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Serena scaled the side of the mountain carefully, gasping and panting as she tried to maintain her grip on the top ledge. Not wanting to look down, her gaze remained on her goal. With one final heave, she hauled herself up to the top of one of the many mountains that dotted the landscape. Planting her hands on her hips, she looked down admiringly at the city below. It seemed to be a mile down, and the top of the mountain was like being on another world on. Up here, everything was still until the wind blew. There was a peace that she’d never felt before.
A few other tourists joined her on the rock and began chattering, snapping pictures. Serena wanted to snap pictures too, but she became irritated by the crowd. Moving away to sit on a rock that was positioned against the wall of the mountain, she stretched her legs out in front of her and dug in her bag for some water.
Her phone rang, startling her. She had no idea she had service out here and hadn’t bothered to check since she began hiking this morning. It was her boss.
“Hey Lance,” she said, putting him on speaker. Thankfully, the crowd of people had moved along to another spot behind her, as she knew she couldn’t hear him otherwise with the wind gusting around her.
“Serena, where are you? I hope you didn’t get to the mountains yet.” Lance’s voice sounded anxious, as it always did. Even when he was giving orders on how he wanted his deli sandwich, there was a twinge of worry in his voice.
“I’m here,” Serena affirmed. “Why, what’s wrong? I left a little early to get here so I’d have time to look around before finding people to interview.”
Lance groaned and Serena pictured him holding his head in his hands. “I couldn’t get ahold of you earlier, but there’s another story I need you to cover instead, and it’s big. How long do you think it will take you to come down and travel back to England?”
Serena slumped on the rock. She just got here and she hadn’t even had a chance to enjoy herself. She found it hard to say no, but she had to. This was the seventh trip this month, and she was worn out. She barely had a sense of what the time was when she was at home, so when she traveled, it was out of the question. She was jet-lagged to the extreme.
“I’m sorry, Lance,” she said with regret. “I wish I could, really. But it’s just not going to be easy for me. How about I continue with this story and take my vacation one week early. I’ll relax, and I can come back with a better story for you. And this is your chance to put one of the interns on the job. They’re always eager, let them show you what they have to offer.”
She listened as Lance complained for the next several minutes about how incompetent the interns were and how he didn’t even know how they got hired.
“Well, you were in charge of hiring,” Serena pointed out gently.
“That’s because they must have all lied to me on their resumes!” Lance wailed. “They need me to hold their hand with every assignment. I can’t do it anymore. I need them to take initiative—like you!”
“Well, give them an opportunity to try. That’s how I became better, remember? I was new once too.”
“I guess,” Lance grumbled on the other line. “Are you sure you can’t make it back? I can extend your vacation.”
“Sorry,” Serena laughed. “I just don’t think I’d be able to deliver quality work anyway and I hate to disappoint. I’d be happy to do this story while I’m here and take an extended vacation if that’s an option, though.”
“It’s a deal,” Lance sighed. “Okay, well you have fun and keep in touch. We’ll be expecting post cards of all the fun stuff you’re going to be doing.”
“Sure,” Serena talked to him a bit more about what she’d seen that day already and then hung up. She would take this paid vacation to reassess where she was headed. She could afford to take a day off, finally. But she needed to take her career to the next level. If she could turn in a decent story that would create headlines, she would be set.
The day wore on, and people milled about. Some stopped to chat with her, but most of them left her alone and she was glad. Serena liked the quiet and she had a chance to write and draw for the first time in a long time about things that she was interested in pursuing. It was inspiring to be in a place that looked down over several small towns because it helped her see things in her own life from a different perspective.
After several hours on the mountain, Serena came to the conclusion that she worried too much. She worried about things that she didn’t realize she was worrying about. While she’d always lived life according to how she thought everyone lived, she’d never considered herself boxed-in in any way. She thought she was adventurous. And she was, she thought. Here she was in Scotland, sitting on top of a cliff, with no inclination to go down.
Suddenly, she noticed she was one of three people left on the mountain. She would have to go down before the sun descended into the horizon. Serena wanted to stay up here and watch the sunset, but that wouldn’t be possible. There were no lights shining from below. It would take a good forty minutes before she could make it to the bottom. That was how long it had taken her to go up. Unless it was faster to go down, but she didn’t want to count on that. Back to worrying again, she thought wryly.
“Are you going down?” The male companion of the woman who had just started to go down asked her.
“I will, yes,” she called to him. “I’m just gathering my things together.”
“Better hurry,” the man gestured towards the rapidly setting sun. “Don’t want to be up here alone in the dark.”
