Story Ideas

A Dragon's Rider pt 2

With my winds to my sides, I walk through the trees. My fog fills the air around me and the tendrils lick at my purple scales. The shadows tilt to cover my path and keep me hidden in the night.

A river rushes nearby. The banks are flooded by the storm from the day before. I near the raging river as I continue walking.

A cry comes from across the river. I look up to see a human trip into the river. The current drowns her with in a second. But a large rolled up blanket lands in front of me. I look down and see a baby deep in the folds. The little child smiles and reaches out to me.

I sniff at the baby and it giggles. Suddenly its hand touches my nose and a shock flows through me. Warmth fills me and an urge to protect the human enters my mind.

I feel my mouth stretch over my teeth into a smile. I look around before picking up the bundle. I hold it against my chest.

I can’t take the child home. The gate keepers would never allow it. Even if I got past the gates, my teacher would punish me dearly for bringing a human home.

An idea appears. What if I take the child and make a home, far away, and raise it as my own? My teacher raised me as her own. Why can’t I?

I stretch out my wings and take flight. My home is to the north so I turn south. I fly for hours before I spot a large cave in the side of a mountain. I fly close to it and sniff the air before declaring it mine.

I stumble as I land in the entrance.

I look around and see that it is indeed empty. A few rocks litter the ground. Using my tail, I sweep them closer to me. By balancing on my mind legs, I then use my free hand and make a circle to place the baby in to keep it from rolling over.

After watching the child for a moment I feel a chill in the air. I look outside and see that the moon is nearing the horizon. In a few hours the sun will be up to heat the world. But for now it is entering the coldest part of the night.

I lay on the floor and get comfortable. Before laying down my head, I reach out a hand and pick up the child. I hold it against my chest and lay my head next to it.

The child’s breath is steady and slow as it drifts to sleep. I close my eyes and fall asleep with the child against me.

The next morning I wake to the child crying. I nuzzle against it with my nose till it quiets. It’s then that I notice a horrid smell.

It takes a moment before I realize that it is from the blankets. I carefully peal the covers away from the infant and laugh to myself as I finally understand.

How could I forget my teachings? Teacher was strict about learning everything about the human enemies. We even learned about their young.

I rewrapped the baby but only temporarily. I pick the child up and fly out from the cave. I quickly spot a small pond at the mountain’s base. I land near it and start to strip the dirty blankets away from the child.

When it is bare I realize that it is a girl. My child is a girl. I smile to myself as I pick her up. I carefully wade into the warm water and risen the baby off. Once clean I hold her against me as I rinse the blankets off. By using the rough scales of my hind legs and my free hand, I get the blankets clean.

I lay them to dry on a rock as I focus on the child. After studying it I feel a nudge. I look around and realize that it’s in my head.

I focus on it until an image appears. A picture of food is shown to me. I then look at the child again.

Her eyes are squeezed shut and her belly growls. I then send an ok to where the image came from. Suddenly the child laughs and smiles at me.

I finally understand. I have a mind link with my child. The realization triggers a memory as it flashes through my mind.

~Memory~

I sit in the cave I call home. Teacher stands in front, lecturing me.

“Glace, as I’ve told you before there is only one way the war can end. And that is if the humans surrender or are killed out. They will not let us live if we back down. They are ruthless and cruel and only want the world for themselves.”

I lower my head and sigh. “But Teacher, the riders stopped the first war. Why can’t they stop it now?”

Teacher growls and swings her black tail. “I’ve told you before that they died decades ago. That is why we have the war now. The humans have become arrogant and forgotten the riders. The riders are extinct now. There are not riders to save us now. There will never be another human and dragon pair to save us, Glace. They are gone.”

A deep hope seeds itself into my mind. A wish for the riders to end the war was the only thing I could want. But I stop arguing with Teacher knowing that it would only anger her.

“Yes, Teacher.”

~Present time~

I close my eyes and reopen then and see the child looking up at me. Her bright blue eyes catch the sunlight as she stares at me.

I understand that I am her dragon and she is my rider. I must protect her with my life.

I smile down at the child. I pick her up and start to wrap her in one of the dry blankets. I roll up the rest and then hold both the child and the blanket roll to my chest as I take off.

I land in the cave and nearly fall over. I can’t carry the child like this anymore.

I make a bed out of the extra blankets and place the baby in it. I then take one blanket that I had left out and rip it in half and then rip one half into strips. After a few knots and thinking I create a carrier that I slide over my neck and arms and it holds the child against my chest.

I picked her up and placed her into the carrier. She fit perfectly.

I smiled and felt hunger gnaw at my belly. I remembered that the girl was hungry too.

After making sure she was secured to me, I fly out of the cave in search of food. I would need some kind of mushy food for her and meat for myself.

I fly a little ways before I spot a herd of deer. I land nearby without a noise.

I get close enough to see that there is one deer further away from the herd. The doe is hurt.

Using my power over shadows and fog, I command them to enclose the deer. After a moment the deer dies from a heart attack caused by fear.

I scare the herd away before going to my prey. I notice a berry bush just then too. I recognize the berries as edible and get an idea.

I take some of the berries and smoosh then against a rock. Then I take the baby from the carrier and place her in a patch of soft grass.

I take a few berries and start to feed the baby. She eats with gusto and is delighted by them. I smile to myself.

When she is full I lick her face clean. She then falls asleep. I turn to my own food now.

While eating, I get the idea of a name. Kayla.

I don’t know how I think of it but it’s a good name for the baby.

I roll the name around my mind before I speak it out loud. “Kayla.”

The baby stirs suddenly. I look over her but she is still sleeping. She must’ve responded to her name.

Later I take Kayla back to the cave. It starts getting dark so I curl up with her against me.

We both drift to sleep quickly.