Red haired girl

Chapter 16

“Uh, Bryan?” Will said frightened. “That’s a dragon.”

“No, really? How come that didn’t occur to me?” Bryan answered sarcastically. Will ignored him and looked at the creature in front of him. It was about fifteen feet tall, at least in height; it was more than thirty feet tall from its head to the tip of its tail. But it was not the huge proportions of the dragon that drew the attention. It was the colour, a deep purple, seeming to glow from the inside out that really was the impressive part. The colour seemed to be alive; every time the dragon moved, the colours changed, making it look like there were thousands of little creatures all chained to its scales. The dragon growled once more and prepared to attack.

“Will! Do something!” Bryan hissed. Will wondered why he always was the one to make a plan, but decided that was not something to argue about that moment.

            He thought of all what his father had learned and told him, but he couldn’t think of anything useful about fighting dragons. Feeling useless and knowing it wouldn’t help him, he drew his sword. Bryan immediately copied his actions and shakily pointed his sword at the dragon. The dragon stopped dead in its tracks. Will’s mouth fell open.

“I can’t believe that worked!” he blurted out. The dragon took one hesitant step forward and Bryan – the fool – got overconfident and swirled his sword around his head, screaming for the dragon to get back.

“Bryan, you idiot! Stop that!” Will hissed angrily. The dragon leaned forward and kneeled. Will’s mouth fell open once again. It looked like the dragon bowed for them!

“What just happened?” Will asked slowly, not sure this was a good or a bad sign. Bryan shrugged and waved his sword around.

“I don’t know. Maybe it knows that I am a mighty knight!” he exclaimed half-jokingly. Will rolled with his eyes.

“Whatever is going on, I’m sure that’s not it,” he remarked and Bryan dropped his sword, looking very indignantly. The dragon raised its head again and looked at them. It seemed to possess an ancient intelligence. A deep, vibrating sound echoed through the air. It didn’t seem to come from any specific direction.

“Who are you?” it asked. The dragon looked expectantly down on them, even though it couldn’t possibly have been the one who spoke, since its mouth didn’t open.

“Uh, I’m Will Stevenson and this is Bryan Nicolson,” Will answered awkwardly. The dragon eyed them suspiciously, but didn’t do anything.

“Follow me,” the voice said and the dragon turned around. Bryan glanced questioningly at Will, who shrugged and gestured to follow the purple giant.

            Side by side, they did as they were told, still not sure what they had gotten themselves into.

Tarah looked as the two boys left on horseback. She had turned around to check on Will, but when she arrived back at the castle, Bryan did so too. She was now crouching behind a bush, staring at the spot where they had disappeared from her sight. She smiled ever so slightly and stood up. She felt different, renewed. As though a huge burden had been taken from her shoulders. She looked at the collapsed castle and giggled. She abruptly stopped and looked around, as though it was forbidden to giggle.

            She felt lighter, brighter. She started to run, run towards the sun setting at the horizon. She was free at last. There was no one left to tell her how little she was worth, like her father and all of the nursemaids had done. The shadow of her father had finally moved away from her, vanished from her mind. She stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. She had a whole world to discover! All the places she had heard talking about, were now open for her to visit.