Page 33 of Training my Human

A lot.

We had to stop handholding when we reached the foothills of the mountain. We’d been hiking for just over an hour and while I did worry about us getting lost since we followed no trail, Maddox didn’t seem concerned. Then again, Mr. Boy Scout had brought a compass and every so often he stopped and held out his phone to mark a pin. Smart. I’d not even thought to bring breadcrumbs to drop.

It was Abaddon who found the cave, and a good thing because we’d have never spotted it. With his small and nimble size, along with his claws, he could climb and cling to the rocks and go places we couldn’t.

He disappeared from sight. I paused, one foot on a boulder, eyeing the terrain.

“Did you see where he went?” I asked Maddox.

“Somewhere over in that rocky overhang. I’m sure he’s fine.”

Make that triumphant. He suddenly reappeared, clambering down quickly and chortled. “I found a place. Bigger than our current home.”

“Where?”

He pointed to the overhang. “There’s a ledge and a crack. You won’t fit”—said to Maddox—“but Pip could. Inside is a cave, a big one, and two tunnels. I smell water in one of them.”

It sounded ideal but for one thing. “How will we get these supplies up there?”

Maddox had a solution for that. He knelt and put his pack on the ground and pulled out a coil of rope. “I’m going to need you to find a spot to loop this rope around so that I can pull one end while the other is tied around your stuff. Something like this.” He draped the rope over his arm and mimed tugging it.

Abaddon rolled his eyes. “Why not say you want to create a simple pulley system?”

“Uh, because I keep forgetting you’re smart.”

“Understandable. Greatness like me isn’t common. I think I know where to loop it. Give me a moment.”

Abaddon grabbed his end of the rope and went scurrying off, holding it with his tail, of all things. This time I could track his progress as he climbed, not easily since his dark scales blended with the rocks. The rope unspooled, Maddox ensuring it remained slack to make it easier for the dragon.

When he disappeared from sight, and the rope kept unravelling, I worried if there’d be enough.

“Hold on, I’m coming down,” Abaddon hollered before suddenly appearing at the edge of the overhang, rope in hand.

And dived.

My heart stopped but Maddox understood what Abaddon was doing. Maddox held his end of the rope and released it bit by bit, slowly lowering the dragon who grinned at us. For the unknowing, dragon smiles don’t give you a warm fuzzy feeling, more like that chill you get when a lion shows its teeth and licks his chops because he’d like you for dinner.

“I think I shall want to keep this rope when we’re done transporting the goods,” Abaddon stated.

“Was already planning to leave it here,” Maddox stated. “Give me a second to tie up the stuff and then I’ll send you up with it.”

Maddox unpacked his bulging knapsack which I’d assumed mostly contained the sleeping bag, only it turned out to be a lot of nonperishable food: trail bars, bags of nuts, and beef jerky. The sleeping bag was the compact kind still in its vacuum sealed package. Mad pulled out a tarp as well and used it to bundle the items before tying it to the rope. Then he glanced at Abaddon. “Okay. Ready to go back up?”

Abaddon jumped atop the package and held on as Maddox pulled the rope on the other end of their makeshift pulley. Up went the dragon with his stash. Once my Little Fella reached the ledge, he jumped off and heaved the bulging tarp after him.

“Back in a few,” he shouted down.

“While he does that, drop a pin on a map so you can find this place easily,” Maddox advised.

A good idea if I ever wanted to reach this location again. The moment I had it done, Maddox dragged me to spoon against him, his chin resting on my head. “That dragon of yours is really remarkable,”

“And he knows it,” I grumbled good naturedly. “Do you think this is far enough if anyone comes looking?”

“Not if they’re determined. As part of the emergency prep, we should talk to Abaddon about not entering the forest in the east if he has to leave the trailer, but going west first and then circling back to throw them off track.”

“That’s a good idea, as was the whole finding him a cave to hide.”

“You do know this is only a temporary measure. If he is being hunted, then?—”

---