Claws and Kisses

This was a bad idea.

Father would be furious when—if he found out. But it was worth it. His anger was worth it. Tomorrow, when they found no dragon, Father and Rhett would both regret not bringing me along. I was sure of it.

The memory of the roar from a few hours ago had guided me to Blueman’s Forest, where the leaves grew as thick as vines and the roots of the trees clawed through the soil like hands through mud. Rhett and I would sneak down here when father and Clyde went to the marketplace. It was our favorite place to play hide and seek.

Now, as I scuttled over logs and stumbled through the trees, I was thankful for all those silly games we played. I would not have known how to get through the forest otherwise.

Through the darkness and the wood, right before reaching the ravine Rhett and I would play near, there was another roar.

It was not like the first two, which had been strong. Booming and powerful. No, this one was duller. It was not a show of strength, but the sound of a great beast dying. I froze near the hill leading down to the ravine, listening to the dragon’s call for a moment. As soon as it faded, I spun on my heel and headed in the direction it had come from. There was only one place in the forest where the dragon would have holed up in.

The cave.

It only took a couple of minutes to get there. Afterall, it was my favorite place to hide when Rhett and I came to Blueman’s Forest. As soon as I saw the entrance to it, I knew I had been right.

A giant landslide led right to the threshold. The dragon must have had just enough strength to fly here and crash before setting up camp for the night. Dirt was scattered everywhere and fallen branches marked where the beast had fallen. There was a crimson red liquid staining the grass, growing in quantity as the trail continued on. Bile rose in my throat at the sight.

I unconsciously shouldered the bag I had quickly grabbed from home before departing for the forest, packed full of medicines and tonics. Now as I crept towards the cave, I dumbly wondered if human medicines even worked on dragons.

From inside the cave, the low rasp of breathing could be heard.

The dragon.

Sucking in a harsh breath, I stopped at the threshold to peer inside. I hadn’t thought to bring a torch, and in the dead of night, the inside of the cave appeared not much more than an abyss in which one could lose themselves forever in. The familiar opening no longer seemed so familiar. No, it seemed dangerous. Practically fatal.

I paused before heading inside. I hadn’t really thought out my plan that much beyond healing the dragon and getting him back in the sky by tomorrow morning. What if the dragon ate me before I could heal it? What if it smelt Father on me and automatically assumes that I am there to hurt him?

I blinked. What if I died?

Squeezing my eyes shut, I took a deep breath before reopening them and slowly tip-toeing past the entrance. The cave was made entirely out of stone, and water dripped from the spiked ceiling to uneven floors. The further I walked, the chillier it got. I was extremely aware of the loss of light and the fact that I was miles from home. From safety. This was a bad idea . . .

My breaths came in quick gasps as I tried not to panic. I had never done well with the dark or tight spaces. However, a few more trembling paces yielded to a hollow opening in the cave. I carefully crept to a stop in front of it, peeking my head out to look inside the chamber.

The moonlight lit up the open space, streaming in through one tiny hole in the ceiling. The cavern was spacious, making room for smooth rock ledges and chipped walls. Colorful crystals embedded the rough terrain and lined the walls.

None of that seemed special in comparison to the rippling pond in the center. With the moonlight reflecting off its clear blue waters, the small pool shone prettily throughout the chambers and made the cave feel less like a cage, and more like a safe haven.

I slinked forward, gripping the leather satchel bag in my hands as if it were a lifeline.

“Hello?” I called out, softly.

Deep within the cave, I heard a low growl rumble in response. The baritone sound shook the ground and caused every nerve within my body to launch into panic mode. The fear in my chest felt like a tangible thing, and I wished desperately that I had had the sense to at least bring a rock or some other weapon to throw at the dragon if it decided that it did not want my help.

The monster was curled up in the corner when I finally spotted him. Only a bit of the moonlight managed to touch him, catching the end of his long, midnight blue tail. Even though I had a hard time seeing him, I knew that he was staring at me. I could feel the heat of his gaze burning holes into the forefront of my head.

Another growl emitted from his throat as I approached. One of warning. His intentions were clear.

