Old Friends

*by Steve Kraus | Jun 24, 2020*

St’kelik sat upright slowly with a slight but practiced grimace from his customary aches. The audible pops of his aging joints caused Hollard to wince in sympathetic pain but after such a lengthy conversation, even Hollard took the moment and stretched some.

The air was light and warm in the spring day. It carried the scents of the freshly tilled fields nearby.

The dragon rested on his rear haunches and craned his long neck to enjoy the view from beside Hollard’s hilltop abode. The human chuckled as he squinted up at the ancient who seemed to survey the land with quick, jerky movements and child-like wonder.

“What you lookin’ at?” asked Hollard. “Not seen the land before?”

“Mmmmm…,” the ancient started with a rumble deep in his chest. “Not that. I did not know I was taller than your house.”

“You daft?” Hollard started with a chuckle. “St’kelik, mate, you’re ‘ead and neck above the bloody thing.”

St’kelik squinted in the sunlight as he peered around. “Hollard? Is that a cow field beyond?”

The human shook his head in laughter. ” ‘old on. You can’t nick the neighbor’s cattle.”

“Wasn’t planning on stealing them,” St’kelik said quietly, even absent-mindedly. His tongue slipped out subconsciously and licked his lower lip. Now that the dragon had molted and his fast complete, St’kelik was feeling ravenous.

“No, no, no, no!” Hollard said with a startle and shot upright to his feet. “I’m serious! You can’t eat them!” Hollard paused. “St’kelik? St’kelik! You listening?!”

It was hard to see the dragon’s head now that he stood upright in the sun. The molt left behind new, polished silver scales that made viewing him directly on a bright day difficult. Hollard shielded his one good eye from the glare and called back up to his friend.

“St’kelik! Come on now… You’ll ‘ave me in the boil. I know a place for a good nosh-up. St’kelik! Fish, ol’ friend!”

The dragon lowered his head with a wistful smile and rested his front paws on the ground again. Though still several strides away, St’kelik’s large face was difficult to take in.

Talking with a dragon was always a challenge for Hollard. He was accustomed to looking people at close quarters and in the eyes directly, a habit he picked up in Cultrek. But St’kelik was so massive, a ten foot distance had to be maintained just to see both of St’kelik’s ice blue eyes in one glance.

Even after all the years the two had traveled the remote countrysides together, Hollard was still amazed at the enormity and complexity of his friend’s physique. Thick leathery scales moved and bent with ease, massive muscles flowing like waves across the dragon’s frame. Each plate was as thick the rogue’s meaty hand and was actually a light slate-blue when viewed up close. It was only in bright light or shortly after a molt did the crystalline structures of a silver dragon’s scales truly shine, earning them their metallic moniker.

Hollard often pondered what Sythlia’s plan was in creating these creatures or allowing their evolution as was taught in universities. They shared some of the same traits as lizards such as a chin beard of fleshy spikes, scales, and a tail. But unlike lizards dragons had six limbs (two being their wings), forward-facing eyes of a predator, and facial muscles that allowed for complex expression and articulated speech. Their cheeks were wonderfully elastic and could be rapidly pushed forward to cover the sides of the mouth and allow the rounded vowel sounds of humanoid speech. Truly, watching a dragon speak a humanoid tongue is a miracle to behold, never mind the palpable awesomeness of the creatures at close range.

St’kelik waited for his friend to lead on. It was feast time after this molt and the rogue knew the precise location of St’kelik’s favorite nosh: a large lake of freshwater sturgeon.