---

“We’re lost!”, shouted Harry, my young assistant. Tiredness, frustration and what I can only interpret as a moan caused by muscular pain were all audible in his voice.
I ignored him and continued trying to navigate through the swampy terrain. Mud only a few centimeters from reaching our knees and the terrible cold of that season did not facilitate our journey, but I was prepared for this.
“Ms. Purinna, please, do you even know how long we've been looking around?”, my assistant questioned, expressing his discontent in his tone.
“Uuhhh… two weeks?”. I wasn't sure about the exact timeframe, but the acquisition of the evidence that led to that expedition seemed so recent. Certainly couldn't be more them a few-
“Two months, Ms. Purinna. We're looking for your delusions about fire-spitting geckos on the muddy swamps of this goddamn island for two months!”. Harry readily interrupted my thoughts, insulted my research and my homeland, all in a single comment.
I stopped, rolled up the map in my hands and put it on its compartment in my belt. I turned around looking straight in his eyes without saying a single word.
“O-ok, perhaps I was rude in my assessment, ut this doesn't change tha-”
“Shut up”, I interrupted him; “We still have a long way to go”.
I turned around again and got back to walking, sometimes on mud, other times on peat, in both cases my feet sinking far deeper than I'd like them to.
We both walked silently for a while. Instants of silence seemed hours of deafening noise. I decided to break the ice.
“Harry…”
“Yes?”
“Do you remember why I hired you?”
“Because you needed an assistant?”
“That’s obvious, idiot. I'm referring to why you”
“Because I was the one who charged less?”
“No”, I rapidly responded, almost interrupting him; “I mean, yes, but it's not that simple!”
I wasn't looking at him at the moment, but I could feel his confused glare. I continued.
“I hired you because you were the only one who didn't ridicule me for my research… didn't call it a “fairy tale” or…”
“Or delusions…”, he added. His words propagated with certain difficulty, as if they carried weight. Perhaps guilt or regret, maybe some sort of shame.
I took again the map that rested in the leather compartment in my waist, looking for where exactly we were.
“Harry…”, I hesitated, stopping again.
“What?”
“...”
“We’re lost, aren't we?”
“Yeah…”
“Great”, exclaimed the ginger right after a long sigh; “it's getting late, we should set up camp…”. He looked around for a few seconds from behind the round lenses of his glasses; “...there”, he pointed at a hill a few meters northwest from where we were, with an area that seemed flat enough for our tents.
“Four years of geology for this…”, Harry mumbled.

We started setting up our camp; we set up our tents, and got from our backpacks the dry twigs and leaves we had previously separated to set our campfire.
“Firestriker”, I said, extending my shaking hand in Harry’s direction. He with his hands already on his bag, started rummaging through it, slowly turning his cold likeness into a cold and worry one, then despair and finally fear – probably of what I'd to to him when I noticed how much it was taking for him to hand me the darn firestriker –
“Uhh… Ms. Purinna…”, he hesitantly mumbled, shaking partly due to the cold, partly due to the realisation that if the cold didn't kill him, I would.
“The bag”, I kept my hand extended for him to hand it over to me. I started to – pointlessly – look for the firestriker, with the hope that my assistant was only incompetent enough to not find an object on a full backpack, but not enough to lose a tool that was essential to our survival in the humid Welsh winter. My search was as successful as his.
I simply stopped looking, put the bag on the ground next to me and, defeated, I began to gaze at the stars, freshly lit in the sky, only just released from the Sun’s blinding yoke as it sank beneath the horizon.
Harry started looking for something in the ground, alternating his eyes between the soil – in search of whatever he was after – and me – To be certain I wasn't gonna freak out when I wasn't looking, I believe –, he eventually let out an “aha!” and crouched down to get something; a rock. “Now I just need another”.
I looked at the pebble in his hand; I doubted he could use that, since the air was so humid in that region and that rock was on the wet ground of a peat bog. It was even possible to see the lichen and the moss growing on its surface.
“Are you sure this is gonna…”
“Here”, I got interrupted by him finding another – equally useless – rock. I'm not sure if it was the despair, the cold, the sleepiness, the hunger or some combination of those, but he started smacking the rocks into each other, truly believing that was gonna work.
Tek! One impact. Nothing happened.
Tek! Still nothing
Tek! Tek! Tek!…
He continued. I didn't know if I was to admire or despise his insistence. The cold slowly but surely winning us; I didn't even notice how much I was consumed by it, too focused on how Harry’s movements gradually became more and more slow. My eyes suddenly became heavy; I dripped from every centimeter of my skin, but it wasn't sweat, but the humidity in the air condensing; my fingers losing movement and my eyelids closing indicated that it could be the last day of my expedition.
“M-m-m-ms. P-p-purinna?”, I heard weakly, distant.
