“This way!” Kaen shouted as he ran ahead of Hess.

Hess shook his head in wonder. How that boy still had energy after a real full day's work amazed him. He easily navigated the forest but took his time, as a twisted ankle was no fun at his age. He had his pick-axe strapped across his back because Kaen insisted that he bring it as they might need it.

Hess moved a little faster as Kaen disappeared ahead in the trees. It had been a while since he had been in the woods like this. All his time now was spent at the quarry, the bar in town, or at home. Being out here made him realize he needed to be more intentional with Kaen if he was going to prepare him for the adventurer's test.

As he moved through the woods, the trees lying down on their side came into view, and Hess immediately recognized something was wrong with how they faced. What Kaen described seemed impossible at first, but now he was fearful Kaen could be right.

Hess started to jog and saw Kaen standing on one of the trees that had been knocked down. He was pointing to a section of the tree.

“This is where the dragon rubbed the bark right off!” Kaen declared as he pointed and smiled.

Hess approached the tree and almost lost his step for a second. He saw the area on the bark and the notches from the missing wood. He now knew Kaen was right.

“Hairy dwarf balls, Kaen!” Hess cursed as he took in the area around him. His hand instinctively reached for the handle of his pick-axe, but he caught himself and lowered his hand back down.

Eight massive trees were knocked over, and half of them had sections like this on them. The dragon had hit them as it had taken off, and the underside of its chest rubbed off huge sections as it gained elevation. These trees would not have slowed the dragon down at all based on the size it must have been.

“We need to be careful,” Hess announced as he glanced around the woods. “Who else knows about this?”

Kaen frowned and wondered why Hess was acting so weird.

“No one but you. Why would I tell anyone else and risk someone taking the treasure it must have hidden,” Kaen asked.

Hess nodded, relieved that no one else knew about this yet. He would have to come back later and do something to remove this evidence. People would panic if word got out that a dragon was in this area, which was never good.

Kaen had hopped off the tree and moved toward the mountain's base.

“You coming or what?” Kaen called out as he jogged ahead.

“Wait for me,” Hess shouted as he ran to catch up with Kaen.

I pray the boy is wrong, Hess thought as they came to the clearing at the mountain's base.

“Stop messing with that blood, and hurry up over here!” Kaen implored Hess as he stood over by the bunched-up boulders and rocks he believed must have treasure under them.

Hess stood up and tossed the stick with the blood on it on the ground.

It was dragon's blood. That smell was one he would never forget. Everything about this felt wrong. If there was a treasure, he was sure they should not mess with it. A wild dragon could be a very greedy and vengeful thing. He was trying to remember the last time he had heard of a wild dragon roaming the kingdoms. It had to be at least ten or twenty years. The knot in his chest that Hess had held back for so many years felt tight. All these years in the woods and not in the adventurers guild had kept him out of touch with what was really happening in the world. Maybe dragons had returned, but that seemed impossible. They had decreased in numbers.

Hess finally made it to where Kaen was standing and felt most of the air in his chest leave his lungs when he saw the claw marks that had dragged dirt out.

“Kaen, are you sure about this?” he asked as he looked at the pile of boulders. “If a dragon has hidden something there and they realize it is missing, they will come looking for it. It would not go well for anyone near where it disappeared from.”

“No, sir!” Kaen exclaimed. “We shook on it! You know something is here, and we will see what it is.”

Hess grimaced and nodded. He had promised. Even if this was a bad idea, he could not go back on his word.

“How about we find out what is hidden and decide if we want to take something or just leave it? No point in dying if it is obvious to the dragon that we took something.”

Kaen groaned and looked at Hess. He could see the concern on Hess’s face and how he was acting. Hess was never timid like this. How evil must a dragon be that Hess would be so afraid?

“So if it is just a few small things, we don’t take anything?” Kaen asked, disappointment oozing from his voice.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Kaen was walking around the group of boulders and laid down on the ground again and tried moving some of the dirt with his hand to see if he could see anything back there.

“I can’t see anything, and the dirt won't move when I try to claw at it.”

Hess nodded in understanding.

“When the dragon dug out whatever it dug, the force of its claws packed that dirt. It will take a pick-axe to break it up. It is like dried, hardened mud.”

Kaen groaned as he stood up and dusted the dirt off of his shirt. Breaking that kind of dirt up was no fun at all. He had had enough practice doing that over the years.

“So, can you move the rocks?”

Hess inspected the formation and shook his head. The dragon had picked up rocks bigger than him as if they were nothing but a pebble and stacked them tightly. It made sense if it was hiding something from people.

As he continued to walk around, a boulder caught his eye that seemed misplaced. He walked around in the other direction and kept his eye on it. It was not packed in like the others. It almost looked like it had just been gently rested against the others.

