The Last Dragon

    Moonlight skipped across the water of Loch Ness.  Cold wind blew over the surface causing the reflected light to dance.  The only sounds were the lapping of the water against the shore and a low keening sound.  Anyone who chanced to hear it would attribute it to the wind.  No one would ever guess that what they were hearing was the lonely cry of the last dragon.  This is her story.

      Her name was Kreylures.  She had lived with her family in the Loch for as long as she could remember.  It was the only life she ever knew.  By the time she was hatched her family had been in the Loch for thousands of years.  But she knew that dragons hadn't always been there.  Once, dragons roamed free.

      Her mother once told her a story; when the earth was new, her kind lived in the sea.  Water that reached beyond ever.  Ancient dragons, traveling as a group deep into the Loch chased a large school of fast, tasty fish.  They filled their bellies and climbed onto the shore to bask in the warm sun, just enjoying the day. As they napped the earth began to shake; in just a few moments the Loch was closed off from the sea, trapping six dragons inside. 

        At first they tried to find a way back to their beloved sea.  Two of the swiftest set out together trying to find a way over the land.  They were to return as soon as they found an escape route.  Ungainly, they walked across the land, hind legs carrying most of their weight, using the elbows of their small, gray wings for balance. The group could hear them for several miles, but eventually they moved to far away to even mindspeak.  Every day, one of the dragons left behind would go to the farthest point of the Loch, yelling with all of their mind...no one answered. The four dragons waited many years for them to return.  They never did. 

      The two oldest dragons died when pale tall-walkers came.  Being very old they  enjoyed warming themselves on the shore.  The tall-walkers attacked them with hurting long sticks, even though the dragons screamed at them with mindspeak to 'STOP!'  They refused to listen and killed them both!  Her parents watched them carry off the dead, dark gray bodies stained with death blood. 

      The loss of the two eldest left her father and mother alone in the Loch.  Freeze moved over the land and water, white and bitter, food became hard to find. Nothing changed for a long time;  Always cold, always hungry. Eventually, the sun came to warm them once again and so they had Kreylure.  They taught her to swim fast and dive deep.  They showed her how dragons can glide over the water for long distances.  They taught her to avoid the shores during the day.  Most importantly they taught her to never let the tall-walkers see her. 

      It was a good life for many years, but uneventful for the little dragon.  Until the day the tall-walkers began floating on the Loch.  They came in large groups, floating on giant wooden leaves.  They hunted the fish of the Loche and they hunted the dragons.  But dragons were smart and learned to avoid the tall-walkers.  Eventually they were left alone except for the occasional times they came upon one of the tall-walkers by accident.  If a tall-walker did happen to see them they would point and jabber incoherently, sometimes they would make a high call that hurt their ears. Sometimes they would even throw things!  Kreylure thought it was a shame that the tall-walkers didn't make more sense. 

      As time passed her mother and father grew old and feeble.  Their backs stiffened and bowed, it became harder for them to catch the fast fish. One day her mother fell asleep and never woke up.  Her father followed her mother by only a few years.  Their bones were soon covered by silt on the bottom of the Loch. Kreylure was left alone. 

      The only company she has now is her reflection upon the water.  Her skin is gray, her neck is long, her scales shine like the color ribbon that crosses the sky after it waters.  Her eyes are large, brown and gentle.  She can dive to the very bottom of the Loch, but she can't find her way to the sea.

      Now she sits at night, basking in the glow of the moon, alone.  Maybe, someday  the land will shake and open the Loch of Ness to the sea again.  Maybe she will find others like her.  Until then she will wait.

764 words