Jase's Challenge from the Deeper Magic: The First Collection
By Clover Autrey
Willec scrambled toward the clearing, worn travel gear banging against his broad back. By
all rights that couldn’t have been what he’d heard!
Another high-pitched squeal rolled among the trees. A flock of chatterbrights shot out from
dark leafy branches, squawking furiously as they winged up toward patches of blue sky.
Willec slackened his pace. Healthy curiosity was one thing; rushing up to the unknown, quite
another. His bitter years defending the border had taught him that.
The squeal rang out again, so shrill and close Willec ground his teeth against the sudden
assault on his ears. Carefully, he moved to the edge of trees. His breath caught in his throat.
A streak of brilliant yellow soared just above the meadowgrass, ruffling thin green stalks back
with powerful strokes of air. A dragon.
A small one, at that: roughly half the length of a man.
Abruptly, the dragon veered. With an exuberant squeal, he flew straight upward. Leathery
wings pushed the air in great whooshes. Sunlight flashed across glistening scales,
momentarily drenching him in riotous color. With a twist of his body, he dove. Air whistled
across folded wings.
Willec’s palm flattened against a tree’s trunk, wrinkled bark pressed seams across his flesh.
The dragon’s slender neck arched. A fraction above the ground, he curved and skimmed
across the grasses, wings gracefully extended, before flapping into a climb again. Sweet
Mother Of All, the dragon was at play. A smile Willec hadn’t felt for a long time crept over his
features.
The dragon rolled in the sky. Young muscles rippled in the sun’s glow.
Willec wanted to step out from the trees, get closer. But where there was a young dragon, a
mother, too, would be present. He scanned the meadow and the sky, and found no sign of
another dragon. He didn’t think a grown dragon could fit between the trees, yet that didn’t
mean she wasn’t sprawled across their tops, sunning herself. She could likely be over his
head this very moment. He eyed the forest ceiling, looking for any overly large shapes or
shadows.
A sharp whistle snapped his attention back to the clearing. The young dragon squealed as if
in answer and turned over in the sky. Claw-tipped feet lowering first, wings rounded out, the
dragon descended, moving on a course that was taking him directly toward Willec.
Willec froze, knowing he’d have a better chance of remaining hidden without any sudden
movements.
Gusts of air from the dragon’s rapid approach blasted him. Leaves lifted in the air. The
dragon skidded through the meadowgrass, tearing huge furrows of soil with his hind legs and
came to a rattling halt. His frontward momentum carried him end over end and he landed on
his belly with a grating thud, less than ten strides from Willec.
“Oh, no! Dragon!” Two boys rushed out from beneath the shadows of trees, not far from
where Willec stayed concealed.
