Oberon Dragon

by Sage Hunter

  For some reason, this made my heart flutter and I looked away quickly, putting away the bucket I had been gripping and then turned to face Oberon.

  “Okay, back into the house with you,” I said, ushering him out of the barn. “You have some healing to do.”

  Chapter 5

  Oberon

  I made my way to my bedroom that night as I showered, my thoughts ran wild. I had to try to find a way back to my home planet. I had to find my crew. My ship. What if the American government had already located it? What if my friends were in captivity?

  But it was too difficult for me to go out and search for them. I truly was injured; I knew it instinctively and found that being on my feet too long left me short of breath. It was alarming, really. I was used to being one of the strongest of my species. That was why I had been on the ship in the first place. We were doing some delegation on a very dangerous planet, and only the most impressive of the dragon shifters were selected to represent the species.

  It was impossible to say just how that meeting would have turned out if we hadn’t been shot down over Earth before we made it to our destination, although the injuries were such that I was having a hard time remembering where we had been headed. It had been an ambush, a sneak attack, one we had no idea was coming. And now, I was separated from my own kind, and left here on this planet to try my best to get my bearings. Would I ever be able to return to my own planet? What was I going to do?

  When I made it into the little bedroom, I sat heavily on the bed. I didn’t need sleep, not in the same sense that humans did. I only slept for three to five hours a night, and that was usually enough to keep me strong and healthy.

  It was different when I was sick, however, and I found my eyes growing heavy as I listened to the strange sounds of the human’s farm. There were animals here, animals I didn’t recognize. Large and powerful in their own right. The human had been tending to them with tenderness and care unlike anything I had witnessed before. It was funny in a way, to see the human so capable of affection. It completely went against everything I had ever heard about the species. What was I going to do with myself now?

  The pressures of my job on this planet were excessive. I wanted nothing more than to be able to return, despite the stress I was constantly under. It had been myself and three other dragon shifters on the ship. We were leaders on our planet, chosen to protect the dragon shifter way of life and defend the planet against any outside threats. I took the job seriously, and did everything I could to hold the expectations that the others placed upon me.

  It was peculiar, after all. The dragon shifters on my planet were born with innate powers, but only a chosen few had been able to access that power. Sure, everyone could shape shift into their dragon form, but for the most part, it was only shifters of a certain will and mindset that were able to embody the full power.

  It was myself and the three other shifters in my crew that were considered to be the most powerful, but somehow, on Earth, I felt weak. Perhaps it was just my injury, or maybe it was something more. It was impossible to say.

  I dozed off briefly, awakened by the strange sensation of being watched. I gazed out the window, my reflexive response to danger being to tap into my breath weapon. I attempted to shoot a line of flame at the window, as reckless as it might have been, it was my only response to the danger.

  However, when the breath weapon faltered, I frowned. What was going on? I should have been able to use my full power here. Was it because I was injured? Or was it because I was on a new planet devoid of the magic that provided me with the ability to use my power?

  My heart was setting hard in my chest and I walked over to the window and peered outside, surprised to find that one of the large cows had escaped its pen. It wasn’t danger at all, it only felt like it was.

  I sighed and moved carefully throughout the house, quiet so that I would not stir the human. She had settled down long ago, and the last thing I wanted to do was alarm her or make her feel as if I was somehow taking advantage of her generosity. If she thought I was rummaging around through her things, she might no longer feel compelled to allow me to stay. Then what would I do?

  I made it outside, to where the cow was still standing and looking at me with a strange calm. It was as if the animals understood I was similar to them in a way. I wasn’t entirely human. I had another side to me.

  It was comforting, as we gazed at each other, a silent understanding forming between us. I walked slowly, heading back to the barn, and the cow followed without hesitation. I held the door open for it and it walked inside and then turned around to look at me again. I gave it a small nod and closed the door, and then headed back into the house.

  I was going to have to be more careful about how I used my breath weapon. Even if it hadn’t worked tonight, it was possible that it could work in the future. Maybe it would begin again once I was feeling better.

  But something in me seemed to doubt it. There was a difference in the atmosphere here. I didn’t have the same charge as my own planet did. I wanted to go home. I didn’t want to be here anymore. But I had no other option.

  I walked through the house as if in a daze until I found the small bedroom that had been presented to me. I sat down on the bed, unable to relax. I wished that there was something I could do to take my mind off things.

  But my body was tired, and my mind reminded me that I needed rest. I did my best to relax against the pillows, and soon drifted off into a restorative sleep. Whether I was able to tap into my full dragon potential here or not, what really mattered was trying to make sure I made it back home in one piece. I wasn’t going to do that by pushing myself too hard. I would have to take it easy and try my hardest to make sure I was able to heal rather than get myself into any more trouble.

  Whether I liked it or not, I was stuck here, and I would do whatever it took to tend to my own well-being. I was not used to this. I was used to having to look after the members of my crew and work together as a team to make sure we were able to face the threats presented to our kingdom.

