Yep, something was on fire.
I glanced frantically at Redd. He too had his nose turned up, smelling the smoke as well. “Oh,” he murmured. “That might be something.”
We took off running.
I wasn’t one to run when it wasn’t necessary, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And this was the most desperate of times.
We sprinted toward the smell of smoke until we could see the thin wisps crawling through the forest, gray and mysterious. My thighs thrummed with the effort.
And then we found the source.
Small, barely larger than my palm, was a pile of leaves aflame on the ground. And beside them, red and wriggling, was the dragon.
I didn’t think—I simplylunged.
Throwing my entire body forward, hands outstretched, I dove for the little winged creature.
And I was so close, too. My fingers brushed its scaly surface, nearly finding purchase, but then the dragon squealed, loud enough to nearly burst my eardrums, and let out a blast of steaming hot air directly into my face.
Reflexively, I slapped my palms to my cheeks, sure I would find my skin had melted off. Or that my blue hair would be aflame.
I heard Redd shouting and scrambling amidst my panic.
Luckily, my skin was intact. My eyebrows, though, felt a bit singed.
Much to my dismay, the dragon had escaped with Redd hot on its tail.
I laid in the dirt for long moments, feeling bad for myself while Redd flew through the forest chasing the dragon.
It was hopeless. The flying creature was impossibly fast.
But it was still here. Still in Moonvale. And that made my spirits soar.
I folded my hands together and slipped them under my cheek while I waited for Redd to return, letting the chill of the ground sink through my clothing, into my skin.
Any nearby critters had surely been scared away in the commotion, but the forest was still so alive. Leaves settled and creaked in the breeze, rays of gentle freeze season sun fought to reach the ground through sprawling, sparse branches of trees, and a bird happily chirped somewhere in the distance.
I couldn’t help but smile through the turmoil of emotions.
Eventually, Redd returned, his boot crunching blades of dead grass. Air sawed in and out of his tired lungs.
I turned my head to glance at him. He looked impossibly tall from this angle. Like one of the Old Gods returned to the realm, ominous and all-powerful.
His shoulders rose and fell with his heaving inhales and exhales and sweat glimmered on his forehead. The fact that he had worn himself ragged chasing down a baby dragon made me love him impossibly more.
I grinned, flashing my fangs. “Hi.”
He huffed. His hands hung limply by his sides. “Hi, little vampire.”
“Did it get away?”
“I followed it all the way to the clearing by the edge of town, but then I lost it. Little menace isfast.”
My stomach squeezed with a weird sense of pride. What a powerful little baby, outrunning full grown vampires. “But it’s still here. In Moonvale.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “It’s still here. We’ll catch it.”
We would. We would catch it. If we had to chase it to the ends of the realm, we would catch it.
