Cursing as quietly as possible, Calvin ran from the cacophony of destruction. He had just discovered why dragon hunters shave their heads. He always assumed it was a sort of club thing or to look cool, but, in actuality, it is because a dragon setting your hair on fire is very painful. Not that he had ever planned on facing a dragon.
He pulled his shirt up over his head to smother the fire. “I should have stopped running first,” he thought as his face plowed into the dirt. At least the fire was out.
Time to run. He could not face a dragon. He was sure the other villagers would be all right. They had the sense to run too. But his legs didn’t move.
Everyone is born with a conscience, and, at this moment, his had control of his legs. Either that, or his legs had more courage than the rest of him.
“Oh, come on,” he whispered. “What are you going to do against that. His legs began to move towards the dragon. “Fine, I suppose I’ll go die like a hero.”
He decided if he was going back, he should run back. First of all, he wanted to get this over with. Also, running towards danger looked more heroic than plodding reluctantly towards danger. If he was going to die like an idiot, he might as well look good doing it.
As he approached the village, he saw the smoke, and, predictably, through the smoke came the dragon. The book inside him started screaming.
Why a book lived inside of him was a mystery. I suppose you would ask how a book had decided to live inside him since everyone knows books are made from paper and ink, are inanimate objects, and cannot decide anything. However, Calvin found that question impractical. There was a book inside him, and what he wanted to know was what to do about it.
The dragon’s head swiveled towards him in response to the scream, but he had already ducked out of sight and quickly suppressed the scream. The dragon turned away to continue lumbering around and casually destroying the village.
Using the noise from the dragon as cover for his own movements, Calvin snuck around the village as best he could looking for survivors. No one was here. They had all gotten out. He rolled his eyes at his preposterously ineffectual heroism and made his way out of the village.
As soon as he was far enough, he broke into a run. The book seemed much happier now. He was too. He was safe, and the dragon would eat its fill of livestock before flying away. He found some dense undergrowth and wormed his way into it.
“Ow!”
“Ow yourself! You kicked me!”
“Shhhh”
“You yelled first,” Marie whispered this time.
“Sorry”
“Is it still there?”
“Yup. It’s having a grand time from what I can tell.”
“Great,” Marie said with an irritated expression. “We’ll be sleeping in tents tonight if we’re lucky.” She paused long enough for the perverse sense of humor which often inflicts itself on young girls to take hold.
“I suppose we are the only survivors of the village. Should we start building a house right here, so our village is not lost forever? Although, I don’t think I want to have enough babies to fill an entire village. Maybe we should give up and move.”
Calvin’s face grew very red which was exactly the reaction Marie was going for.
“I … uh…”
“Don’t worry, I’m looking for a more mature man anyway.”
“You’re a year younger than me!”
“Yes, but everyone knows girls mature faster than boys, and you only became a man this year.”
Calvin turned away glaring at the bushes and wondered if he should go back to face the dragon rather than endure this.
“I’m sorry,” Marie whispered after her conscience finally got a word in. “I shouldn’t have teased you like that.”
“No, you shouldn’t!”
“Here, I brought a snack.” She waved a chocolate chip cookie in front of his face. “Still friends?”
Calvin looked sullen but turned to face her. “Sure,” he grunted as he took a bite of cookie.
By the time they finished the cookies, the world had gone silent. Soon after, they hear the sound of trumpets letting everyone know the dragon was gone. They crawled out of the brush and began their walk back to the village.
Marie giggled, “You look ridiculous.”
“You would too if a dragon set your hair on fire.”
“True. Are you ok?”
“I think so. It hurts bad, so the burn can’t be too deep.”
“I can’t see any blisters. There are just a few red spots, so you should recover just fine. I’m glad you’re ok.” She reached over and gave him a hug then quickly added, “I hope everyone else is ok too.”
“Me too.”
When they arrived at the village, they found everyone was fine except for a variety of bruises, scrapes, and superficial burns. Of course, Calvin and Marie coming out of the woods together drew its share of jokes aimed at Calvin. Marie did not help matters any since she (after overhearing the teasing) made overly exaggerated eyes at Calvin.
This was not the first time the village was attacked by various armies and creatures, so the council was very well prepared. The dragon had not touched any of their emergency caches, so everyone had food to eat and a tent to sleep in that night.
After everyone’s needs were taken care of, they prepared a feast as if it were a holiday. Why? Well, they were alive, so why not?