"Don't do this!" Kara had pleaded frantically, tugging at the ropes which bound her tightly to the cart. "Don't do this to me!"
She remembered that a cry of "He's coming!" had snapped her attention to the monster that was preparing to swoop down on her. The villagers scattered and she let loose a terrified scream as the enormous dragon plunged towards her, claws extended and teeth bared. She couldn't say precisely what happened next, but it would be logical to assume that she had lost consciousness, as the next moment she found herself staring up at the sky with no idea where she was or how she had come to be there.
Kara squinted in the bright light. The first thing she was aware of was the thunderous roar of a waterfall near by. As the world came back into focus she found that she was lying on a large rock in a valley next to a river. She sat up and slowly examined her surroundings: In front of her was a wide wall of water, at least twenty-five feet high, crashing into a shallow river that flowed past her. The valley was rocky and at the top, she could see pine trees on either side of her. She looked down and started. The rock that she was perched on was perhaps twelve feet from the ground at the top of a large pile of similar boulders, leaning against a steep rock face.
She shifted around the edge of the rock, looking for a way down; but could find none that didn't involve a sheer drop twice her height onto the rocky ground. Suddenly a movement caught her eye and she looked up. Sitting on the rocks a few yards behind her was a huge copper dragon. Her memory returned and she recalled the events at the village. Paralysed by fear, Kara could only stare at the creature in horror. It wasn't looking at her, so perhaps it was unaware of her presence. Frantically, she backed away and almost fell off the edge of the rock. She regained her balance but knocked a few loose stones, which fell to the ground and clattered conspicuously on the rocks.
The dragon looked up. It looked directly at her. Kara gasped and backed against the rock face. She looked for a way up, but there were no reachable handholds. Slowly, the monster got up and moved towards her. Kara screamed.
***
Draco stopped and arched one eye ridge. "It's all right." He said slowly, keeping his distance from the girl. "You must be quite confused."
Kara wasn't confused, she was hysterical. The dragon was barely ten feet from her; it could reach out and grab her if it wanted. She thought momentarily of her dagger, but dismissed this as folly – the blade would be less than useless against the beast's tough scales. She pushed herself harder against the rock face. This, she realised, was undoubtedly why she was on the ledge. – She must have been placed here to prevent her escape. There was no way she could jump down without breaking something. She watched the dragon helplessly.
Draco stepped back and smiled at her in what he hoped was a reassuring way. "I know how this must seem, but you needn't worry. You're safe with me." He sat back and held up his front paws in a friendly gesture.
Kara was confused now. The dragon had backed away, and the way he was sitting made him look a little less threatening. What was going on? Dragons shouldn't behave like this. He was smiling at her now. She couldn't see any reason for the dragon to trick her; she couldn't get away whether she wanted to or not. She relaxed a fraction of an inch.
Encouraged, Draco stepped forward, holding out one paw and said, "Let me help you down." But at the sight of his claws coming for her again, she backed further against the rocks. Draco frowned. He looked at her earnestly and said, "I'm not going to hurt you. Now let me get you down off that rock." He waited patiently for a response.
What the hell…? Kara didn't know what to think. He had spoken kindly to her, which went against everything she had ever heard about dragons. But the fact remained that he had snatched her out of her village, which wasn't a very nice thing to do. She looked from the calm, friendly face to the outstretched paw, to the ground far below her. And decided.
Draco smiled encouragingly as she took a step closer and hesitantly stepped onto his claws. He then carefully lifted her down to the rocks below and set her down on a small boulder, where she could easily jump down.
"My name's Draco." He said, reaching back. "What's yours?"
Kara watched him cautiously as he sat back on his haunches a few feet away. She was unsure what to make of her situation. She was no longer trapped and could apparently leave at any time; where this would get her, she didn't know - she had no clue as to where they were. "Kara." She stammered, sitting down tentatively.
"I'm truly sorry about that, Kara." Draco said, motioning at the rock above her with his head. "I hope you weren't too alarmed. You see…" He frowned thoughtfully. "I had to be sure that you wouldn't return to your village. At least, not just at the moment."
She looked at him, still dazed by the revelation of his attitude towards her. "I…I don't understand."
Draco sighed. "Well, this may come as a surprise to you…" He broke off, seeing that she was trembling. "Are you all right? You're shaking."
"I'm fine." She said quickly. "I just….this whole thing is…well……" she trailed off and looked away.
