Beginning A Life With A Dragon 6

Chapter 6  

Out of the frying pan and into the ice box

Kyra landed at the entrance to his and Jessie’s home. He slowly walked in dragging a deer in his back claw. He had been hunting all morning and upon entering collapsed on the cave floor. For the past few weeks it was the same thing again and again. Jessie’s appetite had doubled in the first weeks and in the last two weeks it had almost tripled. Every day and even during the night he was fetching food for her and when he wasn’t doing that she had him polishing down every sharp rock and stalagmites on the cave floor. As he slowly raised his head he caught his reflection in a small pool of water. He looked at himself for a moment, seeing the cracked horn on the side of his head. He had only tried arguing with her once, ONLY ONCE

“Why do I have to polish it all down?”
“Because he could hurt himself.” Jessie snapped.
“He will have the sense not to step on one…..”
“What about an eye?” she stated.
“He will have the sight of a dragon. Unless he’s both an idiot and blind, he’ll be fine!”
-WACK!-

Snapping out of the memory he drank the small puddle and with his renewed strength from the short rest he headed in to give Jessie the deer.


Jessie was lying on her stomach lightly sleeping. She had been nurturing the egg within her for some time now. Today would mark the fifth week. She had held onto the egg after he second week when she should have laid it, due to how cold it had become. She had to continuously light the firestones to keep herself warm and knew that if she had laid the egg Jason would surely die. It had gotten so cold that even the naturally pool of water in her room had frozen over. She knew that soon he would be ready to hatch and she would have no other choice but to deliver him and do everything in her power to keep him warm. She woke as Kyra walked in with her third deer this morning.

“How was the hunt?”
“Wing breaking.” He said giving her the deer. She took it into her right foreclaw and crushed the ribs, then proceeded to swallow it whole.
“Are you eating for three or something?” Kyra asked slowly backing away in case she decided to hit him again.
“No! I have to eat so much because of the transformation and its nature for mothers to eat a lot.”
“Well you’ve eaten just about everything within ten miles.”
“What about our reserves?”
“I filled them. In all honesty it might be better this way because of the cold most of the smaller animals and plants have died so if he was still human he probably would have starved.”
“What about the cave floor?”
“I’m working on it….” he sighed.
“Work faster, I’m going to have to lay him soon, if not today and after that its really up to him.” she said slightly aggravated.


Kyra grumbled as he left her room and went back to the main tunnel and began breathing fire on all the loose rocks. He did this not to melt them, but instead to weaken them enough that he could easily crush then down into fine gravel. He had done this to just about the entire cave asides a small section. He hated doing it though only for one real reason which was it created a fine powder that go stuck under his claws and in his scales. But the worst part was the damage to his claws from the pressure he had to put on the rocks and the heat. They had chips and cracks all over them. His life had literally become that of a slave to Jessie and the to be brat the he was going to find a way to get even with somehow. After finishing what was left of the floor he laid down right where he was and went to sleep.


While he slept Jessie decided not to wait any longer. If Jason tried to hatch within her he would almost certainly die and it was highly likely he would try it while she was asleep with no warning. After much discomfort she laid her single egg. It was pitch black like her with blue wave like designs on it. It was a bit smaller than what she had thought it would be but it didn’t matter to her so long as he was formed properly. She was cleaning the egg off when Kyra walked in. he looked at what she was doing and smiled

“It’s about time.” He said making his way into the nest.
“He’s been moving a lot inside but hasn’t tried to come out yet.” She replied.
“Should I go hunt something small for the little brat?” he said receiving a small head-butt from Jessie.
“Stop calling him that!” Kyra snorted in return.
“What you could do.” She said “is light all the firestones and then put some kind of seal at the cave entrance that won’t let him pass.”
“All of them?”
“Yes all of them.” Kyra climbed out of the nest grumbling under his breath. He went and lit all of the firestones which caused the cave to glow in a reddish orange color. Then he went back to the front of the cave and placed two more in the mouth of the cave to warm the bitterly cold air that entered into the cavern. Breathing so much fire drained him completely and with what was left of his energy he went back to Jessie’s room half dragging himself. When she saw him walk back in she didn’t even ask and the both curled around each other and went to sleep with the egg nestled tightly between them.




