Cold, Dark Nights

The Hylands (teaser??)

A crisp Night, the forceful Scottish wind bashed the trees onto each other in the tall forest in the hylands, the leaves shook and danced in the strong, cold breeze. The sun hadn't fully set, a dim light could be seen. It was a raw night, you could hear the sheer coldness. The wind rippled the boltic water, fish somehow living peacefully in it as the storm, filled with a mixture of ice, snow and rain, raged on. On the tops of the cold arid mountains it snowed heavily, clouding the creature and coving it and it's feathers in soft snow. The large thing groaned as is rid itself of snow, shaking its body and stretching, it has awoken from a day-time slumber, this huge nocturnal beast was a dragon, maybe not the scaly 'fire-breathers' from the other parts of Europe (not to say Scotland didn't have scaled dragons as well as feathered ones), but it was a dragon none the less. A massive winged rep.. (maybe not a reptile, more like an avian) ...but still a massive creature, sporting strong legs, mighty wings and a long tail, not to mention the amazing teeth the monster had. it's eyes where relatively small but we dragons mainly use our other senses anyway.
And this is where humans start to come in, this particular dragon has eggs, and dragon eggs are quite sought after, especially with more people wanting us for different reasons, to teach about them, for their circuses, for schools, for games. None the less, if this dragon where wanting to keep her and her eggs safe, it was essential her mate and her other older children came back from hunting, and quickly.
Humans approached the snowy mountain-top, using their odd tools to grip onto the ice, clambering clumsily and loosing energy fast, what a waste. Odd creatures, humans where, they're more beast than us, far more. They are barbaric apes, constantly at war with others, fighting and arguing, they're violent creatures. It was then the smaller male dragon could be seen in the distance, followed by his children. They had came back just in time, as the first apes had grasped the ledge, pulling themselves up into the flat mountain top.
The male dragon was protecting the eggs, but let his larger, stronger mate take over. The young adult dragons stayed by their mother's side. Not only would this give them hunting experience but the humans could serve as an extra snack, although they're bitter. The humans pulled one another up and looked clueless as to what to do. One of the apes threw a ice-breaking tool, only for it to bounce off the thick winter coat of feathers on the dragons. The mother growled and the apes ran and scattered, trying to get around the wall of defence against them. The dragons picked the humans off one by one, 7 turned into 3, 3 turned into 1. One human was left, a young child forced to be brought by its brothers. The child cried in sight of the massacre and the mother dragon gently picked it up in her blood-covered mouth and placed it amongst the eggs, and a sudden she said in dragon-speak
"The ape hatching is innocent, we will take it on."
The father looked confused, "It will grow to kill us! We surely can not keep a Ape hatching!" He exclaimed in surprise
"We may teach it against violence, we may return it once it is at least a fledgling." The mother explained to her family
"That ape is almost a fledging! Why mustn't we give it back now, mother?" One of the children asked
"I doubt it would survive the cold on the flight there, we surely must wait until spring at least." Another said.
"Your sister has a point, Ailpein." Mother said,
"Thank you, mother" The sister looked smug,
"Oh, close your muzzle, Evir." Ailpein scoffed.
"Don't be so rude." Eubh told her brother.
"...sorry." Ailpein apologised to his oldest sibling. He respected her as she was from the first batch of eggs his mother had ever laid, only she survived, she was an incredibly strong and determined dragon, although she was a small bit stubborn.
There was eight in the family of dragons, none of the males from the third and forth batch had left yet, they are still too young to mate and and join another pack. Ailpein hasnt left because he doesnt want to, and doesnt feel the need for a diffrent pack.
"Are you really sure that a human hatching will survive the winter up here? They need milk from their mothers, they are mammals."
"Ludovic, if you wouldn't mind, could you please bring back a live female goat.. or cow." Mother asked
"Of course, Eimhir." Father flew off once again.
"Bringing that creature into the nest is a death wish, when it grows up and becomes an adult human, it could return back to its people and turn against us." Ailpien warned.
"It wont even be able to speak human toungle! how could it do that?" Evir pointed out and asked.
"By the time this human is fully grown, it will have been 240 moons, 20 years. our pack will have tripled and we will all be at the same health, even 50 humans couldn't take us down." Eubh sighed, as if it where obvious.
"and i can bet you Ailpein still wouldnt have left!" A younger dragon said
"Enuith, please dont be mean to your bother, he can leave when he wishes, you know our pack isnt the same as others." Mother said
"Yes mother, sorry mother." Enuith apologised.
"I may scout the area, Id suggest one of you stay by the nest and mother, but still scout the near grounds." Enbh said, just as she flew off.
"Ill fly out and scout the nest territories, i mean im pretty well made for it." Ailpien took pride in his airodynamic build.
"And I and Riness may stay and help mother protect the nest, since us ladys are stonger." Evir also took pride in her strenth.
"Yeah!" Ailpien smiled, in a dragon way.
"See kids, having males is helpful in packs, we all have good skills and abilitys." Mother tought "We're all very important, and everyone here has a place in our pack."
"Apart from the Ape hatchling." Pidroir, another one of the hatchlings from five years ago said,
"Well, we dont know yet, they may help us one day." Mother replied.
"Yes, mother is right, the ape hatchling could always potentially help us, they may tell the other apes to stop tying to hurt us, or something else." Evir agreed
"hm, what do you think theyre thinking right now?" Ilzronth, a young dragonling asked.
"The ape?" Mother asked.
"Yeah! as well as the eggs." Ilzronth made clear
"Hm.. Probably something like 'im hungry, i want food!', Ha!" Riness said in attempt to cheer up the young pups
the twelve young dragons laughed.
"Oh and girls, do you know where Givoim and Neorross are?" Mother asked.
"Yeah, they stayed behind at the hunting territories getting Oxen." Evir told.
"Ah, okay." Mother showed her acknowledgement.
The cold winter breeze ran though the older dragons fur as the young dragonlets where warm in the nesting cave, setting fires and huddling togeher as the three adults blocked the entrence from the harsh wind, and any dangers, they watched between the playing dragon pups and the icy breath of frost, looking to the ground and sky, occasionally watching Ailpien zoom past quickly as he guarded the nest perimiters. in the distance they could see father flying quickly towards them, gently holding a goat in his mouth as well and some meat in his hands.
"Welcome back, dear." Mother greeted Ludovic as he dropped the meat into the den, as well as the goat.

FIN, WORD COUNT: 1324.
Teaser 'chapter', not real book.