Pretty Beastie

Part I

It was a warm, bright day. The sky above yielded the sun’s glorious rays, which touched everything on the earth below. Boruta stretches out his long, strong legs as he lies in the thick grass of Evermore Forest. His enormous wings lay lazily beside him as he bathes in the sun’s beams, his silver scales glistening like precious jewels.

Boruta watches the animals of the forest as they scamper around, looking for food and playing amongst each other, not scared of him in the slightest. They needn't be; since he was a whelp, Boruta had made it his objective to protect the forest and the creatures that inhabited it from the dangers of the outside world, humans being the biggest fear of all.

A butterfly lands on Boruta’s snout. He remains very still as he watches its purple and black wings move up and down. Wait. What was that?! Forgetting about the butterfly, a startled Boruta quickly perks his head up in the direction the undiscernible sound came from.

Getting to his feet, he’s about to head in that direction when another sound stops him. He remains still, perks his ears up, and waits. There it is again, and much clearer this time! It sounds like an animal of some sort crying for help.

Boruta is now running in that direction when the sound comes for the fourth time. This creature needs help! Boruta thinks to himself. Not to worry, little guy, I’m almost there!

He suddenly stops so fast and hard that his feet drag up a large portion of the earth, grass, and flowers with him. He’s now face-to-face with a creature he never wanted to see again, let alone way out here. It’s a human, however; a very small one, but still a human nonetheless! It’s screeching loudly; its wet face is contorted into a mass of wrinkles.

Humans sure are ugly beings. Even the wee ones are hideous! Boruta sneers. Well, there’s nothing I can do, so I might as well leave. Surely it didn’t come here by itself. There must be others close by, which is all the more reason for me to get out of here! Boruta turns around and begins to walk away, leaving the wee human exactly where he found it, but he doesn’t get very far.

Though he doesn’t want to have anything to do with humans and their offspring, those cries are pulling at his dragon heartstrings. He peers back at the child who’s still crying. Even though it’s sitting up, only its head can be seen from the tall, thick grass. Boruta cautiously observes his surroundings, ready to defend himself and his home if there’s an ambush of humans lurking nearby in the forest’s shadows.

His dragon senses aren’t picking up any human scents except for the child’s, though, so it’s safe to say the child is, in fact, alone. Boruta moves his head closer to the screaming child when it stops crying. It coughs several times and sniffles, opening its eyes for the first time. Boruta fights the urge to bolt as the child stares at him with a curious expression. With the strange look on its face, he expects it to start crying again. After all, he is a dragon, and dragons scare people! Even if dragons didn’t scare people, Boruta was sure his appearance would. His brilliant silver scales, humongous black wings, and ominous orange eyes would make even the bravest warriors flee for their homes.

Several intense moments pass before the child’s curious face breaks into a smiling, happy one. It laughs and claps its hands together before reaching them out toward Boruta. What?! Repulsed at the idea of a human touching him, Boruta steps back from the child’s grubby little fingers. A look of forlorn crosses the child’s face, and it looks as though it may start crying again as it stares at him. Oh no! The last thing Boruta would want is to hear this wee thing cry again.

He moves his face closer to the child again, careful to keep just out of its reach. In a flash, the child is on its feet and hugging Boruta’s large snout! Boruta’s eyes grow large. What’s happening?! Get off! He tries to shake the child off his snout, but the child hangs on and laughs gleefully.

Devastated, Boruta sinks to the ground and doesn’t move. The child stops laughing and slides off his snout. Sensing the dragon’s change in mood, the child makes its way to one of Boruta’s large, orange eyes. The child is so close that Boruta can now see that the child is a wee little lass. She reaches a tiny hand up and gently strokes the side of Boruta’s mouth, right above the gums that hold his razor-sharp teeth.

“Don’t be sad, Pretty Beastie,” she says, leaning against his hard, silver scales. Pretty?! This is the first time Boruta had heard anything call him that. Was this wee lass indeed a human? Yes, she was. However, she wasn’t like any human he had ever crossed paths with.

Part II

Boruta is heading home while the child skips alongside him, picking wildflowers. It seems she’s gotten the notion to tag along, not that he asked her to! The child stops when she sees the large horde of animals peering at her. They have all gathered around and curiously watch Boruta and this human creature from a safe distance.

“Oh, how lovely!” she exclaims. “Hello!” She waves a small hand at them while they all stare at Boruta.

“It’s all right; she’s harmless,” Boruta assures them.

