Damara took two steps backward in terrible shock. Her clammy hands felt for her dress, and she gripped it tightly, willing herself to run.
Her legs wouldn’t move.
The beast eyed her with a sharp look in his narrowed eyes. His reptilian mouth pressed into a smug grimace. Damara thought for sure she was going to die.
“What, you don’t remember me?” he asked, cocking his head with a mockingly hurt expression. “I suppose that’s alright. You were just a little frisk last time I saw you.”
Damara breathed rapidly and shallow, staring into his face like it was death itself. He arched back his neck with a loud, harsh laugh and she jumped.
“Look at you!” he marveled. “So terrified, like a deer about to be eaten. Oh, but don’t flinch like that. Can’t you trust an old friend?”
Damara opened her mouth, though her throat was dry. “We-” Her voice cut out and she swallowed, trying to stop her trembling. “We used to be friends?”
“Of course,” he replied charmingly, warm vapor pluming from his lips. “I’m Chasm. Your brother and I had our differences, but we got along fine.”
Damara’s head swam as she tried to recall this huge, male adult crouching before her, but she’d lost too many memories. How she even knew his gender was beyond her.
“I can’t- I can’t remember,” she stuttered.
The dragon snorted. “My, how easily you humans forget. And look how long it takes you to grow! I’ve nearly doubled my size since the last time we’ve talked, but you- you’re a little lamb.”
Damara didn’t like him comparing her to easy prey as she saw every twitch of his muscles.
How easily he could pounce on me. I wouldn’t be able to run in time.
“Really now, I wish you wouldn’t be so tense.” The dragon, Chasm, frowned. “You must not be used to dragons anymore.” He lay back with two meaty foreclaws stretched out in front of him, and looked expectantly at her, now at her eye level.
Damara took far too long to process his words, mind racing on with survival instinct. Still, her body felt paralyzed in place, with only her dress and shredded cape fluttering. Even her hair seemed to stiffen in fear as the dragon stared at her.
You must not be used to dragons anymore. His words finally made sense to her.
“Yeah-ah, it’s been awhile,” she choked out.
He gave her a tiresome expression and sighed, resting his great bulky head on his forefeet. “You’re scared of me,” he noted cheerlessly. “I thought you’d be happy to see me.”
Something clicked in Damara’s head.
This is what I’ve been wanting.
“Happy?” she echoed, beginning to breathe properly again. Tentatively, she smiled. “I didn’t think that I’d actually get to speak to a dragon again.”
His eyes looked up. She could feel them searching her all over.
Relax.
“You didn’t think you’d get to, yet here we are,” he said, looking especially self-satisfied.
“How did you find me?” Damara asked.
It’d be impossible to find one single person in an entire kingdom, she thought. Even for a dragon. He must have come across me by some coincidence.”
Or maybe it’s a miracle.
Chasm smirked. “I remembered your scent,” he answered simply. “Even after all these years, you still smell the same.”
“You tracked me down?” Damara was amazed.
He’s unbelievable!
“Why did you come looking for me?” she questioned further with increasing exaltation.
He gave her a handsome smile. “I have a request of you,” he said, lifting his head back up and readjusting his foreclaws.
“What is it?” Damara asked eagerly. Her limbs loosened completely, as though a spell was lifted from her.
“I want you to help me clear the dragons’ name.” He frowned. “You must have heard that there was an attack on a town. Swaineford, was it?”
Damara nodded. “I didn’t want to believe it. I thought all the dragons were good.”
“Not all of us,” Chasm admitted, shaking his head with eyes closed. “But that doesn’t mean we should all be slain.”
He leapt to his feet and Damara jumped in surprise, yet marveled up at him.
“We need to prove that dragons and humans can be at peace, Damara,” he pressed.
“Yes!” she agreed. “We can prove it to them!”
Chasm grinned charmingly. “I have a plan,” he said. “If your people were to see you on my back as I soar over the kingdom, then they’d know they were wrong about us.”
Damara held still, stupefied and speechless.
He wants me to ride him?
She couldn’t believe it. It was daunting. Terrifying even…but dazzling. To hold onto such a magnificent beast and slice through the sky, with everyone watching from down below, was beyond Damara’s most foolish fantasies.
