Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Michele never had been the most brilliant person out there. He wasn’t stupid, far cleverer than most of his fellow knights. However, deciding on trying on that mission had been a crazy idea- an idea that probably would cost him his life. But two days ago, it seemed like a good idea. If he managed to somehow slay the Forest Dragon- the same dragon that terrorised the same forest for more than five years- neither he or Sara would have ever worry about money ever again. The issue is, is that no-one even had come close to defeating it, only a few had lived to tell the tall. It had been a good idea- good enough for Michele to put on his gear and march into the forest. But, that was two days ago, and he wished he just had stayed home, doing stupid odd jobs to pay the rent for their small apartment.

Groaning, Michele slumped against a tree trunk, fingers curling around his pierced skin of his left-side. A gift from a couple of bandits who tried to rob him. Hissing in pain, grinding his teeth, Michele lowered himself to the ground, armour-clad back pressed firmly against the tree trunk. Yes, one could call him lucky that the bandits hadn’t killed him. But surely, even as the bandits had run off like a group of cowards, Michele was still left to rot, bleed to death. If the dragon didn’t find him before that, which Michele doubted. The moment Michele actually started to bleed- the bandits had called in quits, cursing amongst themselves, making it bright and clear that the blood would attract the Forest Dragon. The roar that had followed was enough to get the scam actually running as if hell was on their heels. A weakened knight with barely anything on him wasn’t worth the risk of facing that monster.

The same monster Michele surely was about to face. He should have listened to Sara- who had warned him that it was insanity to try to slay the monster. After all, Michele wasn’t a skilled swordsman, probably even one of the weaker ones the knight guild had for over. Sixteen-year-old students probably could kick Michele’s ass in a one-on-one match. Nevertheless, Michele doubted that his sword skills would be the reason he wouldn’t live to see the end of the day, the dragon would take care of that.

Leaves rustle, birds and other animals hurried away in a whirlwind of noise as the monstrous creature came closer, each time causing the ground to shake slightly. Michele wondered what he was about to face. If he had to believe the people who survive an encounter with the dragon, it was hideous, with sharp claws and teeth. It could spit fire and fly, and ate humans for breakfast. So, it was like any other dragon that appeared in the stories, only this one was genuine and causing a real issue for the people of Michele’s city- the capital of their land. Hence why there was such a big bounty on its head. It was a nuisance; a nuisance the merchants of the capital couldn’t afford.

You see, the closest-by town for the capital was a large city, also called Port City, located at sea. The shortest route was the path through the forest- but since the arrival of the dragon five years ago, people rarely dared to use the path. Instead, people travelled around the forest, which took at least twice, most of the times trice as long as usual. So, the merchant guilds had put money together as a reward for the one who slew the dragon, and plenty of men had tried before Michele. None of them had managed, and only a few of them had returned alive.

The ground shook, trees bent unnaturally, and Michele swears he could hear the creature breathing- or hissing, considering dragons were reptiles. Closing his eyes, Michele let his head fall against the tree trunk and counted his last minutes of being alive. If he were lucky, he would be killed instantly. If he were unlucky, which was probably the case, he would be slowly roasted to death. Nonetheless, whatever the outcome was, the dragon didn’t give him the opportunity to die of a battle wound.

And if he would survive this, Sara would kill him for his own stupidity. But hey, that probably wouldn’t happen, so it wasn’t all bad. Who was he kidding, the situation was terrible. Sara would be devastated and due to their money issues, forced to marry some gross man who had enough money. Only two years ago, their parents had passed away, and now it seemed that Michele was about to abandon Sara too. He surely wasn’t going to win the award of best brother of the year.

A tree snapped. Michele jerked, hissing in pain as his own nails dug into his cut. “Fuck,” he cursed, removing his hand from his wound. That was an awful lot of blood. Yeah, even without the dragon he would never make it out of the wood alive- the trip to Port City was at least a solid two-day trip, just like returning home. He would never make it.

His attention, however, moved from his wound to the other end of the clearing in a second. There were movements- slow, almost sluggish movements, but something moved, and Michele didn’t like.

Clearing his throat, Michele tried to rid his voice of fear. He wasn’t doing a great job in that. “Just get over with it,” he said loud and clear, voice shaking with fear. He was too young to die, but what could he do against a dragon?

The movement halted for a second as if the dragon actually heard him speaking and foremost, understood him. Michele probably had lost a lot of blood considering his crazy thought. As if dragons could understand humans, that would have led to world domination by dragons- if there was more than just one. Actually, nobody even knew if the Forest Dragon was real because the only evidence was stories, stories told by scared, often confused, people.

For a brief moment, Michele hoped that the dragon had understood him and left. He didn’t want to face the horrors of a dragon- the scarred scales, the bloodthirsty gaze, the razor-sharp teeth. The images had frightened him as a child, even if the brave knight always slew the dragon. It was sad to think that the last thing he would see before his dead was one of those pictures he had been scared of as a kid.

Trees moaned, and a scaly snout forced its way into the clearing. The nose was slim, dull, greenish scales covering it. Michele blinked, trying to see if the sunlight actually didn’t reflect off them. In the stories, dragons always had reflecting scales to blind archers who tried to strike them down during flight. But no, the scales were most definitely dull, which meant, this dragon wasn’t supposed to fly, at all. The rest of the body followed, and Michele was, well, underwhelmed.

The dragon wasn’t as frightening as he had expected. It was about ten-foot-tall and, from head to tail, maybe thirty. That wasn’t that big. But it was the dragon’s face that caught him off guard. Soft, blue eyes- almost human-like. There were no battle scars, nor were there long, sharp teeth or sharp nails. It almost looked like an oversized lizard, an oversized lizard that was currently eyeing Michele with what seemed like curiosity. Curiosity? Could reptiles display human behaviour?

“Hey,” Michele stammered, and to his disbelief, the dragon reacted. Ears twitching, eyes flickering in recognition. He could actually understand Michele. The lizard could understand Michele. This wasn’t good, at all. But, nevertheless, Michele continued. He might as well make the best out of the situation. “Just get over with it,” he repeated slowly. “I’m bleeding out anyway and getting eating is probably a less painful death than, well, this.”

As Michele gestured to his injured side, the dragon’s eyes followed. Michele gasped in alarm as the dragon made a noise that sounded almost like he was choking on, well, air, nostrils flaring up. Okay, maybe Michele just signed his own death. Well, he hoped that Sara would be okay and be able to move on, find a somewhat suitable husband and live a decently happy life. Michele closed his eyes, expecting the dragon to take this as an invitation to go ahead and eat him. The last thing he wanted was being toyed with like some poor mouse captured by a cat.

