Dragon Lord (14 page)

With each step he took, Fen started to feel better. By the time they reached the room where the eggs were kept, he felt like himself. He stood in front of the four eggs gathered around a heat stone. One of them had a crack in it. A scratching sound came from inside and it rocked slightly.

Mouse pointed at the egg. “See. It’s hatching.”

Fen moved closer and hovered over the egg as he watched it rock harder. The crack widened. Fen had to stop himself from helping.

“I just heard,” Edana said breathlessly as she ran into the room. “I haven’t missed it, have I?”

Fen glanced over at her. “Congratulations on your new identity.”

Edana grinned. “Yes, but I nearly missed this.” She pointed to the egg that rocked again. “I can’t wait till it hatches. River’s first baby.”

“Don’t go getting mushy,” Fen said. “We’re selling them, remember?”

“Surely not the first one.”

Fen shrugged. “I don’t know. We have no dragons to breed them with. We only have the parents.”

“I’m getting too old for this.” Hanun came into the room, also out of breath.

Edana grinned at him. “Isn’t it exciting? Why don’t Pearl and River want to be here to greet their new baby?”

“They need to see humans. They must understand you will be the ones they answer to,”
River thought to both of them.

“Oh, I never thought of that. They aren’t really their parents’ children. They belong to those who’ll sell them,” Edana said.

“They’re dragons, not humans. You talk as if they were slaves,” Hanun said.

“Hush Edana. It is our punishment for the sins of our fathers. Those that attacked humans are cursed to forever serve them.”

“That’s so unfair,” Edana wailed.

“Edana,” Fen warned.

“What?”

“Stop talking to yourself,” Fen glanced over at Hanun.

“Sorry. Oh, look.” Edana pointed at the egg. “It’s going to split right open.”

Edana had no sooner finished speaking than a large piece of the egg cracked with a grating pop and fell to the surface the eggs rested on. A head pushed up through the hole and was soon followed by shoulders. The dragon let out a squawk, as it looked around at the people who stared speechless at it.

“It’s… it’s,” Edana couldn’t finish.

Mouse helped her with an explosive, “Red.”

The egg tipped over and the dragon tumbled out and moved awkwardly to the edge.

“Oh, you’re so adorable,” Edana crooned as she swept the dragon into her arms. She yelped, nearly dropping the dragon. “It bit me!”

Fen laughed as Edana put the dragon near the eggshell. “Maybe it’s hungry.”

“I’ll get food.” Mouse scurried away.

“She. Her mother calls her Carmine,”
River told Edana and Fen.

“How appropriate,” Edana said.

“What?” Hanun asked.

“Oh.” Edana looked over at Fen who grinned at her discomfit. “We should call her Carmine. Don’t you think that’s appropriate?”

“Excellent name,” Hanun agreed.

“Nice save,” Fen whispered as he moved near Edana before he leaned in for a closer look at Carmine. “Has anyone ever heard of a dragon being born coloured?” He looked between Edana and Hanun. Both shook their heads.

“Not that I’d really know. Most of my knowledge comes from books,” Hanun said.

“My father’s stables had thousands of babies born there during my life and not one of them was coloured at birth. I should know with the amount of time I spent in the stables. I could tell you about every lineage of every dragon he ever had and the colours of the offspring and the average time it took them to change,” Edana said.

“I don’t think we should let this get about. Who knows what it could mean,” Fen said.

Hanun nodded thoughtfully. “We don’t want people prying into our business.”

“Master.” A servant rapped on the door.

Fen shook his head and quickly made sure his body blocked all view of the dragon before Hanun opened the door and stepped out.

“Master. There’s a crazy woman outside looking for Mistress Edana,” the servant said.

Fen looked over at Edana who shrugged. “I’ll come with you. As soon as Mouse returns.”

Edana nodded. They both slipped out of the room.

“You heard?” Hanun asked.

Edana nodded. “I can’t imagine who it’d be.”

“Probably your mother,” Hanun said.

“My mother is as far as one can get from a crazy woman,” Edana protested.

“The typical stone statue,” Fen said in agreement.

“I’ve got the food.” Mouse joined them. “What you all doing?” He looked at each of them.

“I’m leaving you in charge, Mouse. The only ones allowed to enter are Hanun, Edana or myself. Is that understood?” Fen asked.

Mouse stood taller. “Not even a lizard’ll get past me.”

Fen nodded and followed Hanun as he made his way to the front door. Edana at his side.

Fen glanced towards her. “Whoever it is can’t take you from here. We made sure of that today.”

“I know. And thank you.”

“It was as much your doing as mine. Besides, now we’re even.” Fen grinned fleetingly.

Hanun reached the front door first. “Madame Crinitie con Eladorro.”

