by Logan Jacobs
George went first, and he slithered over the ridge, flat on his belly, with his four legs outstretched like a massive lizard. Then I crouched low to the ground and walked forward in a squat. I kept my weight on the balls of my feet and made sure I didn’t step on any stray twigs or leaves carried over on the wind.
The hard soil began to turn into soft sand, which thankfully helped to mask the sound of our footsteps so our approach was virtually silent.
As we drew closer to the dragon’s nest, I could see just how huge it actually was. The thing towered above me and was at least twenty feet tall. It had been made of all sorts of sticks, sea kelp, trees, and bits and pieces of what looked like orc ships. I couldn’t tell for sure, though, if all of the boards had come from the orc vessels, or if it was possible they’d come from other places.
Wherever the dragon had gotten them, it was pretty clear she’d burned down ships and took her supplies. Most of the boards were partially scorched in multiple different places, and they stuck out from the nest at odd angles.
I couldn’t quite tell how everything stayed together, but it looked like there was some sort of cement-like material that glued the pieces to each other and helped the nest maintain shape. I was reminded of certain birds back home that used their spit to glue their nests together, and I wondered if the dragon did the same thing.
I would like to get closer, George said.
I simply nodded at him, since I didn’t want to risk speaking aloud when we were so close to the dragon.
George reared up on his hind legs and started to climb up to the nest the same way I’d seen him climb up rocks back home. I’d always thought George was big, but when I saw my dragon against this massive nest that housed a giant beast, he suddenly looked small to me, like a chihuahua next to a lion.
I wiped the sweat off my palms so I didn’t slip, and then started to follow him up the side of the nest. I grabbed onto the sticks and boards that stuck out, and I couldn’t help but be impressed when not a single one of them moved.
At the same time, I really hoped the dragon didn’t use her spit to glue them together.
When we finally climbed up the nest and made it to the edge, George and I just stuck our heads over the side and peeked at the dragon, careful not to go over the edge of the nest.
The thing was even more massive up close, and the gleaming golden scales at the edge of its tail reminded me of an arrow. Underneath the gold scales that covered the rest of its body, I could just see the darkness of its black skin. There was one extremely sharp one at the end of the tail, and three others came out on either side, like the feather on the end of an arrow. I knew just how hard George’s scales were to the average person, but I would guess those dragon scales were even more so. They could probably smash rock to bits with almost no effort at all.
I followed the tail up to the dragon’s torso and wings. Now that we were closer, I could see the wings much better. They didn’t have any scales and were a duller golden color with no shine to them. The skin was thin, veiny, and had an almost see through appearance, and three thin lines of bones were visible in the layers of skin, like the wings of an ancient pterodactyl.
And in the center of its chest, I could see the outer edge of a bright blue glow, the color of a fire that burns impossibly hot.
Well, I supposed that was where it breathed its fire from.
The face itself reminded me of George’s. They were the same shape, but this dragon had a rounder skull and a longer snout. Every time the dragon breathed, little puffs of smoke escaped its massive nostrils, and every once in a while, I could see little sparks fly out.
The egg was in the center of the nest, and my eyes were drawn to it. The color was such a bright silver it didn’t seem like it should have existed. I’d seen plenty of beautiful jewelry in my life, brilliant rings and expensive watches supposedly made from the finest silver ever, but none of those things held a candle to the color of that egg. It seemed to shimmer from within, like the color was so pure it literally glowed. Even the water dragon eggs seemed like store-bought Easter eggs next to this dragon egg.
It was massive, too, about the size of a medium sized dog, like a Labrador or a Golden Retriever. I had no idea how heavy it was, but I knew it would take more than just George and I to get that thing out of there, if we even wanted to.
I glanced over toward George and communicated mentally what I wanted to ask verbally.
No, dear one, I do not sense a bond, he sighed. I am not sure this creature is like me in that way at all. For all we know, it may just be a beast.
