Shon’s eyes watered and he held his nose as the dead skunk burned in front of him. The skunk had no poisonous quills on its body, which meant that it must have been poisoned by secondhand contact. Shon didn’t know what the diet of skunks consisted of, but Solimar suspected the animal was poisoned when it ate a grub or rodent that had eaten some larger carrion poisoned directly by the dragon.

Shon and Solimar only had one day left before they had to return to Alderfold to meet up with Tarun, Krall, and Piggy, but he felt certain that they were getting close to finding what they were looking for. Though when he was honest with himself, Shon had to admit that he wasn’t even entirely sure what he was looking for. In the past two days he and Solimar had found more and more animals killed by the strange purple poison, though the more they found, the more time they had to spend burning the bodies to prevent further contamination.

“Did you mark this one down on the map?” Shon asked Solimar. His voice sounded strange with his nose still covered.

“Of course,” replied Solimar. “And I marked it with a dot, as you asked. It’s still just as random as ever, though.”

Shon held out a hand, and Solimar handed him the map. Shon studied the several markings on the paper. There were X’s anywhere that Shon and Solimar had found a “primary kill,” or animal that had visible poisonous quills on its body. There were short dashes to indicate where they had found a “secondary kill,” or animal that they suspected was poisoned by eating a primary kill. And then there were small dots showing where they had found a “tertiary kill,” or animal that they thought was poisoned by eating a secondary kill or other tertiary kill. As Shon studied the markings, he had to admit that Solimar was right about it looking almost entirely random.

Shon folded up the map, handed it back to Solimar, and then rubbed his temples. The constant aching in his head was getting worse, but he was also starting to get used to it. The way that he and Solimar had been able to find so many poisoned animals was by Shon opening his mind to its limits to magically sense any of the pain caused by the purple poison. The method had been effective, but had also come at a cost. At times Shon felt as if he were sensing the pain of the entire forest.

The flames from the skunk began to die down, and Shon dared to unplug his nose for a moment to test the air again. The scent of burnt flesh hung in the air mixed with a smell that was strangely metallic to Shon’s nose. The lingering smell was foul, but bearable enough for Shon to begin breathing through his nose again.

“This fire seems to be under control,” said Shon, kicking some loose dirt onto the skunk’s charred remains. “We should start searching for the primary kill that started all of this.”

“I already searched the area while you were starting the fire for the skunk,” said Solimar. “I found a few of the poisoned quills, but the kill itself was nowhere to be seen. From the amount of blood left behind though, it must have been something big. Perhaps an elk or a moose.”

“You think the dragon must have come back for the animal?” asked Shon.

“I think that’s exactly what she did,” replied Solimar. “Any other animal eating it would have left some remains.”

“Yeah, well it’s too bad she didn’t come back for the animal sooner,” Shon said with a sigh. “If she had, at least a few more creatures would have been spared that kind of suffering, like our little friend the skunk here.” After a moment of thoughtful silence, Shon added, “Why do you think she takes so long to come back for some of her kills, Solimar? Wouldn’t she want to eat them just as soon as she could?”

“I could not say,” said Solimar. “This dragon’s behavior is most unusual for its kind. Most dragons hunt in very predictable patterns from their lairs, which is why establishing a hunting perimeter is so important. But this dragon’s hunting seems to be completely random.”

Shon had to admit that for all the tracking and note keeping they had been doing, it felt like they were no closer to locating the dragon. They had learned quite a bit in the past week about the behavior of the poison however. They learned that after a poisoned creature died, the poison began to break down and lose some of its potency. They also learned that it was this breaking down of the poison that made it combustible, so the longer a poisoned animal had been dead, the more flammable it was.

Yet for all they had learned about the poison and its effects, the behavior of the dragon itself seemed as mysterious as ever. Shon would spend hours every evening staring at the markings on the map, trying to pin down a pattern or clue that would reveal the dragon’s movements. He felt as if he were on the edge of understanding, but there was still a piece of information that he was missing. The sensation of feeling so close, yet so lost, was maddening for Shon.

