part0008

The crisp air clung to my lungs as Raikidan and I traveled farther up river, the orange sun setting behind the purple mountain range in the distance.

Raikidan continued to be chatty along the way. “So, you said you were an assassin. Is there anything else you did while in service of your creator—Zarda, was it?”

“I’m a former commander.” The look he gave indicated I’d have to explain. “It’s a rank in our military. For our city it sits just below general, which is the highest rank you can attain.”

His brow stayed risen. “You specified your city. It’s different in other ones?”

I gave a curt nod. “Human cities are governed differently, if they don’t have an on overarching ruler between them. This means they can choose how they wish to rank their military and civilians.” My eyes swept across our surroundings. “Are you sure there’s a safe place to rest up this way?”

Raikidan responded with a loud snort. “This is my territory. Of course I’m sure.”

Since it was late in the day, the two of us agreed it’d be best to rest up before heading for Dalatrend. Raikidan claimed to know a place that would keep us out of the eyes of any Hunters. Of course, this forced me to place trust in him that I wasn’t ready to give.

The roar of the upstream waterfall grew louder and the path we took became rockier until it came into view. It wasn’t as large as I expected, but it pushed the river and had a deep pool beneath it. Behind the falling water I could see a cave. Please don’t tell me this is our destination.

Raikidan pointed to the cave. “That’s where we can stay for the night.”

Of course. I looked at him with a raised brow. “A cave behind a waterfall? How cliché can you get?”

The dragon’s eyes narrowed. “It’s an easy location to defend from if we are found. If you’d rather sleep in the open, be my guest.”

A small grin spread across my lips, despite myself. The bite in his tongue was refreshing. “As long as it’s a secure spot, I’ll give it a try, I suppose.”

He snorted and waved me to follow him. Raikidan led me up a narrow path leading to the cave and allowed me to look around the large chamber. From the looks of it, it started out as a naturally occurring space, but the large gouges in the rocks and occasional scorch marks showed me it had been excavated by something large. Probably safe to assume he did it. I guessed this to be, at the very least, one place he’d call a lair. Whether it was his main one, where he stored hoarded treasure, had yet to be determined.

Raikidan sat down with his back against the wall. “So, what’s your plan?”

I leaned against the opposite wall, noting its dampness. “The obvious is to head to Dalatrend. I would like to stop at a small village on the way, for personal reasons, but unfortunately, I don’t know where we are. You wouldn’t have a map, by chance?”

His brow rose in question. “Why would I have a map?”

I rolled my eyes. “Typical male response.”

“I’m being serious. What need would I have for a map?”

I crossed my arms and shrugged. “I’m not saying you do. But everyone knows dragons hoard, so I thought maybe you’d collected one or two in whatever fashion you choose to accumulate that wealth.” I shifted my gaze away from him. “I was only asking if you had one. It’s not a big deal if you don’t.”

He looked away, speaking to himself. The sounds came out as grunts and growls. Must be Draconic. From what I knew, dragons had their own language called Draconic and they used a unique power most called draconic magic. It was said to be the source of how they shifted and received their rarely matched strength.

I looked around for a dry place to sit, but found none. I steepled my hands in front of my lips. Exhaling, a burning sensation rose up from my chest and out of my mouth. Harnessing the power in my hands, I discreetly pulled the flame from my lips and held it within my fingers, adding power to it to create the illusion I’d conjured the fire from my hand.

I had the innate ability to produce fire internally in my body and use it at will. Many beings in Lumaraeon had this ability, and some had the skills to harness other abilities. They were called elementalists. A few races could go beyond that and shift into an animal, such as a druid. While shamans could speak with the spirits of the dead. Though how I produced fire wasn’t natural for a human. Not even a nu-human like myself. It had caused me my fair share of problems, so I’d come to hiding its production to ease my headaches.

I went about drying off the rocky surface and noticed Raikidan watching me with great interest. “What?”

“You can create fire?”

The side of my lips twisted upward as I continued my task. “One of the many things that set me apart from a normal nu-human.”

Raikidan’s eyes glowed with interest. “There’s a town, east of here, with people capable of doing that. I’ve never gone there since it’s out of my territory, but if you’re familiar with it, it may give you an idea of where you need to bring us.”

