The Tiniest Dragon

Chapter 2: Humans!

'What can I do?' Elyse thought terrorized. She could feel her heart beating faster than it did in years since she heard the words carried by the wind. If there was really a bunch of humans coming in her cave she would have no choice but to fight for her survival or flee as far as she could.

She curled up and stuck her wings as close to her body as possible, trying to appear as flat as possible against the ceiling and watching with fear at the entrance of the cave. There was no sign of a human but she knew the cliff was steep and she would not be able to see her invaders until the last moment.

"I think I see it now!" Said the voice of a man much closer than before.

'No! Go away!' She yelled in her mind and trying to be even flatter. Fear was getting stronger and stronger until she heard the rock moving right beneath the entrance, clearly indicating that someone was climbing. Not even a minute after a hand reached the entrance, followed by a second one and a hat that Elyse never saw before.

A little pack of blond hairs appeared under the hat then a light pink head of a woman slightly darken by the sun. She quickly pulled herself in the entrance and sat down to look at the view, slowly taking her breath. Looking young, her clothes were strange, they didn't looked like an armor, just an orange shirt and a blue pant finished by some heavy looking dark boots. She was carrying a big backpack that she dropped on the side.

"It's beautiful" The woman said looking at the amazing point of view of the cavern.

Elyse kept her mouth shut, trying to breathe as silently as possible. There was apparently no weapon on the woman but she might very well carry one in her backpack. And even if she was indeed unharmed Elyse would not let her catch her without a fight.

"Care to give me a hand?" Asked the man of before.

"Yeah, yeah" Replied the woman lowering her hand beneath the cliff.

The woman grabbed the man and pulled him inside, visibly much less endurant than her seeing how hard it was for him to breath despise having a bag twice smaller than her. He had the exact same shirt and a short and some black hair under his hat. Elyse noticed that this man, while having some muscles, wasn't particularly fit for the mountain with his skinny body. He entered more in the cave before resting against the wall, sitting on the ground, and grabbed a bottle of water in his bag before looking toward the entrance and the woman while Elyse tried to not even breathe.

"We should have a nice point of view from here" He said exhausted.

"After all the time it took to come here, yeah, it's definitely worth it".

To Elyse horror, the woman grabbed her bag and pulled out some weird black sticks before assembling them together and putting a black box on top of them.

"Shouldn't we look if there's a bird already in there?" Asked the man still laying on the wall.

"You can do it while I set up the camera. We should have some nice pictures from here." Replied the woman.

Elyse didn't understood what they were talking about except about the part of exploring her nest. The man stood up and left his bag there covered in sweat before going further in her nest. Angry to see him get so close, she was more scared to be discovered. She watched him stop before the nest and bending to take a closer look even if she couldn't see his face.

"Tess? You should really come see that" He said.

"What?" She replied coming toward him.

"I've never seen such a nest. I don't know any bird that would do such... that."

Elyse felt insulted by how he spoke about her nest but remained silent.

"You're sure? It looks like something a great condor would build" Retorted the woman.