“It’s this way,” announced the boy to his sister, making his way among the bushes between the trees.

“Are you sure of it, Eldwan?” She asked, following him with uncertain steps.

“Yes, Sehert. See how the land is getting higher? It means we’re coming close to where the cave is.”

“Eldwan, do you think it’s a good idea? I’m scared it will eat us…”

“It can’t, remember? It signed a pact with all those who live in our village. If it hurts one of us, it will die.” He stopped one moment and lay a reassuring hand on the girl. “It’ll be alright. Don’t you want so see it?”

“Yes…” she whispered.

“Then let’s continue. We have to get back before sunset, or Mom and Dad will realize we’ve been out.”

The two kids kept walking through the woods in silence, too absorbed into the anticipation of what they were going to meet.

Finally, the trees began becoming more rare. The flat terrain was on its way to turn into hills and mountains. Eldwan and Sehert kept walking; their very young age prevented them from being discouraged, but also, fear was finally starting to hit Eldwan too. Could those of its kind break magical pats without perishing someway…? Everyone know they were formidable, much more formidable than a whole human army…

This time, it was Sehert who gave him courage.

“You said it would be fine. I believed you! Don’t be afraid now, please!”

Eldwan sighed. “You’re right.” And he resumed walking.

The trees disappeared. On the distance stood the profile of a large cave entrance. The siblings’ excitement and terror grew with each step. How big was it? Would it smell like sulphur? Would it come out at all?

And there appeared the cave. The lair where the creature that so much human blood had poured from the kids’ ancestors lived. The creature that at least had been defeated and sealed by a powerful wizard, come in their aid…

For a while, nothing appeared. Sehert even let a yawn of boredom escape her mouth.

“Let’s go, Eldwan,” she begged.

“Ergh,” he said, hesitating, “maybe just one more minute…”

“It’s not here! We’ve got to get back before-”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Echoing, rumbling noises of steps emerged from the cave, making the kids hug each other in fear. Too frozen to move any muscle, they stood there, waiting for the its come.

Then from the mouth of the cave appeared a gigantic figure. It was pitch black, with a lizard-like body and two large bat-like wings, its eyes were glowing yellow and it was taller than twice the kids’ hut. It only took a sight of its talons to see the creature could cut them in half with just a paw.

It was a dragon. It smelled the air briefly, before turning its huge reptile head to the siblings’ direction, who shivered uncontrollably.

“What brings you two here?” He pronounced, with a low, thunderous voice.

“We...we...we…” Eldwan began. “We…just wanted to meet you…”

“For what purpose would two human cubs come to my lair?” The dragon said, moving his tail left and right. “I suppose your parents have told you about me. Don’t you realize you may die?”

“You can’t kill us!” Eldwan replied, shocked by his own audacity. “We know it! You were sealed with a magic pact!”

“Ah, therefore you know of my unlucky fate,” the dragon commented, making two small smoke clouds escape its nostrils. “Yes, I am prevented from preying on humans until the end of time. I must say, I am surprised you got told about it. I expected your parents not to tell you that so you would never think to come here on your own, away from them, to meet a creature that would gladly have them inside his stomach.”

“Please don’t!” Sehert cried.

“As your brother said, I can’t,” the dragon replied, serene. “That doesn’t mean I don’t wish so. Believe me, you have no idea how much your smell is making me salivate…” in fact, the kids could see some drool drops escaping its mouth. The monster raised its head and swallowed its own saliva. “However, I am wise enough to not fall into that temptation anymore. Still, I don’t recommend you to come here another time. I would risk surrender to my hunger.”

But the siblings. had taken courage and were ready to flood the dragon with the questions curious kids make to their parents.

“What’s your name?” Sehert said.

“Arghart, Lord of the Western Mountains, Bane of the Kings, Tempest of Destruction, Defeater of the-”

“We get it,” Sehert interrupted him. “Your name is Arghart.”

The dragon, offended, snapped its jaws very close to them, giving them a good scream.

“You little insolent human cubs! You’re so lucky I am forbidden to do any kind of harm to you.”

“I...I am sorry, mister Arghart,” the girl blabbed in tears.

The dragon, unexpectedly, hummed.

“That is much better.”

Hearing a dragon humming out of content had a weird, yet satisfying feeling. The kids were now confident enough they would go back home safely, despite the dragon’s ammonitions.

“What do dragons do during the day?” She asked.

“Sleep, hunt. Most of the time we stay in our lair, alone with our thoughts.”

