He yanked his bag off his shoulders, pulled it open, and brought out his dragon egg, presenting it to the guards.
The group of guards stared at his egg for a moment in surprise and confusion.
“G–go!” one of them shouted, pushing her comrade out of the way and urging Will forward. “Hurry! You might make it in time!”
The rest of the guards parted, allowing Will to pass by with his egg in his arms.
A long, dimly lit corridor led Will into a huge, hot, circular cavern. People sat in raised seats around the walls, like in an amphitheater. On the ground, children stood crowded in a circle watching something in the middle of the room.
The mood felt hushed and reverent. Everyone was watching what was happening on the ground before them, with only occasional murmurs and whispers.
He went as fast as he could go without looking disrespectful, gently wedging himself between the group of children in front of him.
When he got past them, he finally saw what everyone was looking at. In the middle of the room, dozens of dragon eggs sat in a bowl made of black sand. They were all various shades of creamy green, yellow, or orange and shimmered slightly in the lamplight. Now and then one would rock slightly with a soft tapping sound from the shells.
Will stepped forward and placed his bright, golden egg on the black sand with the others. The crowd in the stands murmured in surprise, and Will saw the other kids whispering to one another as he stepped back and took his place among them.
He glanced around the room, searching among the other children for Anri, Rin, and Lexi. He spotted them standing over to his left. Lexi and Rin looked surprised to see him, but Anri gave him a relieved smile and a little wave. He smiled, waved back, and sighed, relieved to see that she’d made it all right.
The eggs continued to shake and rock, with the motions growing more forceful and frequent every moment.
The other kids wrung their hands and licked their lips nervously. Will noticed that, except for himself, they were all sparkling clean and dressed in nice clothes. There were probably a hundred kids there waiting for the eggs to hatch, but only about twenty eggs rocking and tapping in the sand. It looked like a lot of kids would go home disappointed. Will wondered if he would be one of them.
People crowded the seating around the perimeter, watching in eager anticipation. Most of them were dressed in fancy colorful clothes. On the far wall, in the first row, a group of adults sat wearing very fine, brightly colored robes with jewels pinned on their collars and rings on their fingers. They looked like important people. Were these the leaders of Avria? Or maybe the top dragon riders?
Will didn’t spend much time wondering about them, because just then one of the eggs cracked and his attention was fixed on what was happening on the black sand in front of him.
Chapter Twenty-One
A hush fell over the cavern. The gathered children leaned in to watch the cracked egg as it rocked and trembled in the middle of the nest. The crack widened. A rectangular chunk of shell fell away. Through the little hole, Will saw a miniature yellow dragon snout. The nostrils twitched as it took in a breath of air. Then it let out a tiny squawk that seemed loud in the silent cavern.
While the other eggs continued to twitch and tap, the crack in the first egg split wide, and a pale yellow dragon, the size of a small house cat, toppled out.
“The first hatchling,” someone in the stands murmured.
“It’s a yellow,” one girl said in a tight voice, like she could barely contain her excitement.
The tiny dragon lifted its head, blinking bleary green eyes all around, and started wobbling and scrambling over the other eggs, heading for the edge of the nest of sand.
Slime from inside the egg still clung to the tiny dragon’s skin, glistening and making the sand stick to it as it stumbled and rolled over the lip of the nest. It cried out piteously, and Will almost took a step forward to help it, but another boy got there first, pulling the thin yellow wings out from under its claws and gently folding them along its back.
The baby dragon lifted its eyes to the boy’s face adoringly, and the boy paused in surprise. His mouth slowly stretched in a wide grin. His eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Wow, you’re perfect!”
A cheer burst from the crowd in the stands. The children nearby gathered around to congratulate the boy. They thumped him on the back and whooped as the boy bent to gently pick up the newly hatched dragon.
Someone in the stands shouted, “First bonding!” The cry echoed out through the tunnel. From outside, Will could hear a massive roar, like a crowd at a football game, as the people waiting there shouted and applauded as well.
