Dragon Eyes

Chapter 24.

Goodbyes.

The evening before Lynwood and Sofia were to return home Collyn came to visit with them.

“I heard you are not going to stay, Lynwood,” she said in a defeated voice.

Lynwood shook his head. “No, I am not, I am returning to my home with my father and Sofia tomorrow morning.”

Collyn looked downcast, “I had hoped you would stay, it shall get so lonely here without you and Sofia, why don’t you? You may like it here.”

“I don’t think I would. I need the open sky, the cold mountain air, the forest and the streams. I am a child of the north and the north is where I belong. I know you don’t undestand.”

Letting out a sigh, Collyn softly replied. “Quite the opposite, I think I do.”

“Don’t be sad, Collyn,” Sofia soothed. “Maybe you could come and visit us.”

“I would like that,” Collyn smiled. “I will speak to my brother if it can be worked out.”

There was a slight pause. “Only if there are to be any more adventures,” Sofia stated, turnig to her brother. “You will not leave us behind in a cave once more! Girls like adventures as much as boys.”

“Don’t sprain your ankle,” Lynwood retorted. “And I’ll be sure to take you.”

“I won’t!”

“Then don’t!”

They all laughed at this. When the time came for Collyn to leave to her room to go to bed, Lynwood saw her to the door.

“But really, Lynwood,” she said, turning round and look at him pleadingly. “If you ever are to go on an adventure again, please, take me with you. Palace life is so dull, I want something more in life than lessons and playtime.”

Lynwood smiled and held out his hand. “I promise, Collyn. Even if I have to come to the palace and kidnap you again.”

Collyn smiled shyly and with a bit of an awkward shake they sealed this promise.

***

The next day they bid goodbye to their new friends. Lynwood offered Tristan and Elaine to ride with them on Caderyn, but Tristan refused.

“Oh no, no, no, no,” he shook his head. “There is no way I am going on that creature, no offense taken.”

“But Uncle Tristan...”

“He’s afraid of heights, Lynwood,” Elaine whispered.

Sofia giggled loudly. It was funny to think of a big strong man like Uncle Tristan afraid of heights.

“I don’t know if I could ride such a creature either,” Elaine went on. “I am surprised that you are going, Lyndon.”

“It seems I don’t really have a choice,” Lyndon replied. “The children have their minds set on flying and I’m not going to let them go off alone. Once was enough for me.” He tenderly ran his hand through Sofia’s hair, before lifting her onto Caderyn and sitting down behind her.

“Come and visit us Collyn,” Sofia called to the princess. “You will love our little mountain home and I can take you to the meadow and we can pick wild flowers and go hunting for berries and mushrooms and stargaze at the brilliant northern sky.”

“If my brother lets me,” Collyn shyly said. “I should very much like to come.”

“I am sure we can arrange it all,” Wilheard reassured. The newly crowned king turned to the woodsman’s son, “I want to thank you, not only for all you did to help put me on the throne, but for all that you have taught me while you were doing it.”

“Taught you? What could I have ever hoped to teach you?” Lynwood was quite confused

“You taught me to believe once more,” Wilheard smiled. “It is perhaps the greatest gift a person could ever give.”

Lynwood shrugged awkwardly and with a bow turned to the Collyn.

“So long, Princess.”

“Goodbye Lynwood,” Collyn replied, “I am glad fate allowed us to meet. You and your sister have taught me a good many things that I shall never forget. Remember your promise.”

Lynwood smiled and with last awkward squeeze of her hand, he climbed up on the dragon.

“Come on Caderyn,” he softly said, “let’s go home.”

They flew into the sky and soared across the plains until at last they returned to the much loved and greatly missed mountain range, and the little green house. Here Caderyn descended and Lyndon and the children got off.

“Home at last,” Sofia softly said. “The flower garden is all but wilted from days of no care, and I’ll be the horses have been stolen, and the chickens as well. We’ll have to ask Elaine for more. It’s a good think the King rewarded us with money and we can buy more horses...though I will miss our old ones. How do you think our vegetables fared Lynwood?”

“I dunno,” Lynwood shrugged. “The house is a mess. Those guards sure left a disaster!”

“We’ll fix it all,” Lyndon reassured.

“Oh, I can’t believe it’s all over,” Sofia sighed. “Looking back now, it just seems like a really bad dream.”

