Among Dragons (Editing)

Chapter 11

I awoke to the soft rocking feel of being carried, the sound of the footsteps on the floor registering in my ears. It was surprising to me to feel no sense of pain or heavy exhaustion after speaking to Nereus. I could easily remember how menacing he had looked; like all of the other dragons with their sharp teeth and claws. I had noticed slight differences in his appearance as well, after I got over his sheer size. There had been webbing between his claws and his blue scales had looked sleeker, like they were made for sliding through water easily.

I also remembered, as I would always for every dragon, the intense color of his eyes. They were a rich green on the outside, with a vibrant blue bursting forth from the inside near his pupil. Where the two colors met, a line of sea foam green snaked around, like how food coloring looked in water.

The creak of a door cut through the silence in the air. I opened my eyes slowly as I was carried into a dim, cool room. I looked up into the face of whoever was carrying me.

“How’d it go?” I asked him softly.

“Everything went fine,” Niram replied. He set me down onto the bed gently before sitting beside me. “Nereus is still on board with helping us out, but that was expected anyways. How are you feeling?” His face was lined with worry.

I tried not to be too stunned that I could finally read something in his expression. Instead, I just shrugged my shoulders casually. “It wasn’t too bad. He has a pretty friendly mind. I’m not tired or anything, it’s just a little bit of sluggishness I guess.”

His bright smile gleamed in the dim lights of the room. “That’s good, you’re getting a hold of your powers well.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Slowly, but it’s better than nothing. Why are we here anyways?” My hands gestured around to the room we were in. “I thought you said that you wanted to leave right after I spoke to Nereus.”

“I still do. The King insisted that we spend the night and leave in the morning, due to the vast dangers lurking around in the night.” His tone sounded exasperated. “The only thing I fear killing us is Raiden, and there’s about a fifty-fifty chance of that.”

I laughed. “No, no, it has to be lower than that. He doesn’t hate us that much, does he?”

“Well he’s not exactly our friend yet. The fifty-fifty estimate is a pretty common ground. It leaves room for an accurate increase and decrease.”

“Okay, fine statistics king." I nudged him teasingly, elliciting a laugh. "So now what do they expect us to be doing to pass the time until morning? I’m not tired yet.”

Niram looked up at the ceiling in thought. He seemed more relaxed now, more natural as compared to the formal and royal role that a prince normally wore. He actually seemed like a normal teenager.

“Do you want to know about the dragon of air? He’s our next stop.”

“Okay, yeah,” I said. “Is he difficult?”

“He’s more neutral. Sort of laid back, but not as friendly as Nereus. Our kingdoms have never interacted that much, but from what I’ve learned about him, he doesn’t like to get involved in many affairs with the other dragons. He's kind of..." Niram trailed off in search of the right word to use. "I guess he's kind of reserved in a way. He believes his kingdom can sustain itself without any outside cooperation or interaction. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sent us away without even hesitating.”

“Okay,” I said slowly while I processed what he just said. “Even with the threat of an attack on every kingdom, he’ll just sit on the sidelines?”

“Odds are leaning towards yes. They have a strategic location in the mountains, so any attacks towards them will always lean in their favor. No one likes attacking uphill."