The second I saw the dragon, I froze, struggling to take in the beast before me. It had forest green scales with some lighter and darker patches scattered about its hide. Its eyes were large and golden with black slits for pupils. It had a pair of tan-ish, off-white horns extending from the back of its long, narrow head. Spikes ran in a single row from the base of its skull to the tip of its tail. A pair of enormous wings were folded at its sides. I could easily imagine the mouth full of long sharp teeth it surely had. And worst of all, it was huge. Bigger than any animal I'd ever seen. It had to be at least fifty feet from nose to tail! And even laying down, its shoulder looked at least five feet off the ground, like an elephant but much longer.
My heart hammered in my chest, and I felt light headed. I waited for it to jump up and charge me, but instead, it just stared at the water. Does it even know I'm here? After about a minute, I slowly turned around. I dragged myself back until I hit a tree, then propped myself up against it. The dragon still wasn't looking at me. I took a shaky breath, then drew my pistol. Then the dragon sniffed, flaring its nostrils, and looked at me, piercing me with a golden stare.
I stayed very still and stared right back. Our gazes stayed locked for several long moments until it glanced away and started to get up. As soon as it moved I leveled my pistol at it. The dragon flinched, then let out a low, rumbling growl, glaring at me again.
That almost made me open fire; the only thing stopping me was the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to kill it without an incredibly lucky shot. And my luck had not been great the last few days. I figured my chances were better if I didn't provoke it.
The dragon paced a short stretch back and forth on its side of the water, swiveling its head on its long neck to watch me even as I tracked it with the gun. After a few laps, it stopped and growled again. Then we stared at each other for a few minutes. My heart hammered away in my chest, nervous sweat ran down my face, and frantic thoughts raced through my mind as I tried to figure out how I could scare this monster off. To my growing panic, I couldn't think of anything workable that didn't stand an equal chance of just pissing it off. Before I came up with anything even resembling a plan, the creature stepped into the pool separating us and strode steadily toward me.
"No! Stay away!!" I shouted, but the dragon barely reacted, just growling again and continuing towards me. When it got halfway across the pool, I snapped and opened fire on it. The rapid blasts of the shots were deafening against the quiet of the forest, easily drowning out the waterfall and setting my ears ringing. The dragon recoiled and leaped sideways after the first few shots, landing in deeper water with a terrific splash! I chased it with my bullets, firing and cursing continuously. Then suddenly, all I could hear was my own involuntary battle cry.
I shut up and stared at my weapon, my adrenaline super-charged mind struggling to understand that I'd already burned through the entire magazine. A monstrous roar broke me from my stupor, and I looked back at the dragon in horror as it surged toward me with wings half spread, kicking a huge spray of water skyward and appearing more like an avalanche or flash flood than an animal! I quickly ejected the empty mag and struggled to reload with my injured arm, but I only ended up fumbling the pistol. The dragon reached the shore as the gun hit the ground, and my nerve broke completely. Rather than go for my pistol, I tried to stand up and run, broken legs be damned. I actually made it a full step on my bad ankle, but as soon as I planted my left foot, a lightning bolt of agony shot from my leg straight into my skull! I collapsed hard on my chest, spots blocking more than half of my vision.
I stayed conscious through adrenaline and sheer willpower and rolled onto my back. I grabbed my knife out of its sheath and waited to go down fighting for all I was worth! The dragon was on top of me the second after I readied my knife, and it took a quick swipe at my legs with its claws! I slashed wildly at the paw, grunting as the movement strained my injured ribs, but the dragon jumped back before my blade struck it. It landed a few yards away and reared its head back like a cobra preparing to strike. Then a torrent of fire poured from the creature's maw and rushed toward me!
I closed my eyes and braced for an extremely painful death. Time seemed to slow down for me; I had plenty of time to feel the heat on my face as the flames approached. I couldn't help but think how in the end, all of my struggles the past couple of days had been for nothing. I might as well have just burned in my plane's explosion. Then something incredible happened: the heat blasting me dissipated. Shocked beyond belief, I opened my eyes.
