Lou

  The dragons growled, hissed, and grumbled loudly. Lou shuddered at every sound.

  While these were fascinating, strong beings, they were also scary. Unlike Veit, the other reptiles intimidated him. Their footsteps thundered through the cave, as did their growling, loud voices. Lou kept his eyes closed. 'Do you want to come with me?', he suddenly heard Veit's voice in his head. The dragon's voice inside his head hurt. Terrible pain tormented him as if Veit's voice were tearing his head apart. Lou moaned softly. "I don't know!", he answered.

  Veit seemed to realize his mistake. "Oh! Excuse me...", he growled loudly now. "I'd like to take you with me. I'm sure my parents don't mind!"

  "You can't take him with you!", that was Ina's voice. "A human without magic is not safe among dragons."

  "Leave the nonsense, Ha... Veit!", Narcisse agreed with his mother. "Remy should be here at any moment.

  "And if something happens to him in the city?", Veit objected annoyed. "These people are terrible! Even your Remy must be aware of that!" Veit's voice sounded contemptuous. Lou held his hands over his ears, trembling. But it didn't help. He heard another dragon nd in front of the cave and enter. Someone jumped off the back of the dragon. Lou heard rumbling and then his friend's voice.

  "Where's Lou?", asked Remy. He sounded upset.

  "Under... Veit! Under his wing", Narcisse replied faintly.

  "Underneath... Veit?" Remy's voice trembled slightly. Lou wondered why. But he didn't want to open his eyes or take his hands off his ears.

  Veit snorted. "Narcisse insists that you take him back to town! But you know what's in store for him there!"

  "Ah... Lift the wing, please!" Remy did not respond to Veit's statement. Growling, the dragon lifted its wing and let the wizard crawl underneath it, snorting in annoyance. Remy knelt next to Lou. Startled, Lou opened his eyes. He recognized the magician's clothing and dark hair.

  "Lou? Are you okay?", the wizard asked.

  Lou nodded and hesitantly removed his hands from his ears.

  "There's not much left of your hut..."

  Again Lou nodded and buried his face in the soft scales of the dragon.

  "Can you go to your parents?"

  Now Lou shook his head. "The Wise forbid it. You know that."

  "The Wise are idiots!", snorted Remy. "A storm is brewing, and there could be another attack... Earlier I saw more bck dragons nearby. It's going to be a long night."

  Lou shuddered at the thought of the bck monsters. "I'll take him with me!", announced Veit proudly and defiantly. "I won't take no for an answer!"

  "Don't be a fool!", said a dragon who was still a stranger to Lou. His voice was quite high-pitched and he sounded a little hoarse, but it was clearly a male dragon.

  "No, Renan. Veit is right!", murmured Remy. "Lou can't go back yet. Veit? Take him with you. Hurry!" Narcisse protested. Just like his parents, but Remy stuck to his decision. "Lou can't go back today!"

  "Good!", Veit agreed. "Lou? I'm getting up now, okay? And then I'll lift you up?"

  Lou nodded again. He wasn't capable of more. He didn't want to be among dragons, but he also didn't want to be alone in a ruined hut. He closed his eyes and hoped it was all just a bad dream. Even Veit frightened him. He didn't want to fly, he didn't want to... be.

  Then something touched his hair. Something warm. "No!", yelled Lou immediately.

  "What? I just wanted to..." Remy stammered. Lou opened his eyes again and saw Remy pull his hand away.

  "Don't touch!" He shook his head.

  "Forgive me", Remy said quietly. In the background, the dragons buzzed and hissed again. Veit rose cautiously, and took the trembling Lou in his cws. Lou screamed in fright, then clung to one of his friend's cws. "I'm flying carefully!", he told Remy.

  "How did you two meet?" Remy shook his head. "It's unusual. Did you run into him by chance?"

  Lou gripped the dragon's cws tightly and shook his head. He didn't want Veit to tell his friend about the sandstorm. Veit seemed to notice this. "It was a coincidence!", he said.

  "Take good care of Lou!", demanded Remy.

  "Of course!" Then Veit started moving. He walked heavily out of the cave, away from the hissing and growling, and into the desert air. Veit flew fast. Lou heard the roar of other dragons. Shortly after, Veit nded and went into a new cave with Lou in his cws.

  Again, Lou heard the sounds of dragons. "My family is very nice!", Veit assured him. "Don't worry. You're safe with us. You can stay under my wing."

  But the sounds of these dragons were also frightening.

  sasi