Almost immediately, the dragon moved. The footsteps were shallow, the tremor light as if the dragon didn’t dare to make too much noise, too much movement. Maybe it was afraid that it would startle Michele and give him the opportunity to run away. That thought was pretty laughable. It wasn’t like he could get very far with his throbbing side and the lack of blood running through his veins. After a few seconds of nothing but complete and utter silence, warm air was blown into his face. Okay- he didn’t have to open his eyes to know that the dragon was inches away from him, probably deciding what the best way was to eat him. Roasted human probably was quite a delight to eat, especially for a human-eating dragon.

Honestly, Michele had managed to form quite the list of possible deaths. Burned to death, snapped neck, his head bitten off. The dragon could do an awful lot to him, yet, for whatever reason, the dragon did something Michele hadn’t even thought of, even considered feasible at all. It licked Michele’s face, nudging it slightly with its tongue. It was almost dog-like behaviour. A whining noise followed soon, and the dragon nudged Michele’s head with his snout. What was this? Wasn’t the dragon supposed to eat him, not worry about him like some kind of dog?

Deciding that thing couldn’t get much weirder than they already were, Michele slowly opened his eyes. He stared right into a pair of blue eyes, which were still scarily human-like. They could actually belong to a human. Weren’t reptiles supposed to have dialled pupils or something like that?

“Are you,” Michele hesitated- a dragon couldn’t really understand him, could it? “Trying to comfort me?”

The moment the dragon shook his head, Michele knew that the dragon actually understood him. Dragons understood human speech, no Biggy.

But if the dragon wasn’t trying to comfort him, what else was it trying to do? Help him? Wait, that actually could be possible. It had shown his presences as soon as Michele had been critically injured, and it had approach Michele carefully, probably not trying to scare him and causing him to hurt himself further. “You’re helping me?” Michele questioned, staring at the dragon, waiting for a reaction.

The dragon nodded, making some kind of snorting noise that was supposed to be a ‘yes’. Michele wasn’t particularly sure how a dragon could help him, or maybe it was all a trap. But nonetheless, he rather took the shot in the dark and possibly survive instead of just straight out bleed to death.

“But how are you going to help me?” Michele asked, trying to communicate with the dragon. It was clear as day that it couldn’t speak, but it could understand and knew how to respond to non-verbal communication, something that made it an intelligent creature. “I mean- I won’t be able to return to the capital- I’ll bleed to death before I’m even halfway.” Halfway was an understatement. He wouldn’t even survive for an hour before he would collapse due to blood loss. “I need to clean my wound and tie it up- do you have an idea where I can do that?”

The dragon nodded and used its head to gesture to the breach into the greenery, the direction it had come from. “Your cave?” once again, the dragon nodded. The dragon retreated, turning around and heading back to where it came from. However, before it left the clearing, the dragon looked back and made a beckoning motion with his head, probably wanting Michele to follow him.

Following a stranger was never a good idea. On the other hand, remaining put and bleeding to death probably wasn’t a smart idea either. Pushing himself up, Michele ground his teeth together, trying to work through the pain. Sitting had been less painful, but that might have been because he wouldn’t have to move- and it was moving around that made his skin flare up in pain.

Stumbling after the dragon, Michele tried to keep the bleeding to the minimum. His clothes and armour were already ruined anyway, the last thing they could do before they were discharged was keeping him alive. Passing his sword, Michele wondered whenever he should pick it up or not. Yes, his sword had yet to let him down, on the other hand, what good would it do against a ten-foot tall dragon? Nothing, especially if Michele remained in such an injured state.

Sighing in regretted defeat, Michele left the weapon be and followed the dragon out of the clearing into the forest. Now hoping that the dragon actually wanted to help him and not trying to murder him.

~*~

It wasn’t a long walk to the dragon’s cave, yet Michele felt like he was about to pass out once they arrived. Blood was trailing behind him, and for a solid five minutes-or-so, his legs had felt like jelly. It probably was sheer stubbornness that had kept Michele on two feet and moving.

The cave looked... the cave fitted the dragon. It looked almost inviting, with greenery surrounding it, hiding it from view. Nobody would actually manage to find it- you had to be lucky, or unlucky, and stumble upon it. Breathing through the pain, Michele marched towards the opening, bracing himself for what was to come. How many humans had this dragon killed? How many bones were there? How many clothes, weapons and money was scattered through the cave like some trophy? A lot by considering the stories. The dragon had been there for at least five years by now, it surely must have had eaten something- something meaty and probably human.

For the second time that day, Michele had been proven wrong. There were no bones inside the cave, nor where there many piles of money and shiny jewellery. A few weapons, rusted by the looks of it, were thrown in a dark corner. The rest was covered by fabrics, blankets, curtains, clothing. They covered the floor like some makeshift mattress. Fruits were piled up in a big heap, and by the looks of it, they were still fresh. Water seeped from the walls and formed a small pond. What was this? It was almost like a human home, a cosy, very personally decorated human home.

“You have a nice place,” Michele admitted, and he basically could hear the dragon keen in happiness. “Uhm, bandages?”

The dragon let out a low rumble, and its tail whipped around, narrowly missing hitting Michele’s head. Immediately, an apologetic noise followed. Refocusing on the task ahead, it had no use to scold a dragon that could eat him alive, Michele eyes the direction the tail was pointing at.

A pile of bags, bags belonging to humans. A few odd items were scattered through the stack, like a few plush dolls, handkerchiefs, candles, herbs and bandages.

Licking his lips nervously, Michele moved his gaze to the dragon. He wasn’t going to try anything crazy right now, not with a 10-foot-tall dragon watching him closely. “Can I,” Michele gestured to the pile of odd items first, then gestured to the small pool of water in the cave. When the dragon nodded instantly, Michele stumbled over to the pile of goods and grabbed a roll of bandages. That would do for now. Michele was about to leave when he spotted a small jar with what seemed like ointment- the same kind of substance that his mum and other healers used on wounds. It would at least be worth trying, and as a dragon probably had no use for it.

Snatching up the jar, Michele moved over to the pond, picking up a decently clean looking rag along the way. He still wasn’t sure how he was going to do this- he never before had to patch himself up. After all, never before had he been stabbed like that- his skill as a knight never had been good enough to be assigned to such missions.

Well, first thing first, his clothes had to go. They were a hazard and by now, already ruined. Maybe if they were washed, his undergarment could be used for the dragon’s cave. The rest he had to dispose of in one way or another- his armour was pretty much ruined anyway.

“Hey, dragon,” Michele started, feeling entirely foolish to talk to a dragon. Yet, it somewhat eased his conscience- after all, he was about to strip down to his birthday suit. He at least wanted to give the dragon the opportunity to look away if he wanted. “I’m about to strip down, so you’re warned.”

