I don't own Jane and the Dragon.
Taking a break from Dragon's Winter to write this little oneshot. Don't worry, I'm still going to keep going, I just got this idea that I had to share. Dragon's Tail from Dragon's point of view.
Dragon's Tale
(Dragon's POV)
Morning wasn't that pleasant. Woke up feeling horrible, but I remembered Jane was having her practice with fighting with, well, Gunther. And if I knew those two, Jane would need me there. So, as usual, I flew over to the castle. And if I thought I felt bad when I was in my cave, it was nothing compared to how I was feeling when I reached the castle. I felt like someone was sending an iron into my stomach. I landed on the wall just in time for Jane to look up and notice that I'd arrived. What happened after that, I wasn't really sure; I was busy trying not to slide off the wall.
"Dragon, are you alright?" Jane asked as she climbed the stairs that lead up to my perch on the battlements.
"Who, me? Fine." I replied, but my stomach could have said differently. I let out a groan.
"You look as bad as bog water!"
"Yeah, well, hello to you too!" I shot back, sniffling. Jane gave me the look. "Dust." I tried to weasel out of it, but then I sneezed. Bad timing.
"Someone should sweep up round here. What do you shortlives do all day?" I paused, catching her 'you're not fooling me for a moment' look. "Jane, I am fine. Thank you." I added, which I was! Completely fine! Okay, not really…
"Dragon, you are not fine. Drop your head."
I pulled away as she reached up to feel my head. No, no, and no. I was fine. I didn't need-
"Dragon." She said, this time a bit more forcefully, reminding me of how a stern mother would reprimand a child. That got me. I reluctantly lowered my head. Jane reached out, only to jump back.
"You are so hot!" she exclaimed.
"Why, thank you." I replied, flattered.
"I mean it! We have to do something, you could be really sick!" She replied, concerned.
"Dragons do not get sick! Only shortlives get…" I trailed off as another wave of nausea rolled in, causing another groan to come sliding out of my mouth. Today was just not my day.
"Well, maybe just a bit under the weather…" I said evasively, but I knew it was no use at this point.
"Thank you. Now come down to the yard so we can take a proper look at you. Check for other symptoms." She answered, turning to walk back down to the yard. Taking up the cue, I followed her down.
"Ohhh… it feels like an army is marching on my stomach…" I moaned as Jane kneeled by my head.
"Have you eaten anything strange today?" Jane asked.
"Just the usual. Stinging nettles, bogged myrtle, feted mandrake root…"I counted off, remembering I had lighted down for a snack on my way over because I thought that would settle my stomach, but it hadn't helped.
"Mmm, tasty." She replied, then sort of got lost in thought for a couple moments. I, meanwhile, was just trying to keep my stomach under control.
"Let me get Smithy. He may have some ideas." Jane suddenly replied. Oh great, someone else. What she said after that was what made me doubt the idea a lot more.
"He takes good care of the horses."
Wait, did she say horses? I thought as I caught the word. Questions instantly came flying out of my mouth
"Horses? Do I look like a horse?" I asked, rolling onto my back.
"Horse, no." She answered back. Ordinarily, I would have said something else, but today I wasn't in the mood to argue. I just lay back, holding my aching belly as Jane went to go talk to Hammer-boy. I eventually got curious and decided to listen in.
"But Smithy, how different could Dragon be? They both have four legs, and a head and a tail." Jane was saying. I groaned again, but this time it wasn't because of my stomach.
"Right, and wings." Smithy replied, and that was about when I decided to join into the conversation.
"Well said; Completely different!" I called, emphasizing Hammer-boy's point.
"And both have big ears!" Jane cried, and I broke off to mull about that.
In a couple moments, both had come into the yard. Jane said that Smithy was going to take a closer look (I recoiled a little at this point) and try to figure out exactly what I was coming down with. I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but they somehow managed to persuade me to let him look in my mouth. Even though I wasn't intending to, I sort of belched while he was looking in.
"Ugh! That is nothing like horse breath!" He exclaimed as he pulled himself up form the ground.
