Chapter 2

The Zarbor

I ran down the staircase under the street to the disconnected section of the sewer system. To my surprise, there was already someone there. She handed me a cloak, a dagger, and a crystal orb. "Go, you are in danger. Even here you are not safe. Run toward the caves of the dragons. They will assist you. Orange will heal you, green will accompany you, gold will help you when the need is greatest, and red will help you fight. Use this to your advantage. Go! They are coming!" She kissed my cheek, and pushed me out the door into the forest. I ran past the cabin after cabin, hearing twigs breaking behind me. I caught my foot on a root, and fell onto my stomach.

Sensing their approach, I swung myself carefully into a tree, and cast a spell of invisibility, as Zarbor have no sense of smell.

I held my breath as the wispy, dark figures passed underneath the tree that I was in. After they had been gone for awhile, I dropped silently out of the tree, but retained my invisibility spell. I ran toward the setting sun, in the west, away from the North, where the Zarbor had gone. As I ran, there were many thoughts that crossed my mind. Who was that woman? Why do the Zarbor suddenly want me? What will they do to me if they catch me?

I shook the last thought from my mind as I ran faster, not needing the mental image. When I reached the temple of the green dragon, I knew that I was getting close. I walked for another mile, regaining my breath. After about ten minutes, I came upon the mouth of the cave. There was an emerald engraving of a dragon by the cave door. I walked about a foot inside and pulled off the cloak. After folding it up in the pack I had brought, I walked deeper into the bowels of the cave, amazed by the gems encrusted in the walls. As I reached the end, I was disappointed to see no dragons, green or otherwise. I felt a gentle tap on my right shoulder, and spun around slowly, expecting to see Zarbor.

Instead, I was nose-to-nose with a large, green, 90-foot dragon with five foot long fangs and startlingly beautiful green eyes. I back-peddled quickly and caught my foot on a rogue root, twisting my ankle painfully. As I fell, I saw his large maw open as if to tear me in half. When I hit the ground, hard, the blue crystal orb bounced out of my pack and rolled to land beside the giant foot belonging to the beast. He stopped mid-strike and turned his nose to the orb. Still breathing heavily in pain and from the near death experience, I had to wait a few seconds before speaking to regain my shaky composure.

After deeming myself worthy to speak even moderately coherently, I cried out. The dragon stopped at my cry and looked down at me, the orb glittering in its fangs. Still on the ground, I cleared my throat and spoke more confidently than I felt. "That's mine! You can't just take it!"

He spit it into his talon and, to my surprise, spoke in a deep rumbling voice that pierced my veins in what wasn't fear, but something that I couldn't explain. "You speak of me stealing it, yet that was exactly what you did yourself!"

I stood up, wincing, and braced myself against the wall. "I didn't steal that orb! It was given to me by a woman in the sewer."

Now it was his turn to be surprised. His green eyes widened and I was left speechless at the sight. "What woman?"

I snapped out of my trance at the last second before I would sound like a complete liar, "I already told you that. That woman in the sewer. I've never seen her before. Are all dragons this menacing?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." His talons retracted completely, leaving perfectly human nails in their place. The fangs did the same, but they left tiny little fangs in their place. When the puff of green smoke receded, there was a boy about my age left standing where the dragon had once stood. If not for the orb between his index and middle fingers, I would not have believed that he had been the large dragon. He had spiked black hair, and those beautiful eyes that didn't change from his dragon to human form, save for the size. The fangs, once over five feet long, now were about two inches long, curved slightly inward. They were obviously made for causing damage if one were bitten by them. "So the Blue Dragon has finally reawakened." His voice, now considerably quieter, sent a ripple of the same feeling it had caused earlier to stroke my spine.

"What are you mumbling about? And can all dragons change shape?"

"Yes." I sighed, knowing I would be in trouble if all the dragons had the same effect on me that this boy had. "You will be able to as well, when you absorb this." He held out the orb, which I slid into the bag without touching it.

"Okay. First of all, can I have a name to go by? Secondly, what do you mean absorb? Next, do you mind if I sit down? My ankle kills. Finally, what the hell is going on?"

"My name is Ky. You will absorb this after it hatches, as it is a dragon egg. So, could I have a name to go on as well?"

I dropped to the ground without his permission, and rubbed it for a second before speaking. "My name is Alya, and you didn't answer my last question."

"So I didn't. There are six dragons in all. Blue, Green, Orange, Red, Gold, and Black. Each dragon is responsible for a certain section of the city. However, the Black Dragon has converted over to evil, and he created the Zarbor. The Blue Dragon has disappeared. Each female lays two eggs in her lifetime, in case her successor is male, or incapable of laying eggs. Over the years, the eggs accumulated, and the race of dragons began, and soon flourished. They need humans to take form, though. So they attach themselves to a human on a mental level, and the dragon and human become one. Each dragon egg is meant for a certain person. Since the Blue Dragon protected the center of the city, they were the first to be slain."

"So what does this have anything to do with me?"

"You are the next Blue Dragon. There hasn't been one for centuries, since the last egg bearer was slain, and the final egg stolen."

"And you think..."

"That this orb is the stolen Blue Dragon egg. And if I'm right, then you carry the most valuable artifact the world has ever seen." He interrupted.

"What makes you think I'm the Blue Dragon? Maybe I'm just carrying the egg until we find the real Blue Dragon."

"Is your hair naturally black?"

"Yeah..." I carried it out as if he were deaf.

"Are your eyes naturally blue?"

"What would I do, get a surgery to change the color?"

He continues as if I had only agreed. "Are you a magic user?"

"Yes, already. What's with all the questions?"

"May I see your navel?"

I blinked a few times before realizing that he was serious. "Oh-kay?" Having changed out of my homecoming gown before I fell asleep, I lifted my favorite blue shirt to reveal my belly button. Strangely, there was now a dragon tattoo circling my navel. He knelt down beside me, and grabbed the ring dangling from my navel, its sapphire casting light through the cave. He rolled it in his fingers for a few seconds, and although it hurt, I didn't really care. Just having him this close had the same effect his voice did. He stood up, and looked down into my face.

"Don't you think that it's strange you chose a blue stone for your piercing? Or that your favorite color is blue?"

"Not until you said something about it. And how did you know that my favorite color is blue?" I stabbed his leg with my index finger, and I don't think that he even felt the jab.

"I didn't." He said with a smirk. "And because mine is green."

"Just a second. How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen. Why?"

So he's a few months older than I am. "Because you talk like your eighty-five."

"Very funny. I've been connected to Tartea for three weeks. Ever since my master, the last Green Dragon, passed away three weeks ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. He was an ass."

"Okay. I'm confused. Who was that woman in the sewer?"

"Nice change of subject. I'm not entirely sure, but if she's who I think she is, then you'll be lucky if you never see her again."

"Okay, I'll be going now." I stood up, and collapsed again.

"Not without me, not with that ankle. Besides, I have to get out off this cave, or I'll go entirely insane." For the first time since I had met him, he sounded like the sixteen year old I knew he was inside. He wrapped one of my arms around his shoulder, and supported me as I stood.

"Ky?" I asked as we walked out of the cave.

"Yeah?" He replied, still half carrying me.

"How long will it take for this egg to hatch?"

"An hour after you first touch it. You have touched it?"

"Of course. Through the leather bag."

He shook his head. "That won't work. You have to touch it directly. You'll know by your leg burning."

"Why will my leg burn?"

"Because the dragon inside is branding you." He began walking more quickly and I struggled to keep up.

I tried to talk, but I was speechless. I just walked alongside him silently as we made our way to the northwest and the Gold Dragon's temple and cave.