“You never meet other dragons?” Eldwan said.

“Oh, not if I can avoid it! I don’t need to conquer other territories, and I wouldn’t wish any other dragon to fight me. This cave is the best in the whole mountain range!”

“You don’t have any friends?”

Arghart snorted.

“Dragons don’t have friends. We are not like you humans, who can’t survive alone. We are content with ourselves.”

“That sounds sad…”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Eldwan,” Sehert pulled her brother’s clothes, “the sun is going down…”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Fine then,” Eldwan commented. Then he turned to the dragon. “We’ll leave for now.”

“As you wish,” he said, indifferent.

The two kids ran away, still full of adrenaline from their encounter with the monster.

*  *  *

Eldwan and Sehert kept remembering with each other about their encounter with the fearful dragon for many days. From what their parents knew, they had just walked together around the village, and despite being close to the woods, they never got into it. But once they would manage to be alone, they would tell each other about the terror and excitement when seeing the monster, the thrill of conversating with it-

“It’s a him! His name is Arghart!” Sehert said.

“Fine, fine,” Eldwan nodded, slightly annoyed. “Anyway, it was amazing, right? How many people can say they chatted with a dragon?”

“I don’t know,” the girl said.

“None! We are the only ones in this village! Yet they could have done it all the time, since he’s binded not to kill anyone…”

“That poor dragon must be so alone,” she reflected, “always by himself in his cave…”

“You heard him, Sehert. Dragons don’t have friends. I’m sure he does amazingly.”

“Maybe he just needs to find the right friends!”

“What do you mean?”

“We should go meet him again!”

“What? No!”

“Why not?”

“We can’t cross the woods again, it’s dangerous! We may find a bear, or worse, get caught by Mom and Dad someway and-”

But in the end, he had to admit how he couldn’t wait to meet the dragon again too, and the afternoon after they were on their way back to the cave. This time, it was less the fear and more the excitement.

The dragon was still there, his head lying over his forepaws, his enormous eyes giving a small hint of recognition to the two kids.

“You’re back,” Arghart pronounced.

“Yes,” the siblings said in unison.

“And tell me, human cubs, what brings you here this time?”

“Just chat with you,” Sehert answered. “We thought we could be friends-”

“I told you already. Dragons do not have friends.”

Eldwan whispered to his sister. “What did I say?” He then turned to the dragon. “We’ll leave immediately, then-”

“Oh, you can stay, if that pleases you. I’m completely indifferent to other species’ presence, unless I’m hungry.”

Sehert whispered back to his brother the same line he had told her. She then turned to the dragon. “Are you hungry?”

“No, and as you know, I can’t touch you regardless. Do you wish to talk? What do you want to know about me?”

The two siblings spoke quietly with each other for a short moments, before saying: “When were you born?”

“Hmmm. A long time ago.”

“We mean, how many years? We are 8 years old,” said Eldwan.

“We don’t count that kind of things,” Arghart answered, “all a dragon needs to know is when they are a hatchling and when they’re old enough to mate.”

“Fine, then,” the boy replied, “do you remember where you were born, at least? Did you have siblings?”

“That I do. I hatched in the mountains behind this cave, three days of flight away from here. I had three brothers and two sisters, but I’m the only one who was strong enough to survive hatchlinghood.”

“Oh,” Sehert exclaimed, “I am so sorry?”

“For what? My siblings were unworthy of keep living, if they died before being able to mate. I’m glad I was the strongest, so I could keep living.”

The siblings watched each other, perplexed.

“Anything else?” The dragon asked.

“We’re...not sure,” Eldwan murmured.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Where were you born, instead? Do you have other siblings?”

“We...were born in the village,” the boy answered, “we’ve always lived there...no we don’t have other siblings, it’s just us two.”

“Your parents must have some very good bodies if they manage to have two cubs who both survived,” the dragon commented.

“Ergh...yes.”

“Why did you eat those of our village?” The girl asked.

The dragon raised his head. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Uh...because you’re a cruel, evil monster?”

“Oof!” Arghart snorted. “You humans and your stupid ideas about good and evil. Those ridiculous small lairs you group in must have done something strange with your minds. I ate them because I was hungry.”

“Oh,” she said, “but didn’t you say you were Bane of the Kings, Tempest of something…?”

“I used the name I heard you humans use for me. Thought it was the most appropriate.”

“Why did they call you Bane of the Kings?”

“Truth be told, I don’t even know what kings are.”

