Ŧђ℮ ĐặŘЌŊëŞŝ

Ŧђ℮ ĐặŘЌŊëŞŝ

Chapter 1 – Dragon Rider

It called for her. Every night it called. It had been her first memory. Though not understanding the danger of trusting unknown voices as a child she allowed its deep, silky, authoritative voice to bring her comfort. "Find me, child, find me. Set me free from this prison. Together we shall be the most powerful deity that has ever existed on the face of the Earth. Find me, child, find me…"

The full moon and the star studded sky dimly lit the non-existent path Hilary followed through the forest. She had never dreamed she could run this fast or for this long but adrenaline and fear motivated her body in a way her mind never could. Her mind seemed to be separated from her body, floating above her, as her legs pumped mechanically, sprinting through the forest with long quick strides. From a distance she heard someone scream 'make sure she's alive!'

She didn't dare chance looking back, besides the stench of smoke that billowed in her nose suggested that it probably wasn't such a wise idea to see her village burnt to the ground. Her eyes watered from the smoke and from not blinking in case that one second she dare closed her eyes, a soldier jumped out of a bush or she could miss an obstacle on the ground. Her instinct was screaming at her to run like the wind and at all costs don't get caught. Her lungs clouded with smoke had gone numb from the pain of a thousand stabbing daggers with each breathe, in fact her entire body had gone numb, the scratches that once stung her legs, the bruises that blemished her skin had been entirely forgotten about by her nerves. All she could feel was an icy chill flowing through her veins.

Her home, as well as her whole village, had been decimated for no legitimate reason by an army she had never seen or heard of before. The only piece of information she had on them was that they wanted her alive for some reason but why? She was nothing special, just your common commoner. She wasn't rich either, a definite far cry from being a princess or a noble. Hooves of horses could be heard drumming the ground behind her, the noise getting louder and louder as the army came ever closer and closer. The idea of climbing a tree struck her but she had seen their mutts and if she hid she would be sniffed out in no time. If they could sniff her out where on Earth could she hide? She could run but not hide. And there was no way she could run forever.

Sensing a huge energy level coming from behind she lost her footing in a panic. Preparing for the earthy welcome the ground was going to give her face she clenched her eyes shut and braced herself. She nearly burst her lungs screaming when she discovered she was more than a hundred feet in the air being held by the back of my cloak by a tanned young man decked out in armour with a sword by his side riding a huge Chinese dragon instead of face planting the ground.

"Whoa are you alright there Miss?" The navy pony tailed man chuckled speaking in a manner as if she had just fallen over and scraped her knee instead of being dangled like a worm on a hook, way above the trees.

"Put me down!" she screamed kicking her legs, feeling the icy air slap her body with its cold hands. Looking at the ground and the minute sizes of the trees a vomiting sensation took over her throat. She was so high up.

"Gladly," he smiled with amusement twinkling in his blue eyes letting go of her forest green cloak.

The friction of the wind against her skin as she plunged, whipped her body with a thousand lashes. While her throat was still hoarse from the smoke, it didn't hold itself back from letting out a scream that would have quaked hell itself. She couldn't believe her life was going to end like this, embracing herself for the pain of her body being smashed against the ground she clenched her eyes shut.

Watching gravity do its job briefly as she plummeted screaming to the ground, he let out a little chuckle, "I suppose we should save her, hey Dragoon?" This caused the dragon to let out a small indignant huff at his master's games before descending to catch the maiden, positioning himself directly under her so that his master could catch her in his arms.

When it finally registered that she hadn't hit the ground she opened her eyes discovering she was cradled in the arms, in what would have been a romantic gesture if she hadn't been scared out of her wits, of some man who rode a dragon around for transportation. She didn't hesitate to change her vocal projections from screaming to letting all hell loose on this… this bonehead for nearly killing her.

"You… you're crazy!" she yelled her breathing heavy and irregular, her eyes wide with shock as she gaped at her saviour/attempted murderer as if he had three eyes instead of two.

