The Desolation of Light

Chapter 3~ Death's Warning

                                   Chapter 3~ Death's Warning

         

         Eveyln screamed as the beast lunged for her throat. Then abruptly it was yanked off of her and its weight disappeared..

     Cautiously, She opened her eyes to see a young man roughly pulling the creature back towards the pen. The creature, thin and lizard-like with long wings, lowered its head as he turned to glare at it. He didn't even need to speak before it turned to slink backwards into the shadows once more.

          "Evie! Evie! Are you alright?" Mara ran forward to fling her arms around Evelyn with enough force to nearly make her choke. It sounded like the young girl was crying.

          The stranger watched them for a moment, his face concealed in darkness. A long cloak wrapped around his lean frame. "You shouldn't have gotten so close to her. I want to leave tonight without having to atone for another foolish human she decides to snack on. It's been difficult enough to train her already." He made no gesture to help Evelyn off the ground as she sat up.

          Wite was quick to apologize. "We're terribly sorry. We were just leaving." He quickly stooped to help Evelyn to her feet before pulling her and Mara to the exit.

          The Rogue watched them with narrowed eyes. "You'd do best to keep a close eye on that girl in the future, before next time there's no one there to save her."

          Evelyn froze in the doorway. How dare he! She'd march right back in there and demand he say that to her again so she could slap that haughty look right off his face, but Wite laid a restraining hand on her arm.

          "Not right now Evelyn. There's nothing you can do."

          "There's plenty I can do. I can go back in there and make him regret every single word."

          "Evie…" Wite sighed and tugged her away, back onto the path. "That's that Rogue I told you about. You saw that beast he was training. It nearly roasted you to a crisp! And that was only a baby. Beast-Tamers may be powerful, but I haven't seen the likes of a Dragon-Tamer in my days. No one has. It'll be best if you stay away from him until he finally leaves."

          Dragon-tamer? So that's what that was? She had read a great deal about dragons but had never seen one in real life before. They were far more magical --and dangerous, she remembered with a rub of her stinging throat-- than she would have every believed possible. How could anyone expect to train such a thing? But that Rogue… Her mind traveled to the stranger and the look in his eyes. That glare and the low menacing sound of his voice was enough to remind her that he wasn't exactly the kind of person she was use to either. Mara glanced at her as she clinched her hands into fists. "Are you alright Evie?"

          "Yeah, I'm fine. A little shaken up, but fine. But this was why I told you to be careful."

          "I know, and I’m sorry. I didn't mean for anything bad to happen. I didn't mean to put you in danger."

          Wite was the first to stop when Mara started to cry. It was clear he wasn't quite sure how to deal with it though. "There there Mara. It's alright. It was an accident. Evelyn's still okay and now you've um… you've learned your lesson, right?"

          Mara remained silent and nodded.

          "Good. Then I guess everything's okay."

          Evelyn had to agree. She was just thankful everything turned out alright. Her heart still started racing when she thought of the dragon reeling back to strike.