He walked over and tried to pull the boulder. He put his massive hands around it and tried to pull it toward him, but he could not generate enough leverage to move it. If he had a rope, that might work.

Hess glanced up at the sky. There was a good three hours of sunlight left. Maybe a little more. They had finished quickly today, and he had sent everyone home early, much to their delight.

“How long do you think it would take for you to get to the quarry and get me a rope? One at least thirty meters long?”

Kaen smiled and laughed.

“I can be there and back in less than an hour!” he announced as he dropped his bow and quiver and took off back in the direction of the quarry.

Hess smiled for a moment and shook his head. That boy and his never-ending energy.

Once Kaen had disappeared, Hess turned back to look at the area he was in. He needed to figure out why a dragon had chosen this area to land and bury something before Kaen returned.

Hess heard Kaen as he came running back to the clearing. That boy must have chased off every animal for miles from the sound echoing through the forest.

Kaen was covered in sweat, but a dragging rope was looped around his shoulder and over his side, bouncing as he ran.

“That looks like an awful run,” Hess teased as he watched Kaen stop a few feet before him and drop the rope onto the ground.

Kaen fell to the ground and lay there on his back, sucking in massive breaths.

“So… bad… legs… cramp…” Kaen tried to say between breaths.

“Just breathe. Shake your head when I ask a question, and breathe,” Hess informed him as he bent down and grabbed the rope.

Kaen nodded and kept his eyes on Hess.

“You noticed that section of ground that was burnt?”

Kaen nodded and pointed a shaky hand in the direction it was in.

“You notice that the dragon burnt something and took it with it? There is a small indent and section of the ground behind it where the ground is not burnt like the rest,” Hess stated as he watched Kaen’s face.

Kaen shook his head and tried to ask a question, but Hess stopped him.

“Breathe. You are fine for not noticing that. I spent twenty minutes examining that area before figuring out what I was missing. Now rest while I get this rope tied to the rock.”

Kaen nodded and closed his eyes.

It was all Hess could do to keep from laughing. That boy smelled from here. He had no clue how bad he would smell by the end of tonight.

It had taken about fifteen minutes to get the rope set up how he wanted. Now, all they needed to do was pull on it, and it should pop right out.

“You ready to do a little more work?” Hess asked as Kaen danced around in excitement.

When he had the rope almost finished being set up, a new surge of energy must have filled Kaen as he had gotten off the ground and danced like he had ants in his pants.

“I thought you would never ask,” Kaen announced as he ran over, grabbed the rope's end, and pulled it taut.

Hess smiled and shook his head.

“Ok, when I say pull, we pull. It should pop out pretty easily if it is going to come. If not, I’ll have to hit it with my pick-axe. I would rather not do that if we decide not to take anything.”

“That’s fine,” Kaen declared. “Can we just pull and get this over with? I’m dying inside to find out what is in there!”

Kaen could feel his heart pounding fast for some reason. The anticipation, he guessed, but his lifestone was also acting all weird. It was pulsing for some reason he could not figure out. Perhaps it could sense his excitement over this.

Hess nodded. His curiosity was getting the better of him as well. There could be no telling what might be buried behind these rocks.

“On three!” Hess said as he started to wrap the rope around his waist and arms. He dug his legs in and shifted his heels to get a good grip in the dirt. He turned and saw that Kaen had done the exact same thing. The smile on that fool's face looked downright silly with his matted hair and dirt-covered face.

“One, two, three!” Hess shouted, and both pulled on the rope. There had been no slack in it before he had said three, but now they could feel the rope stretching just a hair as the rock started to shift.

Both of them grunted and drove back, using the leverage of their legs, and slowly, the rock started to tip toward them.

“A little more!” Hess grunted through his teeth. He could feel the immense strain of pulling on this rock through his core and legs.

Inch by inch, the rock started to come toward them till the center of its balance shifted, and it suddenly toppled over, and the rope went loose from the break in the tension.

Both Hess and Kaen crashed to the ground when the rock fell, causing a cloud of dust to fly up from the impact.

Hess started to untangle himself and saw Kaen dart past him toward the hole now between the other rocks.

“Wait, son! They might shift!” Hess called out, but it was too late. Kaen was already past the boulder they had moved and was standing still near the opening.

“What is it, boy!?” Hess called out as he sprung to his feet and ran to see what Kaen was looking at.

When Hess stood next to Kaen, he understood why Kaen’s mouth was open in shock.

“It can’t be!” Kaen declared in disbelief.

“A dragon egg!? A real dragon egg?” Hess muttered.

Kaen looked at Hess for a second before pointing back to the egg.

“It’s hatching!” Kaen announced with excitement.