Dragon Binder: Book One of the Dragonblood Priestess Series (First Draft)

Chapter 6: Dragon Egg

Sometime throughout the ride Yina had fallen asleep.  Luckily for her, Clous was very capable of holding her up with his dragon bound strength.  He flew on in silence, aiming for the mountains far to the south.  It was not until dawn that the young woman behind him started to stir.  

The wind was cool in the dawn morning as Yina held tightly to the man in front of her. The thrum of beating wings around her was exhilarating. It was not her first time on a dragon, she often begged over and over until someone consented into giving her rides. The bronze scales under her shone in various ways as the light from the peaking sun hit them.

It was hard to speak while soaring through the air, her face was red from the wind. Jealously flared up as she looked at Clous's face which were perfectly fine. Stupid Bound having superior bodies that can handle this. She thought to herself spitting out strains of her black hair that had flown into her mouth.

Taking her eyes from the man she scanned the mountainside, they had traveled for a couple of hours trying to get as far as they could. Many young men and women wanted to become bound were out searching for eggs. She knew that going as far as possible would help her nab one. Clous argued the entire time trying to convince her to stay closer or not to go at all. Luckily for Yina she had some dirt on him, plus he owed her a few favors.

Yina only had two weeks before she turned sixteen, and then well she would lose the ability to ever bind with a dragon. This however was literally her last chance, if she failed today she would probably not get another chance to venture out for a egg.  She could still not believe what had happened the night before.  

She spotted it, the place she wanted to go. Tugging on Clous's arm she pointed towards the small cave in the wall. "There." She yelled into his ear hoping that he spotted it. A quick shift in the dragon's right wing, they dove down towards the mountain. The wind rose deafening them as well as freezing the fifteen year old girl.

With a almost elegant landing the dragon furled in her wings and lowered her neck towards the ground. The two slid slowly off the dragon, Yina landed lightly and started to stretch out her limbs, being on the dragon for a couple of hours had caused her body to tighten up.

"Please reconsidered this priestess." Clous stated in his annoying pleading voice. His green eyes were full of worry, for Yina's safety as well as his own. Her father would probably try to get him arrested when he finds out that he helped her not only search for a egg but go this far from the city.

"Please stop calling me that, especially outside of the city." Yina huffed as she turned from him her long hair almost slapping him in the face.  "I will be back in three hours."

"Why must you go alone." Clous stated in a fit.

"Can you fit in this cave?" Yina asked pointing to the small cave. She knew that he could not, it was part of why she picked it. Not to mention others probably would not have tried it either. She was quite small and had experience getting into cramped places.

Not even waiting for a answer she pushed forward squeezing her way through the cave. It wound deep into the mountain, some places she could barely fit having to crawl on her stomach. Around her neck she had a bottle of fireflies that lit up the area quite nicely. They were a expensive breed that gave off roughly the same amount of light as a torch would.

Keeping track of time she was almost to the hour mark when the small caved opened into a much larger room. Glowing moss and mushrooms gave the place its own light, and in the very center of the cave on a raised mound, wrapped around what looked to be a dozen eggs sat a dragon.

Her back scales were violet, the underbelly a deep black. The wings nestled up to her sides were clear and see through. A few spikes could be seen traveling down her spine with none on her head. Yina found that strange as most dragon's had some form of horns or spikes on their heads.

"A Dragonblood Priestess, well some would say this is my lucky day. If you figure the day you die can be lucky." A voice stated elegantly into Yina's mind. The dragon opened her eyes to reveal glowing violet eyes a few shades lighter then her scales. "Your blood smells of power."

Yina let out a small scream and took a hesitant step backwards only to slip on some rocks and slid uncontrollably down the side of the slope towards the dragon. Struggling as best she can to stop Yina failed and stopped less then ten feet from the creature. "You... you can talk." Yina sputtered out. "I thought only a dragon and their bound could speak mentally." She thought to herself.

"Of course, most of us can. We just refuse to let you human's know this." She stated smugly as she stretched her neck around to get a better look at Yina. The dragon's nostrils flaring as they took deep breaths of the young girl. "Have you come for one of my eggs then?" She asked with no hostility in her tone.

The knowledge that dragon's could speak but didn't had shocked Yina. It had gone against everything she had ever learned. She was so shocked even that she did not even think about the answer to the dragon's question. "Yes, I have." Shock and fear filled Yina's eyes as she realized she just admitted that.

The violet eyes just stared into Yina's eyes. "Well it so happens that I have a request for you as well." A loud crashing noise could be heard some distance away through the rock wall of the mountain. Yina swore she saw a small spike of terror come over the dragon.

"If it allows me to get a dragon egg then anything." Yina blurted out, slowly and cautiously pulling herself up from the ground. "And why did you call me Dragonblood Priestess?"

The tiny amount of fear that had been in the dragon was quelled as she studied Yina. "Well, I called you that because you are. Your veins have a great amount of dragon blood within them. In ancient times these were called Dragonblood priestesses. They were the most powerful binders who could not only gain magic from the dragon but release the dragon's magic." She answered nonchalantly.

Shaking her head in confusion Yina spoke, as if having a conversation with a wild dragon was one of the strangest things she had ever done. "But how do i have dragon blood, we drink it but that would hardly cause me to have dragon blood."  Yina stated almost more to herself then the dragon in front of her.  

"When you drink our blood you gain part of the magic inside of it.  Binding for the first time, then causes that magic to infuse with your own blood.  I assume you are from a long line of binders, if so that would explain it.  Every generation would have just a little more dragon magic naturally in there body.  Over time it would then cause you to have actual dragon blood."  The dragon sent to Yina's mind, glancing back behind her a bit of worry on her face.  

"Are you telling me I did not need to drink blood..."  This knowledge made Yina a tiny bit upset.  That stuff had been disgusting and a everyday thing for as long as she could remember.  

"Dear no, the blood in your veins probably has given you a few traits of being bound.  Above average strength is common.  It is not the same level as being bound but would give you a edge against other normal humans."  The dragon mused.  Meeting a Dragonblood Priestess was something she had never though would be possible.  

"But when we bind to a dragon we gain there magic. What do you mean release their magic?"  Yina asked, her mind just spinning out of control trying to grasp at all of the information the dragon was revealing to her.  

"It is cute how much you humans think you know. When a dragon reaches a certain age without dying we gain access to our magic.  Roughly a hundred years old." As she said this the air in the cave started to shift creating small dust devils that moved around the area. The dragon's eyes were glowing as this magic was being used. "When you bind to our eggs you gain access to that magic, but you, if done right have the power to gain the power as well as release the dragons at the same time."

Yina's was confused, she had no idea why she was still alive or why this dragon was telling her things that no human knew. "Why tell me this? What is this favor?" The young girl was rather impatient, if she was to die she would rather it be sooner rather then later.

"Well you are now the hope of the world." The dragon stated with a air as if it was not the most ridiculous and grand statement ever made.