by D K Drake
She looked around and wondered the same thing about all the unhatched dragons she could see. She wanted to give each of them a chance to live. Maybe she could, with Javan’s help. “Javan, do you realize that the Dusk Stalker is no longer on the verge of being extinct?”
“Huh?”
“Once you become king, you can teleport yourself in here every year, get an egg or two, and teleport to the portal. I’ll take them to Earth and bring them back as dragons after they hatch. It’ll be a cinch, and the Dusk Stalkers can once again have a prominent presence in Zandador.”
“Why don’t we start now?”
“Start what now?”
“I like the idea of taking two eggs. I pick one for my collection, and you pick one to bring back to live here, as a free dragon, in Dusk Territory. It can be your dragon to protect and care for when needed.”
“Really?” Taliya squealed and clapped. “That’s so exciting.” Her smile vanished. “And intimidating. How am I supposed to pick just one? What will I name him? Or her? What if she doesn’t like me? What if--”
“Let’s forget the what ifs and just start by perusing the cave to see if any particular egg grabs our attention.”
Taliya took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. I hear you. Stay in the moment. Take care of the task at hand without worrying about future problems. Got it.” With that in mind, she meandered along the left side of the cave, touching every egg she could reach.
The varying colors of pink, purple, blue, and green blended into one blur the more she walked. She wanted to give every egg a fair chance, but she had no idea how to determine which egg to choose. They all shared the same general shape and size with the only difference being the color of the shell.
Except that one.
A vibrant pink shell stuck in a corner on the ground level caught her eye. She ducked under a ledge to get to it, stretched her arms as far as they could go to reach it, and used her fingers to roll it close enough to her to grab it. “Gotcha!”
Once she could stand again, she turned the bright egg around in her hands. It was half the size of the other eggs and had one tiny blue dot on the top of its otherwise pure pink shell. And on the bottom, one word was sketched into it: Reiah. “Is that your name?”
Cradling the egg in her arm, she checked out the bottom of another egg. It also had Reiah sketched on it. “Why does this dragon have the same name? Unless…”
She called over to Javan. “Check the bottom of that egg.”
“Which one?”
“It doesn’t matter. Just pick an egg and tell me what name is scratched on the bottom of it.”
“The eggs have names?” Javan moved an egg with streaks of purple and green. “Huh. Look at that. The eggs have names.”
“What name does it have?”
“Brizek.”
“Check one next to it.”
“Why?”
“Please just do it.”
“Fine.” He looked at a pale green egg. “It also says Brizek.”
Taliya smiled. “These eggs weren’t placed in here randomly. I think they are grouped together by the names of their moms. We’ll be able to trace the heritage of whatever dragon we take out of here.”
“Nice.” He nodded toward her pink egg. “Is that the one you’re taking?”
“Yes.” She held the egg in front of her with both hands. “Isn’t it pretty? It’s so pink that it has to be a girl, and I think the two of us will get along very well.”
“But…it’s tiny. Don’t you want a regular-sized egg? What if it’s not fully developed and was put in here by mistake?”
“I may be the only hope this egg has of hatching. No one else is ever gonna take this small little thing through the portal, and us small things have to stick together.”
“All right. You just have to promise me you won’t cry if it doesn’t hatch.”
“She’ll hatch.” Taliya cradled the small shell between her forearm and stomach. “This dragon is special. I know it.”
Pleased with her choice, she sat and stroked the shell, imagining what the baby dragon inside would look like when it poked through its pink exterior.
◊◊◊
Watching Taliya bond with her egg urged Javan to find his special egg as well. He didn’t much care for the pink, but he did envy the bright, bold color of the shell. He needed to find an egg whose bold color palette matched or surpassed Taliya’s egg. That criteria helped him sort through the eggs much faster.
