The Dragon Thief

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  Taera woke suddenly, every thought in high definition. She knew something was wrong. The lack of cool hardness in her arms gave it away. Her eyes took in every ray of light and with no doubt, she knew that she had slept for far too long. Every sense urged her to claw her way into consciousness. Drowsiness got folks dead.

She leapt to her feet, her face mottled crimson. Her cold fury burnt with a dangerous intensity, as she stalked up to Rhydian. He leaning against a tree, tooting little melodies on his recorder, seeming to not notice her.

"Where in God's name is my bloody jewel?" Taera spat, grabbing the boy's shirt and shoving him backwards. She shook from anger, slowly losing control of the red hot inferno building inside her. Rhydian got up calmly, and gave her a long pitying look. Taera stopped. His reaction surprised her, but did nothing to calm the fury. His mouth turned up in a smirk. A bloody smirk.

"Are you really that daft?" Rhydian laughed, as if talking to a child, who thought they knew everything. Taera's frown deepened. Her balled fists clenched at her sides, her nails digging into her palm, holding on by a thread.

"Don't speak to me as if I'm 8," Taera growled through her teeth, she swore that a blood vessel popped. Rhydian noticed and sneered. She knew he was egging her on, but she couldn't control herself.

"Why?" Rhydian taunted, taking a step closer to a seething Taera, "You look 8 to me, and you sure act 8."

The bomb fused. There were no holes barred when Taera lunged at Rhydian. Bowling him to the ground, she wrapped her hands around his neck, his eyes widening. His hands went to hers, clawing at them. She froze at the sound of a mewl, almost like a kitten's. It shouldn't have stopped her but it did. Rhydian's face lit up with a smile, raising his hands in surrender. Taera spun around, recoiling in shock. Standing behind her, licking and grooming itself, was a small reptile, just big enough to fit in the gem.

It was no bigger than the span of her hand, and yet it held itself in a dignified manner. Its scales were the deepest, richest shade of emerald, more lustrous than the jewel itself. But not a stone, Taera finally understood. An egg. The reptile stretched each wing, unfolding the leathery appendages one by one.Its eyes, two glowing golden orbs, blinked slowly at her. The ebony pupils wavered between constricting and dilating, almost like a cat's.

"What is it?" Taera whispered. 

" What do you think?" Rhydian retorted quietly, trying not to frighten the reptilian.

Taera rose, her eyes trained on the creature. Never had she seen anything like it. She moved towards it slowly, praying that she would not scare it off, or threaten it. 

"A dragon," she breathed, her eyes widening in realisation. She took Rhydian's silence as confirmation. She sank slowly to her hands and knees, crawling towards the dragon with an outstretched hand. In that moment, everything but the dragon blurred. Her focus never shifted as the dragon nuzzled her outstretched hand. A burst of blissful warmth seeped throughout her body as the baby let out a cat-like mew.

To her surprise, the dragon's skin was soft and leathery, not scaly like she had imagined, probably not as tough as an adult's. Its head was triangular, like a snake's, and contained a strong set of jaws. Its long tail swished happily, stirring up the grasshoppers in the patch of grass it sat in. Scooping it up in her palms, Taera kneeled and watched in fascination as it latched its mouth onto her thumb, licking and nibbling. Its teeth were sharp, yet it bit gently and playfully, not breaking skin. Minuscule lumps lined its tail, which Taera presumed to be spikes in their early ages.

It lost interest in her thumb quickly, scampering up her arm, its little claws sinking into the soft fabric of her clothes. The climb seemed a little intense for the newborn, as it sat on her shoulder, resting its tired legs. It nestled against her neck, when Taera felt a sort of freezing and burning sensation. With a gasp, her hand flew to her neck, knocking the dragon off her shoulder and into her lap. The pain was over as quickly as it came.