The boy gently nestled his yellow dragon in his arms and turned to leave the hatching ground.
By now jagged cracks were showing up in several more of the eggs. A tiny blue claw poked out of one, while a small red snout pushed through another.
Will’s eyes found his egg sitting at the edge of the nest, its metallic golden color shining like a beacon among the soft creamy shells surrounding it. Was anything happening to it at all? He couldn’t see any movement, and he couldn’t tell if any of the tapping he heard was coming from it.
A loud crack drew his attention to the eggs near Anri and her friends. A glistening green dragon slid out of its creamy egg, landing upside down in the black sand. It squawked in protest, flailed its wings, and whipped its tail, trying to roll over.
Several kids moved forward to help the hatchling. When it settled on its claws, wings coated in a thin layer of fine black sand, the kids stepped back to give it space.
The little green dragon lifted its wobbling head weakly, searching the faces in the crowd. It waddled forward, stumbling over its own claws and dragging its tail in the warm sand.
The children parted as the dragon approached them, letting it pass through until the green hatchling was staring up into Anri’s amazed face with its bright yellow eyes.
Anri dropped to her knees in front of the dragon and tentatively reached out her hand to stroke its head. “Really? You really want to be with me?”
Will chuckled, feeling his heart swell with happiness for his friend. As though any dragon wouldn’t be lucky to have Anri as a rider!
The little green dragon let out a soft chirp and rubbed its head against her hand while Lexi, Rin, and all the other kids around her cheered.
While Will had been watching the tiny green dragon and Anri, several more eggs had hatched. A cheer rang from the group of children on the far side of the nest. A little blue dragon waddled over the sandy lip of the nest right in front of Will and into the arms of the girl standing to his right.
Tap. Crack. Crunch. More eggs hatched and more baby dragons toppled, wet and squawking, into the warm black sand.
The mood in the warm cavern was no longer hushed and solemn. Instead, shouts of laughter, cries of joy, applauding, cheering, and the happy trilling and chirps of hatchlings rang through the room.
On the mound of black sand, the number of whole eggs became fewer and fewer while the number of tiny, clumsy hatchlings stumbling toward the waiting children grew.
Another little yellow dragon flopped over the lip of black sand, this one moving in Will’s direction. He hurried forward to help it up. Its damp, yellow skin felt velvety soft as he set the hatchling on its feet and folded its wings back. It gazed up at him with bright-orange eyes before turning away and waddling to the boy standing behind Will.
Will watched the newly bonded pair, stifling his jealousy as the boy lifted the little dragon and nuzzled it adoringly. The baby dragon chirped and rubbed its head against the boy’s chin.
Will watched them for a moment longer, then turned back to the nest. It was filled with shattered eggshells and drying slime. The only whole egg that remained was his, and it was as still as a stone. No rocking. No tapping from inside. Nothing.
Will took a step closer to his egg, silently praying for any sign that the baby dragon inside was alive and ready to come
into the world. He watched it for several minutes as the children who had bonded with hatchlings left the cavern, followed by the other un-bonded kids as they gave up waiting.
A warm hand touched his shoulder. He looked back and saw Anri with her little green dragon clutched in her arms. Her dark eyes were soft with pity. Her mouth pulled to the side and her brow furrowed with concern. “Are you okay?”
Will turned back to his egg and took a step closer to it. “It’s not hatching . . .” Even though everyone had said his egg was dead from the start, he’d secretly cherished a spark of hope that it would hatch if only he could get it to the hatching ground in time. He hadn’t realized how big that hope had grown.
Now that he was here, watching his egg sit perfectly still and silent in the warm black sand, it seemed wrong, tragic, and inconceivable that it wasn’t hatching. Of course it was supposed to hatch!
