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How a dragon trains you

Part 10

Friendship

We've gotten far away from the town. I figured that at a place so distant yet so close to my town be the place the dragon might stick around here somewhere… We wandered off the path and headed into the same part of the forest side as I did yesterday. Levicus closely was sticking behind me, almost paranoidly flipping his head into all directions. But I was just calmly walking on. I've already done this a couple times. I knew how this would go: The dragon would notice me eventually and just appear somewhere… soon…

The further we strayed away from safe roads or any forms of civilization, the more uneasy I noticed Levicus become behind me. Rather crooked, he was walking so close to my shoulder it seemed like he was ready to cling onto me anytime. I was a little nervous myself, but not because I was scared of the dragon, but afraid that we wouldn't find it at all and waste our time searching for it. That'd be a little awkward.

Despite the midday's brightness and the sun being in its zenith, fog emerged all around us the deeper into the forest we got. This part of the forest always was somewhat swampy, so fog during the midday wasn't quite the rarity. But today… we just had bad luck. We could only see 30 feet around us before the trees' and bushes' outlines and anything behind them became too blurry, making the horizon fade away into a monotone light-grey which was slightly illuminated by the sun light.

Becoming impatient and losing my inner excitement, I began to lose my pace… and the more I searched around me, the more I was beginning to fear that we were never going find the dragon in this dense fog -if it was still here at all. It might have gone back to its home… Or some other place with less people around…-

“…You sure it's around here?" Levi suddenly interrupted the silence which had held on for a time so long it felt strange hearing a voice again.

I didn't reply, just staying quiet… I was about to say no, but I'm not gonna give up that easily. It's around here somewhere. It must be. I'm sure of that…

(Perspective switch to Fahren)

Since parting ways, I felt even less inclined to return to my home territory... so, instead, I just decided to wander close to the town, always keeping it in sight from the hilltops as I roamed around. I flew or ran past any of the main trails leading out of the town to make sure to avoid any contact with people, but I did enjoy sitting and watching them walk by, smiling at how good I am at hiding.

Fog.. there's fog on the other side! I LOVE fog!

With a quick movement, I leap into the air and soar around in an excessively wide arc so nobody sees me, and on the way, the fog rolls in toward me…

I immediately feel the cool mist brushing over my form. Blinded by the veil of mist, I naturally start clicking to echolocate.

…

(Perspective switch to Mervyn)

As I heard a strange pecking-like noise emerge from one of the blurry directions and then flying by above, I froze, and so did Levicus.

“…Merv?"

“-Quiet!" I shushed him. I listened closely… the sounds darted overhead and then faded away to the left. That must be it! The dragon! I didn't know that it could make those sounds, but there wasn't any other explanation for it.

Levi had actually flinched by the noise once they had drawn closer and paranoidly threw his head around. It seemed like anything had the potential to scare him by now!

“Mervyn?!"

“Quick, this way!"

The sounds had gone off… The dragon hasn't seen me apparently, and so I ran after it. As I noticed that Levicus wasn't coming along, I paced back, grabbed him by his arm and pulled him along, struggling a little because he was resisting and fighting like a child that doesn't want to leave the candy store. But luckily, he gave in after some while...

(Perspective switch to Fahren)

Flying was fun, but I decided to set down and just enjoy the fog from the ground, circling back a ways and skidding to a halt, then laying down, barely breathing any harder than if I had already been just lounging around.

(Perspective switch to Mervyn)

Levi's glance suddenly darted into one direction. “M-Mervyn?? Is that over there the…?"

(Perspective switch to Fahren)

I turned and headed toward where I saw there was a little bit of a hill, preferring to be above things if I can help it… headed away…

(Perspective switch to Mervyn)

I inquired the way into which Levi was looking… but there was nothing there. Just a few blurry black spots, which were either trees or bushes.

“What do you mean?"

“I swear, I just saw something move!" he shouted with a shivery and sore sounding voice. Hearing him like that was so unusual… He rarely was scared like that.

I continued to stare where he was pointing. But there still wasn't anything. The couple silhouettes were unrecognizable.

“Was it in that direction?"

Levi just nodded eagerly.

“Then come on!"

I hastily stepped off, having to drag Levicus after me again.

We were walking… and wandering… and strolling… but we still couldn't find it, or any indicators of its whereabouts. This search wouldn't be so frustrating if Levicus wouldn't be acting like a baby and slowing me down constantly!

“Levi, I really don't get what you're scared of all the time!"

He just remained silent… way too under pressure to be able to respond to anything I say.

“I mean, you have already met the dragon once! You know damn well it wouldn't do a thing to us!"

Levicus finally seemed to focus on my words. He took some moments to calm his trembling jaw before speaking.

“Y-yeah, to you perhaps"

His eyes quickly darted off again, back to looking around him.

