Asha's Struggle

Taken place before the events of The Dragonet Prophecy

Asha skimmed the marsh, her fragile cargo held close to her chest. She had been lucky that Cattail had consented to give up the egg. It had taken quite a lot of coercing . . . and six fat cows.

At the place where the Diamond Spray Delta merged with the sea, Asha swooped high into the air. She took a deep breath of the smell of the swamp for what would be the last time for eight years. She could hardly bear to think of being confined to a dark stone cave for so long, but it had to be done. It was her duty to the Talons, and to save Pyrrhia.

She gazed down at the blood-red egg in her talons, and wished things had turned out differently for the little unborn dragonet inside. To spend the first eight years of your life not knowing the satisfying squelch of mud between your talons, or flying alongside your sibs — Asha couldn't imagine a worse fate. But it had to be done. This dragonet was the future of Pyrrhia.

Well, she mustn't keep the Talons of Peace waiting any longer. Asha put on a burst of speed and began to flap toward the Claws of the Clouds Mountains. She didn't look back at the delta, quickly disappearing behind her. She didn't even think of her sibs, especially her bigwings, and how they would feel when they awoke to find her gone. She couldn't, or else she would be tempted to go back.

She stopped to rest on a craggy peak, her claws scraping across jagged stone. It was terribly cold, and it hurt to walk on rock. What in Pyrrhia had she signed up for? She was still young, with her whole life ahead of her, and she had chosen to give up eight years of her life to raise these dragonets in a miserable, mud-less cave.

Asha growled in frustration, and raised her talon to crush the cursed egg with one blow. She was about to when — she stopped. She could have sworn she saw the dragonet inside move. Asha lowered her talon. What had she almost done? She had almost ended a life before it started. She had almost snatched away whatever joys this dragonet might find in life. Not to mention Nautilus's wrath when he would have found out that she killed one of the prophesied dragonets of destiny.

At the thought of Nautilus, Asha remembered her task. She got up, stretched her wings, took the egg in her talons, and flew off through the mountains.

Feeling the wind in her wings and the joy of flying, Asha was caught off guard when she was attacked. She didn't know what had hit her until she was spiraling toward the ground with a vicious SeaWing whacking her with his tail.

Asha shrieked as the egg slipped out of her talons. Righting herself, she dived faster than she ever had before, so fast that her ears popped and her head spun.

When the egg landed neatly in her claws, she was sure she had witnessed a miracle.

She whipped around to the hiss of the SeaWing who attacked her — as well as his whole platoon, all looking at her with murder on their faces.

If she fled, she would lead the SeaWings to the Talons of Peace headquarters. If she fought them, she might drop the egg again or even die, but there was a chance she wouldn't.

Asha decided to fight.

Roaring, she leaped for the nearest dragon, landing blows on his flank and snout with well-practiced swipes. Tossing the egg into her back talons, Asha swung her claws at the SeaWing's throat and threw the dying dragon to the ground.

In a second the rest of the platoon was on her. Forgetting her neat, practiced battle moves, Asha lunged out with teeth and claws at whatever flesh she could reach. She felt a rush of satisfaction as one, two more dragons fell dead from the sky.

A SeaWing opened his jaws to bite down on her neck, but Asha was too fast. She cannoned straight up, transferred the egg to her front talons again, and took to the skies.

She passed a MudWing patrol hovering in the air, covered in scratches from a recent battle. Asha was pretty sure the remaining four SeaWings hadn't followed her, but she needed them all dead. Blister would definitely be interested in a blood-red MudWing egg headed toward the mountains.

"SeaWing patrol! Four left! Invading!" Asha wheezed as she pointed in their general direction. The patrol nodded, swung into formation, and flew toward the attacking SeaWings.

Headquarters wasn't far away now. Asha flew high above the clouds, searching for Nautilus on one of the mountains below her. At the sight of the green dragon on a rocky peak, she smiled, relieved, and dove down.

"Here's the egg, Nautilus," she said as she landed next to him. "Red as blood, just like the prophecy says. I hope it's not too banged up — I got caught in a battle with Blister's forces trying to invade."

"Good, good," said Nautilus, "but you really need to get those wounds seen to, Asha." With a shaky claw, he pointed to her neck and underbelly.

Asha pressed a talon against the side of her neck and was surprised when it came off bloody. She peered at her underbelly and almost fainted at what she saw — a deep gouge, almost the entire length of her underbelly and bleeding freely. She caught a glimpse of something slippery and organ-like inside. Asha leaned over the side of the mountain and vomited.

Then the pain started coming. Asha hadn't noticed it before, with everything going on around her, but now she felt its full force. It wasn't an I'll-be-okay sort of pain. It was an I'm-dying sort of pain.

"Nautilus," she gasped, trying to get her last words out before the were lost forever, "tell the others . . . Hvitur and Dune and . . . oh . . . the egg . . . it needs . . . take care of it . . . don't keep the dragonets in . . . let them outside . . . otherwise . . . not good . . ." Asha wanted to say that the dragonets needed to be taught to appreciate the world, and not be just kept in the cave learning history of the war. But Nautilus just shook his head, not understanding.

"Oh!" Another spasm of pain rocked Asha's body. "Please . . . Nautilus . . ." She watched the SeaWing's face blur, more and more. She knew she was dying.

When she finally closed her eyes, the light she saw was blinding.