Forces Collide - Jamie Wilson (ebook reader macos .TXT) 📗

from? I wondered. And how did she make it appear?

"Would you be able to touch that for me, please?" I could easily read the doubt in her eyes.
Feeling nervous and starting to remember where I had seen something like this. I remembered the day when I actually saw an egg just like this, and I knew who the mother was. That day had almost faded into memory.

"It never hatched? In fifteen years since Bizandra laid it?" I asked, curiously. I did not touch it yet.

"We'd almost given up hope that it would hatch. Now when I think about it that might be because it's Uruohtar was not in Anthatal or the woods. So I just thought that maybe, you might be the one we're looking for here. Now will you touch it?"

That made me smile. "So you think I might be the one who it is waiting for?" I reached out and gently touched it for a few seconds. The egg's shell was not smooth; instead it was covered all over with hard scale like short knobs.

Instantly it vibrated. The sudden vibration shocked me. I had not anticipated anything like that. As I felt it, my eyes widened.

I watched curiously as the egg continued to shake, its movements becoming quicker and quicker. Something inside seemed to be smacking at the hard looking shell, increasing strength. Then it was still for a few moments. The shaking began again, harder this time. Slowly cracks started to form in the rough shell. Then finally piece by piece, the shell fell apart. A flat long head rose out of the hole and shifted towards me. The eyes were almost like a human's eyes, they had black pupils and carnelian irises. I smiled as I looked down at the little head, white except for its eyes. The little wyvern's nostrils were flared, which meant it would have no trouble in the air. Out the back of its head were three short spines, about an inch long each.

The shape of the little hatchling's head was familiar. I knew what it was. I did not want to startle it so in a gentle quiet voice I said, "Uruloki." This meant 'wyvern' and that was what it was. The little wyvern lowered its head and started to snap at the hard shell around it with a fury I had not expected.

"While it hatches, I'm going to go speak to the orphanage mistress. You're going to come with me tonight," Nuala told me. I nodded, not taking my gaze from the little wyvern.

Then she was gone, but I was only faintly aware of that, too enraptured by the wyvern to care. Then the wyvern grabbed at one last part of the egg, and I watched as it tugged hard at the shell. The shell split completely into pieces. The wyvern now started to unfolded itself from its curled up state. I smiled, as the long tail shifted out straight. The end of its tail was covered in feathers.

The only other orange parts the wyvern had were the curled thick spines, as well as the four talons on each of the hatchlings two feet. Its wings were shaped similarly to those of an eagle, and I knew that sort of bird well. Like an eagles, they were covered in small white feathers.

I had seen other wyverns, before my parents hid me here. There were at least three of them, and they were all different to this one. To me though, the wyvern in front of me was the best thing I could have ever gotten.

It was then I heard the door open slightly and Nuala slid in. She smiled and swiftly piled the broken pieces of shell into one pile. Again she spoke and a tiny bag appeared which she neatly put the pieces of shell into. This bag she carefully concealed under the clothing she wore.

"We better leave before Mrs. Glassby comes to strip off the bed and get rid of all my left behind stuff," I said. Not that there was much to leave, I had no personal belongings that I wanted to take with us.

"I have a room at an inn we may go to," Nuala said. She seemed to agree that we had to leave. I laughed and looked down at my little wyvern. "But how to get this one there unseen?" I pondered, indicating the wyvern.

"Under my robes we can, it's easy enough," Nuala replied swiftly.

I watched eagerly as the wyvern was hidden by Nuala carefully. As we moved outside, I thought back to the days when I had been one of the elves in my natural home. One memory in particular, I revisited.

I had been talking to my mother, in one of the smaller clearings in the vast forest. I knew within my mind that the only difference in our appearances was our eyes. Mine were sky blue; hers were shiny metallic silver.

Though my mother looked to be about thirty years old I knew this was not the case. She really was one hundred years old. She was slender and stood taller than most humans. Her long silvery gold hair wove around her face in a light breeze that touched us.  I was young, only bout ten years old and looked a lot like a five year old. That was saying something different, though I was very short. My hair reached to my shoulders already. "I don't get it. Why am I the one being hidden?" I asked.

"Gem, we need to keep you safe, and the best way to do that is to hide you where he would not look to find you. Someone will come when you're needed back here" my mother, Queen Laura, told me.

