Chapter 4.5- The Seadragon's Roar

This body needed to be in the sky. It needed to feel the wind against its skin. The itch of being confined half one from irritating to unbreakable in no time at all, and now I was going to finally do something about it.

I pushed upwards with my left leg and hand at the same time to allow my right to get purchase on the next openings. My fingers searched upwards and onwards, grabbing into suitable holds to keep my body stable. It was almost unreal, how this body had such instinctive strength and balance. No pre-teen had any business being this strong or this in control of their bodily movements. I breathed in and out before taking the next push.

I could see the light as more than a vague pinprick now— I could see the chimney’s opening. I pulled at my bond with Igneel, telling him that I was coming. I could feel a mix of apprehension and anticipation from him bit nothin g more than that. The bond we dragonlords shared with our partners was fascinating to me. For one, not everyone had the same thing. Laena could get vague inclinations of what Vhagar wanted but from what she could tell me it was based on what Vhagar wanted her to know. With mother, it was more like what Igneel and I had, albeit a lesser version where she could feel Meleys’ moods and even send her messages through the bond. With Igneel and I, it was like being two halves of the same whole when e were within a certain distance.

Maybe it had something to do with him hatching in my cradle and the both of us essentially being twins in that we shared a birthday. The tale went that when Rhaenys had birthed me and the midwifes placed me in a cradle, she had insisted that the egg she’d chosen from Dreamfyre’s most recent clutch— laid a week before she put to bed— be placed in my cradle. The instant we touched, Igneel hatched.

I pushed across the last few inches and finally reached the top of the chimney. Pushing down to lift myself up, I managed to lift one leg over the precipice, and then came the other. Home free, I thought as I heard a dragon grunt behind me. I turned around to see red. Meleys was crouched on the roof with Igneel at her side looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. Atop her dragon sat my mother in her riding leathers, looking like she wanted to peel me out of my skin.