Jason opened his eyes slightly. He couldn’t see anything. He tried moving, but found that he could barely even change positions. He couldn’t even breathe for that matter, but after a moment of panic he found that he really didn’t feel the need to take a breath. He had awakened like this many times now but it was different this time. All the other times he could hear strange pulsating sounds around him that helped him fall back to sleep, however this time there was nothing but silence. He didn’t feel anything different from the other time other than it was much colder than he remembered. He tried thrashing around to make himself into a ball, but it didn’t work. After a while of this freezing cold he suddenly felt his world get knocked around a bit and then there was this extreme amount of pressure all around him. It was getting much warming which was a plus, but the pressure hurt him and was only getting worse. It was then that he decided he had taken enough and started pushing back as much as he could getting control of his legs in the process. But even with this rage he felt to fight back he couldn’t get the pressure to let up. As a last resort he began rocking back and forth and clawing at the source of the pressure.


On the outside Jessie was waking slightly due to the strange vibrations she was feeling. For a moment she opened her eyes and looked at Kyra thinking it was him, but he was fast asleep. Shrugging it off she lazily shut her eyes for a few seconds and then it hit her. She flung her eyes open and gently moved away from Kyra to look at the egg. It was wobbling like crazy so she quickly but gently grabbed the egg in her mouth and placed it in between her forelegs. For a moment the egg stopped moving. She wasn’t sure why he stopped, maybe she shouldn’t have moved him she thought. Then it jerked in the side where he had been scratching and the egg gave way with a two sets of black claws briefly exposing themselves. Jessie’s heart skipped a beat seeing them. Two perfectly formed claws with some indigo coloring to match. He continued scratching weakening the area where the single hole was until he finally got his head free emerging from the egg and then recoiling a slightly from the bright light given off by the firestones. He coughed out some fluid and then attempted to go back into the egg to escape the light and cold when Jessie brought her head down and gently sniffed the hatchling. As he was retreating back in his eyes caught hers and he stopped. He felt lost in them for a few moments then tried to escape the rest of his shell, now adjusted to the light. Jessie just laid there watching him struggle. She wanted to help him but knew better than to for fear of weakening his resolve to survive. She had noticed his dislike for the light and had purposely made eye contact to make him want to get to her. It was obvious to her his mind was blank for the moment, but he had intelligence in his eyes and she knew form the stories that it was only temporary. But for the moment he was nothing more than her new born hatchling and with that being the case all it would take is his attention to be on her and he would do anything to get to her. She giggled at his squeals of aggravation. He had made it almost completely out of the egg, but had gotten his left back leg and tail stuck. He eventually managed to thrash it off leaving behind a tired, slimy, and wet deep black hatchling with an indigo belly and markings on is legs and feet. His little eyes were just like hers, a piercing ice blue, but much softer and cute. Jessie looked over to Kyra to see his reaction and glared at him. He had slept through the whole thing. She turned back to her son and brought her head down behind him and scooted him closer to her. She looked him over carefully as she cleaned the membrane off of him. He squealed in protest over this. He had just escaped one attack that had tried to crush him and now another was trying to drown him. As a result he attempted to right himself as she gently cleaned him and bit her tongue.

“OW!” she drew her head back from him
“No biting little one!” he looked at her strangely for a moment. He didn’t quite understand, but took the hint from the look she was giving him and submitted to his fate the second time. After she was finished she scruff the back of the little tongue bitter and put him up against her chest. She had gained so much weight while carrying him that he was able to snuggle up under a fold in her hide. She craned her neck down to look at him, he looked so cute and cuddly. She nuzzled him gently before putting her head back down to go back to sleep. It would only be a couple of hours before he would remember anything and when he did he would definitely have more questions for her.


It was only two hours later like she thought that the tiny Jason awoke. He was only about 1/6 the size he was when he was a human only about six inches wide, a foot tall, and two feet long. He opened his eyes lazily and began fighting to get his legs to listen to his minds commands. He felt so stiff which he didn’t understand. He had remembered Jessie and Kyra and how they met, but some of the rest was a bit fuzzy. He slipped out from under Jessie’s chest and tried to climb over her neck, but awkwardly collapsed back onto his stomach. He tried again this time making it to her neck, but couldn’t quite figure out how to climb over her. He sighed and decided to give it once attempt which resulted in him tumbling backwards and rolling onto his stomach with a squeak. Jessie jerked her head up in surprise and looked down at the little black hatchling. He looked up into her eyes and tried to smile but it came out as a snarl instead. She giggled at him and leaned down to nuzzle him

