The next day I headed straight for the mountain. I walked the path and climbed the mountain quickly. I was excited to get home, for it was my birthday. October 12th. Clenver and I always celebrate our birthdays together and it is a special time for us. The October sky was gray but cheery, and the mist was lighter than usual on top of the mountain. I went into a new cave that I hadn't been in yet. It was dark and damp but full of Cristandium, the rock I collect to barter with. As I was walking down from the cave I heard something behind me. I swiveled around but nothing was there. I cautiously took a step back. But as I did the ground gave way and I fell into a cavern. It wasn't a very long fall but it still hurt when I hit the ground. When my head cleared I looked around and saw that I was in another cave. All of a sudden the roof gave away again and I saw Strata fall from the roof. "Strata!" I yelled, " What are you doing here!" He sat up and looked at me, clearly stunned.
"I wanted to see where you went every day." He said sheepishly, looking at the floor.
"How did you get here?"
"I saw you leave so I followed you ." I put my head in my hands.
"You are not supposed to be here!" "This is not your mountain!" "Well, at least I don't nose my way into other people's business!" He was silent for a while then he looked up and a figure of terror filled his face.
"What? Okay, stop right now. We have to get out of here." I got up and turned around. I took a step further but was stopped by a hard slippery wall.
"That's weird," I said. I hadn't noticed a wall here when I fell. Then I heard a swishing noise behind the wall. Okay, that was weird. I noticed that the wall was shifting. I took a step back and realized that it wasn't a wall I was next to. It was a huge fire breathing Dragon!
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed. The dragon looked at me then grabbed me up in its claws and also grabbed Strata, then burst out of the cave in a shower of rocks and took to the air.
The wind whipped my hair into my face as I tried to move my arm to grab my dagger but the dragon dug its claws deeper into my arm. I cried out in pain. Then I saw that we were flying over the village.
"Help! Help!" I cried but we were too far away for anyone to hear us. The dragon flew up into the clouds and came out on top of them to stay hidden from sight. I eventually stopped fighting the dragon seeing that it was hopeless. I hung there suspended in the air, pain shooting through my arm. I knew I was going to die. The dragon was taking us to another cave to eat us so our bones would not be found.
"Teresa!" I looked at Strata, he had been grabbed by his shoe and was now hanging upside down.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I got you into this." He cried.
"It's my fault, I wasn't careful enough to see the weak spot in the ground," I yelled back. I saw an island materialize in front of us and the dragon began to descend. She dropped us onto a plateau and did a circle around us until finally, she found a place to land. She came towards us curiously tilting her head as if to assess us. I stumbled back and fell and Strata grabbed his sword from his belt and pointed it at the dragon keeping me behind him.
"Don't come to a step further! I will kill you if I have to!" He yelled to the dragon. It lifted its foot as to take another step but instead it swiped his sword out of his hand and over the cliff with its foot. I jumped up and pulled out my dagger but the dragon's tail knocked me over by taking out my legs and my knife went flying to a remote corner of the plateau. The dragon's eyes blazed as it sat back on its haunches.
"No weapons, if I am to trust you, you must first trust me. I will not harm you, now relax." The dragon spoke in a deep rumbling voice. We stared open mouthed at it.
"You can talk!" Strata said amazed.
"Yes, all dragons can. Why, haven't you ever seen a dragon before?" She asked.
"No, they went extinct before we were born." Then regaining my strength I asked, " Why have you brought us here if not to eat us?"
"I need your help. You see, ever since your kings began to hunt us we decreased in number, being killed or leaving this land just to be killed later. I, however, hid in a cave and laid an egg. This egg will start a new generation of dragons, but I couldn't bring it out until it was safe. I watched you walk around the caves every day and decided that you would be the one to help me. I need you to take this egg and keep it safe until it hatches, which will be soon. When it does you must keep it safe until it grows up and will be able to start a new dragon race." She finished with a sigh then looked at us again.
"I am too old to take care of an egg, so you must do it. I will fly away from here to distant lands and live there till the end of my days. When the egg has matured you can ride her back to your village. You must be very careful that no one in your village sees her. They will kill her if they see her. Send her over the mountain into another land. There she will be safe." The dragon looked to the sky.
" I must go now, keep it safe." She pushed a silver egg in our direction then turned to fly off.
" Wait! What is your name?" I asked.
"Sandrat!" With that, she took off and we watched her long red body fly off into the sunset.
