Everyone froze when they heard the roar. Norman was now even more frightened. He had recently watched an animated movie that had lions in it. This roar was nothing like the ones in the film. Gulping nervously, he opened his eyes to find the four black wolves running away with their tails tucked firmly between their legs. A second later, he found himself covered by a huge dark shadow. Silent as a mouse, Norman slowly turned around.

A large dragon towered over him.

Standing on two wings and taloned feet, the dragon was at least twenty feet tall to the shoulder. He was covered in reddish brown scales on top and cream colored ones on the bottom. His muzzle was gray, his feet were like a bird of prey's and he had intelligent light brown eyes. A long tail calmly moved side to side behind him, a red fan on the end of it. Reddish brown feathers formed a crest on the top of his head. His wing claws tapped on the ground as the dragon lowered his head towards Norman, sniffing him. Baring his sharp fangs, he growled softly.

Norman was at a loss for words. He had never seen anything like the dragon before. No one probably had. Strangely, he wasn't afraid. He should be running for his life but he didn't. At last finding his tongue, he mumbled quietly, "Hi..." Huffing, the dragon lifted his head back up and turned away from the child, getting ready to walk away. At that moment, Norman saw the hunting arrows imbedded in the dragon's right wing. Gasping softly, he scurried over and cried, "Wait! You're hurt!"

Stopping in his tracks, the dragon looked back and watched in silence as Norman gently grasped one of the hunting arrows. The five year old then carefully pulled it out. Grimacing in pain, the dragon hissed quietly. That was all he did though as he silently watched the child pull out the remaining two. Then he rasped his tongue over the wounds left behind. Backing away, Norman gazed up at the dragon. He quickly turned his head away when he was caught staring. He prayed that this kind of dragon couldn't breathe fire. The kid was surprised though when he got his face licked. Giggling, he reached out and touched the dragon on the nose. He received a faint purr in response.

The wolf pack howled in the distance.

Growling when he heard that, the dragon stood up. Looking down at Norman, he made a soft huffing sound while he tossed his head to the west. He then started walking in that direction a little ways before glancing over his shoulder. Taking that as a sign as he should follow the dragon, Norman hurried to catch up. However, he tripped over a tree root. Seeing that, the dragon came back and gingerly picked him up. Placing the small child on his back, he continued on through the forest, getting as far away from the wolf pack as possible.

Hugging the dragon's neck, Norman smiled as he mumbled softly, "Thank you... Tiberius."