Dragon Eyes
Down the Mountain and Up Again

Chapter 9.

Down the Mountain and Up Again.

“Lynwood, wake up, wake up!” Sofia’s voice broke the silence of Lynwood’s sleep.

“What do you want, Sofia?” he grumbled.

“The dragon brought over breakfast and you have to cook it.”

“Who?”

“The dragon! The dragon from yesterday. We’re in his cave and he brought us something to eat.”

Lynwood opened his eyes and looked around at the semi dark surroundings of the dragon cave. The events of the past day came flooding back to his memory. “Oh right,” he groaned and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

“Come on, Lynwood, I’m hungry, hungry!”

“Have you any idea what time it is?”

“Nope.”

“Bother.” Lynwood sighed and sat up. “So what sort of animal did the dragon bring?”

“A deer. Come on, get up and cook it, please, please, please!”

“Just a minute, impatient female!”

Rising from the nest, Lynwood stumbled over to the pool to wash his face. Taking a deep breath he stuck his whole head into the water. When he pulled it out, his soaking wet hair stuck to his face and dripped onto his shirt. Giving his head a vigorous shake he sent little droplets in all direction.

“Lynwood,” Sofia laughed beside him. “You’re getting me all wet!”

“Stay out of my way then,” Lynwood laughed back. Getting up, he walked over to the deer that was lying on the ground. “Are you sure we can have some of this Sofia?”

“Of course I’m sure!”

“Okay, let’s see if we can try and cook something.”

There was a pile of branches in a corner of the cave; Lynwood wondered where they had come from. There had been none the night before. The branches were pretty large, but with the help of his hand and knees he managed to turn them into firewood. After a little effort, and a few more pages from his book, he got a fire going. Then he turned to the deer and began the rather gruesome task of skinning it. It was not easy since all he had was his small hunting knife, but at last he managed to cut some of the meat off and put it on two sharps sticks that he had prepared earlier.

“Sofia,” he called when the meat was ready. “Come and eat breakfast.”

Sofia crawled over and pounced on her portion of meat, burning her hands and tongue as she greedily ate. Suddenly she stopped and looked at Lynwood.

“You forgot to make some for the dragon,” she stated.

“Dragons eat raw meat, Sofia,” Lynwood said with a laugh.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. Now that is a well accepted fact that is very true. Think of it, he’s sort of like a bear or a mountain lion, they don’t cook their food either.”

Sofia, seeing the logic turned her attention back to her meal. Presently the dragon returned and walked over to where the children were sitting.

“Thank you for the breakfast,” Lynwood looked up at him. “We’ve eaten as much as we will need. What do we do with the rest of the carcass?”

The dragon replied by taking the carcass and dragging it out of the cave.

“Why doesn’t he eat it?” Sofia whispered.

“Probably because we took all the good meat off of it, or maybe he’s already eaten, I don’t know, I’m not a dragon.”

The children finished their breakfast and then cleaned up the little mess they made. Lynwood glanced over at his sister’s ankle.

“We need ice!” He stated. With that he turned to the dragon.

“The top of the mountain is not so far away. Could you take me up? I need ice for my sister. She hurt her ankle and I have to treat it, otherwise it could be very bad for her foot.”

The dragon shook his head and turning departed. Lynwood turned to Sofia, who shrugged. About half an hour later the dragon returned, covered in snow, with a huge chung of ice in his claws. He set it in the corner, and proceeded to break off a piece with the help of his claws and teeth. The two children watched speechless.

“Wow!” Sofia muttered. “He sure is strong.”

Lynwood went over to collect the ice. “Thank you,” he kindly said. “Thank you very much.”

Once the compress had been made, with the help of Lynwood’s second spare shirt, the dragon sat in one corner of the cave while the children sat in the nest. Lynwood reached into his inner vest pocket and pulled out the letter. Except for the seal there was nothing on it, it was simply plain white.

