A Dragon's Bond (8 page)

Professor Wilson began to pace back and forth in front of his desk. "So. How long is the incubation period?"

There was a moment of silence when Chloe finally spoke out. "Three Weeks."

"
Very good. And when do you open your box?" He stopped to wait for the answer.

This time Davin spoke up. "Not until the end of the three weeks. And never before."

Toby yelled out from the back. "What if you open the box before the end of the three weeks!"

Professor Wilson scowled. "You won't!" He said abruptly. He moved on without skipping a beat. "What do you do with your box during the day?"

This time it was Kayla from across the class. "We take it with us and let it cool." Before the Professor could continue she continued. "And we heat it at night."

Professor Wilson did not protest the outburst and simply turned and began using the sleeve of his jacket to wipe the words from the board that he had previously written. He wrote something else on the board and turned back to the class. The board read "Hatchlings".

All of the students had puzzled looks on their faces. Kayla raised an eyebrow. "Is that it?"

Professor Wilson looked back towards her with a very serious look. "Oh, yes I'm sorry. Congratulations. You have all completed incubation training. Well done." The Professor turned back around and pointed to the board. "Now we move to Hatchlings. Believe me, once you have one you will be wishing incubation had been longer." He let out a bit of a snort of a laugh.

Kayla only curled her lip at the Professors reply and slumped down into her chair.

The class spent the rest of the morning listening to Professor Wilson give a lengthy lecture about Hatchlings. He went into all of the basics. Eating, sleeping and other business that should have just been left unsaid. He told horror stories of what a young hatchling could do if left unattended for long periods of time. The hatchlings would be permitted to accompany them wherever they went throughout the Keep until they had reached six months of age. He pressed the point that it would not be wise to leave new hatchlings unattended for a length of time.

Once the Professor had finished a more in depth explanation of the first few weeks after the incubation period, they broke for lunch. Professor Wilson lead them through the corridors to a large dining hall. There were tables spread throughout the center and a buffet line along either side. The hall was filled with older students who were lined up for the food and others who had already found their seats and had begun to eat. The room fell silent as the new bonders entered all carrying there boxes in hand. For a moment everyone in the room had their eyes fixed on the twelve students. As quickly as it stopped, the older students turned back to what they had been previously doing.

Professor Wilson motioned the new students to get into one of the food lines. There were a stack of trays in a cart just before they approached the buffet. They each worked their way down the line of food taking what they wanted. The new bonders split up and took seats amongst the other students. They were all quite welcoming to the new bonders.

Chloe and Davin found a couple of seats open at one of the tables. They sat and ate quietly discussing amongst themselves what they had learned from the lecture earlier.

The room had started to settle down as the students began funneling out of the dining hall as they finished their food. The twelve new bonders were all gathered back up by Professor Wilson. The rest of the afternoon was spent touring the new areas of the keep.

They wandered through the four pits and observed as bonders worked with their dragons. Different groups working on different techniques. They were separated by dragon types. Of the many dragons they saw, most were large greens and medium sized reds and blues. There was a smaller group of brown dragons, but not nearly as many as the other three. They watched each of the groups intently.

The green dragons were all rather large creatures. They were at least twice as tall as even a full grown man when they were on all fours. Their bodies were packed with masses of muscle. They had long thick tales with a slightly elongated neck and body. They were quite thick and their bulkiness showed in their movements. They did not seem to move as gracefully as the reds and blues. They could fly and had large wings behind their massive shoulders. The bonders were working on their dragons strength. Two bonders would pair off their dragons and they would rear up on each other. Clashing their chests together, trying to best one another by forcing the other back. It was like watching a sumo match between the dragons.

After watching the greens for a time, they walked over by the group of blues. They were gathered in the southern hall which housed a large body of water. It was like a small lake within the keep. The dragons were moving through the water as easily as a man could run about on land. The bonders were somehow manipulating the water. Some were raising the water up into a sphere, floating it above the lake. A few were creating spears of ice and causing them to thrust forward penetrating the soft earth along the shore. The blue dragons were smaller and sleeker than the greens. They had a more elegant look about them. They too were covered in an armor of scales but had a much leaner build and were slightly longer and thinner in overall appearance. They had wings but because of the blues build, they were smaller and more streamlined. This allowed them to glide through the water effortlessly as well as take them to flight.

In the Northern pit, they found themselves looking on at the magnificent red dragons. Their build was somewhere in between the blues and the greens. They were about the same size as the blues but had a slightly thicker structure, but not quite a bulky as the large greens though. Their wings were nearly the full length of their body and clearly made them masters of the sky. They watched as they flew around the pit. Their bonders were shooting bursts of flames from their hands back and forth to each other as though they were playing catch with a ball of fire.

They finally came to the browns. There were far fewer of them compared to the rest. Their bodies were more adept to being on all fours. Their rear legs were of more equal size to their front. They had a more lizard like appearance and sat lower to the ground. Their bonders were defying gravity and causing themselves to levitate.

All of the dragons were quite a sight to see. It had all of the new bonders lost in thought on what type they would end up with. They were all soon dismissed for the day. Davin and Chloe walked together back towards their rooms. Before leaving the pit a bonder and his brown walked very closely to Davin. The Brown immediately stopped, standing in front of Davin and stopping him in his tracks. His bonder kept walking not noticing that his dragon had stopped. The dragon came right up to Davin and sat down next to him. By that time the bonder turned to see his dragon curled up against Davin. He hurried over and grabbed at his dragon's neck. The dragon let out a slight hiss towards his bonder who in turn barked back at him sharply. The brown dragon finally gave in and again began to follow his bonder.

