A Dragon’s Tale

Ethan grimaced as every movement made his back feel like it was being scrapped over a bed of hot coals. He applied his mana to start healing, but it was slow going. He thought dragon scales were supposed to be heat resistant. Of course, he wasn't burned alive so maybe they were.

Havorleth had turned around to face Rachel, Serif, and Raklan. The two men were spaced a half dozen feet apart to cover each other. They were advancing with their shields raised and long spears held ready. Rachel was standing by herself, as if daring the dragon to breathe fire at her again.

He didn't.

Ethan reached into his bag and pulled out the last wooden grenade. He needed to make this count. Havorleth was doing a good job at holding the others off, and victory was by no means guaranteed.

The larger dragon was clearly very experienced at fighting men armed with spears and shields. He was dodging and weaving around just enough to keep them off balance while trying to knock their spears out of position. If he did, he could simply charge and run them over. They apparently knew this and didn't give him the chance.

Ethan realized that he shouldn't be surprised that Raklan and Serif were so skilled at fighting dragons because Lord Borden had never seemed to fully trust him, even after he married his daughter. It made sense that he sent two men who clearly had significant experience fighting dragons to guard his daughter.

Ethan crept forward as quietly as he could, trying to get within a good distance to accurately throw. There was a tense minute as he did so, but he was finally close enough to the distracted dragon. He armed and then tossed the grenade. It bounced and rolled directly underneath the other dragon. He waited two seconds, then called out.

"Hey Havorleth."

The other dragon whipped around on all fours and Ethan pointed to his feet. Havorleth looked down and saw the grenade sitting between his forelegs. His eyes went wide.

BOOM!

The dragon roared in pain. He stood up on his hind legs and looked at his arms, shock and disbelief written all over his face. Thanks to his enchanted scales, his arms hadn't been blown off, but they were a bit of a mess. The shrapnel had pierced the scales in several places and his arms were covered in blood.

He was still swinging his tail back and forth to discourage those behind him from attacking. He started to spread his wings, then winced in pain as the arrow still embedded in one of them was jarred. The larger dragon turned so he had Ethan on one side and the others on another. He then began to slowly back away using only his hind legs.

"You're done Havorleth." Ethan said. "Give up."

"I would never shame myself by surrendering to filthy human cattle." He spat, then grimaced at the pain of moving.

"You wouldn't be losing to humans; you'd be losing to a fellow dragon. Where's the shame in that?" Ethan countered, hoping to resolve this before the larger dragon realized they were out of grenades.

He glanced at the humans, then back to Ethan. "You would make me leave my hoard?"

"I would have you live." Ethan said. "But you'll live far away from here. Here is the deal: You will leave this place; you'll leave and never come back. In return, we will spare your life."

Havorleth sneered. "We?"

"I will spare your life." He corrected himself. "You still aren't losing to humans."

Just out of Havorleth's eye-line, Raklan opened his mouth to object. Serif smacked him upside the head and he remained silent.

Havorleth stared at Ethan for several seconds. He glanced toward his cave, then at his mangled arms, then back to Ethan.

A sly smile crossed his face.

"Sure, you can have my hoard..." His sly smile turned into a wicked one and he looked almost triumphant. "...and everything that comes with it."

"Such as?"

The same wicked smile became broader. "You'll see."

Ethan felt like he had just been tricked somehow, but didn't see another way out of this tense standoff. If it was just him, maybe. But Alana was lying unconscious and helpless a dozen yards away. He wasn't willing to take risks with her so unprotected and vulnerable.

He nodded. "Then go."

Havorleth nodded, inclining his head slightly in a gesture of respect, which seemed oddly out of place given the wickedly sly smile on his face.

He then opened his wing so he could look directly at the arrow embedded in it. He stared at it for almost a full minute as he seemed to be collecting himself. Then he opened his mouth and a jet of extremely concentrated flame came out. It looked more like a blowtorch than a flame thrower.

He aimed the highly concentrated flame at the arrow's shaft. About thirty seconds later, half of the arrow fell to the ground. Havorleth screwed up his face, and in one sharp motion pulled the other half out of his wing.

He howled in pain.

After collecting himself, he began to stare at his wing and Ethan could see the wound begin to close. About a minute later, it was healed and the larger dragon flapped his wings experimentally.

He turned to Ethan. "We will meet again, whelp." Then Havorleth leapt into the sky and flew off into the distance.

Rachel walked over to Ethan and they watched together as the dragon almost cheerfully flew away from his hoard of gold.

The redhead looked at Ethan. "Did that seem--"

"--a little too easy?" He nodded. "Yeah, it absolutely did." He stared after the dragon for several moments, then remembered...

"Alana." He breathed, and whipped around just in time to see Kendra pulling her Dragon Slayer bow back, a Dragon Slayer arrow nocked into the string. She had found the arrow...

...and It was aimed at his heart.

No one moved.

He barely breathed.

Kendra just stood there, bow drawn back and eyes filled with rage, confusion and hate, but she hadn't let the arrow fly...

