Cináed Stopped. Looking down he tried to catch his breath yet, strangely, he seemed unable to. That was when he remembered the immense weight on his shoulders. With his mind foggy with pain and fatigue, it took him a minute to decide what to do and start rotating his head around to see what he was carrying. NO! His head whipped back quicker then he thought possible. Cináed didn’t know why he shouldn’t look back, but he knew he had to keep looking forward. With a purpose he hadn’t realized he had his feet started forward. He moved slowly confused and tired but confident this was his promise, he almost stumbled as his mind stopped. “Promise?” he thought, “Is that really the right word?” Yet, even though he questioned himself, certainty set in; yes, it was a promise and he was going to do it. With that revelation, a strange determination set in driving back the strain in his arms as his legs pushed harder against the ground and, for just a moment, he knew what was on his back and a shiver of fear overwhelmed him before he banished the thoughts deep into his mind and focused solely on his newly rediscovered purpose.

..…..

Dragon in the Barn

Cináed stared down in dismay at the shovel in his hand, he was sure that his mother had found the absolute shortest shovel they had for him to muck out the chicken coop. So what if he was late for dinner, it wasn’t his fault he was having so much fun in the woods. Didn’t she understand he just needed to be free, disentangled from things like dinner. As he walked around the side of the barn heading out to the chicken coop he heard a strange sound from behind the barn door. It was as if someone was inside, but that couldn’t be; he had just seen everyone at dinner, a dinner in fact that he wasn’t eating. He felt his hand start to shake as it reached forward to grasp the latch and open the door. It swung open on old hinges and in a shaky voice he squeaked out a pleading question, “Hello?”, then slightly louder and with more confidence, he managed to repeat, "Hello who's in here?” Out of all the things his running imagination could come up with he did not expect a soft and tired answer, “I am.”

..…..

As old as he was there still seemed to be times where, more often than his wise old bones would like to admit, he was genuinely surprised. And this was one of those times, when the boy had entered the barn he was resting and he had not seen the harm in answering his simple question but, what had surprised him was that the boy, ever so young and nervous, had clearly heard his response. With a sigh that lasted an age, he stretched out his tail and began his routine of getting up. It was not a fast action for a dragon of his age to rise from rest. As his full frame came off the soft bed of hay his eyes alighted on the face of his disturber and he heard the boy once again speak.

“Who” the word was barely audible, but the dragon heard it loudly and almost answered, then the boy continued.

"Who are you," he said with only slightly less shaking in his voice.

“I am a dragon," the old dragon responded knowing in his wise old years that this was not the answer the boy was looking for, but it was always best to let those who are confused formulate the right questions and wait patiently for them to do so.

And so the dragon stood still and watched the boy as his face shifted from one expression to another and then another. The boy finally spoke again, and the dragon began to think of the wisest way to respond to the question he knew was coming, but the boy did not cooperate with the old dragon’s preparations as he merely mumbled, “that makes sense.”

What does an old dragon say to that, no, what does a wise old dragon say to that? Standing there they both were lost in their own thoughts; the dragon trying to reestablish his image of wise and old with a slow and confusing response to astound the boy. The boy, on the other hand, was clearly struggling not to move, hoping beyond all hope that his hands did not fall off from the force of their tremble.

..…..

An ear-piercing yell erupted from the house, Cináed cringed knowing the source of the voice, it was his mother who had just now looked out the window to see the chicken coop empty. Cináed looked up startled out of his thoughts and with hands that were strong and steady closed the small barn door while running to reach the chicken coop. He laid into his task with the speed of the desperate, knowing that at any moment his father would be sent to see how far he had gotten. It had to look as if he was well on his way and just had stepped out of sight for a second when his mother had looked. After all, these were dangerous times to be a boy, especially one who had been late for dinner.

As Cináed felt the familiarity of chores set in, he did what he always did when monotony arrived, he daydreamed. Yet, this time he thought of dragons and slowly his mind overcame its fear as old stories by the bedside came rushing in to occupy his mind. Stories about how dragons flew high in the sky, his mother used to tell of the bravest men who sometimes could rid the dragons, in the stories both man and beast became like one. What an idea, the shovel had fully stopped moving at this point and Cináed’s eyes shot straight up looking at the darkening sky. He could ride a dragon he was sure of it, and better yet he knew where a dragon was. His mind raced picturing a fearless and powerful young boy mounting the dark shape in the barn and flying over the trees far from the chores he knew would come tomorrow. Just him and the dragon.