To make matters worse, Solimar had allowed Shon to direct their movements for the last several days, and it did not seem to be going well. Something in the back of his mind told Shon that they were going in the right direction, and yet they were finding fewer and fewer primary kills than they had before he started setting the direction. He knew that Solimar wanted to travel back to the areas where they had found more primary kills, but for some reason that idea felt wrong to Shon.

“Give me just a couple of minutes to rest my brain,” said Shon. “My headache is starting to get me distracted. Once I’ve had a chance to clear my thoughts a bit, I’ll start searching for the next poisoned animal.”

Shon pulled the hood of his cloak completely over his head and closed his eyes. As he began to relax and focus his breathing, he put a hand over the pocket where his mother’s familiar egg laid securely against his chest. Once again he was struck by the thought that the stone seemed to have a slight pulse. Shon realized that he must have been more exhausted than he thought, because almost immediately after his eyes were closed, he was caught up in a dream.

In his dream, Shon saw the map with the many markings of the animals killed by the dragon’s poison. Except instead of the map being the size of a piece of paper, it was the size of the whole forest. Shon found himself falling towards the enormous map, and as he did it began to become a cross between the map and the forest itself.

As a paper sun rose over the forest map, Shon saw an inky black shape move across the surface, leaving large X’s wherever it went. The X’s moved around across the map as well, but eventually, each of them would stop moving and wherever the X’s stopped, lines and dots began to appear. Shon watched the sinister inky shape move almost until the edge of the great paper, and was relieved to see it go, but before it was gone, Shon saw it turn completely around and head back in the direction that it came from. As the inky shape moved back along its original flight path, Shon noticed that any X’s that had not moved far enough away would disappear when the shape passed by them the second time.

Understanding began to wash over Shon as he saw the pattern emerge. As the black figure continued to move back to its point of origin, there were fewer and fewer X’s, so that only the points farthest away had any X marks left at all. Shon’s excitement at the discovery was replaced by horror however, as he noticed that the inky black shape was heading exactly for the spot where he was now standing on the map!

Shon tried to run away, but the ink on the page began to pool around his feet, and he found himself stuck to the black liquid as if it were tar. The shape continued to come closer and closer, devouring large X’s in its path, and Shon’s head began ringing with pain. He could feel the tiny heartbeat sensation of the familiar egg in his pocket become as hard and fast as a drum, and the stone began to grow hot on his chest. He clutched and pulled at the cloak, trying to get the stone away from him before the heat burned him, and a moment before the huge hideous black ink monster was upon him, he managed to throw off the cloak.

Shon was suddenly aware that he was sitting on the forest floor, out of breath, heart racing, and eyes wide open. His cloak lay in a small heap next to where he sat. He looked around at the peaceful woods surrounding him, and saw Solimar walk over with a puzzled expression.

“What’s the matter?” Solimar asked. “You said you were going to get some rest.”

“It was a dream,” said Shon, panting. “Thank goodness. I didn’t even realize I was so tired. Solimar, how long was I asleep?”

“What are you talking about?” Solimar asked. “You just told me you needed some time to rest, and then pulled your hood over your head. An instant later you began flailing around and pulling off your cloak, and now you’re sitting here asking me strange questions. You actually think you fell asleep and had an entire dream in a matter of seconds?

Shon was confused. His dream hadn’t been exceedingly long, but he was sure that more time must have passed than mere seconds. He had seen so much. He had seen the map forest and the black form and the X’s and lines and dots and…

Shon’s head shot up as he remembered what he had learned. “Solimar!” he shouted. “I’ve figured it out! I know the dragon’s pattern and why we’re finding so few new kills here!”

“Calm down,” said Solimar, giving Shon a look as though he were becoming mentally unstable. “It’s obvious we’re finding fewer kills in this area because we’re getting farther away from the dragon’s lair. I figured that out this morning, but thought you’d be too sensitive to listen to reason.”

“What? No!” Shon said, shaking his head. “We’re finding fewer kills here because we’re getting closer to her lair.”

“Shon, I’m glad you’re trying to be useful by using your abilities,” said Solimar, “but I think that mentally tracking down these demented animals is having an effect on you. You’re not making any sense.”

