The Egg

I let out yelp of surprise, and he bolted up and backpedaled, causing the cot to collapse. He fell to the ground, and continued to frantically make his way away from me.

"Wait!" I shouted, shocking myself, and I hear Tiran and Estïqiã run to my door and jiggle the handle, which I had locked. They pounded on the door.

"Who are you?" the man demanded, casting nervous glances at the door.

"I'm Ava. What's your name?" I asked carefully. He stared at me with distrust for what felt like forever before answering.

"Saol." he finally replied, and I nodded encouragingly.

"I'm here to help you." I assured him, my hands up in a placating gesture. I slowly approached him as I talked. "I found you in the woods, unconscious. Someone placed a spell on you, sending you into a deep sleep, that is only cured with these eye drop things. I brought you back." I was now standing right in front of him, and he stared up at me, distrusting.

Extending a hand, I offered to help him up. He hesitated only a moment before accepting the help.

"Who are they?" he asked, pointing at the door.

"My friends, Tiran and Estïqiã." I answered, and led him to the door. "I'm going to open it, okay? They won't hurt you." At least I hope not, I added silently, and opened the door a crack to explain. Before I could even speak, Tiran ran inside and attacked the man.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Saol blocked Tiran's punch with ease, then jumped into the air and swung his leg around until his foot connected with Tiran's jaw. He landed deftly on the balls of his feet, facing Tiran again, and, without missing a beat, Saol punched Tiran, and the latter swung unsteadily for a moment, then fell backwards.

"Oh gods!" Saol exclaimed, rushing forward and catching poor Tiran. "Oh gods, I am so sorry! I didn't......I wasn't going to....." He looked absolutely mortified, confused, and terrified, all at the same time. Estïqiã was beginning to start towards Saol, but I held up my arm.

"No, it's okay." I assured Saol, and shot Estïqiã a warning glance. She returned a look of exasperation, and I rolled my eyes as I moved to comfort Saol. "He'll be fine." I told him, and crouched down to help Estïqiã pick up the unconscious Tiran.

"No, no....let me." Saol insisted, picking up Tiran as if he weighed nothing.

"Bring him to the couch." Estïqiã ordered him, her eyes steely and dangerous.

I may be able to keep her from trying to kill Saol, but I can't help it if she hates him.

Saol set Tiran on the couch gently, his face an expression of pure regret and confusion. Estïqiã began brewing something on the stove, and I led Saol to sit on the armchair. Pulling up another chair from the table, I sat down and faced him. His face was anxious and nervous, and his sea green eyes kept darting from me, to Estïqiã, to Tiran, until I took his hands into my lap and made eye contact.

"Saol, can I ask you some questions?" I asked, smiling. He nodded, blinking hard. "Okay. First, where did you come from?"

"Um....." he opened his mouth to answer, paused, then closed it, looking bewildered. "I.....uh.....don't know." I frowned, but quickly erased it.

"That's okay. That's perfectly fine. What about your fighting skills?" I asked something else.

"What fighting skills?"

"The ones you used when Tiran attacked you." I clarified.

"Oh." Pause. "I...I don't know that one, either." he hesitated before continuing. "He came at me, and...I don't know, I was there one minute, and the next, he was on the ground. It was as if....as if my body was doing something, but it didn't know what it was doing." I bit my lip; he was making no sense whatsoever. Saol was distracted momentarily as Estïqiã comes over and pours something down Tiran's throat. She then addresses me.

"Ava, I have to speak with you for a moment." she says stiffly, and walks to my room. I follow after a small pause, reluctant to leave Saol with Tiran, but Estïqiã seemed fine with it. As soon as I entered my room, Estïqiã was nowhere to be seen, until the door closed behind me, and I jumped. Estïqiã quickly walked up from behind me to be face to face.

"He has to go. Now." she started immediately.

"Wait, no! We can't just throw him out! He has nowhere to go." I protested.

