Chapter Two

Unlikely Friends

Kara felt the last smidgens of heat leave her body, awaking the still troubled girl. Sitting up and staring at the remains of her campfire, Kara wondered why she had been taken. The man who had raised her, who she had thought of a father, claimed that Kara was only a prize and a replacement to him.

"Who truly am I?" She asked, walking outside to a fresh smelling world. She had always liked it right after a rainstorm; the Earth had always felt cleaner somehow to her. Walking to the loch* near the cave, Kara stared at her reflection.

"Am I Kara MacMillan, a Scottish pheasant?" she asked herself, wiping away tears with her sleeve. "Or am I Aife Jorgenson, a lost Vikings stranded from her true people?"

Holding the scabbard that she had grabbed from the mud last night, Kara looked at the weathered leather, running her fingers delicately over the etchings. The marks were a combination of Celtic and something foreign, but the design was that of a winged beast with wings outstretched and something like flame coming from its mouth.

The image on the scabbard; a dragon breathing fire in a circle, convinced her. Looking over the foggy lake, she had stood before, she grabbed the bow Bernard had taught her how to carve and hurled it into the water as hard as she could. "I am a prisoner trying to get home." She realized.

Knowing not many people would name Kara Jorgenson around this part of Scotland, she figured to go by just Kara for a while, until reaching the seat of DunBroch. Looking at the West Mountains, she smiled grimly knowing that trying to get home would take a while without any money or food.

"Well first things first, let's get some fish." Kara told herself, grabbing the ball of twine from her pocket and short knife from her boot.

Because she had been doing both the chores and hunting since a young age, Kara had come to realize that wearing a proper full length dress was not so practical, she had made a skirt that was shorter and easier to move stealthy and quickly in. When she had went to town for the first time to trade things, the townspeople had been horrified to see her wear a leather skirt, but quickly got used to her strange habits.

She had slowly improved her hunting and in the process many different people came to her and bought her catches. It was the only way Bernard got any money and most of it was used to buy his mead. The barkeeper knew that Bernard used the only money his daughter made and felt sorry for the girl along with several others.

Kara caught several fish at the lake, too many to eat that night, but knowing that she would need some food for the journey ahead of her, Kara planned on smoking them. The trip back to the cave took less time than someone else would, because she knew every trail and shortcut in these woods.

Kara packed her things in a small bundle, knowing that she could hunt when she came to Glasco. It was a several day hike from the Loch where she had slept nearby last night. It had many dangers along the trail, but Aife knew it well and never had anything happen to her while she traveled.

As she traveled the woods, Aife came across more of the strange markings along with several knocked down and burned trees. Stopping, she looked closer at the wood, having never seen this happen before.

"Well I guess there's more than one of those things. Wonder what it is." She asked herself, peering closer to get another look. Following the tracks, Aife came to another large clearing with an equally as large burn mark in the middle. The tracks had once again disappeared like before, vanishing when the tracks reached the middle. Looking around herself, Aife looked every which way before settling on starting skyward.

"Well the only way it could have disappeared is if it went up and that's impossible…unless. Nah, that's just a myth, or is it?" She asked herself, starting to put together the facts. The burned trees, the weird claw marks, and the mysteriously disappearing tracks. "Dragons don't exist, silly."

~* PAGE BREAK *~

Walking onwards, she heard a furious roar come from in front of her. Repeating the words "Dragons don't exist" Aife walked forwards, coming face to face with a fire covered scaly beast.

"They exist!" She yelled to herself tumbling backwards in her haste to get away.

The dragon's wings were folded up and it perched on them, as a large quite toothy snout came closer as small almost beady looking eyes peered at her. Its scales were almost a purplish-orange color. And did I mention it was on Fire?!

"Oh no, I'm too young to die!" Aife shrieked, trying to scoot backwards while hyperventilating in a panic. The dragon tried to follow her, but it couldn't get past the old evergreen trees. It roared louder, when it found it couldn't budge. Aife stopped scooting backwards, trying to push her panic away and stood up, trying to figure out why the animal didn't follow her. Her mind told her to get out of the area and leave the animal, but her heart and conscious told her to help her.

