Chapter four

I whisked around to see a man standing behind me, wiping his hands with a towel that he proceeded to throw onto his shoulder, narrowing my eyes I studied him carefully; he was a good two or three inches taller than I was, well built and not to mention he had a face that definitely was easy on the eyes.
"Don't worry, I bear no bad intentions." He said, having seen my expression. "Where did you find him?"
"I believe that's none of you concern" I said rather coldly. The tiny dragon behind me seemed to have noticed my presence at last and darted to me, I knelt down and let him climb to my shoulders, brushing my hair away so he would more comfortably sit.
"Where did you get that?" the man snapped, making me jump. His gaze upon my neck. Before I could respond I was cut off again. "Come with me." He took hold of my wrist and began to nearly drag me through the back alleys, staying out of sight from the early risers.
Just as I opened mouth to demand my release I was pulled inside a warmly lit house. The rich conversation that the occupants were having ceased immediately and an awkward silence fell over the room accompanied by all eyes resting on me. My dragon had climbed down to my arms and remained there, out of sight. I could feel his uneasiness like it was my own. The first person to speak after the long silence was an elderly, kind looking man.
"And who may we have the honor of meeting Landon?" He asked, smiling pleasantly.
"My name is Avina" I said quietly cutting Landon off. I desperately tried to block out the stares from the others In the room.
"She's a rider" Landon said quickly, resulting in sighs from the majority of the people in the room.
"No one had seen a dragon for a hundred years." A woman who seemed to be in her early to mid thirties said.
"Is that so..." the old man stated with a tiered look in his eyes, ignoring the comment from the younger woman.
"Just look at her neck" Landon insisted.
I felt the collective gaze of the entire room shift, the man's eyes widened just briefly enough for me to almost miss it. My dragon in my arms gave a low reptilian growl of warning; it was as if he knew I felt threatened, then again, my hands were slightly shaking.
"My dear girl, allow me to put a lot more emphasis on 'honor' if I may rephrase my first statement"
"I'm not a rider" I managed to whisper, shaking my head.
"Not yet" he said with a chuckle. "If you'd be so kind as to tell your friend that he could not be safer than here in this home, I would like to meet him."
I stared into the man eyes trying to judge him. I carefully balanced the warm scaly creature to one arm and removed my cloak. An elderly women to my right offered to take it. I assumed she was the wife of the man before me and whispered a thank you, I had always been raised to be gracious.
"Noctis draconem" the man said with a faint smile. "Night dragon" he said with translated hastily. "Does he have a name?"
I shook my head, "no." I had begun to adjust to the strangers around me, feeling a bit more comfortable.
"Now may be a good time to bestow one my dear." The elderly woman said beside me.
I stood In silence thinking for a long while. The dragon that I held comfortably in my arms nosed at my neck, tickling my ears with his breath as I thought.
"Speronox?" I offered at last, not looking at the people, but at the creature in my arms.
"It is no question, it is his name" the man smiled. "
"How do you know so much about them?" My voice shrinking again.
"We come from the north" the man explained, moving to his feet. "Please sit" he offered, gesturing to a chair behind me. I accepted the offer and sat down slowly, Speronox scrambled down to the wooden floor, sniffing around. "My name is Henry and this is my wife, Marietta." He said introducing the older woman. "Then there's My son, Jacob and his wife Genevra" Henry continued nodding at the couple that I had pointedly been ignoring "and you have already met Landon"
"I'm sorry, but might I ask why you have traveled down from the north, this place offers nothing when the two are compared" I interjected, my curiosity getting the better of me.
"For you my child" Marietta told me. "Our world needs you; not now of course, but very soon it would be in your best interest to come with us" her words held no threat yet I winced slightly.
"How do you know that?" I asked quickly.
Marietta smiled "it is a foresight seen by many for hundreds of years."
I knew it was not smart to trust people I did not know, yet something inside me trusted her and everyone around me.
"every thing will be explained when we arrive there tonight" she said.
"We're leaving now?" I asked furrowing my eyebrows.
"Yes of course. Like I said, the only reason we are her is for you. Although we hadn't expected you to have found you bond so quickly" Marietta said smiling at Speronox.

A/N: all right guys I'm really getting exited about this story! I hope it started to pick up a lot in this chapter. If you have any questions comments, concerns or ideas PLEASE let me know, (or if you just review with a smiley so I know you're out there it would make me über happy!) lots of love!

P.S: In case I assumed to was easy to tell; Speronox is pronounced sparrow-nox (you know, like in Harry potter! It's Latin for darkness)