Heart Of Dragons

...8...

"Don't worry guys." Bork tried to cheer up the protesting students "You will see a dragon today. You just won't be able to ride it. Mostly due to the fact that none of you have training uniforms on at the moment."

I sighed. At least that shut them up.

"Today's lesson will include a dragon. For our safety and the fact that it's our first indeed there will be only one."

We heard someone at the back shout "It's not fair!"

"Don't be greedy!" Bork roared through the training grounds. Okay. I gotta admit - when he is irritated or angry or annoyed he can be pretty scary. And as I see I'm not the only one who would think that. Dead silence overtook everyone present.

Pleased with himself he continued, "Today's lesson will be about learning the fundamentals of befriending a dragon. Bring him in!"

Two of his assistants brought a white middle sized dragon into the training grounds. It had large wings decorated with navy dots and patterns. Its eyes were ocean blue. So mesmerizing. "His name is Choormalth. Your task for today is supposedly easy. Since this is the friendliest dragon in here it won't be even a bit hard. We will give you various items. You will have to choose one and with that try to befriend the dragon. Once it will be your turn you will know what I'm talking about, even thou I guess if you are smart kids like you tell yourself to be, you will figure it out after the first person."

One hand was raised. "How would we know if we succeeded?"

"The dragon will let you touch it. Dragons feel safe only around people they trust or in other words - people who mean no harm to them. And people who mean no harm are friends to them." Bolverk, who hadn't raised the hand, slowly nodded pleased with something. But who the hell knows what.

Nobody knew what the items were after the first tries. Those who finished the task, even unsuccesfully, couldn't tell us before what to be ready for because they were sent away from others to watch from afar. There had already been fourteen students and all of them tried to befriend Choormalth by giving fresh meat to it. Only one of them succeeded.

"Next one up is Skur Knutdottin from Mr. Starisson's group!" One of the assistants shouted. To be honest I'm not nervous at all.

Why would I?

I have lived with dragons side by side all my life.

I made my way to the secret tent where the items were held. To be fair I wasn't that surprised to see the choice given to me. There was only meat. But there are different kinds of meat. I'm guessing they want to teach us the meat type they love. Really? Do they really think we are that dumb? 

Actually... seeing the results they might not be wrong about the majority of us. Dragons eat only deer meat. So the rest, duck, rabbit, steak and others, were meat types the dragon would consider a treat being given from a human. 

But the thing is - I wanted to take it to the next level. As in... I'm not going to befriend it just by meat.

With nothing in my hands I went out of the tent and saw my teammates surprised yet curious expressions. I looked at them like it's okay. Don't worry, I got this.

I made my way to Choormalth.

When the dragon was finally looking at me I carried out my piercing yet soft gaze straight into it's eyes. Seconds passed and I heard nothing but silence around me. After a while I saw something change in the dragons eyes and he lowered its head to my level. To my surprise he decided to breathe out tons of smoke from his nostrils covering me in a thick fog. But while I was blinded and covered away from everyones eyes I felt the dragon nudge my arm with its head. Feeling that I was accepted by the dragon I raised my other arm and started to stroke the scales on his head. Ahh... what a nice feeling - they were spiky yet so soft.

Everyone looked at us dumbfounded after the smoke started to fade away. Noone, even the teachers, weren't expecting an outcome like such. Even I thought it turned out better than it should have. I mean, maybe it was because it was the friendliest dragon the had after all.

After my success some tried to befriend the dragon my way but none succeeded. Some didn't even pass the test by just meat. These kids, really.

When everyone was done Bork spoke again. "I am quite disappointed by your results to say the least. Except Skur of course. Not only did she befriend the dragon, she also amazed all of us. Please tell us how did you do that." With a small smile Bork waved his hands motioning for me to come on the stage.

As I had predicted everyone looked at me. I would be lying if said that I liked the attention I was given at the moment. "Well..." Bork nodded at me and Joreid gave me a thumbs up. "Nobody here knows this but I have grown up with dragons by my side. That means that I have learned how to communicate with them my way so they would understand and trust me. That's exactly what I did today. And to all the dumb students here who I don't know how even got in, please remember - dragons eat only deer meat. No other meat. Ever. They truly just dislike it and see it as a threat. But also remember that they love fish." I went down and saw my group mates expressions.

I saw a little bit of respect forming in them towards me. At least I did something productive today.

After my not so good speech Bork continued, "What Skur said about the meat is true. Please remember that. It was supposed to be the secret part of today's lesson. I f you can't feed your dragon right it won't trust you with your life."