My brow furrowed into deep creases as I mulled over this new information. “If it’s the same place I’m thinking, yes, I have. It’d be the West Shaman Tribe, and the town I want to stop in.”

Raikidan cocked his head to one side. “Why do you want to stop there?”

“I stayed there for some time and had to leave in a hurry. I left a few things there I’d like to retrieve, as they’ll be useful in our goal.”

“If they let you stay there, does that mean you’re a shaman as well?”

I avoided his gaze. I didn’t like the way the conversation kept shifting back to me. “You could say that.” His stomach growled, and I took the escape route presented. “You should go find something to eat. If your shifting is anything like a druid’s, then I’m sure you’ve used a great deal of energy staying in your human form.”

“What about you?”

I sat down in my now dry spot. “I’m not hungry.”

He leveled his eyes at me for a moment, then removed the clothes he’d “borrowed” from the dead Hunter at my request. I was sure to keep my eyes averted. His shape changed, and I now shared my space with a large dragon. Thankfully, the cave accommodated the two of us well. I stole a glance, but he launched himself out of the cavern and took to the skies before I could catch more than the sight of some red scales mixed in with the black on his spine.

I placed a hand on my stomach. It’d been some time since it had needed to tell me to feed. In my tormented years, it learned to adapt to a lack of food. A cave cricket jumped past me and I licked my lips. I knew it would provide some energy, but I didn’t need that dragon to know how weak I was at the moment. I’d have to resort to foraging, rather than hunting wild game.

A cold breeze blew through the cascading water into the cave and I shivered. I should collect firewood, too. I stood up and left the rock chamber.

My search turned up a good source of firewood, but food proved more difficult. The nuts on the hardwood trees weren’t developed enough at this time of year, and all mushrooms and berries I found were poisonous. I should have eaten that cricket. I had a feeling insect hunting would be my next resort. While most reeled at the thought of eating an insect, I understood their importance to a diet when food was hard to come by. I even knew when to suck up my pride and dig for worms. As disgusting as they were, food was food.

My foraging halted when I realized how quiet the forest had grown. I dropped my wood haul when a twig snapped. I drew a dagger, taking in a large whiff to gauge what may be hiding in the shadows. The petrichor masked the unknown being, but when I heard another twig snap in the opposite direction from the first. I had a decent idea of who and what was hiding beyond the brush. My suspicions were proven correct when two figures charged out from opposite sides of the forest, talon-like hands extended for a kill.

I managed to push back their first attack, but one of them was quicker on the recovery than I expected he’d be, and managed to rake me in the side. I cried out in pain, anger flaring in me. Spurred on by that anger, I retaliated and stabbed him twice with my weapon while back-fisting his comrade. The pair backed off and exchanged glances, then tried to flank me. I dropped into a defensive stance and watched them with trained eyes. Rushing with two opponents would result in my death. But the blood wafting in the air… it teased me.

Yet before the fight could continue, an ear-piercing roar echoed through the trees, followed by the beating of wings. Everyone looked up to see a black dragon descending from the skies. I noticed the red scales trailing his head and spine. Is it Raikidan or another dragon? I didn’t know enough about their species to understand identification between individuals.

The Hunters attempted to attack me in this distracted state, but the dragon swung his tail. I barely managed to jump out of the way of the attack while the two Hunters went flying into the forest. If it is Raikidan, he’s showing his true colors.

The dragon landed above me and snapped his wicked teeth at a Hunter who ran back into this uneven fight. The man wasn’t prepared for the attack and screamed in pain as the dragon crunched him in his toothy maw, blood splattering in all directions. The huge creature spit out the Hunter, his body landing on the ground with a thud . He lay there unmoving. I had to admit, I was impressed. That’s one way to deal with these pests.

The dragon swiveled his head back and forth, scanning the forest for the other Hunter. This has to be my dragon. I couldn’t rationalize his lack of interest in killing me any other way—unless you counted that failed tail attack and attempt. It could have been a poorly misjudged swipe for all I knew, and my lack of trust was skewing my opinion.

A sudden movement in the forest caught my eye, and before I knew it my dagger flew out of my hand. I silently cursed myself when the blade disappeared into the underbrush with no target met.

