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BLUE CAVERN

Darkness in the tunnel pressed against Kale. Each time she tried to stop, her arms and legs ached to move forward. She bit back the whimper that rose to her lips.

Whining never got me out of a lick of work as a village slave. It won’t help here…Focus on what’s ahead.

Oh no! Somehow focusing on what’s ahead doesn’t seem the right thing to do. I don’t want to follow Mistress Meiger’s wise advice.

I mustn’t give up. The things I learned in River Away are a part of me, and those things are good and strong and pure. What did she say? What did she say? ‘Focus on what’s ahead. Use what is behind.’ Use what is behind. There is always something from your past that will help you with your future. Use what is behind.

Perhaps when she got to wherever this force pulled her, she would have a chance to defend herself.

She tried to imagine herself swinging fists at some unseen foe. Bolley and Gronmere often fought in the square of River Away, showing off their talent as fighting mariones. She tried to picture how they held their short, muscular bodies as they prepared to lunge at each other. Instead, she saw Mistress Avion’s chicken coop.

More enchantment. I can’t even see in my mind what I want to see.

She groaned again and hunched down so that she was almost on her belly. She squirmed through the narrowing tunnel. The rough walls came closer together, and still she crept forward. The heavy smell of minerals choked her, and still she couldn’t stop. Inch by inch she moved into the darkness.

I’m probably in the middle of this mountain by now.

Her knees hurt from scraping over the uneven rock surface, and the tops of all ten toes felt raw. Instead of slowing down, she moved faster. The enchantment grew stronger, urging her on.

I hope there’s no hungry beast waiting for me. I don’t want to be somebody’s breakfast.

Her own stomach grumbled. Farmer Brigg’s bread and cheese were a distant memory.

A soft, azure glow appeared ahead. She breathed a sigh of relief.

The end of the tunnel. Whether it’s good or bad, it’s better than crawling through this tiny space, wondering and worrying.

The bluish light continued to beckon. Excitement overcame the dread in her heart. The cramped passage abruptly opened up to a vast underground chamber. She twisted to put her legs in front of her. As she hopped down into the cavern, she saw lights glistening from millions of tiny sapphirelike stones embedded in the rock walls. An additional glow emanated from icicle-like formations hanging from the ceiling and thrusting up from the floor.

They look like sharp dragons’ teeth.

The bubbling of an underground hot spring distracted her for a moment. The steam that rose from a foamy surface smelled sweet like syrup boiling in the spring after the trees had been tapped.

The enchantment pulled her attention away from the odd formations in the cavern, and she walked unerringly through the maze of pointed columns to a niche in the opposite wall.

Seven small, oval stones clustered together in a nest of hardened broer.

Dragon eggs! Her hand went automatically to the pouch hanging around her neck. Now I know why I saw Mistress Avion’s chicken coop. This is too much like gathering eggs for breakfast to be real. Am I dreaming?

She touched one of the glowing stones, felt its cold, rough surface, and saw the light turn part of her hand blue.

I’m awake.

She whipped the scarf from her neck and stretched it out on the floor. She picked up each egg and held it with wonder before placing it on the soft blue material. When she’d lined up all seven eggs, she sank to the ground beside them, sitting cross-legged and admiring her find.

“Seven!” She breathed the word. She pulled out her treasure and opened the pouch. She placed the dragon egg she had been carrying next to the others. “Eight. I have eight dragon eggs.”

Chief Councilman Meiger had had a fit when he saw one.

“How did you find it, girl?” he’d asked.

“I went to the stream to gather rushes for Mistress Avion. I waded into the water, and my skin began to tingle.”

“Tingle?”

“Yes, tingle.”

“Go on, go on.” He placed his hands upon his ample hips and glared at her.

Being a marione, he didn’t have much height, only a few more inches than Kale. But his ominous expression made the village slave feel small and vulnerable. She swallowed hard before continuing.

“I waded under the bentleaf tree to the boulders. The egg was in a hole there.”

“Where?”

“Under the water.”

“Under the water?”

“In the rocks. I reached in and pulled it out.”

“How did you know it was there?”

“I didn’t.”

“Why did you stick your hand in a hole?”

“I don’t know.”

