Even the bones of the carcass crumbled and turned to splinters. I could only watch, hope bereft. All my past effort had been pointless.

I sat near the head of the old dragon.

“Look, there is no way I can move you from here,” I said to him.

He responded with a grim nod. The splinters converted to dust, which was blown away by the wind, so that no sign of the black dragon remained at the spot anymore.

“All right,” I said. It would be interesting to see how the dragon returned. Post that, I already knew my fate.

A couple of minutes passed. I heard a great cry in the sky above. When I looked up, there was nobody. But I found the black dragon on the ground, sitting merely a few meters away from me and the old dragon. He considered the two of us intently.

“The bastard has come again,” my friend, the old dragon whispered.

The black reptile continued to stare. What was it going to do next? I thought it was surreal I was still alive. I held my sword tightly, speculating on his next moves. If I was to die then I intended to die fighting.

But the black dragon simply rested his head on the ground and closed his eyes. All right, I had foreseen everything but that.

“What happened?” I asked the old dragon. “Why isn’t he attacking me?”

The old dragon was dumbstruck and it was a while before he spoke.

“I think… he has no memory of his past life,” he said. “After rebirth he saw you with me. He thinks that you are a part of me. He is not going to attack you.”

“What?” I said. “But doesn’t he try to protect you from anything and everything?”

“Yes, but you are a part of me as far as he is concerned,” the old dragon said. “So he is going to protect you too from anything and everything. Luck is on your side.”

Okay. Did Lady Luck secretly have a crush on me? I had just returned from death’s doorstep.

The turn of events opened the doors to an idea I could exploit to my advantage.

“I wonder,” I said to the old dragon, leaning my head against his scales. “Have you ever tried speaking to him?”

“When people came to get my tears, I told him not to kill them,” the old dragon replied. “But he killed them anyway. I do not think he understands words.”

“But have you ever tried communicating with him, say through gestures?”

The old dragon was thoughtful.

“I haven’t,” he said. “But then, it was not like I could try. My limbs are useless. And the gestures I can make with my mouth are limited.”

“What if I communicate to him to pick you up and get you out of the shade?” I said. “He’s strong. He should be able to lift you, right?”

“That should not be impossible,” the old dragon said, and I recognized the new hope in his primeval voice. “Can you really do it? ”

I walked to the black dragon and patted him on the face. I still held my sword tightly with my other hand, in case the dragon changed his mind.

The black dragon opened one eye. I wasn’t quite sure what gesture I should make. So I just began to move my arms up and down, as though they were great wings. I ran all the way to the old dragon and climbed on his back, continuing to flap my imaginary wings. The black dragon observed me in silence. Did he understand that I wanted him to lift the old dragon?

With a great burst of energy the black dragon sprang up. He beat its wings, and took to the air. All the while his head was fixed on me and the old dragon, like he was doing this chiefly as a response to my gestures. He came back down however and resumed his nap.

I was not ready to give up. Once again I roused him. I repeated my clown-like gestures.

The black dragon took to the air, and hovered above me and the old dragon. The wind from his wings threatened to blow me away. I was elated that he had understood me–or that was what I thought, until he snatched me with his talons. I screamed and I cried as I was being lifted up, although the dragon maintained care not to make a hole in my body and spill my innards.

I was taken tens of meters above the surface.

I felt like I would swoon. There was only air between me and the rocky ground down below. I closed my eyes. This was not what I had asked for. The forces pulled at me from different directions. Gravity pulled from beneath, the jet plane-sized lizard from above.

After an eternity the dragon placed me back on the ground. I would have probably soiled my pants by now, but thankfully food and poop were elements of only the real world.

For some time I kept kneeling on all fours, letting the endolymph in my ears settle. Once the motion sickness subsided, I stood up.

The black dragon was back to snoozing. I tapped his back. My wing dance followed.

And this time the black dragon finally understood me.

I caught tightly to the scales of the old dragon as the black dragon lifted him.

A few minutes in the air and the black dragon gently dropped him at the exact same spot where he was previously.

Okay, sign language was not my thing.