"You get used to it. So what's next?" Jane asked, pinching her nose.
The next little test consisted mostly of me lying on my side, and Smithy listening to my heartbeat (Don't ask me how that would help).
"That is a big heart." He remarked, catching my attention.
"Yes it is. Big and very soft." Jane commented. I looked up just in time to hear Smithy say
"Deep breath, Dragon."
I took a very deep breath, and held it.
"And hold."
I nodded.
"Keep holding"
I sat up a little, a funny but familiar feeling working its way into my mouth.
"And keep holding."
That's about the time I learned that if you take a very deep breath, hold it for a couple minutes, and try to keep it that way, it has a tendency to trigger dragon fire. I tried to get the message across, but trying to hold your breath and talking at the same time aren't easy to do.
"And breathe out."
Finally! I opened my mouth and out came a small tongue of golden, red fire.
"That is definitely normal." Jane declared, waving away the smoke.
The examination pretty much ended with Smithy trying to get a good look at the inside of my ear. It suddenly occurred to me just how humiliating this would look to a passerby.
"If you tell anyone about this…" I started shaking my head lightly.
"Keep still, please."
Keep still? Keep still?! Right then and there, I pulled up, tired of all the poking prodding, peeking, and everything under the sun that was happening here. I just wanted to lie down, anything instead of this.
"I still have my dignity!" I exclaimed as I pulled my head up to a point where it was out of reach.
"Yes and a sickness of some kind, so let Smithy find out what it is." Jane added, calming me down somewhat. But Smithy seemed like he was done with it (thankfully) and he pulled off to talk with Jane.
"Well, I know exactly what it is, and horses never get it." Smithy started.
"Ha! See? Thank you, Smithy!" I cut in, relieved I wasn't like a horse. But he said next caught me completely off guard.
"I've ever only seen this in pigs."
My mind blanked at that point. He's joking, right? Someone please tell me he was joking…
"Pigs?" was what came weakly out of my mouth. I pulled back, more than just a little surprised
"Pigs? Are you sure?" Jane asked, looking as equally shocked as me.
"Pigs?!" I exclaimed, then tried to keep my voice down.
"See for yourself." Smithy said simply as he lead Jane back to somewhere behind me. Why? Nothings wrong back there…at least until I actually turned and saw the end of my tail scrunching into a spiral. I gasped.
"AH!" was all I said before I pulled myself up and tried to move to another end of the yard, all the while keeping an eye on my twisting tail. I scrambled around the edge of the wall, and then my already upset stomach collided with a section of the wall. Stopping for a second, I looked back and caught sight of the twitching tail behind me, and shot off the way I came. I ran into something and fell over backwards, Then saw it again. That was it. I just fell backward, closed my eyes and thought That's it. Now I know I'm sick.
As I wallowed in my self-pity, I heard someone enter the yard.
"Is Dragon all right?" a hesitant voice asked from somewhere above my head. The gardener, I think.
"Curly tail." Smithy said. This brought me back to the rest of the world.
"Oh good. Thank you. Tell the whole world." I said just as everything inside seemed to be trying to settle back after the brief collision with the wall. More nausea. Yippee.
I noticed, though, that somewhere in the flurry of activity, Jane managed to slip away.
I groaned as my stomach did another couple somersaults. There was something definitely wrong with my tail; I could feel it thrashing around. Meanwhile, Smithy and gardener were talking on the other side of the yard. Even though my sides were starting to hurt, and I felt like the world was on a bucking stallion, I could still sort of make out what they were saying.
"How sick is he?" Rake was saying.
"Hard to tell he seems…"
"Whispers, whispers give you blisters!" I cut in, rolling over so I was right next to them.
"Not too sick then!" Rake cried, then he turned to Smithy "What should we do?"
That was when the pain in my sides began to get worse. A strained groan worked its way through my teeth.
"Whatever we can…" Smithy started to say, but was cut off by my tail landing right in front of their feet. It thrashed around a couple more times before it finally pulled back into a twisted spiral. "…but not near that tail." He finished.
