Dragonspell - Donita K. Paul [6]
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