Dragon Witch: Shadow of the past (NaNoWriMo15)

Nightmare

"No," Khila laughed, shaking her head.

Leila rolled her eyes playfully as she climbed onto Christina, only to stop when a loud screech blasted through the air. Leila started looking through the trees as some birds scattered into the sky.

"What's wrong?" Khila asked, watching Leila's body language.

"Just..." Leila said, looking at her friend, and praying it wasn't what she thought it was. "Tell me Seraphina's stomach was growling and I'll relax."

"Uh, no," Khila said. "She would've told me if she was hungry."

"Firesticks," Leila hissed, snapping her fingers, before turning to her friend as Christina prepared to take off. "There was a screech- a dragon's screech."

"Which mean you have to go save their tail," Khila commented.

"Yup," Leila replied, Christina taking off. A small, orange-brown lithe body shot up out of the trees; but, it didn't take long before the poor dragon was back on the ground. Leila took off with her own wings, grabbing her bow and loading it. The poor dragon's whimpers and cries grew louder as Leila got closer, making her wince a bit as it made her feel like her heart was being torn- one of the things she hated about being empathetic. Smoke started to come up, and Leila used it as cover as she landed not too far away in the bushes.

"Come on, Jared," a male voice laughed. "You're not afraid of a little dragon are you?"

"No," Jared replied harshly. "But that demon snake almost got me with it's Hellfire!"

Leila rolled her eyes at his remark, then stepped out from behind her hiding spot. Her wings were raised a bit and tense. "You'd be wise to leave while you still can," she said darkly, aiming her arrow at them.

"Who would you be?" Jared's companion demanded.

"I'm the Guardian of the Dragons," Leila replied, darkly. "You can call me Niguidara. Now leave this poor creature alone, or I will shoot this arrow through your right eye."

Jared looked at his companion, and unsheathed the sword on his hip, raising it high. Leila rolled her eyes. "Really? Haven't you heard the phrase: Never bring a sword to an arrow fight?"

Jared looked at his friend, then started charging. Leila released the arrow, catching his shoulder; the shock of the pain made him drop his sword.

Jared's companion made a battle cry, but he stopped as his clothes were singed by the blaze that flew out of the dragon's mouth. He stopped and looked at the dragon and back at Leila who was still threatening his companion with her already reloaded bow.

"Next one is through the eye,"she emphasized, pulling the bow back tighter. "You'll likely die from that wound; do you really want to risk it."

Jared looked at the arrow, then looked back Leila again. When the two cowards were gone- and she took care of the flames that were attempting to devour the nearby trees- Leila turned to the trembling juvenile dragon. "Zaré," she whispered soothingly in Dragon tongue.

The dragon lowered her head, letting out a soft growl. Leila slowly walked toward her; gently stroking the dragon's face as she headed toward the wound. There was a long gash on her side; thankfully, though, it wasn't deep. "You got lucky, Ember," she whispered, looking up as a twig snapped.

Khila appeared, making Leila relax. "Did I miss you in action?"

"Yup," Leila replied, returning her attention back to the dragon. Ember made a soft growling sound, but Leila continued talking soothingly to her as she got closer to the wound. Dragons were very temperamental and hated being poked and inspected when they were wounded; they felt extremely vulnerable.