Lynwood shook his head. “It seems all very real to me,” he said. “Returning to normal life won’t be very easy.”

“It’s always like that,” Lyndon said with a kind smile. He ran his hand through his son’s hair. “Well, come along, we’ve got to get to work cleaning this place up.” He nodded his thanks to the dragon and went inside the house

Lynwood sighed and the slowly turned to Caderyn. The dragon and the boy stared at each other for a while. The time had come.

“Sofia,” Lynwood said. “We must say goodbye to Caderyn.”

“Say goodbye to Caderyn?” Sofia was confused

“Yes, it is time for him to leave.”

Sofia widened her eyes in dismay. “Leave? Where is he going to leave to?”

“Back home, Sofia. He doesn’t live down here, his place is up in the mountain. You know he doesn’t like being with people.”

“Oh!” Sofia frowned. “But...but...but can’t he live with us? We could make him a good shed and he would be near us and we could ride on him and...”

Lynwood shook his head and put his hands on Sofia’s shoulders, “Sofia, dearest, listen to me. Caderyn is not a pet. He is wild creature, and he doesn’t want to be tamed. Remember how when the king asked me if I wanted to stay in the palace, how I refused because I could not imagine myself living in the city.”

“But this is different,” Sofia argued.

“No, it isn’t, remember how you once told father how you couldn’t understand how people preferred to live in the city when the mountains were calling to them?”

Sofia nodded.

“It is the same with Caderyn. He was born a creature of the mountain, he was born to be alone, independent and free. He can’t live down here; he needs the wild untamed forests and caves of the mountain top, where no man has ever set foot. That is his land, the land of the dragons. While we needed help, he helped us and put up with it, just like we had to bear the hardships, but now it is over and we need to let him fly back to his home and to the solitude that he so loves. Let him go Sofia, let him go home.”

“But can’t he come and visit us then?”

“I don’t know Sofia, maybe he can, but I don’t think it right to demand it of him. He needs his space, away from people and civilization. He’s not a pet, dear, nor a creature to be kept in a zoo. So say goodbye, Sofia, say goodbye and let him go back.”

Sofia nodded again and then made her way to Caderyn. He lowered his great head and she put her little arms around it,

“Goodbye Caderyn,” she whispered. “Thank you for everything, for allowing us to live in your cave, for helping Lynwood to save Papa and Collyn, and for helping to put the king on the throne. Without you we would have been lost for good. I shall miss you very much, but Lynwood is right, you don’t belong here, you belong on the mountain top.” She patted him and placed a kiss on the scaly nose. Caderyn nudged her a bit with his nose, and gave a lopsided dragon smile. With a sigh, Sofia turned and went back to the house, leaving Lynwood and Caderyn alone.

Caderny met Lynwood’s gaze, and Lynwood put his hand on the great creature’s head.

“We’ve gone through a lot together haven’t we?” he said with a smile. “It was a strange frienship between wise old dragon and a little country boy, but it has been a good and true one. Now it is time for you to fly back to your home, back to the mountains where you belong. I’ll miss you very much, but I am glad that you are going. You are different from the rest, you are set apart from all other creatures. You are smart and powerful, but you were not made to be tamed, your freedom is what makes you who you are, a dragon. No one can tell you where to go or what to do. You are masters of the sky, kings of the mountains, and no one can take your independence from you, no one. Just the same I shall miss you, I shall miss you very much.”

With those words Lynwood put his arms around the dragon and hugged him as tight as he could. A few tears stole from his eyes and tricked down onto the dragon.

Caderyn stood very still and breathed softly. He too would miss this little human child, but the time had come for them to part ways, and though it made him sad, it was the way it had to be. Lynwood couldn’t come up with him to the mountains. His place was down here with his family. After all, Lynwood was a human and had to live like the humans.

At last Lynwood let go of Caderyn and wiping his eyes, smiled and patted the dragon one last time,

“Goodbye Caderyn,” he whispered. “Goodbye and thank you.”

Caderyn rumbled softly and with a final nod at Lynwood, spread his wings and took for the sky. Lynwood lifted his head and watched the great dragon disappear into the mist of the mountains

“Fly away Caderyn,” he said softly. “Fly away home. I hope you never forget the little human boy who found you in the woods.”

In this young Lynwood needn’t have worried, for dragons never forget. And a day would come when the friendship and bond would be remembered by both boy and dragon.

...but that is another story.