Smudge stopped and listened for a moment, then with a finger to his lips he turned off the path and pushed aside some bushes so they could move quietly into the woods. Bodkin followed him as Smudge moved roughly parallel to the dragon’s path until they came to the edge of a large clearing. As he moved aside a screen of leaves, they caught their first sight of their dragon on the far side of the open area. She lay amid the remains of her meal, casually crunching and grinding long, bloody bones between her huge, sharp teeth.
Bodkin gulped at the sight of her; she was even more magnificent than he could have imagined. She was at least thirty feet long–forty if you counted the tail–her ridged back as tall as a house and her scales winked iridescent green and gold where the sun shone on them.
Being a female and too large to fly, her rudimentary wings lay folded against her back, the skin between the vanes so thin as to be nearly transparent.
They continued to watch in awe as she sniffed among the remaining bones, looking for any missed morsel. Finding none, she yawned and got slowly to her feet, the tip of her long tail flicking back and forth.
“This is it, Body, me boy,” Smudge whispered excitedly. “Aye, she’ll lead us right to it, now.”
Despite the danger of their situation, Bodkin found himself sharing his friend’s excitement. He was close enough to a real live dragon to hear her belch, which she suddenly did, startling the two intrepid hunters. Their dragon lumbered slowly across the clearing, then stopped near a large tree and looked carefully around, sniffing the air as if to be sure she was completely alone. Satisfied, she began to dig at the base of the tree.
“'Ere we go,” Smudge whispered, and nudged Bodkin in the ribs.
After digging a sizable hole, the dragon maneuvered her bulky body around until her haunches were over the hole and then sat down, her tail curled around her feet. A few moments later they heard the muffled sound of air being forced rapidly through a small opening and then several wet splats, like mud being thrown against the side of a house.
The dragon’s large eyes slowly closed and Bodkin could have sworn that her lips curved up into a faint smile for just a moment.
Then she stood and kicked dirt back over the hole with her hind legs. With a final wistful look toward the remains of her meal, she turned and moved slowly off into the woods and disappeared. The hunters remained where they were for a while longer, just to be sure she wasn’t going to return and surprise them, but after a few minutes even the sound of her passage had vanished.
When Smudge and Bodkin entered the clearing, they hurried over to the recently filled in hole. Letting go the bags they were carrying, they went quickly to work with their shovels. As dirt flew and they got closer to their goal, the smell hit them and Bodkin stepped back from the pit and covered his mouth and nose with his cap. Seemingly unconcerned with this assault on their senses, Smudge continued to dig until the prize was uncovered. He grabbed for an empty bag and only then noticed that Bodkin had moved away from the depression in the ground.
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