Dragon cave is copyright TJ. These dragons are all on my scroll (besides a few).

ZD's Never-ending DC Story

Chapter 1

Miracle Birth

Pulling his coat closer, a lonely farmer shepherded his flock into his barn, out of the storm. The weather in these parts was bad, very bad, but the wide open pastures and woods had attracted his ancestors generations ago.

He looked up at a dim flickering light in the sky. Well, it wasn't actually in the sky, it was on the mountain, but in the dark stormy night, it looked as if it were floating. He watched it flicker a few times, then go out.

He shook his head. He would have to organise a group of men to go there now. The light had come from a cave, which had once been the home to a group of dragons and their tender. But the Tender had died years ago, and the dragons had returned to the place their ancestors came from, the dragon realm. The dragons had made the fields fertile with their dung, so had been very welcome residents to the small farming community. They had asked for a new tender to be sent there, and the young girl who was sent had only 4 eggs and not a single adult dragon.

That had been weeks ago. Since then, the girl had returned to the dragon realm twice, and returned with new eggs. But not a single dragon was seen. Now that the girls fire had gone out, the farmer feared she would not last the night.

High in the mountains, the girl was sitting besides her makeshift nest, hiding from the biting wind and cold. She had used most of her clothes to shield her last egg from the wind, but now she was freezing, with only a light shirt, pants and a thin jumper. And to top it all off, he fire had gone out.

She looked over the dark cave floor, lit only by the broken moonlight and flashes of lightning. Eggshells littered the floor, yet not a single dragon was around. She had failed to hatch over 10 eggs, and was becoming desperate. The dragons who had lived her prior to her had sealed off the entrance to the rest of the cave, so she was left with only the entrance cavern, which had no places to hide from the cold. The rest of the cave was probably warmer, but it would take several fully grown dragons to break through.

She looked back up at the last egg in her nest. It was only small, and smelled sweetly of mint. She reached up and took the egg down, and the clothing with it. Cradling her last piece of hope to her chest, and covering herself and the egg in the clothing, she fell asleep.

Climbing the mountain in the morning, a group of 7 farmers and the community's only nurse breathed in the fresh, brisk air. It was a good climb to the cave, but the clean, fresh air felt good. It was such a pity they would probably have to walk back with a corpse.

As the group reached the cave mouth, they lit torches and prepared the stretcher to carry the girl back. They entered the cave with a sombre mood. It was not well lit, but that probably wouldn't have mattered to a tender, as they pick up abilities from their dragons as they spend more time with them.

They spread out and started to search for the girl.

"I've found the fire!" One of the younger farmers pointed to a pile of black wood and ashes on the floor. "She's got to be near here..."

The farmer spotted a pile of loose clothing on the floor beside what appeared to be a makeshift nest. He signalled to the others to come look. As they stood around, the nurse lifted a torn jacket from the top, to reveal a pale, dead looking girl. All the men looked to their feet in sorrow. It would be a long time before they sent another tender to raise the dragons that would fertilise their crops.

The nurse put her hand to the girls neck, and jumped back in surprise. "She has a pulse!"

The men all looked up and smiled. "Quick! Make a new fire and everyone put your jumpers over her!"

The girl woke to the smell of cooking, and half opened a single eye to see who was there. She saw people hurriedly rushing around, and a man who appeared to be cooking at the fire that had gone out the night before. She groaned, and all the heads turned to her.

"Your awake lass!" A middle aged man rushed over to her, followed closely by a young woman.

"We thought you'd never wake up!"

The girl stared at them. "Who are you?" The lady smiled. "We are from the farming community just down the mountain, we saw your fire go out last night, and feared the worst. Good thing we came, you were almost dead when we got here."

"By the way lass, what's your name?" The girl looked up weakly "Zephyr, my name is Zephyr."

Suddenly she felt movement on her chest and ripped the pile of clothing off. The small creamy green egg had a huge hole in it, and a small green snout was poking out.

"Its hatching!" All the farmers gathered around quickly to see.

As Zephyr watched and cooed to the egg, the hatchling within slowly pushed the shell away, and another egg shell was added to the floor. But this time, a hatchling was curled up in its place.

Zephyr smiled and cried as she hugged the small creature to her chest. "Your finally here!"

The farmers and the nurse all looked at the cute little creature in awe.

"I've never seen a baby Dragon, this little one is only the size of a Rabbit!" Quiet comments stated to become loud and the small creature squealed. "Shhhhs baby, its ok" Zephyr cooed to the little one.

"I think we had best leave" The nurse motioned to the others to go. "The worst of the weather for the season should be over now, but don't hesitate to come down if you need anything."

Zephyr nodded, and the nurse left with the farmers.

Zephyr cuddled up with the little hatchling, smelling its scent of sweet mint, and sighed. She was officially a Tender.

I hope everyone likes the first chapter.