Before losing his nerve, it was still awkward to strip down in front of a dragon, Michele kicked off his boots, trying not to move his torso too much. The rest of his gear-up followed though the pace was agonising slow. He simply couldn’t risk injuring himself more by rushing into this- he wasn’t entirely stupid. Just dumb enough to try to slay a dragon and being rescued by said dragon.

Tearing his undershirt away, removing the last article of clothing, Michele inspected his wound. It was indeed a nasty cut, and by the looks of it, it easily could get infected, if it wasn’t already infected. So he could add that to the list of ways he could’ve died today. Killed by bandits, bleed to death, being eaten by a dragon and now killed by an infection. The list just kept on growing and growing.

Sitting down carefully, Michele stared at his reflection in the water. Honestly, he barely could recognise himself. Face pale and ill-looking, cheeks and eyes sunk in-  probably due to the lack of food he had consumed the last few… days? Weeks? Months? Dirt and grime were smeared all across his face, twigs and leaves sticking out of his short hair. He looked downright awful- but thankfully, there was no-one to worry about him. Sara surely would get a fit if she saw him like that, maybe one or two of his friend would worry, but that was it. None else would care- as that was just the danger of being a knight. And certainly now, which his only companion was a dragon he never met, he wouldn’t have to fear someone pamper him like he was a child.

~*~

He knew that a life as a knight was somewhat exciting. If you weren’t a terrible knight- even Michele wasn’t a terrible knight despite his lacklustre swordsmanship, you got the opportunity to see the world, leave the capital and see other places. You would meet other people, different cultures and eat different kind of foods. He had heard plenty of his co-workers bragging about the fact they had gotten food poisoning from eating some exotic fish, or one claimed he had met a woman as stunning as an angel. No-one really had believed him, knights were good at smack talking, but that didn’t change the fact that as a knight, you could see the world and experience things ordinary people wouldn’t experience. Eating dinner with a dragon was definitely one of those things- only Michele never had expected that it would happen to him. Food poisoning seemed less awkward than sharing a meal with a 10-foot-tall dragon.

Yet, he was sitting on a cavern floor, munching on some wild fruits with a dragon being his only companion. The dragon had fetched the food while Michele had been fixing himself up. It had returned with a big amount of food- food that probably could feed a large family for a solid week. At first, Michele hadn’t understood why- as this dragon surely wasn’t stupid. Michele couldn’t finish that much food in one go- not even in a solid week. If it didn’t rot away, Michele could live on a fruit-only diet for at least a month.

That was if the dragon hadn’t been, apparently, either a herbivore or omnivore. A plant eater or a mixed eater. Nevertheless, it was shoving food inside like it was nobody’s business after he had given Michele his own share, which was still too much for any normal human being.

“Uhm,” Michele mumbled, chewing on some wild berries that he wasn’t familiar with, at all, but doubted that they were poisonous. “Thanks, for everything.”

Immediately, the dragon stopped eating. Juices run down his snout, eyes blinking comically. It probably hadn’t expected Michele to thank him- probably would have been satisfied if Michele wouldn’t have thanked it. The staring was unnerving, not because it was a 10-foot-tall dragon, but because its eyes were too human-like. If Michele wouldn’t know better- it would have been a human staring at him and not a dragon that was supposed to eat him.

The dragon let out a noise that Michele associated with content. Taking in the rapidly moving tail and the twitching movement of the dragon’s ears, Michele decided that it was content. Michele never had been more grateful for owning a dog when he was younger; it made the dragon so much easier to read.

Open its mouth as if it wanted to speak, the dragon let out a deep growl. It sounded threatening, but by the dragon’s reaction, it was meant as something far less threatening. Maybe something like a ‘you’re welcome’. For a brief moment, a panicked expression passed the dragon’s face before it recklessly dived down with his head.

Letting out a panicked yell, Michele scrambled backwards. His side burned with pain- enough to subdue his previous panic and replaced with agony. “I should never become a knight,” Michele muttered to no-one in particular, lifting up his shirt to inspect his bandages. His wound, thankfully, hadn’t started to bleed again. Or, at least, there were no signs of that yet. He had wrapped himself tightly and thickly, not trying to save any- the dragon had enough bandages in stock to patch up an entire army, so maybe it was hard to see if he bled.

In his haste to check on his injury, he hadn’t noticed what the dragon had done. Actually, the dragon had been completely and utterly forgotten for a brief moment. That was till something rolled against his feet, coming to a stop. Changing his attention from his injury to his feet, Michele noticed an apple laying at his feet- and he was pretty sure that his food pile had no apples left. Actually, when he finally bothered to look at the situation, Michele saw an entire trail of food scattered between him and his own pile of food- who had grown significantly. Eventually, his gaze moved up to meet the dragon’s gaze.

Its head was cocked slightly to the right; an apologetic look was clearly visible on its face. Probably, in its excitement, the dragon had forgotten it was a 10-foot-tall dragon while Michele was a significantly smaller human being, who apparently would be startled by such a sudden movement.

“Apology accepted,” Michele mumbled, feeling guilty for making the dragon feel bad. It hadn’t done anything wrong- or at least not on purpose. “But why the food? Humans can’t eat that much; you know?”

The dragon nodded knowingly. His guilt was replaced by worry. Lowering his head slowly- avoiding scaring Michele again- the dragon’s his snout fell into Michele’s lap, nose gently nudging his stomach. How did it- that didn’t matter. Michele was astonished by how observant, and apparently intelligent the creature was- or at least how much it knew about humans.

“You want me to eat more?” Michele asked. The dragon made small, nodding movements, his head still laying in Michele’s lap. “Because I eat too little?”

That was a no. “I don’t understand,” Michele whispered, carefully reaching out to pet the dragon’s snout. “You’re a dragon- you aren’t supposed to understand human speech.”

The dragon made a shrugging motion, almost causing Michele to topple back due to the sudden shift in weight. “For an oversized lizard- you’re pretty smart.”

It seemed that Michele’s comment wasn’t exactly appreciated by the dragon, as it huffed loudly, warm air almost scorching Michele’s borrowed clothes. “Okay- dragon, not an oversized lizard,” Michele corrected, picking up the apple that still laid at his feet. “Now happy?” Michele took a bite of the apple, mirroring the dragon’s critical look.

Content, the dragon retreated and returned to his own pile of food, which was significantly smaller than before. Okay- having dinner with a dragon was definitely odder than getting food poisoning or meeting angelic women.

Not wanting another lap full of dragon and a disapproving look, Michele munched on his apple. He might as well make the best of his stay, as he surely wouldn’t be going anywhere soon- especially if the dragon kept on babying him like that. It probably was a woman- perhaps the dragon equivalent of Sara. Nevertheless, Michele wouldn’t have to worry that anything would happen to him anytime soon- unless he upset the dragon that is.

