dragon came for the bait. When it came—
“You have every right to be afraid,” Gretel told them. “The dragon is big. The dragon is strong. The dragon has divided our families and taken our children and stolen our childhoods.
“But that is no reason to cower. Until we stand up to him, our lives will remain shattered, our hearts will remain divided against themselves, our heads will remain severed from our bodies.”
The moon was white and bright behind Gretel. Hansel stared at her. He didn’t quite understand what she was talking about.
“But we will soon be healed,” she went on. “We will be healed. There will be blood first. But then there will be tears of joy.
“For our kingdom!” she shouted.
“And our families!” Hansel cried.
“And our children!” they said together.
The soldiers repeated their cry. In the silence that followed, all could hear the word
Gretel readied the oxcarts in the clearing. In the moonlight, the apples glowed golden, as if they possessed some fairy magic. Hansel unharnessed Ivy and Betty from the carts and tried to shoo them off. But the two oxen took to cropping grass nearby. Someone had to draw them by their halters far off into the woods, as far as possible from the field of battle.
Don’t worry. Ivy and Betty will be fine.
(I just wish I could say the same for everyone else.)
Leaving both carts out in the clearing, the two children retreated to the cover of trees to watch, and wait.
The forest made sounds. Branches creaking. Leaves whispering to one another. Bats flapping between trees, looking for prey. Hansel plucked the grass at his feet. Gretel fingered a small dagger strapped to her belt. The volunteer soldiers began shifting uneasily. One did not venture into a wood at night. Especially not when there was a dragon about. Sword handles became slick with sweat, bowstrings were pulled back and released, pulled back and released. An owl hooted. Far off, they could hear its great wings beating against the air.
No.
They were not the wings of an owl. The beats were too far apart. Too deep and distant. Hansel and Gretel peered out from under the cover of branches and leaves, but they could see nothing against the black, starry sky.
And then there it was. In front of the moon. The long, thin silhouette of the dragon, its wings resting on the currents of night air.
Its body was narrow, its four feet were tucked up underneath it, its long tail trailed out behind. Its wings were so thin that the moonlight shone through them. Stifled gasps arose from those who had never seen it. It was disgusting. It was enormous. From below, one could see the outline of its head, broad and viperlike. It looked nothing like the dragons in storybooks.
Not even the dragon on the cover of this book, dear reader.
Go ahead, take a look.
That dragon, you see, was designed to alert you to the presence of a dragon in these pages. What it was not designed to do is make you sick with horror and awe. So the snakelike head, the eyes with no pupils, the translucent wings—those were all left off.
You’re welcome.
Gretel made a sign to the army. Arrows were notched. Bows began to bend.
The dragon disappeared from sight. Down below, all waited. Then it appeared again over the clearing—a little lower this time. It had seen the gold. It was circling. Gretel could hear her brother’s breath coming quiet and quick. Hansel heard his sister’s heartbeat mingling with his own.
The dragon flew over them again, lower, and was gone. Then again, lower still. Then again.
Gretel gestured at the sky. Arrows were aimed. They waited. The dragon flew over again. It was close enough that they could see the delicate scales of its skin gleaming in the moonlight, and its enormous, jagged talons. It flew over again, and this time the leaves on the trees shook from its passage.
The trees became still. They waited.
And waited.
No dragon.
Hansel and Gretel and all their soldiers stared up at the black, starry sky. Empty, save for the moon.
“What happened?” Gretel whispered to her brother. He shook his head and shrugged.
They waited longer. The people began to feel uneasy. They let their bowstrings go slack. They rubbed the sweaty handles of their weapons, trying to find a good purchase. Where, they wondered, was the dragon?
The darkness seemed to become heavier, more menacing. Glancing over their shoulders, they could see no more than a few feet into the forest.
Then, through the silence, there ran a sudden whisper in the leaves. The whole army stopped breathing all at once. They stood still and listened. Hansel felt something beneath his feet. Carefully, he lowered himself and put his hand on the earth. He felt it again.
“Gretel,” he whispered. “The ground is shaking.”
“I know,” she whispered back. “I feel it.”
It shook again. And again. Now all the men and women were looking frantically back and forth between the ground and the black forest that surrounded them.
People began to whisper. “What is it?” and “What’s happening?”
“Shhh!” Gretel hissed. “Quiet!”
But they wouldn’t quiet. They were afraid.
And then they saw it, weaving through the trees like an enormous snake with legs. Its wings were folded along its spine; its wide, viperlike head swung back and forth as it moved; and its golden eyes were shining in the moonlight.
It had come to take them from behind. And it was moving fast. So fast that the first villagers barely had time to scream before it was upon them.
Oh, I forgot to mention. The little kids? They
Its mouth opened wide and snapped down on a woman with a bow. She hadn’t even moved to defend herself. There hadn’t been time. Now half of her was gone. Simultaneously, with a massive, taloned claw, the dragon swiped at a man with an ax. He landed on his back, ten feet away, without his internal organs.
With that, the forest awoke. Some of the people tried to fight the giant creature. Most tried to run. Occasionally, with a horrible, tearing sound, the dragon would kill someone else. Hansel grabbed Gretel and held her tightly. “Don’t go out there. It’ll kill us. All of us.” And then he called at the top of his lungs, “Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!”
