Page 9 of The Timeless Vigilante

Hiker pushed back in his chair, seeming overwhelmed. “Wow, this is a lot to process. But at least you being here won’t unravel the fabric of time.” Hiker brought his distant gaze up, looking straight at Sophia. “So although this is fascinating family history and more, why have you brought this first of the Beaufonts here to me?”

“That’s the part most relevant to us as dragonriders,” Sophia began with a tense smile. “Gen found a dragon egg in the 15th century and buried it.”

“Oh, did she?” Hiker laughed. “And now she wants to know what happened to it, then?” He glanced at Gen. “Well, they’ve all been found. They’ve all hatched. Sorry, Missy. You’re a couple decades too late.”

Gen’s face remained neutral. “Actually, last week, I dug up the dragon’s egg I buried.”

Hiker scowled. “That’s impossible. There were only ever two thousand dragon eggs. They’ve all since hatched.”

Sophia shook her head. “There were two thousand and one eggs. And Gen, my long-lost ancestor, found the very first one. And she has it now—unhatched.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

WELCOME TO THE DRAGON ELITE

Hiker Wallace’s Office, The Castle, The Gullington, Scotland, United Kingdom

“For the love of the angels! When were you going to tell me this?” Hiker pushed up to his feet, glaring down at Sophia, hostility brimming in the man. He was simply huge with large shoulders and wearing an armored top and thick kilt. He looked like the stuff of legends with his many medallions around his neck and holster on his hip. Gen could definitely see him riding atop a dragon, slaying bad guys. Unfortunately for her and Sophia, he looked ready to slaughter them.

“I’m telling you now, sir,” Sophia began in a low voice, like trying to disarm him with her soft tone. “I only found out about the dragon’s egg recently and I’ve been trying to help Gen to navigate in this brand new and disorienting time. It’s been a lot for her and the dragon’s egg wasn’t really a concern until I got her settled.”

“And are you settled?” Hiker asked, looking at Gen at once, his tone oozing with mock concern. “How are you feeling? How has the transition been?”

Gen, a little confused by this change in tone, shrugged. “It’s been a lot, but I’m managing.”

“Great, now how in the bloody hell didn’t I know that there’s an unhatched dragon’s egg?” Hiker boomed, throwing his hands into the air. His voice echoed all around the office as his face flushed red with anger.

Sophia rolled her eyes, looking at Gen. “That was his attempt at sarcasm, pretending to care how you are adjusting when he feels like he has the bigger issue.”

“Mama Jamba said there were only two thousand eggs!” Hiker yelled, still not realizing that was unnecessary. He glared directly at Gen. “That’s Mother Nature, for your information. She created, well, just about everything. But most importantly, she created the dragon eggs and she said there were only two thousand.”

“I know who she is and she lied,” Gen stated. “She said she was waiting for me and couldn’t give you a spoiler.”

He threw his hands into the air, tossing back his head. “Of course she did. That woman loves to keep things from me.” He lowered his chin. “How did you find the first dragon egg? And why did you bury it?”

“Well, the dragon called to me in the woods?—”

“She’s magnetized to this egg!” Hiker interrupted, gazing at Sophia like this was a cruel joke.

“Yes, sir,” Sophia replied.

“Yes, and he told me that he was the first dragon’s egg ever spawned,” Gen stated.

“What was the year?” Hiker asked.

“1420,” Gen answered.

Hiker nodded. “The year that the first rider magnetized to a dragon.”

Gen nodded too. “Yes, and that’s when I learned what dragons were. Before that, I just thought I was going crazy, talking to this egg that called itself a dragon. No one knew what those were. But he told me to bury him because otherwise we would have been separated. For starters, my father wanted me to be a warrior for the House of Fourteen. And secondly, women weren’t dragonriders in the 15th century. I was barely allowed to be a warrior. My dragon knew that and said our time wasn’t yet…”

Hiker’s eyes widened as he regarded Sophia with astonishment. “This dragon, this first of the dragons, he knew that women wouldn’t be dragonriders until you came along? Is that what you’re trying to explain to me?”

“It seems so,” Sophia answered. “The dragon knew that Gen would be pulled into the future. And you know better than anyone that she wouldn’t have been allowed to be a dragonrider, even if she could talk to her dragon telepathically.”

He nodded in understanding. “It was a different time then. Your sister, Elizabeth, the one who pretended to be you, she was only accepted as a warrior by most because she didn’t fight.”

“That’s because she didn’t like fighting,” Gen stated. “I was the rebel who liked to put bad men in headlocks, which was why my father made me a warrior, but now we know how that turned out.”

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