Many of the shells had streaks of bright colors. That wasn’t good enough. He needed an entire shell bathed in color. Waltzing down the center of the cave, he scanned the eggs on both sides looking for an egg that would rival Taliya’s. The dragon inside such an egg would be bold, daring, and ready to live.
The cave gradually narrowed and veered to the right at the bottom of a slope. He stumbled his way down the hill, made the turn, and tripped on a step. “Ouch.” He rubbed his shin and looked up to find a stone staircase with uneven steps. They ranged in height from a few inches to a few feet tall and probably led to the inside door. That meant he had made it through the entire selection of eggs without choosing one to take with him.
Ravier and Micah would be back soon and would be irritated with him if he delayed their exit. If he didn’t want the pressure of their unhappy stares to contend with, he needed to make his choice fast.
“All right.” He turned back around to face the cave. “Which one of you dragons wants to let me ride you after you hatch?” He began making his way up the hill when a streak of green caught his attention. He bent down to study a shell with dark green stripes and noticed another shell laying on the stone behind it.
This shell had no color on it and appeared to have been shoved out of the way. “What’s your story?” From his knees, Javan leaned over the striped egg, wrapped his hands around the white egg, and pulled it into his lap. A U and a partial Z were the extent of the name carved on the egg. “What happened? Why didn’t the Protector finish writing your mom’s name?”
Javan studied the plain egg with a lost heritage that had been hidden away. That reminded him of him. “You know, sometimes the things that appear to be the most ordinary turn out to be the most spectacular. So I choose you.”
Proud of his choice, he rose to his feet and turned to take his egg back to Taliya, but a commotion on the stairs ahead of him grabbed his attention. He poked his head around the corner and saw Micah sprinting down the steps with blood on his shirt and no Ravier in sight.
“We found the door,” Micah said, “but we have another problem.”
Chapter 27
Grizzlets
“I
knew we shouldn’t have sent you two away by yourselves.” Cradling her egg in her arms, Taliya approached Micah and Javan. “All you had to do was find a door. How could you end up fighting over that?”
“We fought about how to open the door,” Micah said, “but only with words. This isn’t my blood or Ravier’s.”
“That’s concerning,” Taliya said. She took a step back and drew her egg closer to her chest. “Who else is in this cave?”
“It’s more like a what, but I can’t explain here. Leave the eggs and come with me.”
Taliya and Javan shared a troubled look, left their eggs together in a corner by the stairs, and fell into step behind Micah. The uneven steps spun to the right and left and up and down before ending in a dully lit oval room filled with shrieks. Loud, maddening shrieks.
Ravier stood with his back against a door. “It’s about time.” The door behind him kept trying to open, and he continually threw his body against it as he spoke. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold this thing off.”
“Hold what off?” Taliya had to yell to make herself heard.
“A grizzlet.” Ravier grunted.
“Really?” She smiled. “I’ve never seen one of those giant birds before.”
“I hope you won’t get to see one now.” Ravier shifted his feet and gave the movi
ng stone door behind him a full-body shove. “One tried to get through when we opened the door, and we hurt it when we shoved it back it the tunnel with our swords. Now it’s mad and keeps banging against the not-quite-closed door.”
“Javan, help us out.” Micah pulled Javan over to the door, leaving Taliya by herself near the stairs. “We need to get this door shut and exit the way we came in.” Even with all three of them pushing on the stone door, though, they couldn’t beat the animal fighting them on the other side.
“This isn’t working, but I know what will.” She reached for her slingshot and loaded it with a dart. “Open the door. Let him in.”
“No way!” Micah shook his head. “After it attacks us, he’ll feast on all those eggs in the cave. I thought you wanted to protect the eggs, not let a known predator eat them.”
“I’m an excellent shot. No grizzlet will get past me.”
“These things are fast and strong with thin bodies,” Ravier said. “Shooting them is next to impossible. They’re basically bones with wings and teeth.”
“Just open the door and let him through. He’ll be slightly disoriented when the resistance you’re giving him goes away, and that will give me a chance to shoot him.”