"Alright, Fine!" She exclaimed, throwing up her arms. Looking closer, she found the dragon wasn't trapped by the trees, but by a large metal trap that had clamped onto its leg.

She had seen many of those traps hanging from the rafters in Bernard's barn. Aife had asked the man to get rid of the deadly and horrible looking traps, but he had only laughed in her face. "Alright, I need to calm you down first, fella, but how?"

Sitting down her wrapped bundle, she dug through her meager belongings. The beast roared louder, seeing the knife and sword she carried. Not wanting to make it any more difficult, Aife set down her weapons out of arm's reach. Spying the only food that she carried, Aife grabbed the smoked salmon and moving slowly gave the dragon some by tossing it one. She wasn't sure off what gender the animal was, but decided that it was a female.

Holding out her hand with some more of the smoked fish, Aife closed her eyes and turned her face the other way, praying that it wouldn't harm her.

Feeling light pressure of sharp teeth on her skin, Aife squeezed shut her eyes, fearing the worst, but the dragon had only taken the offered fish and sniffed her hand, nudging her for more of the delicious treat.

Opening her eyes, Aife stared incredible at the animal, wondering why it didn't bite her hand off along with that fish. Putting it from her mind, she eased around the on fire dragon to get to the trapped leg.

"He has hurt more than just Vikings, girl. But hold still while I spring this trap." Aife talked with the animal, trying to calm the creature while she worked quickly. Pushing her hand on the lever did nothing, so Aife tried different things, but it still wouldn't bug. While she stepped back and looked into its eyes, seeing something she couldn't name.

"Alright girl, I think I know what I can do, but you've got to trust me." Aife told her not knowing the great animal had already trusting her.

Grabbing her knife, the dragon started to growl, Aife softly and calmly soothed the dragon. Aife moved quickly, cutting a large branch to wedge between the metal and trapped appendage. Putting the wood tip into the trap, Aife wedged it open just enough for the dragon to get free.

Once the dragon was free and Aife had let the trap snap shut, breaking the wood, she turned expecting the released animal to be gone, but she hadn't left. Watching the girl, the dragon sniffed her harder, trying to understand what her scent was telling her.

"Hey, pretty girl." Aife talked like she was talking to one of the animals back on the farm. "You're free. If you want to stay around, you might as well get a name, huh?"

Thinking hard, Aife wanted something that truly represented the magnificent animal before her. "How about….SparkShower?"

The dragon cocked its head at her, Aife seeing it took that to be a yes. "Alright Spark, you're free now. Go about your way, go join your family, girl."

Watching as the now freed dragon fly into the horizon over the West Mountains, Aife hoped that she would be okay. She had looked at the marks on the dragon's leg from the trap, but her scales prevented the metal from going deeper.

Hearing rustling and loud cursing coming her way, Aife hurriedly left the area. She didn't want Bernard to drag her back to chores and sleeping with the animals again, she liked this new found freedom of hers. He would be angry when he found the trap empty, but that was slight compared to what he would do if he caught Aife in the area next to an empty trap.

Reaching Glasco was easier said than done, but Aife came across the outskirts of town just as the sun reached its zenith. She was tired from her almost six day march, but knew it was a small price to pay to keep her identity secret. She was tired, but knew that she needed a job to earn her keep and a roof over her head. Glasco was the town that her 'father' didn't visit, preferring to travel to the town near the coast rather, than the base of the West Mountains.

A/N: I have the next couple of chapters written so expect updates soon. Also as I will now tell you, I love reviews, but please don't leave just a word or two telling me to continue. I hate that, because I already plan on updating. Reviews are meant for the person to point out flaws and what they liked. Helping the author make her story better and more descriptive, not just telling you liked it. What parts of the story did you like? What parts did you not like? Was there anything that you thought could change and have it flow better? I post stories not just for your enjoyment, but to get feedback and make them better.