“I wonder what’s in here that is so important, and why the soldiers were after it?” He thought to himself as he fiddled with it. He wanted to open it and read what was inside, but he knew he should not. How would he be able to deliver a letter with a broken seal? Carefully he put the letter back into his vest pocket and turned towards his sister.

“Sofia we have a problem, I have to get this letter to the capital, but at the same time we can’t go on living like this, living in a dragon cave won’t make us dragons.”

“So what are we going to do? You know I can’t go anywhere, not on this foot. I’ll be stuck for at least a week.”

“I know that.” Lynwood became deep in thought. “I wonder, Sofia, the captain said that they had arrested Tristan...”

“They took Tristan away too!” Sofia gasped in horror, “oh dear, why, why?”

“I haven’t the faintest clue. All I know is what I heard. No one said anything about Elaine. What if she is still at her house, maybe she can help us somehow.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“Well, I was thinking, what if I was to sneak down and try to replace out if she is okay. Perhaps we could stay with her for now. Or at least she could fill us in on the what and why.”

“I think it is very dangerous, but at the same time I want to know what happened to Father, and if there is any way to get him back. It’s just I am afraid of you going down there.”

“You don’t have to be. I’ll sneak into the village, and see if Elaine is still at the house.”

Sofia frowned. “I can’t see how you are going to get down the mountain.”

Lynwood shrugged. “Climb down I guess.”

“Why don’t you ask the dragon to take you down?”

“I don’t feel comfortable asking him.”

“You didn’t have a problem with the ice.”

“Well, no, but that was because to get the ice we would have to go up. To get to Elaine we have to go down and that will expose him to people.”

“So you would rather risk death? Come on, Lynwood, he is a dragon. All he has to do is spread those wings, swoosh down, drop you off and swoosh back up!”

“I don’t know,” Lynwood grumbled.

At this point the dragon came up and nudged Lynwood, he then motioned with his head to the cave entrance, almost as if to say. “It’s no problem, I’ll take you.”

“There, I don’t think he minds taking you,” Sofia pointed out with a smile. “I don’t think you should be so afraid of asking.”

“Whatever,” Lynwood growled. “It’s not like I was afraid; I just didn’t feel comfortable doing it.”

Sofia shook her head. “You are just too proud, that is the real trouble. You always want to do everything yourself.”

Lynwood was about to retort a smart reply, but bit his tongue. Now was not the time to argue with his sister. The situation was serious and they had to remain friends and let little annoyances pass them by. Their fights had gotten them into enough trouble as it was.

“Do you think you could take me down the mountain?” He asked in a low voice, while keep his face turned to the ground studying his feet.

The dragon gave a low murmur and Lynwood looked up and saw him give a nod of his head. Lynwood smiled a crooked smile and nodded his head as well. Taking a deep breath he scrambled up the dragon. Climbing up on a dragon isn’t really the easiest thing to do, for there is really no mane like a horse to grab onto, and Lynwood had a bit of a struggle at first, but at last he managed it and positioned himself comfortably on the dragon’s back. It was annoying not to have anything to really hold onto, other than grip the sides with your knees, but Lynwood figured he’d managed it once before and would manage again.

“Lynwood, you will bring me something to eat won’t you?” Sofia called.

“I don’t know, maybe,” Lynwood called over his shoulder as the dragon took off. “Just take me to the edge of the mountain,” Lynwood told the dragon. “I’ll go to the village myself, after all everyone might just freak out if they see you. You can wait for me in the woods.”

The dragon nodded and presently they reached the great mountain’s base.

“Wait here,” Lynwood said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” With that he turned and carefully made his way out of the forest. He had to be very careful to enter the village without being noticed. Everyone in the town knew him, and if even only one person was to notice him it would go like fire around the town. Carefully he zig-zagged from house to house, from garden to garden, until at last he got to Tristan and Elaine’s home. The annoying thing was it was practically in the center of the village. He stepped back when he saw soldiers at the front door. This was not good! He couldn’t go up to the house, but he needed to replace Elaine. He decided to try coming in from the back of the property. Elaine had shrubbery, berry bushes and other plant life growing on by the fence in her back yard that would be of help to him. Carefully he made his way along the fence and hopped over it. Crouching low underneath the shrubbery he looked around, as far as he could see the yard was empty. He was just about to creep out and make his way to the house when a creaking sound coming from the shed door being opened made him freeze. Looking over he saw Elaine coming out of the shed, carrying a pail of milk in her hand.