~*~

It was two days into his stay in the cave Michele realised that for starters, he never had introduced himself to the dragon. Yes, introducing himself to a dragon. Though, to be fair- he wouldn’t have bothered if the dragon didn’t understand human speech. So, he had introduced himself to the dragon as Michele and, the dragon had tried to introduce itself, but that didn’t come further than growling sounds and a slightly frightened Michele.

But, that made Michele realise that if the dragon could understand human speech, it possibly could read. Plus, it also had a concept of time, of life, a way of thinking that went much further than just the primal instincts most animals possessed.

“Hey, dragon,” Michele asked, sitting down close to where it had laid down, probably trying to take a nap that Michele was keeping it from. “Are you male or female?”

The dragon looked up, blinking slowly at him. It made a shrugging movement- and Michele realised that he should give the dragon a yes or no question- as it couldn’t speak, but it could nod or shake its head.

“Are you female?” the dragon shook its head. “So, you’re male?” it nodded.

So his theory of it being a mommy dragon had been wrong. It would’ve been logical, as it- well, he, had been very protective over Michele as if Michele was its own child. But not it turned out that it was a male, those instincts didn’t seem to fit.

“Okay- you’re a male dragon, good to know,” Michele chuckled nervously. “So you aren’t a mother dragon- thank heavens.”

The dragon offered him a confused look but thankfully didn’t force an explanation out of Michele. After all, it wouldn’t have been the first time he had done that- the dragon liked butting his head against Michele’s chest for whatever reason. He still didn’t speak fluently dragon- if that would even ever happen.

Picking up one of the few fruits that had survived breakfast, Michele started to peel the skin. It somehow was satisfying, like plucking grass while sitting in the sun. “So, do you also have an age or are you like- ancient? A few thousand years old and stopped counting a long time ago?”

He really should stop asking these questions. After all- the dragon had made it clear he couldn’t talk- despite his best attempts to. The poor thing just made a shrugging motion, something he had done a lot of times in the last two days. Michele couldn’t blame him- he wasn’t making it much easier for the dragon, at all.

“Okay- different approach,” Michele mumbled, munching on the abused piece of fruit. Food was food- and being used to eat a little, having plenty was like a wish come true. Even if his diet solely excited out of fruits. “I’m twenty-five,” he started, sharing a piece of information of himself. “Are you around my age? Think about plus minus five years.”

Michele was pretty sure the dragon was frowning. However, that expression soon replaced by excitement. The dragon nodded hurriedly, tail moving around like an overly excited dog. “So- you’re my age- older?” no- which meant he probably was younger than Michele, which was kind of odd. He was having a one-sided conversation with a dragon who wasn’t older than Michele. Though thankfully, he was also an adult, as he was twenty-years-old or older. It would have been awkward if the dragon had been a young child.

“I’m going to stupidly guess, just nod if I’m right,” the dragon nodded in confirmation.

“Twenty-five?” that was a no- so the dragon was younger than Michele. “Twenty?” another no- so that left only four possibilities. “Twenty-one?”

A yes. The dragon was twenty-one years old. That was so wild- if the dragon had been a human, it could have been someone Michele knew from the city, a peer probably as, for whatever reason, Michele always had stuck to the younger crowd. Nearly all his friends were younger than him, some by a few years, others by a handful of years. It was weird, being one of the oldest amongst his friends. But it was nice to hear that the dragon was at least not his age and not like a small child or some crazy old, wise guy. As far as age mattered for a dragon.

Michele wanted to know more. But that was difficult- the dragon understood him, that was established by now- but it couldn’t speak. Trying to figure out a name would take a lot of time- too much time. There were just too many names out there and honestly, Michele wasn’t in the mood to recite the alphabet each time to figure out the next letter. What if the dragon had a crazy long name Michele had never heard of? He would never figure that one out.

“Thank you, for answering all that,” the dragon made an almost barking-like sound, which probably was his way of sounding happy about Michele’s ‘thank you’. It was silly, thanking a dragon for stuff like that, but Michele considered that this was the best way to get to know the creature. He had time to kill- his injury would at least take another week-and-a-half to recover enough for Michele to even consider leaving. A way to spend his time was getting to know the dragon.

Though, that wasn’t his sole reason. Also, but that was more a gist than anything else, Michele had the feeling the dragon was lonely. Most people, including himself if he hadn’t been critically injured, would head tails the moment the dragon even approached them. Despite that the dragon wasn’t mean-looking, he was still scary looking. An oversized lizard trying to- at least in your mind- murder you and eat you for breakfast. Any brave knight with a proper set of brains would run as if hell was on their heels, especially hearing all the rumours surrounding the dragon. That they were false was an entirely different story- but people feared the unknown, and honestly, a dragon was something that could be considered unknown territory.

“Hey, you know,” mumbling, Michele started to pick on a piece of worn curtains. “If you want to know anything about me, you can ask- or, well, try to,” for whatever reason Michele kept on forgetting that the dragon couldn’t speak. Maybe because he wasn’t used to talking to someone that couldn’t speak, or maybe because he wasn’t used to doing all the speaking himself. He wasn’t much of a talker, after all. “If you’re interested- of course,” Michele hesitated. “Are you?”

To his surprise, the dragon nodded enthusiastically, no longer bothering to take his afternoon nap. Apparently, he considered Michele a lot more interesting that napping- which was a first. Usually, Michele bore people to no end- very little people liked to spend time with him. But this was a dragon, he probably found anything human-related fascinating. After all, Michele knew someone that probably would kill, yes, actually kill to see a real-life dragon. Well, kill anything but the dragon- his friend would probably throw herself in the debts of hell to be in Michele’s place right now.

The dragon made a huffing noise that Michele recognised as ‘hurry up’. Maybe he was spacing out a bit too much, too caught up in the whirlwind of thoughts. Though, in all honesty, with little to do, it was easy to reflect on life and get all philosophical. Especially considering Michele never had much spare time to use for pondering. He was always working, working to pay the rent of their home, even when his parents were still alive. This was almost like a holiday; a holiday you would spend with that one person you never met but were forced with to share a room. But in the end, they were an okay guy because he didn’t snore and brought food with him. Though, Emil did snore a little.

“For starters, I’m very boring- my life isn’t exactly exciting,” Michele admitted, offering an apologetic look. “But to be honest, you probably find everything interesting,” the dragon nodded happily and shuffled closer, his head nearly laying in Michele’s lap. “Hmm- I could talk about my family if you want?”

Nodding enthusiastically, the dragon made himself comfortable, it was about to be told a bedtime story. Okay, there goes nothing. “Well, both my parents passed away- mum was a healer and dad was a merchant. They died in an accident- but it wasn’t too bad. After all, both me and Sara were already adults when that happened. Of course, we were sad, but we were old enough to take care of ourselves. It never was easy, but we managed. Though I think the sole reason I managed to keep on going for so long is because of Sara. And let me tell you, Sara is a wonderful woman, she...”

