"This is for you." Came a husky voice belonging to a shape-shifting dragon as he held out his hands to his companion. A small flicker of light reflected off the shiny metal within his hold. The girl beside him sucked in a quick breath.
"Is that silver?" She asked in disbelief.
"Yes." Came the husky voice, now a bit livelier, then hesitant,
"I want you to have it." His companion beside him gave an unlady-like snort.
"What use would I have for it? I don't even know what it is?" There was a short, unanswered pause that followed.
"What is it?" Asked the fifteen-year-old human called Alys. Despite her upbringings on proper posture for ladies, Alys squatted down to her knees to get a better look at the shiny object her companion held.
"It's called a flute." Selendrile answered calmly, his eyes still locked on the instrument in front of him. If Alys would have had a better view of his eyes, she would have seen the far away look caught in them.
"And…people can make music with it?" She asked disbelieving. Pleased that she had actually paid attention to his words in the past, the dragon in question spared her a small smile, but it vanished long before Alys could actually see it.
"Yes." Was his curt reply before he brought the shiny, metallic stick to his mouth and blew into it at a strange angle. Fascinated by his strange posture, Alys leaned in closer to get a better view of her friend who was sitting next to her against a tree.
She jumped when the shiny stick began to play a strange tune that sounded like a sophisticated whistling, but with much more of a soft, enchanting tone.
The wordless song the flute played had a mysterious melody that sounded so unlike the many songs that Alys had ever heard. The melody started off slow, before slowly falling into a fast paced pitch of high notes that repeated itself.
As the music continued, Alys noticed that Selendrile was not only blowing into the strange instrument, but was also pushing small buttons on the side of it. She wanted to ask him what pushing the buttons did, but she didn't want to be the cause of interrupting the beautiful music.
Still, Alys had never seen such a shiny metal or heard the breathless music, and before she could help herself, she leaned in to get a better view. That action, unfortunately, resulted in Selendrile pulling away from her and ending the music.
Confused by his behavior, Alys tried to question why he stopped, but before she could, Selendrile swiftly jumped gracefully to his feet and stepped away from her. His nose was wrinkled.
"You stink." He told her, almost hissing with distaste. In response, Alys felt the familiar anger bubble to the surface.
"I don't smell anything." She declared, fighting down a wave of blush. Selendrile's amethyst eyes, tightened into slivers at her words. From past experiences, Alys knew that she was walking on thin ice, for dragons had dangerous tempers.
"Of course you wouldn't. You're only human." He retorted coldly. Alys bristled at his words, but before she could respond he continued.
"Go bathe." With that, he turned away from her and headed deeper into the forest.
Fuming, Alys stalked away from the tree where only moments before, the two had sat together, and then headed out to a clearing.
Though it was a bright, sunny day, it still took Alys a good ten minutes before she found her way out of the forest. By then, her raging anger had tempered to a small flame and a cool façade.
She was still angry with Selendrile, but after two months of travel with him, had learned to expect no less that unpredictable moods from him. She shouldn't have been so stirred by his words, for he had said crueler things in the past. Dragons were very strange creatures that Alys decided, had no complete way of being understood.
To the best of her knowledge, she guessed that he had a low tolerance of offending smells since his reflexes were very sensitive to his surroundings. Unfortunately, Alys knew next to nothing about Selendrile and would only learn about him through mistakes rather than words.
Mindlessly, Alys sailed past the clearing and out of the forest entirely, still caught up in her musings.
In her two months of traveling with Selendrile, she had learned very little about him and his kind. Whenever the subject was brought up, Selendrile offered her next to nothing and then proceeded to give her a cold shoulder. Eventually, Alys all but gave up on learning about his past.
He seemed to be more than just a companion now, but Alys could scarcely call him a friend.
"Where are you going, little human?" Asked a tauntingly, quiet voice. Frightened by the sudden question, Alys looked up to find herself on a dry dirt road, the forest well behind her.
"What?" She asked confused, turning slightly towards the source of the voice. Her actions brought a sudden movement of wind around her face and when Alys focused her eyes, she found that a cold blade pressed against her throat.
Swallowing audibly, she followed the blade with her eyes up to the hilt and then finally to the owner.
He looked to have tan skin and long, dark hair. Despite his rough under current voice, his face was youthful, almost attractive, if he hadn't been so threatening. He was tall – standing two heads taller than Alys – and had broad shoulders.
He wore but a simple brown cloak and hood that was left to dangle behind his back. The rest of his appearance seemed to be hidden within the robe. Mystified, Alys looked back up.
His face was hard and unforgiving and his eyes were a blood red and seemed to burn with hatred. Fighting back a shiver, she looked away.
"Don't move if you value your life." He sneered at her, before closing his eyes and taking a small step towards her. Slowly, he leaned forward and sniffed the air in her general direction. Almost immediately, his nose wrinkled in the same way Selendrile's had and despite her anger, Alys was forced to wonder at how bad she truly stank.
"You reek of fey." He announced in disgust, before stepping away from her. The sword, now at his side was pulled back up to her throat. Thankfully, it was at that exact moment that Selendrile appeared calmly in the road, behind the cloaked man.
"Leave her be, hunter. Your fight is with me." Relief washed through Alys at his words. She started to relax, only to have the hunter press his blade harder to her skin. Relief quickly became panic. Silently, Alys looked to Selendrile, but his eyes were not on her.
The hunter sneered.
"You really think I'll let this –
He gestured to Alys with his sword, pressuring the blade slightly into her skin, causing her to cry out in a mixture of fear and pain –
"Damned soul live?" If Alys hadn't been so preoccupied with the blade at her throat, she would have hit the man for insulting her spirituality. Ignoring her, the hunter continued.
"I would say she was human, but everyone knows that alliances with dragons will defile the spirit and corrupt the body." The hunter laughed at this and Selendrile frowned at the implied words, before disappearing altogether.
Having no time to comprehend what was happening, Alys suddenly felt herself being flung to the ground some distance away from where she once stood. Opening her eyes, she was shocked to find Selendrile's peasant attire in shreds.
Her attention was diverted when she heard an awful piercing roar and looked up in time to see the hunter with his sword drawn and Selendrile in his dragon form circling each other.
"I've waited along time for this." The hunter was saying. Selendrile roared again.
"You are the last of the clan and after you and the girl are dead, there will be no more traces of your damned-magic-kind." The hunter laughed whole-heartedly at his own words before turning back to look at Alys.
He snickered when he took in her sight, before turning back to Selendrile.
"I'd say she's already as good as dead, the blade I used did well." He commented, before holding up the blade. Selendrile growled deeply in his throat and then lunged at the hunter. The man dodged the attack with incredible speed.
"Don't you recognize the blade, demon? You should, I made it out of a fang from one of the many fey I killed from your clan. It's magic is as boundless as the fey it once came from, that should mean something to you." Though darkness threatened her vision, Alys fought off a wave of fatigue and forced herself to listen to the hunter's words, still curious about her friend.
"I'm not sure what it will do to fey," He admitted without shame.
"But I know that one scratch will kill a human." Outraged, Selendrile swooped in low to snap at the human with his sharp teeth, only to have the hunter side step and then thrust his now glowing blue blade into the fey's chest.
It was at that moment that Alys's vision faded and she surrendered to darkness. All the while, the sound of the haunting melody of the flute deafened her ears.