“Cináed” boomed a loud voice startling him out of his daydream. Fear set in, the coop was no were near as done as it should have been. Looking over his shoulder he put on a sheepish face hoping his look would instill pity from his father. The hard look that stared back at him did not support his hope.

“Cináed what have you been doing out here," said his father in a fierce voice.

“I, well I got a little distracted by… by an animal in the barn” Cináed’s voice had started small and scared but sped up and grew stronger when an excuse jumped into his head.

Cináed’s father looked quizzically at the barn and asked, “What was it?”

Cináed's fear returned, he had no doubt his father could chase the dragon away and his dream of riding a dragon would be gone if that happened. There was only one option and so he lied the best he could, which was not all that good. “Oh, I don't know… well… well, it was dark and the sun is setting so… so… well, it was big, but I don’t actually think it was anything… a shadow or something.” Stammered out Cináed. His father giving him a withering look and started walking back to the house, soon the long days of fall would start and neither Cináed nor his father would return to the house before dark. His father might have been thinking the same thing because he merely looked over his shoulder and said, “Your dinner is on the stove and you can eat it once you are done here.” Then his feet picked up their pace as the speed of towards the house.

..…..

The old dragon paused as he was settling back down to rest, his conversation with the young boy was troubling, he did not think the boy noticed that the dragon had not spoken a word out loud after all dragons did not have the capacity to speak the human language they could only roar and growl. The dragon had responded in his mind to the boy and the boy had heard him, in his long years as a dragon only one other had done that and that long ago man already had a dragon of his own to pair with. Could this old dragon find the strength in himself to do such a thing? He was no longer the dragon he had once been, he could not jump up from his rest or launch into the sky without warning. He knew however that he was wise, all old dragons were wise and so he must be as well, that was quite the wise reasoning he thought. Then, without warning, a picture of the boy climbing onto his back inside this old barn and them both flying off over the trees flooded his mind. His old heart soared as he thought about how he would love to fly again with companionship. It had been so long since he had seen another dragon, just talking with someone had been the highlight of his dreary week. Would it be so bad to let this boy fly with him, could he not once again fly in the company of others and share the hardships of his soul?

Yes, he could fly high and proud once again, and he could do it with a young boy, after all, every growing boy needs a wise old dragon as a mentor.

And he just knew that he was old, and therefore wise.

.......

Cináed jumped from bed the next morning, dressing in record time, and rushing down the stairs to start his chores before the sun even peaked over the horizon. His mother, surprised to see the normally sleepy boy up so early, watched as he dashed out the door with the energy of youth. She smiled as she returned to her own morning routine silently removing wake up Cináed from her list.

Bursting into the barn Cináed scanned the hay almost fearful the dragon had left in the night. With his heart drowning out any sounds the dragon could have been making it was with great relief that he saw the dark shape move in the corner. Cináed blurted out his pre-made message, “I have chores to do but will be back after” his words almost unintelligible as there was almost no pause between them. The dragon however only rested back down without any outward sign he had heard, let alone understood. Cináed didn’t notice as he was already rushing around the barn and out the door with feed in his hand.

.......

Did people truly wake so early? The dragon wondered as his head rested back down, the boy had been so energetic what could be so important that he needed to move so quickly? Slowly the dragon left the pile of hay and decided to go see what could have the boy in such a different mood than the day before. However as he turned to look at the big barn door he realized it was not open, when he had first come upon the barn it had been open then an older man had come after the dragon was resting and closed it. No matter, the dragon could knock it down easily enough and so he did. As he stepped out of the barn he realized just how hungry he had become and spotted a pen with what looked like pigs eating something that smelled delicious. As he walked closer the squeals of the pigs got louder and they scampered off to the far side of their pen. Slowly he sniffed the food they had just been eating, then without a second thought, he started to devour it.

.......

Gaven had heard of the speed Cináed had left the house and was proud of his son. He knew that the boy could be absent-minded and had a terrible sense of time but, he never did complain too much and always did what he was asked, eventually. His son was an explorer at heart, and Gaven knew it. He wished they lived in a world where young boys could go off and have adventures as grand as the stories, but such dreams were just that and faded quickly. Gaven reasoned that some of the best times the two of them had was when they would go out hunting; they would walk through the forest, setting and checking traps, then waiting patiently, completely still, for wildlife to come within range of their bows. Or his bow as he could pull back a stronger bow than his son and so came in range first. Cináed never was upset when he used his extra range to fire first, they were not a rich family and did not hunt for sport. This reality sometimes intruded on Gaven’s enjoyment of hunting trips as stress bled away the joy, but he always tried to keep Cináed from feeling such stress letting him at least enjoy the hunt. As Gaven though about hunting with his son he heard a great boom come from the barn, in a panic, because he could not think what could make such a noise, he began to run in that direction.

