The Dragons' First Egg

Skädiland

The sötberries were now softening on the bushes.

Some had even fallen on the ground and were rotting away, especially down in the valleys. Up in the mountains though, fresh and juicy ones still hung tight on the plants. 

The sun was slowly being swallowed by the dark clouds. Showers were frequent. At night, thunderstorms shuddered. It was clear that summer was coming to an end and the dark unwelcome winter was knocking violently demanding to be let in. 

The tvåbennen could be seen picking as many berries and mushrooms from the forests as they could. The hunters hunted animals and set traps.  

From higher ground, you could see their hinds lifted in the air as they busily went about ensuring they wouldn't starve in the coming cold and darkness.  

Sometimes they sang old songs as they worked. 

🎶For a belly needs to be fed and full. For nature cares not whether it provides or not. 

So we moil and toil while the sun shines because ice will fall and the ground goes white frozen solid 🎶

The tvåbennen needed to stock the food they would consume for the next three seasons. Enough to feed them and the thousands of sökares who would flock Skädiland in search of favours from the great warlock Gamle Ssen who held the powerful fÖrste - the dragons' first egg that he had stolen from the dragons more than half a century earlier. 

They called him Gamle because he was old. His tall frame made him seem sturdier. His thick long flaming hair covered the right side of his face. Those who had seen beneath it said that it had been melted like butter, with his right eye sagging to where his cheek was supposed to be. 

The dragons had not let him steal their egg without a fight! 

As the days went by, the tvåbennen moved higher and higher into the mountains. Some camped in the caves in the nights ready for the next days of work, while others brought the harvests and catches back into their villages for storage and the empty baskets up again to load more food. 

With them as always, were their offspring who were brought deep into the forests to be taught their way of life. 

FÖrste

Higher up in the deep caves of the mountains, the dragons watched in fumed silence as the tvåbennen went about their early autumn rituals. For half a century, they had failed to hatch a proper plan to retrieve fÖrste their first egg that sökared Ssen had stolen from them. 

Legend has it that a dragon's first egg is enthroned. That it has powers that stretch beyond realms. And any being that comes into contact with it is destined for eternal prosperity. Them and all of their descendants. 

The touch of the fÖrste could turn bad luck, protect one from their enemies, heal the worst of illnesses and afflictions, cleanse the system and even lift grave curses. 

For centuries, the tvåbennen had been visiting the deep caves of the dragons loaded with gold for them in exchange for a chance to touch the fÖrste. 

With strong intent and a good blend of vibbé with the spirits of the circle of purple fire, if one made a wish while touching the fÖrste, their wish would come true. And blessings would follow them to their last day which they could pass on to those that came after them. 

Many tvåbennen had gone on wild quests and raids to obtain the gold needed to make the treacherous journey up the high mountains for a chance to obtain the blessings and cleansing of the fÖrste. 

Many had come back down healed from mysterious diseases. Some told stories of more successful hunts, fishing expeditions and raids after touching the fÖrste. Others boasted and paraded the fine women they had been blessed with after years of loneliness since they had visited the dragons. 

The old tales also told of the great tvåbennen chief Consenta who had even managed to sire male triplets after visiting the dragons. 

With succession politics tearing her claní apart as she was ageing with no heirs, and to prevent an impending blood bath, she had gone up the mountains, had come back and laid with several of her young jods as it was the way of the tvåbennen and had been blessed with three heirs at one go, who continued the legacy of her clan ship that reigned to this time. 

Gamle Ssen and the dragons' first egg

But what is power to a mighty beast if it cannot be yielded by a tvåbennen? 

It was the sökared that guarded the paths up the mountains to the dragons' caves. They selected the sökares to go and what they would bring to them and the dragons. They also determined who wouldn't go. Their deep magic passed down generations, had allowed them communion with the dragons. 

It was a win-win arrangement. 

The sökared, to the tvåbennen, seemed to control the dragons. At least to the extent that they would not come down their mountains and wreak havoc on their villijj below. Or worse, swoop down and catch their livestock or offspring for meals in their occasional stretch of wings. 

If a tvåbennen, while on their activities saw the shadow of a dragon while it flew up above, they were to kneel face to the ground in reverence to the powerful creatures. 

Failure to do so could attract dire consequences as it was said that a dragon possessed the bblått ögan. They said its eye could pierce through details from miles away. And that it never forgot a face. 

Were you to ever seek audience with the pénta- the circle of four dragons and the fÖrste, and a dragon's bblått ögan had marked you as having not revered to it in the past, the dragon fires would not flame purple and your wishes would not be fulfilled. 

