The forest would be a blessing to leave behind. He knew from his day of travel, it would only be a few more hours before he reached the next town. Hopefully one that didn't already have his wanted poster hanging on every alley wall. Then again...at the moment, that was currently the least of his problems.
Namely, concerning the beast tailing a few paces behind him in the trees.
He could hear him. No matter how stealthy the dragon male thought he was being with his predatory stalking.
He came to a stop, hands in his pockets, as he threw a sharp look over his shoulder at the forest. The trees stared back at him. But he knew those red eyes were watching from somewhere in the thicket.
"Get out here already, you beast," he called out into the open.
When only silence greeted him, he thought he wasn't going to get an answer — or that he was being ignored. But then the bushes shifted, the bark of a tree cracked. There was a whoosh. Cobra didn't have to turn around to know the thump on the forest floor was the sound of the dragon's scaly mass jumping down to the ground a short several feet behind him. He groaned quietly.
"Why are you following me?" he growled, glaring over his shoulder with his hands clenching in his pockets. Two slitted crimson eyes like rubies stared back, saying nothing. The dragon didn't think anything either.
Cobra grumbled under his breath.
"Fine then, just quit it. Leave me alone," he called back as he faced forward again and began stalking down the path.
Not five seconds later, he heard the sound of claws scraping against the ground in a four legged pattern following behind him.
He stopped, and whipped back to glare at the metallic dragon. The dragon frozen in his tracks, one paw suspended in the air of a step not yet fulfilled. He met Cobra's eyes, and then he sat down on his haunches, like some sort of...large, scaly, obedient...dog.
The criminal's eyes narrowed.
"What do you want?" he demanded loudly, baring his teeth at the beast. "I already saved you, so get out of here already!" he barked.
The dragon's ears folded back. And he curled into himself ever so slightly, looking up at Cobra with big eyes.
"No, nuh-uh, don't look at me like that," he said, shaking his head. "You aren't cute, so don't try to pull that shit on me."
The dragon's ear were still pinned back, but he dropped the pathetic look to glare at Cobra. Cobra glared right back. The beast's eyes then returned back to pathetic as he let out a rumbling sound, almost akin to a whine.
"Stop it. Stop following me. Just stop it."
With that, he whirled on his heel and carried on, storming a walk.
The dragon followed.
One hour. Two hours. Fours hours. The beast didn't stop tailing him at a seven meter distance. Even when he tried to slip out of view and lose him. He tried what he could, but the dragon wouldn't be shaken off.
By then, Cobra had finally hit his limit.
He whirled again on the beast, hands in his pockets and shoulders drawn broadly to appear as intimidating as possible. The dragon stopped and looked at him attentively. That only made Cobra more irritated.
"What is wrong with you?" he exclaimed, baring down on the beast with a glare of poison. "Why won't you leave me alone?!"
The dragon, saying nothing, tried to take another step forward, but Cobra didn't let that happen. He'd had it. With one wave of his hand, poison acid flashed across the ground in a line barring him from the other and stopping the dragon in his tracks as he backed up to avoid the dangerous element. He looked up at the mage with wide crimson eyes.
"GO AWAY ALREADY!" Cobra shouted in a rage. "I DON'T WANT YOU HERE!"
Maybe he imagined it, but he thought something in his words made the dragon flinch. He didn't care. Snarling aggressively, Cobra turned and stalked off with his hands fisted in his coat pockets, not looking back.
This time as he listened, there was no sound following behind him.
