A Dragons Favor

Soon we found ourselves at the foot of devils peak, a huge mountain that had a hollow center holding the home of the dragons nest. Every dragon in the world came here to birth their eggs, only a select few humans knew about the mountain. To everyone else it just appeared to be a dangerous place that little could grow on. We would find no food or water on the mountain until we could reach its core. For the past few days Micah and I have been gathering what we needed to survive on our hike up devils peak, Ash wouldn't be able to maneuver himself up it so we were on our own from here on out. Luckily for us Micah had a relative that lived at the base of the mountain that would take care of Ash until we returned...if we returned, our fate was still uncertain.

"You ready?" I sighed.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

We started the climb up the terrain, Felix was growing at an alarming rate. When he hatched he was the size of a kitten but now only a few weeks later he came in at the size of a large dog, I could no longer carry him. The silver lining In this was he could help carry things we needed, despite his constant complaints. I stumbled up the boulders that covered the path tripping as I was distracted by Felix's latest whining.

"You ok?!" Micah was instantly by my side.

"Yea." I shot Felix an angry glare but as usual he huffed and looked away.

The gray mountain side seemed gloomy without the usual foliage mountains claimed, the only thing on this range was gray boulders, the occasional shrub with poisonous berries and the skeletons of those too ignorant to know about the poison berries. My foot crunched down on an ancient femur sending chills down my spine.

"Micah... it'll be dark fairly soon we need to find shelter for the night" I said my chest heaving from exerting so much energy climbing the boulders.

"You're right..." He panted taking a rest.

"Stay here I'll scout ahead for something."

Sitting down on a boulder I pull out my sheepskin pouch and take a long drink of water, then offer some to felix. Instead of accepting the water as I expected he lashed out clutching the bag in his teeth causing it to rip in several places.

"Felix!!!!"

Ashamed he looked down sheepishly at the rocks under his claws.

"What is wrong with you lately?" compassion returning to my voice.

'You're the one trying to get rid of me!' He mindlinked with me, the first time in nearly 2 weeks.

"Oh Felix...it's not that i want to."

'Sure you don't '

"Honey" I placed my hands on his jawline forcing him to meet my gaze,

"You're such an important dragon. You have a much bigger role to play in life than just being by my side. "

'I don't want it. '

"I know but it won't be so bad you'll see. " I told him gently placing a kiss on his scaly snout.

Micah returned just as we finished our conversation.

"I found something that'll work for the evening."

He led us to a extended ledge overlooking the valley that leads to the kingdom I left behind. It was a beautiful sight I gasped at the wonderful view.