Dragon of Storms

Chapter 6

Reyna openly gaped at the tiny thing before her, the pain in her arm and leg almost completely forgotten. The little dragon was a dark sooty color, its neck and belly scales were a strange blue-gray color with little horns the same. His wings were a light gray underneath, and a slightly darker version of its scales on top. He had a mane that went down to its tail that was a very light gray color.

The dragon was lean, leaner than Reyna would have thought, and its wings were incredibly small. "Kind of cute," She murmured under her breath. It shook off the rest of its eggshell, causing the mane to fluff out, "Very cute."

The dragon had wide sky blue eyes that seemed to take everything in, even though there wasn't much to see in the dark dank tunnel they were in. When they landed on her, it began to walk closer. Reyna could make out more details, like the scales on its chest and belly seemed to be plated, and the skin was incredibly smooth, unlike the stories she'd heard of them having scales everywhere.

It came up to Reyna's side and curled into it, radiating heat. Reyna barely moved, barely breathed, afraid to disturb it. Usually, she didn't let strange creatures get close to her, but after carrying it for a day or two, she felt slightly protective of the baby dragon. For what felt like hours the two of them sat there, in the dark gray light, and eventually the pain in her arm seemed to fade entirely. Reyna felt relaxed and started to drift off before the dragon stood up and walked over to her broken arm.

"No, don't touch that," She said as he got closer to her arm. Trying to shift it out of the way, Reyna found that she couldn't. The whole limb was completely numb. The dragon put its snout on the part where the bone was sticking out. He licked the arm once, then put his forehead on the injury. The wound, or the dragon, perhaps both, began to glow. It was unlike any light Reyna had ever seen. It was like the light that reflects off of fresh snow, so bright, and so pure.

The white glow grew and grew, until it blinded her. Reyna looked away, squeezing her eyes shut. After a few seconds, she could feel a heat spreading through her arm. It got hotter and hotter, until it was searing pain. Biting her tongue, Reyna took the pain. For some reason, she felt like it was necessary for whatever was going to happen next.

When the light began to die out, the pain lessened until it was just a tingling sensation in her shoulder. Looking down, she only saw smooth skin, no bone sticking out, or anything. There was dry blood, but other than that it looked like the injury had never happened. "What the hell," Reyna breathed out as she grabbed her arm, looking for any sign of injury. There wasn't even any pain. "What did you do?"

She looked up to find the dragon, and found him on the ground looking incredibly tired. Reyna guessed that whatever healing he was able to do drained on his energy, plus he was literally a newborn. Examining her arm once more, she found a strange mark where the tingling sensation was. It looked like a tattoo of a dragon eating its tail, but in much more detail. The dragon looked like it was made of ice shards, perhaps scales, and around it was a blue cloud or fire of some kind. "I have a feeling this isn't going to wash off."

The dragon didn't reply in any way. His eyes had glazed over, and Reyna could make out a rumbling sound, and assumed it was his stomach. "You hungry?" She asked, even though she knew he wouldn't understand. His head perked up, and he seemed to sniff the air. Reyna grabbed her saddlebag and rummaged around for any food. "I don't have much left." She took out a few pieces of stale bread, and some dried meat.

"You can have some of the meat," Her arm extended with the food, and the dragon instantly took it. He began gnawing on the tough food. "And I will have the rest of the bread." She mumbled to herself.

For a few minutes, they ate in silence. Reyna thought about asking him to heal her leg, but after what happened after her arm, she decided against it. Both she and the dragon would need their strength if they wanted to get out of the tunnel.

Once she finished her crunchy bread Reyna stood, wobbling slightly on her left leg. It still hurt a lot, and she was surprised that it wasn't infected yet. Maybe it was. After tightening the makeshift bandage, she examined the rocks blocking the way. Pushing against them was no use, and going back the way she came seemed like a stupid idea to Reyna, so instead, she let out a frustrated groan. It may not have helped the situation, but it felt nice.

"Looks like we're stuck, buddy," Again, she didn't think he could understand, but she needed to talk to somebody other than herself, because that just made her crazy. Reyna looked back and saw that the dragon had finished the meat off and was sticking his nose into the bag. "You're still hungry." She let out a breathy laugh. Of course, he was. He was a baby dragon, a newborn, who needed food. "There's not much left, but you can have it."

Reyna wasn't hungry anymore, only thirsty. After taking a few big gulps, she gestured towards the dragon to take some. When he came closer and opened his mouth wide, she poured it in. Repeating the process a few times until he was satisfied, Reyna held back laughs. She felt like a mother trying to feed her kid.

When she screwed the cap back onto the skin, the caves began to rumble once more. "Not again," Grabbing her bag, she threw it over her shoulder, then she took the baby dragon, who gave many protests, and went into a curled position, with him in the center. Hopefully, if any debris fell on them, she could take the brunt of the force. The dragon squirmed and tried to get out of her hold, but she held tight until the rumbling stopped.

She let him go right before the sound of rocks falling echoed throughout the tunnel. For a moment she thought that the surrounding area was collapsing and tried to grab the dragon again, but was interrupted by a ray of glaring sunlight. Reyna had to squint to see out, but it looked like a little hole had formed at the top, barely big enough for her. "Looks like somebodies finally giving me a break." She turned back to the dragon and gestured with her head for him to go on ahead. After he was out, she gathered the eggshell, feeling like she should keep it for whatever reason, and squeezed through the gap without glancing back.

Reyna dusted herself off as she stood up. She found a walking stick amongst the rubble of the once beautiful cavern. Rocks were everywhere, there were no animals she could see, the tree seemed to be uprooted, and the walls had crumbled, leaving the gaping hole in the ceiling a lot wider than before. One of the walls had crumbled enough to make a steep ramp out. "Looks like my luck is turning around."

Reyna smiled down at the little dragon that was slowly approaching the lake. He put a paw into the cool crystal water, then retracted it quickly, making it ripple. He stared at it before repeating the process over and over, watching the water ripple out. "That's called a ripple." She started to explain. The dragon looked over at her, as if listening. "It happens when there's a disturbance in the water." He looked back at the lake and continued to tap the surface. Suddenly, without warning, he jumped in causing a miniature wave to splash Reyna who had moved closer.

The dragon used his wings to propel himself under the water, as well as his limbs. He came up for breath, and she could've sworn there was a smile on his face. "Come on," Reyna said, gesturing towards dry land. She wanted to get out of the cavern, lest there be another quake. "We need to get going." As Reyna said it, the words registered in her mind slowly.

"Shit! What am I supposed to do with you?" She paced as the dragon got out and shook out his light gray mane. The hair splattered all over his face and horns. "Hiding an egg was one thing, but a baby dragon? How am I supposed to do that?" Reyna began to think out loud, "Okay, I can't leave you. Who knows what would happen. So I take you home, you can hide in my bag," A plan began forming in her head, "The hard part will be getting you in, but after that, we keep you in my rooms, nobody will know."

Reyna looked back for confirmation on her plan. It was horrible, and half-assed, but it would do for the moment. The dragon was a darker gray, so he could blend into the shadows pretty well, hopefully. "Okay, we get out, we get to a town, we ride to the capital," She started listing steps, it helped her calm down. "This'll work, promise." He only looked back into her eyes seeming to ask, Promise?

"Promise."