Page 51 of Ava's Legacy of the Dragons
"It's an honor. Take good care of the egg. All our hopes rest on it." With these words, he nodded to them and walked to the earth house that stood next to the enclosure, mostly hidden by the chestnut tree.
They watched him until he disappeared through the door. Ava nodded towards the chicken egg in Lilly's hand. "He probably didn't mean that egg, did he?"
"Hardly." She jumped lightly off the fence. "Too bad, I thought he would tell us more about the city. What should we do now?"
She shrugged and said, keeping her voice low, "We could search the area for more exits so we can escape if there's danger."
The girl shook her head. "I don't think Elora's men will find the entrance to the valley. After all, the Old Folk have lived undetected for centuries. Even I didn't know they really existed."
"The danger doesn't have to come from outside."
Furrowing her blonde brows, Lilly leaned in closer. "What makes you say that?"
"Kilian advised me to stay vigilant. If they think I'm one of them, they might claim rights to the dragon egg and not let me leave."
"Makes sense. After all, according to legend, all dragon guardians came from these people. But you have to admit, they're giving us a lot of freedom. Even though they don't know us and don't want anything about them to be known, we're walking through the city alone."
"Hey, you two beauties," Marcus's voice sounded behind them.
Ava leaned towards Lilly, her voice a whisper. "Alone?"
Lilly just shrugged.
"I see you've met Thom." Marcus pointed to the egg that the little one was holding in her hands. Smiling, he turned to Ava. "May I take you to the cave now? The dragon child will like it there."
She would have loved to ask the unhatched dragon for its opinion, but everyone would hear that. Wait. The young one could see through her eyes and they were closely connected. Maybe the thought transmission worked both ways.
"What do you think, should we follow him into the cave?"she asked the dragon child mentally.
"It will help me grow."
Wonderful, it had worked.
Since the dragon child had no objections, she nodded. "Alright, we?—"
Suddenly a man came running up, about twenty years old, carrying two bows and two quivers of arrows over his shoulder. He didn't wait to catch his breath, nor did he bother with a greeting.
"Get them quickly... to the cave and protect them... and the egg with your life." With these words, he pressed a bow and quiver into Marcus's hands and ran off.
Alarmed, Ava scanned the valley and the surrounding rock slopes for intruders. The adrenaline was already rushing through her veins, as if it had just been waiting to take command again. "What's going on here?"
Marcus looked after him, pale, with no trace of themischievous grin. "Elora's people have discovered our footprints and have been in the vicinity of the rock entrance since dawn."
She looked at him in disbelief. "When were you planning to tell us that?"
He shrugged. "I didn't want to worry you."
"But I want to know about things like this!" Ava put her hands on her hips in agitation, while Lilly clenched her fists.
"Then your people must shoot down the masked ones!"
Marcus looked at the girl admonishingly. "We abhor violence, you know that, but even if we did... As soon as we attack them, they'll know we're in the area. If just one of them were to escape, our entire city would be in danger."
Lilly raised her chin. "Better than Elora getting her hands on the dragon egg!"
"You can talk about that later!" Ava looked at the surrounding rocks. "How do we get out of the city unnoticed?"
"We can't leave the city now! The mages are everywhere and would catch us immediately. We're only safe here. We need to get to the cave."
