Hatch: A Dragon Story

Chapter V: Talons Academy

He awoke, moaning and groaning. His wings were torn and his chest was burnt.
Getting to his feet, he clutched the stone against his heart and smiled wickedly. He had survived. That meant the legend was true. Taking the stone in his mouth, he spread his torn wings and took off in the air, laughing triumphantly and he flew away into the mist.

~~

Marman woke up with a start. He'd just had an awful dream.
Marman looked around him. Where was he? Oh, yes! The Dragon City! Marman groaned and curled back up. He was incredibly miserable. Hearing that he was going to have to go to school made him want to burst into tears. His mother had home-schooled him since he was a hatchling, but now he had to go to a proper school. His mother had told him horror stories of dragon schools. They were awful places with terrible people who bossed you about and treated you like you were a worthless flea.
After Barnabas had signed Marman up for Talons Academy, they found themselves in a cave where they now were spending the night. Marman didn't like this cave. When he was with his mother, they almost always slept out in the open where the stars glinted in the moonlight. In a cave, you couldn't see any stars. The only thing you saw was stone and darkness.

Maman's head perked up. He could fly away this very minute. The cave entrance was right in front of him. What was he waiting for? 

Marman got up and slowly crept towards the open mouth of the cave. Moonlight streamed in, making Marman's eyes take a moment to adjust to its brightness.

"You're not making a smart decision."

Marman froze.

"It's dangerous outside."

"Yes, thank you. I think I know that," Marman groaned as he turned to face Barnabas. 

"Good, then keep inside. Running away is foolish. Where will you live? What will you do? Who will take care of you?"

"My mother would've taken care of me," Marman mumbled under his breath.

"YOU'RE MOTHER'S DEAD!" roared Barnabas.

Marman slunk back into the shadows, hiding his face from the tears that were coming.
Barnabas took a deep breath.

"Look," he said. "I know it's hard for you, but you're mother's dead. You have no one to take care of you except me. Your father-"

Marman perked his head up. No one has ever mentioned his father before.

"Your father -" Barnabas sighed. "Your father is gone. Sendong you to a school is what he would've wanted."

"You don't know that," said Marman, glaring at Barnabas. "You're not my father."

"You're right," Barnabas smiled. "I'm not, but I am your... Never mind that, now. Get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day."

~~

Barnabas was right.
The next day, the two dragons flew towards Talons Wood.

"Remember," said Barnabas. "Master Gostir is incredibly fierce and strict. He will not tolerate any nonsense from younglings like yourself."

"It's time someone taught him a lesson then," Marman said.

"Don't you dare," Barnabas scolded. "You'll get yourself in more trouble than you think. Ah! Here we are!"

The two dragons flew over a large mass of forest made up of many different types of trees each with different colour leaves.
Marman peered out in the distance and saw a flat cliff where twenty other dragons perched.
Barnabas and Marman landed amount the other dragons who were laughing and enjoying themselves. Marman felt as if he didn't belong. These dragons all looked a year older than him, even though (according to Barnabas) they were all exactly his age.

"Ummmmmm... where do we go now?" asked Marman, looking curiously around.

"Just be patient and wait," said Barnabas.

"For what?"

"For Master Gostir, of course!" piped in a tall, blue dragon with a crest on his head.

"Ahhhhhhh, Master Handel," Barnabas smiled politely at him.

"Good to see you too, old friend. And who do we have here?"

"Master Handel, this is Marman, your new cadet."

"Welcome to Talons Academy: A school for only the best of the best!"

"I hope you'll make yourself comfortable in the academy. We don't usually get new recruits. Ah! Now here's Master Gostir!"

A tall, elderly, silver-looking dragon perched neatly on a large rock, looking over all the other cadets with shame and disgust.

"Silence!" he roared over all the commotion. "If anyone doesn't be quiet, they'll get three days in the pit!"

 Everyone went still.

"Very good," Master Gostir took in a deep breath. "Today we have a new cadet!"

Murmurs swept through the crowd of cadets.

"Marman?" Master Gostir turned to Marman. "Would you like to step forward?"

The cadets departed and allowed Marman to walk to where Master Gostir stood. Marman kept his head down as dragons from either side of him whispered and giggled. Some even looked suspiciously at him.

"This here," said Master Gostir, "Is a weakling!"

The cadets gasped and muttered to themselves.
Maman perked his head up. A weakling? That wasn't what he expected at all.

"This here," continued Master Gostir, "Is a disgrace to dragon kind!"

Marman was shocked. How dare this stranger stamp on his pride.

"And what do we do to runts?" spat Master Gostir. "We make 'em learn the hard truth about life! We teach 'em about what dragons were truly made for!"

Marman swallowed hard. Oh, dear. This was going to be awful.

~~

Princess Olivias sat by her bedroom window, staring out at the blue sky. She hadn't had a good sleep. She kept on thinking about her mother. Her rosy cheeks. Her radiant and excited eyes. Her golden hair. Her sweet, minty breath.
Olivias turned from the window to face her reflection in the mirror. What had used to be a happy, skinny little girl had become older and larger. Her hair used to stretch all the way down her back and she used to wear a stuffy old dress with holes inside them.
That was, of course, until her mother died. After that, her stepmother, Queen Windham became King Tiberius's new fiance.
Queen Windham immediately decided to change things around in the palace. She made Olivias wear royal clothes and tie her hair back into a bun. She had scolded Olivas if she did something she wasn't supposed to. She made Olivias attend every royal feast, and made her have at least two spoons of every royal dish at the feasts, even though she, herself, barely ate a pea.

Being now almost fifteen years of age, Olivias had to take more responsibility around the palace, and that's how Queen Windham liked it.

Olivas turned back to the window and stared at a cloud which looked almost like... yes, a dragon. She smiled. Then suddenly an idea came to her mind. What if, and this was just a thought, what if she could become a dragon?