Chapter 26 - The Guiding Dragon

Ash paused for a quick break at the bottom of a steep, loamy slope with portruding roots and a layer of moss. He wiped his brow of sweat while Rasp impatiently hissed for him to hurry, atop the inevitable climb. I'm just a measly human Rasp! Go easy on me.

The boy had long stopped worrying about how much trouble he was going to be in with Captain Thorne and was more worried about running into something dangerous. The Green Sea was supposed to be full of scary beasts. Ash shivered, and they'll definitely see me before I see them. The dragonboy just hoped that whoever was sent after him would find them before they encountered any.

Slightly recovered, the boy started hauling himself up the hill. It was slow going. Pulling out his dagger, Ash stabbed into the ground for leverage and grabbed scraggly roots as handholds whenever he got the chance. His steps were gouging out clods of loose dirt as he made his way up, leaving a scattering mess in his wake. But he was focused on not losing his dragon.

Eventually the dragonboy clawed to the top. "Yes Rasp, I'm here, give me a sec." He took a seat to catch his breath and rubbed at his calves, as they were starting to tighten up. Rasp circled him, occasionally nudging the human with his snout, trying to urge him up. Meanwhile, Ash looked up trying to see through the rustling canopy, trying to figure out how late it was, because it was starting to get a little bit darker.

He'd been following Rasp for a good while by now. About the only good thing so far had been the lack of underbrush. One hour? Or Two? Has it been two hours already? Shouldn't he be getting hungry right about now? The thought worried him. "Rasp, aren't you getting hungry yet?" Ash had only one pouch of venison to snack on. Hopefully the people searching for us remembered to bring food. Lots of food!

When Ash finally stood, ready to continue, the black dragon bounced forward to lead the way once more with a raspy rumble as they continued on.

About fifteen minutes later, Ash started hearing the rushing sound of water. He prayed thats where Rasp was leading him, because he had nearly drained his canteen.

His prayers were answered as Rasp led the way right to the banks of a fast flowing river. Too fast and too wide to cross. Luckily the water was easy to reach, with a gentle bank.

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Ash let his partner drink first as he kept an eye out. He didn't see anything special upstream or downstream. Nothing in the water either. Just where are you leading me Rasp?

Captain Thorne was having a short meeting with the hunters while giving the troops a quick break. They were standing beneath a steep hill looking at the boy's tracks gouged into the dirt.

He was being advised to turn back even though the trail was clear, unless he planned on staying overnight in the forest. Which was a risk the two hunters were uneasy about. Unfortunately for them, the captain was already resolved. Who knows what could have happened to the pair already, let alone overnight. They would be pressing on.

By Ash's estimation, he and Rasp had now headed upriver for about mile after he'd finished drinking, but it was starting to get dark. And he could hear some unfamiliar noises drifting down the water.

It relieved him when he passed a riverbend and saw Rasp finally start to circle a large boulder jutting out of the water ahead. Is he looking for a spot to land? Or is he waiting for me, Ash wondered. Guess I can speed up for him, he decided.

Only to come to a complete stop a second later and he fearfully hunkered down into a crouch and shifted for cover, ending up behind a largish rock. Ash had just seen what was causing all the noise and gotten a clearer view of the boulder. It wasn't a boulder.

Thats huge! Do turtles really get that huge? Its gotta be at least three- no, four times taller than me! Ash peeked up over his rock to survey the scene.

The turtle lay unmoving, halfway out of the water and surrounded by a throng of various forest beasts. From what Ash could observe it had to be dead. For claiming the dead beast was a large pack of saberwolves, the smallest of them the size of a horse, a few of them frantically ripping meaty chunks from its legs. The rest of the wolfpack was in a protective ring along the sandy stream bank, snarling to keep larger, obviously hungry but solitary monsters at bay.

As his eyes drifted to the water, he noticed the river's surface roiling. Gotta be river monsters too!

Ash was panicking, theres so many monsters! Is this why the caravan hasn't been attacked? The monsters are all just here? Fighting over a dead turtle. Soooo...this is what Rasp wants? He grimaced. All I got is a sling and a dagger. Just a short one! Thank the gods they're to busy to notice me right now.

As Ash was praying while trying to figure out what he was going to do, Rasp just kept circling lower and lower. Low enough that some of the beasts finally noticed the juvenile dragon. A few of which even ran, which made sense to the boy. That's dragon-fear! Yet the saberwolves stayed.

If only Rasp was full grown... All creatures would flee an adult dragon, but Ash's small partner was definitely not an adult.

It appeared the pack was hungry enough to defend against all competition. Even if that meant fighting against a young dragon.