Heart of a Dragon

Part 2

Daylan arrived an hour after nightfall, which had given Lunora time to walk Gimel along the edges of the Greatwood. Lunora liked to climb up into the high labyrinth of trees and toss things down to her peculiar companion. Gimel was intrigued with anything, be they chunks of bark drizzled with crystalline sap, shells from jackdaws and owls that seemed so thin and tiny with dragon eggs ever-present in Lunora's mind, enormous pine-cones, abandoned nests, or something Daylan had left up there from the last time he had cut the branches.

Gimel was a creature unlike any that had walked the Earth before him, though he was in truth a mutated Pegarian Rex. He was supposed to have developed into a fair-sized Pegasus-like dragon, somewhat of a horse with the spindly wings and clutching legs of Mortigons. Gimel's egg had been brought here by a gruff Norwegian who wanted his Pegarian hatched that day, and so Gimel was cursed to be born in the Incendiary a year before his proper birth with no time to incubate in the Calorimo. Saragio hadn't asked questions, but he did warn the man, and sure enough, not even the skills of the great Dragon Sage could have hatched Gimel without a fault. Gimel had been born with spikey ridges along his spine that would make riding a wicked endeavor. His wings were all but nonexistent: two stumps of ghost-white bone from which tiny sagging membranes were twisted like rags. What was supposed to be ocean blue skin was snow white, and his head never came to reach higher than Lunora's knees. When Saragio had taken Gimel to the Norwegian along with all the coins he had been given, for failures in his art were so rare that Saragio was too ashamed to be paid if the creature hatched with terrible defects, the man had snatched Gimel and tried to force flight out of him upon leaving the Evolary, which Lunora had seen through her window. The man had tried to saddle Gimel for his Norwegian Forest Cat to ride, but achieving no success, he had hurled Gimel at the nearest pine tree. Gimel fell limp in a soundless tumble before the man departed with the fragments of Gimel's pale egg shell. Lunora had rescued Gimel and cared for him ever since, and when he had gained his strength, he soon became a great aide and friend.

Gimel was not a name Lunora had given him, for the names of dragons and other magical creatures are crisped onto the inner layer of their shells at birth. Some say that it is written by the scratching of the creature just before they break the shell. This is one reason why the shell must be broken in a natural manner, for if it were broken by force, the name would not form. Even in the Incendiary, hatchings were natural in this respect, for although the creature might emerge months before they would have otherwise, they always cracked their own shell. The shells also possessed powers that varied between different creatures, and these powers too were only manifested in a natural hatch.

Gimel now poked his long nose at a slab of sap-coated bark, his soft transparent whiskers feeling the way. He was somewhat of a poor excuse for a pony, Lunora thought, but no less adorable with his stubby legs and wide eyes like clear mountain pools. Lunora hadn't found much in the trees today, so after descending, she walked further into the woods than most would have deemed prudent. Gimel clopped next to her, heedless that there might be dangers. Lunora had never seen any, though Saragio claimed that the deep scar on his arm had been from a bear in these very woods. She had decided not to believe it, though in truth, she knew that Saragio would never concocted a tale to frighten her. Not that it would have worked, Lunora thought, thinking of him as she tread lightly in her bronze-buckled leather boots. She chased Gimel up a hill where a drooping willow stood, its frosty green leaves sighing in the evening wind's caresses. No, Lunora had the heart of a dragon, either that or a fool, for no notion of fear could hope to touch her heart.

Lunora sat down and put a hand on Gimel's back and rubbed his knobby spine, causing him to sag his head in contentment and Lunora to laugh as his ears wriggled like little mice.

"You'd better not fall asleep," she said, tapping him gently on the nose to revive him.

Gimel snorted and sat next to Lunora, gazing past the long locks of the willow that gave fleeting glimpses of the dark forest beyond. He was hopelessly nocturnal, though he seemed to also regard Lunora as hopelessly diurnal. Thus were twilight and daybreak hours their time of solace, and with the advent of the new egg, Gimel would likely get Lunora for the better part of the night.

When Lunora finally heard Fyx, brushing and tearing pine branches, she grinned and darted back down to the front gates of the Evolary.

On Fyx's back, Daylan unceremoniously twisted the reins back with his free hand, the other of which was hugging the egg to his chest as if it were a newborn. Fyx reared, his mouth frothy white from his exertion, though he had no bit—Wyn and Saragio knew that a bridle could work just as well, whereas a bit could wound the horse's jaw and inflame their mouths.

Daylan was off Fyx's back in a swift tumble that landed him on the balls of his feet. His overlarge green cloak settled on the ground around him and his dark hair fell over his eyes.

"Fyx is ready to bite your ear off, Daylan," Lunora said with a shake of her head as Daylan tossed his hood off, and a dozen scraps of branches and pine needles tumbled with it. She picked out some branches that had knotted into Fyx's mane and gave his long white nose a heartfelt stroking. Soon, Fyx was content, though he did not hesitate to give Daylan a flick with his tail.

"But I have—" Daylan started.

"Yes, I know," Lunora said. She smiled upon seeing a glint of the egg in the "womb-pouch", a leather-strapped case that was padded with bear fur and cotton, not to mention a layer of cork to protect it from an unexpected fall. Lunora raised an eyebrow and caught Daylan's eye, and even at night his bright blue-eyed face gleamed from his adventure of arriving here, though as always, he was not tired in the slightest.

"Let's see it!" they both exclaimed simultaneously. They crouched on the ground and leaned over the parcel as they unfastened the straps to remove the egg.

"I think it's a Westy," Daylan said, sticking his face up to it as if it were a book he could read.

Lunora tilted her head. "Yes, it's definitely Western. But..." There was something else to it, something almost familiar, though she knew not where she had seen an egg like this before. She was glad Wyn hadn't painted it yet, for its original shell was spectacular alone. It was a simple haunting dark green. It reflected shadows and starlight that sprinkled like blown dandelion seeds across its surface. Its song started to weave in Lunora's mind, a song of the deep earth illuminated by something grander. A gong in her heart sounded again, the gong of the great dragon. She gulped, hand hovering towards the egg, but not yet daring to touch it. She had seen many great dragon eggs, but none had seemed so profound, so curious.

"So," Daylan said.

"So?"

"So what is it?"

Lunora frowned, for if Daylan didn't know, she certainly wouldn't. Besides Saragio, Daylan was the only one who would read the lore of dragons and magical creatures with such devotion. Though Daylan, usually living with Wyn in Boltorna, was not aware that Lunora's extensive knowledge of hatching came not from any book, but from Saragio himself, and so she knew few species that had not been hatched at the Evolary or lay incubating in the Ice Mews or Calorimo.

"Saragio will know," Lunora said, taking the egg carefully. "I'll bring it to him." She left the womb-pouch for Daylan to deal with and started back to the Evolary, Gimel and Fyx trailing at her right and Daylan on her left. The egg was dense in her hands and the shell slightly cool like reptilian skin.

"I kept hearing sounds when I was riding here," Daylan said. "Like..." He pointed to the egg, his eyes wide.

"What did it sound like?" Lunora asked.

Daylan shrugged. "It seemed to be calling, but I could only hear it when Fyx stopped. And...sometimes right after, far off..."

"An answer."

Daylan nodded gravely.

As they were entering the Evolary grounds, Lunora glanced behind them, having heard a faint sound that didn't seem to belong to Nature's twilight melodies. Yet there was nothing there. Nothing but the wind in the trees, the calls of night birds echoing the breeze in their throats.