The True Tale of Morrowseer

Chapter 7

A Year Later...

A year passed, and Morrowseer began to recover from the shock. Secretkeeper acted strange and hollow, and she disappeared almost every other night to the rainforest. Morrowseer desperately wanted to go with her, to tell her that it was going to be all right, but she always refused and told him to 'focus on the important things in life'.

And now tonight was the night that the egg would have hatched.

Morrowseer swept through the hallways, searching for Secretkeeper. He only found Mastermind and Farsight, lurking at the entrance to their cave.

"Have you seen Secretkeeper?" he asked Farsight. He pretended Mastermind didn't exist.

"Oh, yes, I have! Poor dear, she looked quite heartbroken." Farsight shook her head with sympathy.

"She wanted to be alone," Mastermind said, giving Morrowseer a meaningful look that CLEARLY meant 'go follow your partner because I bet she is totally going to the rainforest to see a certain egg hatch'.

Morrowseer hissed at him.

But then there was that awful doubt...

He had to go check to make sure and prove that stupid scientest (and, though he didn't want to admit it, himself) that Secretkeeper wasn't keeping a massive secret, as her name suggested.

Morrowseer tried not to rush out of the fortress. He flew to the tunnel mouth and landed beside Preyhunter. Secretkeeper's scent clung faintly to the air. 

Without a single word to Preyhunter, Morrowseer barged past him and through the tunnel. The rainforest greeted him, and above there were two full moons. Their gleaming shapes gave him a certain calmness.

A thousand different kinds of animals chirped and hummed and buzzed in a steady monotone, but living on a volcano Morrowseer thought that he had never heard any place sound so alive and beautiful. I'm coming, Secretkeeper, he told the NightWing dragoness silently.

He hissed as his claws brushed against something, and then he recoiled when he saw that it was a smooth, black egg.

It couldn't be!

Morrowseer barely had time to register the sound of flapping wings. The egg rolled from his talons as he dove into the cover of a small tree.

Morrowseer crept through the undergrowth, unsure of what he should do. But then he heard a scrabbling sound...Secretkeeper was digging frantically in the soil. Then something made her whirl around with a hiss...she was facing away from him now, and staring at something unseen. Morrowseer shifted to one side and caught sight of an egg...a silver egg. It was cast in the light of the two moons and rocking violently. Judging by Secretkeeper's tense shoulders, he guessed that she didn't know why the egg was silver either.

Secretkeeper approached it cautiously, then curled her claws around the egg. It shattered, and a small squeak sounded from in front of her.

Morrowseer wanted to fly out of the bushes and confront Secretkeeper. But he knew that she would be angry, and that there was a good reason why she didn't tell him this. Mastermind was right, he thought sadly and furiously. 

Secretkeeper lifted the dragonet up to the moons, and Morrowseer felt his breath catch in his throat.

Their daughter was the most perfect dragonet ever. She was also beautiful, with teardrop silver scales at the corner of her eyes. Her scales were as black as the night above and as polished as a crow feather. 

Secretkeeper turned, so that her left side was facing Morrowseer now. She hugged the small dragonet to her chest and said, "I'm your mother, little one." Her voice was barely audible from where Morrowseer was, and he inched closer to hear better. "I'm going to call you Moonwatcher. You're going to have the happiest life any dragon has ever had, and you're going to live forever and ever, and the volcano will never have you."

Morrowseer was about to walk towards her, but then a sudden thought struck him. She didn't tell me because she didn't trust me, he thought with aboslute horror. She thinks that I will tell the tribe - I would never! But if he confronted her at all, Secretkeeper would DEFINITELY never trust him. Maybe I can meet Moonwatcher when she's gone, Morrowseer thought, but he immediately rejected the idea. She would tell Secretkeeper right away, and then Secretkeeper would... he didn't want to imagine what Secretkeeper would do.

I'll watch from a distance, he decided. She may never know her father's name, but that's fine.

He leaped into the sky and flew back to the tunnel.