Dragon Knights (Chapters 6-10)

Subject: Dragon Knights (Chapters 6-10) Sat Aug 28, 2010 11:00 pm

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ѱ ი Chp. 6, The Trial of the Egg ი ѱ

Safi looked to me, and spoke, ' This is the trial of the egg, you must show you have what it takes to fetch it from the bottom of the lake... However, it won’t be easy…'
She stood behind me, and suddenly shoved me into the lake!
' Now go! I’ll wait for you up here, return to me once you have completed the trial.'
The lake water was friggin’ COLD!! And the fact that I was wearing short sleeved pajamas did not help at all.
I fought the urge to shiver as the water chilled my limbs to the core, my dirty blonde hair floating around my face, slightly blocking my vision.
My numbed arms came up, brushing the hair away as I swam down towards the muddy lake bottom, fish swimming out of the way as I came through.
My lung capacity was great, but it would not last forever, I had to make this fast, or else I’d risk drowning.
I could not even begin to imagine what Safi would do if she had to tell the Dragon Queen that one of the chosen Dragon Knights drowned in a lake, probably would probably put a dent in her reputation… a large one at that.
Within minutes, I was down at the lake bottom, the glowing aura of the golden-black egg growing ever so stronger as I got close to it.
Yes! Now all I had to do was pluck it from the mud and…what the? It was stuck!!
Grabbing onto the egg, I pulled on it with as much force as possible, yet I could not budge it from the sticky lake mud.
This wasn’t working, and my oxygen was quickly running out.
As my second plan, I reached over and began pulling away chunks of mud, trying to loosen its grip on the egg, if I didn’t drown first.
Time was wearing thin, and my oxygen had since run out, yet I kept at it, desperately flailing and sending mud hither and yon.
This wasn’t happening, it couldn’t be real, I was still dreaming…yet it felt and seemed so real.
As my vision started to fade to black, I felt the egg shift underneath my arm.
Yes!! I grabbed it, pulled with every bit of strength left in me, and with a disgusting slurping noise, it dislodged from the mud.
The egg was heavy, yet so beautiful, golden all over, with patterns of obsidian black in the shape of splotches and stripes.
As I swam towards the surface, I thought I wasn’t going to make it, my vision was nearly black, and my limbs started to tire.
Suddenly, as if my approaching drowning had triggered something, the egg glowed, and a strange warmth filled my body, giving strength to my tired legs as my one arm pumped, the other one clutching the egg.
With a splash, I surfaced, gasping as cold night air filled my lungs and froze my wet limbs, but I hardly noticed it, my heart swelling with a sense of victory over completing the egg’s trial.
Strong hands gripped my outstretched arm as Safi hauled me back onto the banks, where I lay, hugging my egg to my chest and smiling.
‘Congratulations, you have passed the trial of the egg… You are now on your way to becoming a full Dragon Knight,’ Safi said, pleased with my success.
“Thanks, Safi,” I said, slowly getting to my feet, “I thought for sure I was going to drown…”
The dragoness turned serious for a moment, ‘It is very rare that a chosen Dragon Knight dies while performing the trial of the egg…Very few before have faced untimely deaths, you should be thankful you did not join them.’
The sudden coldness of her voice scared me a bit, I thought that what I had said had angered her… But then her tone softened again, ‘But do not worry, Alexa…Let’s dry you off and get you back home.’
I brightened up at that prospect; my pajamas and I were both soaked through and through and covered in patches of lake mud.
‘Disgusting…’ I thought smugly, a slight grimace crossing my face.
Knowing she’d read my mind, Safi lowered her head and blew on me.
Her breath felt hot, yet, strangely nice, and it blew the mud from my pajamas, and dried me off quicker than anything I’ve ever used before.
Within a few seconds, it looked as if I never even had dove into the lake to begin with!
With the egg in hand, I mounted Safi once more, and she took off, flying away from Ama’s neighborhood and back to my dad’s house in the town of Chesire nearby.
Once there, she alighted on my windowsill, slowly opened the window, and let me slip off her neck and onto the carpet of my bedroom floor.
‘ I will warn you though, once the egg hatches, the cloaking magic around it will fade…so the baby dragon will be vulnerable to the eyes of unwelcome outsiders. I advise you to take caution,’ Safi said to me, before gently nuzzling my head with her nose, ‘Good night Alexa… may the stars guide your dreams.’
“Good night, Safi,” I said, hugging her neck.
Nodding to me, she turned, her gossamer wings shimmering in the moonlight as she spread them wide, and took off into the midnight sky.
I waited until the black speck that was Safi was no longer visible in the starry night, before I turned away from the window and crept into bed.
Tucking the egg carefully into the sheets beside me, I caressed it once more, it’s warmth filling me before I drifted off into a blissful sleep.

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ѱ ი Chp. 7, The Hatching ი ѱ