The dragon above me moved forward, the trees around us moaning, cracking, and eventually falling under the strength of the large creature. His actions flushed out the remaining Hunter.

From the indecisive look on the Hunter’s face, I could tell he was torn between his orders to kill me and saving his own life. Unfortunately for him, disobeying orders wasn’t easy for the average creation of Zarda. As a result, the Hunter tried to get around my dragon comrade. That proved to be a mistake.

The Hunter, as their design intended, was quick, but the dragon happened to be quicker. Even with his large size, he raked his enormous talons into the man’s soft flesh. The Hunter cried out in pain as the dragon gored him, spilling his innards across the ground. An ordinary person might have blanched at the sight, but my bloodstained past left me unaffected by the grizzly visage.

With both Hunters now dead, I was left to retrieve my thrown dagger and discarded timber, mindful of the wound I now had.

“Are you all right?”

I turned to find Raikidan back in his human form and swiftly returned to my side. “I’m fine.”

“I smell blood on you; are you sure?”

My upper lip curled into a snarl. “I said I’m fine.”

The human-dragon let out a long sigh. “Very well. Can I know why you’re out here?”

I held up a small stack of timber in front of me. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to need a fire to keep me warm in that damp cave.”

Raikidan’s eyes widened as if the thought had never occurred to him. It was probably one of the perks of being a dragon. I guessed it took a lot before they suffered from the cold.

As I finished collecting up the wood, I noticed a patch of mushrooms growing by the base of a tree. Upon closer inspection, I found them to be edible. I wasted no time harvesting them, even popping a few in my mouth while securing my fire fuel in my arms. My foraging did not go unnoticed.

“Wait, are you hungry?” Raikidan asked from behind me. “If you were hungry, you only had to say something when I went hunting earlier. I could have brought you back something.”

“I’m perfectly capable of fending for myself.”

He ground his teeth together. “Does your species know nothing of working together? Or is there something just wrong with you? I’m offering my assistance because we need to work together.”

Timber and food in hand, I ignored his question and headed back to the cave. There’s a lot wrong with me, Dragon. You don’t want to waste your time knowing what kind of mess I am. “Thanks for the help with those Hunters. Next time just watch where you swing that tail.”

Raikidan caught up with me. “I realized how stupid that was to do. It wasn’t my intent to attack you as well. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted.”

The two of us remained silent on the rest of our walk back to the cave. When we reached our destination, I went about crafting a fire and roasting a few of the mushrooms to add a different taste to my palate. Meanwhile, Raikidan had slipped out of the cave again. He returned once I’d settled down in front of the fire. I nearly jumped when he threw something at me, but managed to catch it thanks to my quick reflexes. In my hands, I now held a dead rabbit. I eyed the human-dragon with suspicion. “Why do you insist I eat more than what I’ve collected?”

“Because you’re too stubborn for your own good. That will sustain you more than those mushrooms.”

I looked at the meal he provided and then back to him.

Raikidan shook his head then shrugged. “Listen, if I really wanted to kill you, I’d have already done so instead of poisoning you like some coward.”

I half grunted and half laughed. “Poison isn’t for cowards, and you did attack me earlier.”

“That was an accident. Had I meant to, you would no longer be alive.”

I decided I’d have to risk the chance. Even if it was poisoned, I’d get the death I asked for earlier. I went about skinning the rabbit, and eating everything edible it could offer. Raw or cooked—it didn’t matter to me.

Raikidan didn’t take his eyes off me the entire time.

Even after I finished my meal, his gaze hadn’t left me. It was really starting to bother me. As I cleaned up, I decided to find out his problem. “Why are you staring at me?”

His response was rather simplistic. “You’re wounded. You said you were fine, but I can see how you favor one side.”

“Just because I’m wounded doesn’t mean I’m not fine. I’ve dealt with worse. It’ll heal in time.”

“I can heal you.”

I snorted at him derisively. “Sure you can.”

He continued to speak as he drew closer. “I healed the other life-threatening wound you had. So, let me help.”

I shoved him away and started to stand. “Don’t touch me.”

Raikidan fell over and his eyes narrowed. “What’s your deal? I’m only trying to help.”