Shon grunted in frustration that Solimar didn’t understand what now seemed so obvious to him. “Hand me the map,” he said.

When Solimar handed him the map, Shon began tracing a finger along the markings, looking for the right pattern. “Ah ha!” he said after a moment, drawing a line with their charcoal pencil. He then made another line, and then another. When he finally turned around to show Solimar the map, he had drawn six lines across the paper, all branching outward from one spot like the rays of the sun.

“You see,” Shon said, pointing at the lines, “every morning the dragon leaves her lair to hunt. As she goes, she uses her quills to poison animals large enough to get her attention, and then keeps flying in the same direction. Near the end of the day, she turns around and flies back to her lair, eating the animals that have since died of the poison.”

“But why would she wait to let the poison kill her prey?” Solimar asked. “She’s a dragon. She could devour them the moment she spotted them if she wanted to.”

“I don’t know,” confessed Shon, rubbing the top of his head. “Maybe it has something to do with the way the poison breaks down after the animal has been dead for a while. Maybe she thinks they taste better that way. Or maybe she thinks the poisoned blood doesn’t taste as bad once it breaks down some. Maybe that’s why we found more primary kills further away from her lair, because they hadn’t been poisoned long enough to be appetizing before she headed home.”

“That’s nonsense,” scoffed Solimar. “Coming back for long-dead meat is not the way dragons eat. There are no dragons that hunt the way you’re describing.”

“But that’s just it,” said Shon. “You said yourself that this dragon doesn’t behave the way she’s supposed to. That’s what’s made tracking her so difficult. Look at the map! See those areas where we found so many secondary and tertiary kills, but no primary kills? Doesn’t it seem strange that the placement of all the primary kills is so random, but the areas with only secondary and tertiary kills line up almost perfectly? And they all lead back to the same area on the map!”

Solimar took the map from Shon’s hands and studied it quietly. After several minutes, Solimar looked up from the map and raised an eyebrow to Shon. “I’m not convinced that you’re right,” said the elf, “but the area that the lines point to is only a couple of hours away, and the idea is plausible, even if it is ridiculous.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” said Shon. “We’ve got a dragon to find!”

***

Looking directly at the mouth of a cave littered with bones and poisonous quills was not nearly as gratifying as Shon had imagined it. In fact, it felt much more like the sensation he felt as the huge black ink monster had been flying toward him. The seriousness of the situation hit Shon as soon as they found the cave, and it left a pit in his stomach.

“Well who would have thought that crazy one second dream of yours was actually right?” whispered Solimar. The two of them crouched, peering through the dense trees surrounding the large clearing in front of the cave. “I guess Krall was right about sending you with me after all.”

“Speaking of Krall, we should probably head back to meet up with the others now,” Shon said, beginning to shake unconsciously. “I’m sure they’ll all want to hear about – AHHHHH!!!” Shon clutched his head and writhed on the ground in pain.

“Shhhh!” hissed Solimar. “Shon, be quiet! What’s wrong with you?”

Shon tried to say that the pain was far more intense than it had been the first time he had encountered the dragon. He tried to tell Solimar that something had changed, and that it was now more dangerous than ever, and that something was terribly wrong. He wanted to say all these things, but the pain in his mind was so great that no words could escape his mouth.

He tried reaching out to Solimar’s mind to express what he could not say, but the attempt only produced the effect of causing the elf to fall to the earth in pain as well.

“Stop it!” Solimar said through gritted teeth. “What are you doing to me?”

Shon somehow managed to pull his hood over his head. To his dismay, he found that even that did not block out the pain completely, but it was enough to break his connection with Solimar. With the hood over his head, Shon was able to weakly blurt out the words, “Get. Away.”

Solimar must have understood Shon’s plea, because the elf began to slowly drag him away from the cave. When they had gotten some distance away, Solimar led Shon to a small brook where he could take a drink. Shon found splashing the cool water on his face refreshing, but even more calming was steady sound of the stream. “That sounds familiar,” Shon muttered.

“What happened back there?” Solimar asked, once Shon was standing again.

“We have to get the others,” said Shon, looking Solimar in the eye. “There’s something in that cave, and it’s even worse than we thought.”