The Dragon' Son (7 page)

Keegan drew his dagger then proceeded toward the cave. He stopped briefly before the waterfall, took a deep breath, and then strode through the falling water and into the cave. One of the two moons came out from behind a cloud and reflected on the falling water, bringing light into the cave and giving Keegan a fair look into it.

He was standing in a pool of water at the center of the cave. To his right, there were some rough-cut boulders, and to his left was nothing but a high stone wall. It was strangely warm in the cave, and a sudden weariness came over Keegan. His eyes began to droop, and his body pleaded for rest. He waded out of the pool and stepped onto the dry gravel. He walked toward the boulders--dagger raised, dripping water, his hand clamped tightly about its handle.

He came to the boulders and stopped to look around the dark cave. After a moment, he felt it was safe enough for him to rest, and he slowly lowered his dagger and placed it back into the sheath. At that moment, the moon disappeared behind another cloud and plunged the cave into complete darkness.

A red light glimmered on the boulders and cave wall, causing Keegan to jump. He traced the light to his chest and grabbed the chain that was around his neck. He pulled the chain out of his shirt to see that the ruby in his ring glowed brightly, making the golden dragons also glow.

As he stared at his ring, Keegan felt a lump form in his throat. He dropped the chain, leaving the glowing ring out of his shirt, and walked closer to the boulders. He found a comfortable crook where he could sit in one of them. He then put his face in his hands and began to sob. His father was dead, gone forever, and their only village, the only home he had ever known, was destroyed. His best friend was missing. His brother, sister, and mother were far away from him. His friends and other relatives were fleeing to the White Mountains. He was lost in a forsaken, enchanted, and cursed forest, probably never to come back out alive. What he would give right now to hear a comforting song from his mother, to feel his brother’s strong embrace, to hear his sister giggle, or to hear his father say, “It’s all right.”

Keegan leaned back on the boulder and continued to sob, putting his hands down to his side to grip the gravel beneath him. The hot tears streamed freely down his face, blurring the dark world around him. The sobs seemed to come like an overwhelming army into his throat, and it was all he could do to let them escape. The warm tears streamed down his face, fell from his nose and cheeks, and mixed with the cold water that was still soaked in his pants, making his skin prickle. He noticed that the boulder he leaned against was strangely warm, but he paid little mind to that fact. His mind was too full of pain, grief, anger, questions, and memories.

Everything was lost. His family was broken, and the Wovlens would never live in peace. Why were they hunted? What was wrong with their wanting to live in peace? His friends and family had been good people with kind hearts. What did they do to deserve such a terrible punishment? Why was
he
allowed to live but not his father? Everyone dies sooner or later. Why couldn’t he have been killed with his father? Maybe it would have been better that way.

The image flashed by in his mind of the terrible creature knocking his father from his horse, then the evil, scarred man killing him. All the pain, all the death, all the grief--it was that man’s fault. He would pay for the pain he caused and that creature would, also. Keegan wished that someday he would be able to drive his own knife into their hearts. They would die long, torturous deaths by his hand. It was their fault he was in so much pain! Their fault that all of this happened. It was them! Was it not them? No, it was not their fault. It was
his
fault.

The sobs in Keegan’s throat subsided as he came to this realization. If he would have told his father about the strange man that had been spying on the village, his father might have been able to prevent the attack. None of this would have happened. It was his fault! His entire fault! He was the true reason that everyone had suffered. He was the reason for the grief, the pain, the death. He should be the one that should die, to have a dagger driven into his heart. His crying and sobs became heavier and more bitter as these thoughts burned his mind.

“Oh, Father! I am so sorry! It is my fault that you are gone now, that the village is destroyed, and that our people have suffered! I am accountable for the loss!” Keegan choked silently in between sobs. “I am accountable. It is my fault.”

He curled his knees up to his body and silently rocked back and forth, holding himself, sobbing bitterly at his loss, while feeling the odd sting of hot tears landing on his cold wet pants. He tried to call out for his mother, brother, and sister, but all that came from his mouth were silent, empty words. Sobs silenced any sound in his throat, and tears flooded any plea for comfort.

A gentle, soft humming sound began, and a deep calm came over Keegan, quieting his troubled soul for a moment. He laid his face down on his knees as he continued to sob, listening to the comforting hum that reverberated through the cave. He felt the strange warmth and soothing vibration of the boulder against him until he fell into a sound and silent sleep.

Chapter 4: Meeting a Dragon

It was cold, dark, silent, and Keegan was all alone. He rubbed his arms to warm himself as he walked through the quiet darkness. He felt very sad about something, but he didn't know what or why.

“Must get home soon. It’s getting too cold to stay out,” he said to himself through chattering teeth.

A long, deep, menacing growl put Keegan on the alert and stopped him in his tracks.

“Stupid boy!” spoke a harsh voice behind him.

He spun around to see a pale man with a hideous scar going across his face. He sat on a terrible beast that looked like a bear and a wolf put together. Keegan froze in terror, but something screamed inside of him with rage, and it made his heart ache terribly.

“I was sure you would have told someone about seeing me, but I guess you just weren't smart enough to do that, were you?” The man said with a sneer spreading across his ugly face. The creature began to growl and bared its teeth, tightening every muscle in its body.

“This is a nightmare,” Keegan whispered to himself. “I will wake up at home, in my bed, with the smell of mother's cooking in my nose.”

