Other work with these characters:

The Festival:

"Oh, of all places, why did it have to be there?"

The city of Dalamarhst, or "Dal" for short, was notorious for rambunctious festivals bearing near every color of light and presentation of culinary art. Dal had a knack for bringing together a plethora of unique characters, from the wandering puppeteer to the velvet-draped nobleman. In the confusion of drink and song, it was not unknown for these characters to dance hand in hand even, with the whimsical glow of paper lanterns and the sound of jigs and reels able to lure even the most hard pressed businessmen to frivolity. But today, Oh why today!? Tonight it lured a dragon. Not only a dragon, but my dragon!

"No, this is okay. I've got this under control. What's the worst that could happen anyway?"

Images of mauled children and velvet draped in flames ignited in Leonard's head like a match to a pile of dry brush, and sent him into panic. Aside from the obvious endangerment and likely harm to the people of Dalmahrst, he fretted mostly for his dragon. Something made him care so much about her, even though their relationship was fairly new and a little strained; they still had so much left to share and experience and adventure together. Besides, besides! All of his things were left in saddlebags aside the beast's great hips. Those things were important, and if authorities found these things affixed to the fire-drake, Leonard could be held responsible, or even tracked!

"That's it. I have to go. There's no way, no way, that I can just leave her there without trying. What kind of dragon-rider am I if I leave my dragon to the city guard?!"

Leonard began the hike down the mountain towards Dal, stammering through thoughts over and over in his head; envisioning toppled carts and bursts of wet flame flying from her throat onto unsuspecting revelers. She had pulled away from him during a disagreement with a burst of great energy from powerful muscles and ripped the reins from Leonard's hands. Trying to stop such a force was like trying to reel in a whale during a hurricane. No, he had learned it was always best to let a disagreeable dragon have her way for a moment, and avoid injury to his own person. They would usually talk it over after they had a moment apart and something to eat. ... Oh god.

Leonard slammed his face into his hands and quickened his pace.

"I don't see any flaming arrows. She's got to be on foot." He almost smiled to himself, thinking about her large frame walking the narrow winding streets of Dal during festival time. Although at times she could be the vicious beast that a dragon's reputation precedes, she was more often than not very curious, adventurous and wide eyed. It was that sense of wonderment that drew her to Dal in the first place, and with Leonard's foresight disregarded, sent her barreling towards the glowing city. He wondered what would catch her attention first, and quickly answered himself with the realization that her first victims would be the food carts. Of course. Wonderment and the sultry smell of fresh cooked meat in the air for miles.

The food carts truly were a thing of beauty to behold as Leonard reached the outlying streets of the city, heaving and trying to catch up to his breath. Beefs and muttons drenched in some sort of brownish-red sauce that tasted slightly sweet and a little hot served with potatoes covered in bubbling oils and sprinkled with the most course and exotic salts from the Rubalay desert that crunched between your teeth with a satisfying crrrick.

His mouth watered and before he knew it, he was at Dalamarhst's main street. Lights, truly, were everywhere, and they sparkled in Leonard's eyes as he looked up at their flames dancing to the steady beats of the wind. Or was that music? His feet began to tap in rhythm, and he groaned at the idea that a potentially fantastic night was about to be spent preventing an oversized reptile from doing... well, whatever the hell it wanted.

Suddenly Leonard felt something from behind give him a thwack on the back of his shins, sending him out of his thoughts and back into the world. Before Leonard could exclaim "Hey!", a large, ox driven cart pushed past him with a snort from both the ox and the crop wielding coachman. Past the cart pushed other patrons that had been blocked access to main street by the cart and Leonard's halted gazing. Noticing then that he had been standing right in the middle of the main street's gated entrance, blocking the way for a growing line of patrons, Leonard may his way down the cobblestone street.

Forgetting about pretty fires and pounding drums, Leonard lowered his head in a posture that made him feel like a rogue and slinked in with the steady stream of festival goers. He had to be stealthy; the dragon would possibly be looking for him, too.

It had been over sixty minutes, and he began to feel like an idiot. This wasn't a needle in a haystack; it was a rather big rock in one. He could do this. Why wasn't he doing this? He had scanned all the areas his dragon would fit, ruling out places indoors or in the open air where somebody would have seen her. Leonard began to feel like this was a not-so-subtle way of her toying with him. She was messing with him, trying to get under his skin and break him so she could let it be known that she was the one in charge. Leonard was the rider. He gave commands, and his dragon was supposed to make them work.

