NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Booked
Horrified, Leo stared for a quarter of a second.
Then his brain kicked in.
Leo stood and leapt upward in one smooth motion. He grabbed a branch of the nearby tree, ran up the side of the trunk while holding it, and landed on top of the thicker branch it was connected to. The dragon hopped slightly to try to catch him, but it wasn't enough, as it obviously didn't jump full force, for fear of going over the edge and into the ravine. The beast's claws whiffed through the air right where Leo had been.
Leo pulled out his sword from the sheathe as the dragon circled below him.
The beast was slightly larger than Leo's wolf buddy from the forest, but the dragon was obviously far deadlier. Its bronze scales were sturdy. It had fearsome claws and teeth, enough to rival any similarly-sized dinosaur from a Jurassic Park movie. The dragon also moved with a bit of agility, which surprised Leo. It wasn't like an alligator. The movements of its body reminded Leo more of a Tiger.
The dragon stared up at Leo, its wings fluttering across its back.
It was still quadrupedal, and it couldn't seem to reach high enough to directly attack Leo on his branch. Instead of trying, the beast lunged for the tree trunk. The whole tree shook as the dragon dug its claws into the bark and yanked itself upward.
Leo stared, fascinated and horrified in equal measure, as the dragon unhooked one claw, and with a huff of effort, managed to hook it a bit higher, pulling itself upward.
Why isn't it flying?
The beast had leathery wings. They flapped sometimes, to help the dragon keep balance, but they clearly weren't helping the dragon defy gravity. Leo steadied himself on the branch as the dragon shook the tree again as it continued to climb.
Leo thrust his sword downward, hitting the dragon just below its eye. The sharp point of his sword—the only part not ruined from his fire-making activities the previous night—managed to pierce the scales from the force of the combined upward lunge and downward thrust, and Leo drew blood on the dragon's cheek.
The dragon dropped off the tree, hit the ground awkwardly, and cried out in Middle Averian, "By Merdrek's Teeth, that hurt!"
Shocked, Leo decided that this world would never stop taking him by surprise.
"Wait, you can talk?" Leo asked as the dragon rolled to its feet.
"Of course I can talk, interloper elf!" The dragon growled. "I'm a dragon, a far wiser, and more intelligent, species than any stupid mortal race. Now get down here so I can eat you!"
"Wait, you know I can talk, too, right?"
The dragon glared at Leo with its aquamarine eyes, one eye ridge raised. Despite having never seen a dragon before, Leo knew that he had just witnessed the "Are you an idiot?" dragon facial expression.
Leo blushed. "I just mean, we're both sentient creatures. Why would you eat me? That seems, well, evil. Like Saturday-morning-cartoon-villain evil. Not to mention rude. And cliché."
The dragon sat on its haunches. "Okay, great, we can both talk. Now stop doing it. I hate it when prey talks. I feel all icky about killing things that try to have conversations with me. I don't like doing it."
"Yeah, that icky feeling is your conscience, I'm pretty sure," Leo quipped. He leaned against the tree trunk for more stability. "And on that note, I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you that I'm a great person. Really great. I was working on a project to provide fresh water where there isn't any. It would've helped millions of people, including my girlfriend, who's lost now and needs me to find her."
"Stop that!" the dragon shouted. "You're making this weird."
"I'm also really kind to children and cats." Why isn't it just flying up here? Or using a breath weapon? Can't dragons breathe fire? I want to ask, but I don't want to remind it of its options.
"Knock that off!" the dragon bellowed. "Get down here and fight, coward! Face me like a man!"
"I'm gonna pass. This tree is really comfy. I might just live here. Plus, you should be a bit quieter. I saw a harpy over the side of the ravine. I don't know how things work in this kooky world, but in my mythology, harpies are bad business."
The bronze-scaled dragon flashed its fangs.
Leo rubbed at his chin. "Also, honest point of clarification—are you challenging me based on my gender, or on the fact that I'm human? Because I'm an elf now, apparently."
"What did I just say about talking?" the dragon yelled. "The less I know about you, the easier this will be for everyone. And of course I know you're an elf! I just called you an elf! That's why I'm trying to kill you! You think that just 'cuz my sire is missing that you can walk up and take his hoard back!"
Great, I've stumbled into some pre-existing, Lord of the Rings version of a soap opera. All I need to know now is that his dad was created before the world was but also left his mom for a younger dragon. Fantastic.
Before Leo could respond, the dragon walked to the trunk of the tree and slammed its tail into it as hard as he could. The tree, despite being an unimpressive specimen, hardly moved.
The dragon looked over the rounded edge into the ravine, then started backpedaling.
What the…?
Screeches, half-bird, half-enraged-woman, filled the air, and three harpies came flying over the edge of the ravine.
The dragon turned to run, but the harpies somehow moved like real birds, despite being bat-like and not aerodynamic. They flew past the dragon and then swung back around, swooping down on him.
Two harpies raked their talons along the dragon's side, but the third headed for his face, claws out. The dragon tried to hop upward, and it caught the harpy with a bite around its midrift. The harpy screamed, but the dragon was bowled over, rolling toward the edge of the ravine. It managed to hook its front claws into the ground as it slid over the edge, arresting its movement, with only its backside hanging over the cliff.
It flung the disemboweled harpy backward into the ravine as it scrabbled ineffectually, trying to get its back claws onto the top of the cliff.
But then the two harpies landed on its back and clawed at it furiously.
Perfect! Leo thought, delighted, as two wrongs made a right.
Leo didn't want to waste his good fortune. He dropped down from the tree and prepared to run back to the forest, where at least the lethal creatures didn't seem to be actively gunning for him.
The dragon called out in pain, its voice laced with terror. "Help! Someone, please, please help!" It scrabbled its back legs on the wall of the ravine, trying desperately to climb up, but failing to do so.
Leo, feeling incredibly idiotic, hesitated. "Just let go and fly, you stupid jackass!"
"I can't fly! It's like a mile down! I'll die!"
Oh, for the love of Jove…
Leo turned and rushed back, sword in hand. The dragon tried to fend off two harpies while clinging to the ground with its two front claws, its back claws still off the edge.
But the harpies were still on the dragon's back, beyond the reach of its head. They were attacking the dragon viciously, ripping scales lose and clawing at the flesh underneath. The dragon yelled and roared, but it sounded more like screaming. And Leo saw blood already pouring down its back.
Leo ran over and aimed at the back of the nearest distracted harpy's head. Then he swung for the fences. His weapon was dull and chipped, but at this range and with a two-handed swing, a perfectly smooth steel pole would have done the job.
His sword hit the harpy in the back of her skull with a sickening crunch, and the harpy pitched forward into the ravine, off the dragon. Leo received a notification about the damage, but he told the info box to go away as soon as it appeared.