I stumble through the woods. I'm not used to a forest like this. I've been at the Wilderness school, but that's out in the desert, and when I lived in Texas, the wildest thing I'd seen was that rattlesnake in a cow pasture. These woods have roots to trip over, streams to fall into, and they're apparently stocked with monsters.
Once I stumble far enough into the woods that I'm absolutely sure no one will see me, I summon fire. I haven't kept a sustained burn since I was five. I feel guilty.
I keep walking, looking for any dragon-type clues. Giant footprints, trampled trees, buring forest. But instead, I find a trap. A hundred foot crater ringed with boulders. But something is wrong. It's been set off already, but I can't figure out how. The celestial bronze net has to be pressure sensitive, and there's tabasco-scented oil spilled all over the ground. No dragon was drinking that.
Weird.
I keep walking and pass two more empty traps. I'm starting to wonder if maybe the dragon found a way to bypass them when I come across the fourth trap. I push through the bushes and come face to face with a knife. It's pointed right at me. I adjust my eyes and see Theo. She's pointing her knife at me, her other hand engulfed in flames. I put out my own fire to push through the bushes so luckily she didn't see that, but this is super weird.
"Leo?" She sounds unsure of herself.
It suddenly dawns on me. "You've been setting off the traps?"
"No." She replies very unconvincingly. "Okay, yeah. But I swear to god if you tell anyone I'll roast you."
"I'm terrified." I actually am pretty scared of her. She's so beautiful and intimidating and way out of my league. Just my type. I give her my most charming grin. "Don't worry mamacita, I won't tell. I pinky promise."
She doesn't seem to believe me, but she lowers her knife.
"So, how have you been setting these off?" I ask, stepping tentatively onto the net. Just like I thought, it's pressure sensitive. I make my way into the pit, and she follows behind warily. I'm looking for some sort of release mechanism.
"What are you doing here, Leo?"
"I promised a ride, remember?" I reply, getting closer to the vat. The fumes burn my eyes like crazy. It reminds me of when Tia Callida made me chop jalapenos in the kitchen and I'd gotten the juice in my eyes. She'd told me, "Endure it, little hero. The Aztecs of your mother's homeland used to punish bad children by holding them over a fire filled with chilli peppers. They raised many heroes that way."
Total psycho. So glad I'm going on a quest to rescue her.
"You think you can fix him?" She sort of laughs. "You know Festus can breathe fire, right? And I'm not sure he has wings."
"He doesn't have wings?" I panic for a moment before I process the rest of what she said. "Wait, you named him Festus? Like, the party god?"
Her face burns red for a moment. "Well, that was before you said that, but... yeah. It fits him." Her face changes to a look of panic. "Uh, Leo?"
"What?" I ask, before I hear a loud grinding snort. I turn and see two glowing red eyes on the edge of the pit, about fifty feet away.
"Leo, get behind me." I hear Theo say, but I'm not listening. I'm looking at the dragon. He's sixty feet long, made of interlocking bronze plates. His claws are the size of butcher knives, and his mouth is lined with hundreds of dagger-sharp metal teeth.
"You don't have wings." I tell the dragon.
It tilts it's head, as if confused.
"Hey no offense, you're amazing!" I exclaim. "Good god, who made you? Are you hydraulic or nuclear powered or what? But if it was me, I would've put wings on you. What kind of dragon doesn't have wings? I guess maybe you're too heavy to fly? I should've thought of that."
