Chapter 1

By the time she awoke, the young dragon in her egg was aware that she had moved a great distance from wherever she had been when Sylvana had been taking care of her, although she had no clue where she had been then, where she was now, or even how she got where she was now.

She pushed out with her mind, rejoicing at the absence of the mental barrier that repelled her first attempts at communication, and felt a peculiar presence nearby. She desperately wanted to see and hear what was going on around her to gain knowledge that may one day be useful, so she attempted to push herself through the outer layers of protection and into the presence's mind. It was as though she was trying to get through an iron wall though, and she made no headway with her mind. No matter how hard she pushed, it would not give.

"I implore you, please, I really need to know what's going on." she begged, but expected no answer, as there was no one to here.

"Be that as it may" came a reply, "you aren't getting into my head. There's a rodent nearby, use that." Bewildered, she froze in shock. It seemed like whenever she didn't expect anyone to answer, they decided that they should. "Well, come on, stop trying to press your way in as though I am some lowly life form!" Quickly she stopped trying to force herself in.

"Better. Now leave. Hmmm…, if you ever hatch, I'd think I might like to speak with you—mind you, if you hatch. Many won't…, but that's none of your business. Name's Maud, come look for me when you grow up. Go on now, leave a werecat in peace."

Startled, she left and found the rodent that Maud had been talking about nearby. Again, she pressed herself inwards, although this time she succeeded in taking over the sight, sound, and other functions. Compared to breaking into Maud's mind, breaking into the rat was like trying to cut it open with a heated talon. Not that she would exactly know how easy that was…

The rat's eyes worked different than anything she could comprehend. She couldn't see anything at all that wasn't shaded in reds, blues, and yellows. The hearing was the important part, though, and she could understand that fine. Immediately, she heard voices talking.

"…made it in a day and a half, that's a record for young Reldr here."

"I could have gone faster, had you asked." A dragon's voice reverberated, "you just never seem to gather your manners and be nice about asking."

"I know Reldr, I was only teasing."

"Humph."

"Anyway, what were you saying, Ilúdör?" That was Vrael, the one who had taken her from Sylvana, and Ilúdör must be the young one that had been traveling with him.

"Oh, yes, well, um, anyway, I forgot to mention earlier that Oromis requested he be brought along for the next couple of Showings, says he needs to take a break. I think he's just having trouble adjusting to being a teacher instead of an adventurer, and jealous that you still get assignments where he doesn't…"

She quickly lost track of the conversation as it turned towards gossip. She was bored, and didn't know where she was, which had been the entire reason for taking control of the rodent in the first place. She turned towards the dragon's mind, Reldr's, in an attempt to figure out where she was. Sending out a questioning tendril of thought, she asked Where are we?

"Where we are is none of your concern!" Reldr seemed very angry, though she couldn't fathom why. Are you my father as Sylvana is my mother? she asked.

Her mind reverberated as he chuckled. "Sylvana is not your mother, you poor, misguided child. Your mother deigned to leave but one of her eggs for a Rider. Sylvana is the dragon who takes care of such eggs, although she only lets the Riders take a few each year. It's how most wild dragons leave eggs for Riders. No, I am not your father, and no, Sylvana is not your mother. Now go back to your egg and do not touch another sentient mind until you hatch, do you understand?" By the time he was finished talking he was growling at her, and she could imagine smoke that had to be issuing forth from his nostrils.

Without replying she retreated from his mind. She couldn't understand why he yelled at her when Sylvana had not, but returned her mind to the rodent completely anyway, just in time to hear Reldr quietly inform Ilúdör of her action. Ilúdör frowned.

"Reldr says the baby just tried to invade the mind of one who was sentient, namingly him. Luckily, he was careful to talk nice and quiet; else he might have accidentally destroyed her fragile mind. He told her off, but I don't know if she is such a good choice for a Rider's dragon."

"Nonsense," Vrael replied, "I'm sure she had no idea at all how rude or dangerous that is. In fact, she's probably listening to us right now and is upset that she did something she shouldn't have." Wow, he sure hit that nail on the head. Vrael continued, saying "How was she supposed to know it was dangerous it was for a dragon to talk to another being until after it had well and hatched?"

"Hey! Vrael!" the unexpected voice made the dragonling jump. Luckily, no one was paying any attention to the rat, so no one wondered why it jumped when rats aren't exactly the jumpiest creatures on the planet.

"Whatever is the matter Oromis?" Vrael questioned the elf that had come running across the field to talk to him, calm in spite of the elf's obvious excitement, although he seemed to the dragonling just a bit exasperated.

"We just received news, the Urgals are marshaling themselves in what appears to be an invasion attempt near a small town in the province of Inzilbêth, if a Rider doesn't go now the town might be obliterated and everyone there massacred. I was just about to call up some Riders, but since you're closest, it would be easiest if you and Ilúdör could go scare them off while I scramble some back-up."

"Seems like whenever I get a chance to come home all of Alagaësia conspires to take me away again. Oh well, at least the words of power are spoken over the dragon eggs when Sylvana receives them. Saddle back up Ilúdör, looks like we're going Urgal hunting."

Sighing, she settled down for a nap. There was no way they would be stupid enough to bring her along with, so why bother staying up? Just rest for a few minutes...

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A sudden jolt bounced her back awake. Somehow, the Riders had forgotten that her egg was still with them, and she was now aboard a dragon en route to a small town in the province in Inzilbêth. At least, that was all to be presumed, as her rodent wasn't with her so she could neither see nor hear.

Speaking of which... She stretched out again, and found some kind of a bird of prey nearby, surprising in its proximity to the dragons. This time rather than take completely over, she just rode along the back of the being's mind, in enough to feel as though each decision was her own, but out enough so she had no real control over what the bird did. Looking down she saw that, indeed, she was where she thought she was. She settled into the bird's mind deeper and, after taking a moment to familiarize herself with it's patterns, took over. Now she could fly right along until they reached their destination.

How long it took was purely just a measure of time to the dragonling. Submerged as she was, she lost herself in the pure joy and freedom of flying, the feeling of being under no one's control. As such, she noticed nothing but the dragons flying alongside her—until an ominous plume of smoke rose into the air far ahead.

A muttered curse floated across the air to the ears of the bird. Suddenly, a wave of cold fear washed over the young dragon, and she unvolutarily retreated back into her egg. As soon as she was out of the birds mind, it squawked in shock and flew far away from the dragons. Her eyes and ears were gone. The feeling of gravity altered, and she knew the dragons were in a dive. Helpless, she could only wait until they dragons landed.

As soon as she felt the shock of talons on the ground she reached out and, finding a surprising number of birds nearby, took over one and looked about. A split second later she retreated back in, but the damage was done.

The town was gone. Buildings burned and broken, plants now nonexistant except for blackened fingers twisting towards the sky plagued the place, but even worse were the bodies that lay about, broken and bleeding. The men had all fallen defending their wives and children, their bodies twisted almost beyond recognition. The wives and their children looked as though they had been tortured as close to death as possible before the Urgals let them retreat to sweet death—their bodies were almost as unrecognizable. Any who had managed to survive had been eaten alive by the carrion birds now layering everything in their hunger for warm blood and flesh, such as that stuffing the throat of the bird she had controlled. The smoke twisting towards the sky seemed to contort into images of the dead, and the air seemed to echo with the cries of the dying.

The dragonling tried to block out the images but could not. Unable to do anything, she cried herself to sleep, images of bodies on paths stained red and carrion birds feasting on them flashing before her mind. In the last moment before the loss of consciousness, she noticed that in the whole town, she had not seen one weapon, though evidence of them was everywhere.

It wasn't really her concern anyway...