Mikko pressed onward, not wanting to linger for too long in one spot. Her muscles were tired and it would be time for a rest soon. She needed to find a nice, private, clearing where she could relax for a while. Preferably one that was closer to civilization so she and Teo could check into a hotel of some kind. They had packed enough money to get by for around a month. Their trip could take a bit longer than that, but she figured they could always stop back at home too.
Angling downward a little, she flew closer to trees, wanting to be able to see any kind of spot that looked ideal for landing. Nothing was standing out to her. A lot of towns were scattered about the Aero land. Just when she thought she saw something, she noticed a cluster of buildings too. She would try deeper into the range.
Turning slight north, she made her way through the valleys in-between the mountain peaks. The further north she went, the harder it was to fly around all of the rock. Sometimes she'd encounter a dead-end, or an unexpected protrusion she had to dodge. Then she noticed something fly by her head at an alarming speed.
“What was that?” Teo asked.
“I'm not sure.”
Another object rushed by her in a whirl and she gasped when she saw it was an arrow, a large one, that could contend with a grappling hook. She tilted her body sharply. Teo's hands dug into the soft skin between her scales painfully as he fought to hold on. Because of him, she eased up slightly, and as she did so, one of the massive arrows clipped her right wing. Letting out a howl she drifted over the trees. Who keeps shooting at me? She hadn't realized she'd asked the question aloud until Teo gave his timid reply.
“Hunters.”
Of course. The Aero army wouldn't attack on sight, and a large purple dragon would make any hunter proud to put on display. Another arrow bored its way through her already wounded wing, deeper, ripping through one of her stronger muscles. She screamed, and spiraled downward to the trees. More arrows were launched at her, several grazed her skin. Flying was painful and she needed to land. A wave of dizziness washed over her and she began to plummet into the forest.
“Mikko, stay with me!” Teo shouted over the whirling wind and the cracking of branches as she tried desperately to stay above the treetops.
The effort was futile. If she couldn't save herself, she would at least protect Teo. She brought her wings up around him to create a shield from all of the debris as she obliterated every tree in her path. As she hurtled toward the ground below her, she angled her body to at least not plow into the earth face first. Branches stabbed her underbelly. She'd never felt such pain before in her life. It numbed the impact between her body and the forest floor significantly.
She groaned, tears immediately beginning to flood from her eyes. “T-teo?” If he walked away from the whole thing, then she could at least feel more peace if she had to die.
“I… I'm okay,” he said. Grabbing a hold of her wing with one of his hands, he shifted it so he could get off of her back. The wing must have been broken because sharp, searing, pain coursed through the entirety of the limb. She must have screamed again, because when she opened her eyes, Teo stood in front of her holding his ears.
The crunch of leaves and twigs could be heard from not far off. Teo faced the sound, fists clenched and ready to fight. She didn't have the strength to explain to him he should run and hide. He would argue with her about it and that would exhaust her further. Mikko caught a familiar scent and relaxed, more tears falling at the sound of Ichi's voice.
“You need to transform,” he said. “Both of you. They're coming.”
Teo's body relaxed some. “How do you know?”
“A hunter never loses his prize. Hurry up and change. Mikko, if you have any hope of surviving, then you need to do it now,” Ichi pleaded. He walked up to her and touched her snout. “I know it hurts, but bite through it. You're safe now.”
Mikko wanted to answer but saved her strength to concentrate on changing back to her human form. The quickest way to heal her wounds would be to transform. That was one of the first things any dragon learned about the process. Injuries taken as a dragon could be significantly healed by turning human again and vice versa. It had something to do with the way magic was dispersed through the body, and magic was one of the most powerful healing methods on the planet. Being of the Oceina gave her a boost in that department, because water magic was known for its basic healing spells.
First she focused her concentration on becoming smaller. She kept an image of herself as a human in her mind’s eye, not letting go or breaking her focus of that picture at any cost. Usually, transforming between shapes was as easy as riding a bike. It took less than a minute to do, and didn't require much, if any, thought.
While she was injured was another story. Her head hurt, her wings hurt, her entire body hurt. Tree branches were stuck inside of her skin like splinters, and there was a lot of blood. She couldn't see it all, but she could certainly smell it, and the scent alone made her nauseous. Mikko did not like blood. She wasn't sure what would happen with the trees inside of her, but she still had to try.
Shifting was brutal. Every muscle in her body burned like fire as she slowly shrunk in size. I must keep going. I will make it through this. The smaller she became, the easier it was. Cold air caused her to shiver and when she looked down, she saw hands and human skin. Branches and other debris surrounded her, and only a few small cuts and bruises remained of her injuries. She offered up a small prayer of gratitude to God for getting her through the whole thing.
A shout caught her attention. Mikko tried to lift her head to see what was going on, but another dizzy spell hit her at full force, causing her to fall down. She closed her eyes to try and relieve the sensation, and found it difficult to open them again. It wasn't long until she passed out.
Chapter Nineteen
Mikko was struggling with changing into her human shape. Ichitaca wouldn't have a lot of time to change into his dragon shape. As soon as he heard the hunters getting closer, he moved in front of her. He would do anything to protect Mikko from harm. Hunters didn't scare him in the slightest. He knew all of their tricks from talking to them and learning about their trade while on his visits into town. It was best to know his enemies.