“And I said I didn’t want it!” He didn’t flinch at my loud tone, but his eyes darkened. My eyes narrowed. “There’s that anger. I was wondering when it’d come back.”

His expression almost immediately softened. “What are you talking about?”

“This fake concern; did you really think I wouldn’t see it? Heh… I saw you trying to hide the hate you have when you look at me. While you do well concealing, I’m all too accustomed to that look for you to succeed. You associate me with someone who has caused you pain, at least enough to justify anger toward me.”

The human-dragon moved with a speed I never saw coming. Before I knew it, my back was slammed into the cave wall and Raikidan’s arm was pressed into my neck, cutting off the air to my lungs. The bundle in my hand clattered to the ground. “Don’t you dare start making assumptions as if you know me.”

I struggled to breathe, but I didn’t fight him. “But it’s… true. Otherwise… you wouldn’t be… choking me… You want… me dead…”

His eyes narrowed, his gaze so intense it nearly burned. “You have it wrong.”

When I remained impassive, his brow furrowed. “Why are you so calm?”

“You think… you’re the first man… to ever try… to beat me…” My lips spread into a sick, twisted grin. “You’re years late… to that party…”

His eyes widened at my confession. He paused a moment, then jumped back. Air flooded into my lungs and I fell to my knees. My side pulsed with pain, but I refused to show weakness in front of this dragon.

I glanced up at him as I rubbed my throat. “What’s wrong? You had the perfect opportunity… to end me and… get some sort of twisted revenge. I may be strong… but I’m no match for a dragon.”

He stared at me as if frozen, mixed emotions playing across his face.

Raikidan finally composed himself and knelt down. “Stop being stubborn and let me look at your wound. I can smell the fresh blood. All this moving around has caused it to open back up.” He peered at me with soft eyes when I refused to budge. “Please.”

The way he’s looking at me… My face felt a bit warm for some reason. I couldn’t explain it. I sighed and showed him the damage the Hunter had caused. “Consider yourself lucky. I wouldn’t show this to just anyone.”

He chuckled. For the first time since I met him, I noticed how handsome he was. Funny what a smile can do.

“Someone as stubborn as you, I wouldn’t doubt it. Now let me see.”

I kept a close eye on him as he leaned in to inspect the wound. It didn’t escape me when he noticed the deep horizontal scars on my sides, but he didn’t say anything. For the best. No way would I allow him to know about the origins of those.

Raikidan peered up at me with sadness in his eyes. “I’m sorry for attacking you. That was wrong. I don’t hate you. I don’t even know you to be able to do that.”

“It’s easy to hate someone if they remind you of someone else.”

“You’re wrong about me.” He held my shirt out of the way. “Now hold still. This shouldn’t hurt, but it might.”

Raikidan took a deep breath and then exhaled a thin flame at my skin. He can breathe fire in this form? I tensed, expecting pain, but instead, a soothing sensation fell over my wound and my body. What is this? Before my very eyes, the wound closed and then disappeared.

“See, not so bad getting my help,” Raikidan said as he pulled away.

I touched the spot he healed. Nothing was left to indicate I’d been harmed during that attack, though my prior scars remained. “Is this how you saved me last time?”

He nodded. “Yes, though for some reason that time left a scar. Sorry.”

I cocked my head to one side and shrugged. “It’s not like I don’t have others.”

His eyes darkened but he didn’t say anything. I continued to watch him. I didn’t understand this dragon. I was so sure I’d figured him out. But if he really did want me dead, he had the perfect opportunity. And yet, here he is showing me… kindness.

I didn’t believe he could be trusted. I’d now have to be extra careful with him.

I started picking up my dropped mess. “I’m going to clean this up and then get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow.”

I got up and started to leave, but stopped and looked back. “Thank you.”

I then left the cave to deal with the rabbit remains.

Light hit my eyes, stirring me. My eyes fluttered open and I looked around. Soft rays of light filtered through the cascading water outside the cave, and Raikidan’s “soft” dragon snores echoed against the cave walls. He’d kept his distance, as much as the cave allowed, at least. My body was on high alert, and I woke up every time the smallest sound echoed through this cave, even if it was just him moving in his sleep. Sometimes, when I’d wake, I’d catch him watching me or staring out at the water falling in front of the mouth of the rocky chamber.

