Chapter 5: We have dragons (Most people would leave, not us, we're Vikings, we have stubbornness issues)
Jeramiah woke with a start. Looking around, he noticed the foot of his bed still had a majority of pillows in a circle. Taking a second glance, he noticed a lack of orange. There, perched on the windowsill, was his dragon. 'HIS DRAGON! Oh my gosh, how did I get this lucky? How did I get a dragon, this is insane!'
It was staring out the window as if waiting for sunrise. "Sorry buddy, but this is Washington. The sun rises from the south-east". He grumbled, climbing out of bed to get ready for the day. School starts at nine thankfully, a serious blessing of the legislature that placed importance on the welfare of students. He struggled to get ready with the chirpy and jubilant little drake nipping at his heels and legs. He noticed that one-third of the meat had been eaten since last night.
Having read a chunk of the book before finally passing out the night before, he knew that the dragon was smart. He unlatched the window and left it partially open in case it needed to leave. 'Eragon tried to figure out Saphira's gender. I guess I'll have to wait to figure out what my little dragon is.' After reading that Aragon used mental pictures to express ideas to Saphira, he imagined what would happen if people saw it by imagining strangers in lab coats locking it in a cage and making it suffer. After showing the little drake how to open the windows and warning it that he'd be gone for most of the day, the little dragon wrapped itself in his arms.
'Huh, It's got pretty sharp edges on those scales. I'll need a saddle to ride it when it comes to that.' He gently started rubbing the top of its snout, where the scales were a little tighter together and less rough on the skin. 'It is incredibly beautiful. I could watch it dance around my room all day.' He left it behind, hearing a lilting hum echoing from its throat. It was surprisingly deep, then again, it's not some squirrel, it's a dragon, peak predator of another world.
He wrapped his now marred left hand in some medical tape, as it was the least obnoxious and the one with the simplest explanation. He went to school knowing it will be an uneventful day.
It was.
Daphne had spent the previous night pondering the strange junior known as Jeramiah, the one who everyone completely ignored. When looking at him all you would see is the blank stare, one she had grown familiar with only in ex-soldiers, who had seen too much and kept their emotions in a cage to avoid the pain that would consume them. 'I understand why Dad had me train against different warriors to get a sense of different weapons and styles, but those eyes always made me feel scared. Why do his eyes look the same? Do those children not understand how much they are hurting him?'
'There is clearly something different about him,' she thought as she watches him trudge past her, on his way to do who knows what, during lunch. 'What happened to his hand and why does he rub it so frequently?' she noted his continuous attention to his left palm in confusion. 'It was not there yesterday so why is it there today?' Finally growing tired of glowering at him, as he was about to turn the corner, she noted he was reading the historical texts of 'The Peacemaker' Eragon. "That's just a coincidence. He's just into the Inheritance cycle series," she whispered quickly, not daring to assume he blatantly insulted her.
Finally, home after an obnoxiously long day at school, he said hello to his parents and made his way upstairs to do 'homework'. He quickly dashed the door open and closed, unwrapping his hand, he peered around and found the food bowl to be empty of bison meat and instead part of a rat inside the popcorn bowl instead. 'Ah, it can hunt. Well, that just makes things so much easier!' He thought as he sent a mental image of a hug and the emotions of what it means. The little dragon quickly dashed from the windowsill into his arms where he held it close, drawing comfort from his newfound companion-for-life. He peered into its beautiful orbs and a feeling of warmth seemed to overwhelm him. 'It's comforting me, yeah right, dogs are man's best friend.
What a joke, this guy can sense emotions and can magically comfort people. How's that for man's best friend.' He pulled the dragon in tighter, cradling it like a child and smiling at it and despite the sharpness of its scales, his sweatshirt was enough for it to be barely an irritation and for him, it was worth it. It was clear that the smaller edges were not harmful to him or pretty much anything around him, but if you pressed too sharply against them, they would cut through clothing. Because he loved the affection, he allowed it to share the bed with him, and he would wake up every morning with it curled up next to him under the covers or otherwise wide awake to greet the sun.
