CHAPTER FOURTEEN practice makes perfect
Folki blinked up at the massive lizard, surprise clear in his expression. "Did you...just say something...?" he asked.
Drayko nodded, surprised at himself. Had he just spoken a human language in his dragon form? Mu Qing's words floated through his mind; 'you may be able to switch between human and dragon bodies at will', she had said. Would he be able to do that? She had also said that he could, with practice, learn to speak in both tongues regardless of which form he may be in. Maybe he could become human and start a new life somewhere, he certainly couldn't start a new life somewhere as a dragon, after all, he was either something to be killed, or ridden. And he didn't want to be either of those.
Maybe Folki could help, he didn't act like it, but Drayko knew Folki was smarter than what he seemed. And he was definitely ambitious. Useful traits when one wishes to get something done.
Drayko looked down at the pale boy, a snarl of a smile growing over his jaws. He knew he could do it. Become human again. And this boy would help, if only to impress the local tail. Not a very good reason, but it seemed to work well enough for him.
"mmmmust prrrracticccceee" his words came out in a hiss, he sounded a lot like what a person would expect a snake would sound like if it could talk in human languages. "dddonnnn't havvvve mucccchhh contrrrrrol..." the words were heavily forced, as if it caused the dragon pain to say them, though it didn't cause him any pain, it was rather hard to speak.
Folki continued to stare at the white dragon with surprise and ever so slightly, fear, but it was that kind of fear that held something else, anticipation. He was excited. Excited to have a talking dragon. Drayko couldn't blame him, it wasn't ever day a dragon started to talk to you.
Drayko took a deep breath, ready to say more hoarse words. "...Youuu hellllllp..." he croaked.
The boy was silent. They lay there in the dark of night, the dragon waited patiently for the boy's reaction.
"You...want me to help?" Folki stuttered. "Help you with what...?"
He had been vague, but Drayko felt like growling at the boy, he didn't like talking, it was starting to hurt his throat. Instead, he took another breath and tried to speak once more. "gettt baccckkk . . . tttto humannn boddyyy." He had to take a break halfway through his sentence so that he could take another breath, the air seemed to flow out of his jaws much faster when he spoke a human language, after all, his beak was made for Dragonese, not the language of humans.
The boy once again stared at the beast, but after a short time a slow smile spread across the Vikings lips. "You need my help to change?" he asked.
No, thought Drayko, but if you want to think so... "hardddd tttto talkkkk." He hissed at the boy.
"Sounds like it." The boy looked down to the large claw holding him down. "Could you please get off me? I promise not to tell anyone."
The white dragon slowly lifted his paw off of Folki's chest, talking a step back to sit near the fire.
The boy sat crossed legged, ruffling his hair, making it more of a mess. "I wonder how I'm supposed to help you Pendragon..." he thought for a minute. "Aha...I can't really think of anything, I guess we'll think of something tomorrow. Want to head back to the house?" he asked.
Drayko nodded and stood. Folki attempted to get on his back, but Drayko growled, letting the boy know that even if he was helping him out, he still wasn't going to let him hitch a ride so easily.
Folki paced back and forth in front of the dragon. They'd been trying to think of a way to start the change, but hadn't come up with much.
"So the change must have been activated by the need for survival, you know, a human would've died if he had fallen off of a dragon at that height, but your subconscious mind knew that you weren't just a human, and no dragon would die from falling if they could still fly, so your body simply took the route to make sure of your survival. All we need to do is put you in a situation that would need the talents of a human, trouble is, what kind of situation calls for needs only a human has..." Folki had been saying the same thing for a long time, his mind working, trying to find a way to change Drayko human. The boy flopped onto the ground, head in his hands.
He gave an exasperated sound. "How is this supposed to work?" he screamed. "This is so frustrating!"
"You're tellinggg me." Drayko had worked all night on getting his human talk nice a proper, it was still rough with r's and g's but it was a great improvement and now he didn't sound like he was in pain.
"...maybe we're just over thinking it..." Folki sighed. "Maybe it's just so simple we can't even see it." He made another sound. He looked up at the sun. It was getting into the late morning.
The boy stood suddenly, "oh my gods! Eira's probably already on her lunch break!" he ran from the barn in which Drayko slept, in a huff. The dragon followed his so-called master.
"What arrre you doingg?" the dragon asked.
"Well, I get her these specific flowers every day, and they can only be picked in the morning before the tide comes in, otherwise the place they grow is completely sealed off, and I'd have to wait until tomorrow to get her the flowers, and she's not a very patient woman. So I've got to get them now."
"That sounds a bit dangerrrous..." Drayko hissed.
They took a turn and ran down to a beach; the tide was almost high enough to cover a small cave, only big enough for a human to crawl in on hands and knees.
"You can't serrriously want to gggo down therrreee." The white dragon asked the not-so-sane boy.