“Why did you bring her here?” a stag inquires.

“I didn’t; she followed me.” Perhaps Boruta should have left this child where he found her, yet how could he? No one was around to take care of her. Would he be so cruel as to leave her alone and afraid? No! He has seen the atrocities humans have done to his kind and how little respect they have for nature and the creatures who call it their home. Yet, he wasn’t going to reciprocate. He would take this little lass back home to her family, wherever that may be.

The sun was setting on the horizon now, indicating that it was dinnertime. Boruta makes his way to Ancient Oak, a magical tree that’s been around for millenniums. It yields delicious fruits every day, which feeds all the animals of Evermore Forest, including Boruta’s dragon appetite. Ancient Oak is so large that even Boruta must fly up to reach its fruits! The animals congregate below as Boruta reaches the tree’s branches. He shakes several of its limbs, which causes the yummy fruits to float to the ground below.

Boruta continues to shake the branches until all of the animals have gotten their fill before he begins to feed himself. He flies back down to the ground and starts feasting on the delicious fruits before he notices the child staring at him.

She must be hungry. Boruta thinks to himself, but what do humans eat? Do they even eat fruits, or do they eat meat? Hopefully, not the latter. Though Boruta was a dragon, he didn’t eat animals. The animals of Evermore Forest were his friends, and he refused to eat any of them! Boruta bites one of the fruits in half and slides it over to where the child is sitting. Even with half of it taken away, the fruit is as large as the child! She stares at it, seemingly mesmerized by its warm, yellow glow. Boruta returns to eating when he hears a loud chomp next to him. The child has just taken a large bite out of the fruit. Juice drips down her face as she munches away and claps her hands excitedly.

The stars dance in the dark sky above. Boruta is nestled in the thick grass, ready to go to sleep. The sounds of the crickets and frogs sing to him like a lullaby, making his eyelids grow heavy. He’s almost drifted off to sleep when he feels something tugging on one of his wings. Boruta’s eyes pop open to find the child cuddled beside him with his wing wrapped around her like a blanket. Watching her intently, Boruta wonders why she decided to sleep here, beside him, and not somewhere else. He also wonders why he’s letting her! Just earlier today, he was repulsed by her touch. Why didn’t he shrug her off of him? What had changed?

Part III

The next morning, Boruta and the child make their way through Evermore Forest. The day is warm and bright, with the birds chirping happily to one another. Boruta watches the child as she bounds in the grass like a deer, trying to catch the colorful butterflies resting on the flowers. He has to walk so slow and stop several times just so that he can keep the little lass in his sight. They had been walking for most of the day and hadn’t made it as far as he would have liked. He was hoping that they would have made it to her home by now; however, by the looks of it, they weren’t even close. Several times he’s contemplated putting her on his back so they can cover ground faster. Each time, however, the thought has crossed his mind, he quickly aborts it!

The child has suddenly grown somber, which gets his attention. What has happened to make her so quiet? Boruta looks in the direction of the child’s gaze and sees a trail that leads to almost total darkness. This is where Evermore Forest ends and leads into the Woods of Demise! Boruta had forgotten that the only way to leave Evermore Forest on foot was to go through these woods.

He avoided this part of the forest as much as he avoided coming into contact with humans. Not because he’s scared, but because of one particular creature that lived there whom he despised! Boruta looked down to find the child beside him, her small hands resting on his scaly leg. Her eyes are large and riddled with anxiety.

“Follow me and stay close. The quicker we move, the faster we’ll be out.” Without wasting another second, Boruta moves towards those menacing woods, pushing aside the foreboding feeling that nagged at him. The child stays beside him and surprisingly keeps up with his fast strides. She was eager to get out as much as he was.

Crack! Boruta quickly stops when he hears what is a tree branch snapping. Something’s here, and it’s very close. With his dragon senses on full alert, Boruta knows that the creature he detests is here. Just the smell of the stench alone is enough to make him gag!

“Sssssss!”

Boruta winces. Oh, how he hates that sound! Rather than fleeing, Boruta braces himself, ready to attack if this pest decides to try anything.

“Well, well, well! How nice of you to pay me a visit. I didn’t think you’d have the gall to show your face here again,” the annoying voice sneers behind Boruta. He whips his head around and finds the giant snake, Amrak, behind him.

“I have no intention of staying, just passing through,” Boruta says, not wanting to continue the conversation.

