Dragonwings

by

Bolt Greywing

The First Watcher

It had been one month since Crimburn and Lymeria hatched from the speckled silver egg, Solaria looked dotingly at her two children. They had grown quite a bit in size, but they were not able to communicate yet other than babbling or cooing. The two of them were very high maintenance, always hungry, constantly messy, very demanding of her love and attention, and most difficult of all they had an irregular sleeping pattern that kept their parents up most of the night.

Solaria always wanted to have children of her own, but she never realized how much trouble they could be until she had two of her own. She had wanted to have a large clutch of children at least twelve or more, but that dream was dashed due to the poison that was coursing through her veins. She had hated what the cheetahs had done to her body, but now it felt more like a blessing in disguise.

Solaria the dragon knew that if she had been given a second chance at having as many children as she wished, she would not trade her rare silver dragon for all the eggs in the world. Silver dragon eggs were quite rare, only a very few are born once every thirty years. Because of their rarity most dragons are shunned for having one of them. Dragons see having few children as a crime against their very nature and will seek to kill any silver infant they can find in hopes of having a larger batch.

Silver dragons are seen as cursed children causing trouble and misfortune to follow their parents. Most dragons had to even go into hiding from other dragons if they chose to keep the silver one with them. Most silver dragon children died at the hands of their parents out of fear of being ostracized by the dragon community as a whole.

Who needs a large family when I got two wonderful children all to myself. Solaria thought to herself. I got a wonderful mate who helped me to build this little nest and he is so strong that the other girls must be jealous that he chose me over them.

So what if he is just a human boy, he rescued me when I was in trouble. Solaria continued.

Solaria looked down at her two hybrid children who were more human than dragon as they wiggled around in the nest.

Providing the raw meat that her children craved was not really easy to come by, though her mate could find some he wasn't trained like she was since her birth. Besides someone had to keep an eye on the two lest a cheetah or some other animal would snatch one of them from the nest and she certainly was not going to allow that to happen. She let out a sigh at the thought of having her children one day meet their grandparents back at the cave were she had been born. If only it would be that easy to travel back there.

Meanwhile Ben the human was out in the forest planning a very special surprise for his mate Solaria. He knew the nest that he had helped her make was a bit too small to comfortably have the children in long term, so he had started to build a log cabin. He wanted to keep it a secret as long as he possibly could by taking on more of the responsibility of hunting food for his growing family. It would be a few months or so before it was finally finished, so he needed to be sure that it was fire proof.

The last thing he wanted was the entire cabin to catch on fire if she decided to breath out fire. He needed a good place for the nest to be since she felt safer and he didn't want to break her dragonistic nature. Another addition that the cabin could use was a nice fireplace and he felt that his mate would appreciate it.

He still couldn't believe that despite everything that had gone wrong, the children had hatched out of the egg. The children themselves were different from what Solaria and Ben expected them to be, but they knew they would love their children dearly. The cheetahs most certainly would strike again and he would need the forest animals help in order to keep their children safe. He decided to seek out the help of several dormice that inhabited the nearby woods, but each one of them turned him down in turn.

"We do like you Ben, you are a nice human unlike most others. However, we can't help safe guard your children, for you see your mate Solaria has eaten many of us already. We are really truly sorry Ben we really are." The Dormice spoke.

"Its okay I am sorry to have bothered you." Ben replied.

"Its no bother we hope you can find someone else though." The Dormice replied. "Your children are quite cute."

"Thank you very much." Ben replied before heading off.

"Your welcome Ben." The Dormice replied.

Ben decided to travel further into the woods and soon came across a colony of rabbits.

Maybe they might be able to help me out. Ben thought to himself before deciding to open up a conversation with them.

"Excuse me I was wondering if you could watch over my children while my mate and I are away. We would be very grateful if you could do this for us." Ben spoke.

The bunnies took some time to discuss the proposition amongst themselves. "We are sorry, but we would have to turn you down. You see we walking ourselves into a predator's den and she would eat us with great ease."

"I understand, sorry to bother you though." Ben replied with a slight sigh realizing that this was the second one to turn him down.

"Its no bother at all, I hope you all the best in search." The bunnies replied.