“That’s a very small chance to work with,” Ravier said.
“Just do it,” Javan said. “She’s a good shot, and we have to do something. This thing is stronger than the three of us, and we won’t be able to hold this door much longer.”
Taliya narrowed her sights on the side of the door. “I’m ready in three…two…one.” In unison, the men let go of the door and stumbled forward in a hunched position.
A huge, bat-like animal with a long, wiry tail, two muscular legs, a thin, hairy body, a massive round head, and bulging orange eyes filled the entire space of the doorway and toppled into the room. It spread its wings and screeched through its pointy teeth.
“You don’t scare me.” Taliya chose a spot between its eyes and released her dart. The dart found its mark, and the creature crashed to the floor in front of her. “Got it!” she shouted. But she wasn’t prepared for the second or third bird that swooped into the room after their friend.
◊◊◊
“Another one! And another!” Micah drew his sword. “We must have disturbed a nest!”
The birds circled the room and dove for flesh. Micah deflected a bite from one of the birds with his blade, but Ravier didn’t raise his sword in time to protect himself from the second bird. His sword clanked to the ground as the grizzlet tore into his right shoulder.
Micah winced at the sound of Ravier’s painful scream and noticed the biting bird’s tail waving wildly through the air. “That tail is mine.” Micah swung his sword over his head to keep the other bird from getting to him and sliced the biting bird’s tail clean off.
The bird yelped, let go of Ravier, and spun toward Micah. “That’s what you get for biting a person. You can either go back through that door or eat a dart from my friend over there.” Keeping his eyes on the hovering bird and his sword at the ready, Micah asked, “Taliya, got another dart ready yet?”
“Yes, but it’s aimed at the bird that’s trying to get down the stairs.”
“I’d help you if I could.” Javan’s words sounded strained over his swords swishing through the air. “But I have to provide cover for Taliya.”
“Wonderful.” Micah held his sword steady and locked eyes with his attacker. “Guess it’s just you and me, you ugly thing. Bring it.”
The bird hissed and bolted for Micah’s head. It moved faster than Micah expected. It sank its teeth into his dreadlocks, lifted Micah off his feet, and slammed him into the wall. The force of the collision caused him to drop his sword. Left with only his fists to fight with, he began pounding the grizzlet’s head. “Put me down!”
The grizzlet threw Micah into the wall several more times before finally releasing his hair. He landed on his back and lost his breath. Unable to move, a sense of impending doom washed over him as he saw teeth flying toward his face.
Then a flash of steel blocked his view, and a headless grizzlet landed beside him. Micah looked up to see Ravier holding his sword in his left hand; blood oozed down his right arm through his tattered shirt. “That makes us even.” He tossed his sword to the ground and offered Micah his good hand.
Micah took it and let Ravier help him to his feet. “Thanks.”
“Same.” Ravier gave Micah a respectful nod, but the bonding moment ended a second later when the third grizzlet flew between them, knocked Javan down with a powerful kick to the back, and flew down the stairs toward the cave.
◊◊◊
Javan lost track of the speedy bird flying in circles around the room, so the kick to the back came as a complete surprise. His chin hit the cold, hard stone floor, rattling his jaw and splitting his skin. Warm blood gushed down his throat as he jumped to his feet. The quick movement stupefied him, and he fought a sudden bout of dizziness.
Taliya inspected his cut and patted him on the cheek. “Looks like you’ll survive. I’ll patch that up for you after I kill that bird. He better not touch my egg.” She disappeared down the staircase before Javan remembered how to form words to tell her to wait for him.
He shook his head to clear the dizziness and gripped his swords for comfort. “Come on, guys.” He urged Micah and Ravier to join him. “We can’t let Taliya deal with that beast on her own.”
“Coming.” Micah picked up the two swords that were on the ground and handed one to Ravier. “Are you going to be able to fight with your shoulder torn up like that?”
