all. I have never been injured before now. Never in my life.
My first impulse was to kill my attacker, who was lying lifeless on the ground and so an easy kill. Then something else kicked in: curiosity for the only creature that has inflicted a wound on me. As well as something else — the unpleasant, instinctive realization that this particular wound could be hard to heal. And an ancient, half-remembered riddle about what it might take to heal a dragon.
It’s total superstition, of course. Surely, there are many ways to heal the wound. But on this unbelievably primitive planet, I can’t take any chances.
An almost sure way to heal me is to get to my cache so I can regain my strength. It’s not at her silly little village, of course. But she’s right — this is far away from there, and the general direction should be the same until we get closer.
I shouldn’t have flown so far with her. But in my dragon form, that distance is trivial. It never remotely crossed my mind that I would be walking back.
She can find the way there easier than I can. She has been walking all her life, while I have never had to find my way on foot. Soaring majestically above the landscape was always my way. The only way for any dragon, let alone a dragon of my stature.
I try to put the constant ache from my chest to the back of my mind, almost impossible though it is.
It’s in fact quite pleasant walking behind this female. She has an enticing way of swiveling her hips, with a fluid jiggle of her feminine shape. Before I end her for good, I will most certainly take some pleasure from that living flesh. It’s been a long flight through the Void to get to this useless planet, and I would like that diversion very much. Indeed, I think I need it. Perhaps that act would help to heal me, as well.
The female ducks under a branch and into the woods, and I follow, not ducking.
The trees are pretty dense in here, but nothing like in the jungle where she shot me. I can easily walk in an almost straight line among the thick trunks here.
The word is sour in my mind: Walk.
I’m walking on a planet, and not from choice.
The disgrace is too much to bear. When have I ever walked any longer distance before? Never. The sheer humiliation!
She did this to me. Her poisoned dart is sapping me of strength. It aches in my chest and sends sharp barbs of pain all through me, all the way to the tips of my fingers. It’s remarkably uncomfortable.
She will pay for it.
I round a tree trunk and notice the female is gone from view. Her fast footsteps on the dry, crunchy ground are barely perceptible to my ears.
Lifting my hair out of my face once more, I chuckle as I get a glimpse of her movement. She’s running from me!
Wonderful. I’ll let her run for a while. And then, when she thinks she’s safe, I will stand right in front of her.
And then… well, I may be weakening. But I’m not too weak to enjoy her and end her now. She’s becoming an annoyance. She must know that annoying a dragon gets her killed.
4
- Jennifer -
I sprint as fast as I can, zigzagging among the trees.
It’s much easier to run here among the alien pines than in the dense jungle. The ground is hard and crunchy with dry, fallen not-pine needles. There are no bushes in the way, and the branches only begin ten feet up the slender trunks, so I can run mostly unhindered.
I couldn’t stop myself. Caronerax was being so mean, threatening my life, that the fight-or-flight impulse overpowered me as soon as I entered the forest.
I don’t stop to see if he’s following. I can’t hear any other footsteps than my own, but that doesn’t mean anything. Dragons can run silently, and apparently this one can still fly. It shouldn’t be possible — none of the other dragons can, except Kyandros and Aragadon.
Life on Xren has gotten me into pretty good shape, and I run for a good while before my breath starts going ragged in my ears and I get the familiar metallic taste in my mouth.
I don’t slow down. If I’ve lost him, then I have to make sure he stays lost.
Maybe that injury in his chest has made him so weak he can’t follow.