Suddenly, Rake spoke up. "I know! Soup! Pepper makes us thick vegetable soup when we get sick!"
That's when I jumped in again. "Yeah, easy on the broccoli."
As soon as Rake heard me, he headed of to the kitchens to tell Pepper. What went with him was the momental truce my stomach seemed to have formed with the rest of the world, and another groan came crawling out.
"Jane? W-where is she? Jane!" I called. It wasn't like her to just walk off and leave me in the rough. She had been gone for a couple hours now.
"Jane is on an errand." Came a soft voice from the archway. I looked just in time to see Pepper and Rake walk in, arms laden with large baskets, filled to the brim with vegetables.
"Look at these. Fresh from-" Rake started, but I was curious about the errand Pepper mentioned.
"An errand? Who for?" I asked. Rake and Pepper looked at each other for a moment before answering, which was all the more strange. Pepper was the one who answered the question.
"For Theodore. Now, these are all for your soup. What do you think?"
They put out the trays so I could see everything. Pretty nice selection, and best of all-
"I picked them myself. Everything but broccoli." Rake said, a nervous pitch in his voice. He'd always been a little wary around me, probably because a couple of his vegetables took the full blow of one of my out-of-control landings. I looked at the baskets, then replied with an earnest "Well, I suppose I could manage some soup."
I paused for a second, feeling a familiar tickle in my nose.
"Will it take long? I-ah…"
Both shortlives ducked to either side.
"AHTCHOO!" I sneezed once more, this time on the unfortunate vegetables.
"Well, then, roasted vegetable soup it 'tis." Pepper said cheerily, picking up a basket and heading back toward the kitchens.
Now, to find Jane. I thought as I watched her go. As soon as she was out of sight, I pulled myself to my feet. What happened next could be described as the world all slipping out of place right beneath my feet, as it all seemed to lurch out of my realm of understanding just as my sides gave a particularly painful throb. Suddenly, a voice reached my ears.
"Easy Dragon. Stay down, you need to rest."
I knew I would never get out of here, even if he hadn't tried to stop me. But I wasn't about to let my chance go. Maybe if I could get him to leave…
"Listen, Gardener, my sides ache, my ears itch, and my tail…" I trailed off, not quite able to describe that symptom.
"We're just trying to help." He said quickly. A little too quickly. Was there something going on here that I didn't know about? I moved so I was right in front of him, looking directly at him. Boy, did he look nervous. What if I prodded a little further?
"Then find Jane." Short, sweet, and to the point. His wasn't as on target.
"I will, yes. No problem. But first- Smithy!" he called in the direction of the forge.
Wow. Was the one thought that flickered through my mind. I never knew a rake itself could be so good at getting all the spots like that. How did I now this, you might ask? Well, turns out the negotiations that I did with Smithy paid off; I managed to get myself a back scratch and a massage in one go.
"You have quite the healing touch for a gardener." I remarked.
"That would be the green fingers."
"And me?" Smithy asked from his perch up on my back.
"You? Oh, yeah, excellent job. Oh, yes! Now, up a bit. Left, there! Oh, ah, ah…"
Both stopped as they heard the all too familiar sound of a sneeze brewing.
"AHTCHOO!"
"Down!" I heard Smithy call, then the unmistakable sound of my own tail flailing wildly from somewhere behind me. I paused for a moment, wondering if I may have accidentally hit them, but the light sounds of whispering told me otherwise. I strained to hear what, but over the thuds from my tail colliding with various objects, all I could make out was: "….Jane…very soon." "Much…she'll…patients…care for."
Annoyed, I called back "Hey, back to work, boys. Less chit-chat, more scrit-scratch."
Hmm? Voices? I drifted slowly back into reality. Sounded like Rake and Jester. What were they up to? I listened in, but caught nothing of interest. Just the diagnosis, again. I was about to go back to sleep, when I heard the wheelbarrow come rolling in.
