FotN '21: Journey

Dark Star kept his sail down and continued to pretend to graze at the savannah grass under his hooves. He tucked his star pearl in front of him, out of sight for the creature creeping up on him.

It wasn’t that Dark Star liked being hunted. In truth, hearing the subtle crunch of dry grass set his heart to racing and his adrenaline surging, demanding that he run and put distance between himself and the predator or turn and fight with his hooves and hefty maw.

But he liked playing this trick, fooling other creatures into wasting their time on what they assumed to be an ordinary horse or zebra or whatever else they might try to catch for themselves. People trying to tame him, animals trying to hunt him, other dragons — it was funny.

And when the predator got close enough, he lifted his head and trotted a few feet more. Far enough that the lion — it must be a lion, he thought — would need to start their approach over again but near enough to be a tantalizing prospect.

What he hadn’t expected was the sudden approach of migrating wildebeest. There was a thunder of hooves, and over a hundred of the beasts appeared in the distance, headed too close to Dark Star for him to keep up the ruse. The lion would have to strike sooner rather than later or slink off without having gotten anything to eat. The game was over.

Except that the wildebeest continued not to notice that he wasn’t one of them. They swept him up in their migratory journey, pulling him along as it was too dangerous to go against the crowd. Even when he put his sail up, the beasts were too distracted to notice and give him a wide berth.

The day turned to a humid dusk by the time they stopped at a watering hole miles from where he’d been taunting the lion. As the herd began to slow, Dark Star aimed for the edges, eager to break away even though he was sorely tempted by the promise of water. He’d find some elsewhere; he wasn’t going to stay around and get caught up again.