The dragon was still standing right there a few feet away, staring at me and growling softly. I risked taking my eyes off it to steal a quick look around and spotted a scorched patch of earth about six feet across a little way off to my right. And there in the center... Wait. That burning bit of slag... Had that been my gun?! I looked back at the dragon again, incredulous. It disarmed me and destroyed my weapon?! What the hell is going on here?! And now it was looking at me with what I could only interpret as a smug expression. My lips curled into a snarl at that, and I gripped my knife tighter, silently daring the creature to come closer so I could slash that stupid look off its face. But instead, it simply laid down where it was, folded its wings back against its sides with a surprisingly deliberate air to its actions, and regarded me with bright, intelligent eyes.
I was beyond confused. Why doesn't it just finish me off? It has to know it's got me. There's no way it's that worried about getting hurt by this knife. I considered trying to crawl away but gave up on that idea right away. I was far too slow to get away, and it would also mean turning my back to this beast.
I tried to think of something, anything to get out of this situation, hardly noticing those black spots from a few moments ago starting to creep back into my vision. I realized how tired I was and started to relax a bit- Wait, that's it! Another surge of adrenaline coursed through me as I realized the dragon's plan! It knew I was badly injured; that would be obvious to any predator. And if it was smart enough to destroy my gun then maybe it was smart enough to know time was on its side in this contest. My body didn't have the energy to sustain these bursts of panic. The beast was just waiting for me to pass out or expire so it could take me with no fight at all!
I gritted my teeth and fought against the blackness swirling at the edges of my vision. I bit my tongue, pressed against my hurt ribs, and intentionally moved my busted ankle, but I couldn't get my body to produce another jolt of adrenaline to keep me conscious. I was just too tired. Not even the knowledge that blacking out meant death could stave off unconsciousness anymore. My arm dropped, and the knife rolled out of my hand. The dragon calmly stood up at the motion, then I lost track of it as my head drooped to rest on the ground, and it became impossible to focus my eyes. Just before I fell all the way out, I reflected that I'd fought as hard as I possibly could have against this. Even though no one would ever know, I found some small satisfaction that I was going down fighting. Then...
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
...Cold... Dark... Aches everywhere... Alive?
I thought so. My mind felt sluggish, but I did my best to assess my state. I was breathing steadily, I felt something firm under me, my injuries still hurt, and I was still so tired. Ghosts don't feel tired, do they? Or breathe. Wouldn't know; never been dead before. I think I'm... probably alive. Just mostly asleep. Bad dream. Shadow monsters and dragons. Crazy. Enough problems without getting scared of fairytales.
"Ugh... Where am I?" I muttered. I forced my eyes open and discovered that wherever I was, it was pitch black all around. Still night. And I still couldn't remember when and where I'd stopped to sleep. The last things I remembered were scenes from my latest nightmare. The image of that dragon simply refused to leave my mind. A pit started to form in my gut. It was a very vivid dream, more detailed and coherent than any dream I could remember having. Unless... unless it wasn't a dream at all. I swallowed fearfully and held my breath, listening. Then from somewhere very close, something very large let out a quiet snore.
I started taking deep breaths to stave off my panic so I could think instead. If that snoring meant what I thought it did, then it wasn't a dream. So how was I still alive? I'd passed out in front of a giant predator, and it didn't eat me?! Why? I closed my eyes and focused only on how my body felt, trying to determine if I had any new injuries without moving or making any noise. After a few minutes of this, I decided I wasn't feeling any new pain. I slowly curled my legs toward my chest and ran my good hand around the area the dragon slashed. There wasn't even a new tear in the fabric. The creature hadn't hurt me at all. But it also didn't just leave me lying where I'd fallen; the ground felt different, and I couldn't hear the waterfall. It had moved me some distance while I was unconscious. But why?
