another life

chapter 3 - the idiot

asher didn't mean to complain, but it wasn't really his fault that the last bullet had been used up. he had thrown it to lennon, after all, and it had saved her life in the end, so there! i mean, it wasn't like they were the only bullets that could kill dragons anyway. they still had all their Nite weapons and even enough sheer force could bring down a scrawny one.

but even though he kept telling himself that, he still felt bad. it was stupid, he knew that. but a lot of asher's decisions were stupid. he'd just seen lennon being tackled by that oversized lizard and acted on impulse - like he always did.

he lugged the stinking bag of dragon flesh to the cooking tent, trying not to pass out. i mean, i'm ripped as hell, he thought consolingly to himself, but no one wants to carry around dragon guts for too long.

asher pulled aside the flap of the tent. his friend adelaide was stirring around a pot of something that smelled waaaay better then raw dragon flesh. but then again, practically everything smelt better then that.

adelaide seemed very out of place in a kitchen. she had buzzcut hair, dark black eyes and always seemed to be in a very bad mood. sometimes, asher had to admit he would rather go back to carrying around the bag of meat then have a conversation with her.

"hey, adelaide!" he said, "guess what i've got for you?" asher threw down the bag of flesh like santa claus from the old stories displaying an especially awesome gift. "MudDragon meat! yayyyy!" adelaide glared at him and peered into the bag.

"scrawny," she stated. asher frowned.

"i'm not that bad," he tried to joke. adelaide didn't laugh. she sighed and put the bag on top of her shelf covered in supplies.

"better then nothing," she said half-heartedly, which didn't make asher feel much better.

"oh, also," he said, "lennon wanted me to tell you that we're packing up. we've, um," asher cleared his throat. how to word this without making himself look worse then he already did. "we've run out of StarDragon blood and we need some more scales to buy it from august." adelaide rolled her eyes and asher got a sneaking suspicion she knew they didn't just accidentally eat the last of the blood.

"i'll tell the others," she grumbled, going back to stirring her pot. asher took this to mean their conversation was over and headed back outside.

he glanced up at the moon. it was at the height in the sky where he would usually go on patrol, but he wasn't sure whether or not he was welcome after today. lennon usually likes him to scan the border for intruders but she might not trust him to without ruining something else after the day's shenanigans. 

suddenly, a pointed nose and big brown eyes were inches from asher's face.

"woah!" asher stepped back. "MotherDragon, flynn, don't do that!" his friend was doubled over with laughter.

"your face!" he cried, "classic!" asher gave his friend a playful punch on the shoulder. flynn yelped.

"ouch!" he said, "that hurt!"

"oh, whoops," Asher said, "sorry."

flynn had originally been born to the FirePeople but had been born months too early. healers predicted he was going to die but flynn managed to pull through. but even then, he was too scrawny and skinny to be of any use apparently, so he was left for the Scavengers. we're like some nuthouse orphanage, asher thought.

the one thing flynn had kept from his time with the FirePeople was his powers. he was the only person in the tribe, other then bain, who had any powers so he was almost always on patrol despite his easily broken bones.

"what's up?" asher asked.

"patrol," flynn explained, "you coming with?"

"i thought i wouldn't be allowed?"

"nah, you're the boss's favorite," flynn told him, "you're not getting off that easy." asher rolled his eyes.

"i'm not her favorite," he argued as they started off. flynn handed him a gun and laughed.

"um, yes you are," he said, "not that I would know much about this sort of thing, but i get the feeling she thinks of you as a little bit more than a friend." he raised his eyebrows suggestively and his elfish face split into a grin. asher grimaced.

"gross," he said, "we're just friends - she's like my sister." flynn shrugged as the sound of camp got more and more distant.

"someone should tell her that."

they walked in silence for a little bit. asher looked down at his gun.

"hold up," he said, "is this Krypt?" flynn shook his head.

"i think it's just Nite," he told him, "but it's still bad enough to cause a dragon to keel over in a few hours."

"yeah, but isn't it poisonous?" asher said, trying to remember what the weapon maker, jace, had told him before he fell asleep in lessons, "we couldn't eat anything we shot with this." flynn smirked and a flame danced in his palm.

"that's why i'm here," he said proudly, "to burn the poison out so we can eat it. sure, the meat will be a little charred but ever heard of flambé?" asher blinked. "Okay, me neither, that's just something Adelaide says."

asher laughed but then stopped abruptly. he stuck out his arm to stop flynn.

"put your fire out," he hissed. the forest went pitch-black.

asher cocked his head and listened. it was just the wind, the hoot of an owl and...

there it was. a cracking sound. someone or something was walking towards them and it was getting close. asher and flynn glanced at each other and then down at the gun.

asher gulped and slid forward. he pressed against a tree and wished the leaves could be a little more on his side. he couldn't have been louder if he tried. flynn face-palmed and asher glared at him.

the crackling stopped, along with asher's breathing. he and flynn stared at each other, his friend's eyes wider then the moon. asher could hear the heavy breathing and snorts of a dragon. his stomach clenched.

the leaves shuddered and shook as the footsteps came closer... and closer... and closer...

asher screwed his eyes shut and, with a yell, threw himself into the path of the dragon and pressed the trigger.