His arms were already aching with pain as he pulled handful after handful of dirt. It took some time, but Kaden had a decently sized hole. He put his entire arm through and tried to beckon the dragon to get closer. Its head turned in interest at him, watching his arm wave about. It didn’t move from the far corner it had pushed itself into. Trusting him wasn’t coming easily to the creature. Why would it be when it was a human who would have laid the trap in the first place?

He sighed and took the risk of diving into the hole himself. Wiggling and worming his way through the dirt, he climbed into the magical cage with the extremely dangerous wild dragon. Kaden’s head poked out of the hole and the dragon’s eyes popped open, causing it to let out a surprised growl.

He would not tempt fate too long, so he wiggled his way back under the barrier. The dirt above him was collapsing from him pushing through, panicking as he wiggled out of the hole. He wasn’t about to get cut in half by a magical barrier. Frantically, he pulled himself through the tunnel, getting back to the side of freedom.

Kaden laid there, exhausted at the task. He couldn’t let it collapse on the dragon, either. Scanning the area, he spotted a small felled tree. He could only assume it was from the dragon’s entrance into the area. Brushing off the dirt, he stretched out his muscles as he went to grab the tree.

As he made his way toward the tree, he heard a low, guttural growl. Stopping in his tracks, his eyes swept over the darkness, looking for something to appear. With the rune’s magical light illuminating the night behind him, he saw them. The glint of light off several pairs of eyes. They were being watched. Throwing his hands up high and making loud, obnoxious noises, he charged at the eyes. Kaden heard them scatter and run away.

Why would there be predators waiting for the dragon? Dragons didn’t have to worry about predators, they normally left the dragons alone. Everything about the situation was unnatural. Everything was behaving unnaturally. Kaden didn’t care for it.

Wrapping his hands around the felled tree, he drug it back to the hole and started pushing it in to brace the top. Worrying about creatures waiting for them out there was only going to waste his time. Examining the runes and his hole, he just needed to make sure there was some type of topsoil to cover the tunnel. If the branch could hold up dirt, or even be the barrier itself, then the magic shouldn’t, in his mind, be able to extend further into his tunnel.

Wiping sweat away from his brow, he looked at the dragon and said in a soft voice, “I’m going to get you out of there, buddy.”

The dragon acted as if it knew what he had just said, as it calmly let out a huff of steam.

He went back to work on digging the tunnel wider for the dragon. The dragon itself finally caught on to what he was doing and started digging at the ground on the other side, at least as much as it could in the enclosed space. It was a surprise that no one had come across them with all the noise and grunting they were making.

Soon it looked as if the dragon might fit through the hole. It didn’t wait for him to widen it further before it tried to wiggle its way under the barrier. His eyes grew as he saw the pressure it was putting on the ground above.

Struggling and writhing through the hole, his eyes lit up in a panic. The branch was being pushed up against the barrier. At that moment, he had to make a choice. He could give the dragon space and avoid its thrashing limbs, which would cause the hole to collapse and the barrier to fall on top of it, or Kaden could suck up his fears of the giant scaled beast and try his best to hold the tree in place.

Scuttling over to the branch, he tried his best to stand on the edge of the hole and hold the tree. There was only so much he could do from falling into the hole himself as the beast pulled at the dirt, dragging itself out. He felt the tree sag as the brace on the other side fell away. Using all his might, he pulled as hard as he could to keep the barrier above. Sparks flew as the dirt fell away and the barrier pressed down on the wood. Heated, it caught fire as he held onto it.

The dragon was nearly out. He only had to hold on for a few moments longer. The fire was spreading down the wood toward his hands, small sparks of lightning popping and sparking as it ate away at it. If he dropped the tree now, the dragon would lose part of its legs and tail. He would not cripple the beast because some incredibly hot fire and lightning was about to cripple his hands. He held on, fear in his eyes as the fire got closer. The heat was pressing in on his hands. Electricity wrapped around his palms, stinging them. Pain spread through him.