"More soup." I opened an eye to see Smithy with a large pot loaded up in the wheelbarrow. I raised my head.
"Oh, perhaps one more bowl. If you insist."
I picked up the pot, downed the contents in a few minutes, and put the pot back. Smithy looked astonished as he walked over to the other two, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"That's his fifth bowl. My garden will be stripped bare at this rate, and poor Pepper's run off her feet cooking for him." I heard Rake say.
Well, I never asked anyone to fuss over me, and it was your idea. I thought as I wiped away the excess broth from my face. My tail chose this moment to begin thrashing around again, and all three shortlives hit the ground.
"Ja-ne!" I called again, this time in the direction of the stables. When no one answered, I turned to the three and asked "Where is Jane?"
They didn't answer, so I turned to look at her tower, but it was obvious she wasn't there. Disappointed, I laid back down.
When she comes back, she'll come see you. Stop worrying. I told myself as I drifted off for a second time.
Urgh, feel much worse. What happened? It wasn't this bad when I went to sleep. I woke up with a groan. The pain in my sides had gone from an ache to a burning fire. As for my stomach, well, let's just say it got worse and leave it at that. I tried to open my eyes, but had to close them again to avoid feeling like I was stuck on a giant version of the prince's rocking toy. My vision wasn't just bad, it looked like I was living in a wavering reflection of the world, not helping anything at all.
"Hello, Dragon." A voice said from somewhere near my head.
"Jane?" I replied hopefully, turning to look, but realized it was just Rake and Smithy.
"No. Not quite. But she is up in her tower right now." Rake said, gesturing up to the window. I looked, and my eyes caught a flair of what looked like red hair.
"Dragon! Oh, Dragon!"
"Jane?" I called back. Was it really her? I couldn't get a good look!
"I will be down soon, Dragon! Just lie still and let Smithy take care of you!" she called. I was a little put out. That's it? No 'how are you feeling'? Either way, sleep did sound good. I put my head down with a sigh. But what was the errand? I was still itching to know about that! I raised my head again to look up at the window.
"Did you finish your errand for Theodore?"
"Uh, yes! Of course!"
"What was it, Jane?" I asked, before a hacking cough settled in. Wow, I really am getting worse.
"Oh, nothing! The usual; he wanted me to get a…"
Why is she faltering like that? Usually Jane can recount what she was asked to do no problem. I'd often ask her what the errand was, just to see if she can remember it.
"…a, a mirror! From the market! For his mustache! That-that was it! Mustache!"
I blinked. What was going on? I didn't need to see to figure out that it wasn't Jane up in that window. Then, I got an idea. I slammed my tail full force into the ground. The flair of red tumbled straight out of the window and hit the ground with a clatter. A broom! And hanging out of the window, reaching for his fallen puppet, was (I could tell by the sound of bells) Jester!
"Ah, Dragon, there you are! Uh, Jane, help me back in, would you?" he ad-libbed, then pretended to be grabbed by the hand and pulled back into the room and out of sight. What was he trying to pull? I knew full well that Jane wasn't up there! I think he knew I knew too, because he came back to the window a couple seconds later.
"Hold on, I will be right down." Was all he said
In a couple minutes, almost all of the castle staff was assembled in front of me, each having their own little bit in the trick.
"W-we were just doing what we thought was best." Jester tried to explain, but then stopped talking, head facing down.
"With lies, and deception. Where is she?" I interrogated. I was tired of being left in the dark, and plus, she was my friend too, and I had a right to know what was going on. Another bout of coughing came on, so I waited for one of them to fill in the rest.
"Jane said not to tell you, or you might try to follow…" Rake trailed off.
"And she will be back soon enough." Pepper announced as she came in through the archway. Turning to her, I asked the same question "Where is she?" The only answer I got was "Jane will be cross if we tell you." That was it. I might have snapped a bit there.
"And you will be charcoal if you do not." I shot back, shakily standing to give it more effect. All four huddled together (of course I wasn't going to actually go through with it, but then again, I did say I snapped).
