The Will to Kill a Dragon

Chapter 1C - A Boy that would do Great Things

The restriction of the canyon Antonio ventured through ceased. In its place was the Dragon's Land - an area filled to the brim with fog and outlines. The ground, which the druid could barely see, was roughened and harsh, with traces of frost within the dead soil. 

Antonio had to tiptoe through the wasteland to continue. Rosemary could've been miles ahead by now, but that didn't mean he could give up. A part of him began to doubt himself; he had full faith in Ibrahim's prophecy, yet a part of Antonio wished one of the dogs had followed. That way, the boy would at least know which direction to go, but unfortunately, the writer didn't want to make things easy. 

It was freezing. Again, Antonio had complete faith in Ibrahim's prophecy, but he should've thought to take some extra clothes with him. He wished for a fur coat. His people weren't allowed to kill the animals, but when an animal died, the druids still helped themselves to nature's remains. Everything Antonio wore consisted of straw and linen; summer clothing, which was useless in this climate. 

The wanderer then approached some dead trees. There was no telling what variety of tree Antonio saw. The snow was picking up, not harshly hitting but calmly falling, and the frost had catastrophic effects on his senses. Where was he again? Who was Antonio? Was he in a chapter or a segment of a chapter? Antonio didn't know. Antonio just didn't know anymore. 

There was no food or water either, save the frost. Antonio hadn't even thought to bring supplies; just his summer clothes and a rusty sword. Antonio began to lose faith - he would die here. The boy's limbs began to fail on him. The bleak chill would kill him. There had to be somewhere he could rest. 

Out of the feeble twigs that stood amongst the landscape, a colossal tree made itself apparent. Antonio didn't know it, but the tree was a redwood. It looked dead like the others, yet it wasn't. And this tree was at least one hundred times bigger than the rest. It also had a rather sizeable hollow opening. At last, Antonio thought to himself, a shelter from the bitter cold. 

Antonio entered the natural chamber, bruised and exhausted. He was so tired that he nearly missed the presence of a girl at the far end of the bark. 

It was her. It was Rosemary. Yet though she had thought to bring a fur coat, her reddened face has undoubtedly seen better days. 

"Rosemary," Antonio gasped, "Is that... Rosemary?"

The village girl looked up. Like his eyes, Rosemary's had a look of complete exhaustion and incoherentness. But though Antonio's face began to brighten at the sight of her safety, Rosemary's was filled with a frustrated shock. 

"You? Antonio!" Rosemary choked, "No! No! I didn't want you to find me! Please don't take me back!" 

Rosemary suddenly crawled backwards and clambered against her side of the tree. Antonio looked at her in bewilderment. 

"Don't you want to see your family again?" he asked. 

"No!" she said unsurely, "well, yes, eventually! But I don't want to be married to you. I don't want to be like my parents - secluded all my life. I want to do so much more first!"

Again, Antonio looked at her confusedly. 

"Okay," he said finally, "What do you want to do?"

"Pardon?" Rosemary replied, 

"Well, you want to do so much more you said," Antonio pondered "so what is it you want to do exactly?" 

Rosemary hadn't put much thought into what she desired. She mumbled and stuttered before she gave a proper answer. 

"Well... umm..." Rosemary began, "I want to see where Dragon's Land ends!" 

"Really?" Antonio commented, seemingly to humour her. 

"Yes! Exactly, yes!" Rosemary bellowed, "And... I want to meet someone beyond Dragon's Land! I want to build my own house! And I want to meet a prince! Like, a prince in those stories Ibrahim used to tell us all, remember?" 

"Amazing stuff," Antonio replied, quite unsure how to respond without offending her. "Well... why don't we do those things together?"

"Oh..." Rosemary's voice began to falter "well..."

"Would you mind if someone were with you?" 

"No, not at all!" Rosemary asserted, "But... surely you wouldn't find any real pleasure in those things..."

"Oh? Why not?" 

"Well... I mean it's so cold outside!" Rosemary remarked hysterically.

"You're afraid of letting anyone in, aren't you? Afraid that they won't understand you." 

"What, me?" the girl laughed "Don't be so silly! My parents love me. The druids love me..." 

Rosemary stood up suddenly and made her way to the hollow tree's entrance. 

"Let's go now, Antonio," Rosemary beckoned, "The snow has picked up a little..."

"Rosemary..."

"...We can't be too far from the end..." 

"Rose..."

"...a little snow wouldn't hurt anyone! I'll go..." she stopped.

"Rose!" Antonio intervened. 

His hand was now firmly clasped around her arm. The boy feared he might have been hurting Rosemary, but Antonio was too afraid of losing her not to hurt her. 

"Wait for the snow to die down" Antonio pleaded, "I promise we'll do all those wonderful things as soon as the snow dies." 

"And then..." Rosemary mumbled, "We'll get married?" 

"If you want," Antonio answered. 

Rosemary hadn't specifically mentioned it, but the pair now knew why she had run away. 

"Do you want to share my fur?" Rosemary asked, "I also have some potatoes from the village?"

Antonio smiled and nodded. 

"That would be lovely." 

It was near the end of the evening, and within the redwood tree, Rosemary and Antonio tucked into some potatoes. After the meal, they talked a little, and then dozed off against one another to the sound of a hurricane of snow. They slept knowing the druids were worried about them. They slept not knowing a dragon was on its way home to the redwood tree. 

**TO BE CONTINUED**

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Authors Notes

Have got to love how when the speech is left alone it seems to have a life of its own, why it could be anything that's speaking there!