A Tale of Dragons

Chapter 09 - Save Him

"What do you mean they're not here Max?!" George asked frustrated.

This dilemma had pushed their plan over sideways. Without the other two dragons, Nigel would never consent to medical help. And without Alyssa, they couldn't leave the forest. It would be cruel to leave her behind to freeze.

Nigel started to stir in George's arms.

"Are we there George?" He asked lightly.

"Yeah," George started in an almost sarcastic manner. "We're here alright."

Nigel strained to sit up, and finding he couldn't, leaned back against George. His eyes were closed. He was exhausted.

"I can feel the dragons George. They aren't here." He said confused trying to blink open his heavy eyes. He managed finally to keep them open long enough to take a quick look of his surroundings.

"Wha- where's Alyssa?" He glanced around the clearing. "There's nobody here but us. Max where are we?"

----

Max lifted his head at the mention of his name. It was Nigel, he had awoken. To be honest, he hadn't heard half of what Nigel was saying from how quietly he had spoken.

"New plan." Max began. "Let's see, we're gonna get you out of this forest Nigel. That's the number one objective now. We'll keep looking for Alyssa and I'm going to have to assume that the dragons are gonna be with her at this point."

Nigel started to protest that they couldn't leave without knowing Alyssa and the dragons were safe when a coughing attack started, shaking both him, George, and the dragon.

When it had finally ended, and Nigel was simply left gasping, he looked back at Max apologetically.

"That's what I thought." Max confirmed, planting his hands in his pockets.

----

They continued on through the forest, Nigel riding on the emerald coloured dragon with George's arms wrapped protective around him. Every once in a while he would gasp in pain as he was jostled to the side of the dragon. The night was getting colder and colder by the minute; it seemed only the dragon was unaffected by the temperature. He had begun to shiver and wished he had worn a thicker jumper. His fingertips curled around the ends of his sleeves and his hood rested plainly over his head.

George, feeling he needed to do something, offered Nigel his thin long-sleeved shirt which was the only shirt he had worn. Nigel declined the offer mumbling that it wouldn't do them any good if  they were both cold.

The direction they had picked to ride into was in the general vicinity of the Shard, or at least, that's what the three had agreed on.

"Can't we just fly?" Max whined as he dragged behind comparing his legs to spaghetti noodles.

"No." Nigel replied roughly. "There's too many trees for the dragon too spread its wings and I doubt all three of us would be able to fit on this creature despite it's immensity."

Nigel immediately began to cough after wards as if the explanation he had given was physically exhausting for him.

"Are you okay?" George asked, leaning around the side of Nigel, fearing he was getting worse.

Nigel didn't speak, he held up a finger that said 'wait' all on it's own. In a few minutes, he was okay again.

"I'm fine." He choked out, taking in deep breaths. "Let's just hurry up and get out of this forest before we become ice lollies."

The trees stretched tall on either side of the dragon as the brush thinned out. They could see clearly through the trees on either side of them now. The moon was the only light besides the fireflies that they were given. It shone through the forest casting dark blue shadows across the ground.