Dragon Lair
"Whoaaaaa!"
My scream had barely left my mouth before the head-on wind shredded it and hurled it behind me.
I lay plastered flat on Alduin's back, unsure if I was even making any sound at all, clinging desperately to the huge scales rising in front of me with both arms.
My fingertips dug into the gaps between the scales.
A hot, solid sensation traveled up my palms, and beneath them I could feel an enormous power moving like a heartbeat, or a furnace, alive and surging.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
I couldn't tell if it was Alduin's heart, my own heart, or the resonance of his wings seizing the air.
"Slower! Slower! I said slower!"
"Krr?"
The moment Alduin turned his head to check my voice, his massive body tilted slightly sideways.
Sky, forest, and my vision all spun together, and my heart leaped into my throat.
"Eyes forward! Forward!"
"Ker?"
Whoosh!
Alduin snapped his gaze ahead again.
Even that brief motion rocked his whole body, and I pressed my stomach and chest against him like a blanket, hanging on to a single ridge of scales for dear life.
I'd told him we'd only rise a little at first.
Just off the ground.
A little higher than the cabin roof.
Slowly getting used to flying over the forest.
That's exactly what I'd said, and Alduin had answered with a "Krr," so I thought he understood.
Apparently he'd taken it as permission to fly.
The treetops streaked by like lines, the stream flashed silver and vanished, and hills rushed forward only to disappear behind us.
A flock of startled birds exploded upward from below all at once.
A deer walking along a forest path lifted its head, saw the black shadow, and froze solid.
For a second I felt unfairly resentful that the deer looked calmer than I did.
"We're falling! We're going to fall!"
"Krr!"
A low, happy rumble rose from beneath Alduin's neck.
Rrrrr.
The vibration traveled through the scales and spread beneath my stomach.
The instant I heard it, I understood.
This kid was enjoying himself.
Alduin had decided to interpret my terrified clinging as something positive.
Praise.
An expression of affection.
A sign that he was doing well.
Something along those lines.
Alduin grew even more excited.
His wings beat once, much harder.
Boom!
The air exploded.
My body was flung backward.
I tightened my arms and clung to the scales with everything I had.
"I'm holding on because I'm scared!"
"Krr?"
"Don't take that as 'I like it'!"
Instead of answering, Alduin let out a pleased rumble.
Rrrrr.
"Stop being happy!"
"Krr!"
"Slow down!"
That command got through.
Alduin's wingbeats slowed a little.
By my standards it was still an insane speed, but at least we were no longer moving so fast that I felt like I'd be flung off his back and slammed into the forest somewhere.
I finally managed to draw a breath.
The small pouch tied at my waist slapped against my thigh.
I wondered what I'd do if the pouch came loose and flew away, then realized the more immediate priority was making sure my own body didn't fly away.
"Alduin."
"Krr?"
"When I hug you, it doesn't mean go faster."
The scale that looked like Alduin's ear twitched.
"It's because I'm scared."
"Krr...?"
"I'm scared."
I pressed the words out one by one so the wind wouldn't swallow them.
"I'm scared of falling."
Only then did Alduin's rumbling stop.
His wings caught the air more gently, and his body stabilized, gliding smoothly above the forest.
Still gripping the scales, I gradually caught my breath.
"I'm not hugging you because I like it."
Alduin's presence sank slightly.
I quickly added.
"And not because I hate it either."
His ear twitched again.
"I'm holding on because your back is the safest place."
Alduin's whole body gave a tiny shiver.
Joy was trying to rise again.
I shouted quickly.
"Don't speed up."
Alduin held back.
Rr.
Only a small rumble spread beneath me, and his wings did not accelerate.
Only then could I finally smile a little.
"Good. Well done."
Rr.
"Well done, but don't go faster."
Rr.
"Good. Just like that."
Once the flight stabilized, I finally lifted my head.
The forest spread out beneath my feet.
The treetops flowed like a green wave, the streams cutting between them sparkled silver in the sunlight, and beyond the distant hills a thin mist lay low.
The wind pressed the leaves all in one direction.
Every time Alduin's shadow swept over the forest, the birds took flight a beat late in surprise.
