-1All was quiet in a thick, dense forest that crossed in between a town, and a mountain range filled with sleeping dragons. The moon was up to its fullest, showing that midnight had arrived, and was smiling upon its welcoming guests, before it sinks back underneath the horizon for its other guests hundreds of miles away. For a while, humans and dragons lived in peace, for if a human were to kill a dragon, then the dragons would seek revenge.

The only ones that were making any sound were three boys running toward the large forest that led to the dragons' homes. One of them, a brown haired, blue eyed boy, was running behind the other two. Worry was in his eyes, and as he ran, he panted.

"Brad, Zain, wait up!" he called out quietly. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see, Chase," said Brad, his green eyes showed a cunning thought as he ran into the forest with Zain. He looked over at his best friend, and laughed silently as they reached the dark forest.

Deep within the forest cave lay two dragons, who guard a nest filled with three eggs. One of the eggs was a sapphire blue with white specks. The blue egg glimmered in the distant light created by a small fire nearby. The second egg was gold; if you had stumbled upon it, you might have thought it was an actual piece of gold not found yet. The last egg, however, was black, black as obsidian, and had small gold features on it, showing that the young dragon concealed in the egg also had gold features on it.

If you faced the nest, on your right you would see a green female dragon. Her deep brown eyes gazed the area around her, until they reached her mate, a larger, deep red dragon. Together, their claws, horns, and the tips of their wings, as white as snow and as hard as diamond, shimmered just as brightly as their sapphire egg, maybe a bit brighter.

All of a sudden the dragons heard ramming against the entrance of their cave. The red dragon stood up quickly, and then turned to his mate.

"Go," she said. "I will be here waiting for you."

The male dragon hurried to the mouth of the cave, and found Chase standing there, looking around. When Chase saw the dragon, he jumped terribly, and began to tremble in fear. What are they doing? he thought, as the dragon saw him, and glared.

"You, human, why are you here?" he asked. What he didn't know, however, was that Chase was simply a diversion for Brad and Zain, who ran in, silently killed the green dragon, and took the eggs.

When the red dragon heard his mate's painful cries, he rushed to the nest, to find her bloody body hanging over the empty nest.

"Brenth…" he said sadly and angrily, as he cried over his mate, and the loss of his only children. He then roared loudly, ending the peace between human and dragon. The leader of the dragons, a mighty bronze colored male, created laws for the humans. They couldn't be out after sunset, for if they were, then their fate was the dragons' dinner, nor could they enter the dragon's territory, unless it was to give sacrifices, either animal or human being.

I was a fourteen year-old girl, living in a dump you'd call an orphanage around the time. I was planning for my huge escape, the one where I'd finally leave, and find a way to evade the police.

Ever since I was seven, I was living in the orphanage because of the tragic death of my parents, and my unborn sibling. My friends, Annabella, Keon, Corinne, Donavan, Saige, Marianna, and Desirae, were always by my side, and Keon, who was practically the smart one of the group, gave us plans to try to leave.

It never went our way, though; in the end, we'd get caught, and be brought back to the orphanage.

That day, before the incident, Keon, Saige and I were on one of our runs from the police. There were three cops, one after each of us, trying to get us to slow down.

"Someone stop them!" cried one.

I looked at the others, knowing that they were going to tire out soon, and said, "I'm sorry if you two get caught."

"Hey, it's not a problem," Keon said, smiling.

"Yeah," Saige replied. "You're not the one who's after us."

But then, two other cops appeared, and grabbed Keon and Saige. I dodged them both and kept on running."

"Go, Jes, run!" Saige called out.

But then, a cop, one that has always caught me before, stopped me, and said, "Time for you to go back."

He dragged me behind Keon and Saige. I scowled, frustrated with another failed attempt of leaving the stupid orphanage at long last.

"I just don't understand it," he said. "Why do you try to leave the only home you got? It's safer than out here."

"Ha," I said dryly. "You must not know what those workers do to us, then."

"Now, those ladies are the kindest folk around here."

"Yeah, only when you're looking." He brought us back, and the workers were pretending to be worried about us. As they talked, Keon, Saige and I hurried to the room where all of the orphans were, wondering if we had finally escaped.

That night, I was pacing in the room, still angry about the failed escape.

"AHHH!" I cried out, getting Keon's attention. I had hit the wall, and was now looking out the window.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

I looked at him. "I'm sick and tired of having to be here! We're ridiculed, we practically have no life ahead of us, and they practically make us anorexic." I looked back out the window.

"Well, in four years, we'll be out of here."

I looked at him again, curious as to what he was saying. "What do you mean?"

"They can't keep us as soon as we're 18."

"18? That's too long! I want to get out now." Then, I thought of an escape…but just any escape…a huge one. I began to pack my things, and I looked back at Keon.

"Hey, Keon," I said, as I hid my packed things underneath a cot. "Could you plan another escape plan…A huge one?"

"Yeah, sure," he replied.

"How long do you think it'll take?"

"About three months. Is that too long?"

"No, not at all; I could use that time to make smaller escapes, but to find other things I need." I looked around, and thought, I could finally get away from here.

