Freedom Calls

Chapter 9

Anna again shivered, assuming that this dragon, Sapphira's brother, would be larger, and more dangerous.

Sapphira treaded smoothly over to the fireplace, and closed her eyes. She bobbed her head ever so slightly, and where there had been nothing but still, cold, air was now a burst with flame, the heart of the fire being in the center, where a single glowing ember fueled the blaze.

The ember wasn’t glowing amber orange or red, but a slight greenish white color. Anna thought at first that it was shaped sort of like a pear, but she looked again and saw it was like a huge hen’s egg.

Anna stood, staring at it, the heat coming in sharp waves off of the radiant egg. She stepped back, but Sapphira stayed where she was, gazing at her younger brother, eyes soft, and a jolt of love and caring filled the cabin, setting Annelise off guard. She wasn’t aware that this creature had such strong, humanlike feelings.

“When does it hatch?” Anna asked curiously, stooping over to get a better look at the egg.

Sapphira made a hissing noise and jumped in front of the egg, scales raised, wings splayed, facing Anna. Annelise scooted backwards, raising her hands in a gesture of peace, definitely feeling the sharp anger and protectiveness.

Ella calmed, resettled her wings, and apologized stiffly, as if it were the last thing she wanted to do.

“Sorry, just don’t get to close.”

“Oh, ok. Yeah, I get it. I-” Anna couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice though.

“Just watch, He will be Emerging soon.” Sapphira cut Anna off, and her words were accompanied by excitement.

Just as Anna was about to reply, the egg grew a shade whiter, and rapidly began changing color, until it settled on the same shade of orange as the flames it was producing, and took on a flame-like pattern.

An ear-shattering squeal broke over the crackle of the fire. Anna flinched and clenched her eyes shut, clamping her hands over her ears and bending over, groaning.

Sapphira didn’t seem affected in the least, but instead got closer, and starting crooning to the egg in Dragontongue, consisting of low rumbles and purrs.

The squealing softened, and dissipated into the fire’s noise again.

A shower of sparks sprayed out from the fire, hissing and glowing bright in the darkness before fading to nothing.

The egg trembled, and, under the watching eyes of Sapphira and Anna, began to fracture.

Anna was shaking, she was about to witness an event that probably no other human has ever seen, be a part of this fantasy world.

She tore her eyes away for a second, to check the sky. It was at the point where both the sun and moon were below the horizon, casting total darkness over everything.

A crack and blast of warm air pulled her back to the fireplace. The egg was laced with cracks, as if it were wrapped in a giant spider’s web.

An orange light was bursting through the cracks, casting visible lines around the room, brightening it quite a bit. Anna squinted, the intense light hurt her eyes.

Anna and Sapphira kept gazing into the fire, both hypnotized, not speaking or focusing on anything but the egg.

The amber-colored light burst into a supernova like cloud, and seemed to melt away the remaining eggshell.

The fire vanished with a hiss, and laying limply in the ashes was a baby dragon.

It was green, which was surprising, Anna expected it to be some shade of red or orange. Its belly was yellow, and looked like the generic dragon baby, except for its wings.

The infant dragon scrambled to its feet, and looked first at Sapphira, then at Anna, as if it was trying to decide who to run to first.

Anna gasped lightly, the little dragon was so cute, it had to be no bigger than her foot, and had enormous amber-colored eyes.

The dragon ran to Sapphira, who nuzzled it, and purred at it.

Anna hated to break up the scene, but she was too curious.

“What is his name?” Anna questioned, out loud.

The little dragon jumped, and looked at Anna with wide, terrified eyes. Sapphira glared at Anna, and muttered something unintelligible to the baby, reassuring him.

After a moment, Sapphira’s anger flare had vanished, and she answered Anna’s question, with a sense of comfort, joy, and loving.

“He calls himself Cionaodh, which means born of flame.” Sapphira gazed down at Cionaodh, who was crawling around on her back. He slid down her tail, and rolled onto the floor.

He crept up to Anna, who sat down and crossed her legs. She held out her hand, as if Cionaodh was a dog, needing an introduction.

He totally ignored it, and crawled on Anna’s leg, his little claws feeling like dull nails on her skin. He crawled around until he found the cavernous pocket stitched into her bathrobe, and he tottered towards it, wings spread out to help him balance.

Anna stared at his wings, mystified. They had a ‘finger’ of bone, stretching the length, as a sort of base. The remainder of each wing resembled fire, translucent and giving off light.

He burrowed into her pocket, and Anna decided Cionaodh was either the bravest little creature ever, or he was overwhelmed by curiosity. Curiosity.

“Can I call Cionaodh Curiosity? I have no idea how to pronounce Cionaodh.” Anna hoped that it wasn’t offensive to a dragon to call them something else.

Sapphira thought for a while, then responded.

“I think that would be acceptable, as long as Cionaodh is alright with you calling him Curiosity.”

“Can Curiosity send me thoughts and words too? Or does he need to learn how?”

“He should be able to, I taught him. It doesn’t take long. Think about how quickly you mastered the skill.”

Anna nodded, that made sense. She focused on the wriggling lump in her pocket.

“Hi Cionaodh.”