[CC] Hatchery Quest: Xato

Blue eyes opened as night finally fell, and Xato wriggled, escaping the confines of his bed. He was not meant to be up this late, the entire family asleep, though outside some of his papa’s dragons patrolled their land. The youngster inched past his sleeping brothers, some older some younger as he made his way to the door, and so very carefully opened it, sneaking out. Halting in case his mama heard him.

It took time to complete his escape, wriggling through a window he’d left open earlier. A grin on his face as he crept out, the dark skies clear except for the stars that glittered above, the moon shimmering and providing enough light for him so see. His papa had numerous dragons, all helping out on the land the family worked, but they were boring. Xato wanted to see his mother’s dragon, which, all of them were ‘forbidden’ to see. Kept in a building away from the worked land. His mama wasn’t from this world, she’d come from the chronoscape.

It was slow going, some of papa’s dragons patrolled the area, large lumbering beasts, but Xato was quick, as quick as Nene, his older sister. Long before he approached the barn, he could hear chains, and he halted. Why was a bonded dragon chained? Still…. It was his mamas dragon, it wouldn’t hurt him. The main door was locked, but like all the buildings on the land it had several ‘windows’, crates and logs stacked by the side, and bales of hay, provided his ladder, nimble fingers grasping for purchase.

The darkness of the barn hid the dragon from view, but even in the murky darkness Xato could tell it was big, not the big of his papa’s dragons, but big still. Sounds echoed as it moved, claws scraping as it shifted, and echoing its movements, chains rattling. He slipped inside, keeping to upper part, and held his hand out, concentrating. He wasn’t meant to use magic, but he could do a very small bit. After a moment a small ball of light appeared, faint at first, but glowing brighter.

Red eyes gleamed at him a moment later, fangs bared in a feral grin, horns gleaming in the light the boy created, wing talons scraped as the massive red beast moved, wings anchoring the bulk as the dragon pulled against the chain pulling it tight as Xato eyes shifted to red, sheer terror gripping him, as the mage light flickered out. Xato didn’t think after that, he ran, instinct moving him, falling from the window as he crashed into the bale below, as he cried; the dragon roared and the sound was answered as his papa’s dragons swarmed him, gentle touches as they tried to calm him down. Lights flickering on from the house as his family stirred.

It was his mama who got to him first, her body lean with a hunters grace, and she cuddled him as he babbled on and on. “Ah, but little one. All dragons are different. My Rahja is a hunter, a warrior. But one that likes few others. He was what I needed, but he get along not with your papa’s dragons.” She said, her grasp of the language still not there, eventually his breaths calmed and his eyes closed, his dreams troubled with the red eyes dragon, it’s own warning lingering ….