Mark Of The Dragon Book I: Past

Chapter 18

I embraced that moment of happiness like a drop of water in the desert. But the pains of my burnt body returned, and the bird's voices turned silent. All I had to do was stay positive, and continue on my way. I suppose I was a little lonley. I compared the sun, sky and the flowers as my friends, but they acted like it. The sun watched over me with the sky, and the flowers encouraged me onwards with their unique colours and scents.

As I took in the scenery, I noticed a piece of the sky had fallen. No, it wasn't my blue friend, it was a blue stranger, and a dragon at that. My heart raced as it closed the insane part of my brain. An actual dragon. Somebody. My stroll turned into a jog, then a sprint. I was soon racing towards them, the adrenaline of excitement shutting down my pain. I carried on dashing towards them, until I was right behind them. But I was too excited to stop. Smash.

"What? Who's there!?" The sky blue dragon asked as he turned on the spot.

I coughed away my shock and then beamed at him. "I'm Drakosima!" I told him hurriedly. "If you don't mind, if like to travel with you!"

The purple-eyed dragon displayed a face of shock. "I- I'm Dransfixour." He said. "If you don't mind my asking first, but... What?"

I realised I must have been talking too fast. My excitement over a potential guardian was overwhelming my ability to speak. "Sorry, I'm Drakosima." I explained again.

"I got that part, but why do you want to travel with me?"

Oh no. Now he's going to know there's a crazy evil dragon chasing me. Or maybe there isn't. Yes, I'm just lost. "Well, I'm not from around here, and I'm sort of lost. I was wondering if you could help me?" I asked as innocently as I could.

I noticed the sky blue dragon, Dransfixour was it?, consider my offer. But he didn't seem like the person to leave a small dragon stranded. "Well, of course." He answered. "You'll have to tell me where you need to go though."

"Well I live... Near the south coast?" I replied with a question.

"The south coast? Well, we are quite a ways away from there... But I am heading in that direction, and what sort of gentle-dragon would I be if I left a young one like you to fend for yourself?" He spoke with that high-class voice of his. He mentioned being a gentle-dragon, and the language he used was quite... Elaborate. It seemed as if he could be trusted.

I smiled at Dransfixour's gentle-dragon joke. "I'd like to travel with you."

"That's fine by me! I guess we should be off then!"

The two of us begun to walk together down the path, towards the canyon. For the first time in my journey, I felt safe. It was a much more desirable emotion than the happiness I had experienced before.

We exchanged words on our journey to the canyon. The sky was greying, but it looks like we would be able to find shelter before the storm started.

"So how long have you been lost?"

"A few days, I suppose."

"That's quite a long time to be away from home."

"I know. I just hope everyone isn't worried."

"But if they're not worried, then surely they won't be looking for you?"

"Well..." I remembered Dracerier, and how Quowal was pursuing her. I could only hope that she made it to safety. "... No, never mind."

"No, tell me."

"Well... I saw one of my friends before I got completely lost... But she was being chased."

"By whom?"

Should I tell him about Quowal, and about how he too is after my power? No.

"A bad person."

Dransfixour nodded and faced the path again. Maybe my answer was a little to abrupt. He had been asking me a lot of questions though, and I noticed I hadn't asked him one.

"So what are you doing he-"

"We need to hurry up, the storm is rolling in faster than I anticipated."

I stared it him confusedly, then mouthed 'oh' and looked towards the ground. Dransfixour nodded at me, and then began to sprint to the canyon. At first I watched my guardian rush away from me, until I realised I needed to run too. I started to jog, but the pain from my burns soon set in and caused me to stop. Dransfixour was too far away for me to call him, and I didn't want to draw any predators. I tried using my wings, but as soon as I lifted off a stinging pain struck me from the sky. I collapsed in the mud, and I felt the rain picking up.

Before I could start worrying, however, he turned and saw I was still in the same spot before. I didn't see him make any remarks, but I was sure he was thinking something. He jogged back to me, but started to walk very slowly towards me, like he was tiptoeing. I couldn't say I wasn't surprised. A quick turn of my head revealed a packing furry creatures growling and snarling behind me. I would identify them as wolves, but recently I had been excepting every possibility. I could say though, that they did unease me. I turned my head back to Dransfixour, who was only slightly closer to me. He made a discreet motion with his head, so I tried to drag my self along the dirty path without the wolves noticing. Of course, two seconds after I started shuffling the growls increased and Dransfixour was worriedly shaking his head.

I could see the cogs turning in his head, formulating a plan. But I decided to stop relying on this placid dragon and save myself. I rolled towards the wolves, resulting in quite a few snarls. I stood up now I was facing them, and scorched all six.

Seconds after there was a small bonfire in front of me, and a horrified Dransfixour behind.

"I'm ok." I snapped at him. Yes, I was a little angry. I was about to be devoured and he was thinking of the most animal-friendly way to save me. I passed the gentle dragon and stormed towards the canyon.

"Here, hop on my back. I can give you a-"

"I'm fine thank you. The rain can wash the mud off me." I interrupted him. His face was full of shock and kindness. It was sickening to think he'd be shocked that I killed those wolves to survive.

Yet, he was still following me. Why? Did he feel guilty? But... I felt bad for being mad with him. He was just trying to help... 'Shut up.' I told myself. I can contemplate this when we- I'm safe.

Soon we had reached the canyon. The two large slopes parted directly in front of us, meaning we wouldn't have to go over the mountain -a different one from before- but through the valleys formed by them. We hadn't spoke this whole walk. I led, while he seemed to sulk behind me. Part of me wanted to ditch him, but the other part didn't.

"I suppose we should-"

"Find shelter, I know." I cut him off as I entered the pass.

As soon as the rocky walls were on my sides, I felt a lot smaller, weaker. Who am I? Being so rude to a stranger!? I wanted to apologise, but that would make me look weird... I guess I had to slowly ease off on him. I slowed down a little, and wiped away my furious face. We were soon walking at the same pace, but the storm was almost directly over head, so it was a fast pace.

"There." Dransfixour announced as he stared at an opening in the rocky slopes. He didn't move though, as if he were waiting for me to lead the way. I directed my route to the cave, and before I knew it I was there. The rain was heavy outside, and it felt a little better to be sheltered. A little. There would still be some unconventional monster deep in the depths. I faced away from the dark continuation of the cave to Dransfixour, who was lighting the walls with light blue sparks. I stared into the blue sparks that were lighting up the cave. The muffled patter of the rain was soothing, and my eyes slowly closed as I watched the blue fire dance on the walls like animate cave paintings.