“Elaine, Elaine,” he called softly to her. It took a few tries before she heard him and turned in confusion to see who was calling her. He carefully poked his head out of his hiding place and motioned for her to come to him. Elaine’s eyes widened as she hurried over.

“Where on earth did you come from?” She gasped, keeping her voice in a low whisper. “Lynwood, you can’t be here, the soldiers will notice you! They are watching my house night and day in hopes that you’ll show up. Get out, get out of here now.”

“Please Elaine, Sofia and I are alone in the woods and we need help.”

Elaine looked around nervously. “Is your sister safe?”

“Yes, she is, but she has sprained her ankle and we have no food. Father was taken yesterday by the soldiers and I need help.”

“I can’t help you, Lynwood, I’ve got soldiers at my front door. They are waiting and watching for you, you have to get out of here.”

Lynwood looked down, what were they to do now?

Elaine was thinking, “I can give you some bread and cheese. Do have you a roof over your head?”

“Yes ma’am, we....we...well we found an old cave.” He decided against mentioning the dragon.

“Good, you’ll have to stay it in, at least till things have calmed down a bit. Wait here, I’ll be back soon with some food, I’m afraid that is all I can give you for now. Come again in a few days and we’ll see how things are. Now I must go.” With that she fearfully made her way back to the house.

Lynwood bit his lip as he thought; things were definitely not looking bright for him and Sofia. Elaine couldn’t help them, she was under constant watch. They would have to stay with the dragon for now, which wasn’t very comforting. So far the dragon had been very good to them, but how long could dragons be trusted? Presently Elaine came out with a small pack in her hands.

“Here, Lynwood,” she hurriedly said. “There is bread and cheese and a few apples. I’ve also thrown in a bottle of ointment to put on Sofia’s ankle to help get the swelling down as well as a couple of proper bandages. Make sure she doesn’t use that foot for a week at least, better two! I put it in this pack so you could put it on your back and leave your hands free. Now listen, if things calm down, I will tie a white string on the great pine. That will mean it is safe for you to come to me. Now go, go, before you get caught.”

Lynwood nodded, whispered a hurried ‘thanks’, and made his way out of the village, hoping he wouldn’t be noticed by anyone. He only truly felt safe once he had gotten back to the woods where the dragon was waiting for him.

“That was something I never want to go through again,” he confessed as he climbed onto the dragon’s back. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The dragon nodded his head in agreement and they flew back to the safety of the mountain top, where Sofia was impatiently waiting.

“So, how was it?” She asked as Lynwood climbed off the dragon.

“Good and bad,” Lynwood replied. “It seems Elaine is under house arrest and there are guards all over her home, but I managed to sneak over and speak to her. She sent us some food, but I wasn’t able to get any information about anything because she was afraid I would get caught and told me to leave as soon as possible.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“I’m not really sure yet. First I think we should eat, and then I’ll rest a while; all that running around wore me out and sure the matter can wait a few hours.”

Sofia grumbled. She wasn’t tired in the least, having spent this whole time doing nothing. She was hungry, however, and had nothing against a simple meal of bread and cheese and water from the lake. After they had eaten, Lynwood walked over to where he had placed the arrow and examined it. The tip of the arrow was made of gold, with designs engraved into it. The owner had obviously been a man of considerable means. Who could have known about this dragon and gone hunting after it? No one in the area had any idea, or there would have been stories. It must have been someone from a different part of the kingdom. With a shrug Lynwood wrapped the arrow in the bag again and lying down went to sleep in the nest. He was soon joined by Sofia, who decided to sleep as well, as she had nothing better to do.