My First Rival
----------------------------------------
Good news, my ancestors knew how to climb trees. Unfortunately, I had to learn that after I was chased up the canopy of an old oak(?) tree by the meanest goat I’d ever laid eyes upon. The fucker actually bit me! Me, a dragon that would one day eat its kind like chicken nuggets!
“BAH!” bleated the damn hell beast as it leaned against the trunk of the tree I was stuck on, glaring at me with that single angry eye it had.
“Fuck off!” I hissed back, baring my teeth at it and flaring my wings to scare it off to no effect. I even almost stumbled off the branch as my wings caught the wind and I had to scramble for purchase else I fell. The goat just bleated back, almost laughing me, as it pulled away from the tree before pacing around the base. For the foreseeable future, I was stuck there.
It was almost inconceivable that a mere goat, an admittedly large and intimidating one at that, would force me to flee, but there I was. I was a mother fucking dragon but I was a tiny ass dragon right now, not the blast furnace, or rather industrial chiller with legs, I could grow to become. Compared to the goat, I was pretty sure I was dog sized. That and well… I had a tiny problem at hand.
Breathing deep, I felt my icy core deep in my chest, the very forces of winter swirling inside me as it swelled up to my throat. Rearing back, I pulled in as much as I could, forcing every last bit of it up before I let loose, roaring out with the force of a thousand suns… only to start hacking as the small gust of icy wind caught in my throat. I was still unable to make a proper breath attack just yet.
Closing my eyes and gleaning from the memories of my ancestors, I saw why I couldn’t. I was the runtiest among my litter and it was a problem that we white dragons faced, which was why cannibalism was a common thing. Grimacing at that particular memory, I shifted from my perch and glared down at my… rival.
“Don’t you have better things to do?!” I shouted back, trying to get through the thick skull of the damned thing. Behind those beady little eyes was the shine of intelligence. It was definitely the reason why this thing hated me so much, “And don’t you ignore me, I know you understand me!”
“Bah!” It bleated once more before it plopped itself down beside a dead bush before glaring up at me, seemingly intent on waiting me out. It was then that my stomach's displeasure quickly made its frustration known. Growling, I held on to my stomach. There was no food up here… but that meant there was no food down there either!
Puffing my chest up and grinning, I shouted, “You’ll fucking starve before you can push me out! I’m perfectly fine up here!” I crawled down, looking through one of the empty hallows before looking down and nodding, “I have food here!” I bluffed, hoping for him to fall for it.
My rival just blinked at me before it turned and took a bite at the bushes, nibbling at the buds at the tip of the branches. Slapping myself on the face, I groaned as I crawled back up higher on the tree. How could I have forgotten, I was dealing with a goat. I was going to starve up there wasn’t I?
Looking around, I found that the branches of the tree I chose only extended so far and most of the trees around me were pine, which didn’t help. Fluttering my wings, I could only grumble at the small pitiful gust of wind I made. As it stood, I had no way off this tree.
Seeing that there was no way to get him off my tail, I just had to wait him out. Glaring down at the beast, I just hoped that I wouldn’t be stuck up there for too long. Curling around a spot which was broad enough to hold me, I tucked myself in and napped. He should have gone away after I woke up. He shouldn’t be that spiteful, right?
----------------------------------------
I waited and waited some more. Minutes turned to hours and the day turned to night. Watching the aurora’s dancing above in the clear starry night sky, I couldn’t help but feel awe at the sheer beauty of it all. It made me feel so tiny and insignificant, being under this vast array of colors, yet all I wanted there and then was to reach out and grab a star… and maybe toss it in a pile to lay atop on.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Chuckling at the silly idea, I turned and glared down at the one thing that soured the mood, the randy old goat that had decided to just make my life as miserable as it could. I underestimated just how spiteful this fucker was.
I felt my brow twitch at the sight of the goat pawing on the ground, exposing some grass for it to much on. He still refused to go away and I was getting hungrier. Going down would be a world of pain given just how bigger the goat was… but I was going to starve. What was worse was the sound that was carried on the wind.
I felt the ridge atop my spine stand up as the distant crackle of lightning echoed in the valley. There, just over the mountains, was a storm brewing and threatening to spill over into the Great Valley. It was setting my teeth on edge as I paced around, feeling all anxious at the oncoming storm. I need to get out yet… the next branch was too far away. Memories of those before me showed me again and again how flying such a distance at a young age was impossible… yet I refuse to bow down now.
Frowning, I walked up to the start of the longest and sturdiest branch and picked a tree in the distance. While my memories were useful, none of them were of a dragon that had either a human mind nor were from the runt of a litter. The weakest was always picked off because they were the lightest… but that’s exactly what I needed now, to be light.
“You can do this, you can fucking do this! You’re a dragon now, act like a fucking dragon!” I shouted, making the goat look at me as if I was the crazy one, “I’ll show you,” I muttered as crouched low, wiggling my body as I locked on to my target.
There was a tree just up ahead just barely out of reach; its branches, despite being weighed down by snow, remained unbowed. I breathed in deep, taking in the cold wind of the night and waited, feeling the winds pick up and shift as the storm cloud spilled over.
Closing my eyes, I waited, ’seeing’ the currents of air in my mind's eye as they twisted and turned, shifting before me, until I felt a gush of wind behind my back, pushing me forward.
With a war cry, I opened my eyes and sprinted ahead, my clawed feet digging into the branch as I spread my wings wide. The world below me shrank, the bleating of my enemy distant, as I leapt, landing just on the edge of the branch which bent and broke under my weight before I jumped!
With the wind in my wings, I soared, sailing through the air. I let out a whoop of joy, flapping my wings as I got closer, but trouble would soon strike. The wind died down and I found myself all on my own. “No, no, no!” I cried, flapping as hard as I could, trying to stay as aloft as I could until I crashed against the branch.
Skidding across the top, I had to grab hold before I slid off. I’d made it, I’d actually made it! “Hah! Suck it!” I shouted as I looked down at the goat in triumph. Now that I was in the tree I could actually jump to the others without much effort. I could even stay up in the canopy for as long as I wanted!
The goat stomped its legs, snorting before bleating angrily at me as it knew I was going to escape. I, for one, was content at what I’d gained; thus I gathered what snow I could before pelting the damn beast with a snowball. As angry as it was, It could no longer reach me for I was the master of the trees!
Flipping it off for good measure, I sauntered off, confident that I could take on whatever this forest could throw at me. Nothing could stop me now! But first, I needed to find shelter or make one for there was a fast approaching storm, and even my innate resistance to that cold wind would not help me against such biting blizzards.