I gazed down at the dagger in my hands. I always slept with it there, just in case. It wouldn’t deter a dragon, but it helped me sleep at least. Sheathing it, I quietly made my way out of the cave.

The sun hung low in the morning skies, maybe a few hours after sunrise. Later than I expected to wake, but with my years of military service behind me, and running for as long as I had, that internal clock had changed. And I’d learned, the safer I felt, the longer and more soundly I’d sleep. It’s been a long time since I slept through the night. And just as long waking up so late after sunrise. I wouldn’t let Raikidan know, but for some illogical reason, his presence helped me sleep. Even though I couldn’t trust him, I had this strange sense of ease resting near him.

I looked around to find the forest quiet of anything unusual. A light breeze rustled the trees, and birds sang their morning song. Following the path, I made my way down to the pool below the falls. The agitated water churned beneath the cascading water. I could handle the flow, but… that’s too deep for my liking. I moved down river a few yards and found a small spot that would work for a quick wash up.

Wading into the hip-deep water, I suppressed a shiver as the icy water seeped into my clothes. Spring river water wasn’t the most comfortable to bathe in, but I’d dealt with worse. Part of my training in the military had me completing tasks while water elementalists assaulted me with both frigid and scalding water.

Removing my hair clip, I sloshed and scrubbed my neglected body and hair, cleaning myself as best I could without modern beauty products. The next time I decide to run away, I should think about taking a route with better access to water. I gazed down at the moving water, but it was too agitated to give a clear enough image. I would have to wait to see just how bad I looked. Couldn’t be too bad, or the dragon would have made some sort of comment. At most I suspected I merely looked malnourished and unkempt.

As I cleaned myself, I sensed I wasn’t alone. I did my best to act casual as I looked around, trying to figure out who else was out there. My eyes fell on the waterfall as movement caught my eyes. Raikidan. He didn’t come out from where he hid, but I could tell he watched me. Creeper. “You know, it’s rude to stare.”

I didn’t get an answer right away, but I never stopped looking at the rushing water. Raikidan finally moved out from behind the falls and maneuvered his way down to the ground. My eyes, unhindered by the low light of dusk and night, got a perfect view of his impressive natural form. I couldn’t lie to myself: he was a magnificent-looking creature.

His scales were polished and black, save for a small section of red scales. His head was triangular, with several small ivory spikes on his jawbones on each side of his head. Heavy black cascading plated scales covered his neck and chest as well as his hips and thighs. Heavy plated scales also lined the tops of his eyes and merged with his long heavily plated horns. Under the plating I could tell his horns were ivory, contrasting with his dark scales. Ivory spikes lined the undersides of his eyes, and large ivory spines grew down his neck and body until they reached the heavy plating on his tail.

The red scales created a stripe that began at the tip of the center point of his eyes and flowed down his body, ending at his tail. At the end of his tail, a spade-shaped club flexed, revealing malleable spikes on either side of the base.

When he reached the shore next to me, he lay down, watching me. I held his gaze for a while, unable to find the ability to go back to washing up. Some strong unseen force pulled me away from that task to this one.

Raikidan lowered his head next to me. His breath was warm, but non-threatening. Involuntarily, my hand stretched out and rested gently on the tip of his snout. A part of me screamed to stop, but the other was much too curious to care.

I didn’t understand what was going on with me. It had been so long—a distant memory at best—since I had been so curious about something. The small, almond-shaped scales were smooth and almost leathery, and as I slid my hand across them, I felt the separation between each of them.

Finally snapping out of my daze, I stepped back. Get a hold of yourself, Eira! I really was losing it. I went back to bathing, my mind going to plans for the next few days. I’d need Raikidan to show me the way to the village he mentioned. I was sure I knew this place. It made sense, based on my erratic path to lose these Hunters over the years. Even if it wasn’t the right place, I could obtain a map and plot out our path.

Once we reached Dalatrend, we’d have to sneak in and then make my presence known with the resistance. If luck was on our side, which it wasn’t for me most of these days; there would be a path to sneak in under the city.