“I-i-it-t’s a-alright, H-harry”, I responded, “I-It’s j-just a n-n-nap”.
While my consciousness faded, I, for some reason, didn't feel angry by the mistakes of the Four Eyes or frustrated by the end of my journey. Maybe it was the cold turning off my functions, or maybe it was the contentment of knowing the truth. Anyway, I didn't know if that was really the end, but it didn't matter. All that mattered is tha-
“Good night”
“AAAHH!!”, me and Harry screamed together while we stood up; my eyes forcibly widen again the the subtle spike in adrenaline. I immediately pulled my machete and Harry his 1848 Colt, both pointing out weapons in the voice’s direction.
The voice’s owner was a tall figure; it was hard to distinguish any meaningful traits in that pitch black ambient, but by the silhouette, it was possible to see that his hair was short. Even in the dark it was visible a single yellow iris reflecting the little light of the surroundings.
“Can I… try?” The figure said, extending his arm, pointing in the direction of the rocks that Harry dropped on the ground with the jumpscare. He had a strange accent, like a mix of Scottish and Russian; didn't sound like any dialect I had heard.
“O-of course, w-why not trust the strange figure that appeared out of nowhere b-behind our backs?”, Harry put himself in front of the rocks, like a chicken protecting its eggs.
“Let him try”, I ordered.
“B-but Ms. Purinna-”
“What? What’s he gonna do? Take the rocks and run? Because yeah, they're being really useful for us right now”
Harry went silent and opened the way for the man to calmly walk toward the rocks. He crouched, took one in each hand and;
Tek! An impact. An impact became a spark. A spark became a bonfire.
A bonfire meant we were gonna live through that night, and that I had one more chance to show the truth to the world.
Me and Harry immediately ran toward the fire like moths flying towards a light source, dropping our weapons and extending the palms of our hands, feeling again the mobility in our fingers. In that moment I felt a certain clarity, as if something that was being blocked had finally had the chance to emerge.
“You idiot!!”, I shouted in Harry's direction, “How can you lose our firestriker!!”.
“Me!?” How are you so sure it wasn't you who lost it last night?”
“Because I would never do something that stupid”, I, logically, responded.
“Ah, yes, like that time you didn't lose our compass, or the time we didn't get lost with the map on your hands, or the time that…” Harry stopped, noticing he was doing something wrong. I hoped that he had realised he shouldn't be talking to me like that, but my hopes were quickly crushed.
“Good heavens, where are my manners?”, Harry turned himself towards the man, now illuminated by the flames; his hair was ginger, but not quite like Harry’s; it was more orange than the Four Eyes vibrant red. His face was long and his skin was like copper. Dark circles around his eyes and an enormous scar that started on his forehead and reached his mandible, going through his, apparently blind, left eye.
“My name is Harry Larsen”, he extended his hand towards the man.
“ Þymor”, he responded, shaking his hand, “Þymor Asþer”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Asther”
“Hey! Don't act like you weren't in the middle of a discussion with me!”, I cut him off, soon noticing that – as much as I hate to admit – he was right.
“But… Yes, he's right, thank you, sir”, I humbly responded
“You’re… welcome”, he awkwardly answered. “Is it okay if I… stay here?”
The camp was taken by the silence, looks flying between me and Harry like kitchen appliances in a couple’s fight. The sounds of the crickets and frogs highlighted the deafening silence.
“Ummm.. our food is not enough for three people and…” Harry explained, slightly ashamed. “...And we only have two tents”, I added.
“It's ok”, Thymor got close to the fire, sitting across from us. “I do not demand your food nor your shelter”
“Ooook… It looks like you're already a better traveling companion than our småbög here”, I jokingly said, bumping Harry's arm with my elbow.
“Dra åt helvete”, Harry responded in his mother tongue.
We started taking our supplies from our bags; rations, water, the eventual candy lost in the backpack. I brought a kettle and herbs for at least five different types of tea, while Harry brought his precious Brazilian coffee beans that, according to him, helped him sleep.
During this whole period Thymor was dead silent, looking into the flames of the camp fire as a sniper looking at their target.
“So, Thymor… Where do you come from?”, I questioned.
“From þe norþ”, he responded without taking his eyes from the fire.
“Like… From Scotland?”
“Yes… like from Scotland”. Initially I grew more and more skeptical that it was a good idea to let him stay with us. Then I thought that perhaps it was a great idea – God only knows what this guy would've done to us had we denied his company. I wasn't afraid; we were both armed and, in my experience, if there's a matter in which Harry isn’t a complete buffoon, it's shooting.
“Well, I think I haven't introduced myself. My name is Olivia Purinna” “Why art Þou here? Þis area is dangerous”
“We’re on an expedition, going to a mountain range northwest from here to find.”
“We’re looking from Drag-”, I immediately interrupted Harry by stomping his foot. “OUCH!”
