The Last of the Dragons-Set 1

173

The Next Day

     "Bailey? Bailey? Wake up! We've got to get moving." I said as I shook Bailey back and forth to wake her.

She rubbed her eyes as she untied herself and sat up. I pointed at the ground before climbing down the tree to join Amy and Tahli below. It was early morning, the sun still barley showing itself from behind the mountains, the air still cool and chilling,  not yet warmed by the suns light. Bailey came down to join us, bow in hand, and came to join us. She stumbled slightly, only being saved from toppling over by Tahli as she grabbed her by the arm.

"So... Now what...?" She asked.

"We travel deeper into the mountains, until we find the dragons. They're our only hope." I said.

"But, they flew away and left us. What makes you think that they'll suddenly change your mind if we find them? And more importantly, how will we find them?" Bailey asked in reply.

"We have to try. If we are to die, I'd rather do it at the claws of a dragon than at the hands of a coward." 

Bailey lightly nodded her head as I turned and started walking aimlessly towards the thicker parts of the mountain range. I figured that if there were any dragons left alive, they would have fled to the most remote parts of the mountains in the hope of keeping away from the invasive people who had taken over our land with such ease. While I had no idea if any dragons were even left alive, I felt something pulling me deeper into the mountains.

"How do you plan to find any dragon if you think there are so few still alive?" Amy asked.

"There isn't a plan to find them, there is only the plan to search. A dragon the size of Doron should be relatively easy to find once we happen upon the area he is living. The larger ones will likely be living up in the mountains themselves, while the smaller ones may still live down in the trees or wide open spaces scattered throughout the forest. But finding the smaller ones isn't what we need to do. We all know what we're looking for." I said.

Four Days Later

The air was thick and cool, the foliage was thick and obstructing. We had been wandering through the mountains for several days, and had seen no signs of any dragon. Only a few animals we had killed for food. We were exhausted from the endless walking through the forest. I was just surprised we hadn't come across any predators. The trees seemed to endlessly extend up towards the clouds, providing thick cover from the harsh sunlight that was beating down on us.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Bailey asked.

"No. I have no idea where we are now. I just know that we're getting deeper into the mountains, which is the mostl place to find any dragons still alive." I replied.

As we walked silently under the tree tops, I noticed something through the trees far off to our right.

"Do you see that?" I asked as I pointed in that direction.

"What is it?" Tahli exclaimed.

"Not sure. Let's check it out."

we cautiously approached the large object, with arrows drawn, but it soon became clear that what were looking at was nothing that could do us harm. I looked through the trees, and I was able to make out a rather vibrant display of colours that seemed somewhat out of place for the otherwise dull green and brown of the forest, with only the occasional flower or small pond.

"Oh my word. It's a dragon." I said.

"Looks to be dead." Amy added.

The dragon looked to be a young female, with bright orange wings and a shimmering red body with pale blue strips running down her back. She was skinny, much skinnier than any dragon I'd seen. She wasn't very large in size, perhaps four times as long as I was tall. Certainly long enough for her to have lived within the trees without making herself known. 

"Think she was killed by a larger one?" Tahli asked.

"Not likely. Her body would be torn up if that were the case. It looks to me like she starved. They're afraid to go beyond the mountains to hunt, and so many of them have probably starved due to lack of food within them. Many more have probably ventured out from the mountains and been killed." I said.

"If this dragon starved to death, what makes you think any of the larger ones are still alive?" Amy asked.

"When we were in school many years ago, we were taught that it was theorized that the larger dragons grew, the less frequent they needed to eat. Some of the biggest could go years without eating so long as the had a large meal prior to that."

"So, they could go years without eating anything? Why did they even bother hunting so often then?" She replied back.

"Those dragons were decades old, perhaps probably over one-hundred years old. Any dragons that are alive at the moment are far younger and smaller. They will still need to eat relatively often. The larger ones have probably learned to hunt down and prey on the smaller ones, so the odds of ours still being alive is somewhat positive, unless they decided to venture beyond the safety of the mountains." I said. 

I looked back down at the dead dragon, placed my bow at the tip of her snout, and placed my hand on her head.

"Rest easy." I said softly.

I slowly stood back up and turned towards the other.

"Alright. Let's go." I said.