The dragon’s tail finally passed by the barrier and Kaden didn’t wait any longer. With his hands singed and shocked, he dropped the tree the first moment he could. The barrier fell with the tree into the hole, sealing it as he had assumed it would. It set the tree fully afire. He could only guess what it would have done to flesh.

Cradling his injured hands, he tried to crawl his way out of the mess of dirt. The dragon hadn’t gone far from him. It watched him, head tilted in curiosity. Kaden wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do at that point. Dragons were supposed to be revered. That’s what they taught him his whole life. His eyes darted this way and that before he gave an awkward bow to the dragon.

The dragon huffed, and he felt a cool mist hit him. Did it just laugh at his bowing?

“Listen, I don’t know how you got yourself into that mess, but the next time, try avoiding the runes,” he said as he made his way to his bag. His hands shaking in pain as he attempted to pull out bandages for them.

His eyes ran up and down the dragon. There were open wounds across its body from the barrier’s shocks. The same electricity had made its mark on the dragon as well. It must have thrown itself at the walls harder than he had realized. The patterns looked like lightning across its body. If only he had got there sooner, the creature wouldn’t have been wounded.

He heard the growls once more and his eyes darted back toward the edge of their small clearing. More eyes than before glowed in the barrier’s light. The rumble of the dragon’s own voice was heard, threatening them in response as they just had. Exhaustion was hitting him. His hands hurt, his muscles hurt, but now he was going to have to take on some type of creature that was lurking.

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Throwing his bag over his shoulder, he strapped it on. Pulling the quiver on, he snapped it in place as well. Wincing, he picked up his bow and held it tight. He wasn’t going to be surprised by anything else that evening.

The creatures stepped out of the darkness and into the light. They were wolves. Wolves that didn’t look quite right. Kaden didn’t know what it was about them that gave him an uneasy feeling, but they looked off, sharper. Their hair stood up straighter, their features more angled. They weren’t wolves he normally saw in the woods. They were here for one thing, the dragon.

He sighed. His entire hunt had become something drastically different than what he had expected. None of his family would believe him if he told them everything. He would show them his hands and his brothers would just mock him and say he must have not known how to cook dinner. Jeer that he should spend more time with the women if that was the case.

The dragon let out a low growl as the wolves started pacing around them. He moved in closer to the dragon. His knowledge about dragons was limited, but he was even more clueless about twisted wolves. He hoped that saving the dragon would give him some points with it. Maybe it would see him as an ally against the creatures.

A wing almost whacked him in the face before he could duck out of the way. The dragon spread its wings above in a show of size and force. It worked. The wolves backed up in surprise at their prey getting larger than they were. Being that close to the dragon, he could see the strength of the muscles that pushed the wings open. Even he was intimidated by his new friend.

It didn’t deter them for long. They pressed in once more. The dragon let out a vicious sounding roar. The wolves weren’t phased. Kaden could sense the tension within his new companion. It shifted its weight nervously. The dragon was much larger than him, but with how many wolves encircled them, even a larger dragon would suffer.

One wolf broke the line and lunged toward them. He went to lift his bow up when the dragon’s wing pushed him to the ground. Falling down, his quiver snapped off, falling to the ground with him. He looked up to see his new friend opted to leave him for the wolves, saving himself. Damn dragons.

Quickly, he jumped up and scrambled to grab an arrow to protect himself as the wolves pressed in. He was their only option anymore. He knocked an arrow and let it fly toward a wolf. It landed, but the creature still kept coming. Picking up another, he let it fly. It landed in another wolf, still not phasing it.

Kaden was able to get three more off with the same effect, having to lose ground at the wolves pressing in. Taking a deep breath, there was nothing more he could do with his bow. He was out of arrows. They had pushed him away from his laid quiver. All he had left was a set of hunting knives on his hip. He tossed his bow down and went for his knives.

The creatures pressed in and he knew that would be the end of him. He closed his eyes, hoping maybe he could wish them away. He should have never helped the dragon. The creature had no loyalty to him; it ditched him the moment it could. He was going to be torn apart by twisted wolves, and no one would even know his fate.