This would be a grave outcome as at this point, one had already spent so much gold that the sökared who allowed audience to the dragons had already taken their share, with the dragons taking the rest. Not forgetting the hunted wildlife that was meat and the often self-financed caravan of paid folk, friends and relatives that helped with the journey up the mountains and deep into the caves. 

There were whispers among some of the folk that all this was moose shit. 

That the sökared had devised the myths to ensure a constant supply of gifts and other trinkets. And to remain in reign over those gullible enough to fall for the scam. 

It remained in whispers though. As those who had gallantly stood up to raise their voices on the matter had been set ablaze by the fiery flames of dragon fire. The sökared would call the dragons on them and while the tvåbennen watched, the opposers would be set ablaze in the fields. 

If you didn't believe in it, you were wise to oppose it sheepishly. If you were wiser, you would keep your mouth shut! 

The dragons were well-fed and lay in piles of gold. The sökared maintained this calm in the hierarchy. 

Ssen had hailed from a long line of healers. His family had had a place in their clans. They were revered and consulted. 

As a child, he had sat down to many of his oudêrs healing sessions and was intoxicated by the intricacies, the magic and communion of it. He seemed drugged by the reverence and craved for a time in which he would be the high sökared and the sökares would come from all the lands in need of his vibbé. 

The gold the sökares brought with them was also the comfort he needed to know that he would never have to work a day in his life. Spearing fish in the cold lakes was not the job for a jod who preferred to adorn silk robes brought by sökares from far lands. He had loathed it every time he had been dragged along. He could not imagine himself in a bear loin cloth bending in the forests picking berries all day long either. Or worst still, hiding in the prickly bushes waiting to pounce on a deer or a moose. 

All these were brought to him in reverence. And he wanted it to be so to his very last breath. 

But as the years went by and the tvåbennen could voyage further to meet the tvåbennen of other lands and came back with stories, new ideas and tools to voyage even further, the role of the sökared diminished with time and Ssen and his clan slowly lost their place in society. 

The great power of the fÖrste never lost faithfuls though. And the sökares with new beliefs and strengths, would on occasion bypass the sökared in search of their audience with the dragons. 

The jod sulked at the thought of having no place in his society, especially in his future. At least in the way he had imagined it. And particularly this future that he had been steered to throughout his infancy and youth. 

Lost in the notion that a time would come when his vibbé would never be sought, and he would not be able to bathe in the luxury, the silk, the meat, fruits, berries and wine, the gold and the glory of the reverence and intoxication, he hatched a plan to steal the fÖrste and wield its power for himself. 

He had also gone on a sojourn to clear his mind and to learn he said.

The truth about the dragons

"Måma," called Ottolan the silver one youngest of the dragons. "I saw the två very up high today. They keep coming higher and higher måma." 

" Stop flying so low!" she scolded him. " They may be smaller, and weaker. But they are very conniving. What they lack in might they compensate in treachery. Remember what happened to Guldröde? Our poor baby has been used for whoever knows what for the foolish två needs. Soon his period to hatch will be over and he is not in our care for us to usher him to a new life form. I would be torn apart if I lost you too. You know that don't you!?" 

"I fly translucent måma. They cannot see me..." the young dragon moused back. 

" Be careful boy!" another voice roared. " This is your gift and they shouldn't discover you have it. Hold on to your pillars like armour. Do not breathe them to a soul. Especially those that would seek to use them against you." 

"Yes påpa…"

"Soon we shall require you to use this great gift to help us retrieve Guldröde. Using the power of the pénta we shall lift the curse of the slime Ssen and your mother shall nurse his fÖrste to hatch and we shall have him home. His powers combined with us all shall help us grow stronger." 

"Is that why my flames flatter sometimes? That they only light but not burn. Because he is not with us?" the boy asked sorrowfully. 

" Yes, Otto," his father roared again. No flames sprang out of his mouth this time. " You came after he was gone. As the first egg, he has the power to fuse into the fire of all the other eggs. And this power steels the burn of the flame of dragon fire. Without him, we may as well be mere lizards slithering through the cracks. Without him, our line may not go on strong." 

"Don't daunt my child!" the mother dragon fired back. 

She looked at her youngest son who had now coiled his tail. 

" Baby..." she called lovingly stretching his tail. "This time around, we shall get your brother back. I know you will help us as you are a big boy now. And together, we shall gracefully roam the skies once more like the mighty beasts we are." 

