Dragon Eats Man

Gorbazon soared across the sky, his majestic wings spread wide, the sunlight sparkling on his many-colored scales, as he searched the forest below for any sign of movement. There! A flicker of yellow in the green, and the sound he’d heard before came to his ears yet again. What is this creature, he wondered, and how tasty might it be? He swooped lower to investigate further.

It looked harmless enough. Pale and virtually hairless, it seemed, flailing about in the brush and mewing loudly. Gorbazon felt his curiosity rise as he realized that he had never seen anything quite like this before. He flew lower, his talons almost brushing the treetops as he circled above, and the hairless one looked up, its eyes widening. Gorbazon hesitated. What will it do now? he wondered. Spit acid? Breathe fire, perhaps?

Its mouth opened, displaying strange, teeth-like nubs, and Gorbazon prepared to dodge. Yet still he waited. A sound emitted from the creature’s mouth—not the one he’d heard before, but rather, a sound he’d never heard before. Its lips turned up at the edges, and its eyes sparkled. Was this a challenge?

Gorbazon hovered, watching, for long moments, then descended into the trees. The creature reared up onto its two back legs and made a series of shrill sounds, then fell back onto its rear quarters, which were covered in some kind of white hide. It didn’t look like the hide of any animal he had ever seen before, and it didn’t smell like any either. Everything about this creature was unfamiliar.

Still, although it had bared its teeth, the creature had not attacked, and Gorbazon began to wonder if it could attack, or if it was as helpless as any foal would be against him. On the other hand, it did not seem afraid and had made no attempt to run or hide. This made Gorbazon feel uncomfortable. He, after all, was fearsome to behold, and much larger than this creature.

Perhaps, he thought, it was poisonous and therefore felt confident that it would not be eaten. Gorbazon landed nearby and began to inspect the creature, looking for any of the telltale signs of poisonous creatures. Although he studied it carefully, he couldn’t find anything to indicate either venom or poison. No red markings, no fangs that he could see, no spikes.

He shuffled closer to the mostly hairless animal, beating his wings slightly, and the beast made a sound like a gurgling stream, opening its mouth again to display its nubs. Gorbazon stepped back. Perhaps it was venomous after all, just waiting for him to get close enough to hit with its spray. He noticed a trickle of clear drool run down the side of its mouth. Then it came toward him, faster than he had seen it move before. He backed up farther, then took to the air as it came gurgling after him. That was close! he thought. I’ll have to be more careful.

It stood below him, its forelegs outstretched toward him, bellowing now in rage. Liquid flowed from its eyes and mouth freely, and it stamped the ground. Then it sat down hard and tore at the ground. He watched as it inspected its dirt-covered foot, then placed it in its mouth, making sucking sounds along with satisfied grunts. What is it doing now? he wondered.

He hovered above the treetops once more, watching from a distance. The creature seemed to have lost interest in him, however, and was digging in the dirt, eating, as far as Gorbazon could tell. So, he thought, it eats dirt. Or, at least, it eats something in the dirt. While this didn’t mean it was safe to eat, it did imply that it probably wouldn’t attack him unprovoked.

He considered his options. Perhaps he could sneak up on it from behind and scoop it up in one swoop, before it even knew he was coming. After all, it seemed to be focused intently on its meal, to the exclusion of all else. He circled around behind it and prepared to attack.

Even as Gorbazon began to dive toward the unsuspecting creature, the air near it seemed to shimmer, and a scale-covered creature appeared. The horns on its head looked formidable enough to cause Gorbazon to pause in his attack and reconsider, even if it weren’t for its one long claw that rose from one of its front legs until it came to a point well above the creature’s shiny head.

The pale animal on the ground noticed the horned one and got to its feet, stumbling awkwardly toward it, opening its mouth once more in a menacing display. The horned one picked up the pale one with its forepaws and Gorbazon felt certain this would be the end for one or the other of these strange new animals.

Instead, he heard the horned one make a series of sounds, and then the pale one gurgled again, seemingly in response. Gorbazon huffed impatiently, letting out a small trail of smoke. He couldn’t safely attack either of them now, and he was beginning to feel quite hungry. Both of the creatures looked toward the sound, and the horned one lifted its claw in the air menacingly, clearly issuing a challenge.

Gorbazon circled the area once more, reflecting on the situation. Suddenly, he spotted a sizeable buck in the distance, and his stomach rumbled. Better the meal you know than the one you don’t, he thought, turning toward the bounding creature and picking up speed. Probably sour meat anyway.

Behind his retreating wings, he heard another strange gurgling sound, followed by a soft pop! as the small child and his steel-plated father disappeared, returning to the realm from whence they came. Unperturbed, Gorbazon sailed on.

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