The Broken Compromise

The dragon was awakened from its sleep by a sharp noise. She stretched out her wings wide, accompanied with a yawn. There was that noise again. A cry? No, a shriek of some kind. Laughter floated down the cave as she made her way out of her den. The sun was rising, peaking above the sister mountain that laid to the east. She stepped into the light and a looked over the small clearing. Her eyes spotted the tiny form, and she slowly approached it.

She loomed over the little creature, peering down to watch it. It sensed her, dropping what it had in its hands and looking up at her. The tiny human brought itself to its feet, wobbling as it did so. It reached up, making grabbing motions with its hands. The dragon looked around, trying to spot the guardians of the toddler.

“Draggy!” The toddler cried out.

The dragon looked back down at the tiny one approaching her. It planted its hands on her paw and began to climb up it. She lifted her claw up, causing the child to slide back down to the ground. She ignored the cries of the child and circled the clearing. Her eyes saw deep into the forest but saw no others.

Her elders had warned her throughout her century that if she wanted to make it to the millennium, she would not involve herself with the humans. She had lived on the mountain before the humans arrived. When they moved to the valley and built their village, she kept her distance. She made herself known it hoping it would deter them, but it seemed neither her nor the humans were willing to give up the prime location. So, over the past century, they simply ignored each other as a compromise. A compromise that she wanted to keep going, and one that the tiny one was threatening.

Cold hands gripped her tail, and she spun around, smoke building in her throat. The child laughed as he poked at one of the spikes. She blew out the smoke in a huff and used her tail to push the child away. She leapt from the ground and took to the skies. An entire mob would be after her if they saw her with the child, something she wasn’t willing to risk. She was still young, and only a fraction the size of the dragons that the humans truly feared.

From the skies she scanned for the other humans. Her eyes saw no movement, but her nose picked up the smell to the south. She dove back down. The child was still there, but this time it was sat on the ground. It was calling out to her, it’s wails echoing through the forest. The cries would only bring the humans closer to her den. She quickly approached, leaning in towards the toddler.

The child opened its tear-filled eyes to see her. The tears disappeared and a smile erupting on its face. It quickly stood and wobbled its way over to her. It latched on to one of her nostrils. Startled, she retreated, only dragging the child with her. The child let out a gleeful squeal that descended into laughter as it was waved through the air. She lowered her head to the ground before shaking the child off. The child stood back up and reached up to do it again. She backed up in time to avoid the little grabbers this time.

She carefully took a paw and turned the child south. It spun back around laughing. She spun the child again and coaxed him to move forward. The child took a few steps before looking back to see if the dragon was following. It ran back to her talking nonsense.

The dragon let out a frustrated sigh, glancing around trying to come up with a plan. The toddler took the chance to climb up her leg without being stopped. She spotted a furry lump. She walked over to it, child in tow, clinging onto her leg. She nudged it over with her snout. It was fashioned to look like a rabbit and reeked of the child’s smell.

The toddler let out another squeal and jumped off her leg, “Beebee!” it scooped up the toy and hugged it close before extending it out on display to the dragon. The toddler waited for a response, and she gave a low purr of approval. It seemed to please the child who went back to hugging the toy.

It began to play with the toy, and the dragon saw her opportunity. She gently grabbed the toy with her teeth and slid it from the toddler’s grasp. Their face scrunched in confusion and stood to follow the dragon. She headed south, and when she got to the tree line, she tossed the toy out. The child let out a surprised cry and stumbled off to retrieve the toy. The dragon watched it go into the forest before turning around in the opposite direction back into her den. She curled up in her hole in the mountain, content to sleep the morning away.

She was half asleep when she felt the tug on her nostrils. She reared up and peered down at the intruder. It was the tiny one again. It was more than happy to see her, but she couldn’t say the same. Apparently the toddler hadn’t grasped that she didn’t want it around.

She quickly stood, picking the tiny one up with the back of its tunic in her teeth. She carried the child out and dropped the child on a patch of grass away from the entrance of her den. She turned to go back in and felt the child grasp onto her back legs. She stopped and let out a puff of smoke before reaching back to pick up the child again.