“Come on, don't be silly! It helped you, remember? If I'm not mistaken, it even saved your life!"

Despite my words, Levicus still didn't seem to relax, as if he wasn't even listening. He still had this flabbergasted look on his face. This look which said that he'd be rather anywhere else but here. I knew, it was a dragon that we're searching for right now, but I still couldn't understand what he was so afraid of! Did he still remember the wolf ambush? That shouldn't be a reason, unlike last time, we're armed now…

I've tried to calm him down by continuing to explain why the dragon was nothing to be afraid of. For us, at least.

“And it also knows that you're my friend! There really isn't anything to worry about (...)"

(Perspective switch to Fahren)

Strolling around the fog, I decided to climb up a tree at the very top of the hill where the fog is thinnest. Digging my claws in, I heaved myself up to the best view possible.

As I reached up high where the branches started, I had to pass by some dead ones, one of which, I stepped onto and immediately snapped off, sending it falling down and hitting the ground, getting scared by it…

“ARR-H"

(Perspective switch to Mervyn)

“Damn, did you hear that!?" Levi suddenly shouted, almost cowering down beside me.

To be honest, I didn't hear anything but a little crack echoing through the forest, coming from somewhere out of the blurriness. But if the dragon did that… it must be nearer than I thought!

“It's here… we're close!"

(Perspective switch to Fahren)

…But I regained my composure and made it to the top where I could just see through the thin mist and observe the beautiful rolling fog with just a few treetops poking through. I looked down and saw just fog beneath me obscuring the ground… sighing happily and making myself comfortable amongst the branches…

…

…There were noises in the distance… sounding like… some two-legs… talking…

“rrh?"

My ears perked and literally dragged my head into the direction.

Before it got any closer, I barked like a wolf to the best of my ability to either scare them away or at least let them know that something is out here, though it's pretty obvious I wasn't a wolf. My whole vocal structure and nasal cavity was shaped all differently, but I tried!

Everything went totally silent for some moments, before the talking continued, listening with all my ears fanned out as far as they could go… hugging the tree closer, looking around intensely.

“…rrrrrrAH!"

I jumped off the tree and landed with a purposefully loud thud, my wings spread and my teeth bared.

(Perspective switch to Mervyn)

“Mervyn, man, shit!"

Levi flinched again, actually throwing his arms up and covering his head.

“Levicus, come on! We're almost there!" I shouted at him as I was already running off to where the thud came from. Levi was hastily following, only coming to avoid being alone out here… in the mist… with a dragon around…

“Can't we just get back to the store and come back when the fog is gone?!" Levi protested amidst his panting behind me as we were making our way through bushes and branches. But I didn't reply. I was focusing on if there were any other noises…

“You didn't-… You didn't hear what that sounded like!? That's not your… friendly dragon! This is some bullshit! And you're getting us into it!"

I ignored his protest as best I could.

We spent some time running around but ended up finding nothing again and remaining in the forest's silence.

“Quick! You got something that can make some noise? We need to let it know we're over here!"

Levi didn't respond.

“Ah, screw it."

I hastily scanned over the forest's ground and picked up a small branch. Not knowing anything better to with it at the moment, I just smashed it against a tree trunk, creating a remotely loud cracking noise. I hit again and again, until the stick broke into the pieces and all that was left was the little bottom still clasped in my hand.

(Perspective switch to Fahren)

I could hear cracking and footsteps… following them, constantly growling to make sure I was heard.

I stopped about ten feet away from two of them, and hunkered down, eyes narrow and ready to attack in any moment when I would have to…

(Perspective switch to Mervyn)

Suddenly, there was something like growling that sounded through the entire forest. I couldn't exactly determine where it came from… but was able to figure out a general direction.

“I think it's around here!"

“M-Merv, I don't think that sounded peaceful…"

“Relax… it just doesn't know it's us yet! It'll recognize us… but only when it finds us!"

I searched the ground again for another stick I could use to give some more hints, and quickly grabbed one off. But where we had gone off to wasn't a tree trunk nearby, and breaking it with my knee wouldn't be loud enough…

I scanned around me… my eyes wandering along the blurry wall… trying to find something to smash the stick onto…

There was a rather large and round silhouette right ahead. Not more than 10 feet away. It must be a boulder! Hitting it onto a rock should create a sound alright!

The stick held ready into an arm, I ran off -but suddenly… the rock moved! It moved towards me! Wait, that isn't a rock! That's the dragon! I found it! But it didn't look like it was going to…-

Before I could react anyhow a flash rushed past me, impacting on the ground with a loud bang somewhere closely behind me, the force sending me stumbling over. Before I could get up, I felt two strong weights pin me down by my back and by my hand, crushing the stick I held in it.

“It's me! It's me!" I kept yelling. The dragon ought to recognize me!

