by Jen Pretty
The creatures communicated vocally. I listened and tried to figure out what they were saying. Dragons had a natural ability to understand the communication of other species, and I had heard these creatures when they passed through my old home.
“Puck,” one of them spoke.
The rumble I felt through the back of the beast carrying me led me to believe that he was Puck. Though dragons recognized each other by smell, I knew some creatures chose a vocal sound to identify each other; creatures who had an inferior sense of smell.
“Let’s get the fire started, people,” he called back.
The creature dropped me to the ground before the others, and I watched as they started a fire with some sticks and grass. It was small, but they kept adding more wood until it was blazing. Not as hot as my dragon fire, but nothing was.
The lashings on my feet pinched, but I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, so I lay still. Whatever game they were playing, I wasn’t injured, just uncomfortable.
The birds began to sing in the trees. They sang that I needed to move, or I would be dinner, but that was ridiculous. Who would want to eat me? I was a meagre meal for even one of these creatures.
If I stayed in my lower form and stayed quiet, I wouldn't be hurt. Despite what the birds said, I couldn’t act dominantly, or I would undoubtedly be killed. These beings were hard and violent like dragons; I could smell the dominance on them.
The birds sang louder that the beings were human shifters and they would eat me, but none seemed particularly interested in me at all.
The humans put a large pot above the fire. It was filled with water from the river which soon began to steam and then the sounds of it boiling lit on my ears.
The dominant human shifter, Puck, came over and scooped me up, my feet still bound. I lay limp in his forearms, sure the game was almost over. He carried me over to the pot and held me above it. The water rolled and bubbled below me as he slowly lowered me towards it.
When my beak touched the water, I jerked back and flapped my wings to try and fly away. He couldn't possibly intend to put me in boiling water. What cruel game was he playing? As a dragon, the heat didn’t affect me, but as a duck, I would burn.
The human laughed, grabbed my wings, and pressed me back towards the hot liquid.
The birds screeched, demanding I shift and escape. I had never faced a creature as evil as this. When I killed my prey, I did it fast enough that they never saw me coming; this was brutality on a new level and my dragon pressed to be released.
The birds were swooping through the sky and I struggled against my captor, but it was no use. With my feet lashed and my body trapped in this human’s grabby forepaws, I couldn’t get free.
Finally, I took a deep breath and flashed into my dragon form, praying it wasn’t the last thing I did.
My feathers gave way to scales. My tail stretched and swished along the ground behind me, the pointed scales along my spine cracked and creaked as they spread out like the thorns of a bush, and I grew until I towered over the small humans.
I roared, hoping a strong display would be enough to scare off the predators. The humans screamed, transformed back into the white furry horned beasts, and scattered to the wind.
I huffed out smoke and looked around the area with my improved dragon vision. The birds continued to swoop and dive around me, my companions even in my disfigured form. A few landed on my head and hopped up and down my long neck.
I moved down to the river, and my friends fluttered along beside me. They hopped along my back and used my small awkward wings as perches, twittering and tweeting merrily. At the river edge, I shifted into my lesser form and dove beneath the water. When I came back up, a small bird hopped up and down on the shore, calling me back.
I paddled back, and the petite brown bird told me that I had to go. She said that my new home was nearby, and I should hurry. I didn’t understand how it knew where my home was, but once she brought my attention to the matter, I felt it for myself. The magnetite pulled me away from the river edge.
I shook water droplets out of my feathers and took flight, flapping madly in the direction the earth and stars were sending me.
Not far ahead, I saw a clearing and a grouping of small shelters and in the center was a group of humans.
I fluttered to the ground and surveyed the area. There were many more humans. The pull was certain; I could feel it in my bones. My home was here, but where?
The birds chittered again in the trees and hopped towards the center of the clearing. The small brown bird from the river landed on my back and whispered that I needed to go out there. She said these humans were different and wouldn’t hurt me. How could I be sure? I decided to watch and wait and was just about to settle down in the grass when a particular human walked into the clearing.
This human was warm, and I could see a light around her that I had never seen around any being before. The brown bird hopped up and down and tweeted loudly. It wasn’t even a message anymore; the small bird was merely making noise.
I started forward, still unsure of the human beasts, but the draw to be with this human was too strong.
“Lex,” another human said, and my human turned towards the voice.
My human’s name was Lex. I marched forward, my feet carrying me towards the new center of my world.
My Lex sat at the wooden slab eating and drinking a strange looking liquid. I moved closer until she noticed me.
“They look friendly. Are they tame?” she asked.
I jumped onto the slab and walked carefully closer to her. Her laugh was the most beautiful sound of all, the purest song I could imagine. When I got close enough, she reached out and touched my head reverently. Her gentle fingers tickled the ends of my feathers and I moved closer. She murmured words to me, speaking of my beauty. I had always felt that I was not good enough, until that very moment. When she ran her hand through my feathers with such gentleness, emotion crashed over me. My years of loneliness were a distant memory at the touch of her hand as if she’d filled me with a promise of future happiness and that was enough.