“Don’t you mean ‘we’? You’re not here alone. I could smell the human with you a mile away!”

Oh no! Boruta had hoped it didn’t know about the girl, but unfortunately, it did. The black and brown snake moves to Boruta’s side and sees the girl under Boruta’s large, black wing. She’s clutching onto Boruta’s scaly foreleg and keeps her head down, avoiding looking Amrak in the eye. The snake’s copper eyes flash with an undiscernible expression as it faces Boruta again.

“You should have left her in that pasture. Now I’ll have to kill you both!”

Boruta’s eyes widen at the realization that Amrak was behind the child’s appearance in Evermore Forest. She hadn’t come there on her own accord, she had been taken from her home by this thief! In an instant, the snake’s mouth is open and coming for Boruta’s throat! Boruta dodges out of its reach and clips it in the face with one of his wings. This momentarily stuns Amrak who falls to the ground.

There was no time to waste! Boruta would have to fly his way out of here. Which meant he would have to put the child on his back! Though he would like nothing more than not to do this, he had no other choice.

“Quick! Get on my back!” Boruta orders the child, who stares wildly at him.

“No!” she replies. What did she mean? Well, now was no time to think about that; they had to get out of here!

Without hesitation, Boruta takes the child, puts her onto his back, and takes flight just as Amrak lunges at him. Once they’re out of Amrak’s reach, Boruta slows down his pace, so they’re now gliding leisurely through the air. The child opens her eyes and stares at the ground below. She shrieks and grabs onto one of the many spikes adorning Boruta’s back.

“It’s all right. I promise you won’t fall,” Boruta tells her. He’s not sure why he’s trying to calm her down or why he’s even concerned about her in the first place. When had he become so worried about a human’s emotions?

He looks back at the girl and finds that she’s no longer clutching onto him. Instead, she’s sitting upright with her eyes closed and her arms outstretched while the sun shines on her face. “Look, there’s my home!” She points a little finger in front of her.

Boruta turns in the direction she’s pointing. They’re so high that he doesn’t see the large number of houses right away. They’re so small that they look to be no more than white specks of snow below. Immediately, Boruta dives quickly down toward the ground. The last thing he would want is for someone to see him flying in the air. It would only be a matter of time before someone started shooting arrows at him, and he didn’t want to go through that!

Once they’re on the ground, the little lass quickly slides down his back and begins to take off in the direction of her village before she abruptly stops. Turning around to find that Boruta hasn’t moved, she beckons for him to follow her. “Come on!” She waves a hand at him.

He doesn’t budge. “I can’t. My only objective was to bring you back safely to your family. That’s all.”

The girl’s face changes from happy to sad as her eyes fill with tears. Oh no! If she starts crying, that would make everything ten times worse, and Boruta wouldn’t stick around to be accused of harming the child.

“Please come with me,” she whimpers. Tears are falling from her eyes, but she’s not sobbing loudly like she was the other day. It hurts seeing her like this, and Boruta wishes their parting could have ended on happier terms, but he knows he has to leave.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go back to my home. Goodbye.” As he turns around to leave, a snapping sound in the woods stops him.

Boruta and the child turn to find a young boy with an armful of tree branches staring at them. Not trying to make any sudden movements to frighten him, Boruta remains still, hoping that the boy doesn’t scream. An eternity seems to go by before the boy drops the wood, screams, and runs off toward the village. Uh oh! Boruta had to get out of here and fast!

He’s about to take flight when he catches sight of a copper gleam from one of Amrak’s eyes in the woods not far from where Boruta and the child are. It had followed them here! Now, Boruta found himself in a difficult situation. If he left, the snake would surely decimate the entire village. After all, it hated humans. Worse yet, the girl would be the first causality because it had its ominous eyes set on her this very minute!

If Boruta stayed, he would surely be killed by the humans or at the least imprisoned in a deep, dark dungeon somewhere, all alone, and in a way, that was worse than death! It was an impossible decision, and neither would fare well for him or the humans. What should he do?

Before he can decide, a mob of villagers appears out of the woods and gasps when they behold Boruta in their sight. “Get back! Get back!” they holler at him. They’re holding pitchforks, frying pans, and whatever else could be considered a weapon at Boruta.

A woman grabs the child and holds her close as she stares at the dragon. “Kill it! It stole my daughter from me!” she cries. What? Wait, that wasn’t true!