"Try and relax – you'll soon feel better." With that, Draco lay down on the rocks. He hesitated for a moment, then began singing softly, gradually building up to a crescendo that echoed through the whole valley.
Kara's eyes widened. She listened; astounded at the exquisite song that vibrated the very rock she was sitting on when he hit certain notes. The ice had melted, and her fear ebbed away. Closing her eyes, she lay back and took the dragon's advice.
***
When Draco had finished, he noticed that she looked far less wary than before.
Kara smiled broadly. "You have a beautiful voice."
"Oh, thank you." He replied with a grin, "We dragons love to sing when we're happy."
She sat up and looked at him quizzically. "But you're not like a dragon at all…"
He looked at her deeply for a moment, then leant towards her and propped himself up against the rock she was sitting on, pleased to note that she didn't move backwards or jerk away. "Well, how many dragons do you know?"
This made her stop and think. "Well you're the first…" she said, seeing his point.
Draco backed up again and smiled down at her. "You should never listen to minstrels' fancies. A dragon would never hurt a soul unless they tried to hurt him first."
A thought nagged at Kara's mind. "Really?" She said, guardedly. "Then why were you in my village?"
"Oh! – the village!" Draco made a fist and tapped it against the rock thoughtfully, before looking back at her with a slow smile. "I'm afraid it isn't quite what you may have thought…"
She feigned a disbelieving expression and said, "Well I thought I was going to be eaten, so you won't surprise me now."
Draco chuckled. "Alright then – I was attempting to persuade your fellow villagers to pay a dragonslayer to kill me, if you follow."
She didn't. How did Draco know of the knight that had arrived at her village? "But why would you want him to kill you? And how did you know that he…" A look of shocked disbelief crossed her face. "You're working together?! Is that it?" When he nodded, she looked at him incredulously. "I don't believe it! That broken-down, blackmailing scum!" She shook her head in astonishment.
This wasn't the reaction Draco had been hoping for. "And now you see why Bowen and I can't have you going back there just yet. It would be...rather inconvenient if you reappeared right after I had eaten you." He winked at her and the angry look of disbelief broke into a nervous laugh.
"How did you come to be…..well……partners? I've never heard of anything like that before."
He rolled over onto his side, leaning back against the rock face and frowned. "Well, he was trying to kill me at first, as many have tried before, but luckily I was able to convince him that we could work together to mutual advantage." He broke off into a smile. "Actually he was very reasonable about it."
Kara shook her head again. "I'm sorry - this whole thing is just…hard to take in. A dragon working with a knight. It's like a contradiction!"
Draco smiled, a little sadly it seemed. "I understand. You humans have hated and feared us for so long that I'm sure it would never occur to any of you that a knight and a dragon would be anything but bitter enemies." He paused for a moment and looked at her, trouble filling his large copper eyes. "The once ways are all but forgotten. Bowen is one of the last who remembers the Old Code, which was for centuries the driving commandment in all men of honour."
"And you say he would have been happy to kill you if he'd been able to." Kara added, momentarily sharing the dragon's sadness.
At that, Draco looked down and sighed. "He had reasons for what he did." Seeing her puzzled expression, he proceeded to recount the story of his half heart. Kara listened in fascination. "…and so" he finished, "Bowen resolved to kill me for what he believes I did to Einnon."
Kara looked at him with obvious sympathy. "That's terrible." She frowned and tried to lift the depression that had fallen over them. "If he hated you so much, how come you could persuade him to work with you?"
Draco looked up. "Well…" He scratched his chin, "Towards the end of our little fracas, he was at…rather a disadvantage. Fortunately I was able to make him realise that fighting each other would get us nowhere, whereas my idea could prove to be most lucrative for him, and less fatal for me." He trailed off with a grin at the memory.
Suddenly the dragon's head snapped round to the right, making Kara jump. She followed his gaze, and soon heard a galloping of hooves in the distance. She jumped to her feet and reached for her dagger, looking warily towards the sound.
Draco settled back down. "Well here's the man in question." He said calmly as Bowen rounded the corner to the waterfall and dismounted. "Bowen – meet Kara."
Kara watched sordidly as the knight briefly looked her over, then confronted the dragon.
"Where have you been?" He asked Draco irritably, crouching down at the river's edge to wash his face.
Draco smiled apologetically. "I'm truly sorry, Bowen. I've been….distracted."