The Hunt

The young dragon jogged along, his short legs not awarding him the same comfortable walking speed as his older brother Obsidian. While he hopped over roots and ducked under branches, Obsidian walked through, unaffected by such trivial obstacles. It was hard enough keeping pace, but the tiny hurdles every few seconds exhausted him.

Suddenly, Obsidian stopped, and he slowed down just enough to stop himself from crashing into his brother's leg.

"You smell that?"

His usually boisterous voice was quieted to a hush, betraying his size.

The young dragon stuck his snout up into the air, taking a deep breath, letting in all the scents of the forest. The same old leaves and trees he'd been smelling were interrupted by something new yet familiar. It smelled a little like the small food his brother sometimes caught, but with a much less potent twinge of blood. That was disappointing; the blood was his favorite part.

Obsidian noticed his younger sibling's nose twitching.

"Yeah, that's it. You're smelling a rabbit right now."

The young dragon looked to his brother with a grin before sticking his nose into the dirt and making a mad dash, chasing the scent trail, eyes and nose focused on the earth in front of him. He made it a good couple of yards until his brother stepped on his tail, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"No, not like that. You are hunting, not playing hide and seek," His brother scolded.

"Now that you know there's a rabbit here, you need to be real quiet. You don't want to scare it away, do you?"

The young dragon shook his head.

"Thought so. Noise can be your friend, too. Listen for any sounds the rabbit makes. It's trying to be quiet, just like you, so you're gonna have to listen hard. Now crouch down, like this."

The older dragon lowered his body to the ground, and his younger brother copied, scampering around, shuffling leaves, filling the area with the sound of crunching leaves.

"No, no, not like that! You need to be quiet and stealthy. Take long steps, watch where you're walking, stay low."

The young dragon listened to his brother's instructions and was a little more careful while scampering through the woods. With the advice, he was able to maneuver the forest floor much more quietly. Yet even with his size, he was still unable to attain the same level of silence as his brother.

The young dragon followed his nose along the scent trail, staying quiet and low, just like his brother said. As he followed the trail, the scent got stronger and stronger until his brother stopped him with his front leg. He looked around and finally spotted the rabbit. It was big for a rabbit, the same size as him.

The young dragon inched closer to his prey silently, instinct taking over from this point. Every foot closer he got, the more focused he was on his target, priming his legs until finally, he pounced.

The rabbit squealed and tried to run, but he had dug into its side with his claws. It dragged him along as it ran. In an attempt to escape, it leaped away, but the dragon's extra weight made it topple instead, rolling both of them into a short tumble.

"Bite it, and don't let go!" His brother roared, voice back to normal.

The young dragon reached up to the rabbit's neck with his jaw, but it pulled away at the last second, giving him a (relatively) mighty kick. He lost his grip in the scuffle, and the rabbit sprinted away, shooting into a nearby bush. The young dragon gave chase, but once he jumped through the bush, the rabbit was gone from sight. He went to find its scent for it again when something grabbed his tail and dragged him out from under the bush.

It was his brother, one claw grabbing him and the rabbit in the other, already dead.

"Better luck next time. I know you can do it. You just need some more practice…." His brother looked away,

"Let's get back home before mom burns down the forest looking for us." His brother smiled at him.

The little dragon sulked as he saw the rabbit in his brother's hand. His brother's attempt to cheer him up had little effect. He'd grown tired, no longer bursting with the enthusiasm he had when they first left, and was riding on his brother's back. Although the ride back was much shorter, time seemed to drag on, inching slowly forwards as he clung to his brother's mane.

Once they finally reached the cave, the young dragon jumped from his brother's back and nestled himself into his spot in the nest, still upset. His brother dropped the rabbit carcass in front of him and pushed it closer.

"Here, this is yours. You hurt it and made it easier for me to catch. I can go find something else to eat. This wouldn't do much for me, anyway."

He sniffed the rabbit, then tore it open with his claws, chomping down bite after bite of the meat, his nose filled with that familiar scent of blood and flesh, comforting to him. With the rabbit nearly the same size as him, there was more than enough food to satisfy him and leave for leftovers. With all his running and exploring, the dragon felt tired, and his full stomach only strengthened that feeling. He licked his mouth clean of blood, along with any other places that got dirty, and curled up, closing his eyes. His mother was still out somewhere, but he'd outgrown the need for her to be there for him to feel safe. Only moments later, sleep took its hold, and he was out.

The dragon awoke when his mother landed. She dropped a deer carcass onto the ground, and his older brother fed from it. His mother curled herself around him, still thinking he was asleep. He planned on falling asleep again shortly, so he didn't act otherwise.

"How did the hunt go? Did he catch anything this time?" She questioned the older dragon.

He sat down and turned his head away.

"Well, he didn't get anything. He found a rabbit, tracked it just fine, too. But… it got away, and I caught it for him."

"Oh…" The young dragon's mother looked down at him, still pretending to be asleep.

"Well, he'll get it someday. He just needs a little more time than most."

"Are you sure? I mean, by the time I was his age, I was twice his size, and I was taking out foxes and raccoons. He still hasn't even killed a rabbit yet…" His brother worried.