I nodded and looked back at the dragon one last time as I weighed the decisions at hand.
One part of me knew a baby dragon would be absolutely invaluable in our fight against the orcs, but the more rational part of me wondered if it was worth it. The dragons were clearly volatile creatures, all I needed to do was look at the burned shell of an orc ship to know that, but this dragon was fully grown and already had her ways of being.
A baby dragon had the potential to be trained. Not the way the orcs trained things, of course, but if we showed it love and taught it like we would a dog, I wondered if we might be able to have a fire breathing dragon that roamed the skies on our side. The need to destroy the orcs with whatever means necessary was completely intoxicating.
Let us go back, George murmured. Nothing can be done right now, while we are unprepared. A mission to get this egg would take lots of planning and preparation.
He was right, so I nodded at him, and the two of us climbed back down the nest and dashed back over to where the women still sat on the ridge.
Jemma was seated cross legged at the very top, with her spear clutched in one hand and her bow in the other, as she stared unblinkingly at the dragon, completely ready to shoot arrows at it.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her I highly doubted even our most well-made arrows would do much good against this beast.
Sela and Mira were seated as well, though the two of them looked much more relaxed than Jemma did, since this was one of the most exciting things that had happened for either of them in a while.
Meanwhile, Nadir paced back and forth restlessly. She wrung her hands together and flicked her tail about like a cow in the middle of a field, and it seemed like she muttered to herself. I couldn’t make out what she said, but her eyes remained laser focused on the massive egg in the center of the dragon’s nest. It was almost like the egg was a drug, and she couldn’t survive without another hit for much longer.
The moment George and I crested the ridge and ducked back down so we were out of sight of the dragon, Nadir rushed over to me and grabbed my hand in hers so tightly I heard the bones pop.
“Well?” she demanded. “Can we go get our treasure back now? I do not want that beast to have it for much longer. It is ours.”
“Nadir, my hand,” I laughed.
She looked down at my larger hand, which was nearly crushed in both of hers, and sprang back quickly.
“I am sorry,” she murmured. “I just want to know what is happening with my treasure. It is the most exciting thing we have found in a very long time. It is very shiny and beautiful. The orcs took our last one.”
“You had another egg?” I asked.
“A piece of one.” She nodded. “It was a beautiful gold color, and so smooth and soft.”
Her gray eyes went dreamy as she remembered what it felt like to have this treasure.
“When did the orcs take it?” I asked. “Did you see a dragon hatch from the egg?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But when the orcs invaded the first time, and we had to run, I heard them whisper about the beast that created the treasure. A fire breather, they said. I did not believe it until, well, the beast stole our next treasure.”
“I bet you found the remnants of her shell,” I mused. “And I’m guessing the orcs have been looking for a dragon egg for a long time, then. They may be stupid, lumbering oafs, but they sure as hell know how to win
a battle.”
“When did this egg wash up on shore?” Sela asked as she looked at the raccoon woman curiously.
“Not long before you arrived.” Nadir shrugged. “The orcs had attacked our island, and a few moons after they left, Jira found the treasure on our sands. It was warm, beautiful, and shiny. So, we kept it.”
“Yeah, that timeline makes a hell of a lot of sense,” I said as I rubbed my chin in thought. “Alright. We should head back to camp. I need some time to figure out exactly what to do about this dragon.”
“Maybe we should just leave it alone,” Jemma suggested as she chewed on her lower lip. “Ben, that creature could destroy us all with one breath. You saw what it did to the orc ship.”
“I know,” I said. “Which is why I’m not sure whether or not we should do something about it. I’m not sure I like the idea of a creature like that just roaming freely.”
It is a rare beast, dear one, George reminded me. I do not think it is wise to mess with one of the gods’ sacred creatures.
That was a damn good point. In all of the excitement, I’d let the fear of the dragon catch up with me and knock me down, but it was wrong to even think about killing such a rare creature when it actually hadn’t bothered us.
