I wrote this a long time ago, so it's not that great. Please review, however, because I LOVE to read them. R&R!

Prologue

It stared into her eyes. It's large, yellow eyes showed no sign of blinking but hers were beginning to water. Her body poised in a catlike position, ready to jump to safety if the dragon creature showed any sign of attacking. The bright green grass blowing around her. Her hair kept whipping her in the face but she dared not move her hand to brush it back.

It'll blow back anyway, part of her mind told her. She quickly diverted her attention back to the creature. This was most definitely no time to let her attention drift.

The dragon's black wings fluttered, reflecting the red of its body, and she immediately jumped behind the rock to her right. The fire inflamed the ground, which she had just vacated, scorching the grass and engulfing a nearby tree in flames.

She fumbled with the stake in the ground, which secured the chains by which her hands were held. The chains were long but not nearly long enough to escape this monster. The stake didn't budge. She kicked it, all the time aware that the dragon was preparing to strike again. She wrapped the chain around the stake twice then leveled herself on the ground and the chains were cutting at her wrists.

The stake moved! But only by a hair. She pulled again. The stake wouldn't move anymore. Her heart stake. Then it stopped.

A huge shadow passed over the rock and, looking up, she saw a giant, clawed foot, which landed right in front of her. She un wrapped the chain and ran around the other side of the rock. She was now right underneath the thing's belly. The dragon was looking through his forelegs at her, furious but not dumb enough to inflame it's own underbelly. IT moved around in a circle, trying to create a safe target but she stayed with him. The creature raised it's powerful wings and lifted itself off the ground.

She looked around frantically, trying to spot some refuge. An overhang, a smoldering tree, a cliff, the rock around which the dragon's shadow was currently circling around. She looked up to see it's yellow eyes trained on her again. She sprinted up to the overhang and began climbing up it, as the chain was beginning to come in short supply. She had made it halfway up when the dragon soared beneath it.

She made a wild leap and landed on the dragon's back. She wrapped the chain around its head, barely looping it twice when the chain's length ran out and the dragon's great strength and momentum ripped the stake out of the ground.

Right. One problem down, one very large problem to go, she though, trying to hold onto the dragon, whose wings were hitting her legs every time they rose up, making it hard to stay balanced.

The dragon was heading toward a cliff, she realized, and only just leveled herself on the dragon when it plunged downward, trying to shake her off. The wind whipped her hair more violently, and her eyes were watering. They were coming close to the ground now, the dragon's claws lightly skimming it as he pulled up, soaring barely five feet above it.

Then, the dragon's wings began to beat, and the sudden movement threw off Ilana's balance. She tried to keep her grip, but couldn't, and she fell off of the dragon's back, with the chain still wrapped around it's neck. She hit the ground and was dragged along with the creature. The dragon showed no sign of landing. Trying to pull herself up with the chain, she caught a glimpse of where they were headed. A forest of thick trees was rapidly approaching. The dragon may be able to soar over the trees unharmed, but Ilana, hanging from the chain, would be ripped to shreds.

"Oh, Hierte!" she yelled, a particularly ugly curse in the Tiarnen language.

She put all her concentration on the chain, and she pulled herself up until she could wrap her feet around it. As she was attempting to do this, the dragon looked around at her as though he was just now noticing the long-haired nuisance hanging off his neck. Ilana reached into her boot and pulled out the only weapon she had, a jeweled dagger. She thrust upward, into the creature's jaw. A loud roar came from the monster as it began to fall. The sound echoed through the woods ahead of them. A few last, fluttering attempts were made to stay aloof, but they were futile, and the dragon went down. The blade had gone through to it's brain. It was dead before it hit the ground.

Ilana had managed to pull herself up onto the dragon's back and as it crashed into the ground, she made a considerably softer landing. She contemplated it for a moment and then turned her gaze toward the lush woods. She unwrapped the chain from the dragon's neck and used a heavy rock to break it. Looking toward the forest, she began her journey.