Broken Wings

Mutual Curiosity

"Patience," she chided with a slight chuckle. "First, you have to answer one of my questions. How did you end up in my territory? We are deep in the wilderness, far from any of the places humans like to visit. And you're alone. So how did you get out here and how did you manage to get hurt so badly?"

"Heh," I laughed with zero humor, "You know, I'm pretty sure that's two questions. But it doesn't matter because they both have the same answer." The cave seemed to recede and for a few minutes, I was back in my fighter, reliving the moments that led up to my crash. I even forgot that I was talking to a dragon. "Truth is, I never meant to come here or anywhere near here. It wasn't a choice. I'm a fighter pilot, and I was in an engagement a ways north west of here. Chang sent some strike bombers into American airspace and my squad was sent to stop them. We got the bombers easily enough, but then a full squadron of Chinese fighters showed up and ambushed us. I don't know if it was a trap or if they were just late to the party, but it doesn't really matter. My plane got shot up during the dogfight, and my Nav and Coms went out.

"I still had control, so I tried to find an airfield or just any stretch of open land to set down on so I could save my plane, but then one of my wings caught fire. I knew if I didn't eject, I was dead. So, I ejected. But my parachute didn't open. I must have fallen at least three thousand feet. Thankfully, I hit a patch of dense tree canopy which must've slowed my fall. I was also falling back first, so my seat took the brunt of the impacts. I still got messed up pretty bad; I almost died when I hit the ground. My lungs collapsed, and I couldn't even breathe for a minute or two, but I managed to fight through that." I left out the part about the shadow that showed up while I was gasping like a fish. I could hardly believe what I'd seen, and the last thing I wanted right then was to have some mythical creature tell me I was crazy. "After that, I just crawled through the woods, looking for a good place to hole up and wait for help. Then I ran into you."

"You mean to tell me," the dragon began as soon as I closed my mouth. "That you were flying?" I didn't like the incredulous tone she used.

"Isn't it your turn to answer another of my questions?" I countered. Anea just stared at me, unblinking. "OK. Fine. Yes, I was flying. And I'm going to do it again when I leave."

"That's impossible. Humans can't fly." Seriously? This dragon was going to talk to me about impossible?

"That information is about a hundred years out of date. Flying is commonplace for humans these days." The dragon didn't answer. "Oh come on. Do we have to go through this again? If you really can tell when I'm lying, then you should believe me now because I'm telling the truth."

"Well," Anea pondered, tapping a claw on the ground, "You might only think you're telling the truth. You must have had a terrible accident to get hurt so badly. Maybe something hit your head and gave you false memories." There it is! This dragon just called me crazy! I rolled my eyes.

"If I'm imagining anything, I'm pretty sure it's you and this whole conversation. Anea, I'm a pilot. I fly for a living. I love doing it. You trying to tell me humans can't fly is as ridiculous as me telling you that dragons don't exist."

"Alright then," she said, puzzled, "If humans really can fly, how do you do it? You certainly haven't sprouted wings in the last hundred years. And you've demonstrated enough ignorance regarding magic that it can't be a spell either."

"Well, this seems like quite the conundrum for you," I snapped, rather annoyed. "But it is definitely my turn to ask a question." I paused for half a second to decide which of my questions seemed most important. "What exactly did you do to me to let me understand you?"

"There is no need for you to be rude to me," she replied with the slightest edge in her voice, instantly reminding me how dangerous she could get if she wanted. "You'll get your answers if you just show a little patience. Now, like I said earlier, I can use magic to make your body, or any creature's body, heal faster than it normally would. I can also decide what your body needs to heal. If I wanted, I could convince your body to focus on healing just one of your injuries and the rest of them would heal at their natural rate. And since I can tell your body which of its injuries to heal, I can also convince it that it's injured even if it isn't. Like it's missing something. If I focus, I can use this to trick your body into 'healing' beyond its natural state. Does that make any sense to you?"