Without Michele noticing, the dragon started to doze off, eyes closing slowing as Michele kept on rambling about his sister. Not that he had the focus to see that the dragon dozing off. He himself was also getting drowsy, the cave comfortably warm due to the spring sun. He hadn’t napped in the afternoon in ages- but there was always a time to pick up a habit, even if it was a bad one. Also, it wasn’t like he was the only one that sleeps through the afternoon- the dragon did it on an almost daily base.

Laying down, Michele curled up, picking up a piece of fabric to drape over himself. As long as the dragon was there, whenever awake or asleep, there was no need to worry about security. Bandits would be suicidal to even come close to the cave, even considering Emil was pretty harmless. While Michele still wondered why the dragon bothered to protect him, he wasn’t complaining. It was nice, for once, to actually have a few days of peace without having to worry over money, the lack of food or having to accept of friends.

~*~

After maybe three or four days into recovery, Michele realised that he disliked doing nothing. Yes, he didn’t mind not having to work any second that the sun was shining, but doing nothing didn’t suit him. It made him grow fidgety and there was the ache to do something. When he had voiced his concerns to the dragon, all he got was a ‘no’ and a stare that reminded him an awful lot of Sara. The ‘don’t you dare to disobey me’ stare his sister had basically mastered of the course of the years.

So, Michele had been stuck inside the cave- unable to do anything- until he brilliantly had found a way to make the best of his time. He could spend his time figuring out a way to communicate with the dragon and, foremost, give the dragon the opportunity to talk back. Not literally speaking, but communicate back with just more than a nod, a shake of his head or a vague body gestured that was supposed to be a shrug. Eventually, the idea had saved his bored ass, and thankfully, the dragon trusted him enough to let him borrow one of the daggers that were stuffed in a dark corner. It was rusty and clearly not fit for combat anymore, but it would serve Michele just right.

It took him three days to carve out the entirety of the alphabet and all the numbers out of wood. It would have been quicker if he knew how to use a dagger properly, knew how to carve wood, and if finding wood was easy. It wasn’t, as he didn’t dare to venture too far from the cave. Both because the dragon would get uneasy and Michele knew he wouldn’t survive out there for too long. His injury surely would act up, and the fresh smell of blood would probably attract predators. But in the end, it was time well spent in his opinion, even if the work was sloppy at best. Leo- one of the local carpenters and Michele’s friend- probably would cry if he saw what Michele had done to some excellent wood. But thankfully Leo wasn’t there to criticise him or his woodwork.

“It’s done,” Michele announced in triumph, holding up the zero he had carved out- or at least tried to carve out. The corners and round lines were still the hardest things to carve out, but it at least looked like a zero. “Now we can properly communicate, somewhat.”

It would be a lie to say the dragon wasn’t curious. He peered at the piece of wood Michele held up, eyes widening in recognition. “You can read, right?” Michele never had been happier to see the dragon nod. Otherwise, his time had been wasted- till some degree. He at least had practised wood crafting and probably could show off his mad skills to Leo.

Gathering the pieces- he hadn’t realised how much there were till his arms were completely filled with maybe ten letters or so- Michele propped them against the wall in the alphabetical order, trying to make it easier for the dragon to find the right letter. After all, everyone was taught the alphabet from A till Z and not in some random-ass order.

After making sure the letters were neatly arranged, Michele started at the dragon expectedly. “Uhm- what’s your name? You can use the letters in one way or another- if that helps.”

The dragon seemed to be touched by Michele’s gestured for a brief moment, though excitement soon took ever. Excited like a kid that got a new toy, the dragon swung his tail around, eventually managed to control the limb in such way that it was pointing at the first wood-carved letter. The E. So his name started with an E- that was a start. The other three letters followed soon after the E. There was an N- which the dragon hurriedly corrected into an M. A I followed, and the dragon finished off with the L, nodding excitedly when Michele jotted down the last letter in a patch of dirt. It wasn’t a long-ass, confusing name. It was a short, easy to remember kind of name, which meant Michele could have figured it out a long time ago if he bothered to try.

“So you name is Emil?” Michele questioned. The dragon nodded happily. So, Emil it was. Surprisingly human name for a dragon- he almost had expected some kind of fantasy name, like Forestbreath or Springborn. On the other hand, he had no idea if dragons even named their children- if there were more dragons than just Emil. How did a dragon even get a name? Did they just come across one and decided that yes, this is the one I like?

Carefully walking up to Emil, Michele reached out to his snout, fingers carefully touching the scales, patting them. “Nice to adequately meet you, Emil,” Michele whispered, feeling his heart swell as the dragon looked shocked in the best way possible.

He should have known that Emil is basically an oversized dog. But caught in the moment, Michele had forgotten and was now paying the price for it. With too much force, the dragon pushed his snout against Michele’s chest, causing him to fall backwards and land on his behind. Emil, however, didn’t seem to worry too much. The dragon made content noises, nuzzling his snout against Michele’s chest.

“Be careful, you idiot,” Michele grunted, running his fingers along Emil’s snout. “I’m the one injured here- the last thing I want is to start bleeding out again.”

Emil retreated, making apologetic noises. Michele caught himself smiling- what was the last time he had genuinely smiled? A long time ago- far too long. Maybe this task wasn’t so bad after all- maybe was a time alone in the forest stuck with a dragon exactly what he needed. And otherwise, he would have an amazing story to tell later.

~*~

Giving Emil the opportunity to, well, properly communicate opened a few doors for them. Michele no longer had to play the guessing game, like guess every colour there was till he found the one that was actually the dragon’s favourite. Instead, Emil himself spends his afternoon spelling out facts about him- like his favourite colour. It was purple- not Michele’s eye purple but more of lavender- the same colour as the flowers that bloomed close to the cave. In return, Michele had told Emil his favourite colour was yellow, sunflower yellow because, for whatever reason, Sara’s favourite flowers were sunflowers due to their high status and bright, brilliant colour.

Continuing that topic- it turned out that Emil had a sister- she was a few years older than him. While certainly happy to hear that Emil had siblings- he couldn’t imagine a life without Sara- it was also slightly terrifying. So there were other dragons than Emil. Though, the question remained was why Emil was all on his own. The dragon had been living in the forest for about five years at least, which meant he started to live here when he was probably sixteen, maybe even younger. That wasn’t really old- at all. And while grand, the cave wasn’t suited for an entire dragon family. Maybe two, but definitely not four.