One of the weights suddenly moved onto my head, pinning it down with increasing pressure… but just as I thought that this would be the last thing I feel, it hesitated.

“It's me! Chill! Chill!" I cried out, trying to get the paw off my head.

For some seconds, everything was silent. All I heard was my heavy and shaky breathing… Did it stop? Did it finally recognize me?

“RAH" suddenly sounded from right above me, in a happy tone. “RAH!"

The dragon quickly jumped off me, pawing me to my back immediately, and I was facing up its unmistakable face, looking into chipper eyes accompanied by a wide smile… but I remained rigid in shock, having panicked so hard tears were all over my eyes.

“ARUUUUU!"

The dragon's head quickly lowered down to me and I felt the familiar touch of the lovely tongue lick me all over my face, washing the dirt off, and proceeding down my neck. The nice and warm feeling was enough to calm me down again…

But after a while the head lifted away, focusing on Levi, who was just getting up. He looked struck down. Damn, did the fireball really impact that close to him?

He painstakingly managed to push himself off the ground, managing to at least get onto one knee.

The dragon stepped back and its eyes darted back and forth, to me and to Levi, curiously examining him.

“Rruuu?"

Just as Levi got onto his legs the dragon stepped closer and nosed his head, purring. Then it sniffed all over his body, looked him up and down… and just started licking all over his face. But Levi quickly pulled back, not nearly as comfortable with the licking as I am. He even shielded his face with his arms and, not too forcefully, pushed the head away from him.

Not wanting things to go bad, I got myself off the ground and rushed between them. I pushed both back a little from one another, holding a hand on each other's chest. While Levi had a rather dizzied and even somewhat disgusted look on his face, the dragon was smiling, licking its lips and purring.

“Mmf- Ru!"

I stepped in front of the dragon and just petted it all over the sides of the shape of its head, comforting it in case it felt bad about Levi's denying reaction. I kept rubbing my hands all over the hide for a while, but then as I look over my shoulder to see Levi's concerned expression, I remember what we actually came for…

I took a couple back steps again, getting out of the area between Levicus and the dragon and letting them face each other.

“So, Levi…" I began to explain. “That… is the dragon. I think you two have already met."

The dragon sat down onto its haunches and thumped its tail against the ground in excitement. But Levi just stayed rigid…

“Come on, Levicus!"

“…Come on what?"

His voice sounded rather solemn, but still hesitant.

Instead of explaining something, I just made a quick hand gesture towards its chest. “He doesn't bite."

Levicus carefully inspected the dragon, looking him up and down… from the strong paws to the large and many ears on its head… It was the first time he was seeing the dragon not as an enemy, but as a friend.

“Come on. We're not leaving until you've introduced yourself."

After a long pause of silence and hesitation, he finally stretched out a hand… and slowly guided it towards the dragon's hide… His breathing became tensed up and his hand began to tremble. He was nervous, I could tell… but he was still doing it.

I thought about grabbing his hand by the wrist and moving it towards the dragon myself, but then, as his fingers were just inches away from touching down onto the chest, the dragon leaned in, bringing its hide in contact with Levicus, who didn't pull away. Feeling the warm hand, the dragon closed its eyes and started purring relaxingly.

I wasn't sure if either of them understood the significance of the first touch, but that didn't matter as long they still build up trust to one another that way. Watching those two, I couldn't help but smile. I was afraid that I'd never be able to bring those two together. To teach them how to accept one another… Yesterday Levicus would have rather killed a dragon than touching it. And now… he was petting one. Dragons were monsters, he had told me. Dragons were killers without reason. We might have different bodies.... We might love different things and have different bad habits, we may have different ethics and morals.... but as long as we have a mind… As long as we have a soul that can feel and a heart that can love… Aren't we all the same?

Of course, I could understand that the dragon had a mistrust for humans. In this endangered position, it's okay to have that, as long as you don't let it take over you. It was great to see distrust being overcome by friendship. It had me imagine a world in which, in the end… love can always win.

The forest had seemingly went silent. I could hear the dragon's heartbeat and was sure that Levicus was able to feel the pulses through the chest which the dragon had purposely puffed up. The way Levi was looking at his hand touching the hide of the dragon appeared like… he couldn't believe it.

I was beginning to think that Levi wasn't scared of the dragon itself. Not primarily at least, meeting a dragon is still a scary thing after all. I think most of all, he was scared of seeing his own intolerance. It felt like somebody grabbed his head and made it face his soul, showing the soil on it. I could see it in his eyes. The denial and disbelief. That something like this would never be possible… Today, he learned that his own world is not as obvious as he had always thought it was.

After a long while, Levicus had slowly taken his hand back to him. He closely examined it, as if he could see the dragon's warmth on it.

“See? I told you that you two would get along nicely" I just chuckled. Maybe now, he could see what I see.

The dragon opened its eyes again and looked down to him questioningly.

