Dragonbound

Chapter 1

Alexa darted under a low hanging branch from one of the many dead trees in the forbidden forest. She launched herself over a hollow tree trunk that had fallen in one of the recent storms. Then darted into the narrow passage of the trunk, as her pursuers came into view.
   The pack of wolf shifters had gotten severely pissed when they had caught onto Alexa's sent. She'd been hiding behind one of the oaks that circle the clearing that the Wolverz had chosen to spend the night of the full moon in.
   The Wolverz were a shifter pack well known for their ferocity and secrecy.
   She had been very careful to hide and conceal herself downwind while she watched them transform, but she had not expected the air current to suddenly change direction which caused her sent to reach the sensitive noses of the shifters. That was how she had ended up in this precarious situation.
   Alexa heard the shifters move further away from her hiding place. She poked her head slightly out of the hollow trunk, and looked around to make sure that the shifters had actually gone, before silently crawling out. She got to her feet without making a sound so as not to alert the nearby shifters. She had only moved about a few feet before she heard a low growl somewhere behind her. She took off like a bullet, her fear induced adrenaline making her go even faster than she usually would, and she was a pretty damn fast runner.
   She was too worried about fleeing, that she'd not noticed that she was on the edge of a steep valley, until her foot got caught on a root causing her to tumble straight down into the thin steam snaking it's way through the centre of the valley.

Her clothes were soaked. She carefully got up, so as not to lose her footing in the slippery mud. As soon as she put any pressure on her left foot a fissure of pain from her ankle caused her to take a pained breath. She bent down to inspect her injured ankle. It was starting to swell up. She guessed that she must have sprained it as she fell down the side of the valley. A log to her left was the perfect height for her to sit down and wrap her ankle in some cloth she had thankfully packed in her rucksack. After carefully applying the bandage she took in her surroundings in hopes of finding a way out.
   The grass that covered the bottom of the valley went up to at least her knees, some of the weeds that were scattered among the grass even reached to her waist. There was a willow tree that hung over the small stream, which was quite odd as the only types of trees that grew in this area were oaks, spruces and maples. The stream which she had landed in earlier, snaked it way from one end to the other before disappearing out of sight behind a bend.
   A bright reflection caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She hobbled over to it, being mindful of her ankle. She bent down into the grass were the light had came from and noticed a ginormous spherical object, on closer inspection she noticed it was more egg shaped. It was a beautiful golden colour with veins of silver running all over its reflective surface. She reached out her hand and placed it on the strange object meaning to turn it over. As soon as her left hand touched it, a burning sensation crawled up her arm. It felt as if she were sitting too close to a fire.
   Her star brand was reacting!
   The egg shaped object was warm. probably from sitting in the sun for so long, she thought to herself.
   Just then she heard voices above her on the valley ledge. She duked down in case the Wolverz had found her already. A familiar voice called out her name. 'Jeremy! Why was Jeremy there?' she wondered. She called out to him, so as to get his attention. It took him and two other fifteen minuets to safety get down to where she was.
   Jeremy was 18, like her. He had short spiky hazel hair, that stuck out at odd angles. He had a lanky frame, but a superb brain. They had been going to the same school, the DTA, for three years now, and had finally been put in the same class. That had been friends since they were children, and were inseparable.
   Draconic Training Academy, DTA for short, was a prestigious academy for girls and boys of noble blood who wanted to train and learn about their dragons. There were a few exceptions of course, her being one of them.
   Some very rare people were born with starbrands, which were marks that only appeared around puberty, showed that that person had a destiny that lied with dragons. Only 10 people, other than the royal family, had been documented as having starbrands, and they all grew up to become legends. Alex was one of those people, her starbrand had appeared on her 13th birthday, and soon after was enrolled in the DTA.
   People had been telling her ever since she was little, that they expected great things from her. But, so far the only exceptional thing she had managed to do was not to get expelled from the DTA, for all the pranks she pulled on her fellow students and teachers, the principal was no exception to that.
You see, Alex was an orphan and had been adopted by the royal family not long after being found in a burnt out barn at the age of six. However, Alex had no memories prior to that accident. This was how she had come to meet Jeremy. Jeremy's family were close with the Royal family, so they had been forced into becoming playmates. At first they had not got along at all. They would bicker and fight whenever they saw each other.
   However, when they both reached their tenth years, Alex was kidnapped whilst playing out in the fields by the castle, by an estranged man. Jeremy had helped to search for her, and had ended up being the one to track her and her kidnapper down. Ensuring that she could be rescued.

As Jeremy approached her,she had the sudden strange urge to hide the egg from him. She opened her bag and placed it gently inside.
   Jeremy was now standing in front of her. He looked at her and asked in a hushed tone "what's in the bag?"
   "Nothing" she replied
   "Oh really, 'cause I swear I saw you just put something in there."
   "It's nothing. Really"
Jeremy looked at her questioningly. She looked away, for fear that he'd see the truth in her guilty face. She didn't like lying to him, at all.
   Jeremy gave a sigh and looked at her. "Are you okay." He asked
   "I think I sprained my ankle."
   "We'd better get that looked at then when we get back to the school."
   She tried to stand up, but as soon as she put pressure on her injured ankle, a wave of pain crashed over her, and with a whimper she sat back down again. Jeremy bent down, and placed one of his arms under her legs, and the other on her back. He then lifted her up, so that he was holding her in what she would've called a "princess carry".
   Jeremy helped her up the side of the valley, and carried her all the way back to the school. It took half an hour to arrive there. During that half hour, Alex thought over the object which she now refined was actually an egg. In fact, it looked like a dragon egg, it was the right size to be one.
   As they arrived, she heard the headmaster approach. "What is going on here?" He asked.
   "We found Alex out in the forbidden forest, she was injured when we arrived so we had to carry her here." Jeremy replied.
   "Take her to the infirmary, to have her checked over."
   Jeremy carried her to the infirmary, which was thankfully near the entrance of the school.