The creature snarled and jumped forward with a roar, its mouth open, enormous teeth drawing closer and closer to Keegan's face every second.

“All die at sometime! Why not now?” The man's voice echoed in Keegan's ears as all went black.

Keegan’s eyes fluttered open and slowly began to focus. He was surprised to hear the gentle sound of falling water and to find that he was lying on rough gravel in a warm cave, instead of his soft bed at home.

“Where am I?” He asked himself. He thought very hard for a moment until all the dreadful happenings of the day before came roaring back into his mind. He wished that he had remained asleep. He groaned, rolled over to his side, and pushed himself upright, trying to crowd the horrible memories out of his mind with any other sight or sound around him. The splash of the waterfall behind him was a soothing sound, and the warm morning sunshine flooding into the cave through the cascade of water was warm on his back.

He stretched his tired and sore body then stopped abruptly when he realized that the boulder he had slept on during the night was not next to him. He looked around the cave and found it nowhere in sight. There were no boulders at all, in fact. There were only strangely formed rocks that had been cut out by time and water standing toward the back of the cave.

“Well. That is very unusual,” he whispered to himself with an uneasy feeling growing deep inside of him. “Surely I did not imagine it.” He had heard of grief and weariness causing a person to go mad and to see strange things, but surely a pile of smooth rocks could not be imagined, especially when he had felt them against his body and slept next to them. However, if they were real, then where did they go?

Keegan shook his head in confusion. His gaze landed on fresh impressions on the gravel beside him, going toward the waterfall. He looked closer at the strange impressions, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes as he did. He stared at them a good, long moment before he realized what they were.

He gasped sharply as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. “Dragon f-f-footprints,” he stuttered quietly. His mind began to spin, going through hundreds of options for survival, and telling himself what he should do accordingly. Suddenly, he heard a deep, rich laugh at the opening of the cave that sent warm shivers up and down his body, and a feeling of awe almost overwhelmed him.

He looked up at the waterfall and saw an enormous, beautiful, golden dragon standing part way in the cave and part way out, bathing in the cool, blue, falling water. His back was toward Keegan, his large tail swayed gracefully back and forth, and his giant leather wings were spread as far as the cave mouth would allow, letting the cool water run down them and into the pool. The enormous beast unexpectedly shook his whole body and showered cool water everywhere, drenching Keegan.

Keegan tried not to scream as the cold water showered him. He shook the water from his head, stood, rushed to one of the rock formations, and ducked behind it. His whole body was shaking from fear and the startling cold shower. He had never seen a dragon so large and so close up. What was going to happen to him? What was he going to do? More importantly, what was the beast going to do?

At the sound of Keegan running across the gravel, the dragon turned his huge head around and poked it through the waterfall and into the cave. A pair of large, glowing, golden eyes scanned the area carefully, and he breathed in deeply and quickly, taking in the strange scent. The beast cocked his head and made a humming sound in the back of his throat. He then turned his head back around and walked out of the cave and out of sight beyond the falling water.

Keegan didn’t move. This was probably a dragon trick, to make Keegan come out so the beast could torch him and have him for a meal. Well, if the beast did kill him, it was probably what he deserved, but was there a way he could escape alive? Just then, the dragon came back through the waterfall, dashing Keegan's hopes for escape. However, Keegan was surprised when he noticed a large buck in the beast's mouth.

The dragon lumbered over to the gravel where he and Keegan had slept the night before and dropped the buck. He looked at the rock where Keegan was then shook himself again, creating another great, cold shower. Keegan tried not to yell as the cold water splashed all over him and ran down the rocks he hid behind. He gripped the edge of the rock
he was behind,
turning his fingertips white with the strain.

“Terribly sorry,” the dragon said in a deep, warm voice. “That must have been shockingly cold.”

Keegan’s mouth dropped open. The beast had spoken to him! What now? The dragon raised an enormous claw, and, with one swipe, he slit open the dead buck, spilling out entrails all over the gravel. He then opened his mouth slightly, showing the tips of gleaming, enormous ivory teeth, and sent a jet of flames onto the deer. Keegan ducked farther behind the boulder in fear. As the flames made a hiss and the stench of burnt hair stung his nose, a new flow of warmth went throughout the cave.

“I hope that you like your meat well done,” the dragon said, his warm voice reverberating throughout the cave. Keegan raised his head and peeped at the dragon from behind the boulder. The terrible beast looked directly at him with its huge golden eyes.

Keegan ducked behind the boulder again, trembling with fear, remembering all of the tales that his father used to tell him of dragons that would chew people into little bits or burn them alive.

“Please, don’t be afraid. I mean you no harm, youngling,” the dragon said slowly and warmly.

Keegan's fear turned to shock almost instantly. There was something in this dragon’s voice that seemed to take the fear right out of Keegan and replace it with courage. Something in the voice said that this dragon was a wise, old friend. But what if it was a trick? Keegan could not remember his father ever telling him about a talking dragon, so how could he tell this dragon's intentions? There was only one way to find out.

Keegan swallowed hard, stood slowly, and came out from behind the boulder with trembling knees. The smell of the cooked venison came to Keegan's nose and made his shrunken stomach call out to it, despite his fear. The great dragon's face softened, and he seemed to smile at Keegan.