Being part elf, Nathanial was fast, really fast! in fact he was such a fast runner, even on horse back the soldiers where having trouble keeping up with him as he weaved in and out of the treacherous rocks. But just as he thought he was about to get away he found himself staring down at the edge of a cliff. The sound of thundering hooves where right behind him. His heart sank when saw the giant green waves crash over the rocks below. He couldnâ€™t run, there was no place to run;  he could only jump or try to climb down.<br/><br/>Nathan cursed under his breath as he lowered himself. For being terrified of heights as he was, he was a rather good climber. In fact it wasnâ€™t really the heights that got to him, it was sudden awful bone crushing landing at the bottom he was afraid of. The climb was treacherous, sometimes he found himself completely upside down. And the lower he got the more slippery the rocks became. However once he found the as large crack in the stone things became much easier and he was able wedge himself in and slid seamlessly the rest of the way down.<br/><br/>Nathan glancing up at the angry soldiers and waived at them invitingly. He would like to seem them try to follow him now! The angry soldiers responded by loosing a volley of arrows raining down at him. The sound of arrows breaking on the rocks caused Nathan to jump. In panic Nathan darted into small cave... to his amazement he the cave seemed to have no end.<br/><br/>Like usual, despite his better judgement, he decided to go inside to investigate. He didnâ€™t need a torch, he something special to give him light. It was a small silver medallion that supposedly his mother had given him before she died... or most likely given to him before she dropped him off in a basket down up river. Which ever the case it came in handy. All he had to do was blow the small blue polished stone and it lit up the cavern.<br/><br/>Nathan loved caves! especially ones like this! The ones that went on seemingly forever. He usually didnâ€™t find anything, but this time was different. He noticed a strange smell at first.... and then he noticed that the small tunnel that he was barreling just crawling through was getting warmer! Continuing onward it opened into large open cavern.<br/><br/>Something crunched under his feet. When Nathan looked down, he stiffened and quickly dimmed his light..... Egg shells.... Nathan cursed inwardly. The nagging voice was usually always right that he never listened was yelling to turn back around. But Nathan had never seen a Drake before... he had heard of them, but never seen one.<br/><br/><br/>Nathan moved into the cavern quickly and as quietly as he could, keeping his back to the wall and his eyes searching for both the dragon and or a place to exit if needed. Nathan however wound up walking right past the drake! Only when he glanced back did he notice the wretched creature. He could barely believe his eyes, the shells had been old! Really old! All of the other hatchlings had left.... Nathan glanced around warily.... and strangely there werenâ€™t any fresh signs of  a larger Drake around. Or any creature for that matter in probably months.<br/><br/>Regarding the puny black Draken with caution he moved forward to get a better look... He wasnâ€™t exactly expert on drakes, but he could tell the thing wasnâ€™t doing to good. In fact it looked like it was dying!<br/>â€œMost its scales had turned black because of malnutrition,â€ he mused out loud... he of course knew nothing of drakes.... only that the things ribs sticking out. Nathan took out the raw leg of venison that he had put into his pouch, and from a safe distance he lobbed it into the hatchingâ€™s shell and waited to see what would happen.<br/><br/>â€¨It was a shame really, he had gone through a lot of trouble to steal that meat... it had been part of the reason why the soldiers where after him... the other reason was that the sherifâ€™s daughter, making him top priority on the bounty list!