Dragon Riders of Etrea 2—Chapter 2

They followed Anslie across the field and to the narrow cut in the towering stone wall.

“Already?” Henrik asked. “Wasn’t the egg laid two weeks ago?”

“When a dragon lays an egg, it’s essentially ready to hatch,” Anslie explained. “It’s waiting on the touch of its chosen partner to wake it. Once that happens, it’s only a matter of days before it happens.”

“Do you think I could get a dragon?” Rasud asked. “What do you think, Shel? Me, riding a dragon?”

Shel laughed.

“Maybe if you’re still alive in a thousand years you can have the next egg,” Anslie said over her shoulder.

“I don’t suppose you know any magic for that?” Rasud asked Shel. She laughed again.

“I’m so excited,” Anslie said, her voice echoing off the stone walls of the narrow pass. “This only happens once every thousand years or so. Consider yourselves lucky.”

They exited the cut in the mountain and walked toward the cave. Dust and air stirred at the mouth of the cave, probably from Tossyth’s breathing. Henrik still didn’t feel entirely comfortable around the giant beast, but he supposed that would pass with time. Well, it had to, if he was going to have a dragon of his own.

“A dragon egg, hatching!” Rasud exclaimed. He reached up and clapped Henrik on the shoulder. “You’re going to be a mother!”

“Yay, me,” Henrik said. “Um, how does this work, Anslie?”

“I’m not sure,” she said. “Tossyth will be able to tell us. Be careful around her. She’ll probably be excited, and she tends to move a lot when she’s excited.”

“I’ll just stay out here and look in,” Shel said. 

“And miss the excitement? No, come watch with us,” Rasud said, tugging at her arm.

“You are somehow both eager for death and afraid of it,” Shel said to the witchman. “I truly don’t understand you.”

“Trying to understand me is a guaranteed way to drive yourself insane, my dear. I recommend not trying.”

Anslie walked straight into the cave and motioned for the rest of them to wait. Henrik stood there at the mouth, peering in. It was dark, but enough sunlight illuminated the interior for him to see.

Tossyth was curled up around the egg, much in the way a cat would curl up around a toy. It was just larger than a man’s head, and it looked absolutely tiny compared to her. She nudged the egg a few times with her snout to encourage it.

Anslie walked up to the great dragon and placed her hand on her neck, then rubbed her for a moment. Tossyth turned to eye the woman and gently rubbed her head against her, which nearly knocked Anslie over. Considering Tossyth’s head was the size of a horse, that had still been a gentle nudge.

“I know you’re excited, love. We’re all here for you. Yes, he’s here as well.”

Tossyth’s head snapped up and she locked eyes with Henrik. He immediately felt her presence enter his mind, much like what his own dragon had done when he touched the egg. But while his dragon felt like chaos, Tossyth was different. Calmness, motherly love, and above all else, undying strength. They were all pleasant things, but in such great quantities that Henrik felt like his head was going to explode.

“You’ll get used to it,” Anslie said, watching him. “She speaks with words, emotions, sometimes she’ll send you a scene. You’ll learn to put words to it.” She reached out and patted the dragon on the head again.

Tossyth looked up at Henrik again, then her eyes turned to Anslie. 

“She wants you to come closer,” Anslie said.

“Don’t get eaten!” Rasud said.

“He’s too bitter,” Shel said. “He’d probably taste bad.”

“Oh, nice one.”

Henrik ignored them and slowly approached the dragon. His eyes went from the egg to Tossyth. When he drew closer, she stretched her head out toward him, taking in his scent. The force of her breathing blew his clothes back like a storm wind. She pulled her head back and nudged the egg.

“What do I do?” Henrik asked.

“She’ll tell you,” Anslie replied in a quiet voice.

Tossyth locked eyes with Henrik again and he felt the same flood of sensations. He tried to sort through it, but it was like trying to stand in a raging river. Through everything he felt excitement, love—which made sense, a mother there with her son—and he thought…trust? That was a foreign emotion for Henrik. He focused hard on what she was trying to tell him.

“Are you sure?” he asked, raising his hand.

The same flood of excitement and trust crashed through his mind.

Henrik took a deep breath and stepped closer. He kept his hand in front of him. When he reached the dragon, she uncoiled her tail from around the egg, allowing him to get closer. Henrik kept his hand steady as he knelt next to the egg.

He looked up at Tossyth again. “You’re sure?”

She bent her huge head down and nudged the egg closer to him.

Henrik took a deep breath and reached out. His hand hovered above the egg for a moment, a hair’s breadth from its surface. Tossyth was a fully grown dragon and he had been able to withstand her presence in his mind, so certainly this infant would be okay.

He thought back to their battle a few days ago, when he had touched the egg for the first time. Almost immediately, the dragon had tried to force itself into his mind. A weaker man would have caved, right there, but Henrik held onto himself and forced the dragon back. Would it be different once the egg was hatched? Duke Ardun’s wizard, Kelthorn, had once said he didn’t know what was more powerful, a dragon or a dragon egg.

