A Dragon's Rider (Edited)

Chapter 3

The light is blinding as I open my sore eyes. I groan and turn away.

"Someone, turn the sun off!"

Then, I hear what woke me up - small footsteps. I jolt awake. Someone is in my room. The events of yesterday come rushing back to me and I relax the tiniest bit. I realize I still have my performers outfit on so I grab a tiny throwing dagger from the inside pocket and soundlessly get out of bed. I often helped the knife throwing act when they were short a person so I have become accustomed to having daggers on me whenever. The person is now rooting through my closet. The figure is hunched over and when it turns around I relax completely. It's a woman and it looks like she's putting some uniforms in the closet. I quickly hide my dagger as she smiles.

"Hello! My name's Lucy. I was just about to wake you. You need to get ready for the egg picking! You have about one hour to be down at the banquet hall. Here!" she shoves a small pile of clothes towards me. "This is your uniform. I've drawn you a bath. Do you need anything else?"

"Um. No?" I stutter out.

"Okay! Well, I have to go, nice meeting you!"

"You too." She walks out the door and gently closes it. I set the clothes down before stripping down to take a bath. The water is clear and warm as I wash my hair. The bath takes all of three minutes before I decide to get out. I look around and see a red towel. I touch it, and it's so soft and fluffy. I dry off my body and go grab my uniform. The uniform consists of a pair of black leggings, a gold tunic, and black combat boots. It's similar to my practice performance wear but the material is loose. I know that it's strong- it must be, if it's around dragons all the time. I brush my damp hair and deftly put it into its usual braid.

I look at the small clock on the wall and realize that I have ten minutes to be down at the banquet hall. Not knowing how much time it'll take me to find it, I leave my room. The hall has a worn red carpet on it and huge pictures between the doors. Each door, I notice, has the occupants' names on them. My door simply says Liora. No other name appears on it.

I find a staircase that looks familiar and I walk down it, my boots making a clicking sound on the wood. I look around and I'm surprised to see the banquet hall sign right in front of me. I walk in and see everyone else is already here - I guess they really didn't want to be late. A few people are staring at me but most don't spare me a glance. Hunter is up on the stage and he is talking.

"Alright, now that everyone is here, we can begin. When I say the name of the rider you rode with yesterday, follow said rider to the dragon eggs. There, if you get chosen by an egg, you will pick it up and give it to an attendant who will then take it to the infirmary. There, the egg will hatch within two to four hours of you touching it. If you are not chosen by an egg, you can either chose to stay here and be a helper who does odd jobs around the school, or you can go home and go back to your old life. Any questions?"

One boy raises his hand. "How will we know if an egg choses us?"

Hunter laughs. "You might feel a strong pull to it, or you might become obsessed and only look at that egg. Later, we will decide your dragon's specialty: fighting, defense, or medical" No one else raises their hand and Hunter nods. "Okay, first people, those who rode in with Vlad, Klaus, and Elan. Those people, come with me."

I follow Hunter and Vlad out and into a different hallway. This one has a navy blue carpet and pictures of waves. Vlad leads us down a winding staircase, going deeper, and deeper down. It finally stops and I see a dimly lit hallway going to the left. Vlad tells us to go down the hall until an egg claimed us or until the hallway stopped. I begin down the path, looking around in wonder.

There are so many different eggs! Each egg is unique in color, shape, and size. I am nearing the end of the hallway when I felt something. It is like my heart is pulling me somewhere. I look to the left and see a small niche.

There, on a pedestal, is a gorgeous egg. It is a medium size and is glowing faintly. It is mainly a dark navy blue, with varying shades of purple marbled over the shell. I pick it up and feel sparks go through my arms. It's light and has a hard, pebbled shell. I step back and see an attendant standing a few feet away. I tap her shoulder and she spins. She smiles when she sees my egg and gestures for me to follow her.

We walk back through the egg corridor and the woman asks me to wait with Hunter. He eyes my egg and I look around. There are already 5 people here, and they all had solid colored eggs. The most prominent colors are green and purple. My egg is the only multicolored one here. In no more than thirty minutes, the rest of the riders who bonded with an egg come out. We wait for a few minutes before Hunter starts talking.

"Okay. We will now say goodbye to those who did not bond with an egg." He starts walking and we all rush to follow him. Everyone is sneaking glances at the egg in my hands. Even Hunter occasionally looks at it with an unreadable expression on his face. After about two minutes of walking, we meet up with the rest of the potential dragon riders. They all have downcast eyes and disappointed auras. Being picked as a potential dragon rider and then not bonding with an egg is a huge dishonor. One boy looks up and sees my egg. His face goes from disappointed to angry in ½ a second.

"Look at that!" he hisses, eyes narrowed. "The little girl got an egg! She shouldn't have that egg. I should. Boys should get priority over girls for eggs! Right?" The boys raise their eyes and glare at me.

"We should!" calls one boy.

"Yeah!"

"Cheater!"

The first boy, quiets them all. "If we can't pick it, we'll take it. " He approaches me with a swagger in his step. I am stunned when he takes the egg from my grasp. My heart quickens and my breathing is shallow.

"Aw." says the boy "Are you gonna cry? Just like the baby you are."

All I see is red. The next thing I know, I'm standing over the boy, my egg in my arms, blood dripping from three deep scratches on his back. As I stand there, I hear a loud growling. It takes me a minute to realize it's my own voice. I look at everyone, eyes narrow, daring them to take MY egg. They all seemed stunned and none would meet my eyes. Hunter looks at me with respect and comes up beside me.

"So, what was wrong with Sean did to Liora?" Only one boy raised his hand.

"Yes - Fin, was it?"

"By taking Liora's egg, Sean invoked an ancient safety response from her. Should Sean have dropped or broken the egg, I have no doubt that Liora would have killed him."

"Correct." Hunter nodded. "Unless there is an attack on the hatchery, no one but the egg's chosen person or the hatchery attendants may touch that egg. Okay. Enough with the history lesson. If you have not been chosen, follow Vlad, where you can either choose to become a helper or you can go home. Everyone else, follow me to the hatchery." We split into the two groups and I followed Hunter. He set a brisk pace, and within seven minutes, we were beside the hatchery doors.

"Everyone, you will go in and choose a nest for you egg. Once everyone has chosen one, the attendants will come out. You each get one, and they will be with you for the rest of your life. They are your medics and advisors. Listen to their every word."

"How do they choose us?"

"Good question. They will walk around and look at your egg. They each have a specialty. Air, water, northern, southern, or whatever. Once they find an egg they like of their specialty, they will stand with you. Any more questions?" No one had any.

"Okay! Go on in!"