Small animals dove under tree roots, and deer by the water leaped into the woods, spraying droplets.
Alduin flew while looking down at all of it.
The child who used to react instantly to any prey in sight was now, because of my words, refusing to turn his head and keeping his eyes forward.
That was rather admirable.
The cabin was no longer visible.
The house where I had first opened my eyes.
The house where I had been alone.
The house where I had fed Alduin his first meal.
The house where I first realized I wasn't alone anymore.
That house must now be a tiny speck somewhere deep in the forest.
When we returned, ashes would probably still be in the fireplace.
Dishes I hadn't cleared would still be on the table, and in the storeroom a few strips of dried meat and some old cloth would remain.
I had to remember the cloth I'd laid in the box when Alduin first fell asleep there.
If I left it behind, I had a feeling this kid would toss and turn all night.
"We're really leaving."
"Krr?"
"The cabin, I mean."
Alduin answered in a low voice.
"Kurrrl..."
"We'll have to go back later to get our things."
"Krrrr."
"Fly slowly then, too."
"Kwu..."
"If you fly like you did just now, I'll die."
Alduin's body stiffened immediately.
I patted the scales.
"Half of that was a joke."
"Krr..."
"Though the other half wasn't."
Alduin started to look dejected.
I changed my words at once.
"Still, you're doing well."
Rr.
"For your first time flying."
Rr.
"It's a compliment, so don't speed up."
Alduin held back again.
Admirable.
So admirable that I wanted to praise him more, but I was afraid one wrong compliment would send us shooting straight past an entire mountain range.
I lowered my body a little more against Alduin's back.
It was still scary.
But I was getting used to it bit by bit.
The feeling of power flowing beneath me every time his wings beat down.
The way the scales trembled faintly when we glided on the air.
Which way to lean my body when he changed direction.
Everything in the sky was unfamiliar, yet Alduin was adjusting his speed so I wouldn't fall.
He lowered his neck, changed the angle of his wings, and kept his body level.
The speed and power were ridiculous.
Alduin probably wasn't even fully grown yet, but simply by racing through the sky he was already leaving the forest, river, and hills behind like tiny pictures.
It wasn't that his large size made him fast; even after growing so large, he was still fast.
With that enormous body he glided across the wind, crossed ridges without losing speed, and with one beat of his wings seized the air and flung himself forward.
His firepower would be the same.
If I gave the slightest permission, endless flames would pour from that black maw and reshape entire forests, rocks, and terrain.
If it were a finishing move that gathered power and released all at once, I could at least calculate it.
Alduin's fire didn't feel like that at all.
It began like breathing, continued as long as he wished, and became a disaster that would never stop unless I told it to.
A child with that kind of power gets happy at a single word from me, and when I hold his back he likes it so much he tries to go faster.
How could I not be scared?
And that power didn't mean Alduin himself couldn't get hurt.
Those fast wings would bleed if torn.
Those hard scales would crack if struck by a strong enough weapon.
His speed and flames looked nearly perfect, but I couldn't trust that he knew how to endure hits.
Alduin was closer to an arrow than a castle wall.
A black flame tearing through the sky.
In that case, I had only one job.
To stop this monstrous child from getting so excited that he misused his own body.
"Alduin."
"Krr?"
"I know you're fast."
"Krr."
"But it hurts when you get hit."
Alduin's ear twitched.
"So avoid everything without fail, and listen to me without fail."
"Kek."
"No charging ahead just because you feel good."
"Krr..."
"Don't look so disappointed."
A small rumble rose from beneath Alduin's neck and then vanished.
Hearing it, I gently pressed my forehead to the scales.
At first I had carried Alduin in my arms back to the cabin.
Now Alduin was carrying me on his back toward a mountain as high as the end of the world.
It was scary, absurd, and just a little thrilling.
"North."
I spoke into the wind.
"Toward the Cradle of the World."
Alduin's ear reacted.
He lifted his head slightly.
Then he turned his body toward the direction where forest and hills gave way to distant, hazy overlapping mountain ranges.
"Krr."
The flight gradually climbed higher.