She sat him down in front of her and stared. It stared back at her with awe, babbling on about something she couldn’t understand. The tiny one clearly had no idea what it was doing. She was used to offspring being more sufficient than this. The longer it kept returning to her, the higher the chance the other humans would come to find it. The scene played in her mind. Ranging from her having to leave her den for a new home to dying a bloody death at the feet of the tiny one. Delivering the child, or at least taking it closer to its kin and further from her, was the only solution she saw.

She stood, scooping the child up in her paw before taking to the sky.

The little creature clung to her clawed fingers. His wails getting lost in the air soaring past them. She headed south, where she had smelt the humans. The child’s cries grew loader and more desperate. She looked down to the child and saw the tears streaming down its face. The terrified face caused her to pause. She glanced back at the valley they headed towards. It’d take the rest of the day to get the village by foot. She looked back down at the child who had buried their face into the palm of her hand.

She drifted to the ground. She softly opened her hand to let the toddler down. In response it clung even harder, a muffled cry released into her palm. The dragon let out a soft soothing purr. The toddler slowly lifted their head from hiding. Once seeing it was on the ground, the toddler scrambled out of her paw, and sat on the ground. It began to cry once more. The dragon shifted on her feet shifting her eyes from the crying toddler.

The dragon flattened herself to the ground, her head level with the young human in front of her. She nudged his tiny foot with her snout. He brought his head down to look at her. The cries stopped but he sniffled with snot running down his face. She let the smoke fill in her mouth, lining it up perfectly. With a quick exhale, she sent the circle of smoke towards the child. The child’s eyes grew wide, watching the smoke ring grow as it came toward him. The circle passed around him, dispersing into the air. He sat there in shock blinking. The dragon scrunched her nose. It had worked on her when she was a hatchling, but now she was doubting its usefulness on humans.

A squeal of delight escaped his lips. With a wide smile, he waved his hands up and down in excitement babbling nonsense. The dragon sent another one, bigger this time. The child grabbed at it, causing the ring to crumble around him. Another fit of giggles erupted over him. They were contagious, a low rumble of a laugh coming out of the dragon as she sent a final smoke ring towards him.

The dragon stood, and the child followed suit, wiping away the tears and snot from his face. The dragon started to walk then stopped, glancing back to make sure the child was following. The child tottered up to her, his hands grasping at the air between them. She picked him up by his tunic and wrapped her head to place him on her back between her wings. She poised her wings up ever so slightly to steady the toddler in the spot. The toddler giggled, running his hands up and down her leathery wings.

She began walking, the toddler settling in on her back. As they traveled, she felt his small fingers trace the scales on her back. They were halfway to the bottom of the mountain when the scent filled her nose. She scrunched her nose, the human smell was mixed with that of metal, of rust. Only when they came upon the scene did she realize what she was smelling.

There were three carts. One was flipped on its side, its contents ransacked. The others were standing up but in the same state as its companion. Supplies and rations were strewn about. When she saw the first body, she glanced back at her tiny rider. He had curled up against her right wing, sleeping soundly.

“I’m telling you he’s not here,”

The dragon shrank back into the cover of the trees. She peered through the foliage, spotting the three men who walked up to the scene. They were protected by worn leather armor with swords hanging at their hips.

“And I’m telling you the boss said not to return without him, so we’re searching again.” The two of them argued back and forth, while the third one was searching through the carts.

“He can barely stand on his own let alone walk, and you’re trying to tell me he’s not here?”

They were looking for the tiny rider. The men were riffling through the carts, throwing supplies across the path. She watched a royal purple gown be strewn, landing next to one of the bodies. The deceased man was in chainmail and a metal breast plate. The arrow jutted from his neck, his blank eyes staring at her. They were extravagant compared to what she normally saw the humans from the village use. The armor and the carts.

“I ain’t gonna be the one to tell boss we lost the prince,” One of the men huffed.

The dragon somehow choked on the smoke in her throat.

She had the prince sleeping on her back.

Her head would be on a pike at the castle walls if they found her with him. She was just supposed to take the tiny one away from her den, and closer to the humans. Leaving the tiny one here would complete that mission. It wouldn’t take long for the men to find him once she left. And then the tiny one would be back in human hands. The rest of the toddler’s fate was not for her to interfere in. This was where her meddling ended.

She picked up the toddler from her back. He let out a sleepy groan, trying to resist being awake. By time she laid him on the ground he was fully awake. His brows were burrowed, and his bottom lip stuck out in a pout. She backed up, turning away from the child.