"We all develop… Differently. He'll come along eventually. He just needs a bit more help than you did."

She looked back down at him.

"A bit more help than most."

She laid her head down next to him.

"It's not too bad, you know. You grew up so fast, and even if you don't see it, he is too."

"He needs to grow up faster. The humans are attacking us even more now, and they get tougher every time. He can't even defend himself yet, and he especially can't take on one of them!" The older brother interrupted.

"What if we aren't enough? I couldn't live with myself if he…"

He cut himself off, the next word caught in his throat.

"I can't let that happen again… Not now, not with him too. But I can't always be there."

Their mother shifted her position, now encircling both brothers.

"It won't. I promise."

The family of dragons went to sleep together, only the youngest now knowing one member was missing.

A clash echoed throughout the cave walls, the sound of steel on stone instantly waking the family. The only thing that could possibly make that sound were humans. But this was odd. They usually tried to catch the dragons off guard, trying their best to be silent as they crept through the caves, only to be ambushed themselves by the much stealthier dragons. However, these stood at the mouth of the cave, almost taunting them to attack.

"Stay in the nest, and be quiet." The young dragon's mother commended.

"Obsidian, come with me."

The two older dragons rushed forwards to meet their new foes. This time, only two humans stood before them, clad in the enchanted armor all the recent ones wore. They did not bother with lightning, knowing it would either stray away from its target or bounce off. Instead, Obsidian rushed in to swipe them down. As he approached, one of the humans pointed their staff at him, and green orbs fired out, digging into the ground. Thick vines sprouted from the orb's landing site, shooting up and around him, binding his limbs and pressing him into the ground. He could have easily swiped them apart with his claws, but his limbs were held back by the vines.

His mother witnessed the attack on her son and tried to bite the human that cast the spell. Her jaws were plenty wide enough to chomp her in half, but an invisible shell surrounded the human, too large for her to fit her maw around. When she tried to cut Obsidian free, the same field surrounded him. There was still another human for her to attack, so she tried crushing him under her claw. He rolled away just in time, slicing at her as he dove. She tried this a few more times and had no success. She went for a tail sweep, hoping it would be too large of an attack for him to dodge, but only received an injury of her own. The human had impaled her tail with a steel-tipped short spear. It did little to stop her, but still hurt like mad.

Obsidian struggled in his bindings as the first human approached. It fired another green orb towards his head, and a new vine sprouted, pulling his snout to the ground. He growled, squirming in the vines, but it was to no avail. Just then, he saw something move in the corner of his eye. It looked like it was moving towards the nest! He tried to warn his mother, but could say nothing as she fought the other human. He could only watch as a figure breached their nest.

Fired up with a new sense of purpose, he unleashed as much electricity as he could through his scales. He knew it would do nothing to the humans, but that wasn't what he was aiming for. The vines binding him town sizzled and cracked until they weakened enough for him to lift himself free.

"They're just distracting us! There's a third!" He warned.

The young dragon watched the battle, peeking his head over the ledge of the nest. He, too, saw the shadowy figure move towards the nest. It leaped over the nest walls and pulled out a black sack. It dove forwards, grabbing him, and stuffed him into the sack. He tried clawing his way out, but it was too tough. It was as if he were rubbing a smooth stone against it, his claws not even catching on the fibers.

Once the young dragon was acquired, the humans retreated. The dragons tried to give chase, but an invisible wall of force blocked the mouth of the cave, with an opening only large enough for the humans to escape through, with one extra added to the party.

The longer the young dragon was trapped in the bag, the more tired he got. The bag's magic forced him into unconsciousness. The last things he heard were the screams of his family and the strange sound the wall made as they pounded against it, trying to ram their way through.

The next time the dragon awoke, he was in a strange place. The walls around him were not like the cave or nest. They were completely flat. He was on something soft, too. Like he was walking on animal furs. A hole in the wall let in moonlight, illuminating the scene around him.

He looked up and saw a human, short and round, slumped on the ground, as another one, much taller and more muscular, writhed next to him. He cowered, inching away until his back pressed against the wall until the taller human stopped seizing. It gasped for air, then sat up, turning to face him.

The human yelled and lunged for him, but it was slow, twitching as it moved. The young dragon dove away and ran through the opening in the strange cave, finding himself in the woods. He ran and ran, until he could no longer run, and collapsed. It was nighttime, the stars visible through the breaks between the leaves of the forest canopy. After resting for a few minutes, the young dragon pulled itself up and searched the area for anything he recognized. It was strange, all the trees were taller and thicker, along with new ones sprouted between them. Eventually, through sheer luck, the young dragon found a rock formation he recognized and found his way back to the cave. He expected to find his mother and brother waiting for him, but instead, he found empty chambers. He cried out for them, again and again, but got no reply. He searched the cave for any signs of them until giving up. He sat on the cold stone ground near the entrance, laying down below the claw marks on the wall he and his brother left. All other signs of his family were gone. Even their scent had vanished, leaving behind only the damp, minerally smell of an empty cave. There the dragon stayed, awake, waiting throughout the night, and the next day, until he could no longer keep his eyelids up, falling back into the clutches of sleep.