The Last of the Dragons-Set 1

89

        1 Week Later

Early one morning as I wandered around between the three dragons sleeping, I was suddenly blinded when the sun peaked up over the horizon. I was shortly there after joined by Tahli as she handed me my bow with several arrows.

"Morning. How are they?" She asked, referring to the hatch-lings.

"They're alright. They keep trying to fly, and last night Tilio attempted to use his fire, but all that came out was smoke." I said.

Moments later, Amy came to join us with her bow in hand.

"We going hunting or what?" She asked in a cheery voice.

"Yeah, we don't have much choice. Not many fish in the river." I said.

 After several minutes of mostly useless conversation, Bailey came out from under Doron's wing, with Magar in her arms and the other six hatch-lings following her.

"She's bonded with a dragon way faster than anyone I've ever heard of." Tahli said as Bailey approached us.

"You guys going hunting?" She asked as Magar yawned.

"Yep. We're going to take Doron. Veracon and Ragon will stay here and take care of the new comers." I said.

"C-Can I come with you?" She asked.

The three of us looked at each other in silence for a moment. Then I looked back to Bailey.

"If you want to come with us, you'll learn to use a bow. Understood?" I said firmly.

Bailey nodded her head in excitement. She put Magar down with the others as Doron came around behind us and stretched out his wing out. Veracon and Ragon came up behind us and surrounded the hatch-lings as we mounted Doron. The four of us grabbed on to his quills and secured our weapons as Doron turned to take off.

"Fly."

Doron flapped his wings as he ran forward until he got off the ground. He ascended up high enough for us to see the mountains off in the distance. We flew over the wide open plains, searching for targets to hunt. Then, after more than an hour of flying, I spotted a heard of bison down below us.

"Dive." I commanded.

Doron dropped down to just above the heard as the took off in an attempt to escape. Doron was far to big to target animals for us to eat. The only way he could take down prey was to drop down on it and crush it below his feet. If he did that with our food, it would probably get damaged and get some kind of bacteria from the dirt into the meat that our weaker immune systems couldn't handle. The only way for us to safely to take down our food was to shoot it dead with an arrow. Doron flew just above the ground as I drew my bow and fired an arrow into the heard. One bison moaned and toppled over as Doron circled around over head. I drew Amy and Tahli both drew arrows and fired down at the same bison just below us. The animal stumbled and flipped over several times before coming to rest as blood gushed out from its wounds.

"Hey, it's your turn." I said to Bailey.

I handed her my bow as Doron circled around to the back of the heard. Down below, a young calf that had been separated from the heard and his mother. Doron slowed as much as he could and flew right up beside the calf. Bailey shut her eyes and blindly fired the arrow. It struck the calf in the back right leg, causing it to fall to the ground.

"Down!" I commanded.

Doron landed near the crippled calf. The four of us dismounted and walked over to the young animal as it moaned and bleed profusely.

"Well, at least you hit it." I said.

Bailey shrugged her shoulders as I pulled out my dagger. I knelt down in front of the calf as it tried repeatedly to stand up, failing every time. I put my knife to the side of its head, then plunged it through. The animal struggled and squealed for a moment, before it stopped moving and dropped down to the ground as blood poured out from the wound.

"That should be enough for a while." Tahli said.

"Yeah. We aren't that hungry." Amy added.

Doron lowered his neck down beside the calf. I tied it to his side, before mounting him again. We did the same for the other two, before getting ready to head back to the other dragons. Doron had caught a few bison for himself, along with a few more in his talons for the other dragons. These bison were crushed and dripping blood, and were covered in grass and dirt. I much preferred to shoot my own dead. 

"fly." I said.

Doron took off in the direction of the river. The air was warm, yet cool. Windy, yet calm. The sky was cloudy, which made the sun much less harsh on my skin. When we arrived back at the river. the hatch-lings came rushing to Doron as he dropped their share of the meat down in front of them. He dropped Veracon and Ragon their share, before landing and devouring his own supper.

"Nice shot." I said to Bailey as we got to the bottom of Doron's wing.

She smiled.

"Thanks."

Just then, Magar came up to her and stopped at her feet. She picked her up and hugged her tight. She purred and rubbed her head up against Baileys chin. 

"Bailey, your bond with this dragon is special. Never betray it." I said.