" If he was that strong and mighty, how come he allowed himself to be snatched in the first place!?" jeered another voice of a green beast that had been laying silently in the corner of the cave. 

"It was my fault Hagar," the father roared defeat shaking the roar. "I trusted that slime Ssen and his sleazy två lot. I should have known better!" 

"How did they take him, påpa?" the small one asked concerned and curious. "Why don't you tell me when I ask? I need to know because you say I shall be the one to retrieve him. I need to know…" 

"Let me tell you how it happened…!" Hagar mocked. 

"No!" roared the mother. " You will make it about you like you always do. And the little boy needs to hear it in good light based on the huge task ahead of him." 

"Let him tell it…" the father cut in. " The future is now much more important than the past. I now feel a slight burn of the sun and the mild chill of the ice when I go higher. Our hides are failing. Without the power of the pénta, a två spear could even pierce through us. Let him tell him however he wants to tell it. And we can move on from the shame of being outwitted by the weaklings." 

Hagar did not hesitate to tell his embellished tale. 

It had been a season just like this one more than half a century before that Ssen had gone up the caves to bring some young unsuccessful hunters who were looking to change course and navigate the stormy seas and sought the blessings of the fÖrste.  

"While dragons may see pristine details from afar, they are as blind as a bat when it comes to seeing what is right underneath their noses." Ssen had told the caravan as he educated them on the do's and don'ts of an audience with the mighty beasts. 

" Be careful though. Their senses are far much greater than their sight. Far or near. A slight mistake and you will be reduced to dust by dragon fire," he sternly warned them. 

Little did these sökares know that the conniving sökared had devised the now widely told story to steal the fÖrste. 

The tale of Hagar

"Here's how the thing went down," Hagar blasted enthusiastically as though telling a great tale of triumph. " Your gold-loving påpa here had been distracted by the huge stack this caravan had brought," Hagar continued.

"In his defence, they were polishing the new kinds really well…."

"Mother! Are you the one telling the story or am I?" Hagar shot.

" So father had asked me to keep watch of the två, as some rogue ones masquerading as troupe members hid in the paths sneaking through the crevices to steal the gold from the caves. 

I did my job as part of the brood. 

After all, I wasn't the special fÖrste who was key to our past and future. I was just the watch lizard Hagar who made sure the gold was put. Plus I did enjoy its shine. A thing I might have taken after our lovely father here. A blessing and a curse." 

The little dragon was attentive. He had been waiting for this tale ever since he had been told of his role in helping retrieve the fÖrste. 

" While the ceremony went on, I suddenly noticed from my position high above the caves that the white-haired sökared was missing. Had that bastard used his powers to penetrate the gold caves? 

Next instant I saw him out of the circle bending as though pushing an object underneath his robes. 

Something was off. 

The ceremony was sacred as the två had believed for centuries. Why was the one supposed to treat it with the highest reverence acting in a manner that suggested otherwise? 

Suddenly, the fiery flames of the triachy flickered and my suspicions were confirmed. 

I let out my green flame that alerted father. 

Realising what had happened, Mother spit out fire that burned many of the sökares.

I flew in their direction keeping a keen eye on the warlock. All this time, he was bending holding the fÖrste at his feet while chanting incantations that seemed to create an invisible dome that protected him from the fierce fires of father and mother.

By the time I got there, his hair had grown longer, thicker and fuller, and had taken the colour of the fÖrste. 

He then let out one last loud chant, sharply flung his robe and shot up in the air the fÖrste floating at his feet. And with a screeching snap disappeared into thin air. 

We had all been spitting fire. But the wizard seemed immune to it. Mother spit so hard that the mountain paths were turned to molten lava. It took several winters for the flow to turn solid. 

That is the last time we laid close eyes on the fÖrste. 

The cave dragonflies that frequent the villijj tell us the wizard has been receiving sökares from distant lands who come to touch the fÖrste, which he has placed on an altar in his square protected by deep magic and young red-haired warlocks. 

Without the magic of the triachy, the fÖrste cannot heal. That does not seem to stop the sökares from coming. Or for the slime to take their gold. They don't seem bothered that it was stolen, to begin with. To them, if you can outdo the mighty dragons, then you are the lord of it. 

The warlock has also created a dome that prevents our sight from seeing the fÖrste. And enchantments that dilute our strength and flames once we approach his villijj. 

But only you kiddo with your gift of translucency can penetrate these enchantments, without being spotted and retrieve the fÖrste for the sake of the future for all of us," Hagar concluded with a sigh. 

"Can the enchantments harm me?" Otto questioned concerned. 