“Ru?"

“What does it- I meant, what does /he/ want?" he asked, still shy around the dragon.

“You'll see!"

The head suddenly lowered down to him and slowly licked from neck all the way over his face.

“mmmuuaaaaaaaaah!"

He didn't look pleased by it, and I could understand that. The big slimy tongue wasn't everybody's cup of tea, but at least he didn't pull away or shield himself this time. After the long-lasting lick, he did take a step back, and not wanting things to go too uncomfortable for him again, I stepped in between the dragon and him as it was about to take another lick, throwing its tongue out in a desperate attempt as I was already hugging it.

“Rurr!"

In cheerfulness about how well their first proper acquaintance worked out, I just pressed my head into the hide and rubbed my hands all over the big body's sides. I was so proud of both of them. Before they met I had actually expected that they'd totally misbehave, but they instead turned out to like one another.

As I lifted my head again, I noticed that the dragon had ripped its attention away from him and was looking at me now… The way its eyes were gladly staring at me… with its happy smile… I couldn't resist. I placed my hands on the head, leaned up and gave a little kiss onto its snout, having to stand on my toes to reach it… but feeling like that wasn't enough, I propped up again after a short while and gave another not-so-little kiss. This time right on its lips. I had my eyes tightly shut and I could feel my face already flush hot. Levicus probably was seeing this, but I was too joyful to care at the moment to care, finding it quite surprising he hadn't shrieked away or anything. As soon as I pressed my lips into the dragon's, it kissed back, which surprised me as well and was enough to make me turn red. It even murred and shuddered a little… seeming to get a little excited by it.

Its eyes flicked over to Levi for a brief moment, before leaning its entire body in which had almost knocked me over due to its size. Us both being lost in pleasure, the dragon broke off the kiss while huffing and pressed its snout right onto my chest, as I proceeded to gently rub its cheeks. I just held the head there… pressing my chin onto the forehead and closing my eyes again, smiling…

“Uhhh, Mervyn… could you tell your dragon there that we're here for something else…?"

Oh right! My eyes quickly shot open again as I remembered. I stopped the soft movements of my hands, still keeping them held firmly on the warm black surface, but the dragon didn't seem to take the hint. Instead, its head lowered even more and I instead felt the snout being pressed into my groin so hard it made me stumble backwards, sniffing and huffing into my pants.

“Grrrrurrrrrr"

It was hard to not lose focus by that pleasing touch… I was about to pull off but then the snout dug under and lifted me clean off the ground, having me rest on its flat head. My face went red. But not just in arousal, but in embarrassment… Levi was seeing all this! He had just learned to accept the dragon, we don't have to creep him off already!

It began jerking its head up and down, having me lightly bounce around on its snout and most likely not realizing my slight resisting.

“grrrrrrhh"

Its tongue reached up for a second and lapped at my pants, leaving a wet mark.

“Murrrr"

“Uhh… could you two not… make out in front of me…" Levi quietly stammered, having his head facing the away to avoid having to watch this.

I carefully tried to get my feet onto the ground again and slide off.

“u- Rr?"

The dragon seemed to get it now and stopped, tilting its head downward and having me slip back onto the ground again.

I quickly stepped over to Levi, who was still looking away, the dragon closely following.

“Uhm… sorry about that. He just wants to play sometimes" I chuckled, rubbing the dragon's head again.

“Just… save that for later and get back to the reason why we have come here."

“Oh right…"

Through the rather embarrassing moment, the awkwardness had taken away my memory, looking at the dragon while I was thinking…

“Oh- Now I remember! The hunting expedition!"

Levi finally faced forward again, looking interested.

“The plan is… We're just gonna do the standard procedure like we always do, except when we do find a catch… we'll just let my friend here catch it for us!"

I petted over its head again.

“And reward it, of course!"

The dragon, having realized that I was talking something about it, looked at me with questioning eyes.

I took a couple steps back to give it a full sight of me for some gestures…

Standing there and pondering for a while… I suddenly just pointed at Levicus.

“Follow him" I said to accompany my gesture.

Levi had actually flinched as the head of the dragon turned back to him, its large eyes focusing.

“What- me??"

“Yeah, you! You're the one with the better tracking skills!"

He just looked flabbergasted.

“All you have to do is get us near something we can catch… and I'll handle the rest" I explained.

I turned back to the dragon, checking if it understood what I wanted it to do.

“rR?"

It looked at me… then back to him… Then it stepped forward and eagerly nosed its belly.

“Uhm… Mervyn…"

I was beginning to think that it might had gotten the gesture wrong, but that could also have been another one of its friendship-signs or a signal for Levi to get going. But then things started to seem a little odd as it suddenly walked in circles around him, sniffing around his whole waistline. Levi just stayed frozen and carefully tracked the dragon's movements with his eyes…

Then the dragon nosed up his shirt and began licking his back

“Mru!"

