Claude Malenfant

The passing light

The passing light There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. There have never been dragons in the Valley. Dragons are a fantasy conjured up by many authors in the multitude of fantasy books circulating today. Yet, Zack could not call the animal he saw in the middle of the valley anything, but a dragon, and it was magnificent. As far as dragons went, from descriptions and pictures he had seen in fantasy books, this one was pretty typical, which defied any logic. How could authors describe a mythical creature with such accuracy. How could he think that this animal was typical for its kind? The thought made him chuckle. Maybe he was having a heat stroke. He had been drinking plenty of water, but the day was quite warm, and his friend Ben and him had been hiking for hours. The original idea had been to drive out to Banff National Park, walk far into the woods and camp for a couple days. Zack didn’t expect anything bad to happen, as they had mapped out their trip and made sure bears had not been sighted for a few weeks. I suppose he should have asked for dragon sightings as well. That made him chuckle again. Wondering why Ben was so quiet, Zack turned around to ask his friend if he could also see this dragon. Ben was fast asleep and could not be roused. Had he passed out from the heat? He quickly brought him to the shade and checked him for signs of stroke, but Ben was fine, just sleeping. That was weird. He looked back to where the dragon had been a few minutes ago and couldn’t see it. Too bad, as he just remembered that he probably should have taken a picture. Nobody will believe him now. Better take care of his friend then. As he turned around to check on Ben, the dragon he had seen was standing in front of him staring down with a look that could only be described as one of puzzlement. Zack tried to run, really tried, but his muscles somehow refused to obey. He put all his thoughts and energy into moving his legs, anything. He was succeeding at moving a finger when the dragon suddenly spoke, in his head. The dragon was speaking to him in his head! Not in a language he could understand, which ruled out the possibility of Zack imagining it. With an annoyed grunt, the dragon closed his blue eyes and Zack suddenly felt lightheaded. He was about to pass out when the feeling went away, and the dragon was once again looking at him. It was more than looking. Zack felt like he was being analyzed by that look. Like the dragon could see inside of him. When the dragon spoke in that same language, Zack was amazed that he could understand. What had that dragon done to him?