“Dragons?”, he questioned, this time looking directly into my eyes. The terrible feeling of insecurity I hadn't felt in months emerged like a filled football, refusing to be on the bottom of a pool.
“I know… sounds stupid” I admitted. “but I have evidenced that-"
“Have you ever seen a dragon?”, he interrupted me.
“Hey, you don't need to make fun of Ms. Purinna, ok?!”, Harry said while abruptly standing up, spilling some of his coffee”.
“I am not”, Thymor answered right before shifting his focus back to me. The terrible feeling suddenly vanished. “Actually… I did”. He corrected his posture; he looked interested in what I had to say.
“It was 15 years ago. I had gotten lost in the woods near my home. I was crying, screaming trying to find my parents when… it appeared. I remember so vividly… It was the size of a big horse and had a pair of legs, a pair of wings and a pair of horns. Strangely, feathers covered most of its skins with scales limited to his legs, like a bird.
It took flight, flew over the area and then found me amongst the trees again and… took me home. I've been looking for them ever since”
“And what do you intend on doing once you find þem?”
“I want to understand them. Maybe find the dragon that helped me”
Thymor shifted his look over to Harry, who started walking towards his gent. “He doesn't seem impressed”
“She told me this story before”
“And do you believe it to be þe truþ?”
“Not, completely. But you never know”
“Such encouraging words”, I answered in an ironic demeanor
“Good night”, Harry said, closing the zipper in his tent
“Good night, Four Eyes” I answered him, then turning to Thymor. “I think I better get going as well. Are you sure you're gonna be fine out here?” “I am”
“Alright… Good night” I entered my tent, closed it, and slept.
“Swyþaw̆n săy̆gon̆…”

Birds singing, the scent in the air indicating that it rained while we slept. I get out of my tent and see Harry, already drinking his coffee, his tent already disassembled and no sign of Thymor’s presence.
“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty”
“Good morning, Four Eyes”. I got closer, sitting across the campfire, still lots got my cup and extended it to Harry. He poured some coffee.
“You were wrong, Ms.”, Harry said, with our map in hand. “Our destination is southeast from here. Our friend from last night made us a favour by localizing us on the map”
“Gimme that!”. I took the map from his hands, seeing a little drawing with two stick figures and a bonfire in the center. An X marked the mountains we were going to.
“Looks like you two talked a lot while I slept”
“No no, he was already gone when I woke up. He even relit the fire after the rain, apparently” “What? Then how did he know which mountains we're going to?”
“You… didn't talk about this after I went to sleep?”
“No…”. We faced each other for a moment, our eyes gradually widening as it hit us. Without saying a word, we both knew what went through each other's heads.
“We gotta go”, I said, drinking my coffee rapidly. We finish eating the fastest we can and disassemble my tent. Harry took our canteen and tossed water in the campfire; the flames refused to cease.
“Uhh… Ms. Purinna”
“Yeah, maybe he was gone sooner than we imagined. Let's go, don't waste all of our water on this, and take the rocks”. Harry took the rocks, completely dried out and with no remnants of the moss and lichen that covered their surfaces.
“They’re hot”. Harry pointed out, putting them on his backpack “Here”. I hit his chest with the mal. “You keep the map”
He held the piece of paper, looked around for a few instants, “There”, he pointed southeast and started walking. I followed
A few minutes of silence became a few hours. We entered a Taiga in the middle of the way. It was hard to navigate, we constantly needed to bypass trees, rocks and even a river.
At a given moment I saw a rock. It wasn't any rock, I was certain that I had already seen that rock. “We’re lost again”
“Of course not, We just need to-”
“Harry, we’ve passed by this rock, we’re going in circles!”. I yelled, pointing to what was, obviously, the same rock.
“N-no, it can't be… I'd remember such a big Diorite stone”, he said, trying to use his authority to gaslight me.
“Harry, I need you to read this map correctly!”
“I would be easier with a compass"
“It’d be easier if my assistant wasn't so incompetent”. Harry stopped walking. He remained silent for a few moments before letting out a strong sigh.
“Ah, of course, because you are Miss. Mapreading, right? We're definitely not lost before a stranger saved your life! It wasn't you who started dying because of a little cold of maybe negative fifteen degrees, and still has the audacity to call me a småbög!”
“We finally, after all this time, have a concrete clue! I hoped aft-”
“Concrete evidence? We found a weird man that helped and vanished! This means nothing!”
“How would he know our final destination?”
“He could have been following us and heard us talking about it in the morning”
“Of course, he was sneakily following us, but decided to reveal himself anyway for reasons! Also, the fire?? How do you explain that?”
