Inferno Legacy: Valor of the Dragon (Book One)

Chapter 33

It was Inferno’s time to laugh and he responded by saying, “You are welcome to come out and join…my head.”

Cody smiled and looked down at Larson, who appeared to still be very deep into sleep. It was sort of funny seeing the two warriors, Pippi and Lars, so defenseless in their own little realms of thought. It was also nice seeing Mora so peaceful, as if Mordon was still perfectly fine and right next to them. Cody hoped that she was having happy dreams, and that she would feel better when she woke up.

Without need of much more convincing, Cody slowly crept over Lars and Pippi as they continued to dream without care. He took his time to make sure that they wouldn’t wake up to his boot ramming into their stomachs or the noise of dirt being kicked about. And, soon enough, he had managed to get to one side of Inferno’s massive wing. He lifted it up just enough for him to slide out, and shielded his eyes from the sharp change in light as he left.

It took a few long and terrible moments before he felt that he could open his eyes again, but when he did he was happily greeted by the sight of Inferno’s thick, scaly head and two stormy blue eyes. The dragon had a single little tooth sticking out of his mouth for some reason, and it might have even scared Cody if he hadn’t known the dragon personally. His teeth looked many times sharper than average knives, and they probably were, but to Cody, Inferno seemed no more harmful than a little puppy dog.

“Puppy dog, huh?” Inferno said in a mockingly annoyed tone of voice. “Say, would you mind loosening the straps of the saddle again? Last time you fixed the straps was a few nights ago, if you recall.”

Cody silently nodded and did as he was asked, though Inferno had to raise his neck and body a tiny bit so he could reach. It proved to be a difficult job when they were trying to avoid waking the others, but they eventually succeeded. The rider quietly remembered the last time he had fixed the straps, sometime during their camping before the bandits ambushed them. But then, his mind was focused on the bandits, and that got him thinking about Larson.

“How do you know Lars is trustworthy? I mean, he tried to kill me when the bandits attacked, and we have no way of knowing if his story is true or not.” Cody asked as he settled against the dragon’s neck.

Inferno thought deeply for a reply before answering, “I can’t honestly tell for certain. I felt that there was some sort of similarity between you and him, and it was as though a sort of familiarity passed between us. Sort of like the bond we have together, you and I, but much weaker. I sort of felt the same thing with Autumn, Aval, Omen-”

“Then do you think we’re related? I mean, if they seemed familiar to you like only my friends seem, maybe he’s my long lost cousin or something,” Cody suggested, thinking over the possibility.

“I highly doubt it,” Inferno replied, shattering his dreams. “If you had let me finish, you would have let me remind you that I felt the same way with Mora-”

“Well then maybe I’m related to her too!” Cody countered.

Inferno quickly growled, “Would you let me finish! I was about to say that I felt the same way with Mora, but not Mordon. In fact, Mordon and I despised each other.”

“But then you were so…transfixed on one another when we left him in the clearing, maybe you had a delayed…bonding.”

Inferno snorted, “That was completely different, even you know it. I can honestly tell you that I have no clue what’s going on, but every human that I’ve met has had the same sort of connection with me, except him.”

“Maybe he’s some sort of different race, and he’s supposed to spy on our movements?”

There was a long pause.