"We can and will. He is a danger to myself, you, and Tiran."

"He didn't mean to hurt Tiran. He said it was like reflex, that as soon as Tiran attacked him, he just went into crazy mode, without knowing he was doing it."

"I don't care. He hurt Tiran, and that's all that matters. He's like a ticking bomb. At any second, he could go off."

"Estïqiã, you're not listening-"

"And you're not listening to me. I get it, you like him, you're enchanted by his pretty eyes-"

"Am not!" I interjected, flaming cheeks, but she contined, regardless of my interruption.

"But he is a liability to our safety and our mission."

"Well, I think-" I stopped suddenly, confused. "Wait, mission?"

"Well.....yeah. That prophecy thing you've been blathering on about." Estïqiã was slightly hesitant to explain.

"You're going to do it with me?" I asked, hardly believing what I was hearing. After all her protests and refusals, cooperation had seemed impossible.

"I'm not going to let you go off on some half-baked plan without me." Estïqiã smiled. "You're my best friend."

"I am?" I asked again, and she only grinned. "That's wonderful!" I exclaimed, and hugged her tightly, while she stood stiffly, not returning the embrace, but not refusing it, either. "I can't believe you would do that for me! Oh, gods, I swear I won't let you down."

"I know." Estïqiã became serious. "But what about your friend?"

"Saol."

"What?"

"That's his name."

"Whatever. You can't keep Sail here if he's going to be a danger to our well-being."

"Saol." I corrected her. "And please, just give me one week. He can help us, I'm sure. Just let me show you." Estïqiã debated in her head for a long time, but finally sighed resignedly.

"Fine." she groaned, and I threw my arms around her again. After a brief pause, her arms wrapped around me.

"I've never really had a friend before." I commented as I released her.

"But what about Dantaus and Teresa?" Estïqiã asked.

"Teresa was more of a mother, Dantaus was my best friend, but he was also family. It's different."

"Well, I've never had family before, so I wouldn't know." Estïqiã said with a discernible expression.

"I know." I nodded.

"What? How do you know?!" Estïqiã was taken off guard, and suddenly looked very, very angry. I blanched as I remembered that she would have no way of knowing that Tiran had told me.

"It's just-" I stammered. "I-I heard you and Tiran talking last night, and-"

"YOU WERE EAVESDROPPING ON US?!" she roared, her face red.

"Well, yes! I wasn't going to-"

"HOW MUCH DID YOU SEE?!" she shouted. "You had NO RIGHT to go-"

"Listening in on your conversations?" I finished for her, growing angry myself. "Oh, you mean the conversation involving the secrets you're keeping from me?!"

"What secrets?" Estïqiã threw up her arms in disgust and turned away.

"The egg thing you got from Eńteì! I heard the whole thing!" I snapped. Estïqiã now looked a little guilty.

"Oh.....the egg...." she said softly.

"Yes, the egg!" I confirmed heatedly. "When were you going to tell me, huh?"

"Ava, I swear, I was going to tell you today, but then there was the whole mess with Saol, and I decided to tell you tonight!"

"Yeah, of course."

"Really, I was! You didn't give me a chance to tell you!"

"Well, now I am." I moved my hands to my hips and started firing off questions. "What's with the egg? What kind of egg is it? Who's Eńteì? What's Dråçønel?"

"Um....." Estïqiã seemed lost. "Eńteì is my Sheñshåweï, like Tiran is yours, and because I use dragon magic, he is a dragon. Dråçønel......" Small hesitant pause. "Dråçønel is the name of the dragon sanctuary. And the egg is mine. Eńteì gave it to me, as it was the final part of his job as my Sheñshåweï. Any more training needed would have to be done by myself, when the egg hatches."

"What kind of egg is it?" I asked curiously. Birds hatched from eggs, so it was probably a magic bird. "Is it a phoenix?" Estïqiã bit her lip.

"Nooo.....not a phoenix. It's a.....well......" she was unsure of how to proceed, until an earsplitting shriek pierced our ears.

