LIONHEART ❃ george weasley

024 | the dragonlord

"Hey," she repeated, louder and firm, returning her gaze to the Short-Snout's head. "Listen, I'm not here to hurt you or your eggs, okay? All I need is the golden one, and I'll be out of your hair."

The dragon's growl grew to a short yet fearsome roar; Albany had no idea if she was communicating successfully or not, but the dragon seemed even angrier, if that was anything to go off of.

Stepping closer, her instincts were warning her, was the worst possible idea right now. The mother dragon had quit pacing, stretching out its incredibly large wings and drawing itself to full height, towering over the brunette. Its chest was heaving and the smoke from its nostrils thickening as its breathing grew stronger; its claws dug into the ground and tail lashed vigorously as pin-prick pupils focused fully on Albany.

Her legs were quivering lightly now, but she kept her wand hand steady, holding it against the dragon with steeled muscles. It was her only defense if the mother decided to attack.

"One egg is all I need," Albany repeated, and wasn't sure where to look; she was so close that she couldn't keep her eye on all of it at once. "And it's not even yours. Nobody needs to get hurt."

The dragon didn't back down. Alright, Albany, time to be brave, she thought fiercely, and bracing herself, stepped forward again.

The mother dragon had had enough.

Albany shrieked and jumped back as it let out a burst of flames where she'd been standing, quickly abandoning any thought of defensive spells. She landed roughly on her side, though didn't feel the pain, scrambling back to her feet with newfound speed.

She resorted to running as the dragon began to charge her, cursing under her breath as she stumbled over the rough landscape of the enclosure. The roars of the crowd came back to life all of a sudden, thunderous shouting deafening her along with the dragon's furious cries.

"Holy shit," Albany gasped, throwing herself to the ground to avoid another stream of blue fire at the last second.

She crawled hurriedly to hide behind a fallen log, which she quickly realised was a terrible idea; the dragon was spreading flames all around the enclosure in an effort to find her, and where her log was singed, the dry timber turned almost instantly to ash.

"Merlin!" she called, panting for breath as she rolled down the slope, nearly collapsing as she dropped onto her feet from a short ledge. "Could use a little help here!"

Merlin appeared to her left with a pop, arms folded as he regarded her state with a raised eyebrow.

"Going well?" he assumed.

"Not exactly!"

She ducked under the ledge to escape another barrage of flames, wincing as a lick of fire burnt her shoulder. Her heart was pounding so hard she worried it might jump out of her chest.

"I said speak to her!" Merlin said.

"I did!" Albany retorted, shooting him an angry glare. "She doesn't want to talk!"

"Speak, not talk!" Merlin said, as if it was the most obvious difference in the world. "Reach for the connection between your souls!"

"I'm not really feeling one!"

Merlin sighed as he watched her break into another sprint; the mother dragon's frustration was growing the longer it was taking to kill the threat. It had leaped down the ledge after her, and let out an earth-shaking roar as it discovered she had run again. Well, he supposed his first run-in with a free dragon hadn't exactly gone swimmingly either.

Albany was busy rushing through her other options as she ran, struggling for breath as she darted behind a boulder to rest. Clearly, being a dragonlord wasn't working out very well, and she would grieve that loss later because she was a little occupied at the minute with a fire-breathing mother dragon in a rage hot on her tail.