The idea was to distract and intimidate the hunters while Mikko changed back into her human form. The hunters would be expecting one injured dragon, not two healthy ones. Ichi himself was a large dragon, but Teo's form made Ichi feel like he might as well have been a kitten. Teo might not have been able to fly, but he made up for his lack of wings in other ways. He was nearly three times the size of Ichi. Trees crushed under Teo's weight with ease as he transformed. Thick, heavy, brown scale-armor covered his body. Large spikes protruded at all angles from his back. His legs were short and stubby, his feet large and round with vicious looking talons. Finally, his face resembled a hammer with brown eyes in the center.
Ichi knew for a fact that hunters were a lot weaker in close-range combat. They attacked when they saw the dragons in the sky, felling the creatures with their weapons before gutting them when they got closer — often slowly. It was barbaric.
Sure enough, when the hunters arrived there was a cry of surprise and terror. Teo roared so loudly that even Ichi's ears hurt despite being altered from his dragon form. Sound filtered through his dragon ears differently.
Teo stomped forward, squashing a tree with his weight and scattering the group of twelve hunters. They drew their weapons, but with one swing of his head, Teo was able to disarm most of them by knocking them unconscious.
“If any of you can speak the dragon tongue, I suggest you leave or we will be forced to kill you all,” Ichi said. “Do not try to best us. You will not win.”
In his past encounters with hunters, he found they were easier to reason with than most people would think. Most saw the dragons as a threat to human life and killed the creatures out of protest because they didn't understand the mating rituals. There were a few who killed out of sport as well. Ichi hoped that if he o
ffered to spare their lives, the remaining hunters would collect their wounded and back off. Even better if he could change their hearts with his mercy. Maybe they wouldn't think of dragons as so evil if he could convince them of his goodness. Of course, one of the humans also had to understand the dragon tongue which wasn't a gift that everyone had. It was fast becoming a rare talent.
One of the hunters, a young man who appeared to be in his late twenties, started to back away. “Retreat and regroup!” he ordered.
There were five hunters remaining conscious. The small group might have been able to take on Ichi if he had been on his own, but not Teo. Ichi had no way of telling if the young man had understood his message, but he was relieved to not have to fight them. Violence wouldn't have solved anything. The last of the hunters hoisted their knocked-out teammates and dragged them away.
“And don't come back!” Teo shouted after them.
Ichi didn't waste any time. He rushed back to Mikko, who had passed out during all of the commotion. Not a good sign. She'd either lost too much blood or the arrows the hunters had attacked her with were poisoned. Neither was a good option. Once he was positive the hunters were out of sight, Ichi changed back into human form. He picked Mikko up carefully and examined her body. A few scratches were found, some bruising, and possibly a splinter or two, but nothing he would consider severe. What worried him was how pale her skin had become and the heat coming off of her.
He shook his head. “She has a fever. We need to bring her back to my place, now.”
Letting out a growl, Teo stomped over. “Put her on my back.”
“And lead them to my house?” Ichi asked, appalled. “It'll be faster to walk through the trees and not over them. Not to mention safer. It's not far, barely a mile. We can get her there in five minutes.” It would probably be a little longer, but he needed to calm Teo. The fewer complications they had to deal with, the better.
In the time it took for Ichi to lift Mikko into his arms, Teo had transformed back to human as well. His fists were still clenched, and his jaw still stiff. Silently, they rushed through the forest. Once they were back at his home, he laid Mikko on the couch. He covered her with a blanket and then went to raid the medicine cabinet in the bathroom to help with the fever.
“Please be here,” he pleaded quietly as he desperately searched for the bottle containing the antidote to the hunter's poison. He felt a small, round bottle plugged up with a cork. Pulling it out, he sighed with relief at the sight of the dark blue glass and the label reading “magine block”. Next he found a small needle and syringe. He set up the injection and rushed back to Mikko's side.
Teo held her hand, rubbing the top of it softly with his own. “She's going to be okay, right?”
“She should be. The good thing about the poison is that it takes a long time to actually kill. The purpose of it is to sedate and paralyze a dragon by attacking his… er… her magic. It's something the hunters developed about fifty or so years ago. Thankfully the antidote is easy to make,” Ichi explained. He carefully injected Mikko with the antidote. “It'll take a little while for her fever to go down.”
“But she's going to be okay.”
“Should be,” he repeated. “Nothing is certain, but the odds are in our favor.”
Ichi ran one of his hands through Mikko’s hair affectionately. “Let's get some rest.”
Chapter Twenty
“I sent you a present,” the blond man said.
Once more Mikko found herself in the park. Her mystery man was back, standing at her side. It was the closest she'd been to him in any of dreams. He offered her his arm. With some hesitation, she linked her arm with his, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
She glanced at him but couldn't look at him for long because he was so beautiful. If she continued to stare, she was positive she would become like putty.
“You sent me a present?” she asked, wanting to say something and have it resemble intelligence.
