The Watcher in the Woods

I watched from the cover of the trees as the elves passed me by along the dirt road. They were traveling with a small horse-drawn cart towards the nearby settlement. A small town of theirs, deep inside the forest, where no men or orcs ever visited. It was a family of them, I think. A mother, a father, and two small elf children who scampered around the cart. Which only reminded me of my own family, as one of my claws flexed and left a furrow in the forest loam beneath my feet. 

I was the smallest of two siblings hatched to two of the most cunning green dragons in existence. My mother and father had taught me and my brother everything that they could. But I had always been smaller and weaker. And worse, in my parent’s eyes, I was not cunning at all. 

My parents had told us time and again that a green dragon’s fame and fortune rested on how well they could lie and manipulate any situation to their advantage. They told me legends of our ancestors, who through their wits and guile, had laid waste to entire kingdoms with mere words. And had lured foolish elves and men aplenty into their waiting jaws. A dragon who could lie convincingly would never go hungry, they said. 

Which was why I was always the weakest. The runt. The failure. No matter how many times father or mother showed me or taught me, I just could not lie convincingly. Nor could I tell when anyone was lying to me in turn. And my older brother showed me no mercy for it either. He always tricked me into getting lost in the forest. Or eating something that had been dead for a week. 

My parents gave up on me long before I left the nest. They called me a lost cause, and I was remitted to eating the leftovers of every successful hunt and kill. Even my first true hunting lesson, I was a failure. We were supposed to ambush traveling merchants who were lost in our forest. Father managed to scatter them easily enough, but when I confronted the pair who had wandered in my direction, I had failed. 

My task was simply to lure them into a thicket, where they would be trapped, and I could eat them. But when I had talked to them from inside the thicket, promising shelter and safety using the phrase in the common tongue father had taught us, they had simply run away. And, I am ashamed to admit, I lost track of them in our own forest. 

I returned to my family as they were gorging themselves on horses and men, empty handed. And between mouthfuls, my brother mocked and laughed at my failure again. My humiliation was complete as mother threw the severed hindquarters of a horse at me and told me to leave the successful dragons to their feast of man flesh. 

It was not long after that, that my parents had driven me from the forest. Telling me in no uncertain terms that they would kill me if I returned to their territory. And I believed them. 

So it was, that I had flown as far as I could, and collapsed from exhaustion in the forest I was now living in. it wasn’t a bad forest, all things considered. It was far from any major city, so no knights or adventurers would come hunting for me. And I had kept a low profile by eating only the deer and wildlife the whole two decades I had been here so far, despite having a settlement of elves nearby. 

Which brought my attention back to the present for a moment. I sniffed the air and the tantalizing scent of elves met my nostrils again. Elves were a delicacy. My mother and father had not found many in the forest near where I hatched, for it was far from the wilder forests they liked to live in. But the few times they had brought pieces back, they had been the tastiest food of all. 

Mother and father had told us that they were the tastiest and most prized food of all for a reason. 

Because green dragons and elves had been at war with each other for generations beyond memory even of dragon kind.

They had also warned us as well, that while men or any other of the two-legged races might believe our lies, elves never would. And would slay us given even half a chance. Without hesitation or mercy. The blood feud between our species was just that strong. 

So it was that as the family of elves passed in front of me, I was preparing to make the first large gamble of my life. Instead of trying to lure them away from the road, I was going to attack them right there. 

I had, at first, considered allowing them to pass. But the deer had been avoiding my area of the forest of late. And I was growing desperately hungry. I figured that if I took out the male, the female would be helpless. And while the children didn’t register as a threat and didn’t seem very filling, I knew I would have to silence them too. Or else risk my presence being revealed to the nearby settlement. 

I readied myself to leap and pounce on the male, my mouth already watering from what was to come. And then, the most unexpected thing happened. The little girl, who had been running circles around the family, tripped over a stone in the road and fell to the ground. And then she began to cry. 

I paused before springing. Wondering how this would change my plans and observing how the family would react to their youngest member’s behavior. Would they scold her? Yell at her for being weak? Would her older brother torment her? Would they leave her behind?

My expectations were shattered when the entire family stopped to help her back to her feet. And I watched in confusion as they hugged and kissed their youngest, all while talking to her in a friendly manner. Were they lying to her, only to bring her more torment? Even though I was terrible at discerning tricks, something about their mannerisms told me that this was not so…

I was befuddled and in complete confusion, as the father picked up the daughter and carried her in addition to leading the horse-cart and carrying his belongings. Adding her to his own substantial burden. And then even more confused as the older brother asked to help carry some of his father’s burden in turn. 

I was so confused by their behavior, that I didn’t even notice my opportunity to pounce had passed, until long after they were farther down the road. And when I did, I cursed my own weakness and hesitation as my unsatisfied appetite grumbled and complained. But I still couldn’t get the image out of my head. Of the family of elves stopping to help their fallen and weakest member. 

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