Well, just because it didn't kill me, that didn't mean I wouldn't kill it. I felt a bit bad for this sentiment after it seemed to have spared me, but this was an extremely dangerous animal. I was hilariously overmatched, and the only way I could resist whatever it had planned for me was to use lethal force. I was too weak to put up any fight beyond pulling a trigger. And it had gone to sleep nearby, giving me the best chance I would ever get to land a kill shot.
As long as it didn't move, I could line up a point blank shot to the base of the skull, right where the spine met the head. That should do enough damage to kill it fast if not immediately. On the other hand, this thing was enormous, and I couldn't help doubting my pistol was powerful enough to do what I hoped, even with perfect aim. And I would only get one shot. I still have to try. I reached for my pistol only to find that it wasn't in its holster. Oh yeah. The dragon destroyed it. WITH ITS FIRE BREATH!!!
I patted around again and realized my survival knife was gone too. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. So the only potential weapon I had left was the 3 inch pocket knife in my left chest pocket under my vest. It was designed as a tool, not a weapon, but it would have done well enough as a last resort in most situations. Just wasn't counting on needing to fight a damned dragon with it.
Speaking of the devil, why can't I see the beast, or anything for that matter? It wasn't this dark the other two nights I'd been out here. I stared up into the blackness, trying to make out a star, the glow of the moon behind dense clouds, the slight movement of leaves in a light breeze, anything besides this perfect black. Nothing. The darkness seemed close, like in a cave or a pitch black closet. I reached up with my good arm to check if I could even see my own hand in front of my face, but jerked my hand back when it brushed against something smooth and warm above me. OK. What was that?
I reached up again and gingerly touched the strange barrier. It gave easily but resisted the more I pushed. It felt like heavy tent canvas baking in the sun. This puzzled me, until another heavy snore nearby brought a flash of clarity I should have had at the first touch. It was a wing. One of the dragon's wings. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath, then slowly pulled my hand back while listening closely to the breathing for any changes. After a few minutes, I concluded that I hadn't awoken the beast. But why on earth did it have me under its wing instead of in its guts?
I rolled everything I knew about my bizarre circumstance around in my head until I came up with something plausible but still crazy. Maybe it was sheltering me. It had been cold out here the previous nights, and while the ground I laid on was chilly, the air under the dragon's wing was pretty warm in comparison. Whatever this thing wanted with me, I wasn't supposed to die... yet. That didn't really change much; of course I'd seen movies and other media that portrayed dragons as friendly creatures, but right then I gave them no more credence than shows featuring friendly lions and bears. Either way, wherever I was and whatever this dragon intended for me, I hadn't really budged an inch from where I'd been earlier, sprawled on the ground, waiting to die while it crouched over me. I was still completely at this creature's mercy.
Try as I might, I couldn't think of any way out of this mess. I couldn't run, and trying to drive it off or kill it without a gun was worse than pointless. I had a radio, but no one had responded to me yet, and I had no idea how the dragon would react to me talking while it was trying to sleep. In fact, as distasteful as I found the idea, the only thing I could do right then to improve my situation was try and sleep. Whatever hair-brained scheme I came up with later, I'd need every slight advantage I could get, including being well rested. So I reluctantly unclenched my muscles and tried to go back to sleep in spite of the imminent danger I was in. And with my injuries and general exhaustion, sleep came easier than I'd have ever thought possible... next to a dragon.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
LIGHT!! Sudden, blinding light stabbed through my eyelids like daggers! I instantly woke up and covered my eyes with my good arm. Who the hell thinks it's a good idea to turn on the lights while I'm sleeping?! "What the fuck?" I croaked out. A growl answered me.
I jerked myself up to a sitting position, winced as my ribs protested the abrupt movement, and opened my eyes wide to the morning light. Once my vision adjusted, I found myself looking right into the eyes of the dragon. I swallowed nervously while it stared back with those golden globes, transfixing me. After a few moments of this, it growled again, softer this time, and something clicked in my mind. I somehow knew that for dragons, growling didn't necessarily mean aggression.