“Good morning little one.”
“Good morning mom!” he shouted out more of a high pitched squeal than talking. Kyra steered and opened one eye to look at them.
“Well finally decided to rejoin us I see.” He said.
“Do you remember everything yet?” Jessie asked.
“I don’t know. How am I supposed to know if I remember everything thing if I have to remember something to know I remembered it?” he asked. Jessie looked at him confused and turned to Kyra. He rolled his eyes at her and said “The little brats already being a smart ass. I might actually get to loving him like a son after all.” She frowned at him and turn back to Jason who was unaware he had even made a joke.
“So are you feeling ok? Any pain anywhere?”
“No. but I am hungry.” Jason replied. She looked back at Kyra and he sighed “I’m on it.” and he left the two of them to find something fresh.
“I must say you look very cute.” Jessie said nuzzling him. He nuzzled back and then began studying himself “I look like you!” he said happily
“Yes not exactly but close.”
He got up from where he had fallen and clumsily tried walking around. It seemed his mind wanted to walk like a human still which resulted in many tumbles. “I hate this!” he said hitting his nose on the floor of the nest for the 7th time.
“You’ll figure it out.” She said grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and place him back against her chest to keep him warm. “One of the problems is it’s so cold and your muscles are so young and not use to the strain. That’s why you’re so stiff.”
“Whys it so cold?”
“Its winter, it had only started a moth and a half ago and we’re right in the middle of it now.”
He stood back up and slowly walked away from her. She watched noticing how hesitant he was to trust himself. He made it to the edge of the nest and climbed over the top and out.
“Where are you going Jason?”
“Nowhere.”
She leaned forward and plucked him from the ground and moved him back to her chest  with him squeaking in protest the whole way.
“You need to stay warm. You only hatched a few hours ago and the last thing I need is for you to catch a chill.”
“I just want to move round a little.”
“When Kyra gets back he and I will seal the cave for a little while and I’ll let you do all the roaming you want.” Soon after she made this promise Kyra returned with a rabbit. It wasn’t much but it was enough to fill Jason’s stomach.
Jason looked down at it in discus. Jessie watched as he sniffed and poked at it.
“You’re supposed to eat it not study it Jason.”
“It’s not cooked though.”
“It doesn’t need to be for you to eat it anymore. Your body is more than capable of ingesting it raw. And you need it too.”
He looked up at her not convinced.
“I still want it cooked.”
Jessie snorted and said “Well if it’s cooked you’ll lose a great deal of nutrients and you won’t grow as quickly.” He looked back down at it and with much hesitation he bit into it and attempted to tear into the flesh. The end result not exactly being what he wanted. After finishing his meal he ended up messier than he was when he first hatched. Jessie giggled at how funny he looked being covered in both blood and fur. He tried getting it off by himself to no avail and then looked to Kyra helplessly.
“Don’t look at me. You got yourself messy so you can clean yourself up.” He said turning and walking away. Jason then turned to Jessie who by choice ignored Kyra’s comment (for the moment). Jason looked at her with a pleading look. She looked down at him and raised an eye brow “I thought you didn’t want my help bathing?”
“This is different.” He replied.
“Oh? How so?”
“For one I’m covered in blood.”
“And you were covered in your own filth before….blood and dirt, what’s the difference?”
“It won’t come off is the difference.”
“It won’t come off or you need help getting it off because you were pretty adamant about how you were perfectly capable of cleaning yourself not too long ago.” Jason glared at her as best he could.
“Stop it!” he said.
“Do you want help or do you need it? That’s all I’m asking.”
“Never mind, I’ll figure it out myself.” He said walking to the edge of the nest.
Jessie snorted in aggravation and grabbed him by the scruff of his back and plopped him down in front of her.
“You’re so stubborn!” she said beginning to clean him off with her tongue.
“Am not.” He retorted. She stopped cleaning him and frowned at him.
“Oh really let’s look at a few things shale we. You were determined to walk correctly, event when I told you that you needed to keep warm. You didn’t want to eat the raw rabbit until I told you it would help you grow. Now you refuse to admit you needed my help.”
“I didn’t need help.”
“Yep sounds like stubbornness to me.” She said continuing her work, while Jason pouted over his situation until he couldn’t take it anymore.
“I’m not stubborn I didn’t need you. I never needed you, not once!” he growled angrily. Jessie paused for a moment, he had meant to hit her hard in her heart and it worked. She quickly finished cleaning her son and stood up looking down at her hatchling.
“You want to take care of yourself? Fine. I’ll let you bathe yourself and hunt for yourself and keep yourself warm. Don’t come crying to me because it’s too cold or you’re hungry!” she stepped out of the nest and walked down the passage that lead out of her room. Jason sat there for a while thinking about what he said. He knew he could keep warm with the firestones so long as his mother or Kyra lit them, but food was the biggest issue not to mention water. He slowly got up and inched his way to the edge of the nest and jumped out. He went over to the pool of water that was now iced over with at least a couple millimeters of ice and looked at his claws. They didn’t look like they could penetrate it but it was worth a shot. He stabbed it through and to his delight, water!
“Somehow I just might live through this .”