The Gift of Beauty | ONC2020

Chapter 5

The following morning Brandon and Rose left Helios behind before the sun had come up. Thomas had given them directions towards the dragon's lair. It was a long journey. If everything went well, they were supposed to reach it in about two days' time, around sundown. It made for a fortunate timing; their best chance was to surprise the beast when it was sleeping.

For the entire morning they travelled without stopping. Their horses had been left behind in the village, but they had taken their packs with them. It was necessary to bring them along, but Brandon was regretting it more and more. Climbing the mountain was difficult enough, doing it with a heavy bag on his shoulders made it almost unbearable.

"Let's rest here," Brandon said, huffing and wheezing. "I really need to sit down for a bit." He threw his pack off his shoulders and dropped it on the ground. Immediately his shoulder felt a bit better.

Rose turned around; she was standing a few feet ahead of him. "What? You can't seriously be tired already."

Brandon ignored her and sat down on a rock. He wiped the sweat of his brow. "How are you not tired? That thing weighs a ton, and it's not like yours is any lighter than mine."

Rose gave him a sly smile. "Actually, I'm fairly certain it is. Unless you managed to enchant it without my help, of course."

"Enchant... What are you talking..." Brandon's eyes turned large when he realized what she was saying. "You used magic to make it lighter?" he shouted.

"Be quiet!" Rose snapped. "Are you trying to warn the dragon?"

"Sorry," said Brandon. "But you should have told me you could do that. Why didn't you do it for me? I'm dying over here."

Rose just shrugged. "You didn't ask." She laughed. "Besides, you can use a little extra exercise."

"I know you don't like me. I get that. But we need to work together. We won't survive here if we're working against each other. We need to work with each other. That includes helping me even if I haven't explicitly asked for it. Let's just bury the hatchet and start over. Let's just work together to find the..."

"Dragon," Rose said.

"Exactly." Brandon smiled. He was glad they were starting to get onto the same page.

"No, dummy. Look up. A dragon."

Brandon followed her gaze and saw what she meant. Above the mountains before them, flying graciously through the skies, was a dragon. It was a beautiful creature, with two enormous wings and golden scales covering its entire body. Even from this distance, it looked magnificent.

"It's flying towards us," Brandon said. "Do you think it's seen us?"

Rose hesitated. "I don't know," she finally said. "But it seems unlikely – it's still so far away."

Brandon nodded, but it didn't make him feel any better. Only a week ago he had considered dragons to be legends, creatures dreamt up by knights who'd wanted to make their adventures sound more interesting. But that creature in the sky could only be a dragon. Who knew what it was be capable of.

"We should go," Brandon said. "Hide somewhere. We're too exposed here."

"I agree. Look! There's a bunch of trees over there. If we stand under those, he won't be able to see us," Rose said, pointing at half a dozen trees about half a mile in front of them.

It was far away, but Brandon didn't see any other place they could hide. "We have to make a run for it. I'm not sure we can manage in a fight if he sees us coming." He picked his pack up again. It still felt heavy, but it felt better on his shoulders than it had before their stop.