I ate some of her food. She laughed and fed me more. It wasn’t as good as the fish from the river, but it wasn’t bad.
I spent the rest of the evening with my Lex. She danced with me around the clearing, and finally, I followed her and another human with strange red eyes towards a small stick shelter. Inside there was a flat platform that was soft and cozy like a nest, so I curled up on the top of it.
“Hey, that’s my spot, Daisy. Shouldn’t you sleep in a tree or a river or something?” I was too tired to respond.
She climbed in next to me and curled around me. It felt like I was back in my hatchling nest with my siblings, warm and safe.
“Goodnight, Daisy,” she muttered.
“You know the brightly coloured ducks are male, right?” the red-eyed human said.
“Nobody asked you, bossy pants,” she replied.
They spoke quietly for a few moments, and then Lex snuggled into my side more firmly, and I tucked my beak under my wing.
A few minutes later, a very sleepy Lex said, “Don’t eat Daisy while I’m sleeping, Vampire.”
He laughed again and said, “Ok, your duck is safe.”
CHAPTER TWO
LEX
My eyes opened to a dark, murky world. My limbs felt light but dragged through the thickness. In the distance, I could see a bright light above and a silhouette rocking softly. The shape lurched towards me. As it came into view, a beak bopped me in the nose. My brain was still on hiatus, but I was sure it was a duck. I couldn’t fit that piece of information together with what I saw and felt around me. I didn’t move as it shrunk away again.
A much larger shape came towards me and wrapped around me like steel bars. I squirmed to try and break free so that I could return to my soft peace, but it dragged me through the thickness, and I was reborn into a cold world of harsh light.
“Get some towels and blankets!” someone
yelled.
I was being torn away from my home, my teeth were chattering, and I wanted to fight this foe. Every instinct said to keep kicking and struggling. I wanted to return to the depths where there was no pain or suffering, but I quickly grew tired. I needed to sleep. The world turned black.
✽✽✽
When I opened my eyes again, there was a roaring fire in front of me, and I was wrapped up in a blanket like a sausage, held tightly by the same steel bands. I struggled with the blanket until it became loose and shoved against what contained me. I realized it was someone’s arms and fought harder, but they just held tighter, so I flung my head back, heard a satisfying crunch, and a curse before I was released. I threw the blanket off as I stumbled to my feet and raced into the woods. I stumbled through the thick brush, small trees whipped me in the face and the thorns snagged my clothes. My feet were burning, but I felt I had run like this before. I had raced through the undergrowth and found safety.
Where that safety was, I couldn’t remember, but I knew I had to run.
I heard steps pounding behind me and yelling, the voices were loud and echoed through the forest. My lungs burned as I ran faster and faster, trying to lose my pursuers. I tripped on a root and landed on my knees but gained my footing quickly and turned to the right like a deer evading a leopard. I thought my heart would explode if I ran much longer, but eventually, they fell back until I was alone in the peaceful forest.
I slowed to a walk in a small meadow dotted with wildflowers. Birds sang and danced through the treetops, and some small creatures I didn’t recognize scurried out of my way to hide in the bushes.
I found a tree stump and sat down to examine my feet. They were cut, bleeding, but I felt safe here on this stump. I tipped my head up to the sky and let the sun kiss my cheeks. I wanted to stay, but I felt I needed to keep moving. I made myself stand, continue through the meadow and into the forest beyond. The forest had less underbrush here and more old growth trees. I moved through it easily, the birds my constant companions.
When I came to a stream, I knelt and took a sip of the cool water and noticed the bend in the middle of my right hand. It looked as though it had been broken in two and set incorrectly. Staring at it didn’t help me remember, so I waded into the river to rinse the cuts and scrapes on my feet and legs. I noticed a duck bobbing in the water, not twenty feet from me. Its vibrant feathers looked soft and warm, reminding me of something...something else I should know, but no matter how long I stared at the bird, I couldn’t remember that either.
The duck didn’t seem bothered by my presence, so I carried on rinsing. Once I finished, I gave the duck one last look and continued along the river bank. Unsure where I was going or what I was running from, I kept a steady pace.
As darkness fell, my legs were giving out. I had been stumbling over tree roots and rocks all day on bare feet and the muscles felt like rubber. Finding a small cave beside the river, I curled up among the leaves and closed my eyes, I was adrift in a strange world and had no idea who I was, but too tired to care, I dozed fitfully.
I must have finally drifted off completely because when I opened my eyes, the duck was curled up under my chin against my chest. Its feathers were as soft as they appeared, and it produced an astounding amount of heat for such a small thing. I realized it was much colder in the cave now than it was when I fell asleep, though the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. I was thankful for my new friend. To have so little fear of humans, it must have been someone’s pet duck. I stroked its feathers and rubbed my chin across its neck.
When I got up and walked to the stream, the duck waddled out beside me. We both got a drink at the shore, then the duck waded in and splashed about, making me laugh.
I walked along the bank, the duck swimming along beside me.
