Cinderella vs. Happily Ever After

Chapter 9

           Valerie dragged another armful of branches over to Isaac who was busy setting the fire up. She dusted her hands and look around for more, her eyes resting briefly on one of the grey pieces of egg shell that lay nearby. She swallowed and looked away, turning her attention to the nearer corner, this one piled up with branches.

            She walked over, sizing the tangle as she moved. She sighed and began tossing the tiny twigs off the top to one side before trying to shift the heavier branches. She’d pulled off two massive branches when she looked down at the rest of the pile and froze. She looked again, blinking, wondering if the image would disappear.

            When it didn’t, she leaned forward and brushed one finger against the egg, startled to find it still warm. “Isaac,” she cried, not taking her eyes off of it. “There’s an egg here!”

            “Good. Bring it over here. I’ve just got the fire started,” he said, tossing a few more branches onto the flames and poking them into place with a long stick.

            Grinning, she moved quickly but carefully, shifting the branches so none of them fell to hit the eggs. Soon she was able to reach in and pull the egg carefully out. It was heavier than she had expected, even for its size. It was about a foot long and forced her to cradle it with both arms so she could carry it over. She picked her way over, keeping an eye out for anything that might trip her while doing her best to keep her pace steady so as not to jolt the egg.

            Isaac looked up when she slowly knelt beside the fire, putting the egg down in her lap. “What the hell is that?” he asked.

            “The egg. It’s still warm. I think if we keep it close to use and the fire tonight it should be fine. I bet if we wrap it up really well and leave it in the coals of the fire it’ll be able to hatch no problem.”

            He took in her shining eyes, the gentle way she was cradling the egg and the barely contained excitement in her voice and sighed, looking up at the swiftly darkening sky. “Val, sweetie, you don’t know what kind of egg that is. And besides, you’ve seen the rest of the eggs. They’ve hatched already. I’m sure this one was abandoned for a reason.”

            “Don’t say that! I’m sure it’ll be fine if we take care of it tonight,” she snapped, arms wrapping around the egg.

            He rolled his eyes. “You don’t know it’s a dragon egg Valerie. Heck, you don’t even know what a dragon egg looks like.”

            “That means it could be one.”

            “Just because you want it to be one because you’re obsessed with dragons isn’t going to make it one.”

            “I’m not obsessed,” she muttered.

            He turned his gaze to the flames, pushing some of the wood farther in with his stick. “Val, I’ve seen your bookshelf. Half of the books on it have dragons in them somewhere. You have a dragon obsession. I swear it’s the real reason you agreed to come back with Darren. Which brings me to another point, we don’t have time to take care of the egg. We have a city to liberate.”

            “I’m just saying we do it tonight. We’re here already and so is the egg. And if in the morning we wrap it well, which won’t take more than a few minutes, we’ll give it a chance to survive.”

            “What are we going to wrap it with?”

            “What I’m wearing,” she said then held up her hand to stop his protests. “Look, I’m dying in this. It’s too hot, especially when we’re going to be spending at least another full day walking. Not to mention it slows me down. Not a lot but we’re going to need every bit of extra advantage we can get if we run into one of the patrols. And like you said before, if we run into one there’s no way we’re going to be able to talk ourselves out of it so there’s no point to my disguise. I’ll keep the wig so I’m not obvious, but male Valerie is going away.”

            He frowned but accepted her points. “I don’t see why you’re so set on saving it though. You don’t know it’s a dragon.”

            “Why are you so sure it’s not?” She demanded, glaring.

            “Because look around us, have you seen any dragons? Or even dragon scales? No. And unlike you, I’ve talked to Err about real dragons. If this was a dragon nest, we’d be dead. They’re fast, vicious, hungry creatures that’ll eat anything that’s meat. They’d have killed us or eaten us for being this close to their nest by now. And since we’re both still breathing, I’m pretty sure this isn’t a dragon nest. I’m sure it’s just some sort of giant bird nest and that’s egg that wouldn’t hatch.”

            “Not all dragons are monsters. Darren said there are some that are intelligent.”

            He sighed again. “Yeah but they wouldn’t be stupid enough to put their nest anywhere near a bunch of humans. I mean we walked here in a day from Merrity. Any idiot could have stumbled onto this nest and that’s something I’m sure they try to avoid. And regardless, if that thing really does hatch, it’ll probably be some kind of man-eating beast or giant bird. Overall, probably not something we want to meet.”

            Valerie’s brow furrowed as her lower lip jutted out. “I’m still wrapping it.”

            He glared for a moment then chuckled at her expression. “That is the Paige face you’re using.”

            She jerked upright, eyes wide. “It is not!”

            “It was. You’re being awfully childish about the whole thing. But if you’re so set on it I’m not going to stop you.”

            Valerie sighed and hugged the egg. “I’ve always wanted to see a real dragon, ever since I was little.”

          He laughed. “You were such a boy. Most girls wanted to meet unicorns not dragons.”

            She snorted. “Unicorns are stupid and boring. Dragons are way cooler. They’d totally eat a dumb unicorn any day.”

            He shook his head, still grinning. “There are no words for you, Valerie Ash. No words.”