Dragon's Fire

Chapter 1

She was flying. Soaring though the air, the wind whistling past, far away from the horrible orphanage where she had grown up...
Ashlee awoke. It was 6am. Time for work. Ashlee had been here for as long as she could remember. Highlands Child Orphanage. Today was Saturday, the start of a half day. Good. She needed a break. After the short four hours of nonstop chores alongside the other children, she was free to slip outside her prison and down to The Loch. Everyone had long forgotten its name, so that is what it was called. Legend had it that a great race of dragons laid their eggs here, among the clusters of rock. It was also said certain dragons waited inside their egg, until the moment its destined rider touched its shell. Whenever Ashlee came to The Loch she would run her fingers over all the rocks she could, just in case. She had been doing this for the last five years, which was when her dragon fascination kicked in. But on this warm July day, she didn't. It was a babyish game, and was just getting her hopes up. She couldn't believe she had been doing it for so long. She sat down on a flat stretch of rock, she leaned against a comfy stone, and stared out across the turquoise water, letting her mind go completely blank.
The rock jiggled, startling her out of her reverie. Ashlee hadn't moved her elbow. She stared at the rock. It was quite pretty, now that she noticed. It was dark grey, smooth, and with crimson marble like veins running over the surface. So, she picked it up, thinking it would look nice on her shelf. She tucked the stone into her jumper, and, half supporting it with one hand, wandered off to an old, abandoned house, which she lived in outside of the orphanage. No one knew she was there. Suddenly overcome with a strong desire to sleep, she groggily put the egg on the shelf and stumbled over to her homemade bed, falling into a deep sleep. It almost seemed enchanted...