9 years later

Harper

The air stank of magic. I looked bored out of my parents' den. I was their youngest child. A young dragon of seventeen years. Still a baby in the eyes of older dragons.

My siblings, for example, were all much older than me. My eldest brother had recently turned two hundred. I also had four sisters. They were all between sixty, and one hundred and fifty. And they all still lived here. With our parents.

They argued over the remains of a rabbit that our mother had hunted. I ignored them. Instead, I watched the wizard fly through the cliffs on the back of Renan, one of the strongest dragons. Narcisse and Basil, who also had a contract with the Witcher, followed them. I didn't like the wizard. Remy. A pompous guy he was!

'Harper! Is there anything interesting outside?' my brother asked me. Stanley Ross, he preferred to be addressed as Ross, moved his big dragon body to me. We dragons conversed telepathically when we were in our true form.

'Just Remy and the Three Show-Offs'. Annoyed, I grumbled and rolled my eyes.

Ross nodded. 'They behave as if the world belongs to them. But they are doing a good job. They defeated five black dragons and shooed them away. Last week. And that's just the three of us! I think they're allowed to say something!'

'And Renan's cute,' my youngest sister, Max, added. Her full name was Kerry Sandra Max. Our parents loved giving their children more than just a name. A tradition from my mother's family. I, too, had more than just one name. Harper Janne Veit.

'He's thirty years younger than you!', grumbled Sally Brook. My eldest sister. Connie, who at ninety was considered a middle child, nodded. Her full name was Constance Rachel, or Connie for short. None of us were particularly lucky when our parents chose a name for us.

'Oh, be quiet, Sally!', scolded Max. 'You've already stolen the rabbit!'

'There was hardly anything left to it!' Sally puffed and flapped her white wings. A few of her feathers were orange. A peculiarity that only occurred in our family. 'I think I'm going hunting. I'm still hungry!" And Sally left our cave.

Max rolled his eyes. 'But she ate the rest of my snack first!'

'It was for me!' Ross grumbled, bored. 'You just grabbed it!'

Dragon problems. Although we could all hunt ourselves, our parents brought us some game from time to time that they hunted. They wouldn't stop until we all left their cave. With about three hundred years, as most young dragons did. Only a few white dragons left earlier. Often, our parents flew long distances to find larger prey. Because at the river there were mainly, rabbits, rats, and mice. And ducks, swans, geese... All sorts of birds. For a dragon, all this was nothing more than a small snack.

And, of course, the older ones basically snatched the snacks away from the younger ones. Especially I, the baby of the family, had to be careful. I hated it when they called me that. In terms of size, I was already a full-grown dragon! No baby! My stomach growled. Which reminded me that Ross had stolen my snack. I gave him a quick sideways glance, that he didn't notice and swung me into the air. 'I'm going hunting, too!', I told my siblings. Maybe my parents were successful in hunting and I was able to beg for a deer or a cow? As long as I could find them. Earlier, they brought a snack, for whomever, and they flew away again.

I flew past Remy and his dragons. They didn't even look at me. Stupid show-offs! I could still remember the day when the wizard first appeared here. He had looked into our cave and I was looking at him while hiding behind my mother. Even then, I was able to sniff out its stinking magic. Ew!

I flew on. Across the city of humans, we weren't allowed to eat. Unfortunately. When you were hungry, they smelled delicious. Except for the wizards and witches. I didn't like the smell of them. To me, they stank. Dad thought my nose was just very sensitive, while Ross didn't believe me. Magic stank. Presumably, therefore, I did not have to fear suddenly being connected to a human, witch or wizard. That was something I didn't want.

I didn't want magic to decide my fate and I was suddenly one of those warriors who had to fight black dragons alongside a human. I disagreed with such a covenant. I didn't see myself as a warrior, ready to defend our caves at any time. Like most dragons, to be honest. Fighting was a matter of course. But I didn't want that. I saw myself more as something else. I was only seventeen, still a cub. I've had years to think of something.

I watched the tall grass around the glittering river closely, hoping to see a rodent or a larger bird. Or a fish. At the same time, I was looking for my parents. Maybe they were already around again?

But unfortunately, I didn't see them.

Instead, I smelled a person walking along the river. Curious, I landed nearby. The person was frightened, he had probably seen me. For the most part, contact with humans was forbidden to us, unless we were tied to one. Well, being white dragons, we were more peaceful than the blacks, but when we were hungry, very hungry, there was a danger that our hunting instinct would lead us to stupidity. A crime.

Only dragons that had a magical covenant were not affected by this risk.

Magic.

I wasn't a fan of it.

I hardly even used my own skills.

I looked at the human being. He didn't run away, which surprised me. Instead, he looked around. He looked confused. It was a boy. About the same age as me. He smelled sweet, floral, delicious. Clearly not a wizard. His whole body was wrapped in old rags, which, however, slipped loosely around his shoulders and to one side. Otherwise, I wouldn't have realized it was a boy. For a moment, I could see a burn scar on his left arm, but then he turned away from me.

Fascinated, I stared at him. Why didn't he run away?

Instead, he moved on. Slow. Timid. As if he hardly knew his way around here by the river.

I watched him for a while until my stomach growled angrily. Sighing, I turned away from the boy and swung back into the air. However, my thoughts remained with this strange person who had not fled. That was actually their usual reaction unless they knew it was a dragon with a magical covenant. If the dragon was in the company of a sorcerer or witch. The sweet scent of this boy... My stomach rejoiced at the memory of it.

Shortly afterward I smelled a rabbit, which I grabbed in a dive and then devoured in the warm sand of the desert. Of course, I didn't bring it home. My siblings would just steal it from me.

But I couldn't forget the boy.

However, when I flew back, he was gone. Only his smell was left. I decided to look for him. But as a dragon, I couldn't go to the human city. But in the form of a human being? If they didn't know I was a dragon, they wouldn't recognize me as one... Our own magic made sure of that. They would see a normal person.

Maybe it was worth making use of my skills for a change?

'Harper' That was my mother's voice. She landed elegantly next to me. 'Soon the sun will set. What are you still doing here? At night, we are easily spotted by black dragons. Come on, we'll fly home!'

I nodded in disappointment. It was already this late? I gladly refrained from being attacked by a black dragon. 'I was hunting.'

'Did you succeed?'

'A rabbit.'

'Nice. Your father carries two cows home. Come quickly before your siblings eat it all on their own!'

Still hungry, I followed my mother back to our cave.