The Silver Reckoning

Chapter 18: An Old Friend

Closing her eyes she let herself relax, trying to shake herself from the visions of the battle. Taking deep breaths she let herself be drawn into the surroundings. The coolness touching her underbelly. The sound. It helped drain the thoughts away. The water around her was stained red as it washed over her shell, cleaning it of the blood she had shed.

Time slipped away from her, and she had no idea how long she ended up staying in the water, but she didn't regret it. Yawning softly she opened her eyes, not having realised she had fallen asleep. Though as soon as she did she realised something had woken her. At first she couldn't tell what it was. Everything seemed normal, except for the slight change in the noise around her, as though the bugs closest to her had stopped their singing.

A growl rumbled from her throat and she slowly stood up, water sliding seamlessly off her shell. She looked around the area, finding every detail only to see that everything seemed to be in order. A sudden rustle in a bush behind her caused her to whip around snarling. A shape behind the plant caught her eye and without the slightest hesitation she pounced, flapping her metallic wings once to propel her forward.

A startled cry left the human that had been spying on her as he staggered backwards in an attempt to avoid her. It didn't work. She gripped him with her claws, shoving him back into the dirt and pinning him there, teeth bared. He struggled in her grip, trying desperately to free himself, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't push the far stronger dragon away.

"Let him go!" cried another voice, accompanied by the sound of a pistol being cocked.

Looking up Silver lashed her tail, sending a spike towards this other human, aimed directly toward the gun. He let out a grunt of surprise as it was ripped from his hands, shattered by the spike, which continued to skim his cheek and embed itself in a tree behind him. Both humans went silent, slightly in fear at how easily they had been disabled.

"Wait! Silver... it's me!" cried the man she had pinned to the ground.

She turned her gaze back to him, and snorted, hesitating, "Liam?"

The long brown hair was instantly recognisable, even if it was tied up behind his head. She stepped back staring at the human in surprise. Slowly he lifted himself to his feet and brushed off his jacket, now accompanied by a few rips and tears from her claws. His attire was far different from what she was used to seeing on the human. He had a mixture of black and grey clothing with what looked like a hood hanging from his neck. There was a sniper rifle strapped around his back and numerous other guns attached to the belt on his waist.

"I... though you were dead," stuttered the silver dragon.

Liam smiled, "I'm not that easy to kill."

"But... where have you been?"

"Around, trying to find you again. You're very hard to track," he said, "I've heard rumours of sightings of the silver dragon from everywhere, from Africa down to Antarctica. The most recent was at the Maldives."

"Oh," she blinked, "I though I remained mostly unseen."

"You have, but my friend here, Tyler, has secretly hacked into all A.O.D.H and D.E.D related occupations as well as a number of other dragon hunting organisations. They keep a close eye out for you."

"I know," she flicked her tail, "It's quite annoying."

The dragoness turned to the other human, Tyler. He was a rather young human, not even have reached his twenties yet. Thick black hair covered his head matching the colour of his uniform. Wondering green eyes watched her with curiosity and wariness, though he slowly relaxed when he realised Silver meant them no harm. He wore similar attire to Liam, all black with the occasional gun strapped on. There was also a thin line of blood on his cheek where the spike Silver had thrown at him had touched.