The Last of the Dragons-Set 1

187

3 Days Later

The air was cool and brisk as the rising suns light assaulted my eyes through my eye lids. I blinked rapidly as I sat up and looked around.  Amy and Tahli were still asleep up against a tree, with Bailey sitting opposite me, looking to the horizon as the sun slowly began to rise. I clumsily got to my feet and silently made my way through the long grass, making an effort not to wake Amy and Tahli as I walked. I glanced out at the beach, and noticed that Magar was absent. No longer where she had fallen asleep on the wide, sandy beach. 

"Bailey?" I said in a whisper.

"Don't worry. She's gone off hunting. She'll be back." Bailey replied.

"And her baby?"

Bailey snickered before standing up and stepping to the side, revealing the head of the young dragon lying in the grass, with her eyes held shut as she slept beside Bailey. I hadn't even noticed her body in the grass up until that point, obscured by the long thick grass, along with the endless numbers of bushes that dotted the forest floor.

"She's the most docile dragon I've ever come across. Very submissive, and very sweet. Much like her mother." Bailey said.

"She didn't go with Magar?" I asked curiously.

Bailey sighed.

"She tried, but Magar made it clear that she wasn't to follow. She likely fears a run in with another dragon that may try to prey on her, but that could also evade Magar's defence." Bailey replied.

"Wow. I'm surprised we weren't woken by her taking off, or scoffing at her youngster." I said with a chuckle.

"Well, there was little verbal communication between them. All it took was a stern look to make her intentions clear." Bailey replied.

Just then, off in the distance, several spouts of mist erupted from the oceans surface, accompanied by a loud puff of air.

"Whales!" Bailey exclaimed excitedly.

I watched on in awe as dozens upon dozens of whales broke the surface all at once. Massive, yet peaceful animals that were enormous, and dark blue in colour. Some larger than others, but all equally as beautiful.

"I never thought I'd actually see one." I said as I put my arm over Bailey's shoulder.

We watched on for a moment, before suddenly, the spouts of mist vanished all at once, followed by a bellowing roar that came from above the clouds. Seconds later, Magar dove through the clouds and partially into the water, thrashing her head wildly around as she flapped her wings feverishly to keep them above the water. A moment later, she pulled her head up to reveal one of the whales locked in her jaws, blood gushing endlessly from its wounds and into the water below. Magar gave one more powerful flap of her wings before dropping onto the beach and dropping the now dead whale to the ground before letting out another deafening roar.

"That was something I never thought I'd see!" Amy said as she came to my side.

I turned sharply to her, startled at her sudden presence.

"Oh! You're awake!" I said as Tahli joined her.

"Well how could we manage to sleep through all of that?" Tahli added.

Before I said anything further, Magar's baby propped her head up at the sight of so much food suddenly dropping to the ground. Magar chirped and clicked several times as the young dragon flapped her wings excitedly before gliding down to the whales body, and ripping into it as Magar stood over her, glancing around.

"Well, I imagine it's time we got a move on." I said.

"No wait, we need to let them eat first." Bailey said.

I felt somewhat idiotic for not processing the fact that they actually needed to eat their kill before we went anywhere, but me being me, I said nothing to acknowledge my stupidity. 

After only a few minutes, the dragon stepped back from the carcass, with blood dripping from her jaws. She had eaten a fair bit of the whale, but compared to it's size, it was merely a scratch on its side. She and Magar exchanged a brief set of clicks, before Magar grabbed the carcass in her jaws, and tore it apart with the claw on her wing before swallowing the portion snared between her teeth, spilling the whales organs out onto the ground. She then swiftly took down the remaining rear section of the whale, along with the insides of the animal spilled out on the ground before nuzzling her child with her blood covered snout.

"Alright. Now it's time to get a move on." Bailey said as she started down the sand dune.

The four of us walked past the blood covered sand. The smell was putrid, but the two dragons seemed to be over joyed by the bounty that had just graced them.  

"We've got to get moving! Have you had your fill or not?!" Bailey shouted to Magar.

She looked down at us and cawed, before laying her wing down in front of us, with the edge of her scales digging into the blood soaked sand. 

We mounted the dragon as the sun fully exposed itself from behind the horizon, with a light but cool breeze flowing in from the ocean.

"Fly." 

Magar stretched her wings before giving a single, powerful flap that launched her into the air, with her baby close behind. I could feel her muscles flexing beneath her thick scales as she flapped her wings as she levelled out just below the clouds, giving us all a fabulous view of the beach, extending into the forest, with the mountains making up the far horizon. 

After several hours of flying, Magar suddenly started scanning the ground below, before locking on to a specific spot off in the distance.

"What is it?" Amy asked.

"I'm not sure. She sees to have spotted something." Bailey replied.

With no prompting, Magar banked towards the inland as she rapidly dropped towards the ground, levelling out over the tree tops as she glided somewhat silently over them. Up ahead, was a large valley that stretched out for miles. Magar dropped to the ground along the valley's wall with a thud that shock the ground. As I gathered myself and started glancing around. The four of us slowly fell completely silent as we looked out over the valley, which was filled with hundreds of dragon skeletons, most of which were clearly hundreds of years old.