Arriving Gaven stood open mouthed and stared at the barn doors, doors that were no longer hanging on their hinges. He could not think of anything that would have caused the doors to fall. Stepping forward he inspected the hinges, some of which were on the doors and other still on the frames. What in all of Elleton could have knocked down his barn doors? None of them looked rusted and he couldn't see any explanation to explain their failure, the nails were just… wait, what was that? He turned towards the pig pen just then realizing the uproar that the pigs were in and froze. At first, he did not know what to think of the creature eating the pigs' feed. Then his eyes flowed over the scales of the creature to its tail and as the creature shifted he could see what looked like wings. The creature shined in the first rays of the sun with a dark crimson red and what looked like streaks of dark blue racing down its neck and following the spine of its back.

Almost as if it was startled by his presence its great head turned locking eyes with Gaven, and he had the uncanny feeling there was a conversation occurring he just couldn’t hear. Almost looking dejected the great beast turned back towards the pig pen moving to the water trough and taking great mouthfuls of water. Almost absently Gaven though that he would have to ask Cináed to refeed the pigs and full up their water troth before the end of the day. That thought was most certainly an expression of his desperation for things to go back to normal. They did not.

The creature finished its breakfast and started moving back towards the barn when Cináed came running at full speed to stand between it and Gaven. Parental instincts instantly set in and Gaven moved forward to grab his boy and run but he never got the chance.

Backing away Cináed started to plead with his father, "stop, please let the dragon stay, I'll fix the door I promise, he won't be in the way, I'll…I'll feed him every day, you won't even notice he's here.” pleaded Cináed catching Gaven off balance and surprised. Frankly, he wasn't quite caught up with what was happening but what was certain was the fear and panic that almost shocked him into indecision. His only saving grace was his determination to do anything but stand still giving in to his paralyzing fear. That, after all, is how you died in the woods hunting when your prey fights back.

Turning to the creature, now only feet away, Cináed asked a question Gaven never would have; “Would you like to stay with us?”

The question lingered in the air as Gaven once again felt like the dragon's eyes were talking, he tried to interject, to voice his own option but he couldn’t and so he just let the distance diminish as he drew near to his son and the beast. To his surprise, Cináed started jumping up and down in joy running forward to hug the creature. The creature reared back seeming just as surprised as Gaven was and, to his great relief, showed no signs of aggression. Gaven was still too far away to do anything and knew the worst thing he could do was to act with sharp movements or a provocative voice. He continued his slow movement; unsure as to what he was going to do, but adamant that his son would be far away from the beast, dragon? That is why his hands wrapped around Cináed and he swiftly backed away from the menacing presence.

As they walked back Cináed looked up at his father and asked, “So can he stay? I’m sure he is sorry about the door.” Gaven had not let his eyes leave the creature and now he once again felt that feeling as if the dragon was trying to talk to him. However, it was Cináed that spoke, “See he is sorry.”

Looking down at his son Gaven asked the question that was now burning in his mind, “Can you hear it… speaking?” He was sure that Cináed could not, but Gaven couldn’t get rid of the strange feeling that the creature had been saying something and if he could just reach out a little farther he would understand. Cináed just looked up questioning and said, “Yes” drawing the word out to show he thought it was quite obvious. The situation might have been giving Gaven a panic induced focus but he just couldn’t help it when his mind drifted in the wonder of such a revelation.

Gaven was still thinking about what that could mean when Cináed shouted in excitement yelling a much more definitive “yes” then as Gaven stood lost in his thoughts and trying to figure what his son’s answer could mean, Cináed sprang forward. Gaven hadn’t been holding his son tightly and now he regretted that oversight. He panicked running forward after Cináed, but he was not young nor fast. His son reached the creature first and Gaven had a strange feeling of deja-vu as he slowed and approached the two. Cináed did not wait and climbed onto the scaly back. Gaven ran forward and reached the great leg. Looking up at his son he put his hands out as if he could pull him with a magical force into his arms. Instead, he looked up as and saw his son as if he was a young knight on a great horse. Cináed just looked down in confusion again and Gaven was almost certain now he was only hearing half of a conversation that had been occurring. Cináed words barely registered as the creature reared back spreading out his wings and lumbered forward launching into the sky and sending Gaven stumbling back.

