He had a good view of the valley and rather enjoyed the scenery from high up.

Almost an hour passed. Mayesha didn’t come.

His spirits lowered. He had lost his sleep and he had lost his chance of meeting Mayesha. He had even forgotten to bring his chopper along in the excitement of seeing Mayesha. So he would have to go all the way back to his house if he wanted to cut and sell any firewood today.

Suddenly, Xuhn realised that a black dot was moving over the white frozen lake. A person. He frowned hard.

It was Ritika. It just had to be her.

Xuhn had forgotten all about his promise to the two vampires! After sometime another black dot joined Ritika— Ruponi. Xuhn imagined the two of them going to his house, only to find it empty. Maybe they expected him to come near the lake for cutting firewood as usual. A tight knot developed in Xuhn’s stomach like he wanted to shit. That always happened to him whenever he was torn between two options. Should he wait for Mayesha or should he go down to the vampires?

The former option was what he was inclined to, but he knew it was the latter that he had to choose. Before he could make up his mind, more black dots appeared at the edge of the lake— five men who seemed to be carrying weapons. They sped towards Ritika and her mother.

Now what exactly was happening?

Xuhn threw away his cloak, broke a lower branch off a tree, and ran down the hill. By the time he reached the foot, Xuhn saw that the five men were chasing Ritika and Ruponi, but hadn’t yet managed to catch them. The vampires were too fast for the men. Every time they tried to encircle the duo, Ritika and Ruponi would slip out from some gap. Then the two of them spotted Xuhn and ran towards him, the men at their heels. When they were close enough, Ritika threw him a very big nail that he caught.

“Bury it at the centre of the lake,” she shouted, “we have already made the circles. Don’t worry for us.”

Seeing that Xuhn now had the nail, two of the men came towards him. They were short and very ugly with big noses that looked odd on their relatively small heads. Both were wielding daggers and snarling. Xuhn hit one on the arm as the man lunged at him, and he dodged the other’s attack and fled towards the lake’s centre.

He took a glance back mid-way and saw that the two men were still in hot pursuit, while the other three had caught Ritika and Ruponi. He saw one man slap Ritika and his temper flared. But he told himself the nail was more important since the two vampires had tried to protect it with life and limb, and increased his pace.

There were two concentric circles etched on the ice at the very centre of the lake, the bigger one about a metre in diameter. Xuhn skidded his way to the circles and fell down on his knees. The nail had intricate designs along its length and was no doubt a magical artefact. Xuhn hammered the nail into the centre of the smaller circle with his branch.

Just as he finished, the two men caught up with him. Xuhn hit one as hard as he could on the head with the branch and the man fell down, unconscious. His companion scowled at Xuhn, wielding his dagger threateningly. As the fallen man began to stir, a deep rumble sounded all about the place.

It was the ice. Cracks appeared on it, all beginning from the place where Xuhn had buried the nail.

Xuhn sprang up and ran.

By the time he reached the safety of solid ground, he turned back and saw that cracks had appeared on the entire ice sheet covering the lake. The man whom Xuhn had knocked cold was still trying to get to his feet, while his companion fled to the place where the other men held Ritika and Ruponi captive. The rumbling noise was still in the air and it had gotten louder. Then suddenly, the noise reached its peak and right at the centre of the lake something large surfaced tearing the ice, sending waves all about the lake. The man who had been unsuccessful in fleeing fell into the water and that was the last of him.

The large ‘something’ turned out to be a great beast. Only half of it had emerged so far and already its height surpassed seven or eight metres.

A dragon?

The beast had great bat-like wings sure, but it had no scales. It had yellow fur instead and three horns crowned its head. The monster flapped its wings and drew itself out of the ice. Giving out a cry, it took to the air. But it had barely risen a few feet that it fell chest first into the lake. Apparently its skinny wings were too weak for flight. But it flapped its wings harder and somehow made to solid ground.

Captivated by the monster, only now Xuhn remembered about Ritika and Ruponi. He looked towards the spot where they and the four men had been last. They were gone, probably into the woods.

Oh boy.

What was he to do now?

The dragon—or whatever it was— meanwhile turned its head this way and that, as if searching for the person who had awoken it. Xuhn didn’t know it was instinct or what, but his arm shot up on its own and began waving at the dragon.

“Here,” Xuhn’s voice shouted on its own.

The dragon saw him and moved towards him fast on its four legs, each of which was at least thrice the girth of Xuhn’s torso. Xuhn’s heart nearly stopped beating when the monster reached him. Would it help him now, or was it going to eat him? There was a very angry expression carved onto the dragon’s face and the second idea seemed to be playing in its mind.

Then the dragon spoke. It sounded like a male human voice all right, only abnormally gruff, but Xuhn could make no head or tail of the language in which the dragon spoke. It was gibberish to Xuhn. All he understood from the voice’s tone was that the dragon was agitated.

Xuhn shook his hand in a gesture to indicate that he didn’t know dragon-tongue.

At this the dragon bent and touched Xuhn’s forehead with its own. Xuhn felt like his soul would abandon his body out of fear.

The dragon drew back its head.

“So, do you understand now?”

“Yes,” Xuhn replied in awe. The dragon had learnt human-tongue just by touching his head?

“What was your purpose behind awakening me?” the dragon said.

“To fix the war between vampires and werewolves,” Xuhn said and then curiosity got the better of him. “Why do you have fur, Mor- Mortugal, isn’t that your name?” Normal dragons have scales, don't they?

Mortugal gave out a wild cry.

“You dare to ask me about my fur? You imbecile!”