"Aren't we all?" he bantered with a grin, readjusting her so her elbow wouldn't dig into his stomach. His right arm held her firmly in place while his left gripped one of the dragon's horns.

"You almost killed me!" She exclaimed trying to get through this guy's impossibly thick skull the severity of what he had done. His humour was so sick and twisted that he thought that her near death experience was some sort of joke! Hilary momentarily indulged in pondering the possibility of whether or not he had been dropped on the head as a baby.

"I rescued you," He corrected, speaking as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"From what dying of old age?" she bit back sarcastically her eyes making daggers at his eyes.

"No! From being captured by those lowlifes!" He explained his temper beginning to crack. All he had been doing was flying around looking for a suitable place to camp for the night when he saw flames on the horizon and on inspection discovered this girl being chased by a horde of raiders on steeds. And of course being the noble samurai he was he rescued the girl from capture without expecting a reward, though a thank you would have been nice instead of being ear bashed a hundred feet in the air.

"You didn't have to drop me though!" she shrieked indignantly her hands unconsciously rolled into tight fists. He – was – impossible!

"You asked!" He argued back, ignoring the fact he dropped her for his own amusement.

"I didn't mean like that!" She cried, groaning loudly in frustration at his ignorance.

"Well maybe you should have been more specific." He replied simply.

"Well maybe you should use your head. Now I'd appreciate it if you set me down and I'll be on my way." She demanded straightening the skirt of her dress with her hands.

"No can do little missy, not until you tell me who you are and why an entire army is after your skin?" He ordered. Army's didn't chase people for the hell of it nor did the send a whole battalion after one person without a very good reason.

"That's not any of your business." She replied stressing each word, shifting her eyes from his. Up until that point the two had their eyes locked on each both of them not wanting to give in on the battle of wills.

"Oh yes it is if you're some sort of killer than it is my business." He stated, dead serious in a harsh tone.

"If I was a killer, I would have killed you by now." She pointed out like it was the most obvious thing in the world locking her narrowed ruby eyes back onto his.

"Than you could be a fugitive," he shot back tersely.

"And how is that your business?" she inquired assertively, the burning intensity of her eyes causing him to look up at the stars.

"You'd be worth a lot of money if I turned you in." he replied still not looking at her, noting in his mind that it'd be handy if she was a fugitive as his cash supplies were dwindling and on the plus side he would rid of her huge gob. Besides from what he had heard from his brother the fairer sex cost a considerable amount of money to maintain.

"You wouldn't," she gasped in dismay. She'd rather be one hundred feet in the air with a nutter riding a dragon than in the hands of that army.

"Aha so you are a fugitive!" he cried victoriously, eyeing her with his sapphire eyes smugly.

"No!" she proclaimed, insulted. She may have played a lot of words but fugitive was definitely not one of them.

"Then why are they after you?" he insisted eyeing her suspiciously like some foreign dish.

"Honestly? I don't know! All I know is that they want me alive not dead." She informed exasperated not believing her luck. An entire army had floored her village all because they wanted her, she had no idea if any of her townsfolk had survived as she had been separated from them from the start, she had been rescued by a cocky lad riding a great blue and grey dragon which before this evening believed didn't existed and now she was being called a fugitive!

"How do you know this?" he asked curiously.

"I heard one of the leaders yell it out to his men," she answered back praying this guy would see the truth in her words.

"Hmmm… and you've done nothing to upset this army?" he inquired through narrow eyes. Armies, people and even animals didn't attack without a reason, this girl was either lying through her teeth or some nobility's daughter.

"No, I don't even know who these soldiers are or what they army comes from." She declared.

"You're not some kind of lord's daughter are you?" He asked with a thoughtful expression on his face, it wasn't uncommon for sons and daughters of rich men to be held hostage for a considerable sum of money.

"You mean like getting kidnapped for ransom money? I wish." She scoffed. "The most valuable thing I've ever owned is a mirror." She stated like some sort of sad joke.