Cináed’s last words rang in his ears “I’m going to fly a dragon” as the creature, no, dragon, launched into the sky. Could it have really been a mystical creature such as a dragon, then again what else could it have been? Gaven decided to believe it was a dragon because if it was a dragon and his son was riding it, and of course, if the legends were true, then the ancient bond had been made and Cináed would not be in any danger. He had honestly never believed in such things but desperation now drove his belief and he would cling to it no matter what. Even if it was just a legend from a child's picture book.

Looking up into the sky Gaven cupped his hands and yelled to his son saying, “Don’t forget to feed the pigs” then turned and walked back to the house. It was one of the few days in his life he truly wished he had not gotten out of bed. He was not looking forward to telling Clara that he had let their son fly off on a dragon. He almost planned on going to look for his son, but the impossibility of chasing a flying dragon stayed his feet. If Cináed could be counted on to return before dinner, Gaven wouldn't need to tell his wife and she might never know. Such childish dreams would never work, but did he have to tell her right that minute? After all, he did have important work to do, feeding the pigs and all. Resigned to his fate he continued into the house.

........

The dragon looked down enthralled by the world under him, he was flying once again. The trees flew past and then ended leaving them flying over open plains, the boy above him, who he now knew as Cináed, screamed to be heard over the wind. The old dragon sighed knowing he would have to explain that Cináed did not need to speak out loud to be heard, but that was not important right now and the boy’s words had meaning he needed to act on. Turning to his right he saw what the boy had seen and headed towards the distant mountain. He knew that a younger dragon would be able to fly much faster, but an older dragon like himself had far more control, if much slower. This led to a very smooth ride for the new rider on his back, which was good as there weren’t any of those saddle things he had once seen for riders to hold onto. They slowly closed on the looming mountain, mist now visible curling around its peak.

As they approached, he could see the peak of the mountain was bare and rocky, as a young dragon he could have perched on such a surface but his old bones would not let him show off to Cináed like that and so he looked for a more conferrable place to land. Finally, he found what looked to be a clearing and as he drew near he could tell there was a small lake fed by the winter snow next to the clearing. It led to the edge of the mountain where a small stream of water formed a weak waterfall until it splashed into a much larger lake below.

The old dragon and his old bones would not let an opportunity such as this go by, he looked forward to the soft landing and headed down to glide over the water. He realized then he probably should have told Cináed what he was planning to do, but the boy had been so quiet, looking at everything like he had been blind until today. Without time to send a warning, the two of them splashed into the water at a graceful speed and slowly began to sink. Drawing in his wings the great old dragon began to swim for shore, yet, he then noticed that his rider was missing. Looking back the happy cries of a boy in a lake could be heard over the splashing of feet as Cináed swam for the far shore.

The wise dragon knew he was not the playmate for this boy and laid down on the warm rock of the shore falling asleep with the sun on his scales and the distant sound of a boy with an imagination.

.......

Cináed loved this lake, its view was amazing, the water was cold but that was because it had come from snow, he considered that swimming in such a lake could only happen late in the summer when the sun had melted all the snow at the peak and warmed the water. The great dragon had left him to go sleep in the sun, he had hoped it would play with him but that was ok, he was having enough fun by himself. A series of rocks jutted out from the peak side of the lake and he was determined to jump off each and every one of them. To his dismay none of the rocks were all that high and, after deciding he needed more height, he had an idea.

Bounding over to the sleeping dragon he cried out loudly and launch onto its back. Slowly its eyes opened and Cináed asked his question. “Can you fly me above the water?”

He wasn’t sure he had articulated his question correctly, but the dragon nodded in agreement and slowly stood. Cináed couldn’t help but feel impatient as he squirmed onto the dragon’s back; they finally lifted into the air. When they passed over the water at a height Cináed thought was acceptable for a great jumper as himself he called out for the dragon to stop. The dragon did, hovering in place as he looked back in confusion wanting to see what would happen. Then without warning, Cináed swung his left foot over the spine of the dragon and fell towards the water the wind drowning out the surprised roar that followed from above. It was ok Cináed wanted to say, but the sudden pain in his arm disagreed and as he surfaced and looked up at the dragon a sheepish look crossed over his face. Cináed knew his mother would not be happy but at least she couldn’t make him clean out the chicken coop if he was hurt.