Eventually, nearly two weeks into his stay, Michele’s thoughts had wandered off to chase impossible ideas. What if Emil wasn’t a dragon- at least not originally? Dragon’s weren’t supposed to know human speech, and definitely not being able to read. Someone could have taught Emil to read, but Michele somewhat doubted that. Otherwise, there would have been evidence of another human being having lived in the cave. Or, at least, Michele’s idea to work with carved out letters wouldn’t have surprised Emil that much. Because that seemed to only logical way to teach a 10-foot tall lizard how to read. Yet, that’s when his thoughts kind of became a mess. If Emil wasn’t a dragon, which was a possibility, what else could he be. A dog? A Human?

Till some degree, it made sense. Emil acted in ways people acted- the need to eat around breakfast, lunch and dinner- snacking through the day, sleeping during the afternoon because sleep was nice. He was curious, highly intelligent for an animal, craved Michele’s presence for whatever reason, enjoyed having a conversation with Michele. He was a social creature, which wasn’t weird. Horses and dogs were also social creatures, but Emil felt… different. Maybe he should spend more time educating himself if he really wanted to theorise like that.

Long story short, Emil, possibly, could have been human. Or a dog but that didn’t explain the capability of reading. But that’s where is theory came to an end.

If Emil was human, the most likely thing was that he had been cursed- though Michele wondered who wanted to curse someone like Emil. He would be an absolutely precious human being- probably very energetic considering the dragon’s enthusiastic responses to, well, everything and just an overall nice guy. That would explain why Emil had bothered to save him, a knight, of all people, take him under his wing. Surely others had tried to kill Emil, so what would be the chance that Michele was any different? Slim, that was the chance, yet the dragon had risked it. So, Emil would be an odd victim to be cursed, especially considering the curse.

Michele was till some degree knowledgeable on curses. A curse wasn’t necessary harmful, the could also be just something annoying. For example, a friend of his sister and an acquaintance of his, once cursed him to talk in couplets for a whopping two hours. They were pretty harmless and could be casted by anyone who bothered to learn the odd craft. But a curse like this was probably casted by a powerful sorcerer. And with the reputation magic had, there weren’t that many sorcerers, not to mention powerful sorcerers.

Magic was a thing that was heavily shunned on. It was a craft mainly practised by the brave souls who didn’t give a fuck or the ones who wanted power- also the whole reason magic was feared and despised. Magic could be used for a lot of bad things, an awful lot of bad things. Hence why the misuse of magic was heavily punished. This made things all the more confusing.

If you were caught for misusing magic, you had written your own death sentence. There was no mercy, no chance for redemption. You were written off as dead. Which meant that nobody was crazy enough to use magic for evil unless they really wanted to make a statement- or if someone really managed to tick off the user. This raised the question: how had Emil managed to tick off someone that powerful?

Or Michele was simply reading way too much into the whole thing, and Emil was just a friendly dragon. So, despite considering that there might be some truth in his endless whirlwind of thoughts and theories, Michele decided to put the whole theory on hold. He wasn’t a curse breaker- nor someone who ever wanted to dab in that world. He would leave that the crazy ones- as far as he wasn’t crazy.

Carefully approaching the napping dragon, Michele sat down and leant against the crook of Emil’s neck. Maybe a day-or-so ago, Michele had figured out that most of Emil’s body, minus his snout, was comfortably warm and smooth, making it the perfect surface to sleep against. It was at least better than the rock-solid ground with only a thin layer of fabric covering them.

“Hey buddy,” Michele whispered, softly running his hand across the smooth scales. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure things out.”

Emil snored and repositioning himself to make it more comfortable for Michele. Yeah, right, Emil was a human, and he was a unicorn. Maybe his fruits-only diet was getting to him, making him feel all healthy and intelligent all of the sudden. Knights weren’t smart- never have been and never will be. The smart people would try to be a scholar if they got the money for that. Because nobody with some brains would try to slay a 10-foot-tall dragon.

~*~

For someone who claims he isn’t stupid, Michele might have forgotten about one essential thing. Sara. He had been too busy focussing on recovering to return home to realise that Sara had no idea whenever he was alive or death- because if things had gone according to plan, he would have returned home about two weeks ago. And, if Sara had been like any ordinary maiden, she would have stayed at home and wept quietly, mourning her brother’s death. Sadly enough, Sara wasn’t an ordinary maiden.

It was day sixteen of his stay with Emil. His cut was almost fully healed, the flesh surrounding it only a little tender. Michele thanked his luck that it hadn’t gotten infected- though he had a feeling that the ointment he had found was the real thing to thank. Emil, thankfully, had approved of him leaving- till some degree. Emil had clearly looked upset when Michele had announced he would be leaving soon but didn’t try to keep Michele there with him, thankfully. The dragon even went as far as help Michele gather some items and foremost, food.

Michele had been carefully wrapping fruits for his travel- denting them would cause them to spoil earlier than was appreciated- when Emil grew all rigid, ears flickering, picking up sounds Michele couldn’t hear. But, Michele had a gist. Someone was close-by, approaching probably, and as Emil probably never had actually faced humans before, this must be new territory for the dragon.

“Humans?” Michele whispered, carefully touching Emil’s flank- letting the dragon know he was there for him. Emil nodded slowly, avoiding moving around too much. The dragon was scared.

Leaving the dragon’s side, Michele picked up his sword. He hadn’t touched it ever since Emil had retrieved it- it didn’t felt right to run around with a sword when there was no danger- no treat. “Listen, Emil,” he started, walking past the dragon, sword at the ready for usage. He probably at least could scare away any threat if he were lucky- or maybe it was just a poor lost traveller who accidentally stumbled upon Emil’s cave. Nevertheless, the presence of an another human, him, might make things easier- or not, but it was a risk Michele was willing to take. “I’ll go outside and try to distract our company- try to chase them away so you can escape. In no circumstances come out till you know there is nobody left, got it?”

Without a doubt, Emil wasn’t happy with his idea. The dragon huffed, looking very disapproving, but also defeated. After all, he had no reason to keep Michele there- the knight was fully healed and fit for travelling and battling. If it hadn’t been for their sudden company, Michele probably would have finished packing and could have left already.

In the end, Emil nodded and retreated further into the cave, hiding out of sight. People had to enter the cave to find the dragon, which was all the disguise Emil needed right now. Because nobody in their right mind would actually enter a cave while knowing that there was a dragon roaming the forest grounds.

Michele snuck out of the cave into the open sun. It was a chilly morning- the sun had yet to warm up the air. Maybe he should have dressed warmer- bare arms weren’t exactly cut out for this weather. Nevertheless, this would have to do- it was foolish to head back into the cave.

