Do I have to put a disclaimer on every chapter? Earthsea's not mine, okay?

So, here we have Ged meeting his first dragon besides Yevaud – but this one's a chick!

The Dragon's Run

Ged carefully guided his craft towards the first island where the dragon waited, edging around the jagged reefs and shoals. Finally, he brought the Lookfar to a stop not thirty feet from the dragon's perch, keeping a precious stretch of foaming water between them.

"You are bold, youngster," she hissed, red forked tongue flickering lazily like a whip of flame. She spoke the Old Speech, her brassy voice filling his ears with a terrible ringing. "Long have men avoided sailing this far West. Why come you to these waters?"

"I wish to sail the Dragon's Run," the young man replied evenly, careful to avoid her gaze.

The she-dragon raised her tapered head, letting a great "Hah!" escape her mouth in a swirl of smoke and crackling orange flame.

She was really very beautiful, Ged observed. Here in the island's shadow her scales were inky black, showing no trace of the glints of copper brought out in sunlight. Her body arched exquisitely, a dangerous row of dagger-blades bristling along her spine. She swung her tail, the iron spikes scoring great gashes in the ruby waves below. Something about her bat-like wings and slim black body stirred Ged's memory.

"You are a mage, youngster," she whispered. "Do you dream of becoming a Dragonlord?" Scorn was evident in every line of her smooth-scaled body.

Ged chose not to answer the question. His heart was fluttering nervously in his breast, for he knew that he had to tread carefully when speaking with a dragon. They could lie in the Old Speech; he could not.

"If you deem me unworthy of your conversation, why do you speak to me?" he asked, countering her question with another question. Dragons enjoyed riddles, and Ged wanted to keep this one happy.

The she-dragon's lips writhed back into a smirk. "It is very common," she purred, "for cats to play with mice before they eat them." Her thin wings unfurled, rattling menacingly.

At these familiar words Ged's ears pricked. The dragon, for all of her keen sight, did not see the slight smile that flashed for a moment over his grim face.

The dragon grinned even wider, sinister in her beauty. She opened her vast jaws lined with rows of hooked teeth. The man stared down her cavernous throat, face scorched by her breath and the promise of withering fire.

Ged threw all caution to the winds. "I have seen your brood at Pendor!" he shouted to be heard above the ominous rattling of her wings. The she-dragon paused. For a moment, all that could be heard were the foaming waves against rock and beach.

"Why think you that I have a brood at Pendor?" she asked smoothly, folding her wings and settling on the stone arch. "I have no knowledge of any dragon at Pendor besides the Old one."

The wizard smiled openly, the scars on his face showing stark against his coppery skin. "It is true that you have not witnessed the hatching of your eight sons," he stated in a clear voice, "nor the death of six of them at my hands."

The she-dragon stared at him and recognized his staff for the bond of truth that it was. She leapt into the air, and the sudden draft from her flaring wings knocked Ged right off his feet.

"Six sons dead!" she screamed, and Ged, sprawled in the bottom of the boat, had to clap his hands over his ears. He watched, awestruck, as the dragon writhed above the island with unquenchable fury. Flames spurted from her mouth and yellow smoke streamed from flared nostrils. The other dragons ceased their dancing to watch as she spun wildly higher and higher, neck stretched to its fullest extent. Finally, she plunged heavily into the bowels of the island to crawl to the back of a cave and mourn the death of her young.

Night had fallen. Ged stood and carefully rowed his boat into the center of the wide channel known as the Dragon's Run. Bespelling the Lookfar to keep from drifting, the young wizard bedded down at the bottom of the boat.

So, will the she-dragon bite off Ged's head in maternal revenge? You already know the answer, but read on to see how it unfolds…