  But I would never have to deal with those again if I didn’t take care of my own needs first. It was better to sleep. It had to be this way. I was just going to have to accept that. Being on this new planet meant the rules had changed, in every sense of the word. I would just have to try to get used to it, no matter how hard that was.

  Chapter 6

  Jenny

  “Oh God,” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose in one hand and glaring down at the letter I had tossed onto the table. These men were ruthless and relentless, and they wanted their money. I didn’t have anything. I was already trying my best to pay off the bank loans so they didn’t foreclose on the farm. It had been all that I could do to make them call off their dogs by giving them the rest of my mother’s inheritance. Now, I was being hounded by something a lot more dangerous, and I didn’t know what to do.

  Oberon came out of the hallway and looked at me, his golden eyes shimmering with concern. He sat down at the table across from me and tilted his head. “Is something wrong?” he asked, his gaze serious and unwavering.

  I felt small under his eyes, as if, somehow, this man were larger-than-life. What was I doing here? Looking at all these letters out in the open for anybody to see? It was a threat, it was a handwritten threat, and one the police would only put in my file as evidence without having any of the wherewithal to actually do something about it. I had a feeling they would rather let me die than get themselves mixed up in whatever criminal drug ring my husband had been associated with during the last years of his life.

  Sure, I understood there was a protocol to approaching these things, but that didn’t mean it excused their dismissal of my serious concerns. My life was on the line, why was that less important to them than their investigation? I would never really understand. They already knew these men were criminals. What were they waiting for? They wanted to take the big boss down? Did they really think he was going to come and show up in this t
iny town in New Mexico? It was ridiculous.

  They were headquartered in Nevada. Even I knew that. This wasn’t the jurisdiction of the local law enforcement. They were just so full of themselves for having an important case that they were reluctant to do anything that might jeopardize that. They wanted to be heroes, and recognized by the rest of the world. They wanted the president of the United States himself to jump from his chair and come down to shake their hands. It was ridiculous. And I resented the hell out of them for it.

  It didn’t matter how much I told them. It didn’t make a difference. I could speak until I was blue in the face, and they would still go about their business as if nothing was out of the ordinary and my life wasn’t in danger. They had offered a bodyguard for my protection, but having him around had been more like having a babysitter, and I decided to call the whole thing off.

  They seemed relieved to hear it, and now I had been on my own for the past year and a half, trying to figure out what I was going to do. I could complain to the police until I was blue in the face, and nothing would change. I would always be in the same amount of danger as I was now.

  “Jenny? What is it?”

  Oberon’s deep voice cut into my thoughts, and my eyes darted up from my letter and settled on his face.

  “It’s really nothing,” I said, reaching out to snatch the letter away before he saw. But somehow, he was faster, and grabbed it in his broad hand. He read it over quickly, his features creasing in this pleasure. “Humans write so strangely,” he muttered under his breath.

  I frowned and stared at him in confusion. “What?”

  I was beginning to seriously regret not taking him to the hospital. There was clearly something neurological going on here. If I didn’t get him the help he needed, what was going to happen to him? I would be responsible for allowing this man to deteriorate under my care. I would have to call a doctor and see about getting him an appointment for testing in the morning. That was the last straw.

  “I just mean, that as a whole, humanity is intrinsically flawed,” Oberon said, sitting back in his seat and glancing at me from above the paper. “Why is he threatening you? Why would one human want to destroy another? It doesn’t make any sense. It’s so peculiar. We’re supposed to work together, right?”

  I felt a bizarre wave of relief when I heard Oberon say we, and sank back against my chair to stare at him. “Yeah, that’s kind of the idea, but not everybody sees it that way.”

  “Why are these men so angry with you?” Oberon asked, finally handing the letter back over to me. “What have you done?”

  Now, his words made me prickle, and whatever relief was there quickly evaporated into anger.

  “I didn’t do anything wrong. It was my good for nothing late husband. He got himself into some trouble, and now they want me to make up for it.”

  “What kind of trouble?” Oberon asked. “What would drive another human to act this way?”

  I scoffed. “Money. Plain and simple. Money makes people do the worst things.”

  Oberon nodded at this, and then tilted his head thoughtfully, his eyes lingering on my face. “Well, they are not going to hurt you. Because they cannot hurt me. After all, I owe you my life. I will stay here and protect you. That is the way it must be now.”

  He stood up, seemingly pleased with this new arrangement, and disappeared back down the hallway. I heard the soft click of his door as he shut himself into the small bedroom. My heart was drumming wildly. What had he meant by that? This was entirely too ridiculous. Maybe I really should call the doctor.

  But when I stood up, my legs shaking involuntarily as I did so, I felt a pang of guilt. Maybe he wasn’t crazy at all. Maybe he hadn’t had brain damage at all. Maybe he really was just simply perplexed by the senseless violence of this world. Who wasn’t? Anybody who accepted it blindly was probably part of the problem.