“Who’s there,” Michele asked loudly, hoping that he could keep his voice steady and in control. If it was just a lost traveller, they would come out immediately, relieved to see actually see a human face that probably didn’t belong to a bandit. If it was a knight trying to slay the dragon, well... Michele had to use his terrific swordsman skills to overpower them. Of course, it also could be a bandit, but Michele had a gist that bandits avoided the dragon’s cave like the plague, scared for their life- unnecessary so, but Michele wasn’t complaining.

Michele was prepared for a lot, but he definitely wasn’t prepared for a crossbow carrying maiden to stumble out of the bushes, weapon at the ready to shoot him down. Neither was he prepared for the fact that said maiden was nobody else than Sara. His baby sister Sara who never had used a weapon her life before, his baby sister Sara who used to have nightmares about monsters under her bed. The very same sister who looked like she could take on the world- or at least a dragon to find out what happened to her brother.

“Sara?” Michele asked, the grip on his sword loosening for a brief moment- a brief moment in which Michele realised that even his sister could harm Emil. “What are you doing here?”

Sara dropped the crossbow like it was a piece of cheap wood. Michele lowered his sword as Sara tackled him an embrace, an embrace that was strong enough to throw him down, losing his sword along the way. The clattering of the weapon was dull against the forest floor- yet Michele hoped that Emil didn’t hear it. Otherwise, the dragon might think he was in trouble, which he definitely wasn’t.

“I assumed you were dead,” Sara sobbed, burying her face into his shoulder. “The bandits said you were probably eaten by the dragon- how did you manage to survive that?” the woman retreated, tears-filled eyes stared straight back at him. “You couldn’t possibly have slain it- have you? They also said you were critically injured- so you were most definitely dragon food.”

While Michele wanted to explain, there was another more urgent matter that he wanted to discuss. “You talked with bandits? Are you insane?” Michele scolded. “They could have killed you- they almost killed me, and I’m trained to fight.”

Sitting on his lap, Sara glared at him; her lips were pursed together into a pout. “I shot them in the legs, of course,” she explained as if it was a logical answer. “They tried to rob me, but I wasn’t having none of that. Therefore, I shot them in the leg and asked if they had seen you. Eventually, they answered...” a quiet sob followed. “How aren’t you dead? They said you were most likely dead- and if I wanted to find your remains I had to seek out the dragon’s cave, somewhere around here,” Sara gestured to the mountain range that painted the backdrop.

“Well- I got lucky,” Michele answered quietly, not sure how to tell Sara the news that the dragon was the one who had saved him from death.

Sara apparently didn’t buy it. “How did you get so lucky to survive a dragon?” she asked in disbelief, doubt strong in her voice. “So many people have died in the past five years because of the dragon, what makes you different?”

“I wasn’t stupid,” the answer was simple. All those deaths in past never had been caused by the dragon but by both the bandits and humans their own stupidity. Michele probably wasn’t the first one Emil had tried to save from bandits- but unlike the rest, Michele didn’t stupidly flee, basically signing their own deaths. The forest was vast, with many dangers. Bandits, wolves, bears and other animals that smelled blood and decided that this would be their next meal. “That’s it. I wasn’t stupid and used my brain- which had saved my life.”

“But how did you outrun the dragon? How did you escape it?” Sara asked, voice thick with curiosity.

Michele smiled weakly. “I didn’t, that was the mistake the rest made- running away from their only chance of surviving.”

“What do you-” Sara’s jaw dropped. “You’re saying that the dragon saved you? Why?”

“Because... well, I don’t know why- it’s just his personality, I guess,” Michele shrugged, wondering why exactly Emil had saved him. Probably because Emil was a goodhearted person and didn’t want to see people die- that was the most logical explanation and, foremost, the most fitting explanation.

Sara remained quiet, brows drawn together in concentration. She probably was trying to find the logic in the whole thing- and while usually, Michele would encourage this, he rather would have her gone. Gone so Emil had the opportunity to escape- as this wouldn’t work. Michele had his back at the cave, and Sara didn’t so she could see Emil immediately. The cat would be out of the bag, and Michele had to keep a vicious Sara in check. After all, hearing how she had shot two bandits without hesitation, she probably wouldn’t have any issues shooting at a dragon.

“Wait- he?” Sara questioned, a bewildered look on her face. “How do you know that it’s a he?”

“Because it’s a he,” Michele answered slowly, deciding that the easiest thing to do right now was introducing Sara to Emil and vice versa. “Just- I’ll explain, as long as you let me carry the weapons.”

It was clear as day that Sara didn’t like his idea, but she complied. The seamstress got up, grabbed the crossbow and handed it over to Michele. Ignoring the pain in his legs- Sara used to be a lot lighter when she was smaller and liked to sit on his lap- Michele got up, gathered his sword and took Sara’s crossbow. With his free hand, Michele guided Sara to the cave, making sure that both weapons were out his sister’s reach.

“Listen- don’t freak out,” Michele started as they stood at the mouth of the cave. “He’s a bit scary at first sight, but Emil doesn’t hurt a fly.”

The name ‘Emil’ silently passed Sara’s lips, but Michele no longer waited. He pushed Sara inside the cave, following immediately after.

“Don’t worry- she’s harmless,” Michele hurriedly said, not even having to seek out Emil’s face to know that the dragon was nervous. “Well, she can bite but-”

Like expected, Sara froze on the spot. Her gaze was focused on Emil, who stared straight back at her with fear and mild curiosity.

“Emil, this is my sister Sara,” Michele patted his sister on her head with his free hand. “Sara, this is Emil- the sole reason I’m still alive.”

“Have you hit your head or something,” Sara hissed, eyes narrowed in hot anger. “A dragon- saving your life? And why introducing me as if he can understand you?”

Emil made a whining noise and Sara froze, realisation slowly taking over her angry expression. “Wait- he can understand us?”

“Yes, Sara, Emil can understand and read human language.” Sara was left flabbergasted, staring at the dragon in shock.

“I thought you had made up the name Emil,” Sara admitted, her cheeks growing red out of embarrassment. “But that’s your real name, isn’t it?”

The dragon nodded slowly, realising that Sara was no longer acting hostile towards him.

Sara took a few shaky breaths, before she stepped forward, carefully approaching the dragon. When she was close enough, the girl hesitantly reached out her hand, as if she wanted to pet him.

Emil’s gaze flickered over to him, basically asking if it was safe to lower his head and let Sara pet him. Michele nodded and slowly but steadily, Emil dropped his head till Sara’s fingertips grazed his scales.

“Thank you, Emil,” Sara whispered, patting the snout gently. “For saving my brother's life- taking care of him. That idiot is very stubborn, so he probably would have killed himself it wasn't for you.”

Emil let out a keening noise, enthusiastically pressing his snout against Sara’s stomach. His sister let out a high-pitched screech in alarm but eventually managed to recover and not scramble away in panic.

“He likes to do that,” Michele explained, not even holding back his laughter. “Be happy he has to decency to hit your stomach and not your chest.”