All of a sudden, we heard a dragon's roar (the same red dragon that was mentioned earlier). I looked out the window, seeing three figures running into town. "Sounds like someone upset one of the dragons."

"Yeah…" Keon sounded worried. "Jes, are you sure about this? I mean, the dragons sound really angry, and if you get hurt…"

"I'll be fine."

After about three months, the plan was set. He gave me the plan, and that night, while I grabbed my things to head out, I said to all of my friends, "I promise to come back, and get you all out of here."

"We'll hold you to that promise," Keon replied, as I left.

The next morning, while I was sauntering somewhere the orphanage, I saw behind me, a policeman trying to catch up with me. I began to pick up speed, and jumped into a quick sprint, when I bumped into a boy, and we both ended up in a small alley, with me getting away from the man.

"Okay, thanks for getting me away from that officer, even though it was unintentional, but what the hell?" I asked when we collided. I noticed that in his hands was a large brown sack. "What's in the sack?"

"I-it's nothing," he replied, putting the sack into my hands.

"Um, why are you giving this to me?"

"I've been trying to hide from my friends with this, and it's not doing me any good. I was going to give this to a seller, but I might as well give it to you."

"Wait, what's—?"

Before I could continue, he left. I looked at the sack with much curiosity. What's inside that's making him so afraid? I wondered, as all of a sudden the inside began to glow. I quickly put the sack down, and I heard a small voice say:

"Where am I? Why is everything so dark?"

Out came a tiny dragon. It was as black as obsidian, and had small, gold features, as well as gold eyes that scanned the dragon's surroundings. When it saw me, however, it backed away.

"A…human had my egg?" it asked aloud. "Why did you have my egg?"

"A…a boy gave it to me," I replied. "If I had actually known what was in the sack, I wouldn't have accepted."

A smile appeared on the dragon's face. "I believe you; do not worry. I can sense when anything that can talk lies to me. Allow me to introduce myself: I am Shenuth."

"You already have a name?"

"Yes, of course; all dragons are christened names right before they hatch. What is your name?"

"I-I'm Jes."

Shenuth looked around. "You seem fairly young for a human to walk around unattended; where are your parents?"

"I don't have any parents; they died not that long ago. I'm an orphan, though I was forced to take care of myself. Other than my parents, no one except for my friends at the orphanage has ever shown me any kindness what so ever. My friends and I have all been trying to leave, and I finally got my chance today." Then, I asked, "Forgive me if this is rude to ask, but how are you able to know all about humans and dragons for being a hatchling?"

"I am born with special intelligence that allows me to know about the creatures and other forms of nature around me. It also allows me to understand and communicate with you."

"Do you know how long will it take for you to mature?"

"I will slowly grow until I am about three months old, and my wings will not fully develop until about a week afterwards, though with certain exceptions, such as when I am trying to run away or protect someone from something."

As Shenuth finished explaining, I heard "I heard her voice; she must be in here!"

"Oh no; I'll be captured!"

Shenuth looked around again, and faced a forest along the alley. "There is a cave not far away where we can stay; follow me, quickly."

I followed the dragon into the forest, and we found the small cave that was hidden by a large boulder.

"Will we be safe here?" I asked, feeling rather uneasy.

Shenuth smiled, and nodded, then we entered together, finding it airy, and comforting; for me, it was twice as better than the orphanage. I sat down and the dragon lay next to me.

"You seemed uneasy when you asked if we were going to be safe," he said.

"It's just that, lately, the other dragons have been very angry with us because of something that happened three months ago."

"What happened?"

"Apparently, three boys went into a different forest, and found a cave. They knew that it was inhabited by two dragons, so they disturbed them; when the male dragon came out, one was a diversion, and the others went in the cave, killed his mate, and then took their eggs…"

I didn't say anything else; I knew, or thought I knew, why the boy had given me the sack in the first place. I frowned slightly, feeling tears trickling down my face.

"What is wrong, Jes?" Shenuth asked.

"I know why I was given your egg; I'm going to be framed for stealing it," I replied through my tears.

The dragon looked at me sadly, and then crawled into my lap. "You will not be framed for stealing the eggs, including mine; if we are caught, then I will explain all that happened."

I smiled slightly, feeling some tears trickling down my face. "Thank you so much, Shenuth; you don't know how much it means to me."

He smiled, and rubbed his head gently with mine. "Somehow, I can feel your emotions, so I can somehow know how much it means to you."

"Could we have somehow bonded when you hatched?"

He nodded. "That may have happened."

I nodded, smiling wider. But then, I frowned again. "Those boys are up to no good; I bet that, once the other dragons hatch, they'll make them do evil things, and have them help steal eggs for their own gain, and maybe form some sort of army."

"Has that ever happened before?"

I shook my head. "It's only happened in books. But it's because of the boys stealing the eggs that the peace between us has been broken. The dragons have been making laws, and been taking sacrifices recently."

There was a moment of silence. The sun was slowly beginning to set, as the cave was shrouded into darkness. Shenuth was able to make a fire, and we were soon able to see again.

"Well, maybe we can help restore the peace once I have fully grown. If we can get some of the dragons to cooperate with us, then it may work."

I smiled again, and said, "I like that idea."

Shenuth smiled, as he curled up beside me, and I slowly fell asleep.