The Lost Hatchling
#1 of dragon fables
Something I wrote a long while back. I planned on making a series of them. I still kind of do but haven't really thought of anything else
Once a young dragon, too young to leave his parents, was out flying.
He was a very skilled flyer, just like his mother and father, but he still did not know what his limits were.
He would fly through windows of a nearby castle, often times missing and flying into the walls.
His parents would scold him for doing so, for the kingdom had always belived they had taken the kings youngest son from them.
He would fly to great hights were there was so little air that you had trouble staying in the sky and the wind was so strong that it could throw you down like a stone.
His parents again would scold him, saying that flying that high is dangerous even for a dragon.
But he would just grin and keep flying were he pleased.
One day, there was a great storm.
The wind was so fierce that it tore away many of the houses and even parts of the castle off of the land.
The young draon's parents bade him to remain in the cave until the storm had passed.
But during the night, while his parents were asleep, he snuck out of the cave, thinking he could easily wing his way through the howling winds and torential rain that came down.
For a while he did, flapping as hard as he could.
As he felt himself tireing he finally realized he would not be able to fly completely through the storm, so he began to fly up, attemting to get above the storm.
As he climbed through the clouds the winds only became more and more harsh.
He kept flying up for what seemed like forever but the clouds never ended.
Lightening flashing and thunder rumbling loudly around him, he began to wonder if he would be able to make it back to his cave.
By now he had become so lost in the clouds that he did not know which way to go and he was barely able to continue flapping, until suddenly he say a light through the clouds.
Thinking it may have been a fire from the castle he dove towards it, tears in his eyes from all his exauhtion and disorientation.
But as he neared he saw that it was not the castle but a small lighthouse that he knew was far from his home and deep within the territory of another dragon.
But it was too late to turn back now.
He landed near the light house with a thud, almost immediately falling asleep.
When he finally awoke, he found himself locked within a cage, surrounded by villagers and the other large dragon staring at him.
The large yellow dragon grined asking, "what is a little one like you doing so far away from his cave?"
The little dragon, very afraid now, could only stammer as tears filled his eyes.
As the villagers began to hoist the cage onto a cart, the yellow dragon chuckled and walked off, leaving the small one to the mercy of the town.
And so the villagers took the youngling to a wizard that lived half way between this village and the castle.
They were going to sell him to the wizard, so that the wizard would make their crops grow better.
The wizard accepted the dragon, and took him into his house and down into the cellar, where he locked him in.
While this was happening the youngling's parents had woken to find that he was missing, immediately realizing that he had gone to fly in the storm.
They searched all over their territory to find him, even asking others if they had seen him, all to no avail.
Some days had passed and the two dragons were still searching for their child, when they spotted the wizard driving a large cart from the castle to his home.
They asked him if he had seen the young dragon, and he responded truthfully, that he was locked away in his cellar.
The wizard knew that the youngling was too young to be on his own and that his parents would be searching for him and also knew that they would give much for his return.
The dragons immediately began telling the wizard what they would give him for their offspring's return.
The wizard surprised them both when he said he would retun the dragon to them within three days in return for taking any five objects from their hoard.
The dragons nearly stumbled over themselves to agree and quickly flew back home to lay out all their tresures as the wizard continued on his way home.
The wizard told the young dragon nothing for the entire time, not even when he had gotten him back into the cage and loaded him onto the cart.
As they made their way back to the dragon's cave, the youngling was unable to recognise many of the landmarks he knew, for he had rarely ever landed anywhere except near his cave.
But as they got closer and closer, he could smell his parents and became excited, rocking the cart.
The wizard told him to calm down or they would never be able to make it up the mountain.
The young dragon shook with anticipation as his parents came into view, his mother being held in place by his father so she did not knock the cart over the edge of the trail leading up to the cave.
Once the wizard had unlocked and opened the cage, the young dragon lept out, running to his parents, holding them tightly, promising he would never disobey them again.
His mother cried, never releasing him from her grasp as his father lead them all into the cave so that the wizard could pick what from their treasure he wanted.
As the wizard went through the young dragon told his parents what had happened, still crying at being reunited.
After a few hours the wizard had left, taking with him a crystal, two golden statues, one with emerald eyes and one with sapphire eyes, a large silver staff topped with a ball of pure diamond, and a scroll with many symbols on it.
Some say that the wizard went on to other lands and became one of the most powerful wizards and now devotes his entire life to studying different magics.
But the young dragon.
He never again left his parents side or went against their word.