Maria Spotlight - The night is ours

He took his finger off my chest, he had drilled it threateningly into my flesh and looked at me discontentedly. When he was gone, I heard Larissa's voice.

"What's Claus got against me and the dragon?"

She stood behind me, had once again approached unnoticed, she was so quiet.

„Have you been eavesdropping again? Well, don't worry about him, he'll get over it. You have to know it's the fire that he fears so much because he can't control it like you and I can. That's why he doesn't like the dragon.“

“Crux will never harm anyone, not even Claus. Not even if I wanted to.“

“And that's a good thing, too. Your job is to raise Crux, and you're doing good. If you continue as before, you will lead a long, carefree life together.“

The dragon grew fast. Already after a short time he had no more room in Larissa's bed and got a stable in the back of the garden. One day all of a sudden valuable objects disappeared from the castle. A gold-plated candlestick had been stolen from Ephraim's study, the fine porcelain plates with the silver rim had been stolen from the kitchen, Lucia had been robbed of her jewellery, and Larissa missed her gem-set hair clip, which her mother had given her for her birthday. They called me for advice. If I could see where the pieces were now. If the thief was caught, he'd be properly punished. I already had a hunch, it could only be that way. And when I led them to the dragon's den, they had found their culprit. The dragon had stolen the things, he had become magically attracted to them and had brought them here with him. Everyone stood bewildered in the door, only the dragon made an innocent face.

“Well, that's enough now, Larissa. I told you not to make him a thief, but to raise the dragon properly.“

“I'm sorry, Father. I had no idea what he was doing here.“

“Please forgive me, Ephraim“, I intervened, “your daughter is not to blame. This is a completely normal behavior of young dragons. He's hoarding. He collects precious things from his surroundings and then brings them here. It's a clear sign of letting him go soon.“

Larissa came up to me worried. “What do you mean, let him go?"

“He needs a new place to stay. Hoarding's the first sign of that. He can't stay here forever, in a few years he'll be full-grown, then he'd be much too big anyway. You'll have to let him go so he can find a burrow nearby.“

“And where will he go?"

“This I don’t know. He has to decide for himself. Dragons will choose their caves according to various criteria, partly because of the food supply, but also because he wants to stay close to you.“

Lucia, as always, had reservations. “Does it really have to be that you let him go? What if he doesn't come back or worse, people see him?"

“They won't, my dear. Since the last dragons were forgotten, people have forgotten to perceive them. Only if they were taught again they could see him. I will not deny, however, that there‘s still a handful of them who still possess this gift, but I don‘t know anyone.“

Ephraim patted his daughter on the shoulder to assure her that everything would be fine.

“Well, then, my darling. You heard what Emily told you. Crux only takes orders from you. So tell him to fly out. And the rest of you, get that stuff back in the house.“

The workers took everything. Crux had trouble giving it away. He hissed and put his claw hand over it to protect it.

“Crux, that's enough of that. Give it to me, boy. It's not yours.“

Larissa went over and scratched her dragon under his neck, which reassured him.

“Would you like to fly out, my friend? And show me where your place is?"

“I'll go with you, if you don't mind?"

She ruffled her lips so that this moment would come, she knew, yet it hurt in her heart. In the afternoon I met her and the dragon in the forest. She was obviously nervous.

"Don't be afraid, my child. It's not that bad. When he's settled down, you can always come back and see him. But now let him go.“

The dragon towered over the girl, he was already a colossus. I can't imagine what this would be like in a few months. She approached him, looked deep into his eyes and laid her hand on his cheek.

"Crux, I want you to fly out of from here. Your time has come. You're too big to live with us any longer. So go show us where your new place is.“

Immediately he stretched his wings, pushed himself off the ground and flew towards the sun. He was so tall, his shadow covered the sun. Up in the air, he drew wide circles, spat fire here and there. It was a dream to watch this magical creature do it. I hadn't seen any of them for so long that I had to ask myself if this was real at all. From the ground we had everything in view. Although we had to follow his flight, it didn‘t drive him too far away from the castle. In a valley next to a mountain, about half an hour away from our villages, he went down. We had trouble finding him again, because he was extremely fast. The fact that we had to fight our way through all the trees and bushes didn't make things any easier. Crux had stopped in front of a big mountain, covered with the most beautiful and greenest fir trees. There was an entrance on the south side. We went in. The mountain had to be hollow inside; a long passage led into it. In fact, the mountain was hollow inside. The sight we saw there almost took away our breath. A gigantic cave extended under the hilltop, many turnings pointed to further places. A lake gathered in the middle of the cave; its source probably came from the small river that flowed past the mountain. Here the dragon could have a good time, here he could grow and prosper. He wouldn't be short of space. Crux flew excitedly towards us, apparently he wanted to show us something. He led us through one of the large corridors, which was so huge that Crux would easily fit through it if he had grown to full size. The end of the passage was open and led to the west side of the mountain on a plateau. From there one looked far down into the valley, game grazed down on the wild meadows, the perfect source of food. Crux had found his new home and Larissa was cheerful. This place went from there under the name Dragon’s mountain into the history books. Meanwhile, we left more years behind. The seasons shrouded the land in their typical dresses and Crux grew to become the greatest dragon Earth has ever seen. After a year, he spoke our language and trusted me. I continued to teach my student witchcraft. She grew up to be a beautiful young woman who captivated everyone with her grace. Skin like porcelain, long, dark hair, a strong yet slender silhouette with feminine curves and these unmistakable sapphire blue eyes. And then the day came. The day she turned sixteen, and I knew what that meant.

. . . from here Larissa tells the story from her perspective.

As often as I could I spent time with my dragon. Sometimes, when it was already late and I had forgotten the time again, I even stayed with him in his cave at night. I used to light a fire and fall asleep on his warm belly. At the court, of course, they were worried about where I was in the beginning. After some time this became quieter regarding. When Crux was big enough, I climbed on his back and he rose with me into the air. To fly over the roofs of this world with my friend was indescribably beautiful. Past lakes whose waters glistened like diamonds in the sun, over great mountains whose peaks rose mighty against the kingdom of heaven. On Crux's back I felt no fear; I enjoyed this freedom when I looked hundreds of meters down and the world at my feet was so tiny. But very often we stayed near the Dragon‘s mountain, caught our food and sat together. Then we talked about God and the world. His language was impeccable. He had a deep, dark, almost booming voice. When he laughed, it was like the whole earth was vibrating. I shared almost everything with Crux. When I was worried, I told him, when I had a bad dream, I told him. I always kept him informed of what was going on in the clans. I especially liked hunting with him. Despite his size, he managed, again and again, to approach his prey unnoticed and to kill it. He either burned it, devoured it in one piece or impaled it on his curved horns. If I couldn't be with him once, it wasn't the end of the world for him. Most of the time he slept then and dragons can sleep long and deep. My other time I spent at the farm or in the forest with my circle of friends. Well, it was just my brother Tim, my cousins Frederick and Sebastian and my dearest friend Sven. I had grown up with them and shared a deep connection with them. They never felt jealous of me, although sometimes I was spoiled more than they were. Not with Crux, either. They had great respect for me for raising the dragon. After Crux had settled in the Dragon’s mountain, I showed them his new fortress. They were astonished at the sight and more and more often they came there and made friends with the dragon and he with them. Then we flew out together on his back. Emily also came to visit Crux very often. She always brought him a dragon cake, which she baked herself. It was enriched with good herbs that strengthened Crux after a long day; he liked it very much. Seeing my dragon get on well with the most important people in my life filled my heart with pride. I had done everything right, nobody had anything to fear from him.