Journey of the Horn

Chapter 7

The dragon came closer with every breath we took, every beat of our hearts it drew closer. It stopped sticking its head up in the air, sniffing in our direction. It crouched down low to the ground like a cat waiting for the right moment to pounce. But once it did Himi and I bolted out the sides of the log right before it landed shattering it to splinters both letting out a sharp breath. We both started to run. There was no way to kill a dragon. They have fire breath that can melt any sword blade and even their eyes are armored to the point no arrow or spear can puncture it. The dragon let out a roar so loud it rattled the mountain beneath us causing...an avalanche. The dragon made the mistake of following us on foot. We continued to run, I yelled to Himi "Himi grab the log!" He looked ahead of him to find a half log in his path. He just grinned from ear to ear because he knew what I was thinking. He grabbed it as he jumped over it. The dragon was close behind us, it knew not to breath its fiery breath upon us or else we wouldn't be there for it to eat any more. The avalanche's path fell directly in front of us. We slid for a second slowing down to let the dragon catch up, but when it went to lunge at us it instead got buried in the snow as me and Himi jumped into the half log which acted as our sled and rode the avalanche down the mountain. Himi yelled to the dragon "Yeah, don't mess with us you dragon!" As we both cheered with both adrenaline and victory.

We made it to the bottom of the mountain rolling out of the sled and snow once we hit flat ground. We were laughing so hard it hurt to breath as we layed there looking up at the stars. You can't see the stars at the mountain palace due to the constant stream of snow falling from the cloud covered sky. But down here you can see millions. "We sure showed that dragon didn't we." I say still trying to breath, "yeah we sure did." Himi replies doing the same. We landed with his hooves by my own so once we gained back our breath we sat up and grabbed each other's hands and simultaneously pulling each other up. We just stood there for a moment just continuing to laugh before starting back for the summer palace. We walked through grass up to our hips. The grass was starting to flower along with a few other plants but there was only one tree by the summer palace was a English Oak that has been there since even my great grandfather was young. He planted it when he had his coronation. He believed that as long as it stood, Kiltmemborn would stand strong. So far he has been right, we have gone through drought, famine, and all sorts of natural disasters.

When I was little I used to play in that tree from dawn till dusk, and if I could get away with it I would sleep among its branches. I still sometimes go there to play my music if life was getting hard, it helped me not lose my mind. We walked over to the tree, Himi knew the drill. He sat at the base of the tree pulling a guitar out of a split in the side, one that was fit for a small child to strum its strings. I climbed up into one of the low branches and pulled out a Ocarina I had in the pouch at my side. We sat there a moment making sure they were tuned and then started to play. We had been playing together ever since we knew how to play simple songs like "Here Comes the Bride" and over the years they just got more complicated and intricate until we were writing our own music. I still remember the day he told me he knew how to play. We were seven, I was up in the tree just thinking about life. When he comes running over with a guitar in his hand all excited like a toddler showing their mother their drawing. But that was many many years ago now we are playing a song we wrote that we call "Sheriana Lickalonia Mi Sharona" Which we wrote about the hardships of balancing training, duties, and hanging with each other.

He looked up at me with a tad of concern, he knew I didn't just pick songs for no reason. They usually are a reflection of what I feel or what is going on around me, or just for fun if I wished. "Why that song, are you alright?" He asks raising an eyebrow. "...No, no I'm not fine. The reason I wanted to come here tonight is, because I don't know if I will ever see this place again, see you again. The Roshfire starts at dawn tomorrow." He looks at me with a expression of both shock and fear as he scampers up the tree and hugs me in the titan grip "I wish I could help you on this one brother, but you know the rules the only ones allowed are the princes and you are only allowed to bring your weapons that are nonliving." I kind of laugh at the last part as I hug him back "I know and you have, there is one way you can help me. You can help me keep my mind off it for tonight?" He pulls away from the hug just enough to look at me "Of course I can brother."