by Oxford, Rain
He certainly had changed, though. He walked taller and with ease. I could smell his power and instead of acting against him like when we met, it was in tune with him. He had bulked up, not like a warrior, but like someone who did physical labor for a living. His voice was stronger and Sudo fluent.
“How did you sneak up on the draxuni?” I asked.
“Well, I didn’t want to become a snack for anything in here, so I was masking my sound and scent with magic. As I was not looking for them, they probably couldn’t sense me.”
“So, other than learning powerful magic, what have you been up to?” I asked. It had been months since we talked.
“Same old, I guess. I live half the time with Divina, half with Kiro. Kiro’s off on some mission and was supposed to be back a week ago. I’m a little worried about that. Divina’s off at a ‘meeting’ and was supposed to be back two weeks ago.”
Kiro was Dylan’s mentor and Divina was Dylan’s girlfriend. The woman was spectacular in appearance, but smelled deceitful and ancient. While I was sure she never had any malicious intensions toward Dylan, I felt he would do good to look elsewhere for companionship. However, he was dreadfully in love with her. Not long after Dylan and I met, Divina had been in an accident that left her reliant on Dylan, but last I heard, she was fully recovered.
“Do they often leave you alone like this?”
“No,” he frowned. “One of them would go off to do something and leave me to tend to their chores. It’s fine, but if there is a storm, we need two of us to take care of both territories. If two of us leave and there’s a huge storm, that leaves one of us to take care of both places. They should have been back by now.”
“But now you are here. Doesn’t that leave both places unprotected?”
“I locked them down in case of a storm.”
“You’re worried about them missing?”
“Yes. I don’t feel anything from them, though. If one of them was in trouble, I would know. Instead, it’s something in this forest drawing me out.”
“It wasn’t me, was it?” I asked.
He looked at me. “Not just you. I think you’re part of it. For example, where are we going?” he asked.
That startled me. “I figured you were leading us out and I am following you.”
“Except you’re not following me, we’re walking equally together, and we’re heading further into the forest.”
We stopped and I realized he was right about me not following him. I felt a chill. “How do you know we’re heading further in?”
He pointed to the ground. “The plants. You can tell they get less sunlight because the forest is denser here. Also, the trees are taller, which means older. The forest grew outwards, which means that the older trees are in the center. Plus we’re going uphill. Think of it; our natural instinct would be to walk downhill and towards the light. So what is it we’re looking for?”
Dylan had grown up so much since I first met him. I hadn’t. “Okay, whatever it is, I don’t want it. Let’s leave now.”
“What if whatever it is, is hurt?” he asked.
I took his arm and tried to lead him back. “It lives in the forest; it’s tough. Leave it.”
He still hesitated. “I’m a Guardian. We protect those in need,” he said.
“The Guardian of Earth, not Duran,” I argued. I was pulling him away from the center of the forest when a loud screech of pain froze us in our tracks. I knew that sound. I had heard it before… but from where? The sound filled me with excitement and dread, but we both took off for it.
Soon we found what we were looking for. Lying in the middle of a clearing, at the mouth of cave, was a majestic creature. Black as the darkest night, large and lean, he had a reptile-like body with a long tail. At the end of his tail was a sharp spike. His eyes were dark amber and his snout was short and wide. He had long wings, one flapping in agitation and one wrapped around himself oddly. He roared in pain and I could see every sharp tooth.
This was a creature my father swore again and again didn’t exist. This was a creature I wanted to find my whole life, that I had always been fascinated with. This was a dragon.
“He’s hurt,” Dylan said. “Look at his wing; it shouldn’t be bent that way.” He didn’t hesitate to go to the dragon. The dragon in turn, backed away, trying to protect his wing. “Careful, buddy, I just want to help. Like you did for me.”
“What?” I asked.
“I’ve met this creature before. He helped me, Divina, and Kiro the last time we were here. Come pet his head so I can look at his wing.”
I approached him cautiously. Of course, I got to be at the dangerous end. Oh, well. At worst, I will find out if I make a good dragon snack. He let me approach him and when I held out my hands, he sniffed me tentatively, then lowered his head to let me pet him. His hide, leathery and tough underneath, was covered in a thick velvety coat that was too short to see, but I could definitely feel it. When I rubbed his tough, pointed ears, he purred. It was great until he let out a happy breath that knocked me to the ground. His breath stank. He leaned forward and rubbed his head against my chest.
“Oh, hell,” Dylan said.
The dragon and I both looked at him. He had the wing spread out. It was still at an odd angle, but I could see why; there were huge claw marks in it. Something had gotten this poor creature bad. Shinobu scampered off Dylan’s shoulder as if she wanted nothing to do with the dragon.
The dragon tried to pull his wing back, but Dylan wouldn’t let go. When he started to get agitated, I pulled his head away. “It’s okay. He’s just trying to help. Focus on me. Look at me.” He stopped snarling, but sent an irritated huff of horrible breath back at me. I stroked his head and neck as Dylan healed the wounds. His hands hovered over the gashes and emitted a soft green glow. Soon, he stopped, but while the cuts were closed and the wing was at a better angle, it was still damaged.