“-Mervyn?! What is it going to-"

Suddenly, it bit his shirt subsequently and held it tugged in its maw, making Levi flinch away and step off so far that he was almost undressed by the shirt still being held firmly. Wait, did the dragon think that I wanted it to… Oh no, I've got to stop it!

“That's not what I meant!" I exclaimed as I approached them and immediately tried to pull on the shirt to remove it from the dragon's lips, but it stayed in place. Levi tried to step away further, but ended up dragging the dragon along with him. As I was pulling and ripping on the shirt, the dragon seemed to finally get the idea. It chuffed and shot me a glare.

“R- rr?"

The deep voice suddenly sounded through its body in a threatening growl, as it flashed its teeth at me. I froze… both being scared and surprised. I wasn't sure how serious the dragon was about that… would it really attack me because of something as little as that? No way… it just must be frustrated. It must have been really looking forward to having fun with Levicus… Come on, he may have a better build than me, but he is not that attractive!

The dragon let the shirt drop out of its maw, Levicus immediately pulling away and getting distance between him and the dragon. It agitatedly huffed out through its nose, sending a wash of warmth through the air… It stepped back a bit to sit down to its haunches, the large angry looking eyes proceeding to stare at me, expressing its frustration.

Dammit… I shouldn't have been so rough. Now look at it, I thought to myself. It was really mad at me…

“Raurrhh"

I looked back at it in a rather timid way. Trying to calm it, I carefully approached. Its head just moved with me and the glare tracked my movements as I closed in.

“Hey, look…"

Standing right in front of its propped-up body, I lifted a hand… and brought it down on the hide. I kept it there for a while, but then I slowly began to slide it upwards, soon reaching its neck and the side of its head.

“I'm sorry about that… but that just wasn't what I meant!"

The anger disappeared. As if it has been pressed out in a last huff through its snout. I wasn't sure how… but it seemed to understand.

As a proper apology, I stepped forward and let myself fall into the chest with my arms on either side for a couple seconds. I just didn't want it to be mad at me any longer… I began to smile as I heard the dragon purr while hugging it. But knowing that we've already spent far too much time being distracted for our actual objective, I stepped away again. I looked over to Levi, who was standing almost 20 feet away from us, still somewhat creeped out by the dragon's seducing earlier.

Just pointing at him will lead to another misunderstanding. It might even be more confused and agitated when I pull it off him again…

No, there must be another way. Think… think…

“Levi? Could you… just go ahead and walk off? I'm gonna try explaining the dragon that I want it to follow us."

Still not quite trusting us again, he stood still and thought about for a couple seconds.

“Uhm… alright."

He hesitantly turned his back to us, his head still watching. Walking purposely slow, he began to move away.

“Okay…" I mumbled to myself as I turned away from him.

Simultaneously to when I began stepping off to trail after him, I waved my hand to the dragon and after me to gesture it to follow too.

This time it got it! It hopped up and began walking along behind me… not trying any dirty stuff this time.

“Rrh"

Once Levicus noticed that me and the big dragon were following every single one of his steps, he hesitated for a couple moments... but managed to carry on. By his clumsiness, I could tell… he couldn't focus at all! He stumbled over a stick or a little hill every now and then, and it looked like he was walking around rather aimlessly instead of tracking after something or travelling to a spot which was likely to have some game with it.

The fog had fortunately almost gone away entirely by now, the horizons just slightly greyed. I was quite surprised myself how quiet the dragon was the entire time. I've never noticed before! For an animal of that size… I would have expected there would be at least a little noise. But it was making less than us both. If I wouldn't have its large and black figure moving behind me in the corner of my eye, I surely would have forgotten it was there at all.

Levicus suddenly headed straight ahead for a tree and pointed to me to the ground behind him, telling me to stay close and not get into the field of view around the trunk. I turned around to the dragon and repeated his gesture for it.

We all got close and behind the tree, the dragon hunkering down, still making absolutely zero noise. Its chest was slightly rising and falling, but there was no sound apart from the quietly thumping heart behind our heads.

I slowly step up to Levi, hearing what he's got.

“We're lucky… There is something right there!" he didn't hesitate to tell me.

I carefully peeked my head around the tree trunk, just slightly above Levi's. There was indeed something there. A well grown and fed deer with large antlers. For that amount of venison, the fur and those antlers… this thing can get us at least 150 gold! That's one hell of catch!

Levicus quietly reached for his back where the crossbow was strapped on, but I held my hand up and told him to leave it. Then I turned back to the dragon… and carefully point an arm out.

“Come on" I whispered. “Catch."

