Chapter 2

Over the course of the next three months the dragon had to sleep spell the woman a lot as she would go into hysterics or act as though she was going to try to hurt herself. But by the end of the third month, they both knew there was something different and wrong going on. The child was growing at a very fast rate and the dragon decided that the woman couldn't grow any more and size shifted the child so that it could continue to grow as well as letting the woman survive. That was also when the child reached out to him. It was not the stirrings of an infant but a fully awake mind. The child and his father talked whenever the dragon had to sleep spell the woman, which made it easier for the dragon to hear his son.

After the fourth month the dragon had to again size shift his son because the child had grown again. It was just after that; the woman was lounging in the nest gently stroking her very large belly. She had once seen a woman who was pregnant with three babies at once and the woman knew she was even now bigger than that. But as she continued she felt a strange pressure in her head and thought she heard something. When she looked around she saw nothing, so thought, she had imagined it but it happened again. This time she heard, "Mother."

"Who's there?" she said with a trembling voice.

"Mother, it's all right. You don't have to be scared. It's just me." said the voice.

"Me, who? Who are you? Where are you?"

"Mother, it is I, your son."

"How can this be?" the woman stopped stroking her stomach.

"Mother, do not fear. Please don't stop what you were doing, it gives me comfort to have you touching my head."

"You can feel that? How are you able to talk to me?"

"I have been awake for some time now, I think just after father first size shifted me. He told me all that has happened and that I keep growing too big for you to carry safely."

"Oh my son, I'm sorry. You have your father's blood in you and you will be very big when the time comes for you to be born. I am saddened that I might not be here to see that."

"Mother why won't you be here?" he sounded scared.

"You are too big even now for you to come out the same way your father put you in. You will have to be cut from me, if you don't out grow me before then. I'm only human and small." The woman let her hand go back to stroking her stomach and realized that she really could feel the child's head.

"Mother I will work on this, may-be I can make myself small like father has done. I have learned so much from him already."

"Oh my son, if only you could be born now. I don't know how much more I can handle."

"I wish I could but I don't think I could live outside of you. I'm not fully formed yet."

"If you were human you would not be ready for at least another four to five months. Oh my son, we'll see how it goes and hope for the best."

That was when the woman heard something, thinking that the dragon was coming back, leaned up to look at what he was bringing back, when she saw the she-dragon that had tried to hurt her before come landing in the cave. The woman laid back down in the hope that the she-dragon would not find her. The woman was not that lucky as the she-dragon walked straight to the nest.

"So it's true. His little pet is pregnant with his child. You know you'll never survive the birthing process." She said smugly.

"Please don't hurt us. Don't hurt my baby. Please." The woman wrapped her arms around her belly.

"I see you have your voice back. Good I have always found it disappointing when my prey makes no screams as it dies." She opened her mouth in a grin.

The she-dragon moved as if to take hold of the woman when the woman's son yelled, "YOU WILL NOT TOUCH MY MOTHER! LEAVE NOW OR I WILL BE FORCED TO FIGHT YOU!"

The she-dragon froze as her face betrayed her fear. "What is this? Who was that?" The she-dragon began reaching for the woman again.

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP!!!"

The she-dragon staggered backwards as a wave of energy came out from the woman, hitting the she-dragon. The she-dragon roared in rage and came again at the woman. Again, the wave of energy hit the she-dragon this time shoving her back all the way to the cave entrance. Her shock was very clear and just as she was about to make up her mind whether to attack again or to flee, there was a raging roar outside of the cave as the woman's dragon came racing into the cave. He grabbed the she-dragon digging his claws into her and threw themselves out of the cave. The woman would have liked to have seen what happened out in the open air but her condition made it impossible. The woman didn't have to wait long until her dragon came back into the cave. He had several bad gashes on his body and face.

The dragon didn't say anything at first but sat down, closed his eyes and called his healing powers to himself and after several long moments, the woman watched as the wounds healed. Finally, the dragon opened his eyes and came over to the nest. "Pet, are you all right? Did she hurt you?"