“You’re right,” I sighed. “The only reason it even messed with those orcs was because they had its egg. If we don’t have the egg, we’re not in danger. Hell, we’ve made it this long without having a run in with a dragon. We need to just leave it alone.”
“Brilliant, as always, my king.” Sela nodded. “Let us go.”
The gray-blue haired warrior stood up and started to head down the ridge, with Mira right behind her and Jemma nearly glued to her side. George placed himself on Jemma’s other side to try and give the poor woman a sense of calm, and I followed them for about two seconds before I realized Nadir was not next to or in front of me.
A sense of dread overcame me, and I whipped around, even though I already knew what she was up to.
Sure enough, I turned to see the black-haired woman had decided to climb back up the ridge, in the opposite direction of the rest of us, and was headed straight toward the dragon’s nest.
“Nadir!” I hissed as I launched myself toward the ridge and made a mad dash to try and grab her.
“I need my treasure,” she argued.
And then the damn raccoon woman started running.
She leapt over the edge of the ridge and lowered herself down faster than I could have ever even thought she’d be able to move. She was so raccoon-like and fast in her movements it was impressive.
Or it would have been, if she wasn’t headed to disturb a slumbering dragon and steal from it the one thing that would turn it into a fire breathing lunatic intent on destroying anything that messed with its baby.
“Oh, shit, she has gone and done it again,” I heard Mira groan behind me.
The warrior quickly turned around to help me, and both of us sprinted toward Nadir to try and stop the woman from making an absolutely idiotic mistake. We launched ourselves over the ridge and dropped down about ten feet, to the sandy beach, but Nadir had a pretty big head start on us, and the woman was much quicker than Mira and me. She moved with the speed of a raccoon, while the two of us all but lumbered forward across the thick sand.
“This woman is absolutely infuriating,” Mira hissed.
Both of us tried to stay as quiet as we possibly could, since we were very close to a sleeping dragon, but it was pretty damn hard to run silently when we had to chase someone down.
By the time we caught up with Nadir, she was at the base of the nest and had started to climb upward, toward where the dragon laid.
“Stop!” I hissed and jumped up to grab onto her.
Both of us tumbled back down to the sand. I thudded to the ground, and all of my breath was knocked out of me as sand twisted my hair and flew into my nose.
Nadir and I both came up, coughing and spluttering, while Mira stared nervously at the edge of the nest.
“What are you doing?” Nadir demanded. “You promised to help us get our treasure back. Did you not mean that?”
Her gray eyes were wide and sad as she asked me her question, and I winced when I remembered I’d made that promise.
“I know,” I sighed and crawled over to her so I could rest my hands on her smooth shoulders and look her directly in the eyes. “I didn’t realize just what this treasure was when I made you that promise, though. You have to understand, we found a burned-out orc ship. A massive vessel full of all those invaders who have terrorized you and your people for years. And almost all of them were dead, or dying. The ship was a shell of what it used to be. And the beast up there did it, just so she could get your egg back. You’ve seen what she did to you the last time you had this treasure. Is it really worth your life, or your people’s lives, to have this egg? How would you feel if someone tried to steal your baby?”
Nadir pursed her lips as she thought it over. I could tell the idea of treasure had never quite been put into these terms before, and for once, I was glad I had my human reasoning to fall back on and use.
Nadir crossed her arms and refused to meet my eyes for a second, before she finally raised an eyebrow, looked at me, and shrugged.
“I suppose you may be right, Ben,” she sighed. “I see why women like you. You have very good reasoning skills.”
“I do,” I chuckled. Inside, though, I thanked the gods Nadir managed to listen to reason. I really did not want to have to pick her up and throw her over my shoulder so I could carry her back to camp with us. Especially since she had all those sharp teeth and nails. I had no doubt the woman could rip into my skin if she didn’t like where we were headed.
“Uh, guys,” Mira murmured and interrupted the quiet moment between Nadir and me.