“Draggy?” the child mumbled out.

She turned back and saw the grumpiness on his face dissolve.

“Hey, did you hear that?”

The dragon glanced up to see one of the men heading her way. The toddler was standing up, panic set in it’s face. She froze, watching the toddler run to her. She shut her eyes and shook the thoughts out of her head. She pushed off the ground and shot to the skies.

The child’s cries grew distant on the wind as she traveled back to her den. She landed in the clearing, nose scrunching at the strong smell. The same smell from the carts filled her nose. She inched towards it, towards her den. She slinked in, scanning each inch of her cavern.

Near her nest and hoard she saw the human, their back turned to the dragon. She wore the same armor as the dead she had seen. The dragon could smell the blood on her. Dried blood coated the side of her armor. The dragon took another step closer. Her claws clinked against the stone, the small sound amplified through the silent cavern.

The human spun around, raising her sword immediately. The pain on the human’s face turned into a snarl, “You.”

The dragon took a step back, wings raised and fire building in her throat.

“What did you do with him?” The human growled.

The dragon’s eyes drifted down to her other hand. The toy rabbit hung limp in her hand. The tiny one must’ve left it here.

The woman took a step forward, “Where is he?”

The dragon met the woman’s eyes, “He’s not here,” The dragon hadn’t used its voice in years, the attempt gravely. The woman blinked several times trying to grasp the words spoken to her. She recovered quickly, the scowl returning to her face.

“Then where is he?”

“Humans are not allowed up here,” The dragon prefaced, “I sent him back down the mountain,”

The human’s sword lowered slightly. “He is hardly a toddler!” She scolded.

The dragon flinched back, tucking in her wings, “I left him with other humans,” She defended.

“In the village?” The dragon heard the panic setting in the woman’s voice.

“No—” The woman’s eyes grew wide, a slight shake in her head, “Back down at your carts—”

The woman’s heart pounded so hard the dragon could hear it. Her sword lowered all the way, dragging in the dirt. “They will kill him,” The woman whispered, her eyes far off.

The words struck through the dragon. No, certainly they wouldn’t kill the tiny one. They had only mentioned taking him elsewhere. The humans would never kill one of their own offspring, would they?

“They would,” The human growled. The dragon hadn’t meant to say the words aloud. “Did you see the carnage and think they would stop there? I brought him up here to be away from them.” The woman scoffed, “You should’ve kept out of this, hatchling,”

The dragon wanted to be mad at the human’s word, to defend herself, but she stood there frozen in place. The human walked down the cavern to leave, limping with every step.

“What will you do?” The dragon muttered out.

“Undo what you have done or die trying,” She sneered over her shoulder. The dragon watched her leave. She was already wounded; the dragon wasn’t even sure if the human could make it back down to the where the carts were, let alone wherever the prince was taken to.

Before she realized what she was doing, the dragon was bounding after the woman.

“You’ll die,” The dragon worried.

“I took an oath,” She gritted out between clench teeth, not even glancing at the dragon. A hand hugged her side where all the dry blood was.

“Let me take you there,” The dragon proposed, “Let me fix this,”

The knight stopped and turned to look at the dragon, “You have done enough,” she sneered.

“I heard them say they were taking the tiny one to their leader,” The dragon provided, “Unless you know where that is, my eyes and nose will get you there quicker,”

The knight ground her teeth together, a fire the dragon recognized well burned behind the woman’s eyes. She looked the dragon up and down with an assessing gaze. “Are you big enough to even take me there?” It came out at a sincere question, but the dragon huffed, a puff of smoke trailing up.

“I have carried meals that were bigger than you,” The dragon assured.

The human knit her eyebrows together. She bit the corner of her lip. She let out a sigh, “Let’s go then,”

Dragon lowered to the ground, and the woman climbed up. The dragon heard her whimper in pain as she hauled herself up. “Are you okay?”

“I fine,” She muttered.

She waited for the human to get situated between he necks and wings before turning back to stiff the toy that the knight still carried. “Hold on tight,” The dragon warned before taking off into the sky. The knight didn’t let out a single noise but gripped tightly to the dragon’s neck.

The scent trail led the to the scene of the attack first. She hovered above it, picking the scents from the air.