Had he done something wrong? Maybe it had gotten too cold when it fell in the river. Maybe it got hurt when it went over the cliff. Maybe Will had jostled it too much, carrying it around in his bag. Whatever was wrong, Will felt certain it had to be his fault somehow. If only he had done something different, taken better care of it, or been better, his egg would have been okay.
“Will, it’s not your fault,” Anri said, almost like she could read his mind. “You did the best you could, bringing it here. You did better than all of us.” Her voice was soft and sad.
Will stared at the egg for another long minute. Then he sniffed and rubbed his hands over his eyes. “It’s okay, Anri.” He said it even though he didn’t feel okay. Not even a little. Not at all. “I’m really happy for you. I always knew a dragon would choose you.”
Anri made a strange face, halfway like she was about to cry and halfway like a grin. She didn’t seem to know what to say. Finally, she choked out a whispered, “Thank you,” and wiped her cheeks. The little green dragon in her arms turned to look at Will with its bright yellow eyes.
Anri laughed lightly. “No, no. Not family,” she said to the dragon. “This is Will. He’s a friend.” She gave an apologetic smile to Will. “I told her my family would love to meet her, and since then she’s been asking if everyone we meet is my family.”
“So, dragons really can talk to you?”
She shrugged and nodded. “It’s mostly feelings and simple thoughts. She is still a baby, after all.”
The people in the stands were filing out of the cavern now. The other children had already gone. Some adults had gathered around the nest, examining Will’s solitary shining egg among the scattered eggshells.
Will took a deep breath and turned his back on the dark sands of the hatching ground.
He gave a small smile to the little green dragon in Anri’s arms. “I am happy to meet her, even if I’m not your family. What’s her name?”
Anri stroked the little dragon’s soft neck. “She doesn’t have one yet, not until the naming ceremony, but I have a few ideas.” She eyed Will uncertainly. “Will you be staying for the party?”
Will felt a pang in his gut. He was happy for his friend, but the idea of staying and celebrating with all the kids who had bonded with dragons . . . “I’m not sure. I want to find Perrin before I go. But—”
A faint tapping noise distracted him.
The adults surrounding the nest murmured in surprise.
Will turned around.
The tapping came again, accompanied by a soft crunching sound as the golden egg rocked in the sand.
Shouts rang out, echoing out the corridor as the remaining adults called for the other un-bonded children to return to the hatching ground. The people in the stands scrambled to re-take their seats. Many of them simply stood where they were, transfixed by the sight of the lone rocking egg and blocking the way as others pushed past to see what was happening.
Will wasn’t paying attention to any of them. With bated breath, he moved back to his place on the sandy floor, not taking his eyes off the egg. It rocked again and rolled a little in the sand.
Other children were running back into the cavern now, jostling him as they gathered near the nest around Will. They talked together excitedly, pointing and nudging one another as they waited for the egg to crack. Will barely noticed them.
“Come on. You can do it. Break the shell,” he whispered, balling his hands into trembling fists.
A scratching, clawing noise came from inside the egg as the tiny dragon scrabbled against the inside wall. Then a small crack appeared.
The other children grew quiet.
A hushed murmur came from the people in the stands.
Will held his breath.
The crack widened as the baby dragon pushed from within. A fragment of shell dropped onto the sand. Then a tiny pale claw appeared.
“What color do you think it is?” a boy whispered next to Will.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s a yellow,” a girl next to him said.
Little claws scratched at the widening crack in the eggshell, scattering a shower of gleaming fragments over the dark sand like glitter. The dragon inside let out a tiny frustrated growl. Then with a sudden jerk, the egg split in two, and a silvery-white baby dragon, glistening with egg slime, flopped into the sand.
Will gasped in amazement.
The children around him murmured in astonishment.
“Is that dragon . . . white?” one girl asked.
“It can’t be,” another said.
“Impossible!”
The surrounding stands rumbled with the urgent conversations of the gathered adults. Will couldn’t tell what they were saying over the chatter of the kids around him and the rushing of blood in his ears.
