The Galway School of Dragons book 1: The Death Dragon

Chapter 2

That evening in the dining hall I sat beside Ima. I learned there at over 200 breeds of dragons, and possibly more. I also learned that they keep you at this school from the age of 15 to 20, so five years.

And that on the summer holidays of my fathers 4th year he impregnated my mom, then left. There are 13 classes in total, 10 of which the first years take, the other is for 2nd years and up. I also learned that you are marked as a dragon trainer if your hair is bright orange like mine.

So, suddenly I didn't feel so left out. Everybody has bright orange hair like mine... except the headmaster. His hair was light brown, almost blonde. His old, almond shaped face and wrinkled hands and glasses made him give you the impression he will eat you without thinking twice.

And terrifyingly, his name is Professor Död, Swedish for death. Suddenly, he snapped his head towards me and stared at me with his coal black eyes. Finally, he turned his head back to the teachers.

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"Wake up!" Ima called out, shaking my whole body. "What? Why?" I ask grudgingly. "It's the first day of classes!" She exclaims. I sigh in response. "But I don't have my books, or schedule!" I exclaim, sitting up and pressing my feet to the cold floor.

"Yes, you do." She tosses me a pile of ten books. And on top, is a schedule hand written on a piece of paper. I pick it up and read it over. First class on Mondays is dragon history, then Other Mythical Creatures, break, Dragon Riding lessons, another one of those. Then a class of dragon breeds, and lunch... next is... nothing.

"Mondays are free afternoons," Ima says, as she changes into her tunic and pants. Finally, she pulls on and ties her leather boots. I slowly walk to my closet and choose the same outfit as Ima, carefully getting dressed.

I carefully watch Ima spread some sort of liquid over the egg, then rub it in. "It's Drakon Tamer, Drakon is Swedish for dragon, of course. It just makes sure the dragon is tempered well when it's born." Ima says, twisting the lid back on the bottle.

"Well, shall we go to breakfast?" She asks, walking towards the door. "Sure." I reply simply. I go to take my cell phone off my bedside table. "Better not bring that, Professor Död is rather strict about that." I chuck it into my bed and follow Ima out into the hall.

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"Hello, Everybody, my name is Professor Flitty, and I teach History of Dragons." A rather fat, short woman waddles into the room, of course, her hair is carrot orange. "So, getting started here, does anybody know how many breeds of dragons there are?"

A couple kid raise there hands, as do I. "Uh, Miss...?" The teacher points at me. "Uh, Albany, Professor, and... over 200, and possibly more." She beams a great big smile at me. "Yes!" She says, then pauses and narrowed her green eyes at me. "Your Professor Albany's girl, Albany!" I blush scarlet.

"Uh... y-yes." I stutter. She smiles. "Welcome, Home, darling." And with those words, she starts telling us about all the breeds of dragons.

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"Where do people go for free time?" I ask Ima and at lunch. "Well, the foyer, or the library, or some people hang out in the dorms. Or the dragon houses. Oh! How about we finish our tour!" She exclaims. "Of course," I reply with a smile.

"Did you know, this place reminds me a lot of Harry Potter." I tell Ima as I pile more mashed potatoes on my plate. "I know, this place screams wizards." Ima says, glancing up at the four large tables parallel to the teachers horizontal one.

Dad catches my eyes and smiles at me, then mouths, "everything okay?" I nod and smile back at him. "Is there a chamber of secrets and a philosophers stone hiding in this castle?" I ask with a small chuckle. "Not that I'm aware of, Albany." Ima replies with a girlish giggle.

I giggle along with her and I pour gravy onto my potatoes and murder them with my fork. "How where classes?" Ima asks after a moment or two. "Okay, we really didn't do much." I say, twirling my fork in my fully loaded plate of pasta. "Oh. We did, I was taught how to bathe my little dragon when it's born."

After lunch, Ima takes me too the dragon houses, the place they keep all dragons. Then she shows me the rest of the castle, then leaves me in the library to go check on her dragon egg. I walk around the large shelves until I come upon a large, dusty book with gold letters saying 'dragon breeds that mean something'.

I cautiously slip the book from the shelve, blow it off and sit in a leather chair, I carefully crack the dried book open. The first page, draken av tur, or dragon of luck. Appears when you need luck.

I flip through the book until one page gets my attention. A illustration of a purple dragon, its wings spread out, it also has intricate patterns drawn on the inside of its wings. My eyes flow down to the summary, I read:

The Drakon av Dödden is the dragon of death, appears as a gift in the morning to a powerful dragon trainer, warning them that death is close. Eventually, the dragon does hatch, but only if it's owner survives. The dragon's egg is the smallest ever recorded, about as big as a humans hand.

The dragon that hatches from the eggs is born small, only two or three inches tall, but I grows to be larger than the average dragon. This dragon become 30-40 Feet high and it's wing span can be 60-70 feet. And to anybody who has found one, search for the killer immediately.

"Interesting Topic, Albany." I spin around so fast I almost all from my chair. Dad stands behind me, his arms resting on the top of the chair. "It just caught my eye." I say, closing the book. "You seem to be enjoying the library." He points over to the stacks of books of have on my lap, the ones I collected before this one.

"Yeah, books have always been my thing." I say with a shrug, blushing slightly. He chuckles. "You have a double class with me next morning, I expect to see you there." Dad says with a wink as he walks off. I almost talked back, almost.

After that I wondered over to the counter to sign my books out, then walked up to the dorm to lay on my bed and flip through them. I got one on all the recorded dragon breeds, one on speaking Swedish and another about all the other magical creatures of the world.

Eventually, I fall asleep reading.