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Their journey continued after the dragon held his word and helped Henry put on his armor. It was an awkward process for the dragon who had to hold the cuirass in place as Henry fastened the leather straps, but in the end they still managed to do it.

There was still more than a day of walking ahead of them, which meant more than a day of non-stop whinging from the dragon. Though his complains have gotten less annoying over time he was made Henry want to plug his ears with something. When he was around Cyrvanyx he always wanted him to talk more, but this one was talking far more than what he asked for.

When the sun began to set the dragon complained again, this time about hunger, since he could not hunt with his wounded wing. Technically he could, but Henry told him not to risk anything. So Henry went on a hunt for him as they made camp near the end of the forest as nightfall was imminent.

The dragon ate the whole doe he had shot with his crossbow, not even leaving anything for his human companion. After Henry built a campfire and the dragon´s hunger was sated the two of them did not share anymore words and tried to sleep. It proved rather difficult for Henry to sleep on the cold ground, especially because he knew that he would find no peace in his sleep.

When he finally managed to doze away he found himself in his dream. But it was not the dream he usually had. He stood inside the main hall of Dragonstone Castle. The hall was empty. Every piece of decoration that had colored its blank walls were gone. This time he could even walk around.

There was no one there expect him, or so he thought. He heard voices coming from outside and decided to check who they belonged to. When he opened the door that led outside his eyes went wide.

Elise was standing in the middle of the courtyard, holding William´s hand as he stood next to her. They both stared at him with empty and emotionless gazes.

Henry would have smiled, but his mind was totally aware that it was all a dream. He slowly shook his head as he stared at them. "No..." His breath shuddered and tears were forming in his eyes. "Why... why do you have to torment me like this!" He yelled at them as he broke into tears. His legs gave in and he dropped to his knees, his face buried in his hands.

"Father?" He raised his head as William suddenly stood right in front of him. "I´m sorry that I lost your medallion." Henry looked at his son, tears running down his cheeks. Just hearing the sound of his voice was enough to make him sob.

"I-it's alright, Will." Henry said with a shaking voice. "I found it, don´t worry about it." He forced a smile on his lips to brighten up William, even though he knew he was not really talking to his son.

"I miss you." William said. "I miss mother too. I miss you both."

"You don´t have to miss her." Henry chuckled and pointed towards his wife with a shaking finger. "She´s right there. You can be with her now."

"No..." He shook his head, his shoulders sagging. "Mother is dead."

Henry frowned his brow and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. But... but he was dead as well. Why would they not be together in the afterlife? He looked at his son as he turned around to leave.

"William?" He called after his son. "William wait! What do you mean?" No matter what he said William continued to walk away towards the gatehouse of the castle. "William!"

Henry awoke soaked in sweat once more. He panted heavily as he jumped up from the ground and looked around. He was in the forest, still, with the dragon. He could see the red sky as the sun began to rise from its nightly slumber. With a still shaking hand he stroked his forehead.

What was that dream? He was not sure if he could count it as a nightmare, since the last few nights have been far worse. And yet just seeing his family filled him with dread instead of happiness because he knew that it was snot real. He knew that they were dead.

He sighed as he stared at the sky above him. He felt like the gods were looking down upon him, laughing at his misery. He took a deep, shuddering breath and held it in as he grasped the dragon medallion that hang above his chest. His eyes closed for a moment before he let out his breath in the of another sigh. What had he done to deserve this?

He lay back down on his back, his gaze wandering to his right side. The green dragon lay there with his tail curled around himself, still asleep. His chest was moving up and down in even motions. Occasionally one of his frills would twitch, or one of his ears. He had to admit that the dragon looked kind of cute when he was all curled up. But the dragon would probably dislike it if he dared to call him cute and not fearsome.

Henry chuckled and smiled to himself. "I have to say that you are a lot less annoying when you sleep." He smiled as his eyes feel upon the sky once more. "A shame I will have to wake you soon."

When he heard strange sounds coming from the dragon his head turned towards him, his eyes narrowed. It sounded like he was mumbling something in his sleep in a strange language. Dragon tongue, he was sure. Was the dragon really talking in his sleep?

Henry shook his head and sat up, still watching and listening to the dragon. He was no longer breathing in slowly, instead his breath got quicker and quicker. Henry frowned his brow, leaning towards him as he tried to make out what he said. The words he said he could not understand, but what he could hear over and over again was a name, Nara.

"Nara... Nara..." In the end the name was all he said as his face began to twist in pain. Henry watched with his jaw dropped, wondering what he was dreaming about. He could hear in his voice and see in his face how in pain he seemed to be. Just as Henry thought about waking him up, the dragon´s head shot upwards, his eyes going wide as he roared out. "No!"

Henry closed his mouth watching the dragon with a confused look. The dragon looked around himself, panting after the supposed nightmare he just had. Henry smirked as he realized that the dragon forgot that he was there. "Mornin´!"

His smirk only widened when the dragon jumped up from the ground as he was startled by his voice. When he turned around too fast he stepped onto his own tail, causing him to yowl , and Henry to laugh. "I just..." He glared away as he was starting to blush slightly. "I had a nightmare, alright? No need for you to laugh!"