“This is all I can do right now,” Dylan said, swaying and out of breath. I reached over and caught him before he collapsed, dragging him over to a tree to sit down, where Shinobu curled up in his lap.
“So we’re going to take him with us?”
“No. He can’t travel. I don’t understand, though. I’ve seen him get attacked before and not take any damage. His hide is tough. What could have done this?”
“Maybe the inside of his wings is tender,” I suggested.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to stay here to heal him.”
I looked around. “Will we live through the night?”
He wavered as if about to pass out. “Sure we will. Could you get some wood to make a fire?” he asked.
I nodded and went into the forest. Despite the darkness, as the sun had set, I was able to gather a small selection of semi dry wood. I returned to the clearing to find Dylan sleeping and the dragon studying him. “How does your wing feel?” I asked.
The dragon flexed his wing a bit and considered it thoughtfully. I could smell that he was pleased, even though it still hurt. I set the wood in a pile and sat down to try to light it. I pulled in my energy and did as my father taught me. The wood refused to light. The harder I thought of my father, the more my insides burned, but my fire wouldn’t come. After trying for a while, I looked up to see the dragon frowning at me. He was confused.
“Could you help me out here?” I asked. He leaned his head down and blew a bit of smoke at the logs, which caught on fire. Why does this feel familiar, like I’ve done this before? “Thank you.” I pulled Dylan over to the fire and sat back down.
Everything about the dragon felt weird, like I had met him before. Why, when he set the wood on fire, I felt like he was showing me how to do it?
My growling stomach broke the silence and the dragon growled back. “Hush, when Dylan wakes up, I’ll go hunt something. What do you eat?” I asked. Instead of answering, he gazed up at the sky.
After a few minutes of observing something, he let out a small, concentrated burst of fire, which shot straight up with prec
ision. There was a squawking sound and a second later, something hit the ground not far outside the clearing. A quick search found a large bird, burned, lying on the ground. I brought it back and held it out to the dragon, but he turned his head away.
“Thank you,” I said. I pulled the knife out of Dylan’s boot and cut out a piece for him and one for me, then tossed the rest of the bird at the dragon, who snatched it out of thin air and swallowed it whole. I found a long stick to cook the bird with.
Dylan woke up just in time to eat. He thanked me as he took his and we ate in silence for a little while.
“How is it going with you and Divina?” I asked.
He shrugged. “It’s complicated, but we love each other.”
“Not enough to get married and have children?”
He choked on his food and sputtered. “Like I said, it’s complicated,” he said.
“Because she’s not sago?” I asked. He gave me wide-eyed stare and I sighed. “Dylan, you trust me. You told me about the books, the gods, your world, your father… everything but who Divina is. I know she isn’t what she appears. She smells more powerful than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“It isn’t my secret to tell.”
“Does it have something to do with why she’s missing and you’re not searching for her?” I asked. He nodded. “Well, if you need help when you do, I’ll be here. How much more time will it take before the dragon’s healed?”
“I healed the immediate damage. He still can’t fly, but he’s not bleeding out anymore and I fixed the broken bones and infections. He’s been like that for probably a week. I doubt he ate anything since his injury. Divina told me that dragons couldn’t eat or drink when mortally injured because they have to regulate their body to fight infection and loss of blood.”
“But when you were unconscious, he shot down a bird. When I gave it to him, he refused until I cut off some for us.”
“He’s kind, that’s all I know.”
“Dragons are very rare. Most people do not believe in them, and I can see why. This guy could fly around the whole world at night and never be seen. That felt pelt of his would make him very good in the water, but the shape of the wings would make it unnecessarily difficult to swim. The shape of his legs indicates that he can dive in air or water very well, but he is defiantly not a glider for the same reason he is not a swimmer.”
“How do you know so much about dragons?”
“Just because they are considered myth, doesn’t mean I don’t believe in them. There is plenty of information out there to those who look. I have always been fascinated in them. My father, on the other hand, hates anything to do with them and insists they don’t exist.”
“Well, now there’s one more of them not about to die. In the morning, we need to find him some water.”
“What if his attacker comes back?”
“It will.”
“What?!” I demanded, standing up. The dragon’s head snapped up as well.
“I can feel it, he’s still in danger. Can’t you smell it?” he asked. He knew about my unusual sense of smell.
“No. All I can smell is the forest, the dragon, and you. And you don’t smell frightened.”
“I said it will come back, not that it’s here now.”
I sat down. “When I met you, you were the most paranoid person on the planet. Anything that could go wrong did. And yet you did what you had to do anyway.”
“I’m not that paranoid anymore. I spent too long living alone with Divina and Kiro.”
“Why did you stop calling him Edward?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess when he stopped being around as much. The thing is, he isn’t an uncle or mentor so much anymore… more like a father. And I think he thinks of me as a son. Kiro has never been comfortable as a father. I’m afraid one day he’s going to bring another apprentice home and tell me to live with Divina. It’s only been three years, but I have learned so much. Maybe too much.”
I patted him on the back. “Have you talked to him about it?”
“No. He’s always going off on missions and leaving me with Divina.”
