This is Dragon Country

Chapter Eight

I sat on a rock that was just below the surface of the water, it was starting to get dark. On the banks the night animals began to scuttle this way and that. I should get back to camp. I slid off the rock and waded to the bank.

I struggled to put my clothes on, the dry fabric clinging to my wet skin. After the ordeal with my jerkin, I wandered back to camp.
Kim was sitting, wings unfurled, sheltered from the wind by the wall. I walked over and sat next to her, in her lap was a sleeping fox. She watched the small creatures chest heave quickly and played with a little tuft of fur on his head.
"Where did you find that?" I ask quietly.
"Over there," she pointed towards the west." In one of the buildings."
"Are we keeping it?"
"Maybe." The replied with a grin.

It was now pitch black, the stars were the only light. Kim was asleep next to me with her new companion. I was surprised that Kim was still with me, but I was glad. I know that I would have been dead along time ago if I didn't have her. I knew that she was having second thoughts about being here with me. But the best I can do is hope that she stays.

I woke in the morning to find Kim gone, along with all of her belongings.
"She left me." I say to myself. I was in shock, I expected her to at least tell me she was leaving. She was probably waiting for me to fall asleep so she could leave without me knowing. I was starting to feel angry now, she deserted me and left me for dead.

I stood up and shoved my blankets into my bag and angrily set off. I had no clue where I was going, all I knew was that I wanted to get out of here. I walked towards where the sun was rising, east I think, surely this was the way we were going.

After walking for an hour I had calmed down. What if Kim had just gone hunting? What if she was coming back for me? I stopped and considered turning around. I looked back at the direction I had come from. I had been walking through a grassland and realised that there were no landmarks for me to find my way back. I needed to get back.

But I couldn't find the way, I had drifted in various directions for hours. There was no way back. I fell to my knees. Kim would never find me here even if she was coming back for me. There was no hope! I crawl to some nearby scrub and curl up underneath it to stay away from the sun. And I cry again, like that very first day. The day that my life ended.

***

I woke early in the morning, before Arwel woke up. I packed my things, woke the kit and tucked it gently into my tunic, and left. I flew for miles, I didn't know what I would do. But I planned to go back for him, he was like a brother to me and I would never abandon him. He needed to be left sometimes, just so he can learn to fend for himself, so he could survive if I wasn't there one day.

My flight took me south, away from the mountains, over grassy plains and dense forest. It was a nice day, clear skies and a warm up-draft of air making it perfect flying weather. I scouted a vast area and stared planning possible routes for our journey. What could we do? We could return to our tribe and face the possibility of exile. We could journey back up to the mountain and defeat the dragon. Or we could run, run far away, never to be seen again.

There is something in the distance, a slight shimmer on the horizon. I flew towards it, it grew form a shimmer into a massive glare of light reflected off a large amount of water. It was like the old legends said, it was real, the water seemed to go on forever.

There is an endless river, impassable by mankind, it is the end and the beginning, where two worlds meet. One where we breathe air and one where they breathe water, it is called the sea. At this threshold sits a city spanning both worlds, in this city you will find all the knowledge in the world.