The white hatchling rolled to its belly and flapped its wings against the sand. Then, deciding that this wasn’t working, it shakily pushed itself up onto its legs and slowly waddled toward the lip of the nest.
When it stepped over the ridge, the drop on the other side caused it to stumble. The little white dragon fell, rolled down the sandy slope, and flopped to a stop right at Will’s feet.
He didn’t hear anything the other kids were saying. The crowds in the stands seemed not to exist anymore. Nothing else mattered right then but helping the hatchling in front of him.
Will crouched down and untangled the little dragon’s wings from its claws and brushed some clinging sand from its back and neck.
The tiny dragon lifted its bright yellow eyes to his face.
Everything changed.
Love and joy flooded his heart. Everything in the world that mattered to him shifted to orbit around this little white hatchling with golden eyes. He knew he would always be there for this dragon, always be ready to help him, encourage him, teach him, defend him, and fight for him. And he knew, without knowing how he knew, that this little dragon would always be there for him, too.
“You choose me?” Will gasped. A tear trickled down his cheek.
The little dragon chirped and a single thought flooded Will’s mind.
You’re my friend. The words were elusive, unfamiliar, like it was the first time he’d ever heard them. But the intent was firm and perfectly clear.
Will chuckled and wiped his tears away with his sleeve. “I am. I am your friend. Always. Forever.” He reached down and gently lifted his dragon off the warm sand. The hatchling rubbed his head against Will’s cheek and crooned.
With his dragon in his arms, Will turned to face the crowd with a smile stretched across his face. “He chose me!”
Some kids still looked confused, but a lot of them cheered and patted him on the back. Applause rang from the stands, mingled with questioning murmurs.
Will didn’t care. He knew that his dragon being white meant something important, but that didn’t matter right now. He held the little dragon to his chest and brushed the sand off his wings. Then he walked back down the corridor and left the hatching ground as a new dragon rider.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Do you think he’s really a white dragon?” a blond
e-haired boy named Corin asked. He was the boy who’d bonded with the pale yellow hatchling, the first one to hatch.
Will sat at a stone table in a courtyard set aside for the new dragon riders. Out in the concourse through which Will had run on his way to the hatching ground, crowds of people teemed and bustled, stalls served food and beverages, music filled the air, and children played with wooden toy dragons that could really glide like paper airplanes.
In the reserved courtyard where Will was now, the new riders and their hatchlings were left relatively undisturbed. Will was grateful, because after about ten minutes of rapt amazement at how huge and amazing the world was, his little dragon had fallen fast asleep in his arms.
“He looks white to me,” Will said. “I mean, I don’t want to pretend that he’s here to save the world or anything, but what other color could he be?”
He stroked the velvet-soft skin on his hatchling’s neck, and the little white dragon sighed in his sleep.
“Maybe he’s a yellow,” Corin said. “Look how light the color of my dragon is. If the light was any dimmer, you might think she was white, too.”
It was true. Curled up in the boy’s lap, Corin’s yellow dragon was the color of butter in the lamplight. Most of the other yellow dragons were bright as lemons or even slightly orange like the color of a school bus. Still, despite being paler than the other yellows, she was clearly yellow.
“Couldn’t he be a pale shade of any color, then?” Liza asked quietly. Her blue hatchling slept coiled around her neck.
Corin shrugged. “I guess so. But I think it would be easier to see a hint of red or green or blue in his skin.”
“If he is a pale shade of a normal color, we’ll know soon,” another boy said confidently. His tiny green dragon was still awake, with his front claws propped on the table and his haunches on the boy’s knee. His orange eyes flashed from face to face curiously, but his eyelids kept drooping before popping wide open again, like a toddler fighting a nap.
“What do you mean?” Will asked. “How could we know what color he is if he doesn’t look like he’s any color?”
Secret of the Dragon Egg (Dragon Riders of Avria Book 1) Page 20