“Madame. Not for much longer,” Behira spat.

Edana ran forward. “Mother.”

“Don’t call me that. Don’t ever call me that again. How could you?” Behira demanded.

“How could I what?”

“You’ve given Adalric grounds for divorce. You’re no longer his heir. That means I didn’t provide him with an heir during the first five years of our marriage. He can divorce me. I’ll have nothing. The pittance the law says he is to provide me with is a laugh,” Behira yelled.

“He’s divorcing you?” Edana took a step back from Behira.

“Of course he is. What did you expect? That he’d still call you heir after you threw our parenting in our face. Since you no longer want us as your parents, you can no longer inherit the stables.” Behira laughed bitterly. “How naïve are you?”

Edana shook her head. “I didn’t think he’d let me inherit, but-”

“There are no buts. If he hasn’t an heir then he must get one. I’m too old. He needs a younger bride,” Behira said. “Oh, what’s to become of me? I’m in disgrace. Not even my family want me back.”

“Surely-” Edana began.

“Nothing. I’ll have nothing. Do you know how many years I had to put up with him? I spent my life as little more than his slave, expecting to be kept like a queen till my death. And now I find you aren’t his heir. Why? Why did you tell him? You could have inherited the stables.”

“No, I couldn’t. I wasn’t the son he wanted. A son of mine would have inherited the stables. I wasn’t staying there to be ruled by a husband so my son could have the stables.”

“You’re mad!” Behira shouted.

Edana shook her head. “No. I’m just not you. I can’t be someone I’m not. I have to live my life by my terms.”

“As a pauper? You have nothing now,” Behira yelled.

“She has friends. True friends who’ll be there for her no matter what she has to go through.” Fen stepped forward to stand by Edana’s side. “That’s worth more than gold.”

“Another fool. What would you know about having no money?” Behira demanded.

Fen laughed bitterly. “More than you could imagine, Madame. And with good friends I was able to move far from poverty.”

“She’s not without wealth,” Hanun said. “She has a choice of four dragons that are now hatching. She won’t be dependant on anyone. She can make her own way in the world. On her own terms.”

“Hanun, you don’t have to,” Edana protested.

Hanun smiled. “I won’t have my niece a pauper.”

Behira laughed crazily. “But she’s not your niece. You were there. Didn’t you understand?”

Hanun shrugged. “Blood doesn’t matter. I can see with my own two eyes she’s my niece. What does a stupid test matter to me?”

“Oh everything. Simply everything.” Behira turned to glare at Edana. “I never knew you hated me this much. I would’ve smothered you at birth and had another child if I had known how you’d turn out.”

Edana started to take another step back from the anger directed at her. Fen dropped an arm around her shoulders and moved closer. She took a deep breath. “I never hated you. How can you hate a person you don’t know? I knew my father better than I knew you. All you were was the woman who brought me out to show off at suitable times and yelled at me for being an inconvenience at others. I learned to stay out of your way. So I never knew you. I feel sorry for you, but I don’t hate you.”

“I don’t need your sympathy. And don’t come looking to me for any when you find here is no better than what you had.” With a last wild look, Behira spun around and stormed out of the house.

Fen patted Edana’s shoulder his hand rested on. “You won’t need to go looking for sympathy from that woman, Eddie. We’ll look out for you.”

“What a dreadful name,” Hanun exclaimed. “Surely you don’t call her Eddie?”

Edana laughed at the shocked expression on Hanun’s face. “I’m afraid he does.”

They returned to the eggs to find Mouse pacing back and forth. “What took you so long?” Mouse demanded as soon as they entered.

Fen glanced at the dragon. Seeing she was fine, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Mouse pointed towards Carmine. “She’s evil. She spat her food at me. She knocked on the other eggs. She even tried to push one of the eggs onto the floor.”

“Oh dear,” Edana said. “What are we going to do with her?”

“Bring her,”
River told Fen and Edana.

“What have we got to wrap her in?” Fen asked Mouse.

“A hessian bag with two rocks in it?” Mouse asked hopefully.

“Just the bag,” Fen said.

Mouse glared at Carmine. “I hope you’re not expecting me to put her in the bag. She nearly drew blood before.”

Fen suppressed a grin. “I’ll do it.”

As soon as Mouse brought the hessian bag, Fen tried to slip it over Carmine. She hissed and scratched and made every effort to attack him. After a great deal of struggling and some help from Edana, Fen managed to get Carmine in the bag.

“I can’t imagine what the problem is,” Hanun said. “I’ve never heard of tame dragons carrying on like this. Do you think it has something to do with the fact their father’s a wild grey?”

“I don’t know what the problem is,” Fen said. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens when the other three hatch.”

