by Amari A
Chapter 4
I woke up to the sun beating down on me. I raise my hand to cover my eyes and look over to see Brenden still asleep. And to top it off he was snoring at the top of his lungs. I grab my almost empty bottle and throw it at him. He moves a little, but he doesn’t awaken. I roll my eyes as I open my backpack to pull out the book of legends. I flip to the pages on the part that focuses on me and I still really don’t find out much. I look over at Brenden and he looks weird. His skin is becoming scaly, like he’s turning into his dragon form. I shake him and his eyes open and they look different as well.
“What’s going on with you?” I ask.
He blinks twice and his eyes go back to normal, but his skin stays scaly. “I don’t know.”
“You’re changing into your dragon form.”
“I can see that but I don’t know why.”
“Maybe we can find some answers today. Whatever it is it has to stem from the woods. It’s the only place you can pull something off without being noticed. And no one ever really comes out here except for us.”
“You’re right. Maybe we should check by the river. That’s what everyone’s connected to because we all drink from it.”
“I don’t,” I say.
“That’s because you drink bottled water. Which I hope that you know you’re going to have to give up.”
I roll my eyes. “I know.”
“Well let’s head to the river.”
“Okay.”
I pack my book back up and pick-up my almost empty water bottle and place it in my backpack. I didn’t want to leave a trail where someone could easily find us. We head through the woods with the sun beating down even harder on us. The trees start to get thicker and it becomes harder to push through but then we get to denser trees and I begin to hear water flowing. I was about to step out when a glimpse of color catches my eye. I stop and crouch down and Brenden does the same. There’s a man dressed in a black cloak with a golden dragon is standing beside him. The dragon is mumbling something to the man as he pours something into the water.
I look over at Brenden who looks over at me. What the heck is going on? I thought to myself. I look back towards the river and see that the dragon is staring in our direction. Can he see us? I wonder to myself. The dragon floats over towards us and I duck down even further.
“Who goes there?” asks the dragon.
We don’t say anything and just remain quiet.
“If you don’t say anything, I will light these trees on fire!” he bellows.
I look over at Brenden and he nods his head. He stands up from behind our hidden bush and I continue to peek. There was no need in both of us getting caught and since I was the princess it only made sense that he would give himself up.
“There is another one back there. A girl. Show yourself!”
I sigh. What kind of heroine gets caught on their first mission? The dumbest one in history. And how did this dragon even know I was back here? That particular bush is thick. He must have x-ray vision or something. I stand up and come face to face with the golden dragon.
“You don’t look surprised to see a dragon, so is it safe to assume that you two are dragons as well?” he asks.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say. I mean we were in the dragon world apparently this dragon wasn’t the sharpest one on the block. The chances of bumping into an actual human were slim to none.
“So I’m taking that as a yes,” he says.
He circles around me and begins to sniff me. “You are of royal descent. I can smell it in your blood.”
“Who? Me? No, I’m just your average teen dragon.”
His eyes turn fiery red. “You dare try to play me like a fool?”
I decide that my sarcasm and wittiness’ wasn’t going to get me out of this. So maybe scared teen girl who was about to pee her pants would. “Yes, I am the princess but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Really overrated, if you ask me.”
“So you’re the daughter of Gregor. You’re the chosen one?”
“I wouldn’t say chosen one. More like born into something I have no control over.”
He circles me again and then he starts to laugh. I become slightly offended. I mean sure I didn’t look intimidating but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t deadly. Okay, I wasn’t deadly either but he didn’t know that.
“So you’re the puny dragon that’s supposed to lead dragons into the new generation? You don’t even look as if you could lead yourself anywhere.”
I roll my eyes. This guy was just plain rude. Where did he get off talking to me like that? “Okay, so now that you’re done insulting me, can you tell me exactly who you are and what you’re doing?”
“I am Dom. One of the first dragons to be born. And I’m restoring order to the dragon world. We weren’t meant to walk around as humans. We were meant to be in our magnificent dragon forms.”
“But my dad said it’s safer this way.”
“Your dad is a weak king and should be ashamed of himself.”
I look at this dragon as if he’s lost his mind. Who was he to talk about my dad? The only person who talked about him was me and that, of course, was behind his back and most definitely out of earshot. “Because of my dad we have never been under attack! No danger has ever come to us. So he is far from a weak king.”
“You were out of danger until now and you are the dragons’ only hope. Which means that the dragons are in far more danger than I thought.”
Great. An old dragon who was more sarcastic than me. This day was off to a great start. “Look if you know so much, old, wise dragon, then why don’t you tell me what’s going on, because no one tells me anything.”
He looks at me and then looks to Brenden. “Alright you two, have a seat. This might take a while.”
Great, an old dude with a long story. Just what I need in my life.