When the dragon was right in front of his body, Anders closed his eyes, fearing the worst was about to happen. He felt the warmth of the dragon’s breath was over his skin, raising the hairs on his neck. He heard the sound of lips parting and opened his eyes to see the dragon’s mouth cracked open inches away from his face. From within its deadly cage of teeth, Anders watched the creature’s forked tongue extend out beyond its jaw and lick the side of his face. His skin pulled along, sticking to the dragon’s barbed tongue. Anders wouldn’t have imagined what the dragon did next, not in a million years.

To his surprise, the dragon began to nuzzle him with its snout. It purred softly as it brushed its head up and down against his body. Its tail flicked back and forth like his uncle’s barn cats did when they rubbed against his legs back at the family farm. Anders nearly fell over backward from the pressure of the dragon’s head against his body. The dragon seemed to be snuggling with him. He extended his arm out over the massive head and stroked its scaled neck from the ears down. The moment Anders laid his hand on the dragon; he felt something happen inside him. His body flooded with a warmth and strength he had never experienced before. In that moment, Anders felt truly happy.

He let out a laugh as he stroked the dragon’s neck and it playfully nuzzled him back. All of a sudden the moment ended as fast as it started. The dragon pulled away from him. It raised its head; ears pointed upward on alert in the direction of Anders’ group’s camp. Anders heard his companions’ shouts as they called his name. He turned his head to see where they were. He looked back expecting to see the dragon still at his side, but it was no longer there. Only the slow movement of a low-hanging tree branch was proof of it having been there.

Was that real? he asked himself, looking at the branch swaying among the otherwise motionless vegetation. He raised his hand to his cheek feeling a wet streak on his face. It was.

Anders looked back toward the shouting as it grew louder. He turned his head once more to where the dragon had been and smiled. He rushed back to the others who searched for him along the tree line.

“Over here!” he yelled when he saw them in the light of the moon.

They came rushing to his side, blades drawn. Upon seeing he was okay, they began to question him.

“What are you doing out here?” Ivan asked.

“I couldn’t sleep and thought a walk would be nice,” he replied not lying but not telling them the whole story.

“Why didn’t you let anyone know where you were going?” Max asked.

“I didn’t want to wake anyone, and figured I wouldn’t go far and would be back before anyone woke up,” Anders said.

“How is it that I couldn’t sense where you were?” Ivan asked.

“I don’t know?” Anders replied. “I was walking along the edge of the trees.”

“I have always been able to sense you, even when you were much farther away from us after the shipwreck,” Ivan said. “Just now when I awoke and noticed you were not in your bed, I reached out to sense your presence, but felt nothing. How could that be if you were just walking along this close to camp?”

Anders shrugged and thought, The dragon must’ve blocked Ivan from sensing me. “I don’t know. I was just trying to clear my head is all, honest,” he said.

Ivan looked at him strangely, “All right. I’m glad you weren’t devoured by goblins or something,” he said. “Let’s go back to sleep. We have a long way to go if we are going to make it to the statue tomorrow.”

As they walked back to camp, Anders wondered if he should tell Ivan or Max about the encounter. He was finally beginning to feel that he could really trust them, but his heart was telling him to keep it a secret. Remembering the message Solomon had given him before he left Brookside, he decided to follow his instincts and keep it a secret for now. If he’d just seen the dragon off in the distance, the situation would be different, but this wasn’t your average run-of-the-mill dragon sighting.

Back at camp, Anders lay on the blanket he’d laid out for his bed, though now he was even more wide awake than before. He couldn’t go to sleep, not after what had just happened. He rolled his head to the side and stared toward the tree line, peering through the moonlight for a glimpse of the magnificent creature with which he’d just had such an intimate encounter. As he watched, his eyes grew heavy and the next thing he knew he was lost in a dream.