I turned to look at the jade-haired warrior but, for once, her eyes were not focused on me. Instead, her head was tilted up, and her mouth was agape as she looked at the top of the nest.
And just like that, the warm swell that had grown in my stomach thanks to the nice moment Nadir and I shared disappeared, replaced by a bottomless pit that seemed like it was full of hot lava rocks.
“Oh, no,” I breathed.
I didn’t even have to look up to know what had Mira so freaked out, but it was like a car wreck I couldn’t ignore.
So, I turned my head and gazed up at the top of the nest, where one set of giant, golden talons curled over the edge.
And as I watched, a second set joined them.
They moved slowly, like the beast still needed to wake up, but it wouldn’t have mattered if they had moved at the speed of light. I could see just how sharp and deadly they were. The things were like razor blade hockey sticks, complete with a point so sharp I was sure it could have cut through sea glass like it was butter.
It took another two seconds for the edge of the dragon’s snout to peek up over the edge of the nest. It shook like a wet dog for a half of a moment, and with that, all of the sleep seemed to wash away from the creature.
Then the beast’s entire head peered over the edge of the nest, and it stared down at us with wide, purple eyes.
The irises were a brilliant, deep lavender color, with flecks of regal purple throughout, and a cat-like black pupil in the center. The irises and pupils were so big they took over the whites of the dragon’s eye, and that was all I could see.
The dragon blinked once, and the motion was slow, but I could see it had two sets of eyelids. One went up and down while it blinked, just like normal, while the second set blinked side to side.
Then the dragon snorted, and a few sparks flew from its nose. One landed on my forearm and burned the skin there, so hot it literally hissed when it made contact.
“Run,” I choked out, but my voice was so tight with fear the sound came out as nothing more than a whisper.
Neither woman moved, and in the same instance, the dragon’s lips curled up and revealed a set of shiny, sharp white teeth.
Each tooth was at least half my size.
“Run!” I yelled again.
This time, we all moved, and my feet went on autopilot as I spun around. I pushed Nadir forward, since the woman was still backward as she tried to keep her eyes on the dragon, and we hauled ass back across the thick sand.
The dragon let out a massive, angry roar that rattled our entire beach, and up on the ridge, I saw Sela appear for just a second as her mouth fell open in a silent scream.
“Sela! Run!” Mira yelled out to her friend.
That was all it took. The blue-haired warrior spun around and dashed back down the ridge, just as we crested over it.
In the same instance, I felt heat blast the back of my neck, and I turned just in time to see the dragon open its giant maw and let out a stream of bright blue fire.
“Hit the deck!” I shouted.
Nadir, Mira, and I slammed to the ground behind the crest of the ridge and flattened ourselves against the hard soil. Rocks and debris dug into my skin and cut it open, but I ignored it as the fire blasted up and over the crest of the ridge.
Thankfully, the crest acted as a shield, and the fire missed us. But just barely, and I felt its heat singe the hair on the top of my head.
After a few moments, the burst of fire cut off, but the three of us didn’t move. The last thing we wanted was to stand up and become nothing but a charred skeleton.
We didn’t need to stand to know what happened next, though. The flap of enormous wings sent gusts of wind over the ridge, and the look of absolute shock on Sela’s, Jemma’s, and George’s faces told us all we needed to know.
We’d just awoken the dragon, and now, it was after us.
Chapter Ten
I flipped over onto my back and looked up as the massive creature lifted itself into the air. If I wasn’t terrified I was about to be nothing more than a burnt hot dog at the bottom of an old grill, I probably would have taken a moment to appreciate the majestic sight.
The sun came through her outstretched wings and caused her to glow in an almost angelic way as she rose further into the air, but the angelic sight was quickly replaced by a devilish one when the golden dragon opened her mouth and let out another giant roar. The sound was so great and terrifying I actually felt it in my bones, and it was as if her roar caused every cell in my body to vibrate with the sound of it.