His body, which had been skimming above the forest, rose over the hills.
The rocky zone beyond the hills flowed away beneath us.
Rivers cut between the mountains, white foam stretching like long snakes.
Trees grew fewer and fewer.
The green gave way to the gray of rock and the white of snow.
As the sun sank, the air grew colder.
Alduin's back was warm, but the wind striking my face was as sharp as a blade.
I pulled my cloak more tightly around myself.
"It's cold."
"Krr?"
"I don't have a furnace inside my body like you do."
Alduin thought for a moment.
Then he lowered his neck a little.
His wings shifted to an angle that blocked the wind.
The freezing headwind that had been slamming into us decreased sharply.
I blinked.
"...Oh."
"Krr?"
"That was well done."
Rr.
"Keep the speed just like this."
Rr.
Alduin held back again.
After flying like that for a long while, mountains appeared beyond the horizon.
At first I thought they were clouds.
A huge white mass hung beneath the sky.
The closer we got, the clearer it became that it wasn't a cloud but a mountain.
Other ranges looked like low waves in front of it, and this single peak rose as if pushing the sky itself upward.
Its summit stood above the clouds.
White snow clung to its midsection, and below that, black rock and ice mingled together.
The entire mountain looked like the back of a sleeping giant.
"...The Cradle of the World."
The name I'd seen on the map was right before my eyes.
A white giant holding up the heavens.
A mountain no one had ever reached the summit of.
A place that hunters, mages, the king's army, and even the protagonist Lord Eyaje had only gazed at from afar.
Alduin was flying straight toward it.
"Alduin."
"Krr?"
"Climb slowly."
"Krr."
"Watch the wind."
"Krr."
"Don't drop me."
Alduin's rumbling stopped.
He always grew serious at those words.
He spread his wings wide.
Then he began to climb slowly along the massive cliff face of the Cradle of the World.
The wind changed.
The wind above the forest had been rough but warm.
Here it was cold and heavy.
Wind that had climbed the mountain walls shook Alduin's wings.
His body lurched once, hard.
I swallowed a scream and clung to the scales.
Alduin immediately regained his balance.
"Are you okay?"
"Krr."
"I asked you, so is it right for you to answer?"
Alduin rumbled low.
Rr.
I gritted my teeth and looked ahead.
The world beneath the mountain grew steadily farther away.
The forest shrank to a black smudge.
The rivers became silver threads.
The lower ranges overlapped like folded cloth.
Clouds passed beside us.
White mist brushed my face.
For a moment my vision turned pure white.
I held my breath.
Alduin's body broke through the clouds and rose.
And in the next instant, the world opened.
A sea of clouds spread beneath us.
Above it rose the summit of the Cradle of the World.
Snow and ice.
Black rock.
A white plain with not a single human footprint.
I lost my words.
Alduin gave one final powerful beat of his wings.
Boom!
The cold air was pushed behind us.
His enormous body settled onto the summit.
Then he slowly landed.
Thump.
His forelegs touched the snow.
Powder exploded upward like a burst.
The second pair of legs touched down.
Thump.
His wings folded.
The wind died away.
I remained lying on Alduin's back for a long time, unable to move.
I had survived.
I had arrived alive at the summit of the Cradle of the World.
"..."
I slowly raised my head.
The world lay below.
Clouds spread out beneath my feet, distant mountain ranges continued like waves, and the land beyond was buried under faint mist.
The sky felt close.
Cold blue stretched endlessly overhead.
And on this summit there was nothing.
No people.
No paths.
No buildings.
No footprints.
Only snow, rock, wind, and Alduin.
"We've arrived."
My voice scattered as white breath.
"Alive."
"Krr."
Alduin carefully lowered his body.
With legs trembling violently, I climbed down from his back.
When my feet touched the snow they sank deep.
The cold traveled up through the soles of my boots.
My knees nearly gave out and I almost sat down, but I grabbed Alduin's scales and barely held on.
Alduin immediately lowered his neck.
Golden eyes examined me with worry.
"I'm fine."
"Krr..."
"My legs feel like they don't belong to me, but they're still attached."
Alduin rumbled low, as if he didn't like that answer.
