Soar

Chapter 10

Runedan was not where I had left him. I could see where his large body had lain and also tracks leading away, but in the dark in the trees I had a hard time following even that obvious of a trail. When I did find him, he was in the middle of a meal. My stomach lurched at the smell of blood.

The dragon's back was to me. He looked over his shoulder when I walked up and licked the shining blood off his snout. His eyes gleamed and he gave a stuttering rumble deep in his throat.

"You smell much better," he informed me.

"Good. But don't expected the same compliment from me." I moved to a large evergreen and sat down against its trunk before I fell down from exhaustion. Even with Runedan tearing into his meal, I was soon asleep. I woke once in the night when Runedan wrapped his body around the tree's trunk and draped his tail across my lap.

The next morning Runedan offered to let me ride him. While we traveled, I told him about my visit to the village.

"If only they could tolerate a runaway girl and a dragon," he grumbled when I had finished.

"That reminds me," and I dug into my pack until I came up with a loaf of bread and a blanket. "They gave me these for my friend."

He craned his neck around to sniff the offering. "I have never been one for bread. What is the blanket for?"

I shrugged. "They only had one cloak. I'm sure if I was a proper friend and you weren't a dragon, I might have given the cloak to you and taken the blanket for myself. I figured you might be able to use the blanket as some sort of saddle." His nose wrinkled and I pressed on, trying not to laugh. "Do you have any idea how rough your scales are?"

He gave a sudden jerk, leaning to one side. Shrieking, I dropped my things and grabbed at his neck.

"We are equals, little bird," he said, still leaning . "I am not obligated to allow you to ride on my back. If I permit it, it is on my terms. My comfort is equal to yours."

"Yes, yes. I never meant otherwise, you absurd thing." I tapped his shoulder with my ankle. "If I apologize for being ridiculous, will you stop?"

"That wasn't an apology."

I sighed and kicked him again. "Please forgive me for suggesting a saddle and for mocking your scales. I should have known better than to tease a dragon."

Snorting, he straightened. "Indeed." He stared at the things I had dropped and so did I.

"I think you should get those for me," I said.

"I'm a dragon. I can't pick up any of that."

"If I get off to get them, will you consider letting me back up?"

With a haughty toss of his head, he gazed off into the forest. "Perhaps after a while, once you've considered the insult you have dealt me."

Forced to give up my seat for the sake of my supplies, I collected everything into the pack the family had given me and fell into step beside the dragon. For a while neither of us spoke. I was hardly mad at him and I knew he had only acted injured, so the silence was not heavy. My mind was on our journey, in particular our destination. We had a heading, but one direction out of four was not much to go on. How far did we need to go? Where would we look?

"Runedan? Do you think...? Will we be able to find them? Or...."

Runedan dropped his head beside mine. "Or are they even to be found?" When I nodded, he snorted. "For now, let us concern ourselves with remaining free. I believe we will find our kind one way or another." He brought his head behind my shoulder and gave it a nudge.