The villagers holler at the top of their lungs and charge at Boruta, jabbing at him with their weapons. Though his scales protect him, their jabbing annoys him nonetheless. This is why he doesn’t like humans! They’re always quick to assume the worst without seeking the truth first.

“Stop it!” The child hollers. Her voice is small, yet it is heard over the commotion. The villagers stop and stare at her as if she’s gone insane. “Don’t hurt him, he took care of me! He’s my friend!” She breaks free from her mother and runs to Boruta. “I’m sorry, Pretty Beastie,” she apologizes, reaching out a small hand to pet Boruta’s snout while the villagers watch on in shock. Boruta doesn’t know what to make of this. She had just saved him. A human had just saved him!

Boruta stares at the child as she continues to clutch onto his snout. Everything is so quiet now from what it was a moment ago that it seems time is standing still. That is until loud slithering is heard from behind Boruta. It’s Amrak! Without hesitation, Boruta grabs the child out of Amrak’s reach and whips around, using his tail to knock the giant serpent in the face.

The villagers scream and begin running in many different directions as Amrak slithers after them. Boruta grabs the snake’s tail and chomps down on it with all his might! The snake hisses and whips its head around; its jaw unhinges and clamps onto one of Boruta’s forelegs. Because of Boruta’s dragon scales, the snake cannot get a good grip, and its teeth immediately slide from the dragon’s leg. Realizing this, the snake cunningly wraps its long, slippery body around and around Boruta.

They’re both on the ground now. Amrak is wrapped tightly around Boruta while Boruta still has his teeth hooked in the snake’s tail. Both stop moving as each war against the other, wondering which will die first. It’s getting harder for Boruta to breathe now; the snake senses this and squeezes its body tighter around Boruta, literally squeezing the life out of him!

“Aaaaaa!” a scream pierces through the air. It’s the child. She’s holding a large stick and thumping the serpent upside its head. The villagers are also there, and they’re all partaking in throwing pots and pans and jabbing at Amrak with their pitchforks. Annoyed, the snake turns its attention from Boruta to the interfering humans, not noticing that its grip on the dragon has slightly loosened! Noticing this advantage, Boruta seizes this opportunity.

Letting go of Amrak’s tail, Boruta whips his head around and clamps his mouth onto its neck! The snake hisses loudly as it tries to break free from the dragon’s vise grip. Using his forearms to get ahold of the snake, Boruta turns it around so they’re now face-to-face and breathes an inferno into Amrak’s face! The serpent shrieks one last time before it drops to the ground in a large, smoldering heap!

The villagers stare at the dead snake and then at Boruta, none uttering a word. The child runs over to Boruta and lays a little hand on one of his forelegs. “Are you all right?” she asks so quietly that he almost doesn’t hear her.

“Yes, I am. Thank you.” He never thought he would say that to a human, nonetheless, but he may not have defeated Amrak if it wasn’t for her, so she had his gratitude.

“You’re hurt!” she shrieks, staring at the dark gray patch of exposed skin from where one of his scales had been. Boruta watches silently as the girl picks up his fallen scale and tries to put it back where it came from. Tears stream down her face as she sputters, “I don’t want you to die!”

“It’s all right, I’m not hurt, and I’ll grow another,” Boruta assures her as the villagers cautiously make their way toward him. He braces himself just in case they decide to try and fight him again. They don’t. Instead, they stare in awe at the magnificent silver dragon that just saved them from the fangs of that giant serpent!

The child’s mother is now holding her and staring up at Boruta. She slowly moves a hand closer to him until it’s lightly resting on his snout, just as her daughter had done. The other villagers follow suit, which confuses Boruta. First, they wanted to kill him, and now they want to treat him like a pet?!

“He just saved the entire village!” “He’s a hero!” This was what they kept saying about him. “We should keep him!” someone said. Boruta begins to panic. Yes, he saved them, but the last thing he would want is to be someone’s pet!

“No!” the child says sternly. “He’s not a pet. He’s my friend.” She looks up at Boruta with sorrow in her eyes as she says, “He should be free.”

Boruta lowers his head, so it’s on the same level as the child. “Thank you, friend,” he says. She smiles back before holding his scale out to him. Boruta shakes his head. “Keep it. This way, you’ll remember me.”

Reaching a little hand out again, she gently strokes Boruta’s snout for the final time. “Goodbye, Pretty Beastie.”

With this final bid of farewell, Boruta spreads his enormous black wings and, in one swoop, is off the ground and back into the large, blue sky above where he can be free!

The end.