The Silver Dragon (Unpublished, unedited version)

Chapter 8: A Test of Strength and Will

The months passed quickly at the farm. Every day followed the same routine. Get up early in the morning, work until the sun started to die in the horizon then if there was time train if there was time. The seasons changed rather quickly as well. As summer came the weather began to heat up to an almost uncomfortable point. The grass changed from a healthy green to a brown-yellow colour. Rolls of hay were bundled up throughout the surrounding farmland, and covered in a giant white cloth. They looked like giant white marshmallows.

Hunting was still plentiful however as the kangaroo population around the area seemed to increase over spring. Silver found herself growing rather quickly as well. She was now the size of a large packhorse, and didn't show any signs of stopping soon. And with her growth her power also grew. Bending metal to her will was becoming far easier. Her strength and speed increased with each week. The clearing she used to train was now covered in a bowl of metal that she constantly added to.

To her relief knowledge of her had been kept to a minimum. The few farmers that worked around the area knew of her, and also the farm hands that occasionally came to help Darren with different pieces of machinery. Occasionally she was called on to work as well, rolling huge cylinders of hay into the shed that they were kept at. It was hard work for the young dragoness and she often found herself too tired by the end of the day to train. But it was all worth it in the end and every night she would fall to sleep with a sense of accomplishment.

Silver glided down over a rather large paddock and landed close to where one of Darren's machines were hauling another load of hay into a huge pile at the end of the field. She had just been out hunting and the bloodied remains of a kangaroo were smeared over her maw. That day had been significantly hot. The uncomfortable rays of sunlight were burning at her shell. Shifting slightly she ignored it. She put her shoulder against the bail of hay and pushed, rolling it over to where it was being stored in a pile.

As she finished she noticed a sudden commotion over at one side of the field where the large machine was. Frowning she padded over to the few humans around it. Darren was one of them. He had his apprentice, Ethan, with him as well as another human who's name escaped Silver. They noticed her rather quickly and grew silent as she approached.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Despite her living at the farm for almost five months, most other humans found her oddly terrifying. Maybe it was her size, or her intelligence, of the fact that she was some 'mythical' creature with supposed magic powers. She didn't know, but whenever she was around them she did her best to make herself as least threatening as possible. Well maybe not, but she tried to give them little to worry about.

"The hay baler's bogged," said Ethan.

Ethan was a strange human. He was short, far smaller then normal, and had dark hair that he let grow out. He usually had it tired up behind his head. The first time Silver had seen him she had mistaken him for a female, and they hadn't started on good terms.

"What?" she asked.

"Stuck," Ethan replied, seeming a little frustrated, "We can't move it."

The baler was indeed stuck. Half of its giant wheel was submerged in mud where it had rolled into a rather low area of ground where all the water gathered, creating a muddy embankment in the middle of the field. In Silver's eyes it didn't look like it was going anywhere fast.

"Do you need help?" she asked.

The farmers looked at each other, before Darren spoke up. He was the only one of the three that fully trusted her.

"That would be good, thank you Silver," he said, before turning back to the problem at hand, "Now, I have no incentive to leave this machine here. We need to get it out. Silver, could you try and dig up the tire while the rest of us find some wood to lodge underneath."