A Dragons Tail

The Hatchlings

I heard the noise again and opened my eyes, amazed I saw that the sun was already in the sky. I groaned and stood up carefully as I checked on the eggs. They were already peeping and I was surprised I didn’t hear it sooner. I could now tell that there was at least one dragonelle by hearing the higher peep compared to the lower ones of the males. “My beauties.” I smiled and nuzzled the eggs then walked into the cave. “Ali? Hello?” I looked around and didn’t see her. “Hmm. I wonder where she went.” I felt heat of someone breathing on the back of my neck and I turned around. Spike was there with a deer in his arms. 

“Want some?” I looked at the dead deer and then back at him.

“Maybe in a bit. I have to find Ali and Kaz. Have you seen them?”

“Yeah they were with me. They are outside by the eggs. You realize you still haven't eaten right? I thought you'd be hungry so I brought you this one, there's one outside too.” He seemed a bit confused but he shook his head and walked back outside with the deer so I followed him. 

As I came out of the cave I pointed at a wolf walking this way and I could tell that it was Chesha. “She’s back.” I could now see that she was limping and I felt bad for her. Spike dropped the deer and started growling ferociously so I growled back at him. “Stop it. She’s different than Shadow. You know that.”

“No I don’t and you don’t either. She can’t be trusted.” He snorted in annoyance and sat back down. “Kazuki can Chesha be trusted?” He peered over at him and he nodded. “Good then.” He walked in front of me to block me from her. “Are you alright?” 

I looked at her leg and it was all bloody, so was her neck. I rushed in front of Spike and over to her. “What happened?” I started freaking out just from seeing the cuts on her. Kazuki was suddenly next to me and he pulled something out of his backpack. It was a sort of bandage that he wrapped around her. She licked him then she layed down so she wouldn’t fall. 

She whimpered and looked up at him with a tear in her eye. “Thank you. I’m so sorry for how she treated you. She tapped through my mind and made me watch. I wanted to come back and I tried to. I’m only back because she got into a fight with an ice dragon and a thunder dragon. She was so weak after the fight that she switched back to me. They both survived but she was hurt too badly to fight. She brought me out thinking I’d have a better chance since I wasn't hurt. They attacked a bit but I ran into a small bear den, I hid in there for a while till they left.” She was now crying and whimpering as she spoke and she tried to hide her face under her paws. 

I sat down by her and licked her nose. I looked over at Ali, “Come heal her please.”

“You will be alright Chesh. I promise.” He hugged her tight and she winced a bit but didn’t say anything. 

“Thank you.” 

Ali sat down by her and held her hand over the bandages where the scars were and then pulled her hand away. Chesha licked her hand smiling.

“Kazuki please remove the bandages.” He nodded and started taking them off revealing healthy skin and fur. There was dried blood but underneath there were only closed scars. 

She stood up then fell a bit. “Oh. I thought it wouldn’t hurt anymore.” She winced and whimpered as she stood up again and stayed up this time. “Ouch.” Kazuki stood up next to her and pet her head carefully. 

“You’ll be alright.” He smiled and she smiled back. “Oh right. You haven't seen the eggs yet have you.” He walked over to the eggs and she followed. 

I got all excited and flew over to the eggs quick. “Aren't they just the prettiest things? We found them and are going to take care of them! I already have names for them and I don't even know the genders yet. I know for sure that there's one girl though. My little dragonelle.” I smiled and stared at them. She sniffed them and the warmth of her breath against the eggs made them start peeping again. “Awww.” I licked each of the eggs and she started growling at me. “Excuse me but these are MY eggs.” I growled back quietly. 

“Blaze it’s fine.” 

“No it’s not Spike. They are mine.”

“They are actually Shadow’s and she is a part of me. That makes them mine.” Kazuki stood over Chesha and glared down at her. “They found them. Let them keep them. We are staying with them anyway.” She looked up at him confused and horrified. 

“No. I want my eggs. I won't stay with them. You can't make me.” 

“Then leave. A wolf can't take care of a bunch of dragons and you can't switch with Shadow anymore.” He touched one of the eggs and it soon started to crack. 

“Fine!” She growled and ran back into the woods but she looked like she was in a lot of pain.