"No, your son kept her from us. I don't know how but he did." The woman said with awe in her voice.

"How did he do it?" His voice betraying his surprise.

"Father, she was going to hurt mother. I couldn't let her. So, I tried a mind blast. The first wasn't very strong but the second one was. Then I called out to you."

"I heard you, son. How did you know to do it? You and I have talked of my powers but not anything like that." The dragon reached out and gently touched the woman's swollen belly.

"I just knew I could do it, father. I need to rest now, I'm hungry mother."

"I will have your father make us some food, my darling son. You rest."

The dragon got up and brought the woman some food by way of dried meat strips and some fruit. The woman ate all she could hold, and then too went to sleep. It was not long after that event that the woman gave her son the name Dracon

It was another month that the woman was stuck in the nest when she started having breathing troubles. Then one afternoon as she was talking with her son and his father when her breathing became difficult and her vision faded as she passed out. She woke a little later feeling like she had been kicked in the chest.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. We were talking then you seemed to just stop. Your breathing became labored. Maybe you aren't eating enough. My son is getting stronger and you will need to eat more to give him the energy he needs."

"It could be, will you get me some food, please?"

"Of course." The dragon smiled at her.
The dragon fed her and made sure that there was food near by at all times. Then several days latter, it happened again, this time while she was talking to her son. But this time it was stronger and she realized that her heart was trying to stop. The dragon didn't know what to do. Dracon, the woman's son however knew what was wrong and what needed to be done. He told his father that he was the cause of his mother's pain and that her heart could no longer support him. He also knew that he was old enough and developed enough to be born but was not small enough. He asked his father to give him some of his father's energy so that he could use it to make himself as small as he could so that he could be born without hurting his mother.

The next morning the woman woke to a surprise. Her stomach was no longer as big as it had been, as a matter of fact it was down right small, but she could still feel her son sitting below her heart. The dragon was sitting near.

"Dragon, Dracon what is going on?"

"Mother, your body can't handle my being in you any more. My body has developed enough and I wish to be born now." He said proudly.

"Really. Are you sure?" the woman looked down at her belly and began stroking it. "Now that you are so small I should have less trouble carrying you."

"No mother. My powers require more energy than you can give me. I am killing you. I love you too much to do that. Mother I love you, please, I need you."

"Then my son if you are so ready, then how shall we begin?"

"I'm going to gently nudge your body into labor. It won't be hard; your body has been trying to expel me since the beginning. Just relax mother and let your body do what is needed."

The woman did as her son asked and all too soon she felt the first of a set of contractions. Then she could feel her son moving down into position. The next thing she knew her water broke and between one contraction and the next as well as one big push from her, her son almost shot out of her. The dragon, who was watching jumped to his feet and picked up his son. Dracon looked so small in the large claws until he shifted himself into a smaller size. Then he placed the child in his mother's arms. Dracon was very small indeed but looked much more dragon then human except for the fingers, which were not as heavily clawed, and his muzzle, which was shorter. Then there was his tail, which was also not as long. Next, the woman looked to her son's wings, which as she had expected were small and under formed but then she had seen baby birds and knew that in time they should develop.

"Welcome my son." Said the dragon. The small dragon looked up at his father, yawned then looked to his mother.

"Mother, are you well?"

"Yes, my son. A little tired but I'm just fine. You're the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. My brave beautiful boy." For several minutes, she just held him then took a blanket and wrapped him in it as Dracon started to shiver. "Are you hungry, my son?"

"Yes mother but how will I eat?"

"I have food here for you son. Meat is best for you," said the dragon.

"I think meat should wait until you are a little bigger. Don't worry you will not go hungry." The woman moved her son to her breast and placed the teat in his mouth. By instinct, he knew what to do and drank happily. "Right now you are the size of a human baby and this is how humans feed there young until they are old enough to eat other things. I'm sure with the way you are growing that it will not be long until all you will need is solid foods."

