Chapter One

 Meeshu awoke with a start, got up quickly and checked the dragon egg again.  In the blackness of the night he felt the warmth, stroked the shiny iridescent shell that was always visible even in the darkness.  Then he breathed a sigh of relief.  It was okay.  He tidied the straw around the egg for added precaution.  The moon streaming through a slit in his curtain let in enough light for him to see to do this, though he barely needed to see, he could take care of the egg with his eyes closed.  He sat back on the corner of his bed—little more than a covered straw bundle, though it was evident that someone had taken great care to make it the best bed it could be under the circumstances the household found itself.

He must have just had a bad dream.  That was it, nothing more than a bad dream, Meeshu told himself, brushing his red streaked, slightly curly hair from his face.  It had gotten mussed in the night.  He’d been tossing.  He stared into the darkness, his emerald green eyes transfixed on nothing.  Remembering the dread that had descended upon him before it woke him.  It would not easily leave him, even with the reassurance that the egg was safe.  He lay back down and tried to go back to sleep.  Sleep would not easily come to the ten-year-old boy.  Ever since he’d been entrusted with the charge of this egg he felt as if a great weight had descended upon his shoulders.  The mother herself could not have felt more responsible for the egg than Meeshu did.

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