“They’re...adults who have a golden circle in their head and wear elegant robes and can do what they want and everyone serves them-”

“A golden circle?” The dragon interrupted her. “That explains why I got attacked so many times after I hunted that human with a golden circle on its head.”

“So you didn’t know it was the king?” Eldwan exclaimed.

“I have found out what a king is only now. Does it make such a difference if I eat a certain human or another?” He then added, looking at the kids’ frowned eyes: “Supposing I was still allowed to eat humans, of course.”

“Yes,” the siblings said.

“Why so?”

“Because, well, some humans are more important than others,” Eldwan informed him.

“Bah. If I have to eat, I don’t see how it matters whether my prey has something gold on their top or not. Food is food.”

“But you must have had other animals you could eat around, right? I mean, you’re a dragon, right? No other creature can match you...”

“It’s not so simple. See, human cub, the trouble is I’m not the only dragon around.”

The kids touched their mouths in sign of confusion. “And so?”

“And so, we have territories, places where we can hunt and where we can’t. It’s not easy to get a territory with plenty of food, you know? Many of us die trying to conquer one of those. Back then, my territory happened to be full of humans and I had nothing else to eat. When you forced me to make that pact with you, I had to fight another dragon who was stronger than me in order to have somewhere where to hunt, and believe me, I’m alive only because it was a very lucky fight!”

He said the last words with a tone of deep frustration, like for indicating it was unjust he was forbidden to eat humans. Out of instinct, Eldwan caressed Sehert’s back, for reassuring they were not in any danger, only to stop after realizing the sun had already begun diving into the horizon.

“Well, thank you again,” he said. “We have to go now.”

“Can we come back?” Sehert asked.

“I don’t have any reason to tell you not.”

Sehert smiled to him. She still was sure the dragon just needed some good friends.

*  *  *

Despite Arghart saying those unsettling lines about how there was nothing wrong with eating humans, Eldwan and Sehert went meeting him many other times. The dragon got used to their frequent appearance, so much that once, when they returned after not being able to come for a handful of days, he exclaimed: “I was beginning to think you forgot me, cubs.”

They learned a lot of things about what it’s like to be a dragon, and in turn Arghart learned a lot about what it’s like to be a human. With time, he even began stopping thinking of them as food – or forbidden food – and more as regular acquaintances, in the limits of the acquaintances a dragon could have. In fact, for him the two human cubs had quite opened a world to him. Humans were utterly complicated, and in virtue of that, the information Eldwan and Sehert provided to him kept his mind pleasantly challenged.

The siblings, in turn, understood that being a dragon wasn’t so majestic as they would have thought before. With some effort, they also had to recognize they had no conception of good and evil, because they weren’t left much of a choice. A dragon life was difficult. They were so strong they had no need for companionship, yet their strength made dragons turned against their own kind constantly.

For the kids, it was immensely challenging to hide their friendship (if it could be defined so) to the other villagers, especially their parents. The other kids in the village noticed they had started the siblings were nowhere to be seen. When their parents were away, they would leave their offspring together with some of their peers; but the siblings started giving excuse to sneak out into the woods, not eager to share their secret yet. But this, before or after, had to emerge, and it happened around three weeks after their first encounter with the dragon.

Eldwan and Sehert had just come back home after talking again with Arghart that afternoon, and what they found once inside their small, wooden inhabitation was their mom and dad, standing, looking at them with fierce eyes.

“Where have you been?” Mom thundered.

The two siblings looked at each other in anxiety. How could they mask their secret?

“We’ve...been...in the village…”

“We’ve just met some of your friends,” Dad said, severe. “They said you told them you had gone meet grandma, who in turn told us she hasn’t seen you today. What is that you really do when we leave you with them?”

Eldwan’s front became lucid with sweat. Sehert’s body visibly trembled like a leaf moved by the wind.

“You’ve been in the woods, haven’t you?”

“N-no…”

But the truth could be read from their faces.

“What have we told you about getting into the woods? It’s dangerous! You may get into some bear, or wolves, or worse,” and here Dad’s face turned into a mask of horror and authority, “the dragon! You know there is a man-eating dragon out there, don’t you?”

The siblings’ eyes opened wide with terror. It was a luck their parents believed it was due to remembering there was a terrible, vicious dragon living in the wild around the village, and not for the fear of getting caught hanging around with said dragon.

“We’ve been so worried,” Mom continued, “you’re not going to leave this house for a long time starting from today, unless you are with us. And now go to bed right away!”