"That's the part we haven't figured out yet," his father answered. " We need bait. Good bait. All the others haven't worked so far. A strong force that shall absorb, distract or diverge the force of the enchantments while you retrieve the fÖrste. That is where we have always failed to succeed in our plans. Your mother tried to absorb them while I attempted to retrieve the fÖrste but the forces proved too strong for her we had to abort. She is the strongest one of us all and couldn't break the enchantments. So none of the rest of us should even try to risk it. 

And we need her to help hatch the fÖrste upon a successful retrieval. It would be futile for her to sacrifice herself. When we find the bait we need, we shall proceed with the plan. And you will play the greatest part, my boy." 

Even though he was shaken by the huge responsibility of the task laid out for him, Otto understood its importance and knew he had to be brave.  

Without the fÖrste, his brood was growing weaker. Not even the shine of gold could help sturdy their blood. Soon he wouldn't be able to fly as high as he would have wished. Without the power of the fÖrste, his flames would always flatter and he might never grow to be the mighty dragon he felt he was always meant to be. 

A heavy thunderstorm had been reigning outside. 

Void ventures

" But where is your sister?" the mighty father roared again. "She is always away on void ventures. She shouldn't be out. Especially on such stormy nights. She would have been key in explaining the story to Otto." 

"I am here father," a softer voice seethed from the mouth of the cave. "I have been here long enough to have heard the tale of Hagar. I flew in earlier from my void ventures and didn't want to interrupt."

The other dragons remained silent. You could never attempt to argue with Helena. 

"Look what I found deep in the forest on my void ventures father!" the blue dragon seethed mockingly as she swang her tail using it to slowly push what seemed like a small, hairy creature inside. 

Dead silence filled the cave. They could not believe it. 

It was a young två offspring wearing a silk gown! She was dripping wet. Her little shaky hands crutched a variety of berries. Long flaming hair covered her head. 

" Could she possibly be… where did you… this is the bait we always…Oh, Helena… your solitude stretches it seems shall be our salvation… Did you…?" 

The mother dragon could not finish a sentence. She swung her neck closer to the offspring. 

The sorcerer reacts  

More than a decade had passed since Florina had gone missing. 

The tvåbennen had assumed she had been mauled by mountain lions, tigers or even a bear. Some even thought that on the rainy night they couldn't find her, she might have taken shelter in the forest caves and unable to find her way to the berry pickers or home, had starved to death once winter arrived or had even been swept by the violent torrents and down into the rivers or lakes. She was just but a baby who couldn't survive the thick forests on her own. 

Gamle Ssen had not dismissed the case though. Many of the tvåbennen who had been in the harvesting group were fined gold, punished with hard labour and cursed with absolute misery for life. They had been tasked with teaching the younger ones the way of the tvåbennen he roared. Not to lose his grandchild in the forest!

They tried to explain about the sudden thunderstorm and falling trees. The girl wasn't the only one they had lost that night... 

The warlock would hear none of it! There was no scapegoat good enough to explain the loss of a future sökared. 

After weeks of huge search parties turning up empty-handed, the wizard had no choice but to move on. Not even the deepest of his magic could bring back the little one who had been one of his best apprentices. 

And none of them could have suspected where she was all this time. Up in the mountains learning the ways of the dragons! 

Nothing had changed. The dragons still stretched their wings above the villijj careful not to fly too low to avoid the traps of the enchantments. They didn't want the warlocks or the tvåbennen to sense that something was aloof. 

The mission

The plan was now simple.

The två offspring had for years been turned drakaa by the dragons. 

The mother dragon had been breathing dragon mist into her lungs. They told her it would help her sleep. She was laid in gold for the nights and fed meat burnt by their combined fires. 

Otto had been allowing her to ride him with Helena acting as guide, while Hagar had been staring into her eyes to give her the bblått ögan. His had always been the sharpest. 

All these repeated consistently, combined with dragon magic over the years had leaned her blood blue. Her once full red hair had grown thinner, shorter and was a faint gold. 

When she penetrated the enchantments of the villijj feigning a sökarer seeking to touch the fÖrste, the enchantments would be broken allowing a translucent Otto to swiftly fly in, snap the fÖrste with his tail from the altar, place it between the horns on his back and swiftly fly back to Hagar and Helena who would be waiting for him in the skies above the forest. His translucent touch would turn the fÖrste translucent. 

The two would escort the now tired and probably frightened Otto back home to secure the fÖrste and their joint future. 

The mother and father dragon would be flying up above the skies as they occasionally did making the två think they were still attempting to hatch ways to retrieve the fÖrste. 