“What will we do if they’re all wild?” Edana asked.

Fen grinned at her. “Looks like you won’t be a wealthy woman after all.”

Edana hit Fen on the arm. “Grow up.”

“Children. Careful of that dragon,” Hanun warned.

“I’ll take her to River. See if he can sort her out,” Fen said.

“I’ll stay here with Mouse. I’ll help him keep an eye on these other eggs. They usually all hatch within twenty-four hours of each other,” Hanun said.

“I’ll go with Fen.” Edana followed him to the door. “We shouldn’t be too long. I want to see them hatch too.”

As soon as Edana and Fen had left Carmine with River, they returned to wait for the eggs to hatch. Hanun had dinner delivered and it wasn’t until the early hours of the next morning the last three eggs hatched. They were all born grey.

“I wonder why Carmine was different,” Edana said.

“I don’t know, but I think we should wait to have the officials register the births,” Fen said.

“They only give us two days to notify them,” Hanun warned.

“I know. We’ll wait the full two days. Then we can say Carmine changed colour not long before they arrived. That’s possible,” Fen said.

Hanun nodded slowly. “That might be best. Although I don’t know how they’re going to get close enough to her to take blood for the registration. It’ll have to be done. It’s the law. I just don’t know how they’ll manage it.”

Fen grinned. “At least it’ll be interesting to see them try.”

Hanun slowly shook his head. “I worry over the things that amuse you, boy.”

Carmine was still violent two days later when it was time to register her and her siblings. The other three dragons had changed colour and there was a blue female called Brook, a green male called Forest and a female the same colour as her mother called Lace. River had told them the names given them by their mother. Hanun didn’t mind what the dragons were called and Fen and Edana didn’t tell him where the names came from.

When it was time for the officials to take blood from Carmine, River held her down with one paw while the officials hovered nervously at the door of his pen.

“This isn’t the way it’s normally done,” the first official, Algis, said.

“The dragon should be with its egg mates. That’s the way it’s always done,” Norwell, the second official, said.

Fen looked over at River and he let his daughter go. The moment the pressure was off, she hissed and snapped and threw herself at the officials. Seconds before she reached them, as they tried to quickly exit the pen, River grabbed her and held her down again.

“Can we get this over and done with? I’m sure River would like to stop holding her at some stage today,” Fen said.

“She’s wild. You’ll have to release her,” Algis said.

“She’s the offspring of a wild dragon,” Fen said. “What did you expect?”

“Well,” Norwell looked over at Algis as if he might have the answer.

“I’ve read every ruling regarding hatchlings and there’s nothing that says dragons born in captivity must be returned to the wild if they act like a wild dragon,” Fen said.

“Impossible. There must be something,” Algis said.

Norwell shook his head. “Not that I can think of.”

“There must be,” Algis said.

“There’s nothing,” Hanun said. “Now take her blood so she can be registered.”

“We’ll be looking into this further,” Algis warned.

“That’s fine,” Hanun said. “You’ll find nothing. My lawyers have also scoured the rulebooks and laws regarding this issue and found not one ruling about it. Now take her blood and be done with it.”

Algis took a sharp instrument and with a quick jab in a thin skinned area waited for a few drops of blood to well up. As soon as enough appeared, Algis touched a piece of parchment to the blood and then moved away hurriedly.

“Name?” Algis readied his quill and ink.

“Carmine,” Hanun said.

“Out of,” Algis asked.

“River and Pearl of Carson Dragon Stables,” Hanun said.

“Registered to.” Algis kept his eyes on the parchment.

“Carson Dragon Stables,” Hanun answered.

“Will the owners read and sign the details.” Algis handed the parchment over to Hanun.

As they had done with the other three dragons, Hanun and Fen read the information and signed it. The parchment went into the leather case that would be used to transport it to the records building where it would be bound into a leather book of all the dragons born that month as well as cross-referenced in several other books.

“Good day to you,” Algis said frostily. Norwell nodded.

The moment they were all out of the pen, River licked his daughter’s blood spot to heal it and let her go.

“What are we going to do with her?” Hanun asked wearily.

“I don’t know.” Fen sighed heavily. “She’s been different from the start. Who knows what to expect from her?”

“We might have to end up setting her free. We can’t force her to stay here if her whole life will be one of imprisonment,” Edana said.

“We’re going to have to get her a separate pen from River. It makes it too difficult when we need to train him,” Hanun said.

“We’ll put a door between the pen next to River’s and then he can send her into her own room when we need to come in,” Fen said.

“How do you expect him to be able to do that?” Hanun asked.

“I can do it,”
River told Fen and Edana.

“He’ll manage,” Fen said with a smile.