Ben sought out one animal after another, but each time he received the same response. Ben began to feel disappointed that it appeared like no one would be able to help him or his mate. He decided to search out the clear blue lake that he normally went to think in times of great stress. After he arrived he rested down on a log as despair weighed heavily on him, he felt like he had all the bad luck in the world and thought of himself as being cursed. Though he had lived through many hardships, he had hoped that after marrying Solaria that things would go a bit easier on him for her sake. Yet luck was not something went easy for him, as he looked down into the lake he began to cry.

A passing doe overheard Ben's cries and walked over to him gently and using her head she lifted the boy's head. Ben looked at the doe through his tear stained eyes trying to wipe them away. "I am sorry you caught me at a bad time, I don't have any bread with me to give you."

The doe gently lapped his face a couple of times before resting her head next to him. "Its okay though you probably need the bread more than I do. Why are you crying young Ben?"

"Its just that I am trying to find someone who can protect the kids from the cheetahs if they should ever return. I tried asking the other animals, but none of them were wanting to help me at all. They are just too scared of what Solaria would do to them." Ben replied. "By the way how did you know my name and since when could you talk?"

"All animals can talk Ben it is just depends on when we choose to open up to humans. I felt now was the best time to open up to you since you felt upset and needed it the most. As to how I knew about you the other forest animals told me about you. Word travels fast in these woods especially of one so kind a heart. I didn't believe at first that a human such as you existed. It was not until my leg was broken that I saw the true you. I thought I was a goner because I could hear the sounds of your mate prowling around but you saved me. You took me to your nest and kept me safe from your mate's ravenous appetite. You nursed me back to health and because of your kindness I want to return that same gift back to you." The doe giggled.

Ben began to blush. "It was nothing, I just couldn't help standing there seeing a beautiful creature like you hurt. I guess I must be quite the hero. By the way I never really caught your name."

"My name is Darla. Your a hero many times over, my mate and I are expecting our very own child sometime soon, so I thought I stop by some time to see your lovely little children." The doe smiled and gave him another lick.

"Well I certainly wouldn't mind the company, but I don't know if I could convince her to let you near them." Ben replied.

"Just tell her that a friend of yours is coming to pay her a visit. I will then show up while she is away." Darla smiled.

"I don't think she would like that idea very much." Ben shook his head knowing that the worst outcome would probably happen.

"Hmm. Well you could tell her that I will watch over the kids while you two are out." Darla replied.

"Well seeing as your probably the only friend I have who would step in for me, I guess you can watch over the kids." Ben replied.

"Okay then I guess I will see you later. My mate is calling me." Darla replied before heading off.

As Ben saw her leave a smile crept on his face knowing that he had someone who could help him.

Solaria is probably going to put me in the doghouse for this. Ben thought to himself. Still you can't beat a local animal that knows the forest well.

Now he could focus a bit more effort into building the cabin, but he knew that he needed to catch some food for her. Ben then set off into the woods with his trusty knife and his bola.

About half way into the woods he spotted a rabbit who was nibbling on some grass. Ben took out his bola and twirled it in the air causing it to make a swishing noise. The rabbit was too far away to hear the noise as it continued to to munch on the grass. As Ben released his grip on the swirling bola it flew into the air until it connected with the rabbit's feet causing it to fall over. Ben then approached his prey and plunged the blade directly into its heart.

(Author's notes: Now this first chapter for my story Dragonwing has been coming for quite a while and it wasn't until just now that I found out how I wanted this first chapter to go. I toyed with many different story ideas of Crimburn being an egg, a human, a dragon, to his point of view and others, till stopping on this part of the story which seems to sound the best out of all of them. I will improve as I get deeper into the story but for now I feel so proud to finally have a first chapter that I can truly enjoy. :)

You can expect more thrilling adventure from my story and also see how the characters will evolve but as such this story will be limited to Crimburn begin less than 1 year old. The next book in the series will start him at one and as such it will be a four part book series. So what do you guys think of my very first chapter?

So guy and gals please tell me how you liked the story so far. Also please feel free to leave a comment or review to this story if you like. Bolt)