I had no idea where this realization came from, but I was as certain of its truth as I was of the fact that I needed to keep breathing to live. So when the dragon growled at me a third time, I found myself listening intently and without fear. It wanted something from me, but I couldn't figure out what. After another few moments, the dragon snorted with what I swore was exasperation, then moved its snout down to nudge my right side, breaking my trance. My fear flooded back full force; I would have been up and sprinting away if I'd been able. Instead I had to sit there and try to figure out what this impossible creature wanted now!
It nudged me again, more insistently, knocking me halfway over before I caught myself. "Will you fucking lay off?!" Why did it want me on my stomach? As I pushed myself back up to a sitting position, it grabbed my good arm and gently pushed it to the ground. This forced me to roll over onto my stomach, my left arm pinned beneath me in its sling. I groaned in pain and arched my back to relieve the pressure, struggling hard as I could to free my right arm the whole time. It was all useless!
Then something warm brushed the back of my neck, and I looked back stiffly to see the dragon's muzzle directly between my shoulders. My entire body went rigid as a plank of wood, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I just watched as it gathered up the loose fabric from my flight suit and vest between its teeth. Then it lifted me into the air as it stood up and proceeded to carry me off into the forest.
I was shocked. No, that'd be a colossal understatement. I was absolutely astounded! Gobsmacked! Flabbergasted! What the flying blue fuck is going on here and where in the name of God is this thing taking me?!
After a minute or two digesting the fact that I was being carried by a dragon, I looked down and gulped when I saw the ground about six feet below my dangling boots. That kind of drop would really hurt just then. The sight of the ground passing beneath me also finally made the reality of my situation sink in. Yes this was happening. To me. And that meant I had to think! No time to waste on disbelief.
Thankfully, I wasn't in any serious pain at that moment. I was in a helpless position, and my flight suit was digging into my body all over, but at least this position wasn't really straining any of my various injuries. Hardly comfortable, but it could have been a lot worse. I glanced back at the dragon as its scorching breath blasted my neck again and resisted an urge to try and push it away with my good hand. Better not to encourage it to drop me. It was staring straight ahead, seemingly focused on something. Either that or it was lost in thought... Wait, what? It's just an animal, isn't it?
Maybe... or maybe not. Animals didn't disarm people on purpose, and they didn't say no to an easy meal. Not to mention that everything this creature did had an air of deliberate intent I'd never seen in any animal. And then there was my conviction about its growling. Try as I might, I couldn't deny that it had been trying to tell me something. I felt a frown creeping across my face. How exactly did I know that?
I pondered what I could recall about how that epiphany had come to me and started to feel very disturbed. I soon realized that I couldn't bring myself to seriously doubt this idea about the dragon's growling. It was just stuck deep in my mind like any other basic fact of life: stuff falls down, fire is hot, dragon growling means dragon talking. Questioning it felt like trying to seriously believe the sun wouldn't set at the end of the day, or that I wouldn't burn my hand if I grabbed a red-hot piece of iron. I didn't know how this idea had managed to plant itself so firmly in my mind, but I had one guess where it came from. I narrowed my eyes at the dragon. It gave me this idea. And I found that pissed me off.
"Hey, you!" I shouted to get the creature's attention. It worked; the dragon stopped mid stride and looked me right in the eye. I glanced just to the side to avoid its enthralling gaze. "What the hell are you doing rooting around inside my head?" It growled through its teeth in reply, just like I knew it would. I listened as closely as I could, but I couldn't understand its response. Once again, I just had this unshakable certainty that it was trying to tell me something. A chill raced down my spine. "Why do I know you're trying to talk to me?! What are you doing to me? What are you going to do with me?!" I snapped my mouth shut after that. Why was I asking this thing anything? Even if it could understand me, I couldn't understand it. It growled once more and waited for a few seconds, then it snorted and set off again. I tried to not think about how those sounds seemed more like foreign words than animal noises now.
