Anders stopped dead in his tracks when he saw it begin to emerge from the shadows. Shimmering dark green and purple light reflected off its body in the moonlight as the creature showed itself to him.
Anders’ gulp was audible. He whispered aloud to himself, “That’s no bear.”
Emerging from the shadows and into the silver light of the moon, Anders saw something he’d never before hoped to see. A dragon stepped cautiously from behind the trees. It moved carefully, holding its head low to the ground, while keeping its dark-purple eyes fixed on Anders. He didn’t move. He had no idea what to do. His heart raced, and he thought, This is it, this is how I die.
Exposing the entirety of its body, Anders could see the dragon was a truly beautiful creature. The silver moonlight reflected off its iridescent scales. The scales transformed from green to blue to purple as its muscular limbs effortlessly moved its body without a sound.
The dragon’s large nostrils sniffed the air as it slowly approached Anders, who remained completely still. The creature exhaled so forcefully it shook the ground around it, sending a chill up Anders’ spine. He imagined how powerful its attack could be. Its sharp teeth and razor claws could slice into his flesh with ease if it decided to attack him. For now, it seemed only to be curious about what he was.
The dragon came closer, letting out a low growl, or was it a purr, from deep within its throat. Anders took a step backward and stopped when the dragon hopped sideways, startled by his sudden movement. It rose up on its two hind legs, standing tall above him. Anders tilted his head back to look at the entire length of the dragon’s body. With its neck outstretched and head tilting from side to side, looking at him with one eye at a time, Anders guessed it stood over fifteen feet in height, and had a tail extending another seven or eight feet behind its back legs.
He remembered from his childhood that the dragons that attacked the Royals at Highborn Bay were said to be sixty feet in length and stood fifteen to twenty feet off the ground when they were on all fours.
This must not be a full-grown dragon, he thought. Still, the creature was pure muscle and could easily devour him if it wanted to eat him for dinner.
Anders remained still, kicking himself for not bringing anything he could use to defend himself. The dragon dropped back down to all fours. It came closer, more hesitant this time, pulling itself back whenever Anders failed to remain perfectly still.
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.