“Can you smell him?” The knight yelled across the wind.

The dragon turned her head in the direction of the scent, “Yes,”

“Then let’s go,” The woman urged, but the dragon stayed where she was. The scent headed towards the village. “What’s the hold up?”

“Nothing,” The dragon dismissed. In a swift movement she flapped her wings and dove towards the valley. It only took them a few minutes to reach the bottom of the valley. The dragon landed away from the village. She could already here the murmuring of nearby farmers and villagers, “I can’t go any further, the tiny one is somewhere in the village,”

The knight said nothing for a moment. The dragon had tried to pick a secluded spot as close to the village as she could for the woman, but there were many eyes staring at them. The knight must’ve seen them too, without a word she slid off the back of the dragon.

“Any thing else?” The woman looked up to the dragon.

The dragon stopped scanning to stare at the village before turning back to the knight in front of her. “The scent doesn’t go past the village, and it’s fresh. They can’t be too deep into town,”

The knight nodded. The stares were growing more intense. The dragon nodded back to the woman before going back to the skies, distancing herself from the village. She hadn’t gone far when the dragon heard the toddler’s cry.

The dragon whipped her head around, trying to spot find the tiny one. She flew above the village, scanning the streets. She looked back at the knight, who stared up at her with wide eyes. She doubted the knight had heard the cry, but the woman broke out into a sprint towards the village. The dragon latched onto any movement she saw in the streets. The toddler was still wailing. There was a chance it was a different toddler, but the scream had sounded so familiar.

She heard a man’s voice yelling over the toddler, trying to get it to shut up. That voice she was sure she recognized. She spotted them, outside a tavern. The tiny one was squirming in the man’s arms as they were entering the building.

The toddler looked up and saw her, “Draggy!” It screamed.

It wasn’t the only one screaming. The villagers closest to her were yelling out, the alarm not yet reaching the rest of the village. She glanced down at them to see the spear shoot up to her. The dragon veered out of its way easily. She looked back to the tavern; they were already through the door.

She dove down, straight for the tavern. She landed in the street, the villagers erupting into screams. She ignored them, barreling herself through the door. The wood splintered across the room. The patrons flinched back. She looked past the people scrambling out the back, searching for the toddler. There was a cry form upstairs, and her head snapped to it. She bounded up the stairs, knocking between the walls as she squeezed herself through.

She followed the sound of the child’s cries and crashed into the bedroom. Smoke was pouring from her nostrils as she looked at the men who had piled into the room. She recognized three of the faces. The other two she did not. She growled, the smoke filling the room. They drew their swords, but she gave them no time to act.

Her claws glided through the first one quickly, moving to the next. She saw one of them scramble over the bed and out the door behind her. She spotted the toddler in the arms of the one she didn’t know. It was reaching out to her, trying to get away from the man. The dragon rammed into the other one, slamming him against the wall. He slumped to the ground, out cold.

The dragon turned to the last one, the unfamiliar face who held the tiny one. She snarled but the man didn’t budge, holding his sword aimed at her. They circled each other. The man lunged forward. The dragon made her calculations, leaping forward as well. The dragon snatched the toddler from his grasp and the man brought his sword down.

The sting of the blade racked across her side. She ignored it, heading straight to the door. She ran out the way she came, the building empty of all humans. She bounded out the door and skidded to a halt. A mob had formed outside the tavern. Swords and makeshift weapons were pointed at her all the same.

She turned back swiftly to place the prince between her wings, “Okay tiny rider, I need you to hold tight,”

Someone from the crowd lunged and she had to sidestep the spear that came at her. There were roars of protest, as others attacked to get to the toddler. Her tiny rider gripped hard to the base of her wings with its tiny hands. The dragon reared back to avoid the advances from the crowd.

She used her hind legs to spring herself into the air, beating her wings hard to get momentum. She made it above the rooftops when she glanced back down. A wave of javelins and spears came her way. She avoided one and sent herself in the aim of another. The javelin tore through her wing, the tear growing bigger as she tried to distance herself from the crowd.

She was losing the altitude she had gained. She dropped fast. She turned over, feet down, keeping the toddler up. She tried to slow down to soften her blow, but she hit the ground hard, skidding across the cobblestone.

