January is the daughter of Evebridge's leader. They have not had a dragon an encounter for centuries but what happens when an ice dragon comes near their village? A dragon January befriends? What will the people of the village think? What will her f...
The crisp snow under my boots. The fresh smell of the cool morning air. The chirping of oblivious birds. The sound of slow, trickling water. The forest. I peered through the bush leaves and looked back. I glimpsed Phoenix, standing still as a rock further back. I knocked an arrow onto my bow and took aim. The white tailed-deer suddenly perked up and leaped off. My arrow flew out and landed harmlessly on the snow in the clearing. I let out a rattled breath and retreated back to Phoenix who neighed softly.
"Missed," I said solemnly, "I don't know what keeps on scaring these animals all of a sudden." I was out hunting. I normally would go with Grey or with another Hunter from the village but hunting alone was more fun. Of course, Evebridge had enough hunters to hunt for food but some extra food wouldn't hurt. Maybe I could even find River and give him my catch. As me and Phoenix made our way through the snowy forest, we heard a deep rumble coming from near the bottom of the mountain. We were nearly in the middle of the forest by then. On our left, a rock face grew high, above the trees. We walked towards it until, to our right were evergreen trees and to our left was a rock wall. We walked next to the rock wall for a while until it turned sharp left. It kept turning left until we found ourselves walking through a pass. A few small saplings were growing. Phoenix was getting jittery, sometimes, stopping and baying nervously. She stopped suddenly and stomped her foot.
"Come on girl," I urged. "What's wrong? It's only some shadows and some noises." Phoenix refused to go on so I hopped off. I gave her a pat on her back and took my bow and arrow. I continued down the pass without Phoenix. She neighed piteously for me to come back to her as I wind down the pass. Finally, I saw light ahead. In front of me was an opening blocked by a large rock which did not exactly reach to the top of the pass. It was easy to scale and soon I could see beyond it. In front of me was another cliff wall but before it was a clearing. A great big clearing. The clearing was large and covered in glittering green grass. Grass! In the middle of the clearing was sparkling blue water. The clearing was surrounded by a rounded wall of rock and the only way out seemed to be the way I had used to get in. The Pass. As I looked around the clearing, a deep rumble shook the ground. I gripped onto the rocky surface as not to fall off the rock. Suddenly something appeared from under the lake. The water in the lake moved and out came a head. A big head. It was covered in scales. Green scales The scales of a- of a- of a..., Dragon.
Its eyes were deep, mysterious. But somehow, they were gentle. They were yellow with a swirl of green in them. Sharp, brown horns poked out of the top of its head and these sort of spike, which were brown too, ran down its neck. It had a wide jaw and sharp, perfectly white teeth. As it rose out of the water and onto the land, I saw that its whole body was covered in beautiful green scales. Its tail was long and curled around its whole body. The end of its tail was what seemed to be great big, glowing yellow feathers. It had long black claws which had yellow patterns on it. And its wings-oh, its wings- they were gorgeous. They were folded but I could see how large they were. Bigger than its body. The wings were held together by what I had learned from books called the arm. The arm was covered in small feather which, if you didn't look properly, you could easily mistake as scales. Its span, (Also called the blanket) which was the main part of the wing, was almost transparent. It was slightly glowing green.
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The big creature's nostrils suddenly flared. My stomach churned angrily. I suddenly felt fear grip me. Then excitement overcame my fear. I suddenly couldn't believe it. I was seeing an actual dragon. A real life dragon. Wow, I thought to myself, just wow. Suddenly, the Dragon's head swivelled to me. I looked straight into my eyes and fear washed over me once more. It fixed me with a steady gaze and I slowly tried to clamber back down the rock to hide in the pass but my foot slipped and I fell to the grass and into the clearing. The dragon took a step forwards. As it came nearer, I realised it only about as big as a normal village house. It was still much bigger than me and huge but I wasn't as scared knowing it wasn't as big as a mountain as the stories described. Its claws suddenly seemed to sprout. They grew longer and sharper as the creature approached. I took a deep breath.
"Hi," I whispered, my voice barely audible to me, the Dragon would never be able to hear me. My voice was trembling and I felt myself turning cold. But the Dragon stopped and cocked its head slightly. Had it heard me?
"I'm January. You are?" I murmured trembling. The Dragon didn't move. "You're beautiful, you know that? I didn't know Dragons still existed. Am I dreaming?" The Dragon advanced again and soon was so near, I could see each and every one of its scales. It craned its neck down, down down down down. Down to me. Suddenly, its face was only inches from mine. I didn't move. I held my breath. I looked right into its piercing eyes. They were magnificent. The Dragon held its gaze. Wow, I said to myself, I'm staring right into the soul of the greatest beast on earth. I saw every detail of its face. I suddenly didn't feel scared anymore.
"You're not going to hurt me are you?" I said calmly but in a small voice. The Dragon grunted and its breath sprayed onto my face. I giggled. "Don't do that!" The dragon shook its great head and looked away. With one sweep of its great tail, it took me into the air. I clung onto the hard scales of its tail as I felt myself rising much too quickly. A little, strangled scream came out of me but I was too scared to make any other noise. As the Dragon's tail swept higher and then back onto the ground, near the lake, I closed my eyes. As soon as the tail hit the ground, I tumbled down and snorted.
"What was that for?" I grumbled. The Dragon ignored me. The Dragon slowly lay down next to me and I shakily stood up. I came nearer to the creature.
"So, are you a girl?" I asked. The Dragon snorted. "Or a boy?" The Dragon looked deep into my eyes and I somehow understood it.
"A boy. So what's your name?" I continued, walking towards him. His eyes followed my every-step. Soon, I was comfortable and picked up my pace. Before I could get to his body, his tail came under me and swept me off my feet. I landed on the ground and the air was knocked out of my lungs. Ugh. The Dragon looked at me and I stared back into his eyes. They said "Stay back" but in a gentle way. I coughed and took a deep breath.
"Right," I nodded to the Dragon. "I'm sorry. Getting too comfortable." I shrugged and sat back down onto the grass. Suddenly I saw the Dragon's eyes flicker and light up. It had heard something. It got up with a jolt and ran towards the far end of the rock wall. I scrambled to my feet but by the time I had turned around, the Dragon was gone.
"How?" I exclaimed under my breath. I then heard the loud neighing of Phoenix, echoing through the pass. I hurried towards the pass and rand down it. I jumped over a few small boulders and tried not to get hit by falling rocks. I finally saw Phoenix. She stood at the entrance of the pass, as if she were guarding it. I ran up to her, panting.
"Is everything alright?" I asked her, out of breath. She shook her head and snorted. I heard the distinct noise of clattering hooves and shouting. "Warriors." They were probably out looking for me and I could hear the barking of dogs. Phoenix whined and stomped her foot on the ground. Something told me she wanted to get away from the pass. A feeling that I should be keeping the Dragon secret, at least for now, took over me so I mounted Phoenix and we cantered away from the pass. We galloped towards the noises of dogs, shouting and horses. I finally saw people riding on horseback in the distance. I slowed to a trot as I approached them. There were three people, Warriors, on horseback and a big hound dog with them.
"Miss!" called one of them, a thin woman with long blonde hair. I stopped in front of them.
"We've been looking for you for a while. Your Father's been worried about you. Where have you been?" asked the leader of the three, Dolan.
"I went hunting but then I got a bit carried away," I lied. "I'm sorry."
"It's ok...," sighed Dolan. "We should get back to the village now." I nodded and followed them back towards Evebridge.
