Nettle
It was past dawn but the shades still lingered in the valley where we camped for the night. The atmosphere inside the tent that I shared with Mist and Kain was thick after all night so I crawled out of my sleeping bag, quickly dragged on my outer layers and crawled out into chilly morning sealing the entrance behind me. Rays of sun lit up the eastern side of the mountain peaks surrounding our little camp but it would take hours before it reached this spot. Riley insisted that we stayed in Idaho until he returned, but it was end of summer and I wanted to experience something else than running and hunting before... Yeah that, that would be challenging enough. I let my gaze linger on raw beauty of the nature surrounding me. I opened my ears to the rustle of the pristine creek where we decided to spend the night, before we continued on our hike past some of the alpine lakes of Sawtooth Range. I felt the freezing air filling my lungs and saw fog as I exhaled. I increased my inner flame until the heat was radiating from my skin, one of the advantages coming with being a dragon. Abandoning my morning meditation I turned to building fire of the kindling, that we have gathered in the evening yesterday. Damn three trials! I was seriously considering taking my clothes off and lighting the fire with my goddamn breath. Finally, the kindling caught and I took our small kettle to the creek to fetch some water. Brewing something warm to drink, was a human habit that all three of us has adopted and were loath to abandon, even when nobody watched us.
As I was about to stand up with filled kettle I felt prickling and tiny hair on the back of my neck stood on ends. Someone was watching me from the other side upstream. We have wandered away from the trail and as much into wilderness as we could, so that Mist could hunt for supper and no one would stumble upon three teenagers eating a seared elk, or worse, upon Mist searing said elk. There should be no one upstream, yet there he stood, I could see his reflection in the water, however swift current made the image distorted, there was no doubt that someone stood at the edge of the water no further than two hundred feet from me. Gathering my courage I looked up... nothing. I quickly looked back at the water and the apparition was gone. I walked upstream until I stood on the opposite side of where the person have been standing and saw no trace of boots or trampled grass. I could clearly see my own footprints in the dew covered grass. Must have been dreaming I decided and returned to our tent.
Mist stood with her back to me and whirled around as I approached "Nettle!" she exclaimed relieved. "Where have you been?!" I looked doubtfully towards the creek whispering in clear view from where we stood. Something was a matter but it was too damn early to think about it. "Fetching water" I said placing the kettle over the fire that has been fed since my departure. Kain emerged from between the trees behind our tent. "Good morning." He grunted, always morning grumpy. But he was more caring and warm underneath his off-putting manners, than most smooth talking slithering dragons I have met. We have grown closer after Remy got killed during night of Fang and Fire. Dragons did not have siblings, but since we have lived together and shared hardships of being rouges, I considered Remy the closest person in my life and the loss have hit me hard. Even more so, since I was so eager to fight in the first place. When Kain approached me, I was wary of him, knowing about his animosity towards Garret and Ember. But he just shared snippets of a story of his friend Isaac, little dragon killed by the Order of St George. How they met. How Kain being large and strong felt drawn to protect Isaac, who was small and scrawny. And how Isaac taught Kain to love drama, their excursions to see some backwaters plays in town near to where they stayed secluded with one elderly human guardian. Their dreams of entertaining people in their future. Isaac loved to laugh and considered comedy the highest form of theatre. Their guardian, was exasperated by their pull towards people, and it was him, who asked Cobalt to separate them. And shortly after, Isaac died in Order's attack on his new safe house. In sharing his love for Isaac and pain of losing him, Kain made it possible for me to access my own. And he was there for me, when I was ready to heal. At least some of it. Kain wanted to be an actor. I was astonished first time he expressed that wish but after learning about his history with Isaac I understood. Besides as he said himself, being a dragon meant, that he was stunningly handsome had exceptional memory and mimicking skills.
"Where have you been?" He asked me. "Bringing water, so that you can get a cup of tea and act human again." He stretched his tall body and yawned. "Why would I act human, when there's no humans here?" He smiled and roared. I jumped. "Stop it! Seriously, I have just seen somebody by the creek." I said.
"What do you mean he was gone and left no traces?" Mist was concerned, and I was too, now that I thought about it. "Let's get moving" Kain offered. "Isolated valley, away from the trail, mysterious disappearing man. That's how most bad horrors start." I could feel that Mist wanted to investigate the opposite bank, but she only nodded and got to warming some elk pieces over the fire. Kain grabbed some from the plastic bag where we put them, after Mist expertly shredded the elk to pieces and seared them with her own fire like the chef in a fancy restaurant serving dragon fusion cuisine. I followed their suit and we soon devoured half of the elk. We did not need to eat that much, but we could eat in advance due to some draconic feature, so we did. The half that was left we stuffed in plastic bags and hanged high overhead near the top of a majestic pine tree nearby. We intended to cross here again on our way back and take last savage snack before we were forced to eat like humans again. We headed out shortly after, though the sun was almost reaching halfway down the closest mountain.
