Hatch: A Dragon Story

Chapter III: The Two Quests

Marman wasn't a sea dragon, he was mostly a desert and sand dragon, so he wasn't used to the water, thus he pursued. He reached out and grabbed his mother around the waist, she was heavy, and Marman struggled to reach the surface. He tugged and pulled on Te's scales, but they both just remained underwater, and by now, Te's eyes were closed.

"No," thought Marman. "No, she can't be dead. She can't be dead!"
But as Marman looked down at his mother, he realized... she was dead. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't even cry. He was too heartbroken for that. Suddenly a large shadow fell over the water. Marman looked up and saw to his horror a large dragon hovering over them. Marman's heart began to beat faster and faster. The dragon cackled loudly and Marman let out a scream which was filled with nothing but bubbles.

A moment later, his eyes flashed open. The dragon nor his dead mother were anywhere in sight, yet he was still underwater, his lungs barely surviving.
Marman sped up towards the surface and gasped when he reached the cool air. He slowly climbed back onto land and slunk down on his back. He suddenly winced as a sharp pain flashed across his right wing. Marman looked down and saw his wing torn through the middle. When the smoked dragon threw him into the water, he must have scraped his claws across Marman's wing. It wasn't a big tare, but it wouldn't allow him to fly, that was for sure. It was only a few minutes later before he fell fast asleep.

He woke up a few hours later crying, "They got Olivias!"

It was broad daylight and the sky shone a bright golden colour.
Marman's heart was pounding as he lifted himself onto his feet. He suddenly cried aloud as he remembered his wing, which was still torn, and that he wouldn't be able to fly.
Hot tears trickled down Marman's scales. Olivias was taken and it was all his fault. He was a selfish, good-for-nothing missborn. But there was still hope.
Marman looked towards the horizon and saw to his delight a large snowy mountain in the distance. Marman didn't see anything special about it, but it was the only chance of proving himself (and possibly saving Olivias).
It was so close, yet Marman couldn't fly, so he was going to have to walk.

The journey was long and hard. Marman stopped every so often to drink from refreshing streams, all the time thinking about his goal.

"The top of the mountain," he would say as the ruff winds blew. "To the top of the mountain."

Once, he bumped into a hoard of goblins and tried to fight them off. Another time, two trolls heaved rocks at him.

Eventually, though, he got to the foot of the mountain and looked up. The mountain reached nearly two-hundred feet. Marman took a deep breath. He couldn't fly up the mountain, so he would have to do things the hard way. He lifted up his claws and dug them into the snowy sides of the mountain. He then heaved himself up and clasped a ledge in the mountain with his teeth. He heaved himself onto the ledge and sat there panting. Only a few feet away. He could do this.

NOTE: If you haven't already done so, go back to the beginning of this book and read the prologue. If you, however, are too darn lazy to even bother, then just continue reading here (although you will miss out on a very nice part of the story). 
I agree that it would be nice to see what happens to Marman next, but there are many different things going on currently and we will return to Marman in the next chapter (sorry to disappoint you).

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"GATHER ALL SHIPS! GATHER ALL FORCES! GATHER EVERY LAST OUNCE OF ANGER AND ATTITUDE!!!"

"Oh... um... dear?"Queen Windham rushed along with King Tiberius through the harbour where loads of people were preparing for battle and packing the ships with supplies. "Would it be best if we possibly... erm... delay the voyage?"