First Witch by L.A. Borgaard (books to read for 12 year olds .TXT) 📕

standing, no longer as a man but as the dragon he was born to be. Take him as husband, his final instruction, but she could not be the cause of his loss. He was born as dragon, it was his life. If she took him as husband, he would forever lose his dragon form and be caught in the lesser form of man. Everything he was would pass to the child they birthed. She pushed his final instruction aside as she walked. When she reached the door to the hovel she heard Saphyre as he spoke to her mind. He is gone. He faded when the smoke of the fire hit the air outside.

So this was his final spell. There would be no need to care for his body.
With a nod she turned back to him. “Then all that is left is to take the book to the mountain.”
He gave her no response as she climbed to his back and took hold. When she was secure, he lifted from the ground and flew to the lands of the elves, to the mountain where they buried their dead. He flew to a spot just short of the peak and rested as Jen slid down with the book still held tight. When she set it down and began to claw at the frozen ground he pushed her aside and raked his claws into the earth, moving great pieces of frozen ground out of the way, digging a hole into the mountain peak. Soon, it was large enough for Jen to step inside. She went to the back of the opening and set the book down then retreated again to his side. “Seal it,” she said and he pushed some of the frozen earth back and burned it, sealing the entrance to the book's resting place. She stood shivering in the cold, staring at the burned earth in front of her, sealing it into her memory until he curled up around her, covering her with a wing and breathing into the small space to warm her.
And his final instruction?

Jen curled up into a ball at his side, ignoring his question, and pushing all thought from her mind, slept. In her dreams she saw Saphyre standing as he had in her father’s hovel. His eyes were diamonds shining with prisms of color as he stared at her and his skin was golden, smooth over long muscles. Slender fingers traced down her face to her throat then into her hair as he pulled her to his lips. Such fire in his kiss, she woke with a start and sat up shuddering, with the fire she still felt racing through her body. She leaned back against Saphyre, closed her eyes and slowed her racing heart. “We need to leave before the riders know that we are here.”
They already know. Dayved is coming now.

Jen jumped to her feet and leapt to his back. “Then we will leave now. He must not see what we have done. No one here must know.”
Saphyre lifted from the ground and flew. Where?

She didn’t know. For the first time in her life she did not have a direct course. She could not follow Dayved; she could not stay here having him continuously pursue her, and she had no father to protect. Where was she to go now?
Will you allow me to lead?

“Yes, I have no direction. My course is no longer clear to me.” She pressed herself close to his neck, molding to him, allowing him to go where he wished and closed her eyes.
Hours later, she opened her eyes when she felt him slow to descend. She watched as he circled down to an island set on it’s own. When he set his feet down on the sands of the beach she asked him, “Where is this place?”
It is the place of my birth. It will be the place of my daughter’s birth, and when the time comes, it will be the place of my death.

Death, always death, why would he speak of death now? She had seen too much death in her time and didn’t want to think about it now. She walked to the edge of the beach and stared out at the ocean. She had been born a rider and had searched for her dragon a long time before he came to her. She had never asked him where he had come from, it didn’t matter, only that he was with her. Now, seeing how far he had come, she wondered. “What made you come to me?”
I have always been with you, from the time you were born. You had only to call to bring me to your side and at your side I will remain.

“How will this end?”
Do not ignore his final instruction.

“I will not be the cause of your loss.”
I can not lose what I give to you. I have been yours from the time of your birth and I will be yours beyond the time of my death. Do you not see Jen?

“You would no longer fly, you would no longer see. The power of the dragon would cease to be yours. This is the loss of which I speak.”
“I would have you bear the child needed. Will you not also choose me?” She felt his hands as he pulled her back into his chest and melted into him as his lips grazed her throat. “The seed of the dragon must be given for the first witch to be born.”
“He asked you if you see and you answered that you did. Tell me what you see.”
“I see a child with the color of dragon fire, a rider of many. He will bring healing to the dragons and make them one people once again.”
“Is this set?”
“Nothing is set Jen. There are always those that would oppose, those that seek to destroy all that is good.”
“Then you could lose yourself for naught. I would not have this happen.” She pulled away from him and began to walk away.
“Jen, it is my seed that is needed for the child to come. Will you not love me as more than a rider’s dragon?”
His words burned as they hit her ears and made their way into her heart. She had loved him as more that a rider’s dragon for a long time. She had bound her heart to him, this was the reason she could not say yes to Dayved. She could not say yes to anyone but Saphyre. She stopped walking but did not turn to face him. “You know that I do,” she said. “I always have.”
“Then let me give myself to you.”
She stood very still for a long while watching the ocean as the tide began to come in closer to her feet. A child with dragon fire in his color, but Saphyre had said a daughter would be born here. First witch, so there would be more. She turned around and looked back at him as he stared at her. “You said a daughter would be born here, the first witch.”
He didn’t respond.
“Others will do this? Others will give up their dragon form to join with their riders?”
“I see only one, a female, a dark dragon. You can not have light without dark.”
“She will do this even if we do not?”
“The dark ones will do everything within their power to find and use the book. Your father only slowed the outcome of this war, he did not stop it, and if they reach the book before the child of dragon fire they will defeat all who stand in their way.”
“The child of dragon fire, are you sure that he is of your seed?”
“I am.”
“Then if I do not let you give yourself to me, you will give yourself to another?”
“No. I will not give myself to another. If not to you, no one and the child will not be born.”
“Then the decision is made,” she said as she walked back to him. Pulling him into her arms, she said, “I will take you as my husband.”
When her time came, she bore a daughter and named her Marie. The first witch.

Imprint

Text: Copyright 2010 L.A. Borgaard
Publication Date: 03-14-2010

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