Folki nodded, then started to crawl through the hole. "No worries, if the tide comes in, I'll just hold my breath and crawl back out." He said as his voice became swallowed in the dark waters as it covered the opening.
Drayko sighed, trying to find another opening, and eventually he found one. It was a rather large gash in the ground looking down into a small opening, where Folki's black haired head popped out of the water.
The dragon watched carefully. Though Drayko didn't particularly like Folki, he didn't want him to die. No matter how much he thought he did.
The boy crawled onto a small space of land, climbing along the side of the rock was and reaching into a small hole, pulling out with a handful of beautiful violet flowers.
The boy smiled at his prize, but his joy was short lived, for he lost his footing and smashed the right side of his head into a sharp rock. Folki went limp immediately.
Drayko gave a surprised shriek. He tried to force his massive head through the small opening, but his bulky body was much too large.
How ironic, thought Drayko, we were only talking about needing a situation that would call for human abilities when one happens to appear so willingly.
If only he could remember what he had thought of felt when he had started the change. He didn't remember much, what he did remember was the strange feeling of something moving underneath his skin, and the scratchy voice that Drayko now had, as a dragon.
He willed his mind the take on the emotional state that he had had on that one pleasant morning in what had once been his home. Once again, he felt a strange gurgling movement under his skin; however instead of a large thing hiding just below his scales, it was a much smaller body. It reminded him of what mothers-to-be described when their babies moved inside them, only he knew it wasn't a baby inside him, but his original body.
He tried to focus on the movement; it was harder because there was no mysterious voice to urge him along. Luckily he wasn't trying to convince himself that he couldn't become human (or fly), this time he was demanding that he could do this feat. That he would do this amazing mystical thing in order to save a boy he didn't much care about. Cruel but true.
The white scales began to peel away, like blossoms off of a cherry tree, only it wasn't that happy cheerful magical transformation that people always thought was so pretty. It hurt, not much but after all, the scales were attached to his skin.
He watched as his transformation into a dragon turned backwards, his more dragon than human form, then the perfect mix, then the more human than dragon, and then finally his skin returned to that familiar scales that weren't there glow, his hair fell into his face. He was going to need a haircut.
Ignoring the fact that he was nude and would probably regret diving into freeing seawater, he climbed through the small opening, for once in his life happy about his small frame, unlike most Vikings.
Folki was already half submerged, water splashed along the side of his face, causing him to cough in his daze.
The once-dragon slapped the boy awake as the sloshing waters rose quickly. Ice cold water splashed at his ankles, he hissed at the shock, but still kept shaking the boy awake.
Folki blinked up at him, he was clearly still unaware of much, but if he could move, Drayko could get them out of there. After all, he was as strong as a dragon.
"Come on Folki, you've got to wake up or we'll drown." He hissed, pulling the dazed boy along.
The boy followed, but he wasn't much help, slipping on every wet rock he stood on, finding every unstable boulder in the place. The rock was cool to the touch, which made Drayko's hands go numb, further hindering his escape. He settled for crawling up the side of the wall like a monkey, he looked ridiculous, but at least he could lead Folki without falling over.
Finally, after the crevasse had already filled halfway, the two boy's, gasping a soaked with salt water, came out into the light of day.
The blond laid himself on the grass beside the black haired boy.
Folki glance to the side at Drayko. "...Are you...an angel?" he asked with suspicion.
Drayko started to laugh, loudly and without restraint. It had been a long time since he did that.
"I'm not an angel, I'm Pendragon you numbskull." He chuckled at the boy. Of course, that's not my real name...but oh well, he thought.
The boy stared at him for a long time, a little 'o' of surprise hung on his lips. "that would explain why you're not wearing clothes."
"What would explain it?" came a female voice.
Drayko and Folki both turned their heads as if in a horror film. Eira stood there, staring at the two boys with a smirk. It was a look school teacher's give children when they think they've done something wrong.
"Uh...Eira...I...this...this is my friend from...Inuk...his name is-"
"Eirik. My name's Eirik. Nice to meet you, I would stand but...I'm not exactly presentable. Yes...I came from Inuk, I have no clothes because...my ship wrecked and-"
"Can it boy's, I saw the whole thing." She walked over to Folki. "You have a dragon that can change into a human. I'm impressed." She smiled at him.
Actually, he was a human that could change into a dragon, but Drayko didn't want to ruin their moment. After all, who was he to tamper with the makings of some bizarre love story?
YAH RANDOM UPDATE. aint chu gais happeh? I'm not even t HOME and I wrote this...mostly because my grandparents got into it and now they want me to finish it...heh _ YEAH HUMAN DRAYKO'S BACK! NOW I CAN DO SO MUCH MORE WITH HIS CHARACTER! YEAH.
do my poll and REVEIW BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO.
...have a nice day.