I waited… and waited… but there was no response! Come on! I wiggled my arm around to show some kind of urgency, but the dragon still just sat there and looked at me and at the deer with its questioning eyes. The situation made me feel kinda heated… there was a good catch right there! And it couldn't understand this simple gesture right at this moment?! Come on! Catch! Catch it! I moved my arm around more, and if I could, I would have shouted those words.

“Mervyn, come on! Make a call! The longer we stay around, the further our scent gets carried! This thing could run off any second!" he speak-whispered at me, almost getting his voice too loud.

“Okay, okay… then just… shoot it down!"

As if having waited for that command, he quickly grabbed the crossbow off his back by the stock and drew… but… what's he doing!? He pressed the trigger way too early! He always told me to take your time aiming!

The shot missed by far, and even before the bolt flew by, the deer ran off.

“God dammit!"

We both wasted no time to chase after the deer. Before it ran even further away from us, I drew my crossbow and just let a desperate shot off while still in motion, not even getting close to hitting the deer. The dragon seemed amazed by the bolt that had suddenly went airborne, tracking after it with its eyes.

“Rar!"

It had waited a moment before it bounded after us, and I could hear the thumping of the heavy paws shake the ground behind me. We were sprinting as fast as we could, Levi a little ahead of me as he could run faster and the dragon easily able to keep up with our pace.

The deer was gradually gaining more and more distance between us, beginning to move out of our sight. As we were just barely able to recognize it hopping from branch to bush, Levi began to slow to a stop, and so did I, as when Levi couldn't catch it, I especially couldn't.

“Dammit!" he shouted out in frustration whilst panting, being just out of his breath as me. “Do you even know how rare that breed is?!" he added, exhaustedly loading another shot onto the crossbow despite knowing it's all in vain.

Bent over with my hands on my knees, I just stare into the direction we lost the deer in… panting so bad I couldn't get one word out.

“R- rh"

The dragon caught up all the way and stopped next to me, cooing a little. I quickly turn around and just look at it while catching my breath to say something.

“…Come on!" I just shouted out, pointing a finger at the spot where I've last seen the deer. “Catch it! Get it! It's getting away!"

The big yellow eyes looked at me inquisitively, before darting back and forth, thinking quickly. The dragon just stood there for a couple moments, but then its wings suddenly extended, pumping as hard as it could which sent leaves all over the place, and in a flash the dragon leapt off into the air and disappeared above the trees, its black outline fading away among the sounds of the hard flapping. I was just left flabbergasted in the silence.

“…It better come back with the catch or… that next bolt is going straight for the back of your head, Merv" Levi just mumbled, clearly feeling agitated. I knew, when he was that mad… I screwed up. Personally, I wouldn't mind it that much if that deer would get away. It had happened to me many times before. I might be just more used to it than him…-

Our eyes widened as we suddenly heard a loud explosion in the distance, shaking all the trees around us. The same bang I've heard when I was running through the forest at night when the wolves came and were after Levi. The same bang that threw me to the ground earlier when the dragon mistook me for an attacker. The dragon must be onto something!

Me and Levi were as silent as can be, waiting for another noise. Any sign that would mean that the dragon would be more successful than us.

Amidst the ambient sounds of the wind's rustling and the bird's singing a frantic and distant thumping emerged, closing in and gaining volume. Then one of the bushes, not far away from us, began to rustle... stronger and stronger… leaves wiggling and branches waggling…

Suddenly, the bush parted in two and the deer with the eagerly chasing dragon trailing closely behind it shot out of it, leaping over our heads so closely me and Levi had to jump out of the way, flopping towards the ground to each side.

To me it felt like time was slowed down. The dragon, its claws outstretched and teeth bared, was mere inches behind the deer, hovering a little above us with the deer in front of it. A flame suddenly lighted from the dragon's maw, and another one of those fireballs shot out of it.

The fireball hit the deer the same time as I hit the ground, and I couldn't see quite what happened. The next thing I spotted was the deer laying somewhere in the distance without any more motion with the dragon on top of it.

Levicus hurriedly stood up and rushed towards the dead deer, while I was left on the ground, staring both in amazement and awe before I slowly walked after him. Even before the dragon had carried the deer to us by its neck, Levi was already in front of it and looked the kill over. The maw of the dragon let go, plopping the catch off at our feet with the wind from it rustling my shirt, almost panting as heavy as we were.

“Aru?"

The fireball had burned off some of the fur and made some of the flesh unusable, but it was still worth a lot. Levicus was leaning from side to side, a wide and happy smile on his face.

“Oh, look at this bad boy!" he cheered. “We're going to make up for the rest of the month with that!"

While Levi was busy inspecting the catch, my focus fell back onto the dragon, who seemed to understand that Levicus was happy about what it'd done. It even leaned its head down and gave a quick lick to his cheek., which caught him off guard and made him flinch away a little.

“Ru!"

