Very short chapter, but I needed the break, so don't hurt me. I have one fairly long chapter done up so you'll be compensated. ! ;) Anyway, enjoy the arrival of Tag and Sye!

Satori B.

Part Five

Almost Rescued, Also entitled, of Faltering Trust

*~*

"AHHHHHHHHH!" I scream, as loud as I possibly could do while my voice was frozen in my throat. I think what actually came out of my lips was more like a panicked gurgle.

"Don't be afraid," the grinning face says pleasantly, as if he had to deal with this reaction on a regular basis. "I won't harm you."

"It's not you I'm afraid of," I say, my voice returning, at the same time as my smart remarks, "it's that thing you're riding I don't want near me."

Which, of course, was true, he was riding on the back of what looked to be a flying dragon, though in this light it was hard to be sure of anything. But from what I could tell, it was definitely not like anything I had dealt with before.

"Right, yeah, that's complicated. How about we get out of this pit and back up to your camp?"

He gave me another wry grin.

"Unless you want to stay down here?"

"And how exactly do you propose that I get out of here?"

He looks up to the sky in exasperation. Come on, riding on the back of a DRAGON? I have a hard enough time with horses! Horses at least, don't have fangs and claws that could rip a person into shreds in seconds! I told him that, he thought I was being immature, I think I'm entitled.

"If I can do it you can do it too. But if you're that afraid of riding, we could do this the hard way…"

"Hard way? There's another hard way? Well, let me think about that option for a second. Does it involve another man-eating beast?"

Forget about thinking I was immature, he was probably just getting fed up with my quick remarks and he told me too.

"I'm not doing this for my health you know." He says irritably.

"So you're doing it out of the goodness of your heart I take it then?"

He sighs.

"Move over, I'm coming down."

I guess I didn't have much choice in the matter anymore, because he and the dragon start dropping to the ground beside me. It's a good thing that the hole was fairly huge, when the dragon lands I'd say he was about nine feet long, head to foot, the tail was just insanely long.

The boy slides off the dragon's back and walks over to me slowly. As if there were anywhere for me to bolt to in a hole…

"Hi, I'm Tag." He holds out his hand, I grasp it and shake it tentatively, his hands are rough, what you would expect from one who flies around with dragons all day. "And you are?"

"My name is Articana." I answer.

He seems pleased that I can answer a question without adding a sarcastic comment onto the end of it.

"Ok, Articana, now that we've met, would you like to go now?"

I smile at him, "Sure."

He starts to walk back to the waiting dragon.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" I ask, cracking a wry smile that he probably couldn't see in the shadows of our prison.

"Like I said, it's complicated, and probably something that you're going to want to sit down for." The boy, er, man, replies.

"Fine then Tag, let's just get outta here, I'm getting creeped out…"

"Sure. Come on then," he says, beckoning to me with an impatient hand.

"You mean I have to ride it still?"

"Do you enjoy making things difficult?" Tag asks through clenched teeth.

"It's what I do best."

He climbs onto the dragon's back and grabs onto what look like reins attached to the beast's neck. In reality it was just a loop of rope tied around the dragon's neck but I guessed it were used the same as reins. He slid forward so there would be enough room for me behind him.

"All you have to do is climb on and hold onto me. I can promise that he won't hurt you."

I look at him. All my life I have had to distrust people, mainly because all they used me for was target practice of a way to relieve their tension by embarrassing me. But something inside told me that Tag could be trusted, and if he said that his friend wouldn't eat me, I guess I could believe him.

Like I had that much of a choice in the matter.

"Okay," I agree, earning a raised eyebrow from him I'm sure, I take his outstretched hand and use it to balance myself as I clamber aboard the creature. "I think I can trust you."