“Well?” Chasm asked, powerfully shaking his great scaly mass, ridding himself of the dirt that clung to his grey belly plates. He took on a daring grin. “Are you game?”
Damara tingled all over. “Yes,” she breathed. Delighted, an idea hit her. “We can do it during the Parade of the Troops! It’s happening on Saint Morehice Day!”
“Perfect. Now, of course we’ll have to practice before then. You’ll probably need something to help you hold on. Can you get that for yourself?”
Damara knitted her brow, trying to think of where she could get some rope. “Yeah, I think so,” she said. Her eyes ran over the rippling muscles of Chasm’s back. “But I don’t know all that I need.” She swallowed apprehensively.
“Could you tell if you climbed on my back?” Chasm offered.
“Yes, please!”
He exposed his side to her with a smirk. Quivering, she stepped forward, pausing with her hands up, wondering what to grab onto. She spotted his wing shoulder.
If I put my hand there, she considered, but decided it wouldn’t be enough for her to pull up on.
“Um…could you crouch down a moment?” she asked nervously. The dragon stooped low to the ground.
Perfect. She placed her foot carefully on the bend of his foreleg and stepped up, grabbing his wing with one hand and his neck with the other.
Her lips pressed firmly together to stop herself from squeaking as she labored to scramble up. At last, she managed to swing one leg over his back and straddle the base of his neck.
Damara couldn’t help but gasp as she looked up from where she sat. It was as though she’d grown twice her height. It reminded her of the time when she had tried to climb one of the horses in the castle stables, as a little girl. Chasm was about the same size as that horse, Damara guessed, though the steed had been exceptionally large for its kind.
‘Damara, stop!’ She remembered how quick Xander was to get her down from the horse once he had noticed her.
Oh, the things he’d shout if he saw me now! she thought, humored at first, but anxiety twisted a knot in her stomach as she imagined it.
“Ah!” A sound escaped her mouth as Chasm stood up and she planted her hands to steady herself. She grimaced as she felt the ridge of his spine dig into her rear. It hurt even more as her weight shifted about.
How am I ever going to adjust to this? She wondered in dismay.
“Do you know what you need now?” Chasm asked from underneath her.
“Huh? Oh, yeah,” she stammered, looking down at herself.
I’ll have to get something to sit on. And definitely some rope.
“Yeah, I think I’d like to get down now,” she called.
Ow! His scales pinch!
“Here, let’s try walking first,” Chasm replied, taking a few steps forward.
Damara held her breath as his mighty shoulders swayed under her. She doubled over and clung to his scaly neck as his casual ambling nearly caused her to fall off.
“No- I don’t think I can hold on much longer,” she pressed anxiously. “Can’t you let me down already???
?
“Alright, but you’ll have to get used to it at some point.”
“I will, I will,” she told him, holding tighter as he dropped back down.
“Aa-ah!” she cried aloud as she tumbled off him, landing on her rear end with her head against his chest.
Chasm laughed. Her neck craned back to see him. He was staring down at her, looking thoroughly humored. Immediately, she leapt up and held her arm in insecurity, feeling lousy.
“Now you’re even dirtier,” Chasm commented.
She sniffed unhappily. “Yeah, well, I’m used to it.”
“Let’s go our own ways for now,” the dragon said, looking around. “Meet me here tomorrow when the sun is directly above your head. Can you remember this place?”
Damara looked up at the rare, white pine she had climbed. It was the tallest tree in the area.
“Yeah,” she answered, a chilly wind kissing her face. “I’ll find you.”
“And if you can’t, then I’ll find you,” Chasm said. “I could recognize your scent anywhere.”
“I better be getting back,” Damara murmured, rubbing her arms for warmth. “Please don’t forget me.”
“Of course not- and don’t forget to bring what you need.”
I get to ride a dragon! The thought coursed through her head as she returned back home. Once there, she apologized to everyone for running off and let Catherine tend to her split knuckle.
She couldn’t get herself to fall asleep as she lay, playing everything over in her head and anxiously awaiting the events tomorrow would bring.
Chasm, she repeated his name silently to herself. With him, I can finally prove that I was right even though everyone mocked me.
A dragon wants to be friends with me again. It’s the best thing I could ever hope for.
Chapter 4