"Good point. Excellent. I vote for honesty and trust, and a complete unburdening of everything we know." Jester fearfully voiced. I nodded, encouraging him to go on, but it was Smithy who continued.
"She went up to the mountain to get a plant to make you well."
"Where on the mountain?" I asked.
"The far side. Where the air is salty from the sea breeze." Rake described, and instantly a memory flowed into my mind from when I was exploring the mountains. I had gone walking on that side, and a cliff nearly gave way beneath me. Considering that fact, tied in with the one that Jane might have found one of the weaker cliffs, I wasn't exactly happy with the news.
"And where the rock is weak and broken." I shot angrily back, then pulled into a taking-off stance. "I must get to her."
"Dragon, no!" Smithy cried, but it was too late. I sprung straight into the air, and then faced the grueling task of flying with a swimming line of vision, a stomach that got left behind on the ground, and sides that felt like they were being poked with, sharp, hot pieces of metal. As I used the pathway over the arch for a push-off, I could hear one of them calling, telling me to come back, but all I said in reply was "can't…stop…"
I looked ahead, panting with the effort it was taking to keep aloft. Being sick was definitely not a good time to attempt flying. Even with everything spinning like I was stuck in a hurricane, even with the fact I was only just making out the mountain from the rest of the hills, the thought of all the bad cliffs up there, and how it would take one false move to go plunging to your death, kept me going. When I knew I was over the end of the mountain in question, I began calling Jane's name, hoping for a reply.
"Jane…Jane…" I half-cried, half- moaned. No, if you want her to hear you, call louder!
"Jane! Jane!" I called before a sudden stab of pain almost stopped me dead in my wingbeats. I literally dropped a couple of feet before I caught myself and pulled back up to my original height once more. Suddenly, the ground below me, the sky, and what little strength I had left slowly began to slip away. No, no, not now! You can do it! Hold on! Keep going! Don't stop!
"Jane…" I cried lamely. Where was she? Did something happen? Was I too late?
Suddenly, I heard the familiar cries of "Dragon! Over here!" I whipped my head around just in time to catch sight of the small, red-headed figure, standing precariously on the edge of a small outcropping.
"Jane…" I murmured in recognition. I tried to bank a turn, but even the slightest movement change made my head swim.
"Jane…" I moaned, then hacked a couple times more. Right then and there, whatever last bit of ability I had to stay flying was wiped clean, as everything completely faded into black. The last thing I remembered was falling, Jane shouting my name, then a sickening thud and nothing more...
The world came back, bit by bit, as I pulled slowly out of the darkness. I could hear voices talking quietly over my head. What was going on? What happened to Jane?
The next thing I noticed was that my stomach had stopped doing somersaults, a definite plus. Was I dead? No, my sides still hurt. Not as much as they had before, but enough for it to be uncomfortable.
"Ohhh…" I moaned, drawing the attention of someone, for the next moment, someone was gently tapping my face saying:
"Dragon! Come on, Dragon, open your eyes…"
I tried, and sure enough, I opened my eyes to see Jane sitting next to me.
"Jane?"
She laughed, I raised my head a little…
…and then noticed the sickening aftertaste in my mouth.
"Ohh, disgusting! Eew, what is that?"
"Skyleaf. Smells okay to me. A bit like broccoli."
"Foul…completely foul! Awwwgh!"
"Your tail seems to like it." Jane remarked, drawing my attention to my tail, which lay lazily in the sun.
"Well, would you look at that." Was all I could say.
The cries of "Goodbye!" reached my ears. I looked at the pathway that lead to the gorge to see Sir Theodore and Gunther riding out, waving to Jane, who bid them a grateful farewell.
"Aren't you going with them?" I asked.
"No, I think I shall sit here for a while. Keep an eye on your pig tail."
"Not funny." I grumbled as I pulled my head away.
"A bit." She replied, just catching my grin as I dozed off in the bright sunshine.
So, my pointless little onshot. Hope you enjoyed. Tune in next time! :) Blackmoondragon1415 out.