AN: If I remember correctly, the bull dragon was awakened in the year 2000, right? So I mean for this story to take place a year after the first dragon was seen by Quinn. If I have it wrong, let me know. Another thing: In my imagination, dragons do not have a developed "language." Their communication is limited, but they are able to get more than the point across by body language and differences in growls, roars, grunts, and such, but they do not have a sophisticated communication system. They are smart, like wolves, and they do have a "system," but they do not communicate with each other as humans do. I have also not made up my mind whether or not the dragons here should be given names. Right now I'm leaning towards *no names* because, as I said, in this story they do not have a fully developed language system. But, on the other hand, I'm leaning towards *names* because at the end of this chapter it started getting complicated when I was talking about all the dragons and not knowing how to specify that I was talking about a certain one.
DISCLAIMER: I do not claim ownership to anything having to do with Reign of Fire. I do, however, own the baby mentioned in this story, as she is my main character.
Also, I must give credit where credit is due. I was inspired to write this story when I saw the title and summary of "Living in a world that I fear;" a Reign of Fire fan-fiction written by american-psycho. I had been thinking about doing something like this with today's animals, perhaps with wolves or tigers or something or maybe with a futuristic kind of animal. I am absolutely in love with dragons, and I don't know why I never thought of doing this story with dragons before, but when I saw american-psycho's story "Living in a world that I fear" the words just started overflowing in my mind, and I raced to my laptop in my bedroom and began typing. American-psycho, if you feel that I have violated you in any way by being inspired to write this story, please tell me so and I will take it down.
Living with the Enemy
2001
The female dragon flew swiftly over the small village below her, spitting flame at the helpless humans below her. All around her she heard terrified screams, she saw them running for their lives, she smelled burnt flesh. She flew over the small village several times, leaving nothing but ash in her wake, nothing but death. The town was destroyed within minutes, the townspeople dead. Content with herself, the female landed in one of the streets, her keen eyes scanning the scene around her. Ash. Dust. Flame. She saw nothing else. She heard nothing else. Until...
The steady breeze carried a faint sound to the dragon's ears. She knew it was human, but it wasn't a scream. It was... something else, something she had never heard before. Curious, she walked in the general direction of the sound. Soon, she reached the outskirts of the little village, and halted, not moving, not making a sound. The strange noise had stopped. The huge dragon quickly scanned the landscape around her, but saw nothing. Then, she heard the sound again. It was close. She turned her head and saw the source. It was a human. A little human. A baby.
Growling, she stepped up to the infant, ready to devour it. Then the baby made another sound... a strange one. She had never heard a human emit this sound before now... it was laughter. She looked down at the now silent child, observing it. Its tiny eyes were open wide, staring at the huge beast, its mouth open slightly, cooing. The dragon craned its neck further down, her huge yellow eye directly level with the infant's body, her head nearly resting on the ground. The tiny thing was filthy, and sported bruises all over its body. The dragon assumed that, in her haste to escape, the mother of this baby threw her on the ground, no longer finding her worth the trouble. At this thought, she snorted, sending up a small cloud of dust. And she died anyway. Lifting her head up again, she looked down at the baby. Her mind was in turmoil. Every part of her body screamed at her to kill this human, to consume it. But her heart wondered: what sad fate could be given to a child whose mother abandoned them in the most terrifying of moments? This child needed a mother, one who would care for her. The female snorted, aghast at what she was just considering. To take a human child in? As her own? The dragon quickly backed away from the child. What was she thinking?
Shaking her head as if to knock it out of her mind, the female turned away from the infant and leapt into the air, winging away from that area as fast as she could. But something happened that made her want to turn around. The infant cried. The wails carried quickly to the dragon's keen ears and she stopped and looked back. What conscience she had told her that that baby needed a mother. Exhaling in the dragon's equivalent to a sigh, she flew slowly back to where the child lay. Seeing her, the baby slowly ceased her crying and reached up for her, tiny hands opening and closing in midair. The dragon looked at the baby for a long while before finally reaching down and gently grabbing some of the baby's clothing in her teeth. Flying away, the dragon's mind was overflowing with thoughts. What was she doing? What could she be thinking? What was the bull going to say when she returned to London with a live baby human dangling from her jaws?
~*~
When the city of London came into view, she almost had second thoughts about bringing the infant to the bull. She knew that if she had made a mistake, she would be killed, and so would the baby. Alighting on a cliff some distance away from the city, she contemplated her actions. She set the child down and gazed at the city. It looked deserted at first, but then one of the hundreds of dragons living there would get a sudden burst of energy, startling the others into flight, then all would be calm once more.
Down at her feet, the baby cooed. Snapped back to reality, the dragon looked down at the child and knew that she had not the heart to kill it. Even though it may mean death for them both, she would try and convince the bull to spare the baby. Her mind made up, she reached down and picked up the baby.
The dragon's arrival startled the other dragons once more into a swirling mass, with frequent growls as each one tried to regain her favored perch. Then suddenly, one of the dragons roared, having spotted the strange bundle the new dragon carried. The noise that followed was unbearable. The huge female dragon was kept busy dodging her fellow dragons as many of them dived at the bundle, hoping that some strange twist of fate made this female bring the others an offering of food. The baby's cry was drowned in the pandemonium, until suddenly a loud roar sounded over the sound of all the other dragons. The bull had come. Alighting atop the London Tower, he glared at the females until each one had settled down. The female bearing the baby landed on the street and put the whimpering baby on the ground.
Silence ensued. The bull did not take his eyes off the tiny infant trying to crawl closer to the female that found her. The female dared not take her eyes off the bull, afraid that he might kill this child to whom she had become so attached. The surrounding females watched them both, and all were quiet except for the occasional shifting of wings. Suddenly, the bull leapt into the sky, only to dive down and land on the ground directly in front of the tiny infant and the female dragon. The female was almost scared now, not because she was afraid of the big bull, but because she feared for the infant's life. She reached out with one of her wings and pulled the baby closer to her body, lowering her neck down until the bull could no longer see the child. This was her way of telling the bull that she would not allow him to kill the baby, that she would protect the child for all she's worth. For several minutes no one moved. Then the bull did something that the female did not expect. He nodded his head and closed his eyes. Just once... just once. And in that split second all of the dragon's fears dissipated; she and the baby were going to be spared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This story will be continued, unless I find a reason to take it down.