  It was such a strange thing for Oberon to say; that he owed me his life. I had no idea why he thought that was appropriate. Nobody truly believed that anymore. Maybe he was just speaking to speak because he felt like he owed me, or maybe he just didn’t want me to worry. Men liked to say things to make themselves feel strong and on top of things, even if they weren’t. He was probably just spouting off to make himself feel important.

  And yet, there was something about the confidence in his voice that made me wonder. He seemed to have an unwavering simplicity about him; as if he said what he meant and nothing more or less. It was naïve in a way, really. But it was also refreshing. Most people had a hard time with being straight-forward. That didn’t seem to be something that my new guest had any issues with.

  I gazed down at the letter he had left discarded on the table in front of me. I was getting used to the maddening, scrawled handwriting that the letters were written in, but the implication that I might lose my life if I didn’t comply. There was nothing more terrifying than the thought that I might end up losing everything that I had worked for. If I survived, that would be worse than anything else that could ever happen.

  If I ended up destitute, I might end up having to go back to my father groveling. He had already made it quite clear how unlikely it was for me to be able to get back in his good graces. And frankly, I didn’t want to be anywhere near him. I have never cared about what he thought of me. At least, not once I realized he was abusive. It was only then that I stopped blaming myself for the way he treated me, and if I had to live with him again, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to survive it this time.

  When I was young, I was a lot more adaptable. I had better coping mechanisms. I was able to get used to the horrible environment that I was in. But as an adult, that would be a lot harder. I was used to being alone. I was used to taking care of myself. And I didn’t want to feel like I owed anybody anything, even if half the banks and mobsters in the state were ready to come after me.

  My thoughts went back to Oberon, somehow, his presence lifting my spirits. What if it was possible that he really could help me? Maybe I was safer with him here after all. Although, it seemed unlikely that I should get my hopes up, it was still a very exciting thought. Maybe I didn’t have to worry so much. Maybe everything was going to be all right.

  This was too much to think about. I was beginning to become overwhelmed by my anxiety, and I stood up quickly from the table, clearing it off and taking a big, deep breath. It was time to busy myself on the farm. There was a lot to do, and time was wasting away. I had gotten a little bit out of my routine ever since finding the strange man in the desert, but it was time to get back on track. I knew that once I found my rhythm again, everything was going to be all right. Even if the threats kept coming.

  Chapter 7

  Oberon

  I knew that the human found it undesirable for me to be walking around, and it was true, I still needed quite a bit of rest before I was healed. But I couldn’t help myself. It was agonizing being stuck in such a small space for such a large amount of time. I was used to being on my own planet, where everything was so open and free, and much, much better. The planet itself could contain at least seven earths, and the dragon shifters that lived upon it built homes to accommodate themselves whether they were in their human form or their dragon form. We had the space, and the resources, and it was luxuriously comfortable.

  Here, though, the farmhouse seemed small and confining, although compared to other human dwellings, I suppose it was rather large. She seemed proud of the place, despite its obvious shortcomings with space, and so I roamed around as quietly as I could, to keep her from getting on my case about it. When she finally left the house for the day, I cautiously slipped outside to follow her, my eyes wandering the large fields and examining the place in the daylight. Now that I wasn’t being ushered inside to have my wounds tended to, I was able to take a much more in depth look at my surroundings.

  To be truthful, I found the place quite beautiful, and even though I had always heard terrible things about the earth and its environment, I didn’t think it was quite
as bad as the textbooks and rumors everyone would have had me believe. In fact, it was quite comfortable here, even right down to the scorching heat of the sun. I hadn’t expected such drastic temperatures. They reminded me of home. I knew that in other areas of the earth, there were Arctic temperatures, and could be very dangerous for humans and dragon shifters alike to be kept there for too long.

  As the human disappeared into the large barn to take care of the animals, I decided to take a look around the place without her. I knew that, if she knew what I was doing, I would be scolded, and somehow, that only added to my desire to break the rules.

  I had been stuck in bed for long enough. Four hours was usually my maximum amount of sleep, but I had been laying around for at least sixteen. I couldn’t allow that any longer. It was time to get a feel for the place. I found myself tempted to begin shape shifting into my dragon form so I could fly high into the air and get an aerial view of the environment, but I quickly remembered that being stuck on Earth could easily make me a target.

  Although the humans had a vague understanding of shape shifters, it was very rare for them to encounter any that were comfortable enough to show their true form. That made us quite mythical and surprising to the majority of them, and it had become common knowledge that it was better for us to keep our identities under wraps. Humans are dangerous and unpredictable, and it was always better to make sure we were looking out for our own safety first and foremost in all situations.

  The farm was large, and I knew there would be little chance of the human catching me as I wandered about, inhaling the fresh air and popping into different buildings. One of them was filled with grains that reminded me of some plants that grew and thrived on my own planet. It was quite comforting, to be truthful, and I stood in the doorway a little bit longer than I should have, simply inhaling the comforting scents of home.