Back off.

Instead of angering him further, I decided to halt where I was and simply sit cross-legged on the rock ledge I was balancing precariously on top of. His eyes tracked my movements, but he made no move to stop me. Once I was settled, I simply stared at his distant figure in the dark.

“You know,” I spoke gingerly, after a moment of our stare down. “If I wanted to hurt you, I would’ve come armed with a knife instead of medicine.”

His growl this time was a mix of irritation and cruel amusement. As if the thought of me hurting him was something to laugh at.

Not that I disagreed. He was a small dragon, but his danger was potent. It seeped into the air and filled the cave with the promise of power and pain.

“I brought something for you.” Sticking my hand within the contents of my bag, I pulled out a flimsily wrapped piece of meat. It was small and probably not the size he was accustomed to, but it was all I could gather before rushing out of the house to go and find him. “I’m going to come closer now, okay?”

I rose and made it all of three steps before he was snarling again.

Immediately, I froze. Instead of trying to walk any closer, I simply consented to throwing the meager amount of meat onto the ground a couple of feet from where he lay on his stomach. He watched as I gradually backed up and seated myself once more on the ledge. When he did not immediately jump at the offering, I nudged my head at the raw meat in earnest.

“Eat. It’s not poisoned.”

The dragon exhaled a breath of hot air, which sounded a lot like a scoff. Raising his ginormous head from where it rested on his paws, he leaned his head forward to delicately sniff the meat.

The moonlight caught the tip of his snout, highlighting the many dark scales that shielded his body. After a minute of examination, he turned away from the food and went back to lying on the ground, carefully watching me.

I frowned, strangely offended. “Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad. It was killed fresh today.”

Lie. The deer had been butchered yesterday but I felt oddly offended that he had rejected my offering. For gosh sakes, it was heavy to carry all the way here! I only said, “You’ll die down here if you don’t eat something.”

He scoffed again, but the movement made him flinch. No matter how much he tried to hide it, I could still spot the trickle of blood that puddled on the ground below his neck. A broken arrow was sticking out of his throat at an odd angle, covered in a dull green paste. Whatever the paste was, it must have been mighty strong to bring something like him down.

“Look, if you’re not going to eat, that’s fine. But at least let me fix up your wound so that you don’t die of infection.” My shaking voice didn’t seem to reach his ears. All he did was narrow his serpent eyes on me and bare his teeth.

Each fang glistened with dried blood from a recent kill. Whoever had hurt him had paid the price for shooting him down from the sky. If I had to guess, I would say it had been one of the humans in my father’s hunting troop.

Lowering my eyes to the ground bashfully, I whispered, “I promise I won’t hurt you.”

The dragon only hissed between his teeth, showing me the sharp, crude tips of his canines. Despite his tough act, there was still a horrible pain in his eyes. He was hurting bad. And if the growing panic in his wild gaze was any indication, he knew that if he did not get help soon, he would surely die down here. Alone.

Ignoring him for the time being, I dumped out the rest of the things I had brought with me, scattering the contents on the rock ledge to analyze what I had on hand. There were a few gauze wraps, some medicinal herbs to lessen the pain, pins to keep the bandages in place, a needle, some white yarn, and a stolen bottle of brandy. It was father’s favorite, but my brother had once told me that soldiers drink it when they were about to get fixed up.

I look up at the dragon to find him staring hard at the supplies I had brought with me. As soon as he saw my wandering gaze however, he snapped his eyes away from the bag to deliver another half-hearted growl.

Breathing out a shaky breath, I gathered my things and stood back up, meeting his stare head-on. He met my green gaze with his own brooding eyes. I said, “May I please fix you now? My father is in the army. I’ve seen him do it before.”

Another angry snarl was tossed my way. Whatever I had said seemed to displease him. Frowning slightly, I stepped forward a little more and off the ledge. “I don’t know if I can fix you in that form, though. I think you’re going to have to shift.”

The dragon’s reply was a long time coming. He glared at me with unblinking eyes, assessing the situation. If I did not help him now, no one would, and he would most likely die from fever or some other terrible sickness. However, it was easy to see that he was reluctant to trust me. His hostile eyes spoke more than words ever could as he slowly—oh, so slowly—leaned his neck back, exposing himself to me.