“No way! They are hatching!” I got up close and watched as another egg started to crack a bit. I started to see a small nose horn poke out of an egg and it soon turned into an entire nose. “Aww! Come on guys! You can do it!” I licked the nose that was poked out and it quickly pulled it’s head back in it’s shell. I waited and soon it broke open a big piece and I could see her entire head. She tried to crawl out the hole but her belly got stuck. I slowly reached over and tapped the shell a bit with my claw. The shell broke open and she fell out onto the ground. “Hello little one.” I smiled and licked her. She looked up at me and smiled brightly. 

“Mamma?” She wiggled and her tail swung back and forth. 

“Yes Kira. I am your mother.” When she heard her name she got confused and gave me a weird look. 

“Kura?” She spoke quietly and was a bit off with her words. She learned much while in the egg though, she could already talk and know what she was talking about. She tried to say it again, “Kura. Kura? No. Uh Kire.” She got frustrated and growled then I saw tears in her eyes. “Mamma I-”

“I know dear. It’s hard to say. Kira. It has a special meaning. I’ll tell it to you when you're older.” I smiled at her and licked her again. I looked over at the eggs and another nose was poking out of a shell. “Look. One of your siblings.” 

“Coo!” She hopped over to the egg and watched. She continued to try. “Kire, Kire, Kura, Kiura, Kir, Kira. Yes! Mamma I did it!” She hopped as she screamed joyfully and she landed on the egg breaking it open. “Ohps. Hello?” She stuck her nose into the shell and was standing on top of the hatchling. “You okay?” He pushed her off and growled at her furiously. 

“Off!” He growled more and smoke was pouring out his nose. He was very advanced too, most hatchlings don't get smoke for a while yet. He showed his teeth and she started to cry.

“Mamma mamma!” She ran over to me and clung to my foot. “He mean mamma!”

“It’s okay hun, he will calm down.” I licked her nose and she licked mine back. “Spyre be nice to your sister.”

He shook his head and growled. He glared at her as he clawed at the ground getting ready to charge at her. “Food!” She looked terrified. He bolted towards her and she stood there frozen.

“Mamma!” I quickly picked her up by her tail and held her higher than him. She crawled up my hand and sat on it. She flicked her tongue out at him as if to say ‘ha ha I got away’. She sat up as tall as she gould and growled at him to show her power but when I started to lower my hand back by him she cowered. “Mamma no!” I laughed a bit and set her down. 

“Good mamma.” He smiled and walked up to her growling but when I raised my tail he stopped.

“No fighting. Go wait for your other siblings to hatch.” They smiled and ran back over to the eggs. I heard more cracking after Spyre headbutted one egg and a small grey foot poked out. It started clawing in the direction of Spyre and Spyre bit it. 

“Oww!” He screeched and whined a bit then broke out of the egg. He was grey like Kira and Spyre was a bright blue. 

“Hello little Natsu,” I said to the new hatchling. There was one egg left and I couldn’t stop staring at it, suddenly it turned to ice. 

“Woah!” Kira shouted.

All three hatchlings were staring at the egg and Kazuki and Ali were already looking at it. I looked for Spike but couldn’t find him. I realized that I pay too much attention to the hatchlings and probably hurt him. 

I’m sorry Spike. Come back. Please. You gotta see this. I tried getting him to answer but I got nothing. “Where did Spike go?” Everyone looked at me and I blushed a bit. “I wasn’t paying attention.” I looked back at the egg and it shattered open.

“Huh? Wha?” A small ice covered dragon crawled out and she looked confused. 

“Hello little Icicle.” I smiled at her and she smiled back. 

“Mamma?” I nodded and the others looked at her weird but Kira walked over and licked her cheek. Her tongue got stuck on her face since it was covered in ice and she screamed.

“Mamma! Mamma mamma! Halp meh! Huh!” She was about to cry but I blew flame onto the ground and she knew what she had to do. “Uh uh!” 

I picked them both up and set them near the fire. It melted and a small blue dragon melted out from underneath the layer of ice. Kira pulled her tongue away quick. “Sorry.” 

Spike showed up and he walked over by me, now that everyone was here I decided to introduce everyone. “Guys come here.” Everyone came by me and sat down. “This is Kira, that one is Spyre, that other one there is Natsu and her, she’s Icicle. Hatchlings these are your family members. The human is Kazuki, the big dragon there is Spike, and the other is Ali. There's a wolf we might see again, she's Chesha. I am your mother and Spike is your father. We will watch over you but please try not to fight. Oh and one main rule, Kazuki may be a human but he is not food.” I blew a bit of smoke towards them and they watched it weave around them. The hatchlings all looked up amazed and Kira tried to do it too. She couldn’t even get a puff of smoke but Spyre made a small smoke screen. He couldn’t control it but he still got smoke. Natsu tried and couldn’t get smoke either. Icicle just snorted not caring and spit an ice chunk while laughing. 