"Yes I know that you had a nightmare." Henry said with grin. "But I was laughing about the fact that you turned around so quickly that you stepped on your own bloody tail." As he laughed softly the dragon glared away again.

"Whatever..." The dragon´s muzzle scrunched up in anger as he wanted to look at anything expect Henry. He licked his nose, his gaze focusing back on the knight. "Oh, how funny, right? The dragon hurt himself!"

Henry shook his head, still smirking at the dragon. "You know, you should really learn to laugh about yourself for once."

The dragon snorted and shrugged his wings. "Well? Why should I if I can laugh about others instead?" A smirk formed on his face as he beamed down on Henry. "For example the knight who just fell over."

"Huh? What do you-" Henry´s question was cut short when the dragon lashed out with his tail and took Henry right off his legs. He fell on his, his armor clanking as the wind was knocked out of him. He groaned, looking up at the dragon who was laughing at his fallen form, his wings shaking as he almost toppled over from laughing too hard.

"Your... face!" The dragon held his stomach with one paw as he sat down on his haunches, still laughing his wings off. "You... you should´ve... seen your face, human!" He thumped his tail against the ground. "Priceless!"

Henry sat up, stretching himself a bit as he watched the dragon who seemed to be having the time of his life. "Enjoying yourself?" He scratched his beard, chuckling as he looked at the dragon sitting there with his hind legs spread, all smug and proud of himself. That bastard did not even care to cover his delicate parts in any way. And that sparked an idea in Henry´s head.

He gazed around himself until he found a stone that was big enough to fill his entire hand. As he closed his fingers around the stone a vicious grin began to spread across his face. His eyes wondered between the dragon´s hind legs. Time for play back. "You know," Henry said as he threw the rock in the air and catched it as it came down again. "You should probably be a bit more careful and watch your vulnerable parts. You never know when your opponent may strike back..."

"Mhm?" The dragon looked down at him with his smug smile still on his muzzle. There was not a moment of hesitation. The moment the dragon´s eyes fell on him he threw the stone at his balls with all his might. The dragon´s smug smile vanished as soon as the stone connected with his testicles.

"AARRRRRHHH!" He roared out as his fore paws shot towards his legs to protect himself. With his paws cupped around his aching balls, he lost his balance and fell over onto his belly, forcing Henry to jump back a little. The dragon groaned as he shifted his hind legs back and forth, his face twisted in pain. "... you..." He managed to squeak out before he dropped his head on the ground, closing his eyes.

If the dragon´s reaction was not already enough to make Henry a laugh, his little high pitched squeak did it. He laid down on his back as he held his stomach while he laughed loudly. Never had he done that to a dragon before, but the reaction was sure worth it. Henry perked his head up, looking at the dragon.

He was hiding his face with one of his paws while his other one was buried between his hind legs. Both his ears were pinned down against his head and all his frills were flared in alarm. Nnhnn... you... bastard!" He said, his voice sounding less squeaky than before. "How... aarrrrhh... dare you!"

Henry chuckled, spreading his arms out wide. "Hey! I was just defending myself! You started it after all."

"You can´t... aah... ancestors!" He groaned as he tried to move a little. "Oh, right... right in the left one..." He groaned again, moving his paw away from his face and tried to use it to get up from the ground. "You have... very... good aim... I give you that." He struggled to speak as he managed to get back on his haunches, his hind legs tightly closed this time. One of his paws was still between his legs, trying to ease the horrible pain.

The dragon tried to straighten himself up, which looked kind of adorable as he gave quite yelps as he shifted in a wrong direction or moved his legs too much. He did his best to angrily glare at Henry, but his face was still filled with pain. "You will... never do that again!"

Henry smiled at him. "Well," He got up from the ground and walked past the groaning dragon, patting him on his shoulder as he walked by. "then you should protect yourself better."

The dragon twisted his neck to look after him as he moved towards the saddle that sat on the ground. He opened the bag on the saddle and took out the last apple that was in there. When he turned around he saw the dragon glaring at him, the pain in his eyes slowly being replaced by anger. "Whaff ith it?" He asked as after he took a bite of the apple. The dragon tilted his head in confusion. Henry role d his eyes and gulped down the apple he had chewed up. "What is it?"

"I´m waiting for an apology." The dragon grumbled and groaned a little as he shifted his hind legs. "I´m not letting you put that thing back on me as long as you don´t apologize!"

Rolling his eyes, Henry folded his arms and looked at the dragon for a moment. Their gazes locked and for a moment there was only silence between them. "I´m sorry." Henry finally said as he gave a him a polite bow, but had to hold back laugh at the same time. "I didn´t expect it to hurt you that much."

"Oh? That´s clearly a lie!" He groaned again as he wanted to take a step forward. He sat back down again, his golden gaze constantly focused on Henry, like he was some kind of prey. "You clearly attacked me there for that exact reason! Because you know how much it would hurt!"

"But don´t you think you´re exaggerating just a little bit?" Henry took one step towards him.

"I´m not!" He thumped his tail against the ground. "That thing you threw was pointy! Have you any idea how much that hurt?"