Anders cracked open his eyes when he felt the morning sun shining through his eyelids. He smelled fresh meat cooking and looked to see Ivan and Max preparing a rabbit leg breakfast. The sun was rising and he could feel the heat of the day beginning to warm the ground around him. Looking out at the plains, the grassland glowed in the golden morning light.

“Not a bad way to wake up,” he said.

“I prefer to wake up on an island beach, looking out at the ocean,” Red said sitting up from his bed.

Anders didn’t really care for the Rollo Island warriors; they were stubborn and close-minded, at least Red and his two comrades were. Luckily, he didn’t have to spend much time alone with them.

After they ate, the crew set off across the plains. They rode in their usual formation, Ivan up at the front leading the expedition, Red and his men following behind, and Anders and Max bringing up the rear. This way they had an experienced guide in the lead and some experienced riders behind the Islanders making sure nothing happened to them if they fell off or fell too far behind.

“Come on. What were you really doing out there in the woods last night?” Max asked Anders once they’d ridden far enough to let some distance get between them and the Islanders.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d take a walk along the edge of the trees.” Anders said sticking to his story.

Max brought his eyebrows together with a look of suspicion, “Okay… You could’ve been attacked or captured by goblins; you know they’re in the area. We barely escaped them coming into Brookside the other day. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were roaming around out here as well.”

“I know. Next time I’ll let you know,” Anders said. “What do you think made Ivan wake up?” He was curious why Ivan would notice that he was out of his bed. Up until now, Ivan had slept soundly through the night. Anders knew this because he often woke up in the middle of the night to relieve himself, usually making enough noise that anyone having trouble sleeping would wake up. Ivan, however, never even moved, remaining sound asleep.

“I don’t know? He probably just had to pee or something,” Max said, still giving him a suspicious look.

“I was just trying to relax,” Anders said, “honestly.”

“Okay, well, you know you can trust me if there’s something you want to get off your mind,” said Max.

“Thanks,” Anders said. While they were talking, they’d let their horses lag behind the others. Ivan had stopped his horse and the others to wait for them to catch up.

“Everything all right?” he asked, concerned.

“Yeah, Max was just telling me a funny joke,” Anders said.

Ivan shook his head and sighed, “You always have something to joke about, don’t you Max.” Then he turned his horse back around and continued on his way.

The crew rode hard and only got off to walk their horses twice that day. By the time the sun began to set behind them, they could see the Statue of Old Kings protruding from the coastline. At its base a large, sandy beach swept down the crescent-shaped coast. Lining the beach were the Rollo Island Navy warships.

“Look,” Red said, pointing to the statue.

“The warriors, they got the message!” Max exclaimed.

“I knew they would,” Red said proudly. “You can always rely on the Rollo Islanders.” He straightened his posture and puffed out his chest.

As they made their way across to the statue, Anders noticed something out of the corner of his eye moving swiftly across the plains.

“Wild horses,” he said pointing toward the herd galloping through the grass in the distance.

“Hey, we did see some,” Max said, happy to see them at a distance. Anders watched as the herd ran freely across the open land.

“It is truly a beautiful sight,” Ivan said, acknowledging their excitement at seeing the herd.

The night’s darkness had descended by the time their small group reached the beach beneath the statue. Red and his two comrades hopped off their horses and rushed to greet the Rollo war party’s leaders.

The Islanders embraced one another and one of the leaders said to them in a thick Rolloan accent, “I never thought I would see the day when my son would become a master horseman.”

“He most definitely isn’t a master,” Max said leaning over his saddle and looking around for a laugh. Instead the warriors gave him cold looks that told him they were not pleased with his comment.

“Tough crowd,” Max whispered to Anders, as he sat back into his saddle. Anders chuckled and shook his head, then dismounted to join the others.

“Chief Jorgen,” Ivan said, bowing his head slightly, showing Red’s father more respect than Max had.

“Welcome to our camp. We’ve been eagerly awaiting your arrival. Come, we have much to discuss,” Red’s father said, taking Red under his arm and walking back toward their camp.

Chapter 10

Zahara