Elemental Soul (Book 1 of 'A Fantasy in Time')

Chapter 13: Acupuncture Hell and Movements

Chapter 13: Acupuncture Hell and Movements

I couldn’t believe what I just heard her say.  ‘Their first child?!’  I thought to myself.  The pregnant silence that accompanied that proclamation amid blood and embryonic fluid could have given way to the sound of a pin dropping.

Cuddled in her arms was what looked like a miniature red dragon but with a shorter neck and a few other differences.  Slime covered wings curled up along the length of its body and 7 thorn shaped spikes ran along its spine.  One could see a hint of teeth as the soccer ball sized creature yawned in its fitful sleep.  Having seen it with open eyes at its birth, I recalled the vivid yellow reptilian pupils.  As I took in all these details amid the silence, my revelry was broken by a single voice.

“Woohoo, getting busy already! . . .”  Shock ran through the ranks, which soon gave way to chuckling and outright laughter which accompanied the anonymous cat caller.  Several other whistles could be heard as the wedding guests thronged the new family to offer their congratulations.  Though they were all very well dressed, the bloody appearances of the bride and groom did nothing to deter the visitors in their support.

As all of this was happening, due to my close proximity to Monroe at the time, I felt I was the only one to hear him despondently mutter under his breath.  “I wanted to call him Thorn.”  I guess this was Victoria’s way of getting back at him for teleporting mid-wedding festivities.

As the remainder of the celebration began to gain momentum, Victoria stole a brief moment to return the baby drake to his nest.  She had thought to spend the remainder of the evening casting an occasional teleportation to allow the 4 of us, Monroe, Lysis, me, and herself to alternately check in on the sleeping reptile.

I immediately offered to stay with him the whole time since I wasn’t too fond of occasions as big as this, and they gratefully took me up on that offer.  As the flash of the teleportation light faded bringing the deeper red light of the cave into focus, I neared the glowing drake nest.  Once I reached the sleeping figure of Daenerys, Azure simply jumped out of her hammock to curl up by his side in the warm nest.  She then proceeded to lick the drake from head to toe, cleaning the sleeping figure of all his birthing fluids while gaining a tasty snack at the same time.  No accounting for taste.  Once clean she settled down to nap beside him.

Checking in on them on occasion, I spent the remainder of the evening looking around the cave exploring the few smaller alcoves that existed at the edges of the larger cavern.

Having no way to guess time in the closed off cavern, I guessed several hours had passed before I saw a bright light flash that brought both Monroe and Victoria in its wake.  “Jade,” Monroe called out to me upon their arrival.  “Thank you for keeping watch over Daenerys.  Before I let you go home to get some sleep I just wanted to tell you some things.”  He paused for a moment to take a look at his new family member.

“The counsel elders have granted me 2 months of leave from counsel business in which to enjoy my time with Victoria.  She and I have decided to go out exploring for the next week and we are taking the little one with us.  I was hoping you could keep an eye out for things while we are gone and once we return we will begin your training.  Does that work for you?”  He asked me.

“Absolutely!”  I replied enthusiastically at the fast approaching time for training.  A twitch of the lips crossed his face as he watched my excitement.  “Very well, if you want to get Azure then we can send you back to the Shop where you can get some sleep.”

With that I carefully gathered up the sleeping form of my own companion and Victoria sent us into the Apothecary shop in a cascade of light.  Needless to say, the two of us promptly lay down in bed and passed out for the night.