The Galway School of Dragons book 1: The Death Dragon

Chapter 3

Five weeks have passed since I got here, five weeks of learning to fly one of the schools dragons. Five weeks of weapons class. Five weeks of the unbearable Professor Död.

I awake with a hard, warm surface pressed against my cheek. I carefully pull of off my cheek and glance at my bedside table clock. 6:00 AM. Almost time to get up and start eating breakfast. I notice that Ima's missing, completely gone. And so is her dragon egg.

I role my eyes at my forgetfulness, Little miss Edna had started to hatch last night, so Edna decided to spend the night In the Dragons Ward, where the babies where born. So I left my bed and went to turn on the lights.

I turned back to make my bed and.... I stop, and stare. A inky black egg with purple dots the size of my hand lays on my bed. Without thinking, I turn and run for the door, throw it open and run down corridor after corridor, never slowly.

Until I find myself in front of dads office and chambers. I loudly knock on the door many times as thick, hot tears run down my face. "Who's there?" He asked as the door swings open and I throw myself in his arms. "Oh, Albany, what's wrong?" He asks, leading me in and shutting the door.

He sits me down on his couch, "calm down..." he whispers over and over again until I have stopped crying. "Now, tell me what happened." More tears run down my face as I tell him all about the egg, found in my bed.

And by the end, he has thick hot tears running down his face too. "Don't worry, Albany, we will keep you safe." He says as he hugs me tightly. I hug him back until we have both stopped crying. "Okay, lets go get that dragon egg." He says, taking my hand and leading me out of his room and to my dorm.

Dad carefully picks up the tiny egg and examines it closely. "Your right, Albany, it's a drakon av dödden egg." He pauses, then looks at me. "You have to keep it, once it chooses it trainer, nobody who it is, they have to keep it." Dad holds the tiny egg out to me and a cradle is helplessly.

He runs his hands through his bright hair and sighs loudly. "Who would want to kill my daughter?" He asks out loud. "I-I don't know," my voice shakes. "Just... try to not go anywhere without anybody, okay?" I nod then dad frowns at me. "Where's Ima?" He suddenly asks after moments of silence.

"Dragons ward, her little girl hatched." I say quietly. "Okay, I'll take you there, lets go." I stand up, still in my pyjamas as dad takes me to the ward.

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As we near, all I hear is the sweeping and chirping of baby dragons. Dad pulls open the large, wooden doors to reveal a long room with people milling around. Those people hold small dragons or large eggs. Not one of mine though. I catch sight of Ima holding a little, fiery red dragon about as long as her arm.

"Albany!" She calls out, running over to me with the dragon squirming in her arms. Then she catches sight of the small, purple and black egg. "Oh no." She says quietly, then louder. The ward turns to look at my small eggs and they all freeze, and gasp, even the small dragons.

"Ladies, continue on, nothing here." Dad says, shooing them off. But one lady, with blue eyes continues walking forward. "Oh dear, come with me." The woman hands the dragon she is holding to another and grabs my egg. She frowns deeply at it. "Come, come." She leads dad and I into a back room.

"A drakon av dödden egg, how?" She asked. "She found it on her pillow when she woke." Dad said calmly to the woman. "And did she know what it was?" She asks, talking as if I wasn't even there. "Yes, I know what it is." I say, her head snaps to me, as if she didn't even notice me.

"This is serious matter." She explains. I look to dad then back at the woman. "Albany, let me introduce you to Miss Wallburger, the head dragon caretaker." Dad says, staring daggers at the woman. "No time for that, Lucas." She snaps. "Don't speak to me like that, Lori." Wallburger closes her mouth instantly.

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Dad lead Ima and I back to our dorm to get ready for school, afterwards. Twenty minutes, Ima was walking with me to the large outdoor spass used for weapons training. "Okay, class, today we will be working are our swordsman-ship." Dad says, look straight at me. "Everybody go get a sword from the storage room please." He says.

Everybody starts moving towards the shed a couple metres away, soon, people return with a shining sword. "Please gain your protective stance." Dad says as everybody crouches low.

Two hours later, everybody walks back into the school better swordsmen than before. I quickly run up to Ima and I's dorm to check on my little dragon egg. It sits perfectly still on my bed. I quickly grab my potions books and start heading out to the dragon riding lessons space with Ima on my tail.

"Ah, Albany," Professor Middlewiddle exclaims as I walk into the large, pavement circle. I notice a large, blue dragon sitting in the middle of it, a saddle rests on its back. "What are we doing today?" I ask her. "Ah, well. I have decided that you first years have done enough studying and reading, so I have arranged for you all to start riding."

I raise my brows at her. "Are you sure?" I ask. To my surprise, she laughs. "Yes, yes. My dragon here, Crystal, is vet trained. And plus, she's over a 100 years old. Old thing can barely fly. So she will be perfect!" Without warning Professor grabs my hand and pulls me towards the dragon.

"Touch her," she says. I reach out and touch the ruff, sand paper like skin. "See, she's calm as can be." Professor Middlewiddle gives the dragon a hard smack, causing her to grunt quietly. Soon, all 30 first year students have arrived, all standing around to pavement.