Winged

Chapter 7: The Dragon

Leo looked everywhere to find a hiding spot. Despite the speed at which he flew, his senses were sharper than ever; he could make out everything that passed by, hear sounds beyond the wind screaming in its ears, and see as far as a hawk. With a gasp of relief he saw a cliff nearby, on the side of which was as small cavern with an entrance no bigger than a crack, big enough for Leo to enter, but small enough to keep him safe from the beast. He flew there as fast as he could and entered the cave.

The dragon followed him to the cliff-side; it saw its prey entering the cave and peeked inside. The large golden eye spotted Leo hidden within and it roared again. Leo's heart skipped a beat when the monster lifted its large paw and tried to use its claws to break the rocks and make a bigger opening. Desperate, he unsheathed his royal sword and pierced the creature's toes with it. The beast retracted its paw and roared in pain as it opened its wings and flew away.

When the monster was out of sight, Leo finally caught his breath, but remained in place for a while, sweating rivers with his head pounding and spinning. It took several minutes, but he eventually calmed down and flew back to where Hikaru and the others were waiting. The group had left its hiding place and were out in the open, near the river. When he landed, Hikaru looked a little less calm and serene than usual. When she got near him, she gripped his arms and asked,

"Are you hurt? Are you all right?"

"No. I mean, yes. I mean, no, I'm not hurt. I'm all right."

She slapped him hard on the back of the head.

"Ow!" he shouted.

"What were you thinking? I told you to go into the woods."

"I'm sorry, I... I wanted to see... I don't know, it was stupid, but... I don't know. I'm sorry, really sorry."

Hikaru let go of his arms and relaxed.

"It's fine," she said, unconvincingly. "We missed our opportunity, but this will give us some time to set up a trap. The important thing is that you are unhurt."

"Sorry. So... you were worried about me, huh?"

"Of course I was. It's my duty to protect you, is what I mean."

"Yes, it is."

*****

That night, the group slept at an inn. They'd wait for the dragon to come back the next day. Hikaru had devised a plan and now everyone was asleep, except for Leo.

He tried to, but a terrible nightmare woke him up in the middle of the night. In the dream, Leo stood in front of a burning house, with everything around it completely dark. As Leo walked closer to the house, he could see Heiron knocking violently on the door, and shouting, although Leo couldn't make out what he was saying over the sound of the raging fire. Leo walked closer still, but as he did, a ball of flames rose up from the ground and engulfed Heiron, who vanished. Without Heiron, Leo had a clear view of the door. Unlike the rest of the house, it wasn't on fire, aside from one small part. In its centre, there was a flaming, red mark in the form of a smiling mask.

Leo woke up covered in sweat and feeling feverish. He rolled around in his bed, trying to fall asleep again, but he couldn't. There were too many things on his mind. He thought about the chase with the monster, the fear, the danger, about how close he came to dying for a stupid mistake. And then he thought about the creature's attack, about the burned down houses, about the people who had died, about Heiron and his lover, about the masked man. Could all of that be happening because of him? If Leo had gone back to the real world on that day, would the dragon be attacking now?

After hours of tossing and turning, Leo got up and snuck out of his bedroom. He thought maybe some fresh air would clear his mind. On the inn's porch, he noticed Themba's hound, Crocotta, was lying down but awake.