DRAGON LADY

"Spread the word through out the city His Majesty the King, wants all young men born of Gesa assembled in the palace before sunset" ordered Laertes the King's special adviser as he sent out town criers to the eighteen cardinal points of Gesa running as they went

"By the order of the king all young lads between the ages of fourteen and twenty three are to assemble at the Royal court before sun down" the voices of the criers rang out through the city.

 Towns people paused at doorways and on footpaths to listen tu the message and even in the market a hush fell and then resumed again in furious whispers of wonder, curiosity and fear.

"Is it the war?"

"Are the boys to be conscripted?"

"I hear Maldorr is riding for Ligath, what are we to do?"

"But fourteen is too young!"

 Zutara tied her curly red hair back and resumed milking the cow she had been working on as the boys around her looked at each other and abandoned their work stations to answer the Royal summons, she shrugged her shoulders knowing that she would have to complete their tasks for them but she did not mind, if only she would get their own share of apples and milk then maybe she would not always have to be hungry.

 As she she lugged the six pails of milk into the cool shade of the barn she paused to examine her features in the metal barrel for churning butter not that she had to anyway, she already knew what she looked like - an overly tall, overly pale girl with a shock of fiery red hair that grew in a tangle of curls that caused mothers to sigh in despair when she passed by but she did not have the heart to cut it because it reminded her of her mother as did her bright amber eyes that made her look like a wild tiger, breasts that seemed to have grown overnight to her great dismay she willed them to stop getting bigger even wearing tighter bindings all through the day and even at night but it could not be helped, she quite liked her lips and forehead which she was a very strange thing to like but best off all she loved her legs - long and sturdy that ran and jumped and swerved and kicked exactly how she wanted them to.

 The Sun had already began to sink as more and more boys strolled into the yard of the Royal court, the egg sat perched on a cushion that was placed on a raised platform, each boy had one minute to place his hands on the egg to see if it would hatch, all of them shook some with excitement , some with fear but one by one they all placed their hands on the egg and yet nothing happened.

 King Terreus sat on his edict throne and Sikorra sat to his wrapped in heavy shawls but looking much better and rudy in complexion than he had been before.

"Are you quite certain that this message was for Gesa?" Sikorra regarded the King brows knitted in thought

"If you do not trust  me at the very least trust the egg it led me here which if you recall this is not the first time I have brought a dragon's egg to Gesa although those were much better times".

"Much better times my friend, I had just been crowned King and you were a revered dragon lord" the King mused and Sikorra looked away, he hated to be reminded of his dragon.

 The two old men sat each with his own thoughts as the boys continued to troop past one by one till the moon crept into the sky and was then chased out again by the sun.

"What do we do now? the egg did not choose any of the boys"?.

"Send the criers out again and send for the girls".

"That will not be necessary there has to be a lad that we have not checked maybe he is sick or away or hiding". Saurus captain of the Gesal troops said.

"If the boy was sick the egg would turn gray and if he were away from Gesa or hiding it would lead me straight to him" Sikorra replied calmly  and turned back to the King "Please your Majesty there is no time"

"This is outrageous and totally unacceptable"

"Saurus" the King warned 

"Your Majesty, everyone here knows why we can not afford to have another girl as a dragon rider we should not allow it"

"Shaheera was and still is one of the greatest dragon lords to ever walk this realm Gesa is free today because of her and the sacrifices she made for Gesa and for Hanorak and do not forget that the very first dragon lord Tana was an elven girl, Laertes please send the criers out again".

 By mid afternoon the courtyard was full of girls , one by one they did the same as the boys but the egg remained unchanged, the King sighed in defeat but one of the girls spoke up " I know two of us who are not here Zutara works at the Tannbart farm when she is not making trouble and the other Riz is a healer, she was up most of the past wo days tending Boras the carpenter who had taken ill"

"Find them at once and bring them to me"

 An hour passed and a soldier walked in with Riz behind him looking neat as ever wearing a neat teal blue gown her thick black hair was left to fall like a dark curtain down her back to her waist, dainty black shoes ardorned her feet, with her cool blue eyes and ever smiling lips she looked like an angel.

 Eyes trailed her every move and as  she walked forward, a hush fell on the yard, every one knew that there was something special about her, one so young who could treat and cure any type of disease and extract any type of poison  if anyone in Gesa was worthy of  being dragon lord it would be her.

 She stretched her hands over the egg and the strain in the air was so thick that you could cut through it with a knife, but to everyone's surprise and dismay nothing happened.

 Zutara slipped in silently hoping that no one would notice her and no one did focused as they were on Riz.

"Come closer child" Sikorra stretched his hands towards her and for a moment she remained stubbornly where she stood , Sikorra regarded her with clever eyes " We have been waiting for you"

  Zutara frowned at his words but she stepped forward any way and placed her hands on th egg, instantly it began to get hot she stepped back quickly, the King and his captain jumped to their feet as smoke began to fizz out of the egg, it cracked loudly and the room echoed a loud gasp

 Inside the egg was a little creature as small as a kitten, it was the most startling blue colour that anyone had ever seen with shiny scales and tiny little horns on either side of its head above ears like a cow's and its big round eyes that looked at those gathered with as much curiosity as they looked back at it were a brilliant gold like its new lord's as it sat it licked off the sticky fluid that covered its body.

"Go on and hold it, it does belong to you afterall" Sikorra said and she came closer reaching out a tentative hand to touch its head and her vision blurred as a shock she would later described as white hot fury raced up her spine and seemed to focus at a point on the inner side of her right arm she screamed more in surprise than in pain, at the same time Riz gasped in shock, as liquid hot fire seemed to spill down her right arm from shoulder to finger tips.

 When they both recovered, on the inside of their right arm between the elbow and wrist was a tattoo of a dragon poised for flight.

  While Zutara's mark was done in a wide spectrum of colours from bright blues, pinks and oranges to blood red and burnished gold, Riz's was done completely in black but aside from difference in the colour it was the exact same dragon.

"You are now the custodian of a rare and almost extinct legacy, you have to learn and master the five natural elements - Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Lightning, you will also learn to master the sword as there are times when the elements may ot be enough," Sikorra gestured toward Riz

 "For each of these you will have a teacher, someone born with control and use of these gifts, I believe she is one of them each of your teachers will have the exact same mark as her, some you will have to find and others will come to you but you have to be ready at all times because with this call will come grave dangers'' Sikorra reached into the eggshells and picked up the dragon he patted it like one would a puppy and stretched it out to her.