The sun rose leisurely above the horizon and moments later,
its warmth spread across the land. It had been a cold night and the dew
sparkled in the new light of the day. All across Reptiliad, the sounds and
movement of awakening began and deep in the forest, a pair of topaz coloured
eyes gently opened to greet the dawn. The forest Dragon flashed its tongue
across the surface of each of its eyes and shrugged; raising all of its scales
to release the collection of dew whilst gently shivering to help the process.
Very carefully, it slowly stretched its wings and retracted them before
surveying the nearby woods for any life. Through the eyes of a Dragon, every
little speck of heat shone as brightly as a star and the dragon quickly found
prey that was large enough to sate its immediate hunger.
The badger checked the sky and the ground as it foraged in
the dead leaves on the forest floor. It was on the edge of a clearing and was
returning to its set after a night of hunting and socialising. It was a male of
good age so was fully grown and had sired many a cub. It paused sharply and
sniffed the air before continuing to forage.
The forest Dragon flexed its muscles and stretched its broad
wings before dropping from its roost in the tall oak tree and gliding off towards
its prey. Its tongue continuously flashed out to taste the air and the air was
moist and dense; excellent for hunting.
The badger sensed movement and froze. He quickly sniffed the
air and looked around but he couldn’t smell anything unusual and his eyesight
was poor so he couldn’t see any movement either.
The forest Dragon could see the heat signature getting
closer so it tucked its wings in closer to its body to gain speed for the
attack. It felt the air rushing over its smooth scales and heard the rushing of
the air as the speed increased. The forest Dragon could almost taste the beast
as it thrust its front talons forward for the kill.
The badger sensed danger and immediately made a bolt for its
set. Its legs hammered the ground as it fled purposefully towards safety. It
was only feet away when the impact happened. Then there was silence for what
seemed like an age.
The badger gingerly peered out of its set, making sure that
it was still deep enough to feel safe. It could hear the sharp cracking sounds
of bones being broken by powerful jaws. It could smell the unmistakable odour
of blood and that was enough for it to back down into the depths of its set and
take no further interest in what was going on.
The deer didn’t stand a chance. It was young and
inexperienced and didn’t hear the Dragon until it was too late. The knife-long
talons of the Dragon punctured its chest cavity with no resistance and the deer
was dead before the weight of the killer pinned it to the floor. The forest
Dragon raised its head and roared before shearing chunks of flesh from the deer
with its razor-sharp fangs and gulping them down. In moments, the deer was gone
and the forest Dragon delicately licked the ground to drink as much of the
blood as it could. Once it had finished, the Dragon flexed its wings and with a
burst of effort flapped itself into the air and off up above the canopy of the
forest. Its hunger was sated and it was a glorious day so the forest Dragon
relaxed into a soaring posture and enjoyed the heat of the new morning.
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