"So you don't even have the slightest clue to why they want you so badly and alive?" He questioned, not entirely buying the girl's story though dropping it for the mean time. His experiences with these situations had taught him not to push for answers rather wait for the person to slip something and then get the right story. Though then again if she wanted to lie to cover her story she could have said she was some lord's daughter, after all he doubted anyone else in the village was alive to deny this story.

"Not a clue." She replied with a shake of her head.

"So what was your name?" He asked enquiringly.

"Hilary," she announced.

"Hilary?" he pressed on testing to make sure it was her real name.

"Hilary Tatibana." She answered automatically. Miss Hilary Tatibana was either a very good liar or telling the truth about her name. Tatibana… the name struck a chord of familiarity within him.

"Tatibana… say you're not related to a Kenny Tatibana?" he queried.

"Yeah he' my cousin, how do you know him?" she exclaimed startled in disbelief that this guy knew her brother.

"First?" he queried quickly.

"Yeah," she replied, unsure at what he was getting at.

"You two are closely related? No way!" he cried out in astonishment. He had asked not really expecting the two to be related. The Kenny he knew was so smart and she was so dense and big mouthed. Well at least he could find out whether she was lying or not.

"What's so unbelievable about it?" she questioned edgily in an uninviting tone.

"He's so smart and reserved and you're…" he began but then halting his words when he realised they weren't all that pleasant. He suspected Hilary was going through that time of the month and really didn't want to risk his head.

"Yes?" she insisted testily.

"You're well not," he concluded lamely, not wanting to antagonise her further.

Not entirely satisfied with the response but wanting some answers to the questions swirling in her head she questioned him further. "And how do you know Kenny, Mr Dragon Riding Man?"

"It's Tyson. He lives nearby and my grandfather is tutoring him in some ancient texts as part of his education to become a scholar. Apparently he's some child genius or something." He responded.

"That's my cousin alright." She nodded in agreement talking mainly to herself. "Talk about a small world… So how is he going?" She carried on interested on any news about her cousin, she hadn't heard from him for nearly a year.

"Alright I think, though I haven't been home for two months. Last time I saw him Gramps was still putting him through his patience testing." Tyson informed not at all worried at the abrupt change of topic.

"Patience testing? What has that got to do with becoming a scholar?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Not sure, personally I think he does it just for kicks. When I first began my samurai training my first months of lessons where to just sit in front of a samurai sword and grab it when I thought I was ready to begin my samurai training. First day I sat there I waited for about a minute and then grabbed it and Gramps says you are not ready to begin your training try again tomorrow. So I tried the next day, waiting a little longer this time and he said the same thing. It went on for about a month each day waiting a little longer and him repeating the same words. Then one day I sat there thinking real hard of why I needed to become a samurai and Dragoon came out of it." He said fondly at the memory giving the dragon a little pat. "Gramps nearly fainted; somehow I had freed the Guardian of the East, how it got into that sword I'll be darned, but if I could free a spirit I was certainly ready to pick up the sword. Gramps must have thought so too as they next day I commenced my training." He concluded, ending his story.

"Nice story, but where does Kenny come into it?" she asked a little confused.

"Sorry, guess I went on a bit of a tangent there." He apologised with a goofy grin. Not having a considerable conversation with another human for a while had caused him to babble at the drop of a hat, forgetting the subject at hand. "Well Gramps did the same thing to him but instead of a sword he used a quill. Think he did it for about a month and a half before he started actually doing any teaching." He pondered biting his bottom lip in thought. "Hey Dragoon that cave looks like an alright place to camp." He told Dragoon, the dragon immediately beginning its rapid descent causing Hilary to shriek in surprise gluing her body to his chest as her stomach did a back flip from the changing altitude. "Right, forgot your not use to this," he somewhat apologised with a silly smile.