I reached out and patted his snout.
"Gently."
Rr.
"Yes. Gently."
I wrapped both arms around myself and looked around.
It was nice.
It was vast.
It was certainly a place no person could reach.
There was nothing to snag Alduin's wings even if he spread them.
Plenty of rock walls to practice breath on.
It was quieter than anywhere else in the world.
Wind swept across the snowfield, scattering white powder, and far below the sheer cliffs clouds churned like a sea.
The world below seemed like an unreachable painting.
Here, no one would come looking for Alduin.
Here, even if Alduin wagged his tail he wouldn't destroy a house.
Here, even if Alduin spread his wings the forest wouldn't be overturned.
"It's good, but..."
I stood in the middle of the snowfield and muttered.
"How do we build a house?"
There were plenty of rocks.
Plenty of snow.
Far too much wind.
No trees.
Almost no dirt.
No materials to build a cabin.
I could stack stones to make a shelter, but with my own hands it would take years.
Should I make an igloo?
I was weak to cold.
Alduin seemed fine, but I wasn't.
"There aren't any materials."
"Krr?"
"No trees."
I gestured around us.
"There are lots of rocks, but I can't move them."
Alduin looked at the rocks.
Then at me.
Then at the rocks again.
He tilted his head slightly.
"No need to be careful with your horns here."
Alduin's eyes sparkled as if he thought that was praise.
I sighed and looked at the massive cliff face on one side of the summit.
It was a black rock cliff revealed between the snow.
One entire side of the mountain lay exposed, tall and wide.
Large enough that several dragons the size of Alduin could stand side by side.
If we could hollow out the inside, it seemed we could block the wind and avoid the snow.
It would be enough for Alduin to curl up and sleep.
Even if Alduin grew larger, it looked like it could hold for a while.
Space enough not just for one dragon, but perhaps for something else that might appear later.
The moment that thought occurred to me, some part of my mind let out a quiet scream.
I can't even handle one; what would I do if more appeared?
I pushed the thought away.
A house came first.
Of course it was impossible with my own hands.
I had no hammer.
No chisel.
No intention of devoting decades to it.
I looked at the cliff and muttered softly.
"It'd be nice if there were a cave or something."
The moment he heard those words, Alduin's ears twitched.
"Krr?"
"A cave."
I shaped an entrance with both hands.
"A place we can go inside and sleep."
Alduin watched my gesture.
Then he looked at the cliff.
"No, I just meant it would be nice if there was one."
Alduin's eyes grew serious.
I immediately felt a bad premonition.
"Wait."
Alduin took one step forward.
Thump.
The snow shook.
"Wait a second."
Alduin stood before the cliff.
A red glow rose from inside his throat.
Hrrrrr.
"Alduin."
Heat pushed the air aside.
Red light spread across the snowfield.
"Just a moment. Be careful with your breath..."
Before I could finish, Alduin opened his mouth.
Kwaaaaaaaaah!
Flames poured toward the cliff.
It was as if a red sun had burst above the white summit.
Snow melted in an instant, exploding into steam.
Black rock glowed red-hot.
The cliff surface melted and bored inward.
I covered my face against the heat and staggered backward.
"It's hot! It's hot!"
Alduin immediately reduced his breath.
But he didn't stop.
The huge stream of fire pushed into the cliff like a red river.
Kwaaaaaah.
The rock melted.
Molten rock flowed downward.
The flowing rock met the cold air and hardened like black glass.
Alduin didn't simply punch a hole.
First he dug deep.
Then he slowly moved his head to widen the entrance.
Every time his breath swept round inside the cliff, the rock melted, collapsed, and hardened again into walls.
When the flames rose, the ceiling grew higher.
When they moved sideways, the walls opened.
When they descended, the floor flattened.
I stared at the sight in a daze.
This was far from building a house.
He was carving a mountain.
The massive cliff on one side of the Cradle of the World's summit was being hollowed out from the inside with every breath Alduin took.
"Alduin! Just a little! A little is enough!"
Alduin seemed to hear me and weakened his breath slightly.
But his idea of "a little" was still a flame that could pierce a mountain by human standards.
