Dragon Tails (Sample only. See chapter 4)

Chapter 1

A glossary is available for all the different species of dragons and other creatures at the rear of this story.

Dedicated to Sauthca for being one of the first people to read, encouraging comments and supporting this story all the way to the end. Thanks Carey!

Mrs Sicosor's shaking reptilian hands closed around the smooth pale egg and lifted it from her clutch for the fifth time. She placed it back down, and chose another. She returned to the same pale egg. Of the three she had laid, the smooth one was lightest.

Tears ran down her scaly cheeks, her long lizard tail drooped behind her as she realised there might be no embryo inside.

An exciting thought stirred as she searched for hope. She might have produced a rare form of the Deltarian race. A Glider!

She knew the stories of mothers laying light eggs, eventually hatching to reveal a Deltarian with abnormalities. Half bird-like with light body mass, steel-like scales, and a membrane attached to the underside of their arms and down their sides, allowing them to glide from high places.

She held the egg up high, using the light above her in the small nursery to peer inside. She knew it was unlikely she held a Glider egg. They were a throwback to an ancient line of their species, ones that flew with dragons. The Sicosor family line never bore a Glider. Hatching a Glider would be advertised. Her spouse never bragged about a Glider in his lineage, either.

If there was a chance, the government would be watching her clutch. On her check-up, after she found out she was producing, the doctors performed a full genetics check with blood samples from her and her spouse. Both results came back negative for the Glider gene and the government left her to bear her eggs in peace.

Replacing her egg back in the clutch nest, she walked over to the desk and reached for a pamphlet given to her at the hospital. She never dreamed she would have to call the number on it. She sighed as she realised the embryo might as well be dead to her. If the egg was indeed to hatch a Glider she would never witness the hatching or meet the hatchling. The Deltarians she was about to ring would see to that. She hesitated. Her thin scaly fingers, with neatly trimmed claws, hovered over the buttons. If she did not call, the other two eggs might be left without a mother. She could be thrown in a cell somewhere for harbouring a Glider. On the news, she had seen mothers dragged from their houses for that crime.

As she dialled, a sense of pride welled up inside. She might have created a being which may one day save the lives of their kind.

The young mother's small city house swarmed with technicians, their long tails getting in each other's way as they set up their computer equipment. Mrs Sicosor stood back and watched the bustle, her fingers crossed behind her back. What would my friends think if I produced an egg with no embryo?

One technician carried the pale egg over, watching his step, his large eyes wide with concentration. He placed the egg into the scanner. Green lasers crossed the egg and fed the computer with information.

The computer beeped; an image appeared on the screen. A male Deltarian with unusual black scales and a more slender figure stepped forward. He was a captain, according to his uniform and name stitched into his blue jacket. Captain Tylik.

Mrs Sicosor moved closer as the image became clear. Tears welled up as she saw the form of her hatchling, curled up inside the protected egg, a thin tail wrapped around the youngster's body. The tiny arms moved as the technicians pointed and mumbled to each other.

"Well?" Captain Tylik barked.

"A Glider, sir," the pale-scaled tech said.

Captain Tylik turned to Mrs Sicosor. "Are you absolutely sure there are no Gliders in your family's history?"