“Ah yes, he lit a fire. That was, for sure, without a doubt, dragon magic! It could only be!“. Harry's mockery was starting to get under my skin. He continued:
“He lit the fire because any mildly competent geologist would've been able to look at…”, He took the rocks from the side pockets of his backpack. “... These and know that they can be used to light a fire!” He exclaimed, extending his hands in my direction, almost rubbing the rocks in my face. If it wasn't for me and my knowledge and my competences you would already be dead!”, the volume of his voice rose at each phoneme he articulated, each approximant nearing a fricative, each fricative nearing a plosive and each plosive nearing an implosive. Birds started flying from the trees nearby, scared away from the noise.
“That's why, Olivia, I think you should start treating me with some respect or hi after another assistant to help you with your fairy tales! And there's more! I think y-”
“Shut up”
“No! This won't work an-”
“Harry. Shut. Up”. I said holding his head and slowly turning his neck. Behind him an enormous beast, but not the one we were looking for; possibly disturbed by our argument. A bear, judging by the immediate and aggressive growl it let out as soon as Herry noticed its presence, was probably a mother protecting her cubs, thinking we were a threat.
I threw myself to the ground instantly, trying to play dead. When I looked at Four Eyes, on the other hand, I saw him frozen.
“Hey! To the ground!”, I pointlessly whispered. Harry stayed motionless, keeping direct eye contact with the furball and visibly trembling, especially his hands and knees. The bear started to walk towards him. I knew I had to do something, or the bear would slice my assistant in two. She got near enough for Harry to feel the heat from their breathing; I didn't have any time. I got up abruptly, running into the direction she came from, imagining that's where her kids were..
“Here!! I'm gonna kill your kids furball!”, I yelled, trying to get her attention while I hid through the trees, using my machete to open the way. Without looking behind, I heard a roar and the sound of paws stomping into the soft soil and crushing the leaf litter.
I kept running; I knew I could never be as fast as a bear, but I could pass through trees and small spaces that big momma wouldn't be able to and, though that did delay her, it wasn't enough. I heard the sound of a gun shooting; it was definitely Harry's gun. Could he be trying to help me by shooting the bear? If yes, it would've been the first time I saw him miss a shot, because she was still at full power, stampeding through the dry leaves and moss.
The cold started to get me again, stiffening my movements; the air seemed to resist my breathing; my heart pounded as if my life depended on it – well, because it did –.
I saw myself in a clade; there were no obstacles to delay the beast. I began turning to go around the glade, but there she was, right behind me.
I began slowly walking backwards, entering the glade, while the bear approached at the same rate, almost as if it wanted to play with me before killing me.
I saw myself in that place again; those woods all those years ago. I saw myself crying, lost, afraid. I saw myself incapable of accepting my fate, even when knowing that was my doom.
I saw myself having again the same childish hope that a miracle would come to save me.
I heard a roar and, for a brief moment, smaller than a second, I knew it was the end. I had failed. Failed as a researcher, failed as a contractor. Failed my family, my assistant. Failed myself; with everything I had promised that little ten year old girl, right after being brought back home.
But… Something didn't fit. In the brief moment right after this I felt something wasn’t right. I didn't feel cold, but a warming heat. The directions seemed scrambled, the roar of the beast before me seemed to come from behind my back.
In a third moment I saw the bear completely still. Saw in her eyes the same feeling Harry had when he saw her. In my peripheral vision there was a bright orange glow.
I finally moved my neck and saw the glare surrounded by flames.
“Need help, Ms. Purinna?”. That annoying voice, never before carrying so much hope, coming from behind me, but from above. It was when, even before I turned around to look at the rock lover’s face, I felt the wind in my back, like a helicopter landing, strong enough to put out the fire. It was when I saw the creature carrying Harry on its back.
Way bigger than a big horse, he displayed over 5 meters in height, with two large wings that it used as a pair of forelimbs, a pair of horns above its eyes, a pair on its jaw and a small on the tip of its snout and brown feathers covering most of its body. Iridescent feathers reflecting shades of blue, purple and green.
With me still wondered with the sight of that which I thought I might never see again, Harry dismounted the – and I can barely believe that I can say that – dragon and came to examine me.
“Are you Okey?”, Harry worrily asked
“I am…”, I said with my eyes still locked on the dragon. “How did you find me and… how did you find him?”.
“I tried following the map. I thought your best hope was that… You were right”. As he spoke I walked towards the dragon; with the adrenaline spike ceasing I noticed something in its face.
So I ran and maybe by luck, maybe by intuition, I managed to escape the taiga and found the mountains we were heading for and, when I got there, miss, you won’t be lieve it, I found Thymor-”
And as Harry's word faded from my hearing the face of the dragon came close to my hand, that I hadn't even noticed I had extended. I touched his snout, feeling it's warmth; it was an endothermic creature.
On one of the sides it had a bright yellow eye. On the other, a giant scar, blinding his right eye.`