Silver smoke curled from its nostrils as Greta staggered to her feet and entered the cavern, beholding the dragon in all its wonder. It was impossible, and yet it was before her, a creature so lost to this world, it dwelled now in half-forgotten legends and whispered bedtime stories.
Despite the dragon’s hulking size, Greta’s terror quickly gave way to awe. Here was the greatest hidden treasure in all of Gevra, a thing so extraordinary she might have thought she was dreaming were it not for the bite of pain in her knees and the hiss of Elias as he came to stand behind her.
‘Do something,’ he said, impatiently.
‘Shut upunless you want to get eaten,’ she said, without daring to tear her eyes off the beast. ‘Let me focus.’
Elias took a step back, flattening himself against the wall.
Greta smiled up at the dragon, careful not to show her teeth. She sensed it was a female by the hum of her spirit. ‘You are a beauty,’ she murmured. ‘A true and utter marvel.’
The dragon’s nostrils flared as though it was inhaling the wrangler’s praise.
Greta craned her neck, taking in the rest of the creature. She was at least three times the size of her parents’ cottage back on Carrig – her large, ridged back covered with thick scales of silvered blue, as though she had been carved from the icy rocks that surrounded them. Wide, pearlescent wings protruded from the middle of her back, spanning out to touch the sides of the cavern as if in mid-flight.
A peculiar pose, given the size of the chamber.
Greta frowned, tracking the slope of a wing to where it was pinned – no,staked– to the wall of the cavern. The other was the same.
She reeled backwards in dismay.‘Oh, you poor creature.’
She remembered, then, what Alarik had told her of his father’s story.
Cowed by grief and pain, it grew angry and restless, and so the soldiers at Grinstad had no choice but to keep it there. Trapped.
‘I am so sorry for what they did to you,’ she said, pressing a hand to her heart. ‘For adding more pain to your grief.’
The dragon snuffled, and a wave of heat washed over Greta. It blasted the cold from her bones and swiftly returned the feeling to her nose. She sensed it was a kindness. Or perhaps a plea.
‘It’s all right,’ she said, softly. ‘I’m going to help you.’
The dragon clawed at the ground, and the sound of rattling chains filled the cavern. Holding out her lantern, Greta sidled around the beast, to see where her left leg was chained to the rocky ground. Somehow, she had managed to shatter the ones that had shackled her right leg, and both forearms.
There was blood everywhere. It stained the ground, mixing with pools of ice-water.
All too aware of Elias’s eyes on her back, Greta returned to the dragon’s head and raised a gentle hand to her snout. ‘You’ve been so brave, ancient one,’ she said, stroking the hard ridges between her nostrils. ‘Be still just a little longer.’
For a moment, they stared at each other, the beast’s eyes glowing in the darkness. Greta sensed her spirit brushing against her own, sizing her up. She stood perfectly still, bearing her wrangler’s soul to this mighty creature, feeling her pride and her pain, her desperate yearning to be free.
She reached into her satchel and removed the lamb strips. It would hardly count as a morsel for a half-starved dragon but she offered them anyway, as a show of friendship.
I won’t hurt you.
Please do not eat me.
She half considered offering up Elias, but she could tell by the nearby glint of his blade that he had drawn his sword. She had to tread carefully, play along until the right moment.
The dragon’s leathered tongue swept out, gobbling the strips up in a single bite. Greta wiped the saliva from her hand, trying not to quail at the sight of all those sharp silver teeth.
‘Right. Time to get to work.’ She made for the wall where the dragon’s right wing was skewered. She pocketed her dagger, then shucked off her satchel, sizing up the climb.
‘You could help me, you know,’ she called over her shoulder to Elias. ‘You’re much taller than I am. And your blade is far longer.’
Elias took one look at the dragon and shook his head. ‘Nice try, wrangler. I’m not turning my back to youorthat dragon.’
‘Coward,’ she muttered.
‘Get on with it,’ he snapped.