Without saying a word, the kids obeyed. Upset from being caught walking outside the village, but also relieved their parents knew nothing about dragon, they waited until they were the only two people awake in the house to whisper to each other.

“What shall we do?” Sehert cried in a low voice.

“We have no choice,” Eldwan commented. “Once we’re no more grounded, we’ll have to stay in the village. Arghart will do fine without us. Dragons don’t need friends, remember?”

While the latter was true, they quickly discovered the opposite wasn’t. After being forced home for many weeks, even once they were free again to play in the village with their pals, both kept perceiving a feeling of dissatisfaction. In reality, staying in the village could not be compared to go talk with a real live dragon. But it was not just the amazing experience of staying with a dragon. Arghart was their friend. He had worried they wouldn’t come back when they had stayed away longer than usual; he was pleased at answering their questions about dragons, and making questions about humans, who once he believed to be just food. Even though they could not imagine old Arghart weeping, they were sure he wished he had them to spend his days; especially Sehert was sure of it.

Eventually, when the nostalgia became unbearable, they took a decision.

“I wanna go meet him!” Sehert that day cried to her brother, while returning home after playing.

“We can’t, you know,” he replied, depressed. “Mom and dad always ask our friends if we’ve been with them.”

Sehert’s first tears came out of her eyes. Eldwan opened his arms and let his sister go over his chest, patting her back. They stayed like that for a long time until Sehert’s weeps calmed down; in that moment, she made the proposal.

“Let’s go by night.”

Eldwan, in normal conditions, would have said it’s a folly, which was true. If going into the woods by day could be bad, he didn’t dare imagine what it was like during the night. However, he couldn’t stand seeing his sister so sad.

“Sure.”

*  *  *

Eldwan soon regretted not to have listened to his rational side.

Even if they had brought a torch with them and lighten them up, soon they realized it was not enough. It was fairly easy by day to just walk towards the mountains’ direction, but now they couldn’t look beyond the second nearest tree in front of them: it was as if they had entered an abyss of darkness. To their ears were not coming gentle birdsongs but the cooing of owls and the howls of the wolves.

“Eldwan…” Sehert cried, “I’m so afraid…”

He couldn’t even think of something to comfort her.

“I’m so afraid too…”

“What shall we do?”

“I...don’t know.” He was starting to lose his control. The torch in his hand was shaking increasingly.

“Let’s call Arghart!” she shouted.

“I...don’t think...he can listen...from here.”

“Please!” Sehert was out of herself – more visibly than Eldwan. “ARGHART! ARGHART!” Her shout echoed through the dark.

Eldwan became furious.

“What have you done?” He barked. “You may have just captured some bad animal’s attent-”

A growl came behind his ears in that precise moment.

Sweating coldly, the siblings turned back.

Wolves.

A full pack of wolves, as high as they were, showing their long canines in all their deadliness.

The kids screamed. As their terror exited their mouths, their legs took action without passing through their brains, and one moment later they fled. Immediately, all the wolves chased them. While Sehert kept screaming “ARGHART! ARGHART!”, Eldwan just concentrated on running as fast as he could, forgetting he had a torch in his hand. He wished they had never gone meeting the dragon at all: they would not have been punished, they would not be risking their life like that in that moment…

Suddenly, the growls of the wolves disappeared.

None of them dared turn back though.

Only when a smell of smoke came to their nostrils, the kids realized what was happening.

One of the trees had caught fire. It was rapidly propagating towards the grass, and the wolves had disappeared back into the darkness, which was rapidly giving way to the overwhelming red light of flames.

The kids resumed their desperate run, now against a different menace, but this had the better a little after: soon, they were surrounded by a ring of fire. The vision of the trees was replaced by columns of smoke, which hit their nostrils and took away their breath. Eldwan and Sehert hugged each other, praying for a miracle…

And the miracle happened.

Above them, an enormous talon appeared, tearing apart the wall of smoke and closing on the kids. Their bodies left the terrain and flew above the forest in flames. Before they fainted, a voice spoke to them, a deep, growling voice.

“Good thing you shouted my name, otherwise your parents would think I carbonized you with my breath.”

*  *  *

When they awakaned, it was dawn. They were lying in a green grass; in front of the was the village, and next was the dragon.

“What were you doing in the forest in the middle of the night?”

“We…” Eldwan gasped. “You saved us…”

“Answer me, cub.”

“We wanted to meet you,” Sehert said, with a very feeble voice.

