him. She sat down on the bed and gently stroked his dark hair. “Poor boy, I will try to make it up to you someday.”
***
Kian woke to a strange noise like a low growl but not like the growl of a big cat or a dog, this was deep and much louder. He must have slept a long time, the fire’s ashes were cold.
He quickly jumped to his feet, shaking off the fog of sleep, looking down the tunnel he saw two large eyes coming towards him, they were much too far apart to be a bear, his feline-like vision let him see the huge reptilian head coming up from the depths of the hole.
The beast was moving slowly, it was as large as the tunnel itself, squirming to get out of the tight space. He knew at once what it was when he saw the dark green shade of its scales; he was in the winter lair of a forest dragon. The smoke from his fire must have awoken it from its winter slumber.
Kian leapt out of the hole as fast as he could, the beast right behind him, he started to run, but drew Malice instead. Why he didn’t know. The dragon wasn’t a great wyrm or a breather, but he didn’t think he had much chance of fighting a beast of this size. However, it was too close and too fast, he would have to try.
As the dragon emerged from the ground, he drove his blade into its head, he meant to strike between its eyes but only managed to bury his sword in its snout.
The monster flipped it head from side to side, causing the swordsman to lose his grip on his sword, its powerful neck muscles sent him flying through the forest, he landed hard, rolling across the snow-covered ground, the strength of the dragon was immense.
It squeezed itself out of its winter den, forty feet of terrible serpent. The forest’s dragons had no wings and short legs, but were known to be very quick and clever.
Kian knew he had to retrieve his sword from its snout or he stood no chance at all. The beast turned to face him, he ran at it as fast as he could, leaping into the air, landing on the head of the creature. The agile warrior ripped his sword out of its snout and jumped off the head.
The dragon spun and snapped at Kian while he was still in the air, one of its dagger-like fangs tore down his shoulder, if not for the confining the space of the trees, it would have bitten him in half.
Kian hit the ground, blood running down his back, the bite burned like fire. The dragon charged again, this time the swordsman somersaulted to the side and came to his feet, his blade flashing; he struck twice, severing the fore leg of the beast.
The monster staggered and reared up on it hind legs, Kian ran underneath it, plunging his sword to the hilt in its soft belly, twisting the blade free as he ran out the other side of the enraged creature.
The dragon came down back on all four legs again, its wounded leg causing it to collapse onto its belly momentarily. It spun, whipping its thick tail like a huge flail, catching the warrior full in the chest, sending him careening end over end into one of the forest’s great trees.
Kian lay in a heap; he shook the snow off and stood up, leaning against the tree for support.
The beast came limping at him, blood dripping from its stomach wound. The thick red ichor oozed out, staining the snow-covered forest floor. It let out a great roar, lowered its head, and lunged at him. Kian gathered his legs under him and jumped straight up. The dragon’s head rammed into the huge tree, shaking the snow off its top-most branches. Kian came straight down and landed on its large head. Holding the sword like a dagger, he drove the blade into the top of the dragon’s skull.
Malice parted the dragon’s tough scales like they were made of silk and slid down into the serpent’s brain.
It shook its head and started to stagger; Kian repeatedly stabbed the monster’s head until its thrashing shook him off again. The swordsman managed to pull his weapon free as he flew off this time and land gracefully on his feet.
The dragon came on but slowly, Kian used the trees to keep the beast off of him, weaving