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Just as they always did, I could see the
two brothers locking horns. In the past – especially after Timothy
lost his wife and unborn child – their relationship had broken
down. Timothy was second in charge only because my Grandpa had made
it so, had it been up to my father I had no doubt in my mind that
Dexter Payne would have been placed second in command. It wasn’t
unusual to find dad seeking Dexter’s advice before
Timothy’s.
    For a few
seconds the two brothers stood in front of the small crowd, their
eyes firmly locked upon each other, a single trickle of sweat began
to drip down my dad’s forehead. Neither of the two was going to
budge easily on this. And so, the debate began.
    “ So you’re suggesting we just leave the eggs there and wait for
a nest of Dragons to spawn?” Timothy almost laughed, looking to the
crowd for support in a shroud of arrogance.
    “ So let’s say we destroy them. We could be bringing whatever
gave birth to them right to our doorstep! This is more than likely
a dragon we’re dealing with here, if we destroy its eggs it will
come looking for whoever was responsible!”
    “ It’s already on our doorstep, brother. This animal murdered
Barry Deer, and slaughtered three of our own. Tony, Amy and Kyle
Olsen are DEAD because of that monster!” He spat. Quickly it was
becoming easy to see whos side the crowd were on. All I could do
was sit and watch as others began to nod their heads at Timothy’s
points. Antonio Payne even went as far as to clap.
    “ We could move them further away from Haven. The mother would
probably still be able to find them, that way we would potentially
be out of harm’s way.” My dad tried, desperately trying to gather
his composure and come up with some good points, but already the
crowd had turned. I heard various sighs from around me after my
father said that.
    Timothy stood
silent for a moment, before bursting out in controllable laughter,
he wiped away a tear from his cheek before his face fell deadly
serious, “The eggs must be destroyed, dear brother. It is decided.”
He said, his face void of any emotion. Without so much as another
word he barged past my father and made his way out of the meeting
room.
    The room fell
deadly silent. People began to follow Timothy’s example and
disperse from the room, leaving my father stood alone at the front;
annoyed and embarrassed. His head dropped down in defeat. I wanted
so desperately to say something to him, but I simply couldn’t find
the words. Instead, I quietly stood to my feet and made my way out
of the meeting room.

 
    Chapter
Six

    I couldn’t
sleep. I spent what felt like hours rolling around on my old, rough
and bumpy mattress, with no luck. No matter how hard I tried, I
just couldn’t keep my eyes shut. Every time I managed to close
them, I would have flash backs of Tony Olsen’s burnt, charred bones
– that image was going to stick with me for quite some time.
    Not only was I
being haunted by the image of the body, but my mind was filled with
an abundance of activity over the nest. It had been decided that a
small team would head out and ‘deal’ with the eggs tomorrow. It was
a scary, risky mission – but it had been decided that it was for
the greater good. I wouldn’t be taking part in the expedition,
father had decided that it was far too dangerous for me. Instead,
he, Timothy, Brandon and Ruby were heading out to do the deed. I
was surprised to find that everyone in Haven, aside from myself,
Ruby and father had been in favour of destroying the nest, even
Brandon had stood up to dad. It was rare that my dad found himself
fighting against the majority – people usually flocked to his side
during debates, but not this time. All he could do was grit his
teeth and go along with what the community, as a whole had
decided.
    The soft, yet
extremely grating sound of Brandon’s snoring was beginning to grind
on my nerves. I never usually had trouble sleeping, I usually went
to bed before