Having a companion was nice. When the trees opened this time, there were small buildings in the distance. I stopped to think, but the duck swam on towards them. I saw people in the distance, but I didn’t recognize them. Large dogs or wolves were moving about with the people. That couldn’t be right. The canines were nearly as tall as the humans, with thick shaggy coats in a multitude of colours. Their sharp pointed ears stood upright on their heads.
I skirted around the village through the trees, being careful not to draw attention to myself by walking silently and staying in the shadows.
When I was safely past, I moved back to the river edge and found the duck waiting for me.
I crouched down, and it waddled over and plopped down in front of me, quacking softly in a long string, with a rising and falling inflection like he was telling me a story. When he stopped, he just looked at me expectantly.
“Do you know where I’m supposed to be going?” I asked.
The duck quacked once and then waddled back to the water. With nothing better to do, I followed him to the edge and paced him as he swam. When he came to the shore and started eating some berries, I sat beside him and munched on some too. If they were safe for a duck, they were probably safe for me. I started to think about who I was. I couldn’t remember that either and the thought scared me enough to make me stop thinking about that and instead turned my thoughts to who might have tamed the duck beside me. Did he belong to someone from the village? He seemed well fed.
I sat down in the grass beside the bush we had been grazing from, leaned back against a tree, and closed my eyes for a moment. The duck waddled into my lap and nestled down. I pet him for a while, but between the sunshine, my full belly and the exhaustion, I couldn’t stay awake. I drifted to sleep like the gentle tide pulling me out to sea.
✽✽✽
I could hardly see; the fog was so thick and heavy. It made me nervous, and I wanted to start running, but I didn’t know which way to go.
“Hello,” a voice said through the fog.
“Who’s there?” I spun, trying to peer through the gloom.
“It’s me,” the voice said. I couldn’t see anyone. The sun was trying to shine through from above, but it couldn’t burn it off. “You have to come back to us,” the voice continued.
“Come back to who?”
“Please, Lex, come back!” the voice trailed off like the speaker was drifting farther away. I didn’t know who Lex was or who was talking. Nothing made sense in that terrible murkiness.
✽✽✽
I shot forward abruptly, startling the duck out of my lap. I slowed my breathing and pet the upset bird until it was calm again too. What a strange dream. The sun was lower in the sky now, mid-afternoon. My legs were stiff when I rose. I looked up to find a pack, not twenty feet in front of me, like someone had dropped it off. I froze and scoured the area for signs of danger. I couldn’t see anyone now, but someone had been here while I was sleeping. I needed to be more careful.
I inspected the pack. It didn’t appear to be dangerous or a trap of some type, so I opened it up. Inside I found clothes, shoes, and a container with some cookies and dehydrated meat as well as a bottle of water and some matches. I didn’t know who would have left these things for me, but I pulled on some socks and shoes and a heavier sweater and immediately felt warmer. The shoes fit so well, I wondered if they were mine. Did I wear shoes like these? They looked good for hiking in the wilderness with thick treads, but they were worn and beaten.
I reached back into the bag and pulled out a cookie, then zipped it all up and pulled it onto my shoulders. If someone was helping me, I could use all the help I could get. I found it easy to carry as I marched along the river edge.
I took a bite of the cookie, and it tasted like heaven in my mouth. It tasted like home. That thought brought me a soul-crushing sadness. I dropped to my knees and let the emotion crash over me until I was unable to catch my breath. I mourned for something I couldn’t remember. I didn’t know what I had lost, but everything was wrong. My life wasn’t meant to be like this. There was a big part of me missing, but where it was, I didn’t know. The pain fractured my heart and left me breathless in the grass.
I was still out in the open, and I had promised myself I wouldn’t be so careless. Getting up, I trudged towards the setting sun along the river until I came to a dense thicket of small trees. Beneath them, I would be invisible to anyone passing by. I pushed my pack ahead of me, and crawled through the small trunks, my hair getting caught and tangled among the thorns. Once fully hidden in the hedge, I curled into a tight ball, and fell asleep.
✽✽✽
I woke up invigorated – feeling the best I had since I could remember. I stripped off my heavy layers and bathed in the fresh water. It was a warmer morning than the last two, but the water was still quite cold. I didn’t last long. My duck was still splashing as I walked out and started looking for some sticks to start a fire. It took several tries to get it going, but once it started, it grew steadily until I was warm and dry, settled in clean clothes and munching some dried meat. I felt a weight had lifted.
When my duck waddled out of the river, flapped his wings, and shook off, I had to laugh. I wasn’t sure why I started thinking of him as my duck, but he was sticking with me, so I was going to claim him as mine until he flew away.
“You must have a name,” I said and started at my voice. I think we were both shocked to hear it. I hadn’t spoken since yesterday morning. My voice sounded stronger now. “What’s your name then, duck?”
I chewed my breakfast for a while considering the options. There weren’t many obvious duck names. “Daffy? Donald?” I laughed when the duck just quacked harshly and angrily turned his head away. “Ok, ok, I’ll think of something better.” I patted his back, and he settled in beside me. I wanted to walk away from the river today. I felt a pull from within the forest, dragging my eyes that way every few minutes. I couldn’t see anything through the trees, but my feet itched to get moving.