This seemed to fascinate the dragon and he watched closely, after quite some time Dracon closed his eyes and slept.

"Dragon what will happen now?" the woman said in a whisper.

"What do you mean?"

"Pets do not give birth to their master's offspring. What happens now to me and my son?"

"I don't know. I guess I could free you and take you to a large town somewhere. My son of course will be staying with me. He has much to learn. I know already he is a powerful wizard like me but he has other skills that I don't have, that he will have to learn to master. He can't do that with you in a human town. Besides, if you arrived in one with him, people will wander if he is your pet. Are you willing to tell them that he is your son?" he had a strange look on his face.

"I will not leave my son. I don't want to be your pet and plaything any more."

"I don't want my son to know that. Do you understand me? He is not to know that you are my pet and not my companion. If he asks why I call you pet, tell him it is a name shared between two lovers. If you tell him any of what has happened to you, I will put you in the pit and close it up leaving you with only a hole large enough to get your arm out through if you could reach it at all. Is that under stood?"

"I told you long ago that I would not run and I haven't. I will admit that during the first few months of pregnancy I was a little out of control. I will never leave my son. You don't need the pit any more. Please as a favor to me close it up."

"The hole is there as a reminder. But this cave is going to get too small with my son growing as he is. It will take time to find a good site for another one. If you behave, I promise that I will not put a pit in that one. That is all there is to that, I need to go hunt, you both will need more food and I don't think my son will need to be fed by you for very long." He finished with just a slight edge to his voice.

With that, the dragon rose and left the cave. The woman held her dear son closer to herself and cried.

Three months later found, much the same except for Dracon, who was almost the size of his mother. It had taken only a few days before Dracon had started growing and needed more food than the woman could give but at least once a day she did spend time talking and feeding him. He was such a wonder. After only a month the dragon started taking him flying with him, where they would go to a nice area in the mountains to let Dracon practice his magic and other dragon skills.

This went on for two months. One afternoon the dragon came back dropped Dracon off and went hunting. Dracon even though he was an accomplished shifter was told that he was not to shift into a human. But did so anyway whenever he was with his mother and his father was off hunting and the two knew he would not be returning very soon. The woman was sitting with her back to the nest, as there was no chairs or stools to sit on. Dracon padded over to his mother then changed into the little boy form that he liked to use. He climbed into her lap and looked up at her.

"Mother, I'm thirsty and I don't want water."

"Here my sweet." The woman untied the blanket that she had draped around herself and let her son nurse from her. He was really hungry that day. "Your father must have had you doing some hard things today."

"Yes, he had me shifting into all sorts of things. Then he had me call up some of the simpler spells while I was in those forms. It was fun but it was hard." He said into the woman's head as he continued to drink.

"Did you practice any of the things that your father can't help you with? I would hope that just because you can do them and he can't that he wouldn't let you work on them too."

"He did but not for very long. Mother can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything. If I know the answer I'll tell you."

Dracon stopped nursing and looked at his mother. "Why does father call you pet? And why do you call him dragon?"

It was a very long moment before she answered. "I can't tell you a lie, my son. Even though that is what your father wants me to do. I need you to promise that you will not say anything to him because it could get me into a lot of trouble."

"Mother, I will not let you get into trouble I promise."

"The reason your father calls me pet is... because that is what I am, to him and I call him dragon because I don't know his name, he never gave it to me. I was given to him as a sacrifice in the hope that he would stop raiding my village's herds. Your father accepted that gift and brought me here. He had everything planned out so well, you see, he's been tricking villages for years. He likes human females and it was his way of getting them with out having to court them or buy them from a slave market. My son I can't tell you the rest it's too hard." The woman looked away from her son and wiped tears from her eyes.

"Mother, I want you to tell me. I have seen things in father's mind and he has said some things that I don't understand. What you have told me so far has explained why he seems to care so very little for you."

"My son you are powerful and strong and wise but you are so very young. What I have been through would scare the hair off a grown man. How can I tell it to you?"