Marcie blinked.
She stared at the dragon, a little lost at what to do.
It continued to make that strange chuckling sound and, despite herself, Marcie found herself grinning along with it.
She relaxed from her curled position, but then froze, afraid how the dragon would react, but it just continued laughing.
She realised that all her fear had gone, despite this enormous creature in front of her, which could, by all rights, swallow her in one gulp.
She still knew this as she watched the dragon, but she felt no fear towards it, all of it had gone the moment that the dragon had examined her and found her...what?
Non-threatening, unworthy of its attention?
She didn't know, but she had a curious feeling that she had passed some sort of test.
The dragon fell silent and after a final perusal, shifted position. It settled down on the ground, crossing its front legs and laying its enormous head on its talons. Its head was to the side but Marcie felt it watching her out of the corner of its eye.
She moved a little and when the dragon stayed where it was, she stood.
Slowly she stepped forward, one step, then another. Each of her steps seemed to echo, but the dragon did not move and eventually it closed its eyes.
Feeling decidedly braver without the dragon's gaze on her, Marcie hurried around the mass of fiery red scales and retrieved the torch from where shed dropped it.
She rummaged through her pack and re lit it, as it would soon run out of light.
Turned towards the entrance to the cave.
But then she stopped.
It finally occurred to her that she had no plan.
When she had come here, she hadn't really had any idea what she was going to do once she found the creature, and now she was here she really realised that she did not know what to do.
She could go back to the village and tell them about of the dragon? She turned and looked and the enormous beast which took up nearly the whole cavern. It opened its eyes and gazed at her, as if it could tell what she was thinking.
No, she decided, she would not tell the village.
The villagers, even the sane ones, were highly superstitious, they would see the dragon as an omen of some sort, a threat to their lives even if it had never hurt them, they would no doubt, hunt it down and kill it.
Or try to kill it, Marcie thought, catching a glimpse of the Dragons huge razor sharp fangs as it yawned.
Nor did she think that she could just go home and forget, pretend it never happened and never go near the cave again. The Dragon was too fascinating, too beautiful and too mysterious to allow her to leave it alone.
Coming to a decision, she dropped her pack on the floor and rested the torch against the wall.
The Dragon bowed its head, as if it respected her decision and had no problem with it, then rested its head on its front legs again and closed its eyes, its deep breathing slowly filled the cavern.
She sat down on the floor and gazed at the dragon, marvelling at its beauty.
Now that she had time to process what had happened she realised that she was both mentally and physically exhausted. It felt like she had been in this cave in the dark for a long time, when she knew it couldn't have been more than a few hours at least.
Her heart calmed its fearful beat and she could take her first full breath which did a lot to cool the sweat on her brow. She found herself breathing in time to the deep thunderous breathing of the Dragon and felt her eye lids drift closed. She fought it for a time but could not stop herself from drifting off into the sleep of the recently enlightened.
o