Not really knowing what else to do, they followed the old lady, who waved at them and entered a small path between the trees. It was difficult for Fyra to follow, because he bumped his broken wing to the trees all the time. They couldn’t go very fast, but eventually they reached another clearing, with in the middle a small hut. Apparently that was her home. All around her on the grass were statues. They looked very lifelike. Knights on horses, little boys and girls, entire families, chicken, cows, everything. It was as if they would all walk away at the snap of a finger. Behind his back the little boy tried it, but without success. At the front of the hut there was a bench, and Gisela and the boy sat on it, while Fyra lay in front. Gisela explained how they could understand each other. She was a witch, and she was an expert in magic. So she had found a way to make people around her understand each other, whether they spoke another language or even if they were another species. Because of this, they found out that the dragon was called Fyra, and the young boy Russell.
“Thank you so much, young Russell, for taking care of my broken wing. It really hurt, but because of you it feels better now.” The dragon huffed.
Russell said that it was nothing, that it was the natural thing to do for his friend. They talked a lot, mainly about their histories. The old lady told them that a long time ago there were witches all over the place, and they lived in harmony with the villagers. And Fyra talked about how horrible he felt when he was told he had to eat a live human.
“I’m so glad it was you there in the forest, and not another dragon, for now I would be nothing more than a pile of bones!”
The young boy also talked about his family. That they were outcasts, and nobody liked them. But he didn’t mind, because he had his family, and they were happy together. In the meantime, Gisela had served them water and cookies. And the cookies were great, they were absolutely fantastic! When the sun went down, they felt a bit sleepy. Gisela smiled. She got up, and laughed a shrieky laughter when Fyra and Russell couldn’t.
“You are mine now, mine forever! I already have some boys, but this dragon. What a catch! A fine young dragon, that will really be an asset to my collection.”
The young ones understood now what had happened. They had been trapped by the old witch. The cookies must have contained a magic powder. They could move less and less. With all their strength they could move just a little bit. Looking at the statues in the garden, Russell now realized why they had such strange poses. Slowly the young boy and dragon turned into stone. But not completely. Only their outsides. They could still move their eyes, but they were trapped in their own bodies now. Horrified they looked at each other.
“What will we do? I can’t move anymore!”
Luckily they could still understand each other, so the dragon replied:
“I don’t know, what can we do? If we can’t move, we can’t escape.”
It got dark, and before she went to bed, the old witch Gisela came to see her new prizes once more.
“How lucky I am with you,” she cried, “my fellow witches will be so jealous!”
And then she went to bed.
In the dark, the newly formed statues stood there, as statues do. Minutes went by. It was already horrifying to them. And if nothing changed, they would have to repeat those minutes for eternity! Suddenly Russell had an idea.
“Fyra, can you still breathe fire?”
The young dragon tried. You could see from his eyes he was trying real hard.
“Well, it’s not much, but there was a little spark inside my mouth. But what good would it do?”
Russell explained. With the fire maybe he could melt the rock that was surrounding him, and they could break loose. So Fyra tried. After a while, you could see a little twitch of Fyra’s snout. And then faster and faster the dragon could move more of his face, because of the heat. Soon he could move his head enough to aim his flame at Russell. Although the flame was very hot, Russell was more excited that he could move his body again. Just before it got too hot, Russell was free again. While Fyra ‘baked’ himself to freedom, the young boy sneaked into the hut. He came back when Fyra was ready.
“What did you do in there?” He asked with a tired sigh.
“I made sure that mean old witch will never be so horrible to anyone ever again! She eats only porridge apparently, so I crumbled the remaining cookies in her porridge. When she wakes up tomorrow and has breakfast, she will herself turn into stone. She deserves to be punished for what she has done.”
After that, they decided to rescue all the other living creatures there. It took them hours, but eventually they were all free. Grateful all the animals and humans departed in silence, so as not to wake up the old witch. With one last look Fyra and Russell moved on, deciding to get as far away as they possibly could.
After a few hours, the beams of the morning sun started to peak through the tree tops. A sign that the day was about to start. In the morning light they could see the large, snow covered mountains in the distance. It was said that behind those mountains was a great land, where everybody was happy. So they headed straight for the hill. Underway they talked a lot, about nothing and everything. Fyra and Russell really liked each other! At the end of the afternoon, when the sun started to set, they decided to call it a night. After all, they had had a long and tiring night. The mountains were close, so they could reach them tomorrow. Snuggling together, they slept a long and dreamless sleep. A sleep in which they regained their strength. The next morning, after a good breakfast of berries, pheasant and fresh water, the travelers continued their journey. The high mountains were indeed very high, when you were close. And to think they had to cross them… That would be a difficult task. But they would make it, because on the other side happiness awaited them. And they would be far away from any mean knight, dragon or witch. So full of energy they walked on. In the middle of the day they reached the foot of the mountains. They had moved to the left a bit, because they had seen a pass there. Still very high, but less high than most of the tops. After a good meal they started their ascent. At first they could move quite easily, but soon the terrain got harder and harder to travel in. But they persevered. They did not give up! Even though they were very tired, they kept on walking. When night fell, they were almost at the pass. Only a few hundred more meters. They would find a place to sleep there. The sun had already set when they got there. They found a cave that gave them shelter from the cold. Inside they spent the night. The next morning, when they exited the cave, they got a nasty surprise. In front of them lay a big ravine! On both sides almost vertical walls without vegetation, that rose up until the mists swallowed them. There was no way to cross the mountains than to go down again. Either back to find another way, or forward into the ravine. They looked at each other, then looked at the ravine.