The man laughed. “Yes, I sent you a present. Did you get it?”
“I don't know. What was it?”
He shook his head. “If I told you, it would ruin the surprise.” Tilting his head to the side, he gazed at her for a moment. “You got it. I'm glad. It's important for me to show you what our relationship is all about. I heard somewhere women like that sort of thing, gifts, communication, the works. Don't worry, my next gesture will be even bigger.”
Finding her courage, she met his gaze with her own. His steely blue eyes were overwhelming and her breath caught in her throat. “I don't need grand gestures. I need answers. Who are you?”
“Lee.” He bowed. “It's a pleasure to be on a first name basis with you at last, Mikko. I'm excited to see you face to face some day as well.”
“You're real?”
“Aren't you?” He smirked. It was sexy.
She felt heat on her cheeks and faced away from him, not wanting him to realize how much she must have been blushing. Lee cupped her chin with one of his hands and forced her to look his way once more.
“Don't hide from me,” he said. “You're exquisite.”
Don't make an idiot of myself. Please don't! “I… thank you,” she managed.
Letting go of her, Lee walked ahead of her. His hands rose up high and she watched as the full moon turned red like blood. Lee's laughter filled the air as he brought his hands down again and put them into his pockets. “Don't you love it?”
“Love what?” she asked.
“Chaos.”
“There's nothing chaotic about this moment,” she said, stepping back. Something was wrong. I shouldn't have let him charm me.
He laughed louder. “And what's wrong with me that I shouldn't be allowed to charm you?”
Everything. Mikko shivered, and before she could answer a large gust pushed her away. She floated into the sky, and she didn't fight the wind as it carried her off into the stars.
****
Her eyes slowly fluttered open. Everything was blurry at first. After a few minutes, the room became clearer and she noticed she was inside of a house. An old one made of wood and stone, because the first things she saw were the large support beams on the ceiling and rustic interior decorating. Cute, she mused. She tried to sit up, but couldn't raise more than a few inches because of a pounding headache.
“Ugh.” She groaned and put a hand to her head.
Ichitaca came into her view point. “How do you feel?”
“Like I've been hit by a bus.”
He laughed, and she didn't know what was so funny. “Don't scowl at me. I'm just glad you're feeling things like pain. It means you're going to get better.”
“From?”
“The poison the hunters shot you with,” he said. “It's supposed to paralyze you and knock you out. There was a chance you might not have awakened again, or felt anything.”
She closed her eyes again and let out a soft sigh. “Hunters have poison?”
“They coat their arrows with it. Which sounds archaic, I know, but arrows penetrate our skin easier. They can fit between the scales better than bullets. As soon as the stuff gets in the bloodstream it takes effect. Bullets usually bounce right off our scales, and it's almost impossible to get close to us in dragon form, so melee weapons are off the list.”
“You know a lot about this,” she whispered.
“I have to.”
Mikko shook her head. “I didn't think hunters still existed. The last death from a hunter in Terran happened before I was even born.”
“You're in Aero. Everything is a little behind here in terms of progressing along with the times.”
“I don't get why Aero would hate dragons so much anyway,” she mumbled. “Your kind doesn’t 'eat' any of the women or take them from their homes. Nor do you do powerful political displays to gain advantage over the humans.”
Ichi exhaled slowly. “I don't understand it either. They tend to lurk deeper in the mountains because it's the only place they can get away with the
practice. I think there's some kind of an ancient religion, believe it or not, but I'm not well informed on the topic. Just bits and pieces I've picked up over the years. Half of the hunters I meet are irrationally angry and easy to teach the truth to. The other half thinks the whole thing is a game. The latter mentality scares me a lot more than the other.” He touched her hair. “Look, all that matters is you're okay and safe now. They won't hurt you here. What were you doing over this way anyway? I thought you were going back home to Terran.”
She opened her eyes and saw him smiling down at her. “I followed the wind.”
“Miss me that much already?”
“Someone told me to. I think it was God,” she whispered. “But yes, I did miss you as well. Are you saying you missed me?”
He shrugged. “You've left an impression.”
Somehow she managed a smile despite her fatigue. “Good to know, because the feeling is mutual.” She almost elaborated but instead held back.
A lot of her feelings she didn't quite understand just yet. She enjoyed Ichi's company. He made her feel a lot of new and strange things, which she enjoyed, but there were so many factors to weigh as well. The mystery man was one of them, she also wanted to get to know Ichi a bit better, and she was nervous about what he would think of her ultimate destiny. After all, she was the Great Dragon.
Some dragons thought of the Great Dragon as an ultimate divine being. If that's what she truly was, did she even deserve to have love in her life? Was love something that was even appropriate for her to want in the first place? Emotions seemed like they'd be such a distraction. I can't let him charm me. It happened in my dream and I almost lost myself to Lee. Something tells me that would have been a bad thing, no matter what kind of an attraction I have to him.
“Is something wrong?” Ichi asked. “You look kind of sad all of a sudden.”
She shook her head. “I am, but I'll be fine. There's a lot going on, a lot to absorb. I think I need to sleep more. It'll help me feel more coherent and understand more.”
Legend of the Great Dragon Page 10