The weather was great, clear blue sky and the air
was quickly getting warmer in the sun. Soon I shook off the strangeness of the morning and instead let myself take in the peace and beauty of the nature surrounding me. We were by all means stronger that any human and had unending stamina, so we just followed animal trails, climbed up ridges and went wherever we thought there would be a worthy view to pursue.
We reached the summit of Thompson peak past noon and stopped to enjoy the view. There were few other groups and couples of people out hiking today, but most hurried on after short break, anxious to get down before the sun set and took the warmth with it. We lingered enjoying the view, that we were starved for. Being above everything around, flying. "I think we should stay and fly." Kain said. "Are you insane? Have you seen all these people?!" Mist said. "Come on Mist, we are rogues. We are supposed to break the rules, even Cobalt's rules." Kain teased her. I felt exhilaration, I would have loved to fly. But the risks were rather too big. This was a frequented tourist area, there were probably several teams of people camping in the national park tonight. But Mist lingered on the peak as well, cold was not dangerous for us and this was probably the best place to watch the sunset from in miles.
Mist was very reserved and hard to read. She was not much older than me but has already completed her training as a basilisk and she avoided to talk about her past. She arrived few weeks ago to visit Riley and stayed indefinitely. We were surprised when she expressed a wish to accompany us on our trip, but being in possession of a Viper suit she was a useful companion, even if she hardly said anything. And she listened intently as Kain wove tales of his future as an actor, performing on the world's greatest stages bringing to life heroes and lovers and villains. There was kindness in her interest and we warmed up to her quickly.
Wind was growing stronger and stronger and something appeared on the horizon and approached fast. Clouds, dark and thick devouring the sky and the sunset, that we were waiting for. We grinned madly at one another. Good luck spotting us now humans!
The thunder roared and I flapped my wings to climb higher. We fought our way up through the tempest, that started abruptly right when the sun set. We swiftly undressed and stored our clothes in our backpacks, that we held on our backs extending the straps as much as possible. Mist was wearing her Viper suit but anyone could see that our human forms were each perfect in their own way. I watched Kain from the corner of my eye, he was muscled with long limbs and smooth sun kissed skin. Then Mist shifted and so did we. And now we were escaping the storm up, up until... Finally! We cleared the clouds and could see the stars in the clear sky above. Kain climbed higher and then barrelled down past us stopping right above the dark mass of the storm raging under us. It was slightly amusing that each of us worn a backpack straps around the roots of our wings. The waxing moon was up and lit us and the clouds underneath with silver glow. Mist's pale body seemed to glow, Kain's steal colored scales shone like quicksilver in the moonlight. We flew for hours racing with one another mostly me and Mist pursuing Kain, who taunted us with most ridiculous lines as he barrelled past us on his way up and down. We breathed fire for the pure feel of it. Even Mist was clearly enjoying herself cursing Kain in draconic, breathing plumes of fire through her nostrils and laughing.
After a while Kain evened his flight and we soared side by side in silence for a while. Then he come in between me and Mist his wing touched mine and Mist's on the other side. Mist moved further to the side. "I know we do not have feelings, but this is one of the best days in my life and sharing it with you two makes you forever my beloved sisters." Kain said unexpectedly. "Even Mist." He added with mean grin. Mist banked hitting his side with her shoulder and they barreled up in mock struggle.
We slowly descended below the cover of the storm clouds. And flew high to ascertain our position. I could not see Thompson peak anywhere within the vicinity that was seriously limited by the rain. "There is the creek where we camped last night" Mist said. It was an isolated patch, even if coming back in dragon form to where I almost certainly spotted someone, seemed risky at best. We just needed a moment to shift and dress. We could heat dry our clothes in no time and voilá, three inconspicuous teenagers lost in the storm, decided to camp until the morning.
But as we touched down on a narrow bank I felt that something was off... "Greetings." I heard a voice, but I could not ascertain its source, it seemed to sound inside my head. A man stood less than fifty feet from us. He was dressed in dark pants and windbreaker just like the one Kain worn. He was average height, lithe with brown skin and smooth black hair falling down to his shoulders. He stood dry in the pouring rain. We froze and I could see that Mist was getting ready to jump on the man but something was stopping her. Then he approached us calmly and stood right in front of me. "Greetings, do behave guests." I exhaled and understanding dawned on me. A dragon.
