Dragon?

River

     "Ready?" I asked for the millionth time. 

     "Yes, just a second," replied my brother, Grey. 

      "You said that ten minutes ago," I answered irritably. 

     "But this time it's for real," Grey replied and I heard the clip clop of a horse's hooves on the rock-floor of the stables. Grey emerged from the great wooden stable doors on horse-back. His horse was named Light Step, everyone called it Step though. I nodded at him and I felt Phoenix lurch under me. Phoenix was my mare. She had a beautiful light flea bitten grey coat and a black patch on her forehead. Grey trotted after me. As we past the gates of Evebridge, the guards saluted us. We returned the salute with a smile. Beyond us was a field covered in a blanket of shimmering snow. Beyond the field lay the forest. We urged our horses on and they cantered into the snow covered field. Step was a beautiful splashed white horse. As the horses cantered, they kicked up snow behind them. We headed towards the forest. On our left, there was the mountain called the Forever. It was covered in sheer cliffs of rock and part of it dipped into the forest. We finally reached the edge of the forest. The horses slowed to a trot as they entered the forest eagerly. All the tree in the forest were evergreen and their leaves and branches were covered in sparkling snow. Robins fluttered about, chirping merrily and the forest snow glittered in the sunlight. We slowed down to a trot. 

     "Tell me about the dragons," I said, looking at the towering trees. 

     "I've told you thousands of times," Grey said with a grin. When I was small, on every pony walk we had taken, Grey had told me a story about Evebridge and the attacks of Dragons. How, in the time of Dragons, we had fought against their wrath. 

     "But you always said there were millions of stories," I protested. 

     "Alright, I'll tell you one. A different one," Grey said slowly. "Two centuries ago, when Evebridge had finally been made a dragon-proof village, there came one last Dragon. The last Dragon in the world. It came to the village, people were ready though and they started shooting and attacking it. It was big, blue, powerful, an Ice Dragon. It was so wounded it crashed into the village, destroying almost the whole village. A little boy, unknown to the world, just an ordinary citizen, was caught in the debris. His house had been crushed and the dragon's head had landed right next to his house. The debris was so great that the villagers had a hard time just to get to the middle where the dragon lay. It took a week for the villagers to get to the dragon. It also took a week for the little boy to befriend the dragon. When the villagers had got to the little boy and the dragon, they found they were great friends. Some people decided it might not be necessary to kill the dragon. Some people thanked the dragon for taking care of the boy. The boy said, "We took care of each other." But there were people with a black, dark grudge against Dragons. As the other dragons had killed their family and friends. But, the thing is, people had grown up in the village learning dragons were evil animals. From the beginning when people had started a war with these big creatures, they took in mind that dragons were evil. Because people are like that, they're scared. They don't like things bigger, stronger than them and they always, always think they are right. How did they know for sure that dragons were not evil?" Silence.

     "You never told me this before," I finally murmur. 

     "Everyone tells tales about the old days, the war against the dragons. Their victory against these great dragons. Even though the Ice Dragon was the last dragon people had ever seen, they only remember the bad in the creatures. Even Dad, have you heard the way he makes speeches? "Our ancestors fought and won against dragons. If other villages attack, they'll be nothing compared to the gigantic, dangerous beasts we used to fight." ... I don't know, I can't be sure that dragons are good but I can't be sure they were evil though either, you know what I mean?" Grey sighed deeply, looking around him.