Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #18 September 2015 | Page 26

little choice, he jumped the fence and atop the stallion.
The animal bucked once or twice, before Griev used
his people’s uncanny way with animals and calmed it.
He kicked its sides, grabbing the mane in his
gloved hands. He held on as the animal leapt over the
fence.
The horse landed jarringly, its hooves skating
on the cobblestones.
Griev guided the horse towards the gates,
pushing through the villagers as they ran through the
town with leather and wooden buckets of water to
douse the flames of dragon fire. It would be an impossible task, for only water blessed by the Keeper’s
themselves could put out the hungry flames that were
born of Dragon’s magic. He would remember the
village’s name so he could return with some Keepers
oncehe had recovered the Dragon, and the babe, if it
still lived, and begin the rebuilding process.
For now, he spurred the horse onwards, following the direction that the Great Dragon had flown.
The animal had calmed down under his sure hand and
he soon came across gouges in the earth that could
only be caused by a dragon landing.
The torn earth showed him where Aergenan
had waddled his way to a large hayshed. Griev slowed
the white stallion to a trot and then a slow walk. The
animal was nervous at the scent of dragon and shied
away, forcing Griev to abandon it. He stalked towards
the shed, its doors shattered into chunks of wood.

the curve of his body and a tiny fist waved in the air
along with another cooing gurgle.
Griev, so as not to startle the Great Dragon,
crept into the darkened barn. Aergenan turned his
attention to the Draconi guard. Griev knew that Aergenan was as exhausted as he was from their respective hunts and both it seemed had succeeded.
Within the curl of the Great Dragon’s body, lay
a child, no more than six months old, who smiled up
brightly and had eyes the same colour as the Dragon
who protected her.
Aergenan had found his Keeper, and Griev
knew that this would be one of the more interesting
pairings, for usually a Keeper was an adult, not a sixmonth old baby. Aergenan would have more than a
few years until he could reach his majority, and claim
his full intelligence from his Keeper.
“You couldn’t make my life easy, now could
you, Dragon King?” he said, as he knelt before the
beast and the babe. Aergenan huffed, letting a small
puff of smoke billow from his rounded nostrils. He
shifted his head and settled down on the pile of hay,
trusting the Draconi guard to protect them while he
and his bonded Keeper slept.
Griev watched over them, wondering how he
was going to explain this to the Masters of the Eyrie.

Griev drew his sword, the hiss of metal against
leather loud to his ears as the wind blew gently across
the grass. He strode to the doors and spotted Aergenan
curled up in the back, slumbering.
The baby’s blanket was still lodged in his
massive teeth, but the babe was nowhere to be found.
Griev felt his chest tighten, this was the first time that
he had known of a Dragon killing a baby. He shuddered with grief over the lost babe. But a cherubic
gurgle stopped him in his tracks. Aergenan lifted his
massive head to snuffle at something nestled within

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