Dragon Eyes

Chapter 8. The Dragon's Cave.

"I did, in what way?"

"You said that because something is considered a well accepted fact doesn't necessarily make it true."

"Yes."

"Now remember back in the woods you were asking why he hadn't attacked us, saying that it is a well accepted fact that dragons will always attack humans. Well you answered your own question. So if one fact about dragons is not true, how do we know that all of them are?"

Lynwood stubbornly shook his head, "but all the books..."

"Lynwood, have you ever stopped to think that the books could be wrong? After all, books about dragons were written by men. I should think that if a dragon were to write a book about dragons, it would be a whole lot different."

Lynwood pondered all that Sofia had said. Could it really be true? Could everything he had ever known about dragons be wrong? No, how could that be? It just didn't make sense.

"Oh I don't know," he said at last. "And at this moment, I really don't care."

Sofia sighed and nodded her head, the two of them sat by the pool in silence. The sad reality of their situation once more came crashing down on them.

"I suppose we are stuck here then," Lynwood finally said.

Sofia nodded, and glancing up, looked over at the dragon who was eyeing them curiously.

"Why does he keep staring at us?"

Lynwood only shrugged in reply.

"I wonder if it's really a 'he'; maybe it's a 'she'."

"It's a he!"

"How do you know?"

"Well, according to the books, male dragons have horns. Look, see, on his nose, there is that large golden horn, so I'm guessing it's a male. I know the books were wrong about a lot of things it seems, but this is one fact I am guessing is true. It would make sense, don't you think?"

"I suppose so," Sofia said. "I wonder how old he is."

"Dragons are said to live for a very long time, much longer than people, but I have no idea of how to determine his age."

"Is he older than we are?"

"A great deal older; he's a very large dragon, and his eyes are very wise. Something tells me he's lived up here in this cave for a long, long time."

After a moment of silence, Sofia abruptly turned to her brother. "Lynwood, I am simply starving!"

"Well, I hate to break it to you, Sofia, but I have don't know where to get you some food."

Sofia sighed. "Does that mean we are going to starve to death?"

"Maybe."

"Lynwood!"

"What?"

"You should try to find some solution to this problem, we can't just accept fate the way it is, we have to do something."

"Well then, do something!" Lynwood barked at her. "I'm trying to figure out how I am supposed to take that letter to the nephew of the king."

"Is that all you can think about?" Sofia was shocked and her voice clearly showed it. "Your own sister might be dying of hunger and all you care about is some letter to some nephew of some king!"

"You're not dying of hunger."

"I might as well be."

"Oh for goodness sake, Sofia," Lynwood stood up. "Father gave me a job to do!"

"But that doesn't mean that you should turn away from you responsibilities!" Sofia shot back.

Lynwood narrowed his eyes. "Where do you think I'm going to be able to get you food from?" He nearly shouted at his sister. "Do I look like I have any? You think I can just magically make food appear out of nowhere?"

Sofia bit her lip and tears came to her eyes. Lynwood sighed and getting up walked over to where she was sitting and put his arm around her.

"I'm sorry Sofia, I hadn't meant to yell. I'm hungry too, but there is nowhere for us to get food right now. The past events have happened so quickly and have been so strange. We are in a rather tight situation and we'll just have to be brave and face it the best way we can."

Sofia nodded a little and put her head on Lynwood's shoulder. The two of them sat very still of a long while, both were exhausted, it had turned out to be a very tiring day for them. The dragon had been looking at them for a long time. He had watched how Lynwood had lost his temper, then how he had gone to apologize and how the two of them still looked so sad. He concluded something terrible must have happened to them to make them both so sad. He was also tired and exhausted. It had been a wretched day for him as well. He was hungry, but far too tired and in pain to go and hunt something. At the same time, he felt so sorry for the poor little humans, their clothes and hair were still damp from the drizzle that was outside. He went over to his nest and motioned to it with his head. Lynwood looked up and noticed.

"I think he is telling us that we can spend the night in his bed," he said, nudging Sofia.

"You think so?" Sofia asked.

Lynwood nodded. "Yes, he's motioning to the nest but isn't getting into it himself, I think that's his way of telling us we can sleep there."

"Oh how kind of him!" Sofia exclaimed as she crawled into the heap. "Come on Lynwood, it is very soft and comfortable."

Lynwood turned to the dragon; haltingly he reached out and gave the dragon a little awkward pat, then he climbed into the nest next to Sofia. Pulling his blanket out of the bag, he covered the two of them.

"Lynwood, tell me something. When did you have time to pack all this? You have a blanket and a flint and all that other stuff in the bag!"

"Oh," Lynwood gave a small, sad laugh. "I was planning to run away from home, so I packed my things."

"RUN AWAY FROM HOME!!!! Whatever for?"

"Father and I had an argument and I was all angry and upset."

"So you decided to run away, were you really going too?"

"Of course not," Lynwood sighed. "I would probably just go for a long hike, realized what a silly fool I was, calmed down, and come straight back. Where would I have gone? I was just angry so I wasn't thinking straight. Anger is a dangerous thing Sofia; it can make you do so many stupid things you will later regret." Lynwood grew thoughtful from his own words; then he sighed and looked over at the dragon who was watching him and Sofia.

"Thank you," he said with a soft smile. "Thank you for letting us stay the night here. It would have been cold and unpleasant if we would have had to stay out there in the woods."

The dragon smiled back. Dragon smiles always look a bit odd, and to some they may even look funny, but they are very sweet none the less. Then the dragon lay down beside the nest. Within a few moments dragon and children were fast asleep.