Touched By A Dragon

Chapter 6: A Year Gone By

Every day without fail he got up with the sun and the rooster. From his bread he put his fingers to his lips and let out a shrill whistle, Flame came flying out of know where, at an alarming speed, at first he would crash into the draw and shake his dazed head before glaring at the piece of furniture. But after a while he got the hang of it, swooping in through the barn door and walking up to Mike’s new room that was attached to the barn. When flame was too young to fly up the mountain, Mike wrapped the baby dragon in a blanket and hiked the long way to the top of the stream. But when he grew they walked up together as the stream was not reachable by air. After three weeks, Flame was big enough to ride, Mike jumped on his back and together, he and flame went to look for Lilliana. A year later the dragon was fully grown, its scales had changed to a deeper red and his eyes where now yellow like the blazing sun. Mike himself had also changed, his honey blond hair had grown out a little bit so it slightly tickled his neck and his shin had tanned.
Thought he never had much luck, he never once even though about stopping, every time someone even suggested that she was dead he would raise his head, tears in his eyes and say no. He just would not give up hope. He refused to do so and then he would say the he was getting closer to her, that he could feel it in his blood, like she was nagging him on telling him to not give up hope. 
One day, while patrolling the cliffs of an unknown shore, he got very close, to close. He came up along the beach, the wind ruffling his hair, and the smell of drying seaweed filling his nose. When he was skimming the rocky cliff on flame he heard the noise of a soft song. He was sure it was her, the voice was singing an old song that Mike had taught her when they were kids because she was afraid of the dark. A wordless melody that brought her comfort then, brought him comfort now. He gently touched Flames neck and told him to go faster. Coming around the bend he strained his eyes on a small gap between the rocks.
He could now see her; a great sense of joy, relief and completeness took over him, blinding him of all common sense. She had changed a lot. Her hair had changed to a darker brown, her light shin had tanned and her eyes where deep emerald, just like her dads. He was so distracted that he didn’t see the cannon until he heard a soft click, and a mighty metal net trapped him and his dragon. Under the mighty weight of the heavy, metal net Flame's wings stopped flapping. Flame and Mike where falling. Down, down they fell faster and faster, they could see the rocky cliff edge and they were approaching it, fast. Mike was frantically fumbling for an opening in the net so he could force his way out but Flame was not helping, in fact he was making it harder. He was so panicked that he was uselessly rolling around getting himself even more tangled. Mike looked down; in about one minute they would hit the rocks. He smiled sadly. Suddenly BANG! They hit the bottom, a cloud of sand rose and feel replicating their fall.