Yet.

"Why?" She asked as she glanced at his shoulder, where the burn marks from where he had saved her life were still visible.

"I don't know." He replied honestly.

* * *

"How could you not know?" Kendra almost spat.

Her arms were starting to get tired from holding the bow partially drawn despite her strength-enhancing vambraces. If she was going to kill him, she'd need to loose the arrow soon.

The dragon shrugged.

Her arms were extremely tired.

It didn't make sense. Why in Illuminar's name would a dragon that she'd tried to kill four times rescue her? It didn't make any sense. It gained nothing from doing so and put itself at great risk by the act.

So why!?

"Tell me, or this goes through your heart."

She looked into its eyes.

For the first time, she really looked at them. They were fairly typical dragon eyes; green with cat-like slits for the pupil. But that wasn't what caught her attention. She had looked many dragons in the eye before ending their lives. She seen rage, hate, disgust, disbelief, shock, and many other things in dragon eyes...

But never kindness.

Never sadness.

Never concern.

The dragon's eyes flicked to the boulder near her feet where the wood elf still lay unconscious.

"Did you hurt her?" It asked, eyes full of concern.

She could tell -- she wasn't sure how -- but she could tell this dragon truly cared. It was sincere in its concern. It wasn't putting on a show or bluffing. She'd learned to read people extremely well and spot a lie from a thousand paces.

It really was concerned.

Kendra slowly let the bowstring back down so the bow wasn't drawn anymore, but didn't lower it.

"She's unhurt." Kendra said, but kept the un-drawn bow aimed at the dragon. "She'll feel like shit for a couple of hours after waking, but she'll be fine afterward."

The dragon's eyes narrowed, a different emotion replacing the concern. Something darker; something malevolent. She couldn't meet its eyes and looked away, before looking back again.

It walked up to her and stood mere feet away.

She didn't stop it.

Its head was inches from hers. She could smell its breath. She could've counted the tiny scales around its mouth. She had allowed a dragon to step into her personal space.

She hadn't stopped it.

She didn't know why, but she didn't.

She had let it approach.

She hadn't drawn her bow, warned it away, or even taken a step back. She had just stood there, unable to meet its eyes as it towered over her. It wasn't even that big, but somehow its bearing and demeanor made her feel cowed; almost like a child facing a parent after misbehaving.

"Look at me." It hissed.

She did.

"Listen." It commanded with venom behind its eyes. "I can forgive you coming after me, even after I saved your life. I can forgive all the attempts to kill me. I can even make peace with the fact that you'll probably keep trying to kill me because I won't kill you in cold blood."

She looked away, not able to meet its eyes.

"LOOK AT ME!" It boomed.

She complied.

The cold fury behind its eyes was unnerving. She had never seen such depth of emotion behind a beast's eyes before, not even a dragon's. It wasn't merely bestial rage either; this was something else. It looked almost...

Almost...

Human?

"I can deal with all that." It said, the emotion behind its eyes intensifying as its volume lowered to almost a growl. "But let me make one thing perfectly clear. If you ever harm a single hair on Alana's head, I swear I'll tear you limb from fucking limb."

It spat the words in low, quiet, and deadly tone. Not loud -- that would've been more bearable -- but with a conviction that was almost scary. No, scary wasn't a strong enough word.

It was truly terrifying.

Kendra nodded.

At that moment, she realized the only reason she was still alive was she hadn't hurt the wood elf. She'd seen men do incredible things under adrenaline. Something told her that even if she had put the arrow through its heart, it would've killed her before dying itself.

"Do you understand?" It hissed.

She nodded.

It growled threateningly. "Do. You. Under. Stand?"

She swallowed hard and whispered. "Yes."

"Then go!" It stretched out one of its long arms and pointed a long, clawed finger toward the forest from whence they'd come.

Kendra obeyed.

She didn't think, she just complied.

She turned and ran into the forest. She barely had the presence of mind to hang onto her last dragon slayer arrow and not drop the bow.

She just ran.

She didn't know why she was running. She didn't understand. She had never -- not once in her entire life -- taken orders from a dragon before. Yet today she had done so. Not once, but twice. Twice she listened to this dragon.

Why?

It didn't make any sense.

She'd had the beast dead to rights. She had the arrow nocked, the bow aimed, and her fingers primed for release. Why hadn't she killed it? That's what she'd come for; why couldn't she follow through?

Why had it saved her?

Why did it have such care and concern behind its eyes?

Why did it seem so protective of that wood elf?

She had never heard of such a thing before. Dragons weren't even protective of the women who they raped to carry their brood. But this one dragon, this one beast was different. Out of all the dragons that roamed their land, this one seemed to want to protect someone else.

Why this dragon?

Why this elf?

Most of all, she didn't understand why it had saved her life.

She couldn't wrap her mind around it.

It didn't make sense.

After all she'd done to kill it, it had saved her. It had saved her not once, but twice. The second time, it had taken dragon flames to save her.

Why?