"Yeah, kind of." Henry chuckled. "Don´t forget that I´m male as well." He then gestured towards his hind legs before he took another bite from the apple. "And keep fondling yourself and you will soon have another kind of a problem, so stop it." He turned around, checking the bag for something to drink.

"Oh don´t worry about that." The smirk returned to the dragon´s muzzle. "When I start to feel any kind of arousal I will just look at you, then it will be gone in a few seconds already."

Henry too out a bottle filled with clean water as he laughed about the dragon´s comment. He turned to face the dragon and gave him a deep bow. "How so? Do you pleasure yourself while watching me?"

"What?" The dragon curled his neck into an S shape and looked at him with wide eyes. "I-"

"Well, and I´d be worried if it only took you a couple of seconds to finish." He took a gulp from the bottle and let out a satisfied sigh when he sat the bottle on the ground and then took another bite from the apple.

When he looked at the dragon he saw that he was no longer looking angry, but rather amused. "You... are unbelievable." He slowly shook his head. "You make it really difficult for me to hate you, human."

"Then don´t hate me!" Henry spread out his arms wide, looking the dragon into his eyes. "I´m surprised I had to throw something at your balls for you to get you out of your trance."

The dragon chuckled at his words and Henry frowned in response. "And now you suddenly laugh? Was there like... a switch somewhere hidden in your balls that I accidently activated that got you out of arsehole mode?"

The dragon only laughed louder, shaking his head as he finally took his other paw away from his balls and put it back on the ground. He took a few steps toward him and then sat back down onto his haunches, closing his hind legs as soon as he sat down. "I´m sorry." The dragon sighed."For everything, I mean. I´m truly sorry. I have had... only... bad experiences with humans before."

"There´s more to it, right?" Henry asked, folding his arms. "I feel like there is a reason you let me stay with you in your cave."

"Well, I had some... at least some kind of respect for the knights that served the order."

"Then why didn´t you-"

"I didn´t trust you." The dragon answered his question before he could even finish it. "I still don´t know if I can trust you know. But I... I think I can. I think you are trustworthy." The dragon put on a small smile as he continued to speak. "I wanted you to hate me, but you didn´t. I wanted to hate you, but I couldn´t, I simply couldn´t ." He licked his nose. "I think the reason for that was that you didn't treat me like a humans would usually treat a dragon. You treated me as an equal."

Henry listened to every word as he leaned his back against the saddle that stood on a small rock behind him. "But why did you want to hate me in the first place?"

"It is... complicated." The dragon looked away, his gaze wandering towards the wide forest around them. He licked his nose again, his ear twitching at the same time. "It has to do with a promise I gave to myself and to... to someone else."

Henry focused on the dragon´s eyes as he glared into the woods. There was pain hidden deep within him. A pain a was all too familiar with himself. "Does it has to do with someone called Nara?"

The second that name passed Henry´s lips the dragon´s eyes went wide and his ears perked up. He looked down at him, his jaw opening and closing for a few times. "Where... have you... how..."

"You were talking in your sleep." He said, looking into his shock filled eyes. "Is that... someone dear to you or... would you rather keep that for yourself?"

"That..." The dragon kept silent, thinking of an answer. "That is... something I don´t want to talk about. Maybe... maybe one day, but not now, not here."

"Alright." Henry said with a smile and patted him on his chest. "I understand, dragon."

A snort came from the dragon. "I´m starting to get tired of you calling me dragon all the time."

"Well you won´t tell your real name, so?" Henry shrugged and reached down to pick up the bottle of water to take another gulp.

"It doesn´t have to be m real name. Maybe something like a title!" The dragon said with pride in his voice. "Yes, a title that could suit my greatness! Songs shall be sung and stories shall be told all around the world of my deeds!"

"Oh gods here we go." Henry rubbed his forehead, shaking his head. "Why don´t we call you emerald balls, after all your testicles look like emeralds." Henry chuckled taking a sip from the bottle.

"I´m just going to take that as a compliment." Henry rolled his eyes. "Mhmm, Emerald... I like it. It has to be something with emerald for sure!" The dragon murmured to himself while Henry barely paid attention anymore as he put the bottle back into the bag and finished eating the apple. "Emerald wing? No, that´s not it. Emerald fire? No, even worse!"

Henry closed the bag and went towards his armor pieces to put on the rest of his armor. He picked up the gauntlet, thinking to himself that they would reach Moudeir Castle soon, in less than a day even. A smile crept across his face as he thought about his uncle. Gods, how long has it been since he saw him the last time?

"Oh, Henry?" He rose his head from the piece of armor as he heard the dragon use his name for once. He looked over his shoulder and into the dragon´s eyes. "My name is Alvahroth."

Henry looked at him for a few seconds, his jaw hanging open before he began to smile. "Alvahroth." He said to himself as he looked at the green dragon. "I like that name." He smiled a bit wider, looking him into his eyes. "Ah, pleasure to meet you, Alvahroth emerald balls."

Alvahroth tilted his head, staring at him with narrowed eyes. "You cheeky bastard."