Dragons' Father (Book 2 in the Dragon Hunters Trilogy)

Chapter 5: More Hatchlings

More Hatchlings

It had been two weeks since Calla had joined our little family, and from what she could tell us, the first egg was due within a day or two, so everyone was on edge.  Valaria wouldn’t leave Calla’s side, and Grimond was so nervous he wouldn’t stop pacing up and down the length of the cave.  I, for one, was not nervous.  I had dealt with Calmstrike delivering two eggs when there was only meant to be one, so compared to that this should be a piece of cake.  Valaria and Grimond became expert hunters during those two weeks, though given we had to hunt for ourselves on top of feeding a pregnant dragoness I’m not surprised.  I’m still clueless how we didn’t hunt the local wildlife to extinction from all the hunting we did.  Needless to say the big day had arrived, and it was do or die for Calla and her eggs.

Grimond and I had just returned from a hunting trip, and we had just climbed into the cave using the footholds I had dug into the rock.  Having Calla lift us in with her tail had worked at the beginning, but as she grew more lethargic we had to come up with a different way into the cave.  So, I cut hand and footholds into the rock so we could climb up.  Grimond had a large buck tucked between his wings and I had several small rabbits hanging by their ears in my left hand.  Valaria had just called a greeting from Calla’s side when all hell broke loose. 

Calla cried out and her wings pulled tight against her sides as she curled her neck and closed her eyes in pain.  In an instant everyone knew what was happening, so I dropped the rabbits and raced to her side, shooing Valaria out of the way so I could help.  Calla’s sides were convulsing as her body tried to push the egg out, and I followed Calmstrike’s teachings as I gently pushed on her flank.

“I need you to roll onto your side Calla.”  I said in as soothing a voice as I could muster, “I can’t help you if you stay lying on your stomach.”

She nodded, her eyes still shut tight, and rolled over so her back was against the cave wall.  I walked up and placed my hands on her belly, feeling the powerful muscles trying to push the egg out of her body.  I pressed hard with both hands and ran them around in large circles, feeling the spasms and convulsions lessen to a degree as I massaged the smooth scales.  Calla grunted her thanks but said nothing more as her entire body tightened.  I heard the rattle of something hard hitting rock, and I looked over to see a large, white egg rolling to a stop near the base of her tail.

I glanced up at her face as she opened her eyes, “Well done Calla.  Your first egg has been laid.”  I walked up and ran my palm between her eyes, and she sighed as the muscles of her face loosened.

“Thank you Hans, that massage is doing wonders.”  She cracked one eye to look at me, “Calmstrike taught you well, I hardly had any pain once you started those circles.  Normally a dragoness’s mate would do that, but given he wants nothing to do with me I’m glad you were here to help.”

I nodded, blushing slightly at her gratitude, “It was nothing Calla, but you’re welcome anyway.  I did the same for Calmstrike when her eggs were laid, and let me tell you, it was a lot worse than this.”

She chuckled, “How so?”

“Well, it turns out something went wrong and she ended up laying both eggs at once.”  Calla’s eyes widened and I waved off her worry with my free hand, “She was fine after they were both out, but compared to that your laying was almost too easy.”