The två offspring after Otto had retrieved the fÖrste was to meet the elder dragons at the lake down in the valley and they would fly home together. 

The två would think the fÖrste had disappeared into thin air having not seen the translucent Otto snatch it. Maybe its magic had withered they would conclude. After all, it had been decades since it hadn't hatched and its magic was being exploited without replenishment from its mother's warmth. That sure would render any egg weaker! 

Promise me...

"Mother," Otto pressed once more on the morning of the rescue. "Promise me that once I fly out to Hagar and Lena with the fÖrste that you must fly back home with Reddie. Promise me. Promise me that you will wait for her!" 

"I promise Otto..." his mother assured him. "The två is our past, present and future. There is no us without her. I will bring her back home with us." 

Initially, the mother dragon had not intended to keep her promise. All in the brood knew that when it came to it, the två was to be collateral damage. 

Not poor Otto though. After years of growing alongside the två flying and getting into mischief together, he had come to regard her as part of the brood. Like a little sister. 

It was he who had begged that she be allowed to roam the mountains instead of being kept in a cave like a prisoner. 

He had even bothered to know her name. They could communicate using the warlock magic that had been passed down to her by her grandfather. 

After all, it was she who would roll a rock onto Otto's back as they trained for the actual retrieval of the fÖrste. She understood the mission's importance to Otto's future.

When he went to stretch his wings in the summer and early autumn, he would go down the mountains and bring her berries still on the bushes pulled with all their roots. The två would jump with joy upon his return. 

Sometimes they would sneak and go on these rides together. On his back, her golden hair looked like a ball of fire on the horizon. But this was strictly forbidden as he knew if she was spotted by the två, it would ruin the plan and their future. Because of this, he rarely did this. 

"If the två girl would ever have doubts about the mission, her bond with Otto will be the redeemer," mother dragon often reminded the brood. 

And so they all encouraged the attachment. 

D-Day

Everything was going as they had planned. 

The blue blood of the två girl had broken and held the enchantments strong enough for translucent Otto to penetrate. Her warlock två blood protected her. The blend maintained balance.

The two dragons soared above the villijj. 

Anytime now… Anytime now…

Suddenly, red flashes of fire could be seen erupting from the roof of the altar down in the villijj. What had gone wrong?

The dragons then saw Otto shoot up into the sky haphazardly flapping away from the villijj. The poor boy was shaken. But he was fighting to remain steady. He spit out a lilac flame to signal his parents that he had succeeded in getting the fÖrste. Over the skyline, the other two of the brood were swiftly flying to meet him. In no time, they had engulfed him and were now figures flapping away on the horizon. 

The mother at this point had one task. To wait for the två girl. After all he had done for them, she strongly desired to keep her promise to Otto. 

The red flames coming from down below were bursting more fiercely now. 

Had the warlock placed other enchantments the dragons hadn't known about? 

The villijj was in chaos with the två running about screaming and shouting. Huts were burning. The animals were restless…It was hard to follow even for the dragons. 

A girl could be seen running outside the villijj. Her hair was wild, full and red. Many other red-haired två were chasing after her. Was this Reddie? Had penetrating the enchantments lifted the blue from her blood? 

A red-haired man was chasing the girl behind the others. He must have been old as he wasn't as fast. He was firing balls of fire at her that she seemed to dodge. 

"Reveal yourself devil!" the old warlock screamed.

He threw more curses at her.

"You come in the shape of a sökarer but now you take the shape of my kin. Reveal your true self jääkel!" 

The girl turned for an instant and faced the warlock. 

He stood still as though stunned. The others seemed to reduce their pace. 

"Florina…!?" he called. "Is that you Florina?" 

The girl turned again and kept running down to the valley. 

The warlock now seemingly flying was still following her roaring curses. Sometimes he would pause as though in confusion and disbelief. And then he would throw bigger balls of fire while spitting more curses. 

The two dragons who had been following them closely from above ready to lift her, swung and turned their wings. 

It would be too risky for them to swoop in and snatch the girl at this point. While their brood was now in possession of the fÖrste, without having invoked the power of the pénta and triachy, they were still weak and vulnerable to the power and curses of the warlock. They weren't even sure it was really the två girl as they had no idea what breaking the enchantments had done to her combined två and blue blood. Something had gone amiss. Her hair had even been turned back red! 

The two flapped up higher and higher away from the villijj, the reach of the warlock's curses and in the direction of their caves up in the mountains. 

Poor Otto would understand. 

He would have to...