“Woah! Mamma you see? Ice!” Her tail wiggled and she smiled brightly to herself.

“Yes I saw, you spit ice.” I licked her and she turned to ice again. “Hmm? How do you feel right now Icicle?” 

“Happy happy happy!” She smiled again and her butt wiggled as she wagged her tail like a dog.

“So when you're happy and content you turn to ice. Interesting.” I looked at the other hatchlings and they looked jealous. “Find out your special talents. It might take a while for them to awaken in you though. I only just found out mine.”  They all started to chase each other and they learned to pounce on each others backs. Kira caught Natsu and Icicle froze Spyre accidentally. They kept screaming at each other and they started to use more words as they clicked into their heads. “They’re so cute.” I smiled and licked Spike's cheek. “I love them.” He licked me back and walked over to Spyre so I followed. 

“We have to unfreeze him.” 

“Mamma mamma help! He frozen! I dunno what I did.” She looked sad and pushed her nose against his icy head and he started to melt. “Mamma he unfreezed?” We all looked at each other confused and Spyre backed away a bit.

“Stay away!” He had tears in his eyes and he growled a bit. 

“I sowwy. I didn’t mean to.” Her eyes started to water too and the ice on her melted and turned into a puddle. “I… Mamma…!” She ran next to me and looked over at him. He was still mad but now he felt bad and he walked over to her. 

“Sorry… But you frozed me!” He licked her and she slowly got back her layer of ice.

“I not try to…” She tackled him and sat on his stomach. “I win!” 

Spike laughed a bit and started to walk back by the others. “Wait. Can you go hunting with Ali and find enough for them to eat too? Try to get a few rabbits or something small for them. I still need to eat…” He nodded.

“I’ll bring Kazuki too. I need to have a talk with him.” His voice sounded low and harsh, I admit I was worried for Kazuki. 

“Alright I guess. I’ll stay here with the hatchlings and take care of them. If anything happens just let me know. I’ll leave them here alone to come help you guys if I have to. They should be fine on their own.”

“Nothing will happen, you're not leaving the hatchlings. They need their mother.” He smiled at me and then he went back by Ali and Kazuki. I saw them fly away and the hatchlings stared at them as they disappear. 

“Mamma I wanna go too.” Kira stared at the sky even though she couldn’t see them anymore. “Where they go?”

“They are bringing back food for us. Aren’t you hungry?”

She nodded and Spyre walked over to us. “I’ve been hungry since I was trapped in that egg. Why can’t I eat her?” He looked over at Kira and showed his teeth growling a bit. “I want a snack.” 

“I’d like to see you try.” I stood over him and he backed down. 

“But mamma I’m-” 

I cut him off quickly, “I know hun but you can wait. Unless you want to go hunting on your own but it's a very hard thing to do when you're that small.”

“I could do it. We all could. It'll be easy.” 

“Animals are fast and I don't think you can keep up, even if you could fly. And what happens if a human comes after you and tries to kill you? You are too small and not experienced or skilled enough. Give it time. You only just hatched today.”

He growled and bit my hand, “I could do it! You’ll see! Come guys!”

“Yeah!” They all cheered and started walking away to go hunting, just then Ali came back with Kazuki. 

Ali tell Kazuki to shoot a few arrows towards the hatchlings. Let one arrow hit a hatchling, I don't care which. Just hit one so they learn danger. Make sure the tip isn’t very sharp so it doesn't hurt as bad. You may have to heal them afterwards. I looked over at her and she nodded agreeingly. I saw her mouth moving so I knew she was telling him. They kept walking away and then Kazuki raised his bow. I saw him shooting sharp tips at first. One flew past Spyre and he ignored it. He watched it stab into the ground and he just kept walking. The others turned and looked back seeing Kazuki shooting at them and screamed. They started trying to run but they were all stumbling. The next arrow flew past then and it stopped right in front of Kira, she shuddered. “Guys we should go back....”

“You're kidding right? We will be fine. They aren't trying to hit us or they would have done it already. Unless he's just that bad of a shot.” Spyre laughed to himself a bit and then an arrow hit him in the back and was deep in him. He growled loudly.  Smoke was pouring from his nose now and everyone froze. “Get this thing out of me! What are you waiting for!”