“I don’t want to go back, this was the only site that looked passable.”
With a grunt and a little flame the dragon agreed. So they proceeded. Carefully they climbed down the ravine, watching out for loose rocks and trying to find branches or edges to hold on to. For Fyra especially it was very difficult. He was very heavy and had big claws, that struggled to hold on to the small rock edges. And above all that, his one wing was still broken. More than once, they fell down a bit. But through a miracle never very far, they’d always stop in time, before they could really get hurt. It took them hours to climb down the steep edge, but in the end they got there.
“I have to take a little rest, I’m exhausted!” The dragon panted.
Russell didn’t even bother to agree, he just fell down and closed his eyes.
The short rest did them good, and with some renewed strength they went on. There were a lot of bushes here and bigger rocks, that made the walk harder, but at least they didn’t have to climb anymore. And another thing, they gradually went up while walking, and after another few hours they reached the other side of the ravine. In the evening sun you could see them, two lonely figures on the pass, between the huge rock giants. They were only tiny things in this vast and deserted world. Apart from the big eagle that flew high above them, they had not seen a single other living thing during their passing. Because the sun was setting already, the boy and the young dragon camped on top of the pass. Tomorrow they would enter the new land. And find humans there, for they had seen small columns of smoke in the distance. But now: sleep!
The path downhill was easier than expected. In less than an hour they were down, in a beautiful forest. They could hear birds singing and the sounds of small animals running through the leaves. They chose a direction to where they had seen smoke yesterday night. The ground in the forest was soft to their feet, almost bouncy. They actually enjoyed the walk. But just when they were about to find a place to sit for lunch, the companions heard a lot of noise. It sounded like metal on metal, like a fight. Silently they ran towards the sounds, and soon they came to a path that crossed the forest. They hid behind the bushes, because on the path there were knights fighting. A group of 10 mounted soldiers attacked a carriage, with an important person in it. They could see parts of his expensive cape and the shining of a crown on his head. 3 foot soldiers were desperately defending their prince. Because that’s who he must have been. It looked like an unfair fight, and if the soldiers on their horses would really want to, the fight would be over in seconds. But they played with the defenders.
“We have to help them!” Russell whispered.
“Are you crazy?” came the dragon’s response. “We don’t know any of them, and it has nothing to do with us.”
The young boy agreed on that, but his sense of justice prevailed.
“I will help them! Whether you stand by my side or not!”
The young boy emerged from the bushes, and yelled at the fighting soldiers.
“Hey you, stop that! You’re not being fair.”
At first the soldiers were startled, but when they saw it was only one young boy, they started laughing and rode over to him. But just before they reached Russell, their horses went wild. They shook of their riders and ran away. The riders followed their example, with a look of terror on their face. Russell felt the warm breath of his friend in his neck, and smiled. Then he turned to the also frightened foot soldiers. He said:
“Don’t be afraid, Fyra here will never hurt you. He is my friend. Are you alright?”
Still terrified they nodded. From the carriage the pale face of an old man appeared. He started to thank the boy for saving him, but froze in mid-sentence as he became aware of the big dark blue dragon. Once again, Russell reassured everyone there that no harm was to be expected of them. As proof the young boy put his hand on Fyra’s snout and patted him. The dragon emitted a satisfied little growl. The soldiers relaxed a bit. The old man came out of the carriage, and bowed deep to Russell and Fyra.
“Thank you dear boy. You and this mighty creature have saved our lives. Without you we would have been at the mercy of those ruthless knights. And they would have killed us for sure. I, king Martin, am in your debt forever. Please tell me how I can repay you for what you have done for us.”
Russell answered that it was nothing, it seemed the right thing to do.
“But we would like a place to live, for we were driven from our home land. Can you give us a place to stay and live our lives in peace, good king?”
The good king promised that he would most certainly do that, and together all of them travelled over the road to the king’s castle.
At first the people in the land were scared of the dragon, but soon the news had travelled ahead of them, so they were cheerfully greeted by the peasants. But still from a distance of course. The dragon and the boy were treated with great honor at the castle, and the finest doctors treated the creature’s broken wing. In a few weeks it had healed, without leaving a trace. The two travelers became welcome guests at the castle, and they could be seen flying over the lands all the time, because that’s what they both liked very much. The story of the fierce dragon and its young rider soon became known in all the neighboring kingdoms, so no other king ever dared to attack king Martin’s realm again. So in this kingdom they lived a happy life, together and between the people. And maybe, just maybe, if you would travel over the mountains into that far away land today, and you look up, it might not be a bird flying over your head…
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