Beyond The Trees

Skarcoly was roused from his deep slumber by an odd noise. He raised his head and blinked sleepily, cocking his head to one side as he listened. The sound came again, a tired, thin wailing on the breeze. Rising carefully to his feet, Skarcoly avoided the other sleeping dragons in the den and emerged into the moonlit forest night. He paused at the base of the rock over the cave entrance and waited for the sound to come again, a light wind ruffling around his ears.

It came from the east, a little softer this time, as though the maker of the noise was getting tired. Moving cautiously, as there were many enemies lurking between the trunks that would happily slay a dragon such as he, Skarcoly edged towards the sound. Finally, he could see a small, pale shape huddled on the ground at the foot of a tree and stopped where he was, huffing in surprise and nearly lighting a nearby bush on fire. The shape raised its head and let out another wail, and Skarcoly sensed straight away that the little thing wasn’t a threat to him. The wail was full of anguish and fear.

Skarcoly walked silently forward and extended his nose towards the thing. Up close, he realised it was a child human, only two or three years in age. His senses told him that it was alone – the child’s brethren weren’t in the area. He breathed softly over the small face and watched as the child’s eyes opened and looked up at him, a flick of fear appearing on its features.

‘Do not fear me, young one,’ Skarcoly communicated in the telepathic way of dragons. ‘I mean you no harm.’

The child’s face screwed up in confusion as the words registered in its mind, and then the fear vanished, and the child raised a chubby hand to pat Skarcoly’s scaly blue nose. In turn, Skarcoly rubbed his head gently against the child’s arms.

‘Come with me,’ he commanded softly. ‘I will give you a warm place to sleep and then we will find your brethren.’ As he turned to go, he realised that the child’s small legs would be inadequate for the walk back to the den. So, he gently took the child’s clothing in his mouth and lifted the small body off the ground to carry. The child did not cry out and seemed content to be carried by its rescuer.

Back in the den, Skarcoly lowered the child to the floor and looked around at the other dragons. He nosed the nearest, his brother Rubinth, and coaxed him into wakefulness. ‘Rubinth,’ he called softly. ‘I need your guidance.’

His brother raised his grey head and looked at him sleepily. ‘With what, O’ brother?’ he asked.

‘I have found this small child in the forest, quite alone. It was crying out for its brethren, but none seem to be nearby. As it’s only a youngling, I brought it back to the warmth of the den for the remainder of the night, but I know not what it may need.’ As he spoke Skarcoly rubbed his nose against the child again, reassuring it that the dragons meant no harm.

Rubinth stood and came to examine the child. ‘It looks to be hungry and cold. We should provide some burnt bird meat for it and try to warm it’s little body.’ He turned and left, returning in time with a piece of forest bird meat he had roasted using his fire breath. He gently offered it to the child, who looked excited for a moment and then put the meat to its mouth. Both dragons hummed in approval as the child chewed on the delicacy.

The noise woke the third dragon in the den, Rubinth’s mate Teshka. ‘What has happened?’ she asked softly, staring down and the young child. ‘Where did this youngling come from?’

‘I found it lost in the forest beyond the den entrance. It was alone – I believe it may be lost, perhaps wandered away from its brethren.’

‘Well, we should return it,’ Teshka said. ‘It's brethren are likely worrying. Think of if it were our own younglings, would not we be frantic for their safety?’

Skarcoly nodded in agreement. ‘I thought the same, yet how should we return it to those who wish to harm us?’

Teshka snuffed at the child’s hair, eliciting a giggle from the small creature. ‘I think we need not worry. If they see us bringing the child back in a way that does not look threatening, and we do not look to harm the child, then I trust we will be safe.’ She looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘I think we should wait for the daylight time as we would appear less threatening in the light. And we should avoid flying – to walk would be much less frightening to the humans. In the meantime, we should allow the child to sleep, whilst we prepare a carry basket of vines to transport it in.’

Skarcoly turned and nuzzled together a pile of dry leaves for the youngling to lay on to sleep. ‘Come, little one. Lay here and we will lay with you to keep you warm. You can sleep safely there.’ The child complied and was asleep almost instantly.

‘By the way,’ Teshka said softly. ‘Is it a male or a female youngling?’

‘I could not tell,’ Skarcoly admitted. ‘But it is remarkably brave either way. Perhaps we should give it a name, so we no longer need to refer to it as the child or youngling.’

‘A name,’ Rubinth had been quiet, watching the child with curiosity. ‘I feel a name would be good. ‘It’ hardly describes the little thing.’ He rubbed his eye against his scaly front leg to relieve an itch. ‘What shall we call it?’

‘We should call it ‘Spleath’,’ Teshka said with a nod. ‘It means ‘young one’.’

‘Spleath,’ Skarcoly breathed into the sleeping child’s ear. ‘Spleath you shall be until we return you to your brethren.’

The three dragons lay around the child to keep the tiny body warm, using their clawed feet to weave a basket of vines they could carry Spleath in on the morrow.

As the night started to fade and the bird chorus echoed through the den, Spleath stirred and sat up, rubbing its eyes sleepily before looking around at the three dragons. They looked back, and Skarcoly sensed the child wanted to know more about them. ‘Are you afraid of us, little Spleath?’ he asked softly.

The child paused as it processed the thought and shook its head. ‘No, not ‘fraid.’

‘My name is Skarcoly,’ the dragon said, thinking the words. ‘I can’t say that aloud or else I may breathe fire, and I wouldn’t wish to frighten you.’

Spleath laughed and clapped its hands together. ‘Say name!’ it chanted in a sing-song voice. ‘Skar-lo say name!’