He carved the inside even wider.
The entrance grew larger and larger.
At first it was big enough for Alduin to put his head inside.
Soon it was wide enough for his shoulders.
Then it became large enough for him to fold his wings and walk in.
By that point I had already lost my voice.
Yet Alduin did not stop.
He seemed to remember my hand gesture.
A place to go inside and sleep.
He appeared to have interpreted those words very generously.
His breath swept across the side walls again.
The inside of the cave grew even wider.
The ceiling was pushed upward.
The floor melted and then hardened flat.
The walls gleamed smoothly like black glass, and red heat still lingered here and there.
I stood before the cave entrance with my mouth open.
This wasn't a house.
It wasn't even a palace.
It was a dragon's lair.
And not a lair for just one dragon.
It looked big enough for five dragons the size of Alduin to enter, fold their wings, curl up, and still have room to lie down.
The entrance alone was as huge as several cabins stacked together.
The interior space was wide enough for the wind from the summit to echo deeply inside.
The walls and ceiling glowed faintly red as they cooled.
On the floor, the black veins where molten rock had flowed and hardened continued like a river.
The breath stopped.
For a moment there was no sound on the summit.
Hssssss.
Only the long sound of melting snow turning to vapor continued.
I stared at the sight for a long time, unable to speak.
Alduin slowly turned to look at me.
His golden eyes sparkled.
It was a face waiting for praise.
I looked at the cave.
Then at Alduin.
Then at the cave again.
"...You."
"Krr?"
"You didn't build a house. You carved out a mountain."
"Krr."
Alduin puffed his chest out slightly.
It was clearly a proud face.
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
Words failed me.
But the result was good.
A cave to block the wind.
Space to avoid the snow.
An interior spacious enough for Alduin.
A lair wide enough for five Alduins to fit without bumping into one another.
Once the inside cooled, it would be perfectly usable as a dwelling.
The walls had melted and hardened like glass, looking solid, and the floor was strangely flat.
The entrance was wide and high.
Even if a blizzard raged, it wouldn't reach deep inside.
Only after a long while did a laugh escape me.
"Yeah."
Alduin's eyes brightened even more.
"You did well."
Rrrrrrrr.
The inside of the cave trembled low, receiving the rumble.
I immediately raised my hand.
"Gentle with the rumbling."
Rr.
"Don't collapse the cave."
Alduin looked at the cave with a slightly startled face.
"Half of that was a joke."
"Krr..."
"No, after seeing you put a hole in a mountain, maybe only half was a joke."
Alduin started to look dejected again.
I quickly approached and patted his scales.
"Still, you did well. You did really well! Instead, from now on ask me before using your breath."
"Krr."
"Don't just answer. Remember it."
"Krrrk..."
I stood in front of the cave entrance.
The heat was still fierce.
Inside, the red light was slowly fading.
The walls glistened like black glass.
Traces of molten rock flowed and hardened in places across the floor.
The deepest part was still dark.
Even that darkness was vast.
My voice echoed faintly from the entrance.
"Hellooo."
A faint echo returned from inside the cave.
Hellooo.
I laughed at the sound.
"It really is wide."
"Krr?"
"It could fit about five dragons."
Hearing that, Alduin looked inside the cave.
Then at his own body.
Then at the cave again.
And he made a satisfied face.
Looking at that face, I felt a strange emotion.
The summit of a mountain no one had ever climbed.
A gigantic cave had been born there.
Without lumber, nails, or blueprints.
The first home made with a single dragon breath.
A wide, hot, impossibly huge lair.
I felt the heat rolling out from inside the cave and let out a white breath.
Thump.
This time there was nothing to collide with.
The summit was wide, and the new home was even wider.
I smiled and placed my hand on Alduin's scales.
They were hot and solid.
It was the same heat that had once fit into my palm as a small warmth.
Only the size had changed.
"Good."
I looked up at the enormous cave.
"This is our new home."
"Krr."
Alduin answered in a low voice.
That rumble flowed deep into the cave and spread wide and far.
It was the moment the first dragon's lair was born atop the summit of the Cradle of the World.