Dragon Boy

Prologue

      I stumbled blindly through the storm. Dirt, rain, snow and muck swirling and blowing around me in a ferocious blizzard.  I stopped and collapsed; exhausted, clutching my leather satchel to my chest. The ground was rough on my knees and I closed my eyes, holding back a sob.  I had planned to hold my crumpled form until the storm subsided, waiting it out and praying not to be buried, but the cold was too much. My bare fingers had frozen so thoroughly that it was a struggle to gather up my bag and cap and stand. I  began to run aimlessly, trying to regain warmth. It wasn't like I could go back.

       I thought I saw something in the distance taking the looming shape of a cave. Oh I hoped, I pleaded for it to be a cave. But that seemed too much to ask for; wishful thinking. Even so, I was finished. This shadow was my only hope. 

      I wobbled unstably toward the dark mass and was soon close enough to discover that it was, in fact, a cave. It was shelter. I entered and was immediately shielded from the wind and the bitter cold. The hollow was surprisingly warmer than I'd expected. Satisfied, I let my legs give out and lay on the hard rock floor, convulsing into a fit of coughing and retching now that my lungs and body had finally been put to rest. Once I'd finished, I rolled over on the stone ground and drifted into a refreshing sleep.

    I awoke to the realization that I was not alone in the cave. There was something else. Something big and alive noticing me from the shadows of the cavern. 

    It was an enormous creature. Stomping in circles, snorting flame and fading in and out of colour. Invisible, bronze, green, red, invisible, copper, blue, gold and finally, it calmed. Standing firm and tall, it decided on an intimidating midnight black, with small streaks of silver, smoke blowing from its nostrils, muscles rippling under shining scales. 

   The beast's long tail stirred the air over a nest of four large eggs. They were all considerably different shades of blue. Two were identical; a light azure with dull white stripes on top and streaks of  green decorating the sides.  The third was a stubborn navy blue covered in coarse lumps, and the last was a sleek indigo and teal, splashed together in contrast with no defects or imperfections. 

   As I inspected the full- grown dragon with more detail, I noticed it's exaggerated magnificence. It was the darkest of blacks, with barely visible smears of silver and wide, glassy eyes. Surrounding the eyes were a crown of shiny grey pricks, like those on the twin eggs. The scales over its body were tough and protective; I doubted I could even dent them, and they were so carefully placed that it would be difficult to find a chink. 

    So, with an enraged dragon preparing to damage my already frail body, I did the only thing my groggy brain could think to do. I slumped to the ground and curled into what I desperately hoped was the shape of an egg.

    The dragon's demeanour changed immediately. It was confused. Was I still the threat it had seen me as moments ago? Or was I now harmless? I focused on stopping the shaking in my arms and legs, closing my eyes. Just breathe, I told myself. I knew there was no way the creature would believe I was an egg and I prayed for a quick and easy end. 

    Now, in my admittedly limited knowledge of dragons, I do know that they are very intelligent and acute. So when the beast gently rolled me into the nest and settled me up against the four eggs, I knew that she had not be fooled. No, the mother dragon had pitied me, and just as I had done when I curled up, she makde a split-second decision. When she saw me, the dragon had gone on the defensive to protect her young, and while I wasn't sure what her acceptance meant, I felt safe than I had in a long time.

    So there I lay, folded into my tight ball, wrapped inside a dragon's tail next to four warm shells, for a long time. And that is how I became the son of a dragon. 

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   The dragon was supposed to be a rock dragon. Her mother, father and grandfather had been rock dragons, but her grandmother had been a sky dragon. Simply by chance, this animal had inherited a sky trait. She possessed the ability to shift to any colour, not just the colours a rock dragon could shift to, which consisted basically of reds,  blacks, browns and coppers. 

    But the father of her four eggs was a water dragon. They were blue, being mothered by a rock dragon. She couldn't know what the hatchlings would look like, but she saw the eggs, and so did her clan-mates. She was exiled, and the father returned to the sea, abandoning them to fend for themselves, which dragon tend to do quite well.

   She had just escaped the storm after her banishment when I stumbled upon her, having escaped quite a similar situation. She was stressed and on edge, so I was lucky she didn't instinctively attack me. But having just experienced injustice and condemned solitude herself, she felt pity for me. All this I learned over several years, after the difficult trial of learning an alien language from a creature who could not teach me the way she would like to. She was really very caring, and I'm thankful she took me in. I grew up a Dragon Boy, and this is my story.