I couldn’t help but smile at the ground, hiding the triumph warming my chest. Somehow, my plan was working.

My grin did not last long though, as he snarled his displeasure, obviously ordering for me to get a move on. I skipped forward obediently and only slowed after seeing the uneasiness in his eyes.

Thinking to myself that it was ridiculous to be scared of a nine-year-old, I dropped down onto my knees before his enormous form.

Now that I was close, I could see his wound all the better. His wings were tucked in tight to his body, but if he were to stretch them out, they would probably extend to each end of the cave. His scales were hard but flexible, able to shift and bend as he moved about. And his eyes - they were purple. Purple like the sky above.

“Your eyes are bonny,” I whispered after a moment, rubbing my hands on my tattered breaches, trying in vain to get the dirt off my palms so that I would not ruin the shininess of his scales.

My compliment had his eyes softening a touch. I didn’t really notice however, as I was too focused on uncapping the bottle of brandy. He watched my willful attempts to open it silently. However, the cork was content to stay where it was. My cheeks flared red in embarrassment. Of all the times to not be able to uncork a bottle . . .

The dragon, who was still watching with suspicious eyes, leaned forward. My body stilled completely as he neared. Every alarm in my body was going off with his close proximity, screaming danger danger danger. But the dragon simply placed one long, menacing fang on top of the cork and punctured the lid. Immediately, a gush of liquid started to flow from the top and drench my shaking hands.

“T-Thanks.” Trying my best not to flee the cave, I scooted forward until the dragon was only a foot or so away from me. I took the bottle and lifted it high in the air. “I’m going to pour it on the wound now, alright? Just don’t eat me.”

He snorted in amusement, and watched as I gradually began to pour the alcohol on his wound. I expected him to hiss or snap his teeth but he remained unfeeling. Every time I had watched father do it for other soldiers, they had always yelped in pain or pleaded with my father to stop. The dragon did not seem to care or notice the hard liquor seeping into his cut though.

After that, things progressed rather smoothly. He let me stitch up his neck, even though some of the stitches were crooked and uneven in places. I tried wrapping the gauze around the wound as well but he was just too big. I ended up just packing the wound with the herbs and leaving it at that.

When I finished, I paused before immediately running out of the cave. I had never been this close to a dragon before and it was . . . magical. Being near this creature felt like looking and seeing magic. Before I could stop myself, I lifted a tentative hand and stroked his scales.

The muscles in his back all contracted immediately as he tensed up. His eyes had snapped open to fixate on my hand, which now ran over his serpent-like skin in fascination. The dark azul scales were smooth, and as hard as diamonds. I gently tapped against one of them, testing its strength. I was so consumed in studying the peculiar scales that I did not see him moving towards me until it was too late.

All of a sudden, his eyes were in front of me. His jaws and sharp teeth were so close to my face that I literally locked up in apprehension and terror. He’s going to eat me. The thought sent my heart hammering thunderously in my chest. He drew closer until all that stood between his muzzle and me was the space of a butterfly’s wing.

I’m going to die.

Too terrified to cry out, I clenched my eyes shut and waited for him to bite me. A second ticked past. Then another. I debated opening my eyes but before I could, I felt him move impossibly closer. Going in for the kill.

His scale-ridden cheek brushed against the side of my face, slowly caressing the flesh there. It was over as soon as it began but it left me stunned nonetheless. Opening my eyes, I saw that he was already back in his corner, curled up on himself with his eyes narrowed on me as if daring me to speak.

Smiling shyly, I gathered my supplies before standing up and hopping from ledge to ledge until I was at the cave’s entrance. I paused and turned around. Low and behold, he still had his gaze trained on me. Raising a hand in farewell, I said, “I’ll come back and check on you tomorrow?”

It came out more like a question than a statement. The young dragon only grumbled before closing his eyes, going to sleep. I studied the beast a heartbeat more, beaming for all my worth, before scampering out of the cave and back towards home.