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To feel the wrath of dragon-dame.
Chapter 3
The last fragments of eggshell disappeared, and in time the gems did, as well.
Mother neither ate nor slept, as far as Wistala could tell, save for a slug or two, and a whole horse Father brought back along with a dirty-smelling monster Mother insisted was a human. To Wistala he smelled like a two-day-dead sheep not properly bled and gutted. Auron got the honor of hunting and eating him.
Wistala watched the Gray Vex disappear with Father. “Auron’s crest must be made of gold, the way you favor him,” Wistala said to Mother.
“Don’t whine, Tala,” she said. “You and your sister have a whole horse to share. That’s ten times a man or more.” Mother had already consumed hers, and was licking the last runnels of blood from her teeth and lip-line. She sighed, and her golden eyes brightened. “Eat those metal rings from the saddle. They’re good for you.”
“I’d rather be hunting that man,” Wistala said.
“You’ll be hunting on your own soon enough,” Mother replied. “Practice on slugs.”
“They’re a bore. Tell us more of the Upper World,” Wistala said. “Fish leaping at waterfalls!”
“I want to hear about Father’s mating song again,” Jizara said. Jizara liked to imitate the tunes, and even Auron admitted that she had a gift for song. “Did he really cause an avalanche?”
Mother’s stories always entertained. She mixed words and pictures and sense-memory so skillfully, Wistala felt as though she were living it.
“No, you shall have a lesson.”
Both sisters drooped at that. Lessons came only through Mother’s words, and one had to form one’s own imagery and sensations. Learning about The Hatchling Who Cried “Dwarf ” or The Geese That Saved the Seven-Egg Clutch couldn’t compare.
“Since you’ve both seen and smelled a man today, I’ll tell you about the Great Betrayal. A man had a hand in that.”
Jizara closed a nostril at Wistala. She stifled a snort and tried to clear her thoughts so she might summon her own mind-pictures.
“As you know, the Age of Dreams ended when the ravenous Blighters appeared. The Four Great Spirits of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire each gave a gift to Dragons to make them supreme over the Upper and within the Lower Worlds to tame the foul Blighters. But while fighting over their reward for this deed, they created the Dwarves, Elves, and Men who now come to kill us. Men are the worst. Men, who breed so fast that a single female in a dragon’s lifetime can produce a nation, like a small rock falling from a mountain’s height can knock two that send six rolling that create a landslide. All of that horde seek to kill us.>The gray hatchling gave a snort and returned to his meal. He didn’t seem to mind sharing. After eating, Mother lulled him off to sleep with a song, and Jizara dozed, bits of shell and membrane still on her limbs.
Wistala’s sharp ears picked up the sound of claws and scales on rock. She crept to the edge of the egg shelf and looked down.
The copper rooted around in the waste near the trickle at the far end of the egg shelf. He appeared to be hunting. She wondered if he’d try to attack her siblings while they slept.
That’s a male for you, Wistala. They’re always satisfied with a win, even if the victory’s incomplete.
He worries me, she thought back.
You’re ahead of your brother and sister already. How well-formed your thoughts are! And the way you pulled your sister out of her egg. That ability will help you in the Upper World, when it comes time.
Pulling Jizara with my tail?
No, the ability to improvise.
Wistala wasn’t sure what that thought meant. Tell me about the Upper World. Is it like my dreams?
Yes and no. But you should rest, little hatchling. Leave the worrying to me, for now.
The copper stared at her from the garbage pile. If Mother could see the hatred in his eye—
But sleep beckoned. And Wistala hoped that with sleep would come more dreams of flying.
Chapter 2
Hatchlings! Your father has arrived. Come and know your sire.”
Jizara left off complaining to Mother about having to eat her eggshell—Mother insisted it helped grow healthy scale, and Jizara claimed she just said that to get rid of the messy broken bits. Auron dropped Wistala’s tail-tip, which he’d been biting.
