I bent over and picked up the sword, still unsure of what I would do. Next I reached for my father's sheath. Even with it on though, and with the sword inside, I still felt unsure. But I had already come this far, I said to myself, Deep down I must know what I want. And what would make any other time better?
I ate my stew hastily, just anxious to get on my way and leave any hesitations behind me. I knew I was probably making the dumbest decision of my life already, but I couldn't avoid the fact that it was probably also my greatest. If I ever wanted to become anything more than a peasant I could only do it by going and slaying a dragon. Wilhern the dragon slayer--what a great title! I looked back down at my father's sword in its hilt one more time to reinforce the idea before starting on my way to the dragon's roost.
There was no path to the mountains, of course. After all, dragons approached people--people didn't approach the dragons. There were stories about people who tried to hike through the mountain and were scorched and eaten by the dragons there. Only one man had ever made it to the roost before, and that was just what the legends said. Ronald Quickfoot was the town's first dragon rider, and the only one to go into the mountains and return. He had left Lindwell not long after going to the mountains, and in the centuries since that time the stories about him had all been changed until it became no more than a children's bedtime story, molded and changed to teach different lessons until it was no longer certain whether or not they really were just stories.
If those stories had any truth to them, and if Ronald Quickfoot really did exist, I would have to figure out what he did to get through the mountains. From the village they had always seemed impossibly tall--getting closer the task started seeming a bit less daunting. The real test would be in hiding from the dragons. The grove that stood between Lindwell and the mountains was starting to thin out, and as everyone knew, after the trees was sacred dragon territory.
I spat at the ground as the thought passed through my mind--those beasts were anything but sacred so far as I was concerned. I kept fingering the hilt of my father's sword, reminding myself what I was going to do. It had been meant for a dragon. When my parents were attacked my father had meant to use this sword to defend them--he wasn't fast enough, though.
Just as I reached the last tree in the grove I stopped dead in my tracks as a shadow passed right over where I stood. One look up and my blood seemed to freeze as droplets of sweat formed on my skin. Even as I started clawing up the tree I could hear the creature's wings flapping, getting closer and closer as it came in to land. I could only hope to get high enough in time.
I had made it over halfway up the tree by the time the dragon touched the ground. I immediately stopped all movement, only daring to gaze down at the beast. It was blood red with black pupils lined with gold, and as it moved its large clawed feet I could easily hear the underbrush giving way under it. The dragon walked on all fours as it sniffed at the ground with it's long, flat nose, and I knew it had to have been looking for me.
I clenched my sword's hilt as the dragon suddenly stopped all movement. It then jerked its head in the direction I had come from and stared at something in the trees. After waiting for a moment the beast took off blindingly fast, its long mouth already open to expose its sharp white fangs. The dragon then disappeared in the grove, reappearing just seconds later above the trees with a deer in its mouth. The animal was a bit big for the dragon to carry, but somehow it seemed to manage just fine, soaring back over the mountain.
I watched the dragon go, my heart still pounding as I tried to find the best way to go. The way ahead would take me through an open field; the nearest cover wouldn't be until the base of the mountain, and that was at least a mile away. I looked to my father's sword once again though and charged for the mountain, just hoping that I would be lucky.
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