MAGES OF SOUTHWICK: DRAGONS EGG

Chapter 9

Drip. Drip. Drip. Alred eyes start to crack open. The dripping water bounces inside his mind. His eyes crack open, only the faint glow from the embers of the fire lights the darkness.  He starts to sit up, his body crying from all the aches over the past few days.
Oh. I was caught. The last thing he remembered was taking a handful of fire-balls head on. Seeing Vane there really caught he off guard. Vane left so long ago that Alred forgot about him.
“Seems he is doing just fine on his own.” Alred pushes himself up. His legs a little wobbly. “Ugh. Where am I? I don’t see a jail door or any chains.”
Alred looks around. A small pile of ash at his feet. He can see a dim orange flicker of a another fire around a bend. His feet stagger with each step. His body feels weak, he questions how long he’s been asleep.
He picks the pace up pushing himself so he can escape. He needs to make it back to the King and let him know the truth. As he rounds the bend, he stops looking at the two elves in front of him. Behind them the strange blue wall fills the rest of their room.
“Seems you have awaking.” The large male elf stands up. Alred sees the moon shape mark on his forehead, the next thing he sees is the man’s spear.
Alred reaches down, with some relief it was still there. He grips the handle, but doesn’t pull it out. The large elf sees this. He turns and leans his spear against the wall, holding his hands up after that.
“My name is Agis, yes I’m a Blue moon elf. I mean you no harm.” Agis starts to walk forward. Alred takes a small step back. “Let me help you, you have been asleep for a couple days.”
“You were the one who saved me?” His voice cracks.
“Aye. I was just able to get you away form the other human mage.” As Alred listens to the story, relief fills his body. He’s safe and he can continue on his mission.
“Thank you for all of your help. I hate to be rude but I must get going. I have a lot of things I must do.” Alred pushes himself forward again.
“You are needed here child.” Alred freezes. Even his heart seems to stop. He has only heard this voice one other time.
“Hmph, seems fate has other things planned for me. My Grace, it seems I was able to find you sooner then I thought.”
“You are here just in time. Walk with me Child we have much we need to discuss.” Everything shakes a as she turns away walking into the darkness. “The rest of you wait here. When we are done, this is a matter we all need to talk about.”
“Yes Mother.” Alred looks back at the male elf. He notice the female has yet to move. He hurries to catch up with the dragon. The farther they walk away from the fire. The cave faded from the orange flicker to a steady blue and green glow.
They walk into a round end of the cave. The blue and green glow coming from different plants spread throughout the cave. A path weaves through the fawna to a small creek. On a island in the middle of the creek stands a single tree. The large tree, too big for him to wrap his arms around.
Its bark is a golden brown and seems to almost glow. The leaves are green as if they just bloomed. There in the middle of the tree, claw marks ripping the tree in half. There sitting in the crack a black gem with thousands of cracks stares out from the tree.
“Do you know what this tree is?” Alred looks to the side to see she is no longer standing next to him. He looks behind him to see that she has not entered the cave. He must have been memorized by the fawna.
“No, I have never seen something so amazing. Its as if the tree is alive.” Alred restraines himself from running over to the tree.
“That is a special tree. One bore of the world tree. If it continues to grow, one day the world tree may come here. But…” she takes a step forward. The tree begins to glow brighter. “I have ruined this trees life for my selfish reason. My child’s egg is in this tree. It has been for almost fifty years. My child’s father cursed both of us. I am shocked I have lived this long but am doomed to go to the Great plains soon.”
“So what do you need from me. Sadly, I’m not strong enough to break a dragons curse.” He runs his hand through his hair. His eyes now locked on to the dragons egg. As far as he knows, no one has ever seen dragons egg.
“I need you to raise my child.” She didn’t stutter,  Alred picked at his ear, looking back at the dragon. “I know who you are Alred Wooden, grandchild to Melvin Wooden.”
Alred bites his tongue. His grandfather has been gone for almost five years now. The only thing he knows is that he left in the middle of the night. No letter or note saying where he went or what he was doing.
“It is an honor to think that a Mother dragon wishes for me to raise her child but I’m unworthy for such a great honor.”
“Child this has nothing to do with honor. I seek the one who will help free my child. I believe you are the one to do so.” Her tone grows deeper. She raises her head over to the tree, she whispers to the egg in a dragon language. A blue force, more like a blue gas steams out of the large dragon. It spins into a great ball.
She looks back at Alred. Her golden eyes so dim and as if the life has been sucked out of her. The blue gas splits in two. One rushes into the egg, it begins to glow a bright yellow. The other half rushes to Alred. It slams into his chest pushing him to the ground.
Alred can feel a electrical pulsing through his body. Each nerve being lite on fire. The electric current rush into the pit of his stomach. Just as the pain starts to increase it vanishes.
He lays on the floor, gasping for air. He grabs his chest trying to slow down his heart. Sweat pooling on his forehead. Rubbing his chest he feels the rough bumps. He hurries to sit up, looking at his arms. Light blue scales cover his arm. His heart starts beating fast.

    

Thank you for reading this chapter! Sorry it's been a while, holiday season was busy and I hope you had a good one. Let me know what you liked about the story so far!