Linus Toria

Chapter 27

Lina had a long lost skip in her step. Having almost forgotten what it was like to have a pet with her, she was enjoying Ezekiel's company. Though the dragon probably wouldn't be happy to be called that. Yet his current size didn't let her draw any other conclusion.

He even reminded her of Korbinian. Trailing behind her loyally. No matter the situation. Without a single complai-

„I need a break! My feet are killing me!", the creature that was supposed to be one of the mighty rulers of the sky whined and dropped to the ground dramatically.

„We've barely been walking for three hours", she refuted firmly, „If we take a break every time you feel like it, we'll never reach Europe"

Ezekiel ignored her objection and continued ranting. „My feet have basically dissolved and got substituted by blisters. I've got at least five on each foot! And I'm hungry. Cook something"

„You're not even wearing shoes. How could you obtain blisters?", Lina didn't stop walking but slowed her pace a little to prevent the distance between the two of them from getting too big. „Also, I don't have any food for you"

The dragon looked devastated at the news. „Then what about my ingenious plan to scrounge all travel essentials from you?"

„Sucks to be you", Lina answered cheekily, „But I won't stop you from catching some dinner. This is after all still your territory so you should know the best hunting spots. Though you'd still have to cook it yourself."

„You wound me", Ezekiel started rolling around on the ground as if he was in great pain only to stop abruptly. „What about you? Don't you want to eat anything? Unless this was your plan from the beginning to make me do all the work..."

„I'm not hungry", Lina declared. „You can just catch something for yourself and then we'll be on our way again"

„When was the last time you ate?", the white dragon inquired softly.

„I'm not sure. 2 years ago maybe?", Lina tried to answer the question honestly. But she put no importance whatsoever on those mundane things and couldn't remember for the life of her.

Ezekiel had left his spot on the ground and was giving her a strange look. „Wait here for me. I'll catch us some dinner quickly", he orderd and disappeared into the bushes.

Lina wanted to tell him that he didn't need to make an effort for her sake but her companion was already gone. Shrugging she sat down on a large boulder and waited.

When had she become so comfortable around the dragon? Was she letting her guard down because he reminded her of Korbinian? But that couldn't be the only reason. She was never one to trust easily. While she was good at acting and usually managed to trick her surroundings into thinking that she was naive and harmless didn't mean that was actually true.

She would still have taken Ezekiel along but would normally give him more of a silent treatment during their journey. Talking more than a few one-liners could already be considered talkactive for her. Let alone banter.

Mayhaps she was opening up to the wind dragon because he seemed to genuinely like her. But did he really? Or did he also excel at hiding his true feelings? If only Viktoria was here with her. Then she could ask for her oppinion as her sister was an excellent judge of character. Yet she had to make do without her.

At the same time she chided herself for being so dependent on her sister. They had been apart for more than a decade now but even that didn't seem to help her. Whenever a shady situation occurred she longed for Viki's presence and advice. Could she become any more pathetic?

Wishing to end her self-depreciating thoughts she extended her senses to look for the returning figure of her companion. But she came up short. He was nowhere in her range of perception. And that range wasn't that small.

Why did he go so far? There was a lot of smaller wildlife nearby which should satiate him fully in his shrunken form. Rabbits, squirts, foxes. You name it and it was basically there. And for Ezekiel to move that fast out of the range she supervised at the moment could only mean that he hadn't really needed this break. Lina made sure to remember that for the next time.

Still focused on the wildlife around her she noticed a disturbance to the south around 40 km from her. The birds there were getting uneasy but instead of flying away went into hiding in the treetops. Looks like her companion was returning. Flying. Chasing a herd of reindeers. In her direction.

The terrorized animals were getting closing in and Lina wondered if Ezekiel expected her to do anything. Wasn't he boasting how he was going to do the work for the dinner? So why was he driving the prey towards her?

Deciding that he likely wasn't counting on her assistance she made herself scarce by climbing a tall connifer. Now even the ground started rumbling a little as the hooves of over two hundred reindeers trampled around. Behind them dragon cries spured them further on.

The first animals broke through the bushes. In their panic their eyes were almost white and foam was dripping from their mouths. She watched as an especially panicked one ran head first into her earlier seating accomodation and knocked itself out.

Lina was amazed by its clumsiness. Weren't wild animals supposed to have a natural grace? Or was this natural selection at its finest? After the herd had finally passed her position she descended from her hide out and approached the reindeer that was too stupid to get away.

Bending down she checked the damage it had received. The skull was cracked open and cerebrospinal fluid was leaking. It could no longer be helped.

Something was dropped to the ground behind her and she turned around. „I thought you weren't hungry?", the dragon remarked and pointed towards the unfortunate reindeer with his tail.

„I'm not", Lina insisted.

„Well, now that we have two of them you also have to eat", Ezekiel dictated and pointed towards the reindeer he had caught. „I can't finish all that by myself" Then he heaped up grass and branches and started a small campfire. Lina was just standing in her spot watching him.

„Aren't you gonna gut your prey?", he prompted.

„Why would I do that? That's clearly your job", she defended.

„I don't mind eating animals as they are. I only wanted to be consid-", he trailed off. „Don't tell me you don't know how?" His eyes sparkled in amusement.

„I do", she grumbled. „But I already told you that I'm not hungry. So why should I lift a finger?"

„Because you're nice and helpful? And you want to repay me for being such good company. And you have thumbs. Thumbs really help with this task", he listed.

„But you don't mind eating them whole and I don't want to eat anything, Why bother at all? Just eat", Lina insisted.

„Come on. Don't be so difficult", Ezekiel bemoaned. Lina didn't respond.

„Fine. I'll tell you a secret. I can't stand innards", he admitted quietly and tried his version of puppy dog eyes on the girl. „So please, pretty please, gut them?"

„I thought dragons were omnivores?", Lina snorted.

„Well, this one isn't", Ezekiel defended. It seemed to be a sore topic for him. „You're still not getting to work?", he asked dejectedly.

„To tell you a secret: I can't stand touching dead bodies", Lina told him cooly, „Since neither of us is willing to prepare this kind of food I advice to switch to berries. I've seen some over there"

Ezekiel sighed. „I doubt they survived the stampede. And we've already killed these two reindeers. It would be very wasteful to not eat them at this point"

„Technically, I didn't kill one", Lina interjected. „It was just to stupid to live"

„How-", Ezekiel began, „No, I'm not going to ask that"

Lina snickered and ended up as the winner of the ensuing staring competition. Resulting in Ezekiel resigning himself to his fate of gutting their dinner.