Chap. 9 Impressing the Dragon

Chap 9  Impressing the Dragon

The chorus of humming dragons outside the hatching cavern reverberated inside it. The subsonics vibrated right to the marrow.

 The Queen lay curled up, close to her eggs. Her eyes, whirling sapphire blue, told of her approval of the group of candidates before her.

He was amazed at her size. She was enormous. By the egg, he'd never had a clue how big a queen could be.

To force his nerves to stop jangling, he tried to recall the things B'rant had said what to expect.

He couldn't remember a one.

The Candidates on either side of him were just as nervous as he was. B'rant shepherded them like dumbstruck sheep onto the Sands.

Shards, it was hot. Why barefoot?

 His view narrowed to an intense focus on the eggs. He felt alone alone on the Sands. From somewhere on the edge of his mind, he knew his family were among the witnesses, but they were now of secondary consideration. Despite the crowd, his hearing constricted to the point of silence.

He ran over the instructions for the thousandth time. Ah, all he had to do was relax and it would come to him.

Your dragon will be hungry.

 Someone will have meat available.

 Your dragon will be ravenous.

 He will want oiling.

Did we say he's going to be hungry?

 You will need to take care of him before you take care of

yourself.

 The eggs were rocking.

The humming rose to a resonating crescendo. The eggs, the eggs!

 A loud crack!  One of the eggs fell over onto its side. Everyone looked closely.

The crack widened and a blue head poked out. The dragonet squalled and struggled to get out.

It looked around, met his eyes…and passed on.

Two more eggs cracked. A fourth. Then all of them were cracking, as if in a

race to all open at once.

A green head protruded from the egg nearest him. He moved towards it, but it ignored him. He was dimly aware of a girl crying out in what had to be joy.

Borost approached one of the eggs just as a dragonet poked its head out.The boy fell to his knees as he met the eyes of the hatchling.  

 Kandar, beginning to worry, no, no, he couldn't be one for whom there was no dragon?

He walked to another egg when something, some influence just underneath his consciousness, redirected him to the one nearest the Queen. Her foreleg dwarfed it. He was unaware that she lowered her head to just above his, watching him closely.

He saw cracks, looking like a minute river delta spread over the entire egg. A large piece was pushed off from inside. A snout poked out. He watched the nostrils flare, inhaling lungfuls of fresh air after so many days in the confines of the egg.

It paused. It shivered.

Pieces of shell began to fall. He began to pull them aside, like doing a puzzle in reverse.

The head emerged, a piece of shell covering its eyes like a cap. He pulled the piece away, dropping it onto his toes.

The eyes met his.

An oceanic wave crashed in his mind. Diaphanous as fog, it expanded, inflating to fit every crevice of his mind. It had always been there, hadn't it? It was someone else, someone who knew all about him. It flowed into the gaps that had been waiting his entire life to be filled.

A voice, one he'd known all his life and yet had never heard before, spoke without a sound.

It is so strange. What are you?

Kandar couldn't move.

I hurt inside. What am I seeing? It is so bright.

Kandar felt hunger filling his middle, as if he'd gone weeks without a meal.

He saw an alien shape as through a window, knowing it to be himself, in a brilliant and colorful world. It was so lovely after the dark interior of the egg.

 He hurried to release the dragonet from its shell. How in the world did all that wing fit in such a small egg? The dragonet snagged one wing claw on the opposite wing and  collapsed onto its belly, feet sticking out at four angles.

Kandar gently grasped each leg and placed the clumsy, taloned feet underneath the dragonet. Then he unhooked the tangled wings, amazed at how neatly they folded.

There, he thought, try that.

The thoughts came from somewhere inside his mind, without effort, as easy as though he'd done it all his life.  He could not drag his eyes from this damp creature.

The dragonet tried to stand. Its legs gave out, toppling it in a damp heap, bawling in frustration. The topmost wing flapped erratically, as if possessed of a mind of its own. Kandar helped the hatchling back to its feet, gently folding the wings next to the body. It tried to fall again and shook its head.  He moved the feet to a better position and the dragonet stood, wobbling, shivering and shaking as if being buffeted by a strong wind.

Just like a newborn foal, you are, he laughed in his mind.

 It steadied and looked around. Then he looked directly into Kandar's soul. Its eyes pierced his, boring their way painlessly into the very center of his being.

I am hungry.

I know, I know. Let's get you moving and I'll feed you.

 His heart was pounding with an almost excruciating joy. The

indescribable swell, like the sea, like the thunder, all filling his

mind, a ONENESS, with this gorgeous, magnificent creature.

 It was brown. A deep, rich, dark chocolate brown.

 "You're beautiful. Oh, how perfect you are!" he cried to the lovely face.

Somehow, he managed to tear his attention away from the small face to look up into the giant  scintillating eye of the Queen.   It was only a few feet from the top of his head. 

He bowed to her and thought, Thank you, oh Queen, for this most

magnificent dragon.

He is, isn't he? You are welcome. Aren't you going to ask his name?

Um….

 Kandar looked behind him in a daze, his hearing returning. Vaguely, he could hear the cheers of the witnesses. Only later, when he'd a chance to reflect on the whole experience, did he realize the response had come from Queen.

Then the voice in his mind whispered its name. Of course, he'd known it all along. It really was the only name suitable for such a noble creature.

"His name is Raventh!" he cried.

He flicked the last pieces of shell off the quickly drying dragonet.  The piece that had capped the dragonet's head was still atop his feet. He kicked it aside.

He never noticed the B scratched on its surface.