Morning came rather quickly, and I was feeling a lot better today, cause it was Friday!
Fridays are one of the best days, no homework, staying up late, it really is great being the day before the weekend.
Of course, I had already predicted that Brownpelt would be sitting on my chest, licking my face and telling me to get up.
But for some reason, this felt different… the weight on my chest felt heavier, and the tongue that licked my cheek did not feel very familiar.
Now I knew that most cats had rough tongues, they are required so they could clean themselves, but this tongue was rather smooth and only partially rough…
If it weren’t for that extra factor, as well as the empty space beside me where the egg had been, I probably would’ve just assumed that Brown had gained some extra pounds.
Slowly, I opened my eyes, and found myself looking directly into a pair of brilliant green eyes, which were peering curiously at me.
What was on my bed was definitely not Brownpelt, though it looked very much like a feline, but the muzzle was longer and pointed, with two slitted nostrils, the pelt was bright gold, with black spots and stripe markings, two curved horns sweeping back over its forehead, and a mouth filled with teeth sharper than any knife.
I screamed, pulling the covers over me desperately to protect myself from the creature.
In turn, the creature shrieked and tumbled off of the bed, scurrying underneath to hide itself.
As soon as it had gone out of my sight, Dad came rushing in, “ Lex! Lex! Is everything okay?”
I looked up at him and said sheepishly, “ Yes daddy, I’m fine.”
He gave me a funny look, one that said ‘are you hiding something?’, “ You sure? I heard you scream, kinda thought you were being attacked by the cat or something…”
“ I’m fine, Dad, the cat didn’t attack me, I just had a bad dream,” I said, wishing he would just leave already.
My dad looked me up and down, then said, “ Okay then, just get some breakfast and get ready when the bus comes,” and with that, he walked out of the doorway and went downstairs.
Relieved, I crawled to the edge of the mattress and leaned down to look under the bed.
Sure enough, the creature was still there, and as soon as it saw me, it cried out again and shrank back, gazing at me with glassy, fright-filled eyes and mewling in terror.
Slowly, I reached a hand towards it, softly whispering, “ It’s okay… I won’t harm you… it’s alright…”
The creature leaned forward, stretching its neck as it smelled my hand, looked it over as if wondering whether to lick it or bite it.
I really hoped it wouldn’t try to bite my hand, those teeth were rather menacing-looking, and could really hurt…
It looked up at me again, giving a soft sound, a combination of a growl and a mewl, and gently nibbled at my hand.
The creature was still a baby, so I figured the sound it made, as well as the nibbling at my hand, meant it was hungry, but, what did it eat? Maybe it drank milk like regular babies do? No, probably not, it had been born with eyes already opened, a full fur pelt, and a mouthful of razor teeth, maybe meat would be a better option.
I signaled the creature with my hand, saying, “ Wait here, I’ll go get you something to eat.”
Pulling myself back upright, I got out of bed, slipped quickly into some clothes, and went downstairs.
Upon reaching the kitchen, the first thing I did was check the fridge, seeing what we had available for meat.
There were those pre-cut cold cuts, ham and turkey, as well as a package of ground beef in the storage drawer, and pre-made packaged hamburgers.
Thinking quickly, I grabbed some ham cold cuts and the ground beef, closing the door and whipping up the stairs as quickly as possible.
As I opened the door to my room, the first thing I saw was Brownpelt by the bed, who was hissing and lashing out at something under the bed.
To my horror, I realized that Brown got into my room and was threatening the baby creature!
Setting the meats down on the dresser, I ran over, swatting the cat away, “ Shoo, Brown! Stop attacking the poor thing!”
Brown ran out the door and down the hall, only turning to glare at me and hiss once more at the creature before vanishing downstairs.
That cat… what was I to do with her… I retrieved the cold cuts and beef and bent down to look under the bed.
The baby creature was still frightened from the sudden and not-so-welcoming visit from Brown, but its eyes brightened as I got a few slices of ham from the bag, tearing them into pieces so they would be easier to eat.
“ Here you go,” I said, holding them out to it, “ Eat up.”
It tilted it’s head curiously, sniffing at the meat in my hand as if checking to see if it was poisoned.
Suddenly, it leapt forward, mouth open and teeth springing forward as it greedily devoured the cold cuts, barely chewing the pieces before swallowing them down.
“ Good?” I asked, licking my lips and nodding at it as a gesture, “ Is it good?”
The creature mimicked the gestures, happily licking it’s glossy black lips and nodding, as well as coming closer to me.
“ More? You want more?” I asked it, opening my mouth and pointing into it with a finger.
It nodded excitedly, pointing at its gaping maw and eagerly licking it’s lips with a pointed, pinkish-red tongue.
I prepared more cold cut tidbits, feeding the baby creature as it gobbled up handful after handful of meat.
As soon as the bag was empty and the creature gave a loud belch, I figured it had gotten enough, I’d just throw the bag away and put the uneaten beef back in the fridge.
Now full, it was laying down, about a few inches away from me, nuzzling its bloated belly and gazing at me still.
Upon examination from the perspective, I could see what looked like two lumps splayed across it’s back and sides, figuring they were wings, taking into account the cat-like paws as well as the long, flexible tail with a scythe like formation tipping it.
It was a dragon, but it oddly had some very strong feline-esque features to it, also seeing as it was a baby, yet it was the size of a full grown house cat.
I reached out a hand to touch it, hoping the dragon wouldn’t bite me if it thought I was going to attack it.
Oddly enough, the dragon did not resist, instead reaching its neck out and touching my hand with its forehead, as if insisting that I pet it.
Smiling, I ran my hand through the slicked fur, which was still sticky with fluids from the egg, and what sounded like a loud ‘muuuuuuuurrrrrrr’ came from the dragon’s chest, obviously letting me know it was enjoying this.
“ You’re a very lovely looking dragon,” I said softly, “ But what should I name you?”
Of course, my very first thought was to figure out if the baby dragon was male or female… and what would be a suitable name for it.
I examined it over, taking note of the possible differing features, the neck was long and thin, the paws were rather large, as were the wings(?), the shoulders were wide, as were the hips, similar to Safi’s build.
The belly would probably be slender and skinny when it wasn’t stuffed full of food, so the best assumption was that it was a she.
“ I think I’ll name you…” I mulled over the name for her a bit. Though, as if it was to be chosen, one of the names lit up like a lightbulb in the front of my mind, “ Dragga.”
Happy with her name, Dragga stood up and leapt at me, tackling me to the ground and licking my face.
I had to smile at that, she did seem rather energetic, and that name seemed to suit her perfectly.
Now the problem was, should I leave Dragga here at dad’s? Or bring her to school with me?

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