“Of course. I’m almost as good left-handed as I am right-handed.”
“Then let’s go.” Javan didn’t wait to make sure the men were behind him and raced through the awkward staircase. He almost bumped into Taliya at the bottom but halted just in time.
“I was wondering if you were going to make it down sometime today.” Taliya stood with a dart loaded in her slingshot tracking the grizzlet zooming in and out of the eggs. “I need you to run through the middle of the cave and let the grizzlet attack you.”
“That’s insane! You want me to get attacked?”
“No. I want you to be live bait so he’ll leave the still eggs alone. I’ll try to shoot him before he bites you.”
“What if he bites me first? Those teeth are no joke.”
“Just do it. Please. I’m pretty sure I can get him if you lure him into the middle.”
“Pretty sure?”
“Yes. Now go.”
“Okay, but I’m keeping my swords out and going invisible if I feel its breath on my skin.”
“Whatever.” Her slingshot continued to move in line with the grizzlet. “Go. Now.”
He took a deep breath and sprinted forward. “Is it following me?”
“Keep running!”
Javan complied. He heard screeching above him but couldn’t see anything except rocks and eggs. “Where is it?”
His eyes answered his question as saw the grizzlet diving for his face with its jaws open, ready to swallow his head.
“Javan, get down!”
He ducked, and a dart shot through the grizzlet’s open mouth. Its wings locked in place, and it tumbled ungracefully to the ground. Javan stepped around it, sheathed his swords, and worked to catch his breath as he walked back toward the group.
Ravier was leaning against the wall with his good shoulder. With all color drained from his face, he seemed to be on the verge of passing out. Half of Micah’s dreadlocks were sticking up, and he was holding his ribs, looking defeated. Taliya’s eyes, however, danced with excitement, and her face wore a grin from ear to ear.
“That was a fun little challenge,” she said. “I’ve never had to deal with an animal quite like that before.”
“Maybe we should all learn how to fight with a slingshot.” Ravier nodded towards Taliya. “She killed two of those nasty birds, and she’s the only one who doesn’t have a scratch on her.”
“At
least she’s the one that killed them,” Micah said, “and we don’t have to hear you brag about how much better you are than us with a sword.”
“I don’t need to brag about that,” Ravier said, smiling through his obvious pain. “I already know I’m better. After all, my sword is the one that killed the other grizzlet. All yours did was chop its tail off.”
“I’m a Dragon Hunter. Chopping tails is my expertise, but I still bet I can outduel you in a sword fight.”
“Once my shoulder heals, we’ll see about that.”
“I’d pay money to see that fight,” Javan said, but he certainly wouldn’t bet on it. He’d seen them both in action and wasn’t sure who he’d put his money on to win.
“You won’t be using that shoulder anytime soon,” Taliya said, sifting through the bag she wore across her shoulder. “I’ll put some ointment on it now to stop the bleeding, but I’ll need to wash it out and properly treat it once we get back to camp. Same with your chin, Javan.”
At that reminder, he put his hand on his chin and noticed the front of his shirt was soaked with his own blood. But his cut couldn’t be that bad if he had forgotten all about it. “My chin can wait. Just take care of Ravier. Then we’ll go. I’m ready to get out of this cave and breathe in fresh air again.”
He walked to his egg and picked it up. It looked like an oversized chicken egg on steroids and weighed as much as a cement block. “You ready to get out of here, buddy?” He wasn’t sure, but he was almost certain he felt and heard the baby dragon tap a response.
Chapter 28
Disoriented Babbling
“W
ait.” Clasping her pink egg in her left arm, Taliya stopped Javan before he crawled into the tunnel the grizzlets had flown out of less than fifteen minutes ago. She picked up a handful of rocks, nudged Javan out of the way, and threw the rocks into the darkness. When all she heard was the clink of the rocks on stone, she said, “We can go.”