I just stepped forward and gave a tight hug. It was meaning to express our thankfulness, but for me… it was more. We both knew, Levi can be rude sometimes, and the way I had commanded the dragon to catch this thing for us wasn't quite friendly either, but… it still made all that effort to get the deer for us. It wasn't even that much about the deer for me, just that sign… that altruistic will to help. Something I, and especially Levi, wouldn't have expected from a dragon, from anybody in fact.

I lied my head down onto the chest as the dragon's head lay on my shoulder… I could hear its purring from inside its body as I had my ear on its hide. I closed my eyes to the sound of the heart thumping…

“Come on, quick!" Levi suddenly interrupted us, making both of us open our eyes. He was already trying to lift the huge deer by one end.

“If we can get it to the backyard right now and skin it we can perhaps sell everything off before the stores close!"

Still having my arms around the chest, I turned my head around, and we both watched Levi attempting to grab and drag the kill by himself. I rather reluctantly let go and helped him, now noticing how heavy this thing is myself.

He was right… this was quite the catch! Heavier than it looked… Too heavy to be lifted. I eventually switched sides and held onto the same spot Levi was holding, allowing us to drag this thing over the floor. We were only making slow progress, but it was better than nothing. After a couple steps, Levicus stopped again and tilted his head around the sky… inquiring the structures of the mountains and checking the position of the sun for orientation.

He assuredly lifted an arm and pointed down a distance.

“The town must be that w-"

He was interrupted by the dragon jerking in between us, now aware of where the kill needs to go and bumped us both out the way as if it was trying to show off. The head reached down and picked the catch up itself with ease by the deer's neck and effortlessly proceeded to pull it off, confidently trotting away. Levi stood there flabbergasted, first watching the dragon, and then glancing back at me worriedly.

“Mervyn, tell your… friend there to drop it off in time before we get too close to the town. If somebody spots us with that dragon…"

“Don't worry, he knows how to keep himself unseen!" I laughed, getting a move on and following the dragon.

“Does your dragon even know where the town is?" he said, jumping after me.

“Yeah… you pointed it out, didn't you?"

“You sure that dragon understood that? Because when you pointed at me… I ended up being sexually harassed."

He shook himself over a bit.

“There's nothing to worry about, believe me. Look, if anything he's doing seems somewhat off… I'll handle it.

…

We've spent a good while walking after the dragon, who was pulling the kill away so eagerly we had to keep a high pace. As we were casually chatting around as usual, Levicus suddenly went silent and hurried in front of me, wildly pointing towards one of the town's stone walls he had spotted, not too far away to our right. It was one of the city's longer side walls, meaning that the gate, where people would be around, was near the end of it.

“Come on" he mumbled. He waved around with his arms towards the dragon a bit and then grabbed me by the shoulders and nearly pushed me towards the dragon, seeming anxious.

I stood there for a second on the spot I've been bumped off to, watching the dragon drag along its catch and apparently not paying any attention to the human structures it was closing in on. But the dragon just carelessly pulled along, probably not even noticing that it was dangerously close to human areas… Levi was right, we need to avoid the risk of getting sighted. I had to interfere, even when that would have the cost of the dragon being slightly upset with me.

Quickly, I hurried towards the end of the catch and held onto it, making the dragon stop so quickly, I just about lost my grip by how fast it's been pulled off on the other end.

The dragon immediately noticed the resistance, and its eyes flicked up, surprised.

“mmf-"

The expression started to turn into a glare, as it growled a little and tucked back, ripping the deer out of my hands. This was what I was fearing… its instincts were saying that its /his/ kill. It's not going to give it up that easily. There must be another way…

“Come on Merv! Just…"

Just as the dragon was about to drag it off again, Levi suddenly left his distant spot from which he has been watchfully observing everything, and rushed past me, grabbed the kill by the same side I did, and began to eagerly jerk.

“Levi- stop it!"

I've run up to him and held onto his arm, trying to make him let go and drag him away. I was concerned that the dragon might get angry if he tried to force things… But it was already too late. It had noticed Levi's hefty tug and stopped dead… glaring at Levi in a way so sinister it sent chills down my spine… and its pupils were slowly turning into narrow slits. Seeing the dragon, who had been peaceful /most/ of the time, made me unimaginably uncomfortable inside.

Levi kept pulling, looking over his shoulder to me and oblivious to the dragon's furious reaction…

“Don't worry Merv. Dogs do this all the time! They'll give in after a while…"

The dragon's eyelids widened as he kept pulling, its chest starting to rise up and down.

“Levi for goodness sakes, stop!"

“C'mon, why? All we need to is…"

He kept trying to rip the catch out of the maw… The dragon just stood there, strangely locked up. But I could feel… it was getting angrier by the second. It was ready to explode.

Only when the dragon was huffing and breathing heavily through its snout, Levi finally turned his head and realized… slowly letting go. He lowered the deer to the ground and backed away a bit…

“Well done, Levicus" I just mumbled. “You've pissed him off."

