Based on characters from Fablehaven© by Brandon Mull. The original characters and plot details are my property. No copyright infringement intended.
Leander stood outside the door, waiting. He felt the potion working preventing him from feeling dragonfear. He could see Celebrant in the open door. It would have been strange for the door to open and no one to appear so Celebrant stood partially turned to the open door as if he was relaying some other information to the occupants of the room before stepping out. Leander could no longer hear the conversation inside the room. Bracken's shield was in full effect as were the room's wards.
A few minutes later Celebrant and Bracken came out of the room. Celebrant held the spike in one hand and the scale in the other.
"There will be mourning! My mate Axezeles' body has been found," he announced. "All of Wyrmroost will know of this."
Bracken remained close to the door of the room. Celebrant walked to a raised platform near the north wall, he sat the spike and scale on the stone surface. He walked to the center of the room and in a bright flash the man disappeared and the huge sleek platinum dragon stood in his place.
"Show yourselves!" He bellowed with his multi-toned deep voice. From every door and ledge dozens of creatures and even a few dragons came forth. Twenty more individuals entered the hall from unseen passages.
"Make sure the news is spread. I want everyone mourning by midnight," Celebrant announced.
Mumbles from around the room started, even Bracken could hear some of the comments.
"Another mourning so soon? A second dragon found dead in less than a year."
"But this is Axezeles. This is a special mourning."
"It's so sad."
"Another death and another mourning?"
"Yuj glumf vos egat."
Leander moved slowly – listening to each comment, some he would not understand. He knew Seth and Unleea were also listening, but they could understand some of the strange languages. Seth and Unleea had taken the north of the hall and he had taken the south so they wouldn't follow the same lead.
Leander saw a Minotaur and recognized the patch of tan fur above his right eye and walked toward him. He caught a strange comment from a tall thin woman and decided to follow her instead as she left the hall.
Leander followed the woman down the hallway to a steep staircase. They wound down level after level into the depths of the keep. They finally reached the bottom of the stairs. They were in a natural cave now.
She walked toward a massive door in one wall and opened it easily. Now Leander was sure she wasn't human. He had decided earlier the she didn't smell human as he followed her down the close staircase, she smelled of wood and dirt. She had to be a dryad of some sort.
As she walked through the door the overwhelming smell of dragon hit Leander. He didn't know what to expect as he crossed the threshold.
About fifty feet below were two dragons curled protectively around a clutch of eggs. He had never seen anything like it. Seeing eggs protected this way was astonishing.
The female stood on the edge of the cliff and cheerily announced. "The bones of Axezeles have been found. Celebrant has called for mourning to start at midnight."
"It's about time those bones were found, maybe now he will pick another mate," the black and dull red dragon said rudely lifting her head to look up at the herald. Leander recognized her as Emmernoc. She was a moody and bitter dragon. Leander had always thought her coloring had made her mood ugly.
The dryad giggled at the comment, making Leander even more suspicious of the creature.
"Oh, no." the pale green dragon lying next to her sighed. "We will mourn," she said sadly. Leander didn't recognize her.
"Yes, we will mourn – for Celebrant's sake," Emmernoc said arrogantly looking at the green dragon disdainfully.
He wondered whose eggs they were guarding, the colors ranged from black to light pink. Ten was an unusually large number for two dragons. Normal clutches were one to five. Low birth rate was one of the reasons dragons hadn't overpopulated the world.
The dryad left the cavern through another large cave-like opening and Leander followed. The meandering caves lead to another cavern, though smaller than the first. She happily danced her way through the cave.
A dragon roared. The dryad stood stone still.
Leander walked ahead of her to see what was in the cave. A dragon crouched protectively over one egg. Her head craned high toward the opening the dryad had just entered.
"Let me know when you are coming, you idiot," the dragon growled, relaxing its stance. "I am glad you are here, the egg will hatch soon. Possibly today..."
"Ooh," she cooed, then remembered her reason for being there. "Oh yes, I have a message from Celebrant, the bones of Axezeles have been found. He wants everyone mourning by midnight," she said. "Emmernoc is happy she's dead." She whispered, stared at the egg sitting protected between the dragon's front feet.
"The egg might hatch by then but I will mourn, even as I rejoice," the dragon said looking down at the egg, as it rocked again against her foot. "Go tell Celebrant that the egg is hatching."
Leander could hear the tapping from inside the egg now that the cavern had gone silent. He walked into the large cavern and stood on the ledge looking down at the egg.
The dragon looked up at the mesmerized dryad and her eyes narrowed.
"NOW!" she raised her voice at the motionless dryad. "Tell Celebrant and no one else, do you hear me?"
Leander jumped at the sudden outburst.
"Oh! Yes, sorry," the dryad also jumped and quickly ran back the way she had just come.
"Idiot," the dragon muttered. "Emmernoc is an idiot too."
Leander knew he was viewing a very special event and he couldn't make himself leave. The dryad was returning to the main hall, she was no help she wasn't a conspirator. Emmernoc might be a problem though.
He had never witnessed a hatching before. It was a rare occasion. The fact that the egg was blue and isolated by itself led Leander to conjecture that someone thought it could be a frost dragon. If someone was killing frost dragons then this was the place he needed to be.
The dragon continued to crouch protectively over the egg as it continued to rock. Now Leander could hear tiny sounds of cracking, the sound though strange to his ears was somewhat familiar.
"Hurry!" the dragon muttered as she looked toward the entrance where he stood.
I'd better find a more isolated spot, he though. If there will be many coming to see the hatching someone could bump into him. He looked around and saw a shallow niche ten feet away and about three feet from the cave floor. He hopped up into the niche and felt reasonably safe that no one would bump into him. He looked around to see if he had an escape from his spot and felt assured that he could slip out of his hiding spot easily by either climbing up a few feet or jumping down and over a boulder.