Authors: Rain Oxford
For hours I sat in the puppy pile, waiting for the
adults to come to their senses and eat me. There had been no more signs of the
tourists. Perhaps they made it out alive, but I doubted it.
Instead of worrying, I took the opportunity to learn.
The draxuni were a species powerfully built to survive that formed fierce packs
with a strict hierarchy. The coats gave away what part of the world they lived
it, because they were colored to camouflage; therefore, this pack had dark
brown and black coats to blend in with the dark forest. The mystery that no one
could get close enough to understand was the puppies; no matter what part of
the world they were from, they had red, black, white, brown, and green
multicolored coats and their ears were huge compared to their heads.
I uncovered the mystery as the pups played; their
colors blended when they tumbled together until it was impossible to see how
many there were or which way they were moving. At the barest hint of a sound in
the forest, they all froze and perked their ears until one of the adults gave
them the signal to relax.
“Smelling like dog is one thing, but I don’t think
anyone will let you out of the forest smelling like draxuni puppy.” The last
voice I expected to hear in the Aradlin startled me.
“Dylan!” I stood, but so did the draxuni. While my
best friend did not show them fear, he didn’t come any closer. The draxuni
formed a wall between me and Dylan. “Would you give me a little help here?” I
asked in English. Our common procedure in private was for me to speak his
mother language of English and him to speak mine of Sudo.
The draxuni growled, which Shinobu did not like at
all. Shinobu was a dangerous little creature that could kill a person with a
single bite, and she was fiercely protective of Dylan. She was at her normal
place, perched upon his shoulder, hissing and spitting at the draxuni. I
started to walk around the draxuni to Dylan. One of them broke formation to
stay in front of me, but when Shinobu jumped to the ground and advanced, he
relented to the tiny creature.
I joined Dylan. Shinobu ran back to him, crawled up
his leg, and up snuggled around his neck. Then she reached her webbed paw out
to place on his cheek and made a clicking sound.
“What is she doing?”
“She doesn’t like it here. There’s something bigger
close. Something she doesn’t even want to deal with.” He turned his back to the
draxuni and took off into the woods. “Come on.”
I had never met a man brave enough to turn his back
on a draxuni, let alone a pack. I hurried after him, keeping the pack in sight for
as long as I could. “What are you doing here? How did you find me? And why
aren’t you afraid?”
“I really don’t know why I’m here; I just knew I
needed to come. It was like something was calling for help. I found some lost
and scared people and got them out, but I think I may have found you by
accident. And as for being afraid… As of next week, I will have been here for
three years. Three years I have trained under Kiro’s guide. Between the magic I
know and Shinobu, I’m not worried. What I learned from Divina about the draxuni
is that I have to first show that I’m not a threat to their pups, and second
that they’re not a threat to me. I didn’t even look at the pups. They figured
out I wasn’t going to leave without you and that kind of stated the second
part. So what brings you out here?”
“I wanted to see the forest. You’ve been here before,
right?”
“Yes, when I was still new to this world. A lot has
changed, but this forest is exactly the same. It kind of takes me back. Three
years was so long ago.”
He was different than when I first met him, sneaking
around on a ship to Anoshii. Belonging to a world of a lighter gravity, he had
trouble walking right. I know it should have, but it never bothered me that he
was from another world.
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 precision.
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.”