Cara walked on the wet ground with great force; through heavy sludge and blinding torrents of rain she worked her way through the marsh. It was early in the evening, around seven at night in the hill-swamps of southeastern England, and the storm did not seem to be letting up. But she did not slow down, for she knew she must not abandon her mission, or there would only be further losses.
Cara lived in the village of Pembroke-on-Golstead, usually shortened to just Pembroke; the town was in the unluckiest position in the world at that time. This was during a tense time between Britain and France, sort of around the time of the Hundred Years' war's beginning, and France had decided to invade Britain; Pembroke was only five miles from the beach head. The French had virtually obliterated the village in a matter of hours, few survived, and those that did were taken captive. But Cara had gotten away, she had been running for days, but she ran still, and not to escape the French. No, she sought assistance.
Her father, Tobias, one of the town leaders, had always told her tales of a Dragon named Pridian who lived in the northern hills; he told of how he, even though he was not hot we kindest being in the world, was the town's last resort if they were in mortal danger. So now she walked, weary and rain-soaked, to find the cave her father had spoken of. She had gone about fifty miles already and she was beginning to starve, these rains had turned the terrain into a desolate quagmire. But she pressed on, for every time when wanted to quit, when only thought of how her family and friends were imprisoned like criminals in some French warship.
The thunderstorm only raged harder, stronger, it seemed that the heavens did not care for her crusade. The grassland she was previously walking in was full of mud and puddles, and made it harder to move more than a few feet at a time. She fell down on occasion but it did not deter her, what did deter her was the fact that the Dragon was supposed to live in a small, open cavern, yet she saw no rock at all except the occasional boulder. She thought several times of giving up, but she knew she had to carry on, she had to save her town!
But it was so difficult, the very ground made her sink to her ankles and she had to use much of her little strength to escape. She was barely moving more than a few feet at a time now, she was so hungry, so weary, but she wanted to keep going in order to save her family, but she just couldn't go any further. She got frightened by a lightning strike and fell down into the mud, and she couldn't get up again. She felt defeated, as if all her struggles were in vain, that her family was going to be executed and she couldn't stop it. With what little strength she had left she made a cry of help to the heavens, begging to take her from this life of death and sorrow. Just before she passed out, the thought she heard the beatings of wings, and the feel of cold, hard extrusions lifting her up; she believed it was the Angels, carrying her to her eternal rest...
When Cara awoke, she was lying on a rocky floor, the only light was by some torches on the cliff wall. She sat up to look around; there was an opening to the "cave" on one side which revealed that it was still raining, the room was small, only the size of an average ballroom. She noticed that her tattered clothes were still on her, but where was she, who had taken her here? The answer to that question came when she looked at the large brown mass at the side of the cave... until she noticed it was moving... and had eyes; and then it came into focus and she realized, it was a Dragon. He was about half the size of a large galleon, had dark brown scales and fangs and claws longer than her head, he even had a spiked tail. But what really unnerved her was that it was looking straight at her, with those haunting, purple, snake-like eyes, and they had a sort of... wanting in them, a certain hunger she was unable to place. She tried to get up, but then he spoke.
"You shouldn't rise," the Dragon said, in a deep, passionate voice," you must be exhausted after all that walking."
She sat there, confused, before regaining her composure and saying, "W-where am I, how did you-" but then she made another realization. She had been searching for a Dragon, one who lived in a cavern near the area she fell, and then she knew...
"You... are you Pridian?" she asked him.
He seemed confused at first as to how she knew his name, but finally said, "That just so happens to be my name. Why, who has sent you?"
She was still groggy from waking up, but this question made her snap awake, for she knew of the answer instantly.
"T-the village! Pembroke, it's destroyed! The French took everyone but me! M-my father, Tobias, said you could help us, you have to free my family!"
He seemed confused still, "I- I might seem to recall... OH! Yes, I do remember him. He's the farmer who lives down by the shore and brings me my weekly shipments."
"He- he what?" said Cara, now herself confused.
"Oh, you must be his lovely daughter he always talks about, I must say it's a pleasure to meet you." said Pridian with slight guile.
"But I- I don't understand." said Cara, "My father talks about you at home, yes, but he never said anything about shipments."
"Why, your Father's been helping me out, you see." said Pridian, "Both the French and the British have been pressured by my being here, and they almost wished to remove me if I took anymore of their cattle. But your father came across me one day- I admit, I was trying to kill him for food -but he, out of the pure graciousness of his heart, promised to give me a share of his meat if I spared his life."
"Wait... so you're telling me, that my mother and I have been starving ourselves so that we could afford to feed you?" she said with a slight angry overtone.
"What was I supposed to do?" he said, even more cunningly, moving closer to her with every word, "If the Nations went to war against me I would kill them all, and that would be so much food gone to waste. And besides, why do I want innocent blood on my hands? I would expect you to be grateful after I spared your father's life."
He was now too close to her for comfort, but she knew not to offend him, for anyone would know that would surely mean death.
"Well I... d- are you going to save my people or not!" she said angrily and anxiously, impatient with his ramblings, "My friends and family are dying out there, and all you're doing is sitting here and going on about an old debt!"
But she quickly regretted this outburst, at once a flare of his own anger appeared in his eyes, and he put his neck high above her so as to look more condescending and powerful... it certainly worked. She cowered in fear before the great reptile, regardless of what her father had told him, and curled into a corner of the cavern before his terrible claws.
