Winged

Chapter 7: The Dragon

Hidden behind the trees, the group had a perfect view of the town. The dot in the sky grew bigger and bigger as it hurtled towards them. The gigantic creature landed near the town, sending thunderous shock waves throughout the surrounding area. Leo stared, eyes wide and mouth gaping, as he took in the sight of the colossal creature standing before him, so vast he could lie down full length on its head alone.

The titanic lizard had emerald scales covering its twenty metre long body. As it landed near the town, it crouched on its four massive legs, as thick as trees, ending on enormous clawed feet. From its back protruded bat-like wings, each about ten metres long, as well as a row of vicious spikes the same yellow as its eyes. When the creature opened its cavernous mouth, Leo caught a glimpse of its tongue, about the size of Leo's arm, and a vicious set of fangs, each of them the size of Leo's hand.

The glimpse into the monster's mouth was brief; out came a massive torrent of flames, accompanied by a thunderous roar. The sound itself caused the ground to shake once again; if a lion could grow to the size of a whale, it would roar like that. With its fiery breath the dragon attacked the city, incinerating several houses at once. After a few seconds, it stopped; it looked confused for a minute. It turned its head from side to side, sniffing; looking for something. Does it realise the town is empty? Leo thought. Is it looking for people to terrorize? After a long minute looking, the dragon roared again and took flight, landing near the river shortly after that.

"This is bad," Hikaru said, beside Leo. "It came earlier than we expected and it stopped the attack too early. We had no time to set up a trap."

"The mayor mentioned it came earlier on the second day than on the third," Leo noted. "Maybe it comes earlier each day."

"We'll have to think of something else. Leo, this might get a bit too dangerous, it'd be best if you don't take part in this. You should step aside, understood?"

Leo felt a hinge of disappointment. He wanted to help, and more importantly, he wanted to see the dragon up close.

"Birdie, I promise next time a dragon attacks you'll have a view," she told him, as if she had read his mind. "But you're too inexperienced now, it's too dangerous. Now go, teacher's orders."

Leo obeyed, and started to go further into the woods, but then he stopped. He was too struck by awe and curiosity to just walk away from everything and not even see it. A dragon, a real dragon was right there, and he couldn't just walk away from it. And how could he possibly walk away while his friends were in danger? What if something bad happened and they needed him, somehow?

So he decided to go in another direction. He started walking along the edge of the forest, hiding behind trees, moving away from the group of soldiers, but still able to see the action. As Leo moved, and the dragon drank, he wondered about the strange aspects of the whole ordeal. The dragon was deliberately nullifying its greatest weapon, asking to be attacked.

The questions filled Leo's mind so much, he barely looked at where he was stepping. He only noticed the downwards slope when he stepped on a loose rock, slipped, and fell

"Uh," he uttered, falling on the ground.

The fall was pretty loud. Nervous, Leo slowly turned his head to the river, and his eyes met the gigantic creature's yellow ones, staring right back at him. For what felt like an eternity, nothing moved, nothing made a sound. Leo froze in place, while the dragon patiently looked at him, motionless. When Leo finally regained control of his body, his instincts kicked in and he flew away.

There was a mighty roar behind him; the dragon was taking off after him. Leo tried going faster and faster until the ground below him passed by as a blur, but the monster was accelerating too, roaring and baring its teeth. It couldn't breathe fire, but that wasn't enough to calm Leo down. He tried turning and diving in the air to confuse the creature but it kept tailing him, a flying fortress whose sheer size was enough to make Leo feel crushed.