Tylora and the Dragon

The spoon paused half way to Tylora’s mouth. She blinked, hoping her eyes were playing tricks on her, but the man remained. “No,” she said automatically, dropping the spoon back into the bowl, her appetite gone.

Vaz stared at her with a mixture of hurt and disappointment in his yellow eyes. “How can you say that after all the fun we had last time?”

“Fun?” Tylora asked, her eyes widening. “I don’t find running for my life through dense woodlands and stinking swamps…alone…fun.”

“That was a slight…miscalculation, this time I have it covered.”

“You said that last time.”

“I did?”

“Verbatim,” Tylora said.

“Ty, how can I convince you?”

“That is a puzzle, good luck solving it, I myself have other things to do, so if you’ll excuse me…” Tylora said, well aware of Vaz’s ability to manipulate her.

“Ty, it’s me, your oldest friend,” Vaz said, blocking her path.

“Exactly, anyone else I’d have heard out first.”

“You wound me.”

“If only I could,” Tylora said.

“That hurts.”

“Enough to get out of my way?”

“No.” Vaz admitted, “I can appreciate you still hold some resentments after the last time.”

“Jolly decent of you, considering you deserted me as soon as a clearing was wide enough for you to transform.”

“You’re an immortal, you were in no danger.”

“Last I checked Dragon’s have little to fear either,” Tylora said.

“It was reflexive,” Vaz said, “this time I promise, no matter what I’ll not leave you. I need your help, after last time do you really think I’d risk facing you if I didn’t’?”

Tylora sighed, knowing full well she would regret this. “Okay, let’s hear it. I give no guarantees I’ll help.”

“Thanks Ty, that’s all I wanted,” Vaz said a sly smile on his lips, “I’ve found it.”

“Found what?” Tylora asked, though she already knew the answer.

“Asmov’s egg,” Vaz said, sitting down at last.

“How can you be sure?” Tylora asked. The mere mention of Asmov stirred up memories she had long ago buried; her friend cut up almost beyond recognition, far beyond any of their abilities to heal. Asmov had kept herself alive long enough to relay the events to her friends, long enough to illicit a promise.

“I scouted the area, I could feel it calling to me,” Vaz said, “I swear, Ty, this is not one of my schemes, this is my child.”

“A thousand year old egg? Are you sure it is even…”

“I told you, it called to me. Our young remain in their shells until we summon them, it is our way of ensuring we do not grow too swiftly in numbers.”

“Give me the plan,” Tylora said. Whether it was true or not, she had given a promise to find the egg. It was more than possible that those who had originally stolen it had no idea how to hatch it. Tylora had been around dragons for several millennia and still knew very little on that subject.