Daylor's eyes were glued to the cracks that seemed to expand around the surface of the egg. He barely even acknowledged Bray and John as they walked into the room, John tried to say something but was interrupted by a squeal from Bray as she dashed to the desk where it sat on a cushion and watched with Daylor as it hatched.
A look of concern covered both of their faces as shadows started to leak from within the egg, which was followed by the tiniest snout. A head, no bigger than a watch, rose from the egg; soft violet eyes glistened through the exposed crack behind its snout. It slowly broke out of the shell. Its scales didn't just appear to be black, they seemed to absorb light like the void. The lizard no larger than Daylors hand had a small pair of wings, the dark grey membrane of which seemed to give off wisps of shadows.
The little lizard gave out a little yip as it looked at Daylor, then both Daylor and the little creature both let out a howl of pain as a burning sensation covered both of their chests. Upon the lizard a runic circle appeared on its chest, in the centre of which lay an oddly plain looking sphere.
As Bray saw Daylor feeblily clawing at the straps of his armour she came to his side, helping him undo the armour, she placed it to the side as he frantically tore off his captain shirt. Showing that the exact same symbol had burned itself into his flesh, right above his heart.
Feelings of pain, fear, confusion and hunger seemed to flow into Daylor, so incredibly strongly that he felt like they had dealt him a physical blow, and he found it hard to separate the new emotions from his own, yet he somehow knew they came to him from the little lizard in front of him, in the same way he knew that now they would now be forever bound.
The scared little thing cowered away from the form of John as he came close to ensure his captain was okay, and it made an attempt to jump onto Daylor. Its attempt fell short and it would have fallen off the desk, but Daylor caught the little thing and let it rest within the palm of his hand, as it started to lick at the wound on its chest.
"Captain, are you okay?" John asked, Daylor tore his eyes away from the tiny creature in his hand and looked at his two soldiers in the room with him. Both of them seemed to be deeply concerned for their captain.
"Yeah I will be fine, I'm just a bit sore. I believe it was the forming of a magic bond between us, though I have no idea how, or why. I don't even think it knew it was doing it." Daylor replied as he gently moved his hand to his shoulder. Without a word the lizard knew what he wanted and moved onto his bare shoulder leaving both of his hands free, his breath started to steady and he wiped away the bead of sweat "Can you bring me a slice of ham?"
John looked confused for a second as the request sunk into his mind. "Of course captain!"
Bray was staring at the topless captain and the thing on his shoulder with a look Daylor couldn't quite understand. "Is that hunger or interest?" he thought to himself, feeling oddly defensive for the little thing that sat on him.
She tried to approach the little thing but it began to hide behind Daylor's neck, closing eyes and trying to focus. Daylor set his mind into a meditative state. Then tried to picture Bray and John while letting out a feeling of calm and trust, he knew his idea worked when the head poked out from behind his neck.
"Do you mind if I have a look captain?" Bray asked as she knelt down beside the captain, when he gave her a wave of acceptance she looked at the creature. It shyly moved a little towards her, its large eyes looking at her with almost as much curiosity as she had. She very gently rubbed under its chin, which caused both the lizard and Daylor to let out what sounded like a purr.
"Um, do you have any idea what it is?" Daylor asked with a cough and his cheeks a deep red. He knew that he had to find a way to lessen the sensations that flowed through the link between them, he didn't like the sense of weakness it seemed to give him to be so deeply bound.
"To be honest sir I haven't the slightest idea, some sort of winged lizard is all I can tell. I have never seen one with legs though nor scales that are an absence of light." Bray replied with a slight shrug
John came back in, a few thick slices of ham on the plate, he placed it in front of his captain and finally realised why the captain had asked for it when Daylor ripped off a little bit of the ham and fed it to the little creature on his shoulder.
"Sir, maybe you should name it?" Bray stated bluntly with a slight tilt of her head. Daylor couldn't help but be amused at the fact that the little lizard had finally stopped her sulking with him. After he had stayed out of the barracks for a few nights he had found out she was in a foul mood with him and the worst part was everyone had refused to tell him why, other than John who had just laughed at his question and walked off.
"Hummm I think you're right" Daylor said as he sat there in thought for a second. Even with the slightly cold spring air Daylor felt like he was still melting from the symbol that had burnt itself into his chest. But at least his torso had finally stopped sweating. He got the dragon to jump back into his hand so he could inspect the tiny creature properly, and almost instantly he knew the name it suited. "How do you like Sgàil Luath?"
The little dragon let out a happy yip before it lowered itself and started to wiggle, its eyes locked on his shoulder. Daylor knew the meaning of that action from his old pet feline so placed the little dragon back on his shoulder before it missed a jump again and this time possibly hurt itself.
Daylor sighed as he stood back up and looked at the paperwork "I will return to this in a moment, after the last few minutes though I find myself overheating so I am going for a walk outside."
The warning yip of the dragon gave Daylor enough time to spin and grab the shirt that Bray had harshly thrown at him with a sweet smile.
"Now captain you cannot go around the town topless, you don't want to cause issues with a man's courting attempt again." she said, her honeyed tone almost dripping with poison. He nodded at her and gently placed the dragon on the table before donning a new shirt and then bringing the dragon back up.
"If you are so worried about my behaviour around the locals you're welcome to come and keep me under surveillance Bray" he responded in a joking manner, his laugh caught short by her reply.
"Fine, I will!" she said with a pout and walked up to him waiting beside him "Move on then, captain."
He shrugged with a confused look and left the barracks, he decided that while he went on a walk he may as well ensure the town was in good order. He started his walk by following the road to the right of the barracks. There was a trail of houses that lay on either side of the road until it cleared. Then one side led to the large town hall and mayor's office, while on the other side of the path stood the stands for the open market where the villagers often peddled their goods.
Carrying on this path had led him towards the gate that faced the rest of the kingdom, he knew that outside this gate lay the town's farms and a few of the farmers' houses. He turned and started following the path back until he passed the barracks once again. The road split off into a few paths on either side, each of which lead to more of the western style stone thatched houses of the town. Just before he reached the other gate the road led towards the town's pub and stables on the right, and the couple of shops that were not stalls on the left. Of the shops stood an armour and weapon store, with an attached blacksmith. An alchemist shop, a book store and a general store, many of these stores had been abandoned till recently, their rebuilding of some of the crumbling buildings had encouraged a few people to move into the town from local villages. As he passed the stables he saw that his warhorse and John's raptor had been placed in stalls far from the other animals, after John's raptor had spooked a set of horses the other week which led to them having to round up the fleeing animals.
The small lizard seemed to look everywhere with the pure fascination only a child had as they approached the bridge gate. Even from the road Daylor could see the expanse of forest on the other side of the large river, and he sighed, wishing his Dìonadair had been placed out there instead of defending this town far from the action. A feeling he knew many of his bored soldiers felt, yet he knew it was at least good that they could bring life back to this town which had been abandoned by the local lord for too long.