Continuing on their way, they got to Chloe's door. She opened the door and quickly pulled Davin in behind her. She shut the door behind them. "Well OK already. Tell me about the egg chamber. Did they all light up again? What did Myrdinn say?"

Davin looked down at the box he was carrying. "They did. But this one called to me the most."

"
What do you mean the most Davin?"

"
Myrdinn said that all of them had called to me. He was not sure why or at least he didn't tell me. He asked if I had ever been near any dragons."

Davin and Chloe chatted for a bit longer about their experience in the egg chamber and how they came to their egg. Chloe laughed when she heard that Davin had gone through almost every egg.

Davin went back to his room and immediately placed the box in it's proper place on the stove. The day had been long but he had enjoyed what he had learned and witnessed. He again began thinking about the different dragons and which he might end up with. The more Davin thought about it, the more he wanted and hoped for a red. He had loved the way they flew in the sky. He thought about how cool it would be to able to control fire as well.

The next three weeks seemed like an eternity for Davin and the rest of the class. They had all been eager to see their dragons for the first time. The remainder of the class had consisted of learning how to care for the new hatchlings. The final day was nearing and they would open their incubation boxes in class that day. They would all be greeted by a new hatchling dragon that would be theirs till death. All of the students returned to their rooms immediately after class the day preceding. Even Davin and Chloe didn't stop to chat before turning in for the night. For Davin it was a night of very little sleep. He tossed and turned in his bed as his mind fought sleep. He kept popping his head up thinking he could hear something moving around in the heavy metal box in the other room.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE HATCHLINGS

It was the morning they had all been waiting for. The Twelve students were instructed to come to class as normal and everyone was at class early that day. They all sat at their desks, waiting in eager anticipation. Professor Wilson strode into class right on time. Not a second earlier. It was as though he had intentionally postponed as long as he could. You could see the look of excitement on each of the new bonders faces. From the moment they took their egg they had become bonded to the dragon inside. The new hatchling dragons would not know any other.

The professor stood in front of the class and raised a hand. "Good morning class. I am sure you are quite ready to open the box that has since become sacred to you. You must understand each hatchling will have it's own personality. Some may bite, or even blow a miniature fire ball in your face. Either way, they will be yours and yours alone."

He turned so that his back was now towards the class. He gave a slight sigh and grabbed the piece of chalk. He began scratching on the board. The class gave a slight grumble. He looked over his shoulder with one eyebrow raised. A slight smirk crossed his face as he continued writing. He turned to address the class and he pointed to the board. In bold letters it read "OPEN YOUR BOXES!".

Some of the students gasped with excitement like a kid on Christmas morning. The Professor's smirk had turned to an ear to ear grin. He clapped his hands to hurry the class along. The first to get their case open was Blake. As he opened his box a small puff of smoke came out from under the lid. He reached a hand in a let out a yell when the hatchling apparently bit him, just as the Professor warned. Relentless in retrieving the hatchling, he held strong and pulled it from the box. Out came a brilliant red hatchling. It hissed and puffed smoke from it's nose. James and Toby were next. They both opened their boxes. They crackled as they opened. You could see the cold air flow out as the tops lifted. They reached in and both pulled out gorgeous blues. The rest of the class hurried along and all opened their boxes. There were a total of three blues, two greens, two reds and two browns amongst the class. The only three left to open their incubation boxes were Derrick Greenwood the elf, Chloe and Davin. The first to proceed was Derrick. He opened his box and looked inside. He got a puzzled look on his face. "I don't see anything." He reached his hand in and began to feel around. A smile crossed his face. He had it! Out of the box and up Derrick's arm climbed a small black hatchling. Professor Wilson began clapping and the rest of the class followed. He had been bonded with one of the rares. The browns were also uncommon, but of all of the dragons the black and the gold were the two rarest. He continued smiling and gave a slight nod to Chloe. "What are you waiting for?"

Chloe turned to her box. She placed a hand gently on the lid and closed her eyes. She slowly unlatched it and opened the top. It was amazing! A bright shimmer of gold sparkling light poured from the box. Chloe's eyes began to fill with tears as she looked down to see a very beautiful gold hatchling. This was a great honor in deed. A Gold had not been born in the Keep in some time. She picked her hatchling up and turned around to look at Davin who was intensely focused on his box. The class again had been cheering for Chloe and her dragon. They suddenly all fell silent and all eyes had turned to Davin. Though they did not know what he had been thinking, they surely wondered what the born bonder would receive. Davin opened the top of his incubation box. A splash of light shot out of the box as Chloe's had. Only it was different. Professor Wilson squinted his eyes and began towards Davin's desk. Davin cocked his head from one side to the other, examining the contents of the box. He tipped the box on it's side and began to motion for the small dragon to come out. The Professor was now leaning over Davin peering over his shoulder. Slowly, a small figure began to emerge. It was was white. But as Davin examined it closer he could see all of the different colors shining through it's scales. There were blues and greens. From the right angle you could even catch hints of reds and golds. It's scales were like an opal containing all of the shimmering colors.

The Professors jaw dropped. "Chloe dear!" He nearly shouted. "Get Myrdinn at once."

Davin looked up with a surprised looked on his face. The Professor only returned the look with a confused expression of his own. Davin looked back down to his dragon and began looking it over. The class had gathered around Davin looking at the oddity. The opal hatchling was clearly different just from it's color. But what was even more interesting were it's eyes. They were a bright blue. Professor Wilson suddenly put a hand on Davin's shoulder and he turned the boy towards him. Leaning in slightly to look at his face. Something had grabbed the Professors attention. Davin looked back at him and as their eyes met, Professor Wilson's eyes widened. Davin's eyes were changing. His eyes slowly began to transition into a bright blue, just like the opal dragon's.