"ESTÏQIÃ!!!!"

Estïqiã and I rushed out to see Tiran, standing up and pointing at Estïqiã's door with a white expression. Saol was also staring at Estïqiã's door with a terrified expression.

Tiran sank into a dead faint, and while Saol ran to help him, Estïqiã and I ventured further out of my doorway to see Estïqiã's door, slightly ajar, with a soft purple glow emanating from something inside the room. Estïqiã ventured slowly to her door, with me following, and then carefully pushed it open. We approached what looked like a fire pit on a metal table in the middle of the room, where a bed of coals glowed brightly with an orangish-white hue.

But one of the coals were rather.....strange looking.

Nestled in the center of the fireplace, it was roughly about the size of the egg Finneaus had on display on his desk. He had acquired it a while ago, and called it an 'elephant bird egg.' He never told me what he had done to get it.

The object was an oval shape, and was probably black at one point, but now the black parts were cracking and falling off, revealing the bright, glowing violet purple color underneath.

"Økï yõî įbšiãkä gøsçh ræžęt tåmüék....." I quickly turned to look at her as Estïqiã began to intone something in the ancient language. Involunarily backing up a step, I stared at her eyes, now a strange purple color, no longer the friendly green eyes of Estïqiã that I knew so well. Her strange chanting continued, and her open palm began to stretch towards the egg.

"Yöq fõł hásmæt qō vęãńæ. Yõî ęńt I müękt tæñoč økï tôv, whęÿoń hïæ, śłik, ęńt goröñ." as she chanted the strange words, I wrinkled my brow in confusion as certain words made sense to me, even though I hadn't learned any words in the ancient language.

Estïqiã's slender fingers came closer and closer to the glowing orb, and the second her flesh touched the egg, an explosion of light erupted. My ears started ringing and my eyes became useless as the light overloaded my senses, causing me to drop to the ground and crack my head against the hardwood floor. My body lay still, leaden and unmoving, as my eyelids fluttered rapidly in a futile attempt to regain my vision.

Finally, I gave up and closed my eyes, then waited for the sick feeling to dissipate before slowly propping myself up against the wall. I squeezed my eyes shut one last time, before opening them completely to assess the situation.

Estïqiã was in a crumpled heap, her breathing heavy and laborious, but her eyes were slowly opening. I sighed with relief when I saw that her eyes were back to their normal shade of green.

"The egg!" she exclaims, her eyes widening, and she scrambles up to once again have the egg in her sights. I crawl over and support myself on the edge of the table, and stare at the purple sphere. It's luminescence is mesmerizing, and the more I look at it, the more I want to touch it. Estïqiã is already softly caressing the egg, checking for cracks, and so I slowly place two fingers on it.

Instantly, there is a sizzling sound, and I yelp as I yank my singed fingers away. The tips are already blistering, and I cradle them in my other hand.

"I'm the only person who can touch it, Ava. It'll burn anyone else." Estïqiã reprimanded me, looking at me like I should've known that. I stick out my tongue.

"Not everybody knows everything." I teased her.

"I beg to di-" she stopped suddenly. "Look." I moved my attention to the egg, and gasped as I spotted hairline cracks in it, which were rapidly widening and lengthening. Estïqiã stared, transfixed, as a small crack grew and turned, forming a circular crack. Something inside the egg pushed on the crooked circle, until it popped out and fell to the ground, creating a tiny window, where we both could watch whatever was in the egg, pushing at the walls around it, until the whole egg just fell apart.

Sitting in the pile of egg shards, sat what looked like a tiny purple lizard, with big golden eyes that stared at us curiously.

"Dragon." Estïqiã breathed.

Author's Note

So, did anyone guess what kind of egg it was BEFORE it said it at the end? I thought it was pretty obvious, but I guess my opinion doesn't count.....:)

()()()
WWW <-----Eggs in a Nest