I Have a Dragon

Johann - 16

Dedicated to MiloKATZ for reading and enjoying this book.

"The sun is a shiny potato, covered in drawn butter!" ~ Gobber, RTTE S1 E8 (Crushing It).

It was nearly two hours later that they reached land. Rayne had altered their course slightly to intercept it sooner, since Calico wasn't used to carrying double. They landed in a large clearing a little inland. Johann slid off and tottered away.

"Bless my soul, sweet earth!" he dropped to his knees. Rayne glanced at him, amused. She stepped down from Calico's small frame and walked in a circle, getting her blood moving. Calico pulled her wings close, then opened them. She shook like a wet puppy. Rayne rubbed behind her ears, and the little dragon leaned into it.

"I heard from a little birdie that your dragon is deaf. Is that right?"

Rayne gave a short, humorless laugh. "Non' your affairs." She curtly said. She mounted. "I'm gonna find some water to refill my canteen. Stay put. I'll be back to pick you up. Maybe."

Calico obeyed her subtle signals, taking off. Rayne impassively glanced down at Johann's startled face. 

"Mis Sol, I think...." He lonesomely stared after the duo as they vanished over the trees. With a sad little sigh, he sat down on a rock, drawing up his knees and putting his chin in his hands. This might take a while.

It didn't, however, take as long as he expected. In just a little while they were flying again. Rayne seemed unusually grumpy. Johann seemed to sense this, as he wisely bit his tongue and held his peace. The cold wind was rushing by them. Although Rayne was in front, she was a little too small to actually block the wind. She had her flying suit on, which protected and kept her warm. 

After what seemed an absolute eternity of silence, Rayne spoke.

"You do know I'm dropping you at the first civilization we come across, right?"

"Uh, now I do."

"Good." Rayne lapsed back into stony silence. She wasn't eager to trade life stories with Johann. She had met him once on Krom's main ship. He had delivered something or another. She hadn't bothered to find out. She still remembered the surprise on his face when she and Calico came flying in and landed on the deck a few feet from Viggo.

*-*-*-*

Calico's wings fluttered as she gently thumped onto the wooden deck. Krom ignored her. Viggo glanced over and shot her a quick, small grin before returning to looking over the goods laid out on deck. Rayne walked up through maze of stuff, admiring. Calico trailed behind, sniffing at a few new objects. Only then did Rayne notice the man standing near Krom. The hunter leader was talking, but the merchant didn't appear to be listening. He was staring with gaping mouth at Calico.

"There's a dragon!" He finally managed to gasp out. Krom irritably glared back at Rayne. She got the message. Turning around, she signed,

'Go out of sight. Wait for me.'

Calico, not caring if she was here or there, took another sniff of a brass pot, then ambled away. It was a few minutes after her brown-and-red tail slid around the corner that the trader managed to concentrate on Krom again.

Rayne browsed through the stuff, wondering why it was laid out on deck. Maybe Krom was buying all this? She peeked over the side at the smaller boat tied in with the Hunter's big ship. The goods on deck were like half of that little merchant vessel. It's sail had a gaping hole in the left side, leading to the question of how effective it truly was in harnessing the wind.