Inferno Legacy: Loyalty of the Dragon (Book Two)

Chapter 3

            Inferno drifted over the trees before angling upwards, beginning to pump his wings hard as he could to lift them upwards. Cody lay in the saddle without the leg straps, using only the handle of the saddle to hold him up. He could feel Avalsmokes’s large hands, clinging to his waist for dear life. But upon glancing back, he saw that his friend was only thrilled by the ride, completely amazed to no end.

            The forest below sped away at an unimaginable speed as they climbed. Soon the leaves on the ground were only flecks of dust, and soon after that they looked like a thick, solid blanket coating the grass. The sun was beginning to skim the very tops of the tallest mountains, though it would still be at least two hours before nightfall. Nevertheless, the beams of golden-orange sunlight licked at Inferno’s scales and shone beautifully on his dark hide.

            Then the dragon swerved around in a full circle and, despite his immense speed, dropped lightly onto the ledge of a massive cave. With his wings still spread, only a small portion of the floor was filled with his large shadow as they came to a perfect stop. The sunlight lit up the first dozen yards for them to see clearly, but the end was filled with dark shadows of unknown. In the sunlight, the three could easily see little bundles of dried leaves and massive feathers, some as long as a few feet. In the little bundles were stones, anywhere from one to five in each one, all a different color or drastically different shade of the same color.

            “Wow,” Aval said in amazement as he looked around at the nests. “I wish Autumn had agreed to take me to the Cave of Hordes long ago, this is amazing!”

            The Cave of Hordes was a pretty misleading name for where they were. It was more of a monstrous cavern, larger than most of the other caves Cody had seen in his life. The “horde” was the name used for all of the precious dragon eggs that rested in their nests inside the cave. Each one held a baby dragon, just waiting for its destined rider to come along and release them from their shells to begin a lifelong journey together.

            “Come on and look at them,” Cody encouraged, sliding down from Inferno’s back while he still stood.

            Aval seemed to want to prove himself brave and attempted the same feat, swinging his legs around and sliding down after his friend. After he slid about a foot, however, he seemed to regret it and spun around, reaching for the saddle again. But it was too late, and Cody watched as his hand latched on to one of the shadowy black scales on the dragon’s body. It sliced through Avalsmokes’s hand immediately, leaving the man to slide down again anyway.

            Cody ran over to his side, “Aval! Are you alright?”

            His friend shook his head and slowly stood before answering, “I’m fine. I’m not leaving now, after I just got to this beautiful place!”

            The rider sighed as Avalsmokes ran over to a nest, looking as excited as a child surrounded by sweets of all kinds. Oddly enough, the nest he chose wasn’t the closest. The nest he went over to had three eggs nestled inside, looking very similar to each other. One of them was orange, another a rusty brown, and the last was the color of pure gold, its shell gleaming magnificently in the sunlight. Cody watched in horror as his friend picked up the gold one in both hands to stare at it more closely.

            Cody jumped forward and slapped his hands, making him drop the egg haphazardly on the cold stone floor. It rolled a few inches and stopped, displaying a smear of scarlet blood that marred its perfect beauty.

            “Are you insane!? Who knows what could happen with that egg. We know nothing about it, and you could have broken it or hurt the baby inside,” Cody scolded his friend.