Giggling awkwardly, Sara ran her fingers over the smooth scales of Emil’s snout- a certain level of warmth in her smile. “What does it means, if he does that.”

“He’s either disapproval or it’s his way of hugging- I think it’s the latter in this case,” Michele explained- remembering that he had been on both ends of the weird chest bump.

This time, Sara’s laugh was much more genuine as she basically cooed over Emil, thanking the dragon over and over again for taking care of Michele’s stubborn ass. Emil, in return, seemed pretty content- judging by the dragon’s body language. Well, his travel back home might be delayed for a bit- as Sara surely want to hear the entire story and not just bits and pieces.

~*~

If it hadn’t been for Emil’s presence, Sara would have right up murdered him right there in Emil’s cave. She had looked murderous when he stupidly admitted wandering off path- deciding that his destination had to be close-by. Of course, he purposely had left out the details that he originally had intended to slay Emil- and thankfully, Sara had caught up onto that. She didn’t cut him any slack though.

“Mickey,” Sara scolded, eyes narrowed in a glare. They had planned to leave at sunrise- after staying for the night in the cave. At first, Sara hadn’t been too happy with the idea, but eventually decided that it was better to leave at sunrise and only having to sleep one night in the forest, instead of two. Now, they were inching close to noon- Michele managed to buy as much time as possible. He didn’t want to leave for whatever stupid reason- but it seemed that Sara didn’t agree with him. “We were supposed to leave at sunrise- not sunset,” the girl added, stomping her foot in annoyance.

To Michele’s annoyance, it seemed that Emil was siding with Sara. The dragon openly stared at him in a disapproving way, not even fazed when Michele glared back at him. He was surprised at Emil let him go that easily- what if he never came back again? Then Emil would be all on his own, again, for god knows how long. Maybe a few years, maybe a decade. No-one knew- well, no-one except Michele and Sara- who knew the dragon was pretty much harmless.

“Okay- fine,” Michele muttered, glaring at Emil. “I’ll go, are you now happy?”

Emil nodded happily, though Michele noticed that it wasn’t the dragon’s normal, dog-like happiness. He probably was going to miss Michele- considering that he had been the dragon’s only company for a while.

“Wait, Mickey!” Sara sounded furious. Rolling his eyes, mouthing siblings to Emil before turning to Sara, Michele eyed his sister with an exhausted look. She looked as mad as she sounded.

“What?” he asked grumpily, not ready to deal with a cranky Sara.

She stared at him as if he was kidding her. “You don’t listen to me, but you do listen to a dragon?”

“Maybe- Emil is the mother-hen here- okay?” it sounded far less embarrassing in his head. Emil wasn’t even a mother-hen. Otherwise, he would never have let Michele go- but that didn’t matter. Michele was still mad that Sara thought it was a great idea to travel through a dangerous forest with only a crossbow she had no idea on how to use.

Sara huffed, but visibly relaxed- a little. “You’re just angry that I ‘foolishly’ followed your stupid ass into a forest to make sure you’re okay.”

“Of course I’m upset,” Michele snapped back, glaring daggers at her. “You could have died. I nearly died, and I’m supposed to be a well-trained knight who knows how to defend themselves. I mean, if it hadn’t been for Emil I would have been dead.”

Now Sara was pissed. “I know that,” she yelled back, looking ready to murder Michele. “That’s why I was so worried- it was such a close call- for what? You disappeared off the face of the earth for two weeks, and you have been having a sleepover with a dragon?”

“I was healing-” Michele fumed. “I mean- I wouldn’t have made it a mile with this,” without hesitation, Michele yanked up his shirt, revealing the white scar and the tender flesh surrounding it. “I wanted to go home- but I wanted to come back alive.”

Sara looked away, face pulled together in discomfort. She clearly wasn’t happy being reminded of that- even as there wasn’t much to see anymore. They should just leave- get home, reassure their friends that they aren’t dead.

“We should just go,” Michele suggested, trying to soften his expression. “We all had a rough day- and I think Emil will be happy to have us out of his hair- well, cave.”

No- Emil wasn’t happy with that, that was clearly heard by the whining noise the dragon made. Nevertheless, Michele knew that this was the best thing to do- first of all, humans and dragons weren’t supposed to mix- also, maybe, if they were unlucky, the would send out a search party to find Sara. Michele was already written off as dead- so he was no issue- but Sara was still very much alive and a maiden. Knights threw themselves into danger if it included a pretty maiden- and Sara probably was a beautiful maiden. Nevertheless, whenever Sara was beautiful or not, she was a girl, and the last thing Michele wanted was an entire group of soldier knocking on their doorstep- cave door- whatever to save Sara’s ass.

Sara, thankfully, agreed. Though she left Michele baffled as she picked up both his and her bag, heading for the cave opening. “Use your time wisely, Mickey,” Sara said cheekily. “Now you can say your proper goodbye to your favourite dragon.”

Michele felt his face explode with warmth- and by the sound of it, Emil was also caught off guard by Sara’s sudden announcement. It sounded almost like two lovers were going their separated ways and were unable to see each other for a long time- which was both silly and slightly disturbing. Emil was a dragon- maybe human turned dragon, but he still was a dragon.

Checking if Sara was actually gone, Michele walked up to Emil, not even trying to be careful. It was sort of amazing how easily Michele had received Emil’s trust- on the other hand- it wasn’t like Michele ever had tried to do something out of line- at least as far as he was aware of.

“Hey, Emil,” it sounded so much better to use a name than throwing around ‘dragon’. “I promise I’ll be back some day,” he muttered, running his fingers gently along Emil’s snout. “And I’ll try to find out a solution, if necessary.”

Emil cocked his head, eyes set in confusion. Maybe he had been wrong after all. “I’ll see if I can break this curse- or at least figure out if you’re cursed or I’ve spend too much time between the scented candles and gibberish talking about potions.”

Caught up in his own stupidly, Michele didn’t notice Emil’s shocked expression. “I should find better friends,” Michele admitted, pressing his face against Emil’s snout. “Don’t ever befriend the crazy people- try to find normal friends, so you aren’t stuck with a wannabee-sorceress, a carpenter, a healer-in-training and a co-worker you want to kill nine of out of the ten times.”

It was somewhat easier to leave after that. Now he had promised that he would return. After all, it probably was perfectly safe to travel to Emil’s cave as long as you stuck close to the mountains and in Emil’s territory.

Michele wished Emil one last goodbye, grateful that there weren’t any tears spilled. There was no reason to- he would see Emil again- and it wasn’t like he was saying goodbye to a long-time lover. Sara made it sound like that, but Emil was just a stranger he met a two-and-a-half week ago, and surely, he could just pick up his life again and continue. Till some degree.