“At night? With all the animals that are around when it’s dark? You didn’t you come at day, like the first times?”

“We were forbidden to!” She cried.

“Why so?”

The effort to explain was saved to them by a shout coming from a distance.

“ELDWAN! SEHERT!”

“Oh no,” both siblings whispered at the same time, hearing their parents’ lament. Then the girl added rapidly, talking to the dragon: “Fly out, Arghart!”

“I’m not going to!” The dragon replied. “If they see me flying, they’ll think I did something to you.”

“But we’ll end up in trouble!”

“You searched for it, cubs!” Arghart growled. “Now stand up before they think I harmed you!”

With effort, the kids obeyed. They hadn’t forgotten about the pact the dragon had made with humans, and they didn’t want the other villagers to think their friend had broken it. But nothing could prepare them for what was coming for them: not just their parents, but all the adults of the village coming for them.

“The dragon!”

“Don’t get close, it’ll eat you!”

“THOSE ARE OUR CHILDREN, IT’S OUR RIGHT TO COME CLOSE!”

In few moments, their parents were in front of them.

“Eldwan! Sehert! You’re alive!” Their mother cried, hugging Sehert while their father did the same with Eldwan. “What has the dragon done to you?”

“It wasn’t me!” Arghart roared, while making his best to keep his own saliva inside his mouth: he hadn’t smelt so many humans at once for ages. “Your cubs tried to go visit my cave at night!”

Their parents’ faces, and all the other villagers’, became those of someone who has just been told the sky is green.

“Let’s go out,” their mother said, “let’s go before he attacks-”

“I did not attack them! Have you forgotten you made me do a magical pact with you? If I attack a human, I’ll die instantly!”

“What…”

“The dragon is right!” One of the eldest adults proclaimed. “My own grandfather was there when it happened. He told me about the dragon a lot of times when I was a child!”

The kids’ parents looked at the dragon, then at their offspring in their arms.

“Then...then...then what’s the truth?” Their father exclaimed.

“I told you before,” Arghart explained, impatiently. “They went out to go meet me and provoked a forest fire with their torch! Here it is!”

He opened up a talon and from there came a stick that was completely burnt from one side.

“Eldwan,” Dad said, his voice ready for war, “is that the truth?”

The kid was too tired to think of any credible excuse. He just let a ‘yes’ come from his tiny mouth.

“And why,” Dad thundered, “why made you escape at night, in the middle of the forest, to go see a man-eater dragon? How could you be so stupid? What kind of ideas do you have in your head, eh?”

“We’ve already met him before,” Sehert intervened.

“What?” All the villagers exclaimed as one man.

“Yes they did,” the dragon confirmed.

“He’s no more bad!” Sehert cried. “He’s our friend!”

“Friend?”

The word bounced from mouth to mouth of all the villagers and their parents.

“What...do...you...mean?” Their mother mnaged to pronounce, with great effort.

“Let us explain,” Eldwan said.

The two kids and Arghart proceeded to tell their story from the very beginning. Everyone forgot they had in front a dragon that had repeatedly devstated their hometown in the past and just remained in silence, while listening. The kids’ walk in the woods, their first encounter with Eldwan, what they chatted about. It was somthing nobody had ever heard before, something nobody had ever done before.

“Wow,” one of the vllagers said, once Eldwan said the last words, which were about their misadventure of the last night.

Their two parents whispered among themselves for a while. Eldwan and Sehert looked at them with apprehension, until finally their father looked at them again and pronounced:

“Well, first of all, you can be sure we won’t let you go outside for a very long time. I hope you didn’t think you could escape from your responsiblities. Second...congratulations.”

Finally, he looked at the dragon. “And you, thank you for saving our children.”

“Good, I see you understood I didn’t harm there. I’m flying back to my lair now.”

*  *  *

In the time after, Arghart had to suffer an incredble amount of human visitors, eager to meet a dragon with their own eyes. That little incident made him a big attraction, and for him, a creature born to be solitary, it was unbearable. One day, he left his lair and after a tremendous fight, conquered another dragon’s territory. Nobody got to know where he relocated.

Apart from two people, wo kept meeting him. Just before leaving, he had told them where they could find him. He felt like they would try to search for him regardless, so it was better to let them come until the end of their lives, which for a dragon was a short period anyway.

So now,he wasn’t surprised to see, in front of him, a man and a woman, both in their adult age, coming at him with big smiles on their faces.

“Hello there, cubs,” he greeted them.