave was still attached to Lily.

"Will it help us on our journey?" Dimitri hoped it would because at the rate they were going it would be shocking if they made it to the forbidden territory without major injury. "I guess you will just have to wait and see." The disappointed look on Lily’s face reminded her how much she missed as a parent, but was about to make up for some of it with the gift she sent to Lily.

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Lily woke up to something crawling on her legs looking down she saw what seemed to be a bird a very beat-up bird. The fact that it was sitting on her lap was surprising with all the burnt feathers on its body. "Where did you come from?" Looking at the bird it just sat there basking in the morning light as the sun started to rise. Dimitri stirred looking over her shoulder to see the bird sitting on her leg.

"What kind of bird is that?" Lily wasn’t sure since this was the first time she had seen a bird this damaged. "I wish I knew." Lifting the bird, it didn’t try to fly away, settling into her hand as she brought it up to look at its face. "It looks tired." Lily lifted its head with her finger, looking for any major injury. Seeing none, she set it back down, letting it nestle up next to her as the morning light grew brighter. "Well just have to take it with us until it gains its strength back."

Needing to relieve herself and imagined Dimitri would want to as well, hoping down with the bird held close. Landing softly Dimitri jumps down with their packs over one shoulder. Landing next to her he sets her pack down so she could find what she needed. it was a bag of seed that she poured into a small bowl. The bird pecked at it and then continued to eat it. Lily wasn’t sure what she was looking at here.

She had studied beasts of the realm but this one made no sense. She hadn’t seen or spoken to anyone about something like this burnt-up bird before. Dimitri looked just as confused until he lit a small fire on the ground then the bird ran into it like it was a rain shower. Lily gasped about to reach for it, but it looked as if the flames were healing the bird.

Its wings ignited as it gave a sharp shriek then stepped out of the fire still on fire. Lily had read about fire drakes but had never seen one. "You must be mother’s gift. Do you have a name?" The firebird tilted its head looking up at Lily unsure what she was saying. "How about Sasha?" The bird chirped happily at her walking over to rub her head against Lily’s leg.

At first, Lily thought she might catch fire, but the fire just licked over her pants not igniting them. "This will be interesting, to say the least. I wonder how she can help us." Dimitri walked up to the bird who observed him hoping over to him as he approached. "Not sure, but we will find out soon enough."

Lily opened her pack looking for the apples she had packed needing a bit of breakfast before they continued on their journey. Finding them she threw one to Dimitri then grabbed another for herself. "I know it’s not much, but..." "Don’t worry about it. If we need more we can stop at the village up ahead and pick up breakfast." Dimitri wasn’t worried about the food he knew these part well having investigated them before meeting her.

"Then let’s go. This will only hold me for so long." He chuckled knowing she could eat when she was hungry. Finishing his apple he moves to the open space in front of them and shifts. "Follow us, okay?" Lily tried to convey to the bird, hoping it understood her meaning.

Lily packed the rest of their things securing them to his back before climbing up and settling behind his neck. "Let’s go." Dimitri opened his wings jumping into the air catching to wind. Sasha was following them flying close to Dimitri, but not too close. Of all the gifts her mother could give her this was an interesting gift.

Lily knew fire drakes had many mysteries about them, but they rarely ever bonded with someone. Maybe this one knew her mother, too. They flew for about 20 minutes before a village came into view. It was similar to the last village they saw before they made their stop for the night. The settlers were just coming out of their homes and starting their work for the day.

They landed just outside the village, but the atmosphere around them was ominous. Looking around at the plant life she could see this was one of the worse effected areas of where the toxic slug was leeching into the ground. Only a few villagers were out working at this time, but they gathered their packs and headed into town.

"This looks bad. Why did the Wolf King ignore all this blight? Even if he had a revenge plot on me there was no reason to dismiss the rest of the Clan. Look at the plant life. It’s barely growing out here." Dimitri could see what she was saying since the ground was barer than usual and the grass that normally grew there was now gone.

He was just there a few months ago and they had just pulled in the last harvest with some of the crop also covered in a blight. If the food supply goes out there will be mass panic among with citizens of more than one Clan. That stupid wolf had no idea what he was doing and he was supposed to be a god.

Someone came over to them cautious about their approach. "Hello, can we help you? We are a poor village without many resources. The Wolf King takes no interest in our village." Lily knew he did things like this, but it must have gotten worse since she left. When she was working for the Wolf CLan she always made sure to send resources to the outer villages that were to far from the capital.

"I will make sure the Dragon Clan sends supplies here for this village. No one should go through this when they didn’t cause the problem. We are trying to get rid of the toxic slug contaminating the river." The villager’s eyes light up grateful that the gods had finally answered their prayers.