His body jolted upward as two claws wrapped around him. His eyes popped open, and it threw him about as the dragon took flight again. The creature wasn’t being the most careful as it slammed him into the ground, bruising him as it jumped away.

It had come back for him.

What was a relief at first quickly became increasingly terrifying as the dragon dangled him higher and higher in the skies. They flew above the treetops, his feet skirting the greenery as they climbed. Looking down, the wolves circled the area in frustration, tearing apart his discarded quiver and bow. All he could do was frown at them. He had saved a lot of money for that set.

Kaden didn’t know where the dragon was taking him, but he knew he had no choice in the matter. Being so high in the sky was not a thing he had ever wished for or thought of. His focus kept moving in and out as his vision tried to grasp the fact that the ground was so far away. A wave of nausea hit him as he realized how high they were climbing. Squinting his eyes tight, he tried to calm himself before popping one eye open again.

He gasped in wonder as he looked around. The whole world looked different. He could see the farmlands off in the distance, the rocky mountains in the opposite direction. Is this what dragon riders saw every day?

He felt the grip loosen around his torso and panicked. Regardless of how interesting it was to see the world from that perspective. He didn’t want to crash into it without as much as a thud. The claw opened, and he gasped in surprise as his body fell through the air. His body was weightless as he fell into the sky, his stomach dropping in horror.

It was only momentarily as the claws wrapped around him again, getting a more firm grip. His eyes were wide and he could only let the terror of falling wash over him, shaking his core, as they continued to wherever their destination was.

They flew for some time in a direction he had never traveled. He knew it was the furthest he had ever been. The wings could carry him much further and much faster than he ever could go on his own. He heard the dragon’s labored breathing above him. His weight must have been more than it had realized to carry. It was getting tired, and that didn’t bode well for his survivability.

They started to lower and make a descent, heading towards a rocky formation.. He saw a massive opening in the ground that led into a dark pit. The dragon was flying right for it. It was taking him to a cave. Maybe it wanted to eat him instead of letting the wolves do so. Take him to his cave and eat him.

The sun was cresting over the horizon, the day finally arriving as he was about to be dropped into darkness. He let out another annoyed sigh. All he had to do was not come to the cry of a distressed creature, and none of this would have happened.

Hovering above the dark hole, the creature opened his claws and this time it wasn’t to re-adjust. He felt himself floating in the air before plummeting down into the darkness. He tried to cover his face, hoping somehow he’d be able to save himself if his head survived the impact.

The darkness overtook him and before he knew it he met the ground, and it bent around him. Water splashed as he fell into an underground lake. He sunk further than he would have had he just had jumped in. The day was full of surprises as he had to swim up, back toward the air he needed to breathe.

Pushing with all his might, he made it back to the surface. His head pushing through the water as he gasped for air. His eyes had to adjust to the darkness as he tried to wade in the lake. The light from the dawn illuminated the cave’s opening. He watched as the dragon that dropped him flew into the hole himself.

It folded its wings in and it dived into the lake. He saw it pierce down into the water, losing sight of the creature below him. It was gone. He couldn’t see how far it dove, he had no idea how deep the water was. Treading water was difficult for him as he fought to keep himself above it. He wasn’t a good swimmer, and every pond and lake he had ever been in was nowhere as deep as this one.

The water was warm but dark. He couldn’t make out anything else in the darkness. No edge stood out. He had no idea how far he would have to swim to get to some type of land. He picked a direction and started trying to swim that way.

A light caught his eye. A soft greenish-blue glow moved below him and was quickly gone. Widening his eyes, he shook his head in disbelief. Now he was dealing with glowing magical things in a random underground lake.

He noticed another illumination in the water not far from him. Off in the distance, several more lights showed up. Soon, the entire lake was lit up like the night sky. He could finally see what was making the lights when there were so many of them.

Dragons. Hundreds of dragons.