Serena shivered at the idea and felt an odd thrill. If only she was that adventurous to be up here all night. She began to put her belongings in the bag and rose to leave. She’d made up her mind, she was going to come back up tomorrow. She’d felt such a connection to the mountain, it was calling to her. Out of the corner of her eye, a glint of something caught her eye. She peered closer. It was a river. A stream of some sort. But how could that be? She looked at the map she was given in the visitor’s center in the town below and located her current location on it. The map didn’t cover the area in the distance that she was looking at now.
She looked back up and saw it glinting still. Maybe it was a mirage, she thought idly. It was possible. It was so far in the distance. She wondered if she had time to go out there and see for herself. Serena was afraid if she waited until tomorrow, she wouldn’t find it again. As it was, she was up here nearly all day and she just noticed it. Tomorrow, she may not be able to see it and she’d probably get lost. Then again, she argued with herself, it would be foolish to go at night when she’d have no way to get back down the mountain safely. She did have a big flashlight with her, though. She’d packed it just in case she wanted to explore any of the caves they said she might encounter. Most of the ones she saw were blocked off by boulders though, so that hadn’t been possible today.
Before she could think of all the things that could go wrong, she decided to do it. She had a blanket, she had a sleeping bag. She could spend the night up here if it came to that. Serena had resolved to be more adventurous and she was going to do it. And she had no time to waste. She had to hurry if she wanted the sun to do most of the work lighting the way.
Climbing over boulders and rocks, she kept her eye on the stream that began to darken as she approached. Another part of the mountain was casting a large shadow over it, and it didn’t look like the magical stream it had appeared to be only moments ago. She almost began to regret her decision until she saw something large twitch next to it. Even from a distance, she knew it was something big.
She stopped in her tracks and stared. It was possible it was a loose branch from one of the many trees and bushes up here. Then it moved again. But this time, it stood. Serena stood frozen in place and stared in shock. It was magnificent. Large, and with the sun casting what was left of its light on it, the scales on the mighty beast reflected shimmering hues of green, blue, white, and red. She had to get a closer look, this was what was going to make her career.
Stumbling over a few rocks, she caught herself and paused before continuing. It was still there, whatever it was, in the distance. This was what she was sent to find, but she couldn’t believe it was real. It had to be a hoax. It could be a local with nothing better to do, or kids playing tricks on the locals, wanting a few minutes of fame. Whatever it was, she intended to find out. Her career depended on it. After this, she could pursue what she wanted to, creatively.
With these thoughts motivating her, she plunged ahead. The stream looked closer at times, but then at times she found herself feeling even further away than before. She had to have walked nearly a mile by now, and the sun was nearly gone. She set her jaw and kept going. Serena couldn’t see some parts of the ground now and stopped to get her flashlight out of her backpack. She didn’t want to spook whatever it was, but she also didn’t want to trip.
Turning it on to see just enough, she clicked it off quickly and walked a few feet before flipping it on again. She continued like that for several minutes, making sure that the figure was still there. It was, looming ahead of her. It looked like it was a hoax. It wasn’t even moving. Feeling defeated, she trudged on. She was stupid for having traveled so far to see what was probably just a large balloon. Oh well, at the very least she could grab a picture of the thing and reveal the hoax for what it was. Sure, it would take away the magic for the locals, but she had a job to do.
Suddenly, the figure rose. And it stood there, still. She gasped. It seemed to be moving but she couldn’t tell if it was towards her or away from her. It stopped and stood still and she wondered if she’d imagined the whole thing. It could be her eyes playing tricks on her. She quickened her pace and shone the flashlight at the figure long enough to see a pair of glittering eyes bearing down on her. That’s when she tripped and went flying down the steep drop-off that led to the stream.
Searing pain shot through her foot and all the way up her leg. She knew she had twisted or broken something. Serena felt a pool of blood forming under her foot and wanted to cry. She lay still and pressed her lips together to keep from making any noise. She didn’t even know where she landed.
After what felt like several minutes, she attempted to sit up on her elbow and dropped back down. It wasn’t just her foot in pain, she’d landed on her right side, and her shoulder had definitely taken a hit as well. Taking deep breathes, she tried to sit up again, gingerly this time, placing all her weight on her left side.
Looking for her flashlight, she felt around her and came away empty handed. Dammit. She looked and squinted hard to see where it might have landed. The moon was out now, and was giving off the barest amount of light from behind the clouds. Serena heard the quiet rush of water. She was near the stream now. A few feet away, behind a bush. Where was the figure? She looked around and didn’t see anything. Maybe she imagining everything, she thought.
A light shone on her face and she jerked her head up to see. There it was. A giant dragon staring down at her. Time stood still in that moment. They stared at each other and she forgot about the throbbing in her foot. The clouds cleared and the moon lit up the dragon, the scales were illuminated and she was in awe of the beautiful colors and majestic appearance of it. It began to lower its head toward her and that’s when she fainted.