Dragoon landed in the entrance of the cave flawlessly as if he had merely floated to the ground. Gathering Hilary in his arms he swung his left leg over and Hilary predicting what he was about to do latched her arms tightly around his neck as he jumped of the scaly back, landing on the ground with a weighty thud.

"Hope you don't mind roughing it," he said gesturing to the cave's solid rock floor.

"I'm sleeping on that?" she queried in annoyance, eyeing the floor with severe distaste. The uneven floor did nothing to welcome her back.

"Yes your highness," he commented sarcastically. "In case you haven't noticed your village, the only one for miles, has been wiped off the map and an army is after you so we can't just nap in some field standing out like a cow in a flock of sheep." He explained. If anyone deserved to complain it was him, she was the reason he had to sleep on the rocky floor and that message was evident with his tone of voice.

"Look I'm sorry, I really am grateful for all that you've done for me, saving me and that. It's just I've had a really rough night and kind of taken it out on you which was totally immature of me." She apologised realising for the first time just how tired she was.

"I understand. You hungry at all?" He replied, biting back the comment of agreeing with her on being immature so not to get her all fired up again. Besides his experience with the opposite sex was to agree with them or at least understand that their point is valid rather than to disagree.

"No, thank you." She answered with a small smile.

"Well I am just going to collect some twigs for a small fire just outside the cave. Dragoon will be here to look after you just in case something happens." He informed and after she nodded in understanding, he exited the cave. With Tyson gone she took advantage of the time to rake her eyes shamelessly over Dragoon, noticing how small the cave seemed with a colossal dragon crammed inside of it.

It surprised her when she realised she wasn't scared of it, not even a little a bit, she thought, as she stretched her hand to feel it's scales which weren't soft like say a fish or a lizard but not hard like steel. They were extremely smooth too as if they had been buffed and shone dimly in the faint moonlight. Continuing to inspect them with her hands she noted they were cold almost as snow. Well she supposed dragons were closely related to lizards and therefore cold blooded. Her eyes then dipped to its feet or was it claws? They looked like feet at the heel but at the toes razor sharp talons like an eagle's clawed the floor, she shuddered at the thought of being sliced by one, they could probably rip through her as easily as she could rip wet paper.

She jumped slightly when she felt the enormous, powerful muscles shift so that he could look at her better. Well it looked like a he. Craning her neck so she could she the under belly she found no evidence that pointed either to a male or female. Did dragons even have those bits on them? Or maybe it hid them under the scales or something like snakes? Still feeling the dragon's eyes on her she looked up and for the first time stared into its deep blue eyes. They were positioned on its head to allow maximum peripheral vision, it could almost see behind itself. Adverting her gaze from the eyes she shifted to the teeth, no daggers was a better word that could stab at least a ten centimetre hole through flesh which lead to thoughts of what it ate. What exactly did it eat? Hilary had heard legends of villages sacrificing young maidens to dragons, surely it didn't eat humans? Or she hoped so. Then again if it did it wouldn't it have long ago disposed of Tyson, unless it ate only those stupid enough to annoy it.

"I'm back!" Tyson hollered as he entered the cave with a bundle of sticks, reeling Hilary in back from her thoughts.

"Hey what does Dragoon eat?" she asked curiously, voicing her thoughts.

"Primarily meat, occasionally he may eat a bit of foliage though." He answered whilst building the fire. Hilary smiled ruefully at the thought that it didn't cross humans of the menu.

"Must eat a lot," she hypothesised once again taking in the size of the dragon, it would have to be at least 16 feet long.

"You could say that. He eats about four cows a night or the equivalent in volume with other animals. I'd imagine it pisses the farmers off loosing all that livestock." He answered whilst nurturing the small flame to grow. Hilary noticed that Dragoon crept closer for the warmth of the flame. "Speaking of food…" He stated standing up from his crouching position and then rummaging through his pack. "You sure you're not hungry? I've got fruit cake and…" he asked again shaking his canteen to make sure he had water, "water."