The man waved for us to follow him and then crossed the creek walking over the water. We jumped over and followed into the woodland further ahead. After a short while the storm stopped and we entered a small clearing created by an ancient tree falling and pulling several of its neighbors down with it. There was a fire burning in the middle and a pile of pine branches, dried moss and animal pelts where our host sat down and faced us. "Welcome, why did you come?" We exchanged looks and I decided to speak. "We did not come. We didn't know you lived here." He watched me intently and I could sense growing weight of his gaze. How old was he exactly? He felt older and older with each passing second. "You might not know, yet you have come into my domain. You want to know." He said and seemed satisfied with himself. "Who are you?" Mist asked warily. The man bristled. "Who are you is the bigger question I would suggest." Kain shifted quickly got his inner layer out of the backpack and pulled it on, went to the man and thumped upon the seat of skins beside him. "I'm Kain." He said. "And these are my sisters Nettle and Mist." The man regarded him and spoke again. "No. Not what you've been told to call yourself. Who are you Kain? Why do you fly into my hometime? Where do you come from?" All the forbidden questions! Questions that Talon learned us to never answer truthfully. I felt Mist tense beside me and was about to open my mouth when Kain started to tell our tale with the most flourish I have ever seen attempted. I was enthralled, even though I knew the story, I was curious to hear what would happen next. Kain's talent have never been so apparent as in this very moment. Of course there was much he did not know, being on the outside of the most dramatic events. But he was good to draw conclusions and engage his listeners by infusing his tale with feelings.
When he was done the man looked into the fire for a long while and finally said. "This is not the thing either. But this is honest and appreciated. You may stay here with me and we can talk." He stepped away and shifted. His body was half as tall the pines surrounding the clearing and twice as long, covered by gleaming golden scales that seemed thin and soft, like fish scales. His head was shaped like that of giant snake with horns like twisting branches and eyes, that were black and gleaming like pieces of coal except for silted pupils, which seemed to be lit by pale light from within. His wings were golden with black edges. Kain shifted instinctively and the strange dragon puffed a cloud of white smoke at him just then. Mist jumped between them. "What is this?" She demanded. "Protecting young Kain's clothes." Strange dragon chuckled. "I have been watching you, and have noticed that you're unable to protect your clothes." As I listened to the voice in my head I realized that he was not really speaking to us. He projected ideas and meanings upon our minds, that dressed them in the words we had. It was a very curious ability and one I have read about in fantasy books, that I once devoured in heaps hoping to find the answers about the meaning of our existence, that Talon was completely uninterested in providing. This dragon could do magic.
He allowed us to call him Lightning-bird. He did not count years the way we did but what we have determined of what he said, was that he was approximately twenty thousand years old. He entered this world from another place alongside many others like him and he travelled it and learned it's wonders until recently (hundreds of years ago) he carved a time pocket in this mountain range where he resided and counseled with animals and rarely people passing by. Only magical creatures and people in possession of magic can enter his place unbidden, so he has been mostly meeting animals lately. These were news for us, we doubted his age, he was not even close to what Elder Wyrm was at thousand years of age. But he offered to teach us to "protect our clothes" and "vanish from the minds". Basically to make any clothes we wore not to rip when we shift and to be invisible to people who do not posses magic, when in our true form. At first it was some stretch to follow his guidance even though we communicated mind to mind. But at last we managed to "expand our being so it also encompassed our clothes and then shift". Vanishing was more difficult especially without any non magical subjects to test our results on, so we paused and spent some time talking to our host. Lightning-bird was a name he was particularly fond of, it was given to him by his human friend hundreds of years ago. There was sadness and gratitude towards this long dead human. He could warp time and space on small scale, and there were many doors to his "hometime" as he called this place leading to different times and places. He could control weather like Jade and could shift into any living creature. He sensed me passing by one of the entrances and woke to first watch us and then guide us. Mist was especially eager to get to know everything Lightning-bird knew, but it was just way too much for one night. He examined Mist's Viper suit and declared the fabric to be a product of human technology and it's other properties a spell granted by a powerful dragon.
He told us about other dragons like him and that some made themselves known to general public so that magical creatures could seek them out for help and learning. There were many dragons that entered this world and disappeared, got killed or warped themselves out of this world altogether, leaving their offspring without guidance and sometimes completely unaware.
He was a friend of animals and stayed in wilderness for the most of his life. He valued his solitude and feared getting too attached to company, as this could make it difficult for him to let us leave. But there were others who could teach us more.
At last Kain and Mist decided to retire to our tent and rest the few hours left until morning. I lingered in my true form and talked to the strange dragon, learning of the ways to talk into somebody else's head in the honest open way or sneaky wicked way, so the person was unaware of my influence. At last he stood up and laid a wing over me. "Old magic burns brightly in you. It might be that you were to come here, so I can wake you up to your vocation. So that you can lead your sisters and brothers out from this abject ignorance towards truth. I give you my blessing on your search. You may come visit me every five hundred years and we can chat." He winked. "Thank you... I guess. I said uncertain of what he meant. "See you?" I said nervously and the dragon disappeared vanishing from sight. I shifted noticing with pleasure that I was dressed and crawled into my sleeping bag between sleeping Kain and Mist.