“There could have been a blattig fish in there with sharp teeth ready to gobble your fingers.”

Kale didn’t have an answer. She didn’t dare scoff at the fabled fish that ate children when they fell in the river. She hadn’t believed that old wives’ tale since she was old enough to gather reeds for basket making.

“Humph.” Master Meiger sat down hard on the bench by his front door. “There has to be a meeting,” he’d said after a moment of contemplation. “We must decide what to do with you.”

“May I keep the egg?”

“What?”

“May I keep the egg? It’s mine, isn’t it?”

“See how much you know? Nothing! No one owns a dragon egg.”

Kale had been disappointed. Besides her clothes, she didn’t have a thing that was her own. She told herself being allowed to keep the egg had been a small hope, and therefore, losing what wasn’t even hers had to be a small disappointment.

“You can’t stay here.” The councilman’s words shocked Kale. “You have to go to Vendela, girl. But the village council must meet first.” He had stood and walked away, but more words drifted back to her as he shook his head and glowered at the ground. “Shocking! Never in River Away. Never this far south.”

Kale looked at the blue scarf and the eggs nestled in its folds. She counted them again. In the pale light of the cavern, each shimmered a faint blue. In the sunlight she thought they would be alabaster white like the egg from River Away. Her breath seized in concern as she spied her treasured egg. She picked it up and examined it more closely. The egg from River Away had tangles of fine, dark lines crackled over the surface. The lines had not been there a month before.

The council told me not to take it out of the pouch until I reached The Hall in Vendela. Could I have broken it just by taking it out? I thought it was too hard to break. What happens if I did break it? What will the wizards of The Hall do to a village girl who broke a dragon egg?

She turned the egg over in her hand, hoping she would see some sign that this promise of a new life was not damaged. The dragon egg warmed and began its gentle thrum.

“Maybe it is just the light in here.”

She relaxed and enjoyed holding her treasure. After only a moment, her ease gave way to amazement. The weariness and aches that had overcome her body were vanishing. The hunger squeezing her middle was gone as well. Her eyes opened wide as she watched the small scrapes and scratches on her bloody toes and knees heal over. The damage to her body disappeared as if it had never been, but the torn cloth of her trousers was as ragged as ever.

When the last break in her skin closed, she stared at the egg in her hand as if she had never seen it before. If her clothes hadn’t been tattered and bloody, she would have thought she’d dreamed the injuries. As her excitement grew, the egg jumped. She tightened her grip to keep it from falling.

“I guess you aren’t broken,” she said with a grin.

She tucked the egg back in its pouch and pushed the bag inside her shirt. She moved the other eggs onto the rock and tied a knot in the scarf about a foot from one end. She tucked one egg in next to that knot, folded the soft cloth around it. Using a length of thread from the unraveling edge of her tunic, she secured the egg and tied a knot. She placed another egg on her makeshift sling and tied it in. When finished, she had a ropelike object with seven bulges. She tied the egg-bearing blue scarf around her waist, next to her skin, under the tunic and shirt.

“Now, let’s get out of here.”

She stood and trotted across the floor of the cavern, neatly dodging around the glowing columns. Just as she reached the opening of the tunnel, she had a thought. She turned to search the area around her.

Spying a fist-sized rock lying on the ground, she rushed to pick it up. Dozens of crystals shimmered from the rough stone. She smiled and carried it into the dark tunnel.

The way back didn’t seem nearly as long. The enchantment, which had pulled her in, had disappeared when she touched the first egg. No dread of what was ahead plagued her thoughts. The rock glowed in the tunnel. She could see several feet ahead of her, although it was awkward to hold the rock and crawl.

She pushed on, eager to get to the cave and climb out the top. The thought of the grawligs awakening helped her to hurry. She halted as soon as her head poked through the opening from the tunnel to the dimly lit cave.

Three beams of light still fell in straight shafts from the outside. They’d shifted with the movement of the sun.

Her ears told her something else had changed. She tilted her head, trying to identify the clamor. The grawligs no longer snored. Instead she heard metal clanging against metal, angry shouts, frenzied commands, and roars of fury. If she was not mistaken, sounds of battle echoed from all three openings of the cave.