Strong hands pressed the back of my neck and shoulders. “Let me help you with that.”

Surprised, I whirled around and knocked Raikidan in the face. He stumbled back, the water barely covering his now human lower half. He stood a few inches taller than me, so I was lucky the water covered him at all. “Don’t touch me!”

He rubbed his cheek. “You didn’t need to hit me.”

“Then learn personal space!” I lashed out. “And don’t touch people without their permission.”

“I only wanted to help.” He continued to rub his face. Is… he pouting? As I watched him, his lip was in fact sticking out a bit. It was cute. Wait, why am I thinking this way? Keep yourself together, Eira.

“I don’t know a lot about humans. I’ve only learned from those who have wandered through my territory, and I kept tabs on them without interacting. Not too long ago, an elven pair, male and female, chose this river to wash up. The male helped his female companion. I know humans and elves are different, but they have a lot of similarities.” Raikidan cupped his chin with his hand. “Oh wait. While doing that, it did entice a pursuit that—”

My hand flew up into the air, my cheeks warming at the unwanted image he’d planted in my head. “Stop! I don’t want to hear what they did.”

Raikidan tilted his head. “You look to be of a human equivalent to mating age. I would have thought that topic wouldn’t have bothered you. How old are you?”

My eyes narrowed, and my teeth remained clenched as I fought the uncomfortable feeling plaguing my body. “I’m twenty-seven.” I spun around, indicating I wasn’t going to continue the topic. Raikidan let me be, but for once I wasn’t satisfied by that. “You know, it’s rude to ask someone’s age without giving your own.”

“You didn’t ask for it.”

I crossed my arms. “Well, I am now.”

“Only about two centuries hatched. I had been in my shell for almost another two.”

“So, based on how you act, and the age you present yourself in human form, if I’m correct in believing you can’t change that look, you’d be the equivalent to my age.”

“I guess so. But what do you mean by ‘act’?”

I chuckled. “An older, wiser dragon would know when to leave someone be.”

“Are you saying I’m not wise?”

I glanced back at him to find him annoyed. The side of my mouth twisted into a smirk. “Precisely.”

His upper lip curled, and he crossed his arms, looking away from me. “Whatever.”

I chuckled again. Thanks for proving my point.

Determining I was as clean as possible without removing my clothes, I made my way out of the water.

“Wait, how are you done?” Raikidan asked. “You’re still in your clothes. Why would you even get them wet?”

“Because there’s no way I’d undress in the open, especially with someone around.”

“I don’t understand you. What it is with you and clothes?” I didn’t answer him. He followed me out of the moving water. “Is this strange reaction the reason why you’re so adamant I wear them?” His hot breath met the back of my neck suddenly, surprising me. “Does this form I take make you uncomfortable? Look too human for someone your age, causing confusion?”

I elbowed him. He grunted and then backed off. “No.”

He chuckled. “If you’re concerned something may happen between us, don’t be. I’m able to discern between our two species, even in this form.”

“You have an active imagination. Clothes are customary for humans. To walk around without them is considered indecent, and sometimes illegal, depending on where you are. I care not for how you appear, and I’m well aware you’re not human. I also care not for the engagement of sex or companionship. Both are a waste of time. Now would you please go put your clothes on, so we can leave? We’re burning daylight.”

“Sure.” He walked off.

His easy compliance confused me, but I brushed it off. While he retrieved his clothes, I produced some fire and encircled my body, drying my skin and clothes. By the time Raikidan returned, I had finished throwing my hair up into a modified ponytail.

“I’ve never seen someone wear their hair like that,” Raikidan said.

“Is that a problem?”

His brow furrowed. “No, just an observation.”

“Right, well if we can, I’d like to get moving. You know where this town is, roughly, so it’s on you to get us there. Or at least close.”

He stared at me for a moment and then looked skyward. “It would be faster if I flew us.”

“Yeah, no,” I said in a flat tone. “We’ll walk.”

He gave me a perplexed look, but my expression remained neutral. There was no way he’d convince me to allow him to fly us anywhere. My feet are to stay on the ground.

He sighed and waved me to follow. “Have it your way. It’s a good three or four days from here on foot. Hope you like walking.”