"I'll just have some water thanks." She replied, for the first time realising just how parched her throat was from the smoke.

"Catch," he informed throwing it to her with perfect aim then helping himself to some fruit cake. Catching the canteen neatly in both hands, she shook it herself to determine how much was left and allowed herself half of the water. Eyeing her shadows as she drank, she watched them as the fire caused them to move like they were performing some sort of tribal dance along the cave wall. Setting herself beside the fire with a bit of distance between her and the dragon rider, she warmed herself by he fire wondering what on Earth she was going to do now.

She supposed she would have to move in with her aunt and cousin and help her run the noodle shop she owned now that her house was destroyed, speaking of which what had happened to her village? She had been in the forest collecting herbs (Hilary was the village's healer) as she had ran out of time that day and with the full moon out she could easily enough see he way through the forest, besides she told her neighbour Wyatt where she was going so if anything happened he knew where to find her. Sometime while she was in there her village must have been attacked, it was only a little while later when she saw the flames and the smoke that she realised something wasn't right. Running back she realised she heard hooves coming closer and closer for her and then it hit her like a ton of bricks that she was closing in the distance between her and an army. Doubling back she sprinted, the army always getting closer and closer until she had been saved by Tyson.

Re-running the story once more in her head, there were a couple of things that she didn't understand, how did they know whereabouts in the forest she was? Did Wyatt tell them unknowingly or did they force it out of him? And what happened to the rest of the villagers? Were they alive or... injured. They couldn't be, could they? She thought to herself daring not to even say the word in case she jinxed them. Glad she didn't accept Tyson's offer for food as she felt her stomach churn, she realised abruptly as the town's healer she had to go back and help them. But with the army lurking was that a really good idea? It wasn't like she could find her way back either, she was probably miles away from her village.

Concluding to go back at first light she eyed the floor wearily looking for a comfy patch of rock if there was such a thing and her eyes eventually came to Tyson. He had finished his dinner and was gathering stones around the fire to keep it contained for the night. She was glad he had decided to let it burn itself out instead of putting it out as a chilly breeze blew threw the cave. Continuing to watch him, the samurai removed his armour and she noted that he didn't remove his sword which she thought was probably a wise thing to do as samurais, she supposed, were meant to be ready for anything. He then turned, staring at her for a few seconds in deep thought before he spoke. "It's going to be a cold on tonight. I've got a blanket you could borrow." He offered.

"I've got my cloak, I'll be right." She replied with a soft smile at his gesture. Hilary wondered to what happened to the cocky lad from before to this sweet gentleman in front of her. Somehow she went from despising this man to forming a foundation to a friendship all within an hour or so but then again she supposed that anything in this world was possible. After all who would have thought dragons were real.

"Well if you say so," he said stifling a yawn as he settled himself against Dragoon who looked significantly comfier than the rock. Eyeing a nook in the dragon's tail that would have perfect for her back she sighed longingly not knowing how Tyson would feel about her sleeping on his pet or whatever it was.

"You can touch him if you want he doesn't bite," he offered, noticing her eyes on Dragoon and when she scooted over and rested on him without hesitation he was both surprised and impressed. "He doesn't scare you?"

"Should I be?" she queried as she snuggled into the nook.

"Nah, it's just most people usually wet themselves when they see him," he explained with a bit of glumness lacing his tone. Dragoon wouldn't hurt a fly, unless it endangered someone's life, Tyson hated it how people saw Dragoon as a monster. Even in his homeland where dragons were associated with the emperor, people still wet themselves. It was refreshing to see someone, and a girl at that (females usually screamed their lungs out at the sight of Dragoon), that wasn't intimidated by him.

Smiling at finally discovering the sex of the dragon and that her intuition was right on the matter, she answered. "Pity, he's really fascinating."

"He is," he agreed yawning. "Anyway night."

"Good night." She yawned back snuggling herself in the flame heated dragon drifting of to sleep were it soon called for her again