The dragon kept walking through the forest at its quick pace as the day dragged on. Or at least it seemed quick to me. We were moving a bit faster than I could jog for long distances. After an hour, I knew I wouldn't be able to get back to the waterfall in my condition, even if the dragon suddenly set me down right there and left. If I managed to escape, I'd be forced to start over from square one when it came to surviving out here. Escape was pretty much all I could think about after that; I passed the time scheming and planning my getaway, but nothing I came up with was even close to workable. Even though I'd only had a short time to observe this dragon, it was more than obvious that it outclassed even a human in peak condition in every category imaginable, except possibly intelligence. So crippled as I was, I had no hope of escaping on my own.
By midday, I'd run out of new ideas, I was getting hungry, and my limbs were going numb from my flight suit restricting blood flow to them for hours. The dragon showed no sign of stopping, though. An hour after midday, the monotony and constant tension of being carried by the dragon were really getting to me. I couldn't stand just dangling from this predator's jaws any longer. I felt like the stress alone would kill me if I couldn't find something to distract myself. I had to do something, anything! Then I remembered my radio. Maybe I could at least check if anyone was broadcasting. Hell, there was no way this dragon knew what a radio was. It was possible that I'd finally be able to call for rescue, or at least let someone know I was still alive out here. I just had to make sure it wouldn't get angry at me when I started talking to nothing. Best way I could figure to ensure that was to get it used to me blabbing.
"Why as a matter of fact, I am lost Colonel Jay. If only I'd remembered my compass..." The dragon paused again when I started talking, but after just a few moments of listening to me prattle nonsense, it resumed its trek. I kept up my chattering for a few more minutes, just saying whatever popped into my head before proceeding to the next step of my plan. I unclipped my radio from my vest, turned it on, and then started cycling through the channels, talking about nothing to myself the whole time. The plan seemed to be working as the dragon kept right on walking, either ignoring or not noticing what I was up to. But to my frustration, no one was broadcasting on any channel. I shook my head and started relaying my distress call once again, hoping against hope that someone was listening this time. "Mayday! Mayday! This is 1st Lieutenant Johnson, broadcasting a general distress signal. I'm injured and in mortal danger. Please respond. I repeat, this is--"
"Hissssss -- ead you. Lieutenant Johnson, I read you." HOLY SHIT!!! Someone finally heard me!
"I read you too, and it is damn good to hear another voice!" I was so excited, I could hardly keep my voice under control while I spoke. The dragon growled behind me, but I barely noticed.
"I'm sure it is if you're in as much trouble as you said. Where are you and what's going on?" A tear of relief rolled down my cheek, but then the dragon abruptly stopped and lowered me to the ground, cutting my elation short. I swallowed and then kept talking into the radio from my seated position, acutely aware of the dragon's eyes boring into me.
"Um, OK. I'm a fighter pilot and my plane was damaged in an engagement..." I paused to do some mental math, "three days ago. I had to eject. I'm not exactly sure where I was when I ejected because my GPS was out. Something went wrong with my seat and, well, I was injured coming down. It's pretty bad. Both of my legs are busted. Who is this, by the way?" Right then, the dragon shoved its snout right at me and started sniffing the radio. It growled loudly, causing me to miss the operator's response. It kept up a low growling while I pushed the mike button again.
"Yeah, that's great. Listen, can you tell the 336th fighter group that I'm alive and need help? I'm definitely in the Western Rockies, probably Washington or Oregon. I'm in a delicate situation here," I finished, watching the dragon nervously. It returned a cold gaze of its own.
"Yeah, I'll bet. I can definitely do that. Hey are you alright? I mean, uh... You're not in any immediate danger are you? You sound nervous all of a sudden." I found myself unable to respond. The dragon's growling hadn't stopped, and it became impossible to ignore. It almost felt like it was echoing around inside my head. It wants to know. The dragon wanted to know what I was doing. "Hey, you still there?" I heard the voice over the radio and knew I needed to respond, but I couldn't do it just yet. Not with this infernal rumbling drowning out all my thoughts!