“Maybe the problem isn’t how he feels about you. Maybe he feels that you don’t need him anymore. Maybe he thinks you’re better off with her, that he’s just getting in your way.”
“But that’s silly. Even without lessons in magic, I learn life lessons from Kiro all of the time. From Divina I just learn history and facts.”
“When did you start calling him Kiro?” I asked again. “Why did you call him Edward? Wasn’t that your special name for him? I’d feel pretty sad if my future son called me a nickname all his childhood and then suddenly stopped.”
He thought about it for a while. Before he came up with anything else to say, I fell asleep.
* * *
I woke to a sight I would never have expected; an angry dragon’s face inches from mine. The dragon Dylan started to heal last night was standing over me with his wings splayed out in what looked like an attack position. When he roared, displaying his sharp teeth and rendering me temporarily deaf, I tried to crawl back. To my surprise, it was Dylan, lying next to me, who pinned me down. He tried to say something, but the dragon’s next roar drowned Dylan’s words out.
The dragon turned his head to shoot fire over his shoulder. Suddenly, something came at him from the front and attacked his neck. He was thrown off of us and I was able to see what was really going on; we were being attacked.
Two creatures relentlessly struck the dragon. They were only about as tall as a draxuni, but much leaner. Black, matted fur covered their bodies. Their heads were short with wide snouts and solid, blood-red eyes. The fangs were so large and sharp they could barely fit in the creature’s mouth. Their ears were pointed and sitting above their heads (much like a draxuni’s) but they currently leaned flat in anger. They had large, leathery black wings that were similar to the dragon’s, but somehow creepier on these creatures.
One of them was trying to get a good grip in the dragon’s neck with its teeth while the other was tearing at the dragon’s injured wing. The dragon faithfully tried to cover us, even though Dylan was now trying to get in the fight. The creatures forced the dragon to his back to tear at his belly. In an instant, the air went from warm and humid to cold and dry. First one, then the other creature fell over to writhe in pain. Dylan had fierce concentration on his face.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He winced. “Don’t talk.”
The dragon let out a cry and Dylan shuddered. The two creatures stopped writhing, gained their footing, and quickly disappeared into the forest. Dylan slumped against the dragon, reaching for the dragon’s torn neck, but a faint green glow was all Dylan could manage.
“Come here,” he panted.
When I did, he took my hand with his free one. Instantly I felt exhausted, like I had been the one to fight in battle. Even though the encounter had lasted mere minutes, it had felt like it lasted hours. The green glow burst into an eerie fire and the dragon sighed, relaxing. The wounds on the dragon began to close as I grew more and more dizzy. Dylan and the dragon passed out and I had enough time to sit down before I did too.
* * *
I woke up very comfortable with the sound of a crackling fire and the smell of food.
“Wake up,” Dylan said insistently.
I would have grumbled at him if my stomach hadn’t taken that moment to growl loudly. I snuggled into the warmth and opened my eyes. I didn’t know dragons were cuddly creatures, but this one was wrapped around me with his front leg over me. Big eyes blinked at me as if wondering when I was getting up. I snuggled deeper under his limb.
“Oh, get up. You need to eat and then we need to wash the dragon blood off us before we attract attention.”
I shifted the dragon’s paw off me to see that I was indeed covered in blood. It was appalling. “How did that happen?” I demanded. The dragon shrugged his paw back over me and laid his head down.
“The creatures attacked him over us and he lost a lot of blood. He needs to drink some water so hurry and eat.” Dylan handed me a stick with cooked meat on it. I took a bite and froze, not sure whether to chew or spit it out. “I know it’s weird. I have no idea what the little mammal was, just eat it,” he demanded.
I ate the meat with a weird, reptilian texture, crustacean flavor, and mollusk smell.
“Any idea what those creatures were?” I asked.
Dylan shook his head. “Never seen nor heard of anything like them. I know there are many creatures in this forest that are undiscovered, but those guys seemed a little mythological.”
The dragon snorted.
After choking down the food, we headed for the sound of running water. The dragon appeared to be healed and ambled along gracefully. His wings folded safely against his back, but twitched nervously every time we heard a particularly loud noise. We made it to the water without losing any body parts, minus a little blood when Dylan mistook a thesper tree for an innocent one.
“If it’s blood colored, you should probably avoid it,” I advised.
“It’s a little more blood colored now,” he moaned. “I’m sorry if my losing blood is inconvenient for you, but trees don’t attack you with thorns on Earth.”
The river was calm and didn’t look too deep. Dylan and I stripped as the dragon pounced into the creek. Since it was midday and the clearing had plenty of sun, it was warm enough. I hated cold baths.
“Hey, when did you get a tattoo?” Dylan asked.
“A what?”
“A skin picture.”
“I know what a tattoo is. I just don’t have one,” I insisted.
“Well then… that is a very nice birth mark that you never had before.” He was staring intently at the back of my shoulder.
I tried to see what he was talking about, but all I could see was a smudge of emerald green. “Oh, no. It’s probably some kind of infection from something in this forest.”
“Yeah, sure, an infection in the perfect shape of a dragon.”
