Lou

  Tired and hungry, Lou sat in his hut.

  It was early morning and it would take some time before his mother brought him his food. Lazily, he grabbed a fig and bit into it. It tasted deliciously sweet. He was thinking about getting some fresh water when he suddenly heard something. Something loud. The fpping of huge wings. Curious, Lou stood up and looked out of his small window. But he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Blue and golden brown. With some green in between. The usual colors. Presumably a few white dragons were on the move again. He was about to sit down when he noticed something. The fps of the wings seemed to be getting closer. Then he heard a horrible roar.

  It sounded different from the roar of the white dragons. This roar, eerie and hungry, full of madness, he had heard a few nights before. But the sun had long since risen. "What?"

  Lou blinked and stared at the many colors as if they suddenly could make a clear picture. At some point, he saw something... Bck blended into the blue of the sky. A lot of bck, otherwise he wouldn't have seen it. Dragons. Bck dragons. They turned into a small, very blurry bck spot in all the blue.

  "What?" Shaking his head, Lou took a step back. "Why do they attack during the day? And so many!"

  He stumbled to the entrance of his hut and pushed aside the curtain. "Bck dragons are coming! Go to your houses!", he shouted into the morning silence. He only saw brown. Everything was brown. Have some people already been on the road? If someone was on the road, they wouldn't answer Lou. But he heard how hastily some wooden shutters were closed. Lou ran back to his window and stared out. So much bck!

  The roar grew louder and louder. Shivering, Lou crouched in a corner of his hut, crushing the figs as he went. Sweet juice stuck to his bare legs. Lou didn't notice. He pulled his legs up and covered his ears when he heard the first screams. Panic broke out. After a few seconds, the roar was deafeningly loud. They arrived. Above the city. Lou heard cries for help and fighting dragons, a loud bang... He closed his eyes.

  But even that didn't scare away the sounds. Lou feared for his family. Hopefully, they were fine. Hopefully, they were able to hide. Again, someone was screaming for help. Lou tugged at his hair. "Please, please, please...", he pleaded softly. The noises got worse and worse. He heard someone scream briefly, then the voice disappeared. Forever.

  Was Remy already fighting? Was he okay?

  Then there was a bang. Lou opened his eyes. Part of his hut had colpsed. Where he sat, it had been spared, but the rest y in ruins. Instead of his hut, he saw bck. The body of a dragon. The monster growled. Then the big head of the dragon came closer. Lou saw his bck, light-devouring scales and glowing yellow eyes. He smelled the foul breath of the dragon, felt the scorching heat of its body... Lou pressed himself even closer to the wall as the dragon opened its huge mouth. Lou saw several rows of sharp teeth. Blood was clinging to the dragon's teeth, and a severed finger was stuck between two of its teeth. Lou smelled blood and death.

  "Lou!" White pounced on the bck and the bck dragon turned around. Loud roars rang out as the two dragons fought with each other. Other parts of his hut colpsed. A stone narrowly missed Lou's feet. Someone jumped off the back of the white dragon. The two dragons soared into the air, roaring and hissing. "Lou!" The person approached Lou. Stiff with fright, Lou couldn't answer. He recognized his friend's face for a moment, and then Remy hugged him. "Are you okay?"

  Remy pulled Lou close to him. The touch was strange and painful. Lou was still crying stiffly with fear. He didn't dare to move. "Lou! Did he hurt you?" Remy let go of him, but only to take Lou's face in his hands. "You can't stay here! Come! The rest of your hut could colpse!"

  Lou sobbed but didn't move. He couldn't. The dragons were still roaring. Remy tried to pull Lou to his feet and Lou woke up from his daze. In a panic, he shed out. "No! No! No!"

  "Lou! It's me!" Remy sounded desperate. Then he just picked Lou up. Lou screamed as Remy carried him out of his home. In the middle of the fight. The dragons tore at each other. Lou heard the crack of huge bones. "Narcisse!", cried Remy.

  Lou fought back, but thin and weak as he was, he didn't stand a chance against Remy. White approached them, then a huge white dragon nded on the sweeping road leading to the Former City Gate. "Narcisse! We've got to get Lou out of here!"

  'We have to fight!', Lou heard the dragon's rumbling voice in his head. Every sound seemed to want to tear his head apart.

  "I know! But no one will let Lou into a house! And his parents... They aren’t close! If we leave him here, he'll become dragon food!" Lou felt Remy kiss his hair. He screamed again. But Remy ignored his screams. "Narcisse!"

  'Fine.' The next moment, Remy, holding Lou with one arm, climbed up the dragon and pced Lou on the reptile's back. "Everything's alright, Lou!", he whispered to him. He then swung behind Lou and held him down so that Lou could not escape. Lou saw white scales and an iron noose that Remy was holding onto. His arms swung securely around Lou. Lou whimpered and closed his eyes as Narcisse flew off. The flight was fast-paced, unlike his flight with Veit, who had flown cautiously. But Narcisse dodged other dragons, or bit them. Lou could tell by his movements and the sounds. He didn't dare to open his eyes.

  They didn't fly long before the dragon nded. Remy climbed off his back and helped the trembling Lou down. Lou heard loud, strange snorting and dark colors as Remy lifted him back up.

  "You're in my home!", Narcisse said to him. This time he didn't speak in Lou's head. Lou flinched. "Sorry about before. I was careless. Is your head okay?" When Lou didn't answer, the dragon continued with a sigh. "My family will take care of you until you can get back to the city."

  Careless? Family? Back? Where? Lou cwed at the fabric of Remy's dusty, blood-soaked clothes.

  "Lou?" Again, Remy touched Lou's face. Lou dodged him. "Lou? You're safe here. I have to go again! Stay in this cave. Don't leave. You could fall deep! I'll be back soon!" He carefully set Lou down against a wall and gently loosened Lou's fingers from the fabric of his clothes. Then Remy and Narcisse disappeared again, leaving Lou alone. Alone in a cave, with unknown snortings. More dragons?

  'Hey! You!' A white head approached him. Slightly smaller than the heads of adult dragons. A white dragon. The voice in his head was that of a girl. Startled, Lou stumbled and fell. 'Oh! Excuse me,' the girl murmured in his head.

  Her voice hurt. Lou covered his ears, though it didn't help.

  "Nour! You're scaring him! Don't use telepathy. He's not made for that!" That was another voice. That of a male dragon. "You heard your brother and Remy. The boy stays with us for a short time. Be nice."

  "I'm nice!", replied the dragon girl. Her voice sounded like thunder.

  Trembling, Lou pulled his legs to him, put his arms around his legs, rested his head there, and closed his eyes.