Well, no dragons were listening to him now, and he was already past the point of frustration. All his money was, regrettably, on the beast; what little he had, and his stomach ached while his mouth watered at the yearnings for the sweet-beef. Leonard straightened his posture back to normal, and took a seat sideways to an alleyway. The colorful fire-lights faded into shadows in what appeared to be a lane for garbage pick up. As he slumped foreword into his palms, he no longer felt like a rogue, but a peasant who just let the most exciting thing that ever happened to him slip from his grasp. If a hurricane was to rip the reins from his hand again, he would just have to ride the hurricane, right? ... What a, terrible idea. Well, it wasn't like befriending a dragon was the wisest course either.

A festival parade danced on the tips of their toes a few yards away, singing bawdy tunes, pinching women, and pounding furiously on drum hides. Children ran and hit mens' legs with sticks as they tried to support the beams holding together a menagerie of paper animals. Leonard recounted the places he searched and seriously considered stealing sweet-beef, but realized his hopes for finding the drake would be lost if he were caught. A dragon was worth more than festival food. He could wait, he had to wa--.

"... Oh, no way."

He sprung to life and got on all fours as he pushed his way through the crowd to get a better look at the lively parade. He ignored the massive paper beasts jovially bouncing up and down, only concentrating on the feet.

"Shoes. Shoes. Shoes. Shoes!" He mumbled to himself as mud and grime collected on his hands, knees and elbows.

That's when he saw it, "Scales? Scales! Oh come on...".

He reached for the clawed foot like his life depended on it, and took hold of the creature's limb. She jerked upward, lifting Leonard from the ground by a few feet. The paper costume jumbled to one side as the dragon underneath it shifted her weight around. She was smart, but he was persistent, and wouldn't be letting go this time. Or at least that's what he thought, until a parade horse walked through and stomped him on the left side of his ribcage. Leonard heard a tiick inside his body as the horse whinnied and stepped backward. Thankfully Leonard had been spared the horse's full weight.

The wind had been knocked from him and a scream was too much to eek out. When the air wheezed enough back into his lungs, Leonard clamped his eyes shut and let out a moan. The beast underneath the parade decoration heard the whimper of her rider in pain. Did she know it was me that grabbed her? Paper quickly fell and tore away to reveal true scales and muscles. Leonard heard the dragon unwrapping itself, while he raised himself to a knee and opened his eyes. Despite his pain, he only felt relieved to see her. With her great wings unfolding, she leaned her head downward to scoop him up.

"Wait! What is she doing?" He thought when her massive head bent over to sweep him up like a dust bunny.

He reached for the reins and makeshift bridal still attached around her head and neck and twisted it tightly around a fist. He knew the dangers of what this commitment meant for his hand if the dragon moved too quickly, but he feared falling more.

As he toppled over the smooth spines trailing down the back of her neck, and straddled her like he would an oversized horse. He had experience with that; big farm horses. But nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared him for this.

The audience was not as relieved at the dragon's discovery as Leonard had been, so they screamed. They ran away and caught fleeting glimpses of the two as great wings unfolded and powerful back legs kicked upward from the earth. That massive rush of warm air smoothed Leonard's hair backward and dried his eyes out almost immediately. As he felt her muscles flexing underneath his legs, the dragon's large movements sent shockwaves straight through to his aching ribs. That's when Leonard found the wind to scream. It wasn't a yell of pain or fear however, but rather one of exhilaration as the two climbed higher into a clouded sky. The air grew much colder as they went higher where the lights faded into dusky purples; and when his cries left him, Leonard made the mistake of looking down, and clutched onto the dragon with all his might, hugging as far around her neck as he could.

He lay astride the great beast for the first time since their earliest flight, if you could have called it that, and his excitement resulted in an unanticipated warmth from her. Her eyes dilated into a friendly round shape and a deep, relieved hum echoed in her chest. I'm happy you're safe.

Then, she felt a pounding of his fist into the back of her neck. A punch?! How dare he! She thought with a snarl and the immediate shrinking of her pupils to wide slits.

Leonard huffed and vented the night's frustration. He knew he could strike her as hard as he wanted and it would do no harm. A form of nonverbal communication, it was.

Tilting upside-down would make him think otherwise... She entertained the thought for a moment but thankfully, did not do that. She instead tilted her head to the side enough to exchange a very serious look with eyes like great amber drops.

They had reached the height of small mountains in mere moments, as Dalamarhst disappeared into nothing more than a star on the ground. They flew for hours in a world only they shared above the clouds. He still feared for her, for them, but didn't know how to communicate it. Chilly cold air broke with large warm exhales from the beast's lungs that soothed him, and the rhythmic pumping of her wings soon lulled him into a trance where the worries were forgotten, the cold ignored, and the hours became fleeting. There in the starlit night, during the first flight of dragon and rider, it was only him and she.