The dragon suddenly dropped the kill out of its maw and stepped over it, advancing towards Levi, teeth bared and growling loudly. I quickly jumped in between them, pushing Levi behind my back.

It took another step forward, the pupils having disappeared almost entirely. Then it inhaled deeply, only to roar out as loud as it possibly could.

Levicus turned around, covering his ears and almost running away, while I stayed between them. Some of the flame fuel even leaked out and nearly hit me, making the wind from the roar visible in a blurry wave. Like a foggy breath when it's cold outside, except that this fog was flammable.

My ears felt like they were numb after the maw shut again, its teeth bared to full extent. The dragon was panting hard, the fuel continually coming out in puffs, its claws dug deeply into the ground.

I stood there for some while and just… looked at it. Trying to think of a way to calm it down…

Slowly, I began to approach. Very slowly, and after one or two steps I stretched out a hand… waving it down carefully. That gesture alone seemed to work a little bit. The dragon's lips began to close down again, the teeth back to being concealed inside.

I stepped even closer, the fear making me hesitant. But as I was barely an armlength away from it… I moved the hand towards the head and lied it down onto the side of its face. I could feel the agitated heat its body was emitting.

The huffs gradually became weaker. The pupils slowly began to widen and the fuel seemed to cease seeping out while I kept my hand lying, staring into its eyes with in a rather timid way… before I finally took the last step forward and let myself drop into its chest, hugging with my arms on either side of the head and softly stroking over the hide, my eyes shot tightly.

The dragon closed its eyes, sighing out in one last shaky huff which I could hear resonate in its body. The propped-up hindquarters were lowering, until the dragon just flopped into a seated position.

“..mmmmrrrrr"

The eyes shot one last glance at Levicus, before calming down and softening up. I kept softly rubbing for another while, making sure that the dragon was back to normal again. We were pretty close to the town, and the people there heard that roar for sure, but that didn't bother me. I let my hands run down the back of its head to the neck and onto its back, just to stroke them all the way up again, while I had my head buried. I could it hear it start to purr.

Minutes passed… as I finally pulled back, looking up to the dragon's face. I was staring into the dragon's eyes, and it was staring into mine. I felt a lot more relieved as I saw that its beautiful eyes were back to how they usually were… I couldn't help but smile. The angel in the dragon I loved had returned.

The dragon pulled back, making me reluctantly let go. It turned around towards the wall behind it, the tail laying and lightly curling on top of the deer. I meanwhile walked off towards Levicus, who was almost a tree length away from us. Glaring, I stopped right in front of him.

“Don't. Do. That. Again" I lectured him, poking on his chest. He didn't respond. He wasn't able to respond yet. He was still too stunned. I wasn't certain if he was even listening.

“You should know better than messing with a dragon's temper like that" I continued as I felt that I would have his attention, still not getting any reply. But that didn't matter to me, I was sure the roar alone was enough of a lesson.

His eyes went off me again, and now I knew what he has been focusing on the entire time. The kill, which was still laying there beneath the dragon, protected. The dragon lowered its head defensively as it caught us both looking at its catch.

While Levi still stayed in place, too scared to go anywhere near the dragon, I approached again. Slowly, nice and easy, just like before. I stopped a couple steps in front of it… and looked into its eyes, which were still seeming rather upset than calm.

After a short moment of thinking this through, I pointed down at the catch.

“May we have that?"

Its glare sunk down to the catch as well… then it took a step back.

“raur.."

Slowly, it lifted its paw off the top and placed it down on the ground rather hesitantly. The reluctance to give up its kill… made me feel somewhat sorry. If I could, I would leave it with the dragon and be on my way, but Levi… he really needed this. His family really needed this… But so did the dragon…

In all my thankfulness, I stepped forward and hugged again. But the dragon stayed rather static in my arms, even when rubbing my hands.

I let go and turned back to Levi. Considering how eager he was about getting the deer to his backyard before, he seemed rather hesitant now… he just stood there like a shy girl.

“Come on! Let's get it to your shop!" I shouted to him. But he stayed. Just now I noticed that he was almost shaking in fear. If it wasn't for the kill, he probably would have run away.

“Come on! Get going!"

He dreadfully looked into the dragon's eyes, ensuring that it wasn't mad at him anymore. Then he approached step by step, checking its body language. The second he was next to me he quickly grabbed the kill just like earlier and pulled it away with me so hastily he almost made this thing move all by himself.

Before leaving, I quickly turned around to the dragon once more.

“We'll meet in the backyard!" I shouted back to it, pointing towards the town. I wasn't sure if the dragon could understand that. I wasn't even sure if it knew where our backyard is. But it knew how to stay concealed, so the worse that can happen is that it simply doesn't show up anywhere.