Chapter 6 - The Dragon.

The forest had become one of my favorite places to sit and think – I would miss it. I was walking through trees, reveling in the quiet when a piercing roar shattered my silence. I instinctively knew that it was the dragon. It sounded like it was in pain. I didn’t know whether to go find the dragon or turn back. Another roar sounded, this one a mix of pain and frustration. I knew I had to go and help the dragon. I crept cautiously toward the origin of the roars. I finally came to see what had the dragon so agitated. He had gotten one of his humongous wings caught between two very close trees. It dawned on me how longs his wings actually were. The Meeting Hall of the village was 9 egku’s long, and his wing had to be at least that long. Every time he tried to get free of his tree-prison, his wing would scrape against the bark, and the claws would catch. I could see blood oozing from his fresh grazes.
“Dragon” I said with a lot more confidence than I felt. “I can see that you’re in a lot of pain. I’m a healer – I can help.”
“Human. I have a name. It is Malidan.” Malidan cringed as he once again tried to free his wing. “But I would be grateful for the help.”
I smiled reassuringly at him. I knew that I had to free Malidan’s wing before I could heal it. I could see how his wing was wedged – the trees curved inward which is where it had caught but then they curved out again afterwards.
“This might hurt a bit.” I warned, grabbing Malidan’s wing. I hefted it above my head. It scraped against the trees, Malidan howling in pain. Finally I got it so that Malidan could pull it the rest of the way.
“Ok, now pull!” I said.
Malidan pulled, and his wing came free. “Thank you Human.”
“My name’s Amile, and I’m not done yet.” I put my hand on Malidan's wing gently. In my minds eye, I saw the grazes healing over, and the new scales coming through. I took my hand away. Malidan admired his wing.
“Thank you… Amile. I am in your debt.”
“Don’t worry about it. My friends and I are leaving tomorrow.”
“Where are you going to?”
“To Amyras.” I said. Malidan shrank back at the name.
“What would you want to go see him for?” he asked angrily.
“To kill him.” I said. “He burnt down our village, killing my and Brach’s Mothers.”
“I’m sorry for your Mothers. I have a wish to see Amyras dead myself. When he came to power he killed all of the dragons he could. He was afraid of them. He took my mate, Exia, just after she had lain her egg. I gave the egg to the Anthro Village to look after.”
“I’m so sorry. Why didn’t he find you though?”
“I fled. That, and I cloaked this forest with my Dragon-Magic so that anyone who wanted to find it couldn’t.”
I stepped away. “It’s getting late – I should go.”
Malidan nodded slowly. “If you need help getting to Amyras, come find me.”
“Sure. Thank you.” I retreated out of the forest, mulling over Malidan’s words. When I got to the village, I immediately sought out Sensa.
“Sensa, can you show me Malidan’s egg?”
“You’ve already seen it.”
“Excuse me?”
“Last year, when you first found your glow.”
“That was Malidan’s egg?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Where is it now?”
“In its incubator. We haven’t been able to make it hatch yet.”
“Can you take me there?”
Sensa led me through the village to a small hut, nearer to the forest than all of the others. She let us in, where the heat was more intense than anything I had ever felt before. Sensa indicated to the egg, on a stand, in the middle of the room. I stepped towards it.
“No!”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt it.” I put three fingers on the egg. A jolt of electricity shot through me. I took my hand off the egg and shook my head to try and clear it. I turned away from the egg and saw Sensa gasp.
“What?!” I exclaimed.
Sensa pointed behind me. I whirled around. There was a huge crack in the egg. I went pale.
“Oh. My. God.” I whispered.
“Amile, what did you do?”
“I don’t know!” My hand went to my mouth nervously. As I did this, a chunk of eggshell fell to the floor. I turned as pale as I possibly could. The rest of the eggshell just fell apart, leaving a baby dragon in its place.
“You hatched the egg!”
“Apparently.” I said, eyes wide with shock. The baby dragon, which had light blue scales, with the inside of its wings being lavender, leapt into my arms.
“He knows who you are! He knows you’re the one who hatched him!”
“She.” I corrected Sensa, cradling my dragon. “What’s your name baby?”
The dragon just looked at me with her impossibly big blue eyes.
“Sensa, I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To see Malidan.” For the second time that day, I tromped off through the forest.
“Malidan?” I called.
He landed heavily in front of me. “Yes?”
“Guess who I’ve brought to meet you.” I held out his baby dragon.
“She looks like Exia.” Malidan said sadly. “What did you name her?”
“I haven’t yet. I thought you would like to.”
Malidan thought for a moment. “Apiia. It means ‘hope’ in the dragon language.”
“Apiia.” I tested it out. “I like it. Do you like it baby?”
Apiia nodded, smiling and showing hr pointy little dragon teeth. I set her down.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving her. She should stay with her father.”
“No” Malidan shook his head. “She would be safer with you.”
“But Malidan -”
“No! Take her! Be good to her.” With a kiss to his daughter, Malidan took off.
“Right then.” I turned towards the village. “Come on Apiia”
Walking back, I looked down every couple of minutes to make sure that Apiia was still trotting along beside me. By the time I had gotten back to the village, everyone knew that I had hatched the Dragon Egg. People stared at us as we walked past. I walked into Sensa’s hut, shut the door, and then threw myself against it, sighing with relief. Then I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.
“Aaaaah!” I screamed, throwing one of my hands up to protect my face.
“What are you doing?” Brach. Of course. I took my hand away.
“You scared me!”
“Obviously.” Brach was kneeling on the floor with his hand on Apiia’s head. “I leave you alone for one day and you go and bring home a dragon.”
“Her name is Apiia.” I told him about my day.
“Wow.” Brach pushed himself up “You should get some sleep. You have your Kate` tomorrow.”
I smiled and pushed past him into the bedroom, Apiia following me like a puppy. I crawled into bed, Apia settling near my feet.
“G’night Apiia” I mumbled, falling asleep almost instantly.


**********************
NOTE:
Kate`: (Ka-Tey) - a proving yourself test. has the first two letters of your skill/profession in front of it. For example - BaKate`. Battle.

there was something else...

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment