Dragon Dreamer by S. G. Ricketts (ereader for android .TXT) 📕

warm on her waist, and she shuddered. “You okay?”
She turned around and smiled at him. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She didn’t want him to know. She stifled another shudder as his hands tightened, and she forced a smile. “But we should probably hurry, right? Even if we are timing it.” The earth dragon rider laughed and told the dragon to fly. Then, they went beyond

.
The air was cold. Just when Steephi thought she couldn’t take any more of the freezing temperature, the threesome emerged overhead of the hatching Grounds. Ragul bugled loudly, and Terevoor laughed. “Told you we could do it!” he laughed. The dragon slowly landed, and Terevoor helped her down. “You should hurry. The other candidates are over there. Good luck!” he called after her, giving her the thumbs-up sign, then flew his dragon to the stands. After dropping his rider off, the earth dragon settled himself onto the ledge next to all the other earth dragons, his throat thrumming as he hummed.
Hurrying over to the cluster of girls, Steephi squeezed in next to two of the girls she knew, Erika and Kayti. “I’m so nervous. Shards, what if the dragon can sense how nervous I am,” Erika hissed into her ear. The girl shivered fearfully next to her friend, and Dragonleader, J’hua, motioned for silence. The girls solemnly followed him out onto the sands. Then, the tall rider strode off into the stands, leaving the girls huddled tightly by themselves in the middle of the Grounds.
The room shimmered in the heat of the Hatching Grounds. Beneath Steephi’s bare feet, the sands burned with a blistering warmth, but she didn’t mind. She was focused on the golden egg that stood in front of her. A massive golden queen lay heavily on the sands, her eyes dull and unfocused, her hide pale and sickly. Sympathy filled in Steephi’s heart as she looked at the queen. Her rider stood in the stands, hugging her heart's mate tightly. The dragon queen's last clutch began to hatch.
Squeals erupted from the small circle of boys clustered around the other eggs, 30 of them in all. Dragonleader Johua wanted to give the dragonets as much choice as possible, but this had been an exceptionally small clutch. The poor queen. She had been sick for so long, and it had taken all her effort to fly one last time. Now, she watched as her clutch emerged.
The queen egg rocked slowly, and Steephi could tell that it would take a while to hatch, so she turned around to look across the Hatching Grounds. For such a tiny Dragon City, the Siani Hatching Grounds were very large. Stands filled the northern side of the room, and there were little glass tunnels leading out of the Grounds. Squinting, Steephi could make out the dark shapes of dust and aqua dragon riders holding bowls of meat for the new riders.
A feeble bugle echoed around the cavern, and her eyes darted to the little earth dragon that had just fallen out of the shell. His body was damp, but she could tell that he was a beautiful dusky bronze, almost brown in coloring. The hatchling cooed up to the queen, and clumsily clamored over to a boy. Steephi recognized him as David, from Ruatha Hold. Recently, the people of Syrnyai had decided to start using the old Earth names, and feet. Humbly, the boy helped the dragonet to its feet and his face melted into an awed, loving expression. “His name is Shorth!” D’vid shouted. He had made Impression.
Another egg cracked, and a big aqua dragon fell onto the hot sands, his wings flapping weakly as he got to his feet and made his way to a boy. More egg began to crack, and Steephi watched in wonder as the boys left the sands to feed their new life mates. Another, much smaller, egg began split. It’s creamy surface was covered by the cracked veins, and a feeble chipping could be heard from inside. A piece fell off, and Steephi held her breath in anticipation. A green wing tip poked out of the hole, its claw grasping the edges to push outwards.
“It’s hatching! It’s hatching!” a girl near-by screamed. Steephi reluctantly stared at the little forest dragon. It was having so much trouble. And what if its life mate wasn’t here? She could already see the little eyes searching and growing gray at the edges. “Oh my stars! What’s happening?” Only her desire for the queen egg kept her from running across the hot sands to help the poor trapped creature. Be safe, little one! Your rider is here. Don’t leave us!

she thought to the little thing, and to her surprise, it looked at her and blinked, but no warm feelings of Impression soaked into her. “Steephi! Oh bright stars, Steephi, look at it!” Whipping around, Steephi turned to see the egg rocking wildly now. The girl who had yelled backed up with a cry of alarm, and Steephi steadied her. “What is it?”
Steephi recognized the girl. It was Erika. She was from the same city town as Steephi was. She was from Sol City Town, but she was actually from the main City Town, not from a smaller ranch like Steephi. “Don’t worry, Erika. It’s just hatching, just like the rest of the eggs.”
Erika didn’t look reassured. She turned huge brown eyes onto Steephi and brushed back a lock of curly brown hair with a shaky hand. “But—but it’s so much bigger than the rest of the eggs. I—” She looked over at Steephi. “I’m afraid of it, Steephi.” Her voice shook with fright, and tears leaked out of her eyes. “I don’t want to be needed like that. I don’t want to be the Dragon Lady…” Her voice trailed off as she began to cry in Steephi’s arms.
“It’s okay, Erika,” Steephi comforted. The white dress was soon sticking to her shoulder, and Steephi patted Erika’s hair comfortingly. The girl was making a strange creeling sound. Lifting the damp face from her white sleeve, Steephi looked into the red eyes. “Are you okay? You’re making a weird noise.”
Startled, Erika frowned, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She stared at Steephi, then gasped. “I’m not making that noise. Only the new dragonets…” The young candidate looked down at her feet. The tiny forest dragon that Steephi had spoken to lie helplessly at the girl’s feet, but the cat-like eyes were whirling slowly in worry. “Oh!” the girl breathed. Dropping from Steephi’s arms, she lifted the damp creature to its feet. “Steephi, look at her.” Her face dissolved into tears again, and she looked up at the other girl with a look of surprised wonder. “She says her name is Lyrith.” Her fingers drifted over the soft dragon hide. “She’s my dragon, Steephi. I don’t have to be the Dragon Lady. I have a dragon.” She started to cry again, and a aqua dragon rider ran out onto the sands and lifted her and her dragonet followed. Steephi watched him as he took the pair into the tunnel where she saw him settle the two down to feed.
“Steephi, what are you doing? The dragon is about to hatch, you dull glow!” Steephi turned around to see one of the other candidates grab her arm and pull her back into the circle around the egg. Mari grinned at her and quirked an eyebrow at her legs. “Careful with those cuts. Y’know how blood attracts everything. Wouldn’t want you to be killed at your first standing, now would we?” the blonde asked sarcastically. Casting Mari a smirk, Steephi wiped the blood off her knees and brushed sand off her front.
The earth dragons on the ledge over the Grounds started to hum, and Steephi focused on the egg again. Wonder filled her. The egg’s thick shell started to crack, and the floor shook. The floor shook?

The floor wasn’t supposed to shake. For a second, Steephi took her eyes off the egg and watched as the old queen sat up and unfurled her winds. She could see the veins, which carried the green ichor through the pale skin. Through the crowd, a screaming erupted. The dragon bugled, and a woman pushed out onto the sands. With surprise, Steephi recognized the current Dragon Lady, her red hair streaming out behind her as she ran towards her dragon. Behind her, J’hua followed. Tears were streaming down the woman’s face, and her eyes were puffy and red. The queen bugled again, and the woman stopped, her face dark with pain. Then, the queen reared onto her back legs, her eyes still watching the egg. Abruptly, the cavern grew silent. Not even the newest forest dragon dared to make a sound. The entire City seemed to be holding its breath as they waited for the egg to hatch. Swiveling around, Steephi stared at the egg. Its smooth surface was broken, and a small golden head poked out. Its glistening body followed, falling on the hot sands. With a feeble creel, the little gold pushed herself to her feet, stretching pale golden wings to the ceiling, nuzzling her mother’s tail tip briefly. The queen leaned down and caressed her daughter’s neck. The little queen was safe. Cheers broke out, then fell back to silence. The old dragon queen’s eyes whirled pale blue, gray tingeing around her pupil. Her great wings stretched high, just like her daughter’s. Then, she crouched down, preparing to leap into the darkness of beyond

. Suddenly, the Dragon Lady broke her trance and leaped onto her dragon’s foot, her feet sliding off and her fingers digging into the tough dragon hide. The queen let out a trumpet in surprise, and then her eyes grew darker, closer to forest dragon, closer to a shade of love and devotion. The gray grew farther out, but the forest dragon stayed. Steephi looked sown at the woman, tears streaking her face as she looked up at her life mate. The candidate was amazed by the love and total sacrifice in the woman’s eyes. Winerinth raised her foot in mid-air, allowing her rider to clamor onto her back, then with a high-pitched call to one of the earth dragons, she and her rider blinked into beyond

.
The hatching Grounds were frozen in shock. Even the baby dragonets were stunned to silence. Then as one voice, the dragons bugled their farewell cry into the blue-purple sky. Something wet was running down Steephi’s face. Lifting a hand, she tenderly touched her face. She had been crying. She hadn’t cried since her father had died. Her body felt numb with shock. The Dragon Lady had given up her life for her dragon. Was that how it was to have a dragon? She shuddered at the thought.
That blasted creeling broke through her thoughts. The little dragon queen was stumbling towards one of the candidates, her eyes whirling red with hunger. The little creature’s