Through the Flames (Pt. 3)

Arthur lay there, pain still coursing through his body after trying to stand up. He looked around. It was too dark to make out any details, but he did know he was laying down on a thin bed roll; he felt the earth under him. He looked to his side and saw a cup next to him, he reached out, and grabbed it.

“Mom,” he thought. Then everything started flowing back to his mind. Him running, the Mountain Man grabbing him and stabbing him straight through his abdomen.

Arthur looked down and saw that his shirt was off; he was expecting to see a wound, but what he saw was a scar of the wound, now closed.

He tried to sit up again, and again pain started radiating from the scar, but it was more tolerable this time. He grit his teeth and was able to sit up. As he looked around, he was able to see an entrance to where he was, and he realized now, he was in a cave.

As his eyes started getting accustomed to the low visibility, he started making out more details of where he was.

It was that big of a cave, Arthur was on one corner of the space. He dragged himself over to the wall and propped himself against the wall to be able to sit up.

“Where am I?” Arthur said to himself. He put a hand up on the wall, to help himself up. Slowly he was able to stand up, leaning on the wall, but nevertheless he was standing.

He started walking towards the entrance of the cave. About halfway there, he saw a boulder up against the wall. He made his way over and sat down; his body was radiating pain all over.

As he sat there, Arthur felt a low rumble and looked around. “Where could this be coming from? Maybe an earthquake?” Arthur thought to himself, but suddenly he heard a deep rumbling voice, almost as if a lion were able to talk.

“I see my head has now become a stool for you to sit on.”

Arthur looked down. Looking back at him were two piercing golden eyes. The boulder started to shift and rise. With a new surge of pain, Arthur jumped off of the boulder, which now he could see was a head. A dragon’s head.

“What is this?!” Arthur cried out in disarray.

“I am not a what, I am a he, and he is what saved your life, brave little one.” The low rumbling voice of this dragon echoed throughout the cave, which Arthur now realized was much bigger than he thought. This beast just took up most of the space here.

Arthur just stood there silence, in shock. The head of this dragon moved closer, slowly, as if making sure that he did not come across as menacing or dangerous. The head came up to eye level with Arthur— that’s when Arthur realized that the head of this beast was about the size of his entire body.

“How is the wound feeling?” the dragon asked, which completely confused Arthur.

“Why would he care? What is going on?” He continued to ask himself these questions.

“I care because one, like I explained before, I saved your life, and two, you’ve been unconscious for about four days.”

“Four days?” Arthur asked in utter confusion.

“Oh no. I have to leave, my Dad, my Mom, my family, were you able to save them too?”

As he said this, he was growing more and more frantic, more and more worried.

“My apologies, young one. I was only able to pick you up.”

Dread, fear, sorrow. All of these emotions washed over Arthur in one moment. Tears started to stream down his face. He buried his face in his hands.

“Comfort, Arthur. I said that I was only able to pick you up, but not that they died, there is still a chance they yet live,” the dragon said.

“Why?” Arthur asked as he looked up from his hands. “Why me? Why save me?”

“The courage and willingness to sacrifice everything to save those you care about. That’s why.” The dragon spoke to Arthur, and with every word, and every sentence that the dragon would speak, unexplainably, a feeling of calmness would start to take over Arthur.

“There’s much more to speak about, and so much more to do, little one, but for now, rest. Come morning, you will be completely healed.”

As Arthur was going to speak up and protest, tell the dragon that he needs to find his family, sleep fell over him, too overwhelming to resist. He stumbled his way to the bed roll, and instantly fell asleep.

He dreamed of his family that night.