Beside him, both Teshka and Rubinth huffed out a smoky breath in amusement. Skarcoly turned his great head to look at them both, then looked back at Spleath questioningly. ‘You might be frightened,’ he told the child. ‘The fire is hard to control.’

‘Say name!’

Skarcoly was amused and wished to honour the youngling’s request. He turned his head away slightly and said aloud, ‘I am Skarcoly.’ A spurt of fire darted from his open jaw and set fire to a pile of leaves. Aghast, he scurried over and snuffed them out with his long tail.

Behind him, Spleath laughed and laughed. ‘Again! Skar-lo do ‘gain!’

Skarcoly shook his massive head. ‘I would not wish to burn all our bedding,’ he told the child with mirth. ‘This is my brother Rubinth and his mate Teshka. We wish you no harm and will return you to your brethren.’

The two dragons nodded gently, and Teshka asked, ‘Are you hungry, youngling Spleath?’ When the child nodded eagerly, she produced a piece of bird meat she had prepared. Whilst the child ate, Skarcoly fitted the vine basket around his own neck in preparation for their journey.

Finally, the three dragons emerged from the den into the morning light, with Spleath comfortable in the basket. ‘What way should we go?’ Rubinth asked, looking around them at the forest.

‘Let me smell,’ Skarcoly said, ‘perhaps I shall scent Spleath’s brethren.’ He took a deep sniff and inhaled a fly up his nostril, then exploded in a sneeze that set fire to a nearby tree. Spleath giggled from the basket as Rubinth huffed in frustration and extinguished the flames.

‘I think more caution is in order, O’ brother,’ he chided. ‘Perhaps next time you might alight the child instead.’

Teshka, not trusting Skarcoly to try again, used her powerful sense of smell to determine where the human encampment was, and then led the way forward. ‘They are not too many steps away,’ she said confidently over her shoulder. ‘We should reach them before the morning light is old.’

The vine basket containing Spleath swung gently below Skarcoly’s neck as the dragons walked through the forest, and the child murmured happily to itself, reaching out to try and catch the floating butterflies in the air. The trees began to thin out after a time, and from her position in the lead, Teshka called back, ‘There is smoke.’

As they came in sight of the encampment, they paused for a moment to survey for danger. Skarcoly’s eye was drawn to a human female, weeping on her knees near a rough shelter. Several other females appeared to be comforting her. Interestingly, there were no male humans in sight – Skarcoly realised that they must all be out searching the forest for Spleath.

‘Perhaps you should go forth,’ Rubinth told Skarcoly wisely. ‘They may be less likely to attack if they do not feel threatened by all three of us. And as you are carrying Spleath in the basket, you do not look menacing.’

‘I shall go,’ Skarcoly said, before stepping forward softly through the last of the trees into the clearing. Rubinth and Teshka remained behind in the line of trees, not fully hidden from view. He approached the camp very cautiously, each step waiting for the humans to notice him. Finally, one female did, and she let out a loud scream of fright. Skarcoly paused, unsure whether to go any further forward, and hung his head slightly in an effort to appear less threatening.

The scream of the female alerted the others, and they stared at Skarcoly in horror. The weeping female, however, looked up as well, and then screamed a different scream – hers was one of joy as she recognised her offspring in the basket. ‘Phillip! My darling Phillip!’ she cried as she ran forward towards Skarcoly. She stopped not far away, terrified of approaching him, but wanting to reach her child.

Skarcoly wanted to reassure the female that he was not a threat but was unsure how. Instead, he undid the vines and gently placed the basket he was carrying on the ground. Spleath laughed and swatted at Skarcoly’s long ears that dangled near him. Skarcoly waited until the child had dropped his hands and then stepped back away from the basket.

As soon as he was at a safe distance, the female ran forward to the child in the basket, scooping it up and cuddling him tightly to her chest. After a few minutes, the child struggled to get down, and she reluctantly let him. Instantly, he turned and ran clumsily towards Skarcoly, as his mother made a grab to stop him.

Skarcoly lowered his head to the youngling and closed his eyes in contentment as Spleath – or Phillip – hugged his nose. ‘Fanks, Skar-lo,’ Phillip said. He let go and patted the dragon’s scales with a clumsy hand. Skarcoly snuffled his hair and blew smoke around the child, before nudging him with his nose and starting to back away quietly towards the other dragons waiting in the trees.

As he did so, the female, having watched her son’s interaction with the huge dragon, found the courage to approach, and stooped to pick up the child. She looked up at Skarcoly and smiled. ‘Thank you,’ she told him softly, and Skarcoly blinked in acknowledgement.

Suddenly, his nose tickled, and he barely had time to turn his head to the side before he sneezed, shooting flames towards a dry grass clump next to them. It caught fire amidst the sound of Phillip laughing and looking down Skarcoly saw the boy holding a feather he had pulled from his mother’s hair. ‘Skar-lo fire things,’ Phillip told his mother proudly, and watched as Skarcoly extinguished the flames with his tail. ‘Skar-lo funny.’

The female laughed. ‘Yes, darling, he’s funny.’ She tentatively extended her hand towards the dragon’s nose, and Skarcoly didn’t move whilst she placed it against his cool scales. He huffed out a puff of smoke that encircled them as she whispered again, ‘Thank you, dragon.’

When she dropped her hand, Skarcoly nodded his great head, blew a puff of smoke into the child’s hair affectionately and thought ‘Goodbye, Spleath.’ The child smiled, and waved as Skarcoly backed away into the trees, knowing that from this particular group of humans at least, he and the other dragons would be safe.