After a week, the little one had grown profusely following the path the book had predicted precisely. Now the size of a full-grown cat he had decided that he could show it to his parents. "Mom, Dad I have something to show you, and I need you to read this book before I can do so." He handed over the copy of Eragon and quickly bolted upstairs, nervous beyond belief. He had marked it off to end at page 60 so that they would get the idea.
After about two hours, he went downstairs with the little one standing on his shoulder in sentinel position. They stared shocked at the image of the miniature dragon posed beautifully in its precarious position. Anxiously bringing their hands up to raise their jaws, Jessica Anderson asked "so what you're saying is that you found a dragon egg and that is your dragon?"
Jeramiah nodded proudly "yes and that was what I was doing all weekend, playing in the park with this little one and learning how to hunt by watching it. It has also helped me maintain my sanity by constantly being in contact with it as our telepathic link deepened. I have been able to connect with it while at school." He finished grinning.
His parents took it fairly well. He explained how the meat missing had been him feeding his dragon and for that he was sorry, but he felt it was important to connect with his dragon in that way. He said he would pay it off by bringing in deer meat when it was older. They slowly acquiesced and were simply content to enjoy petting the miniature dragon. Several days later, the last day before Christmas break, he woke up and said goodbye to the large dragon that was now too large to comfortably sit on the ledge. Opening the window and hugging it goodbye, he stepped out of the room, wrapping his left hand in medical tape again and heading out to his new Subaru Impreza WRX.
Today was different. He felt it in the air although he had no idea what it could possibly be. He sent a mental hug towards his dragon that he knew was his equal; it just had yet to learn the language. He recalled making his decision earlier on magic. 'Magic is as real as my dragon; I just don't want to kill myself. In the book, Eragon nearly kills himself with it… and he has a teacher, I am not going to go screw with that.' Getting the familiar warmth of his dragon sending him comfort and began smiling broadly.
After two weeks of watching Jeramiah, she had noticed major differences in him. The most noticeable was the ever-present medical tape on his hands. Another difference was his apparent joy at seemingly nothing at all, 'it made no sense at all… unless… not possible.' She determined that it couldn't possibly be a dragon known for their significant marks on their hands and deep attachment to the dragon of their choice. Daphne thought that the proof could maybe point to that conclusion, but 'that simply is impossible!' Daphne still glowered at him wondering why she even cared, and how a mere mud-person could inspire such conflict within her.
!BEEP BEEP BEEP! The fire alarm sounded "great" two particular individuals grumbled as they trudged down the second story hallway towards the exit. Their thoughts mirrored each other 'Great! The dumb idiot again!' Seriously the crazy queen again?' They both thought stepping into line next to each other marching down the stairs. Suddenly, the smell of smoke enveloped them. Looking up, they noticed the hallway ceiling was on fire. Daphne thought 'how is the fire spreading so quickly? Could this be man-made?' 'Oh crap, we're all gonna die. NO, I can't let MY DRAGON die!' He unconsciously grabbed the Belle next to him and started jumping through people. Daphne had been frozen until suddenly a warm hand with tape wrapped around it yanked her almost off her feet. In terror, Jeramiah led them out of the doors towards his car. He forced Daphne into the shotgun and gunned the car north. After about ten minutes, they both calmed down enough to start thinking clearly, when he realized they were parked at Point Defiance Park. He felt his dragon posted nearby watching over him with worry emanating from it.
'Why did I bring her along? What happened?' he questioned. "Uh so… are you ok Daphne?" "I'm fine" she whispered, still clearly shaken, doing the only thing he could, he grabbed her softly but firmly as he had so often done with his dragon.
"It's ok to not be ok. I know how terrifying it can be sometimes," he cooed softly.
"Oh yeah," she growled, "What would you know of terror and fear? What would you know of death in this tiny world you live in?" she hissed.
