Finally Found

Heya Everyone, it’s the last few days of March, a precious few days left until Camp Nano Starts and things get WAY busier in my life... and I still haven’t picked a project to dedicate my time and energy too. I probably should finish some of my half done projects, or prewrite a whole bunch of blog posts... I don’t think either is going to happen though...

But while I keep pondering what I’m going to work on in a few days, here’s this week's prompt, enjoy! :)

Prompt: They say the ancient dragons died long ago, wiped off the face of the earth by the first lords for the safety of all. No one ever told you what danger they truly posed. Now you stand before one, eyes have met, yet it does not lift a claw to harm you…

You loved adventure, listening to bards sing tales of those that dared to do way more than the people who occupied your village. Farmers and Shepherds, working hard to keep the castle on the hill fed, paying taxes to keep yourselves safe. You couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the parties of knights and squires that stopped by the tavern where you worked, returning from a mission for the King, or just about to set off on one.

You’d resigned yourself to never having a tale like that to tell for yourself, forcing yourself to be content with the stories that were pulled from all too willing lips almost as quickly as ale passed them, keeping their mugs filled as long as there were coins in their purses and stories to be told. The owners of the tavern cared little for what you did, as long as you kept mugs full, plates on tables and making the tavern coins.

Instead you listened, night in and night out, giving your dreams fuel for when you finally were able to collapse in bed before work started again the next day. In your dreams you rode out, a party of knights and squires at your beck and call. You knew from the stories that the ancient dragons had died long ago, killed for the protection of those that now resided in this lands, farming its valleys and huddling in its mountains. But that didn’t stop you from dreaming about how you stumbled upon some of the last dragons, a sword in your hand as you defended your race from the monsters of legend.

None of your dreams could have ever prepared you for what awaited out the back of the tavern. Roars of drunken laughter from inside as yet another tale drew to a close, men ordering more ale as you raced outside to search for the eggs the cook needed to whip up a feast for the apparently starving men. It made little sense to you, considering the amount they had eaten as the night kept going, but the coins that jingled around their waist after a successful trip meant you catered to their every whim, regardless of how much sense it made.

The sun's gentle light over the hilltops as it rose illuminated a strange hulking creature covering the top of the barn. Talons as long as your forearm wrapped gingerly around the edges of the roof, wings larger than the barn and tavern spread out down the walls and across the ground surrounding. The barn creaked as it shifted its body weight slightly, it’s fire red eyes locked on yours, head titled to the side as it watched you, breath coming out as puffs of steam.

You considered screaming, hoping that someone inside would hear you and come to your rescue, it’s what happened in all the stories, dashing knights coming to the aid of someone who couldn’t help themselves, but something stops you. Perhaps the longing for adventure, perhaps the fact that the ancient dragon has done little more than simply watch you, or perhaps even that terror had you so tightly bound in its grasp that you struggled for air, let alone scream for help.

Regardless of your plan, the great creature had it’s own.

‘I’ve finally found you, Rider, but our time is not now. I shall return for you, one day.’ The words wash over you, a deep gravelly voice in your mind as its breath hugged you. Any response fell from your mind as you watched wings rise, a powerful flap lifting its body into the sky, hovering for a mere second, before chasing the darkness of night.