Guardian Dragons by Catherine L Vickers

heart. She
was saved.
    ‘Come, Princess Bryley,’ the
strange female huphin spoke. ‘Your father will sort out your
attackers.’
    ‘Poppa is here?’ Princess Bryley
shouted in her excitement. ‘My poppa has really come for
me?’
    ‘Yes, Bryley,’ the female said.
‘Did you think he would let anything happen to his little Princess?
Come, we must swim away from here, one of the sharks may escape
from the battle below.’
    The Princess obeyed her new friend
and followed her away from the place where she had thought her life
would surely end. Swimming on the surface, a school of large male
dolphins surrounded them as an escort to ensure they were truly
safe.
     
    Frizzle’s wet nose twitched at the scent of his mistress
returning and he quickly
lifted his ears. Content that all was back to normal he raised his
back leg to itch at his irritating ear. Leon lay with his back to
the sea so he did not see her walking away from the shoreline.
Heather walked a little unbalanced at the changes from sea to land.
Just as she had expected, she pictured her own image and she was
back in her own figure. It was so easy, why did her father make
such a fuss over this Changeling skill? She would never understand
the questioning behind parental reasoning. Invigorated by her
adventure, she longed to see her father and tell him everything
that had happened. Happy that the huphins were her new and trusted
friends, she skipped frivolously towards Leon.
    Catching him just awakening from
his lazy slumber in the hot sun, she giddily jumped on him. Frizzle
quickly joined in his mistress’s frolicking, never one to miss a
good game he leaped up and down barking loudly.
    ‘What the ...?’ Leon yelled at the
large heavy weight that promptly landed on top of him, rolling him
over into the dusty sand. Wrestling half-heartedly with Heather and
Frizzle he just about survived the attack though it took only a
little of his strength to stand up and escape the onslaught.
Shaking the sand from his hair he looked at Heather, relieved to
see her safely back on dry land, the pit of his stomach sank to his
knees.
    ‘Thank the lucky stars that you’re
back,’ he said, attempting to remain composed. ‘I was beginning to
think that you had drowned your silly head.’
    ‘Well, thank you for your support,
I think not,’ Heather retaliated. ‘I happen to have been swimming
in the deepest depths of the ocean whilst you lazily slept. I swam
with dolphins, saved a huphin Princess from vicious sharks, visited
a huphin city and then swam with a Queen whale, who was so grateful
to little Bryley for her saving her babe that she decided she could
not leave the little mite to her fate. Then ....’
    ‘Stop!’ Leon yelled, his composure
now somewhat unsettled. ‘Just stop right there. I don’t think I
want to know all this. What were you doing with the Princess and
what is this you tell me about killer sharks? Had I known Gadon
would put you in such danger, I would never have allowed you to
go.’
    ‘Well, just who do you think you
are that you could stop me young Prince Leon,’ Heather glared back,
annoyed at Leon’s lack of enthusiasm of her adventures. ‘I’m going
home, alone, I don’t wish you to escort me. When I tell my father,
he will be very proud of his daughter. Goodbye. Come along
Frizzle.’
    The droopy-eared dog lay on the
sands between the two arguing humans, his tail down between his
legs, he licked Leon’s hand in a farewell gesture. Leon was one of
his most prized members of his imaginary pack and he wanted to
impress upon him that he still loved him, even if his mistress had
the sound of battle in her voice.
    ‘Go on boy,’ Leon ordered him. ‘I
will forgive her eventually. We’ll just see if her father is
pleased at her story. I expect he’ll blame me.’
    Leon watched as girl and dog
clambered back up the steep sandy path, he saw Frizzle burst into a
run, diving off into the inviting fields of yellow blossoms, but
Heather steered