Taken aback, he unwrapped his arms from her but noticing her apparent sorrow at the comfort he had provided, he wrapped himself back around her. "You know, I almost died in this park a few weeks ago…" she looked at him in confusion. "Yeah, I know it makes no sense but, I was being stupid, and I was walking through the woods at around 10 at night, and I started bleeding and mind you it was barely above freezing. I almost gave up that night but somehow fate intervened and I survived… would you like to go on a walk, or would you prefer to go home?" he questioned quietly.
"I would like to go on a walk… thank you I am sorry I insulted you so, I am still reeling from the terrifying incident." He nodded in response not appearing upset and all simply calm and considerate. 'Was it a murder attempt? Could someone be after my life? Why would someone intentionally burn down a school?' Daphne pondered this as she walked down the path Jeramiah was leading her on. 'His left hand is uncovered, and he is still rubbing his palm. If it wasn't sensitive, why wrap it?' Being so lost in thought, she slipped and suddenly Jeramiah was there to steady her, knowing that it would be foolish to reject the support she needs, and she wrapped her fingers in his. "So why do you keep the full works of Christopher Paolini in your car?"
He appeared struck 'Why?' Looking around hesitantly, he appeared to make a decision, stating, "Well I just love his books. I read them quite often simply for fun. Why do you like his books too?"
"Hmm, me too. I love the world he described. It was so vivid that it almost seemed real," she stated probingly; he didn't bite.
"Well of course. He must be so talented to create a world that felt almost as vivid as other authors like Tolkien." He turned towards her. "What stands out to you in the way he described Alagaesia?"
'Alagaesia? He truly has no idea. Well, that is unfortunate. He really is a lowly mud-child,' she thought before replying. "I love the intimate description of dragons. It described the close interaction between two completely different species and their growth together in a world so completely different from y...our own" she stuttered.
He smiled, "I completely agree. An intimate bond between dragon and rider is so beautiful." Turning off into a trail, he gestured to Daphne, "follow me this is the trail where I almost froze to death."
Partly out of confusion, partly out of curiosity, she followed him down a curious trail. He led her to a small clearing where he pointed to a dark patch of dirt that looked eerily faded red. "This is where I applied the tourniquet for when I impaled my leg on a sharp root." He stated with a grin, albeit morosely.
Noticing for what it was that he was still traumatized by the event, she wrapped her arms around him comfortingly. "It's ok. You're safe now. It is over. You made it out" she muttered warmly. 'Why do I care about him? I should just walk away. This guy is basically worthless to my 'real-life'. Why am I comforting him?' Letting her arms fall, she began to turn away when suddenly…
!BOOM! The world was shattered and all they could hear was ringing. Looking around, Daphne noticed Jeramiah was hardly reeling. In fact, he looked 'confused and frustrated! Has he witnessed this before? This is clearly not a normal occurrence, right?' He trudged in a seemingly predetermined path; Daphne followed closely behind curious. Daphne started to peer over his shoulder and saw little tongues of fire wreathed in smoke. 'Why is he grumbling?' she consciously queried… "Ohhh" Jeramiah stated, then suddenly she realized she was in front of him, after a quick movement on his part, 'What?' she thought, confused.
"Go ahead this one is yours," he said smiling warmly at her. Daphne was still extremely perplexed, but she continued walking until, suddenly, she was in a clearing, lit by a few remaining tongues of fire and smoldering ash emanating from the center of the clearing. Jeramiah was eyeing the flames, daring them to catch fire and truly burn. They did not, but Daphne was barely aware of anything because she was so focused on a silver orb in the middle of the clearing. There was the vague shape of a hastily covered crater right next to the one now occupied by the silver egg… 'No way, that cannot be possible' she thought. 'He… he is a Dragon Rider. There is only one way to be sure.' She gripped his left hand viciously and turned it over, and there on his palm was the symbol of Gedwey, the mark of the Dragon Rider. 'How, how, how… he doesn't even know of our world, how could an egg cross over?
'Dang, she completely shut down. Why did she react to my mark so crazily? Doesn't she realize she'll be getting her very own dragon?' he smirked at her. 'Well, this is gonna be so much fun,' he thought comically, till he saw her face that said, "oh you're in for a real surprise."