Henrik closed his eyes and let his hand touch the egg.

The dragon within moved, twitching and writhing enough to cause the egg to stir. It reached out for Henrik and found his mind, then tried to flood it.

And then, Henrik understood. Tossyth was thousands of years old. She knew how to moderate herself. She knew how to put only certain thoughts and emotions into his mind, or Anslie’s. This baby dragon didn’t. It just reached out with everything it had, all at once. That’s certainly what it felt like.

Henrik clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. The way the dragon moved around in his mind felt like another man trying to jerk the reins from his hands. As he had the first time, he imagined himself overpowering the dragon’s will, forcing it back. It fought back and anger flowed into Henrik’s mind. He felt his temper rising against his will.

“Love,” Anslie said, just loud enough for him to hear. “Remember to love.”

Henrik was a fighter. Since he was young he had been a fighter. That was how he had made his reputation and the reason he was still alive. He could handle any man alive, but this was something new.

Love was not an emotion he was hugely familiar with, but he did his best. He thought of trust, acceptance, and love and tried to force them onto the small dragon’s presence. 

The chaos began to subside. Henrik felt his temper cool as the dragon calmed down. He finally opened his eyes and watched the egg for a moment. It rolled around a bit, but little else. He looked up to Tossyth for guidance.

She reached over with her great head and nudged the egg with her chin. She did it again, and Henrik heard the shell crack. 

“You want me to break it open?” Henrik asked.

Something flowed from Tossyth to his mind, and he understood it as the word “yes.”

Henrik reached down and grabbed the egg with both hands. It was a heavy thing, and he was certain the shell was plenty thick. Not knowing what else to do, he struck the egg against the stone floor of the cave.

Emotions surged in his head. Anger flared along with irritation.

Tossyth snorted.

“Sorry, sorry,” Henrik said. He looked around for a moment and finally saw a small rock on the side of the cave. He ran over to fetch it, then came back to the egg. His egg, he reminded himself.

“Here goes nothing,” he said. He struck the egg with the rock, softly at first, then harder until pieces of shell began to chip away. Each time he hit it, the dragon sent a small surge of annoyance into his mind, but nothing like when he had struck the egg against the floor.

A small hole opened in the egg, big enough for him to see into. Dark scales, nearly black, writhed beneath the shell. Henrik dropped the stone and jammed his thumbs into the hole. He pulled and felt the egg crack. Large pieces broke off, and he grabbed the rest of the egg and tore it apart.

And there it was. The baby dragon.

It was small, no longer than his arm from nose to tail, and slender. That made sense, considering it had been inside that egg for some time. Its scales were dark and almost seemed to glimmer like well-polished steel. Its eyes were dark brown, nearly black. As its gaze fell upon Henrik, he realized the dragon had his eye color. They stared at each other for a moment, neither one of them moving. 

He started to reach out for it, and the dragon crawled closer at the same time. Next to them, Tossyth took a few heavy breaths. Henrik dared not take his eyes off of this juvenile dragon to check on her.

The baby dragon reached out and grabbed onto Henrik’s pants and climbed up his legs. He winced at the feeling of the dragon’s claws poking through his clothing, but fortunately the dragon reached his shoulder in only a matter of seconds. The dragon sat there, its tail curled around his neck.

Henrik finally looked up at Tossyth. Love and hope flooded into his mind. He wondered if she sent the same emotions to the baby dragon. Probably, since the little guy had calmed considerably.

Deciding to risk things a bit, he reached his hand up to his dragon and held it in front for a moment. The dragon snapped out, biting his finger. Not hard, more like just feeling things out. Henrik kept his hand there and the dragon finally released. After that, he was able to rub the dragon’s head for a moment. It let out a faint purring noise as he did that.

“Henrik petting a dragon. That’s something I never thought I’d see,” Rasud said.

“Oh, this is so amazing,” Anslie said, sounding like she was holding back tears. “Tossyth wants to see him.”

Henrik took a step closer to the giant dragon, and she brought her head near. The dragon on his shoulder perched on his back legs for a moment, then leaped toward Tossyth. 

She opened her mouth and swallowed him in one bite.

“Hey!” Henrik shouted. “You just ate my fucking dragon!” He felt his anger rise.

“No, it’s okay!” Anslie said. “That’s how she carries him.”

Sure enough, Tossyth opened her mouth a fraction and the tiny dragon crawled between two teeth to watch Henrik.

It locked eyes with him and the sensations came again. More emotions in a jumbled mess, as if the dragon didn’t yet understand his own feelings. A chaotic mess of fear, happiness, curiosity, and comfort. He seemed to really enjoy sitting in his mother’s mouth.

Henrik walked up to Tossyth and reached out, then patted her on the nose. He hoped she didn’t mind him petting her like a dog, but he wasn’t sure what else to do.

“What now?” Rasud asked from behind them.

Anslie shook her head. “Now we all learn how to keep these two happy and sane.”