"But, they're human! How can you think to send me to them? What are you both thinking? I don't think I can do this!" I exclaimed. There was no way I could do this, it made no sense to me.
Then there was a loud thudding rhythmic noise and I saw a wyvern soaring down towards us.

The wyvern was about fifty feet long and twenty feet tall. The head of the wyvern was not flat; instead the eyes were raised out of her head, which was not flat like her mate's. Instead the yellow nose slanted to a point, and three long pink spines ran out of the back of her head. Her gleaming scales were yellow, but her curved spines, iris' and talons were rose pink.

"La stella lusin ni fin gia du lye engame, Bizandra," I said courteously.

She snorted and dipped her head to me. "Umanu Gem," she said. She spoke like us, her mouth moved as it formed the words.

"Mani naa taa?" I asked curious that she had spoken directly to me, instead of her Uruohtar.

"Would you like to come for a fly with me?" Bizandra then asked.

I was astonished by her question. My mind raced to form a coherent answer for the patiently waiting wyvern. I knew how old the great wyvern was and I certainly did not want to insult her with my response.

I listened as my mother said in a calm voice, "Feel free to go with her, Gem. You'll be perfectly safe with her."

I then had my answer. Speaking politely, I said, "I would be honoured to fly with you, mighty Bizandra."

The memory was gone as soon as it had come. It left me slightly disorientated. I really knew now just how much I really missed my mother. Why was it not her who had come for me? Why did Nuala come instead? I was saddened by the strange emptiness that I felt inside me, but I had no way of getting rid of that.

"What is it, Gem? What did you just see? I know it was a memory but who was it of?" Nuala asked quietly. For a moment I wondered just how she knew what I had remembered. Later I might have asked her about it, but not right then.

"I saw my mother and her wyvern," I replied softly. It made me remember how much I missed home. Those woods were where I belonged, not in this repulsive downtrodden place. The woods were my true home and I belonged there.

Nuala simply smiled at me and said, "Let us move on now, Princess." I smiled as the familiar voice spoke again. I knew that she was still a higher ranked person than me, until I took my mother's place. Not that that mattered to me, she was my aunt as well.

As curious as my mind was, I followed Nuala into a low building from which an old sign creaked in the wind, attached crudely to the room. The symbol on it was so worn I did not really know what it was meant to be.

We walked up some old creaky stairs to a different floor in the inn. The wooden floor below us creaked as we moved, Nuala in the lead this time. The hallway was lit by evenly spaced candles mounted on the walls.

Then we walked to the end of the hallway, turning up another flight of stairs. The hallway above was not so long this time, and the stairs were not so creaky. Possibly this area was not so often used as the floor below.

Sure enough I was surprised to see that the floor was smooth and the candles were newer up here. We stopped at a polished door nearby and Nuala unlocked it with a brass key. She opened the door and I quickly moved in, and my wyvern followed curiously.

The room was not big, but three doors branched off it. I looked curiously into each of them. The first was a small crowded bathroom and the other two contained a bed each. One was slightly bigger than the other and I knew somehow that the smaller room was mine.

Nuala looked at me, her face seemed far off somewhere as she said, "Tomorrow I'll tell you more about our people."

Wondering what she meant, I moved into my room, picked up my little wyvern and shut the door. I then proceeded over to my bed, and sat down, letting the little wyvern curl up against my legs as I laid down to sleep.

Chapter 2

I was flying through the air, wearing armour, on a magnificent white and orange wyvern. Gaelira and I were a force to be reckoned with. Not many other wyverns and foes could get away from us and live, if we were fighting.

However we were not the only other wyvern and rider in the air. Below me I could see many elves and humans fighting.

Gaelira let out an amazing tongue of white flames from her slanted maw and my dream stopped as she roared in pain.

As the sky was brightened by the first pale rays of sunlight the next morning, I woke up. As I did, I felt disorientated as to where I was. The room was unfamiliar to me. Then my memories came rushing back to me.

Once I realized what had gone on last night, I became aware of something wrapped around my left arm where it lay on the bed. Speaking of, I had not had such a good nights sleep in a long time.

Looking down next to me on the bed, I saw my little wyvern. It was just looking up and I knew that it knew that I