"Will you shut up?!" I shouted without keying the mic, finally looking the dragon in the eye. It complied for a second, then started right back up with its growling. "Just shut up! I can't think straight while you're doing that!" No reaction. It just kept staring back, and I felt myself focusing in on its gilded eyes again. I glanced away, my irritation skyrocketing. "Oh for god's sake, remind me to ask for an airstrike when the rescue team comes." The voice came over the radio again, but I didn't pay it any attention. I just hit the mic once more and said, "Listen. There's something out here. Some kind of animal might be after me." I knew better than to start talking about this dragon with someone who couldn't see it. They'd just think I'd gone crazy. "Just get help out here as soon as you can. I'm afraid--"
The dragon interrupted me again, thrusting its head forward to snatch my radio away by the antenna. "HEY! Give that back!" I demanded. It stepped back a pace and dropped the radio on the ground. It then sniffed and prodded it with its claws and muzzle while the man on the other side kept asking what was wrong and why was I not responding. He started shouting, and the dragon snarled in response. It reared its head back and opened its jaws wide in a posture I found all too familiar. "Wait! Stop!" I yelled desperately. To my surprise, it did just that. It closed its mouth, looked at me, and emitted one short growl.
Why?
I was struck dumb. My jaw fell open and I blinked over and over again. It actually talks?! I mean, I understood that growling was its way of communicating, but I just heard a word. An English word. No, I didn't hear the word, I heard growling. But that growl was 'why?' The dragon turned back to the radio, regaining my attention. I promptly found my voice to answer its question and perhaps save my best chance of getting out of there from getting torched.
"Because that thing is important to me." That really got the dragon's attention. It instantly abandoned the radio and jumped back over to me. I closed my eyes, afraid to see if I'd angered it, but it just started sniffing me, crooning and growling with enthusiasm. If it was still trying to talk to me, I didn't catch any of it. I opened my eyes just in time to see it rear back and roar to the sky. Chills ran down my spine. I should have been terrified of that roar, but I wasn't because I understood what it meant. It was a triumphant shout, not a bellow of rage. The dragon looked back down at me with a sparkle in its eyes, but after a moment its expression darkened. With a slight turn of its snout, it gestured toward the radio, still emitting occasional shouts from the worried man on the other side, and asked once again.
Why?
I swallowed in alarm and debated about how to respond while the dragon's eyes bored into mine. Honesty didn't seem like a great idea, but I couldn't think of any other answer. "It's a long-range communication device. I can use it to talk to someone far away. Someone who can send help." That last part wasn't supposed to be out loud, but I couldn't stop the words in time. The dragon blinked slowly, then turned back to the radio. I felt physical relief when we broke eye contact, like some indescribable pressure squeezing me had just let go. I spent a moment with my eyes closed considering the sensation, then looked back at the dragon. It had bent its head down to listen to the voice coming from my radio. After another moment, it stood up straight and raised its paw over the device.
"Please don't," I begged. "I just want to leave this place and get some help for my wounds. I won't tell anyone about you, and they wouldn't believe me if I did. I just want to live. Just give it back, please." I extended my good hand toward the creature to take it back.
The dragon looked at me for a moment, then growled, No, and stomped down hard, smashing the radio to bits while I watched in despair. It snarled and shook its paw, dislodging the sharp fragments that stuck there, then returned to me. It made brief eye contact with me and growled something that seemed at least partly apologetic, then it reached for the back of my flight suit again. This time, I knew there was no point in resisting. I just leaned forward to make it easier for the dragon to get a good grip. It picked me up in short order, then resumed its hike. I still had no idea where it was taking me or what would happen when we arrived, but I knew I'd just learned two very important things. First, I now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that my captor was an intelligent creature capable of understanding what I said on top of being the most physically imposing beast I'd ever seen. And second, wherever this dragon was taking me, it intended to make sure I did not leave.