The Equen Queen by Alyssa Brugman Page A

whose name Tab didn't know, although he looked faintly familiar to her.
    In the middle of the table was an oval object. At first Tab thought it was a hooey ball, but then her heart skipped in her chest. It looked just like Melprin's egg!
    ‘How in the name of the odd gods?’ Tab began. Then she realised where she had seen the slender man before. He was the roofie with the lute she had heard singing to his friends as she rushed up the stairs to Melprin's tower. He must have heard Melprin crashing through the wall of the tower. He would have been underneath them when they were flying. He must have caught the egg when it fell from Tab's arms.
    On the table Melprin's egg quivered and then was still. There was a definite smell coming from it – a hot, acrid, sulphurous smell.
    ‘How long did you say it's been doing that for?’ Chief Navigator Stelka asked, gripping the edge of the table.
    The roofie bit his lip. ‘Just after we emerged from the vortex, I think. I was a little bit distracted before that, with the fighting and everything.’
    The egg cracked a little – a hairline, right across the top, and the members of the council pushed their chairs back from the table.
    ‘And the city dragonkeeper is… ’ Bellgard began.
    ‘I … I thought it was purely a ceremonial role,’ Florian stuttered.
    ‘You're the city's dragonkeeper?’ Storm asked.
    ‘No. Well … I hold the amulet of the dragonkeeper, but you can have it back. I don't think anyone expected me to take care of a real one!’
    ‘Does anybody have any idea what a baby dragon eats?’ Verris asked, looking around the table.
    ‘Limbs would be my guess.’ Tash Morley laughed, but it was a shrill, panicky sound.
    The egg cracked a little more and a hot, metallic odour emerged from it in a steamy waft. It smelled like the smithy's furnace. The council members pushed their chairs back a little more.
    ‘I suppose I could convince Vrod to give up his store of spoiled boingy deer meat,’ Verris mused aloud. ‘Can your magicians contain it? Mesmerise it somehow?’
    Stelka shook her head. ‘I don't know. Perhaps for a short while. You must understand that we have focused all our efforts on navigation. Many of the other crafts have been overlooked. There would be something in the ancient texts, surely, but it would take time.’
    ‘I vote we throw it over the edge,’ Florian said. ‘Now!’
    ‘How do you abandon something that has wings and a strong sense of smell?’ Storm asked him. ‘It will come after us!’
    ‘Then lock it in the dungeon!’ Tash Morley implored. The egg rolled on its side towards him, trailing smoke. He shrieked and drew back.
    ‘For how long? It's a dragon! Who knows what it can do? You want an orphaned, angry dragon soaring around Quentaris?’ Florian asked, edging further backwards.
    ‘Then what would you have us do?’ Stelka snapped. ‘I have no idea how long these things take to mature. Do you? It might hatch fully fledged. It could be a tantrum-throwing toddler for fifty years – maybe a hundred! We could be plagued by this thing for generations.’
    Around the table, members of the council nodded solemnly.
    ‘Maybe Tab should take it,’ Florian suggested. ‘She's supposed to be able to talk to it, isn't she?’
    Verris said, ‘The dragon needs a parent. We have no choice. We go back.’ His eyes settled on Tab's face for a second and he winked. ‘The first person to disagree can take this egg home with them.’ He fixed the council with a stony glare. None challenged him. Their eyes were glued to the egg.
     



In the Dungeon
     
    Tab was in the dungeon when they crossed the vortex the second time. For a while she slept, and then she had been staring at the egg, watching it quiver and roll across the floor, trailing a waft of pungent smoke like a church incense burner. She had tried covering it with a dirty, old blanket she found, but the fabric began to smoulder, and filled the cell with acrid smoke, so she took