The toddler rolled away from her. She looked to her tiny rider, who quickly got up and ran back to her. She only spotted a few scratches, but no big injuries. She sighed in relief, before forcing herself to her feet. She positioned herself between the tiny one and the mob.

The man from the tavern had made his way to the front of the crowd. She snarled at him. She didn’t want to harm the other humans, but she wouldn’t allow him to get to her tiny rider. She heaved in her breath.

The two groups were at the standstill.

She wavered on her feet. Her heart pounded, righting herself back up, eyes wide. She looked at the gash on her side. It was worse than she had realized. Her legs buckled beneath her, and she fell back down to the ground. The man directed them, the mob inching closer. She tried to bring the fire up in her throat, but only embers came. He stepped forward, a smirk on his face only she could see. Every warning her elders had given her flashed through her brain, and yet, here she was. She had ignored each of them. Her only hope was that the knight would make it in time to get the prince away from him.

The man loomed over her. She glared at him, watching every move. He rose his sword.

“STOP!” the roar carried over the crowd.

The man stopped and glanced over. A wall of steel trekked into him knocking him over. The woman looked down at him, heaving as heavily as the dragon.

“This man is part of the Sulmar!” She announced. There were gasps and shuffling across the crowd, “Earlier, him and his gang attacked the prince’s transport.” The tiny one had made his way to the front of the dragon, laying up against the side of her face. She closed her eyes and let out a shuddery breath. He was safe. “They kidnapped him and planning to kill the sole hair for their political gain—” The knight continued but the dragon had stopped listening.

The heaviness sunk into her body, and she let it overcome her.

He was safe.

Her recovery was long and slow. Her wounds all healed, even her torn wing over the years. It had been a several decades since she had crawled her way back to her den. Over that time, she had grown, and so had her cave. She was rearranging her hoard when she heard the lone horse coming up the mountain. She poked her head out of the den, watching the horse and its rider approach.

The man stopped his horse at the edge of the clearing. He kept eye contact with her as he demounted. She exited the cave, peering down at the man who approached her. He wore a gold and white tunic covered by the finest metal armor. A sword hung at his hip, but he made no move towards it. She tilted her head before leaning down to get a better look.

She had seen that style armor before. She hadn’t realized how big she had gotten over the years. Her claws alone were the size of the full-grown human. She narrowed her eyes, scanning the one before her. He looked up at her in awe and made no move to attack nor retreat.

He cleared his throat, “I believe we’ve met once,”

She looked into his eyes and saw the same inquisitive child she had meet long ago.

“Tiny rider,” She recalled with fondness.

“Grand Knight Alder told me the story many times, but I did not remember until I saw you,” He admitted, gazing back up at her with curious eyes.

“Why did you come to visit me?” The dragon asked.

“I’ve just had my coronation,” The man started.

“Congratulations,”

“I’ve been told you do not leave the mountain,” He continued, glancing over the forest.

“I do my best to leave humans be unless toddlers run into my home,” She chuckled.

He laughed uneasily, shifting on his feet.

“What is it tiny rider?” She asked cocking her head.

He met her eye, “I would not be alive if not for you. You helped me several times when you were met with nothing but hate,”

“My dear King, I know the dynamics between our kind. I broke an unspoken compromise I had with the villagers. I must live with the consequences but do not think I regret my actions for a moment,”

“I came to thank you, Dragon,” He pulled out a scroll of paper from his belt and presented it to her, “I have spoken with the villagers, down in the valley. They will not harm you, and neither will any villager in our lands. You have freedom to the skies.”

She looked between the King and the paper.

“It has already been written in the law. Amendments can be made—”

“It is perfect, thank you, tiny rider” She took the tiny page in her claws.

“I am no longer the toddler I once was. I’m actually quite tall among my peers,” The King corrected her with a smile.

She stood tall, looming over the man in front of her, “Really? Because where I stand it’s almost as if you have gotten even smaller,”

He let out a hearty laugh. “You must see how your perspective can be skewed.”

She laughed with him before lowering herself back down to him.

The King went to retrieve his horse, “I shall let you enjoy the skies as you see fit. I would ask to join you if I wasn’t deathly afraid of heights.”

“I fear I may have been the cause of that, tiny rider” She reminisced.

“You know, you can just call me, Henry.” The king said kindly.

“And you may call me, Dealla.”