The Last of the Dragons-Set 1

58

      Amy looked over the broken spear. The spear was broken in half, the front half was missing. The piece I had found was about four feet long, and as thick as a branch.

"Wh-where's the other half?" Amy asked hesitantly. 

"Probably lodged in chest of a dragon." I said.

A silence fell over the forest. Amy and I locked eyes for several seconds before I snapped out of it.

"Never mind. Let's get you fed." I said.

I spent the next several minutes building a fire from small rocks and twigs we collected from the trees that had been knocked over. I removed the hawk from the horses side and began to clean it.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Amy asked as she sat down beside me.

"My dad showed me how when I was little. Micha too. Your parents never showed you how to hunt and clean meat?"

"No.. Never." Amy said.

"Well, here, let me give you a quick lesson."

Amy shuffled closer to my side as I spread the hawks wings out over my knees. I took the knife, and lightly pressed up against the skin.

"Push under the skin, then start to peel it off."

I peeled the skin off the bird, then began to separate the wings and legs. I motioned for her to watch as I pressed the knife through the shoulder joint, popping the wing off.

"Want to try the other?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Come on, try it."

She reached out and took the bird, and placed the knife to the shoulder joint of the other wing.

"Good, now push down with the sharp edge of the blade."

She did as I instructed, and the wing came off with ease.

"Nice work!" I said in a cheery voice.

We cooked the hawk as the sun gradually got lower and lower. As we ate, I saw Amy pull something from her pocket.

"What's that?" I asked with a mouthful of meat.

"I brought the book from the school." She said as she flipped through the pages.

I swallowed before reaching out for it. Amy handed me the book and I began flipping through the pages. One title caught my eye.

'The last dragon duel'

"Have you read this one?" I asked Amy.

"I have not, no." She replied. 

I proceeded to read the words on the page aloud.

"The natives had only four dragons left on their side. Yurkon and Forion, who had fought against Tario, Demorio and Gorgon, as well as Zavinano, who was only half Yurkon' size, and Polirano. About the same size as Yurkon. The four dragons were kept far behind the front lines of the fighting, the native warriors held them back by the fear of loosing them in battle. Hundreds of battles against the dictators army had been hopelessly lost, with thousands of casualties.

One such battle would yield a small reward however.

Near what would become the kings home in the centre of his newly founded empire, a great battle took place, just like many other battles decades before it. Roughly thirty thousand men charged the forces forces surrounding the kings home. The king had only three dragons left to fight. His personal mount, Tario, as well as two other dragons, Serion and Keplerio. Neither of these two dragons were as big as Tario, but still dwarfed the remaining dragons tamed by the natives many times over.