Page 3 of Bitten in the Wild

“Wildlings?” I asked.

“You are familiar with the concept of dragons who do not shift into humans, correct?” Cevin asked.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Good. Are you familiar with their shifting children?”

“I’ve heard of rare occurrences.”

“Rare isn’t the word I’d use. It probably happens at least once in every five hundred or so clutches,” Cevin said, smirking. “I was an egg in such a clutch. Still visit my parents every Sunday for brunch. Wildings have special rights. We’re considered Starscales. We are Starscales because we’re born with the star shaped scales on our chests.”

“I see that,” I nodded at the light blue scale on his chest.

“Good. Your eyes are working,” Bluing laughed, and Cevin rolled his eyes at his mate.

“While most wildlings do venture out into the towns while they’re young and many even attend schools we don’t always grow up and decide to live within the towns. We have the right to nest where others don’t. You couldn’t go out in the mushie forest and build a nest. I can. I was born out there. I don’t, but I can. Some do. We have one wildling in this part of the forest. He’s about a hundred now. Mostly keeps to himself. Just don’t goclimbing into strange nests. If he eats you, it’s your fault by flight law for trespassing just as if a wild dragon ate you. If it looks like someone left a belonging somewhere on purpose, don’t bother it. It’s probably his. He can do that by his birthright.”

“Understood,” I nodded more curious than ever. “Probably fifty years ago now a wolf was born like that. At least, that was the last time I heard about something such as this occurring.”

“Well, you’re not on Earthside anymore, baby,” Bluing laughed, and Cevin pinched his knee.

“Don’t call him baby,” he said to his mate, sliding off the desk before turning his attention to me. “If you don’t have any questions, I need to show him who he belongs to.”

Before I could say anything, he started undoing his alpha’s fly. I excused myself from the cabin before I got a purple district experience out on the edge of the mushie forest. My dragon chuckled, but both of the guys inside the cabin rubbed me the wrong way. Perhaps it was the culture back home that left me with ruffled scales, but that’s not how any of us would have treated a visiting researcher.

“Don’t take it seriously. We’re a novelty to them. Wait ten years and they’ll get over it,”my dragon chimed into my thoughts as I headed into the forest. Right away I passed two dragons stretched out on their backs staring up into the canopy of the tall trees.

“I think I can feel your knees,” one said to the other.

“Don’t touch them then,” the other one giggled.

“NO! I feel them on my knees! I think we traded knees!”

“I didn’t agree to that! Why are you stealing my knees?” the giggler giggled on.

I walked past them quickly so that they might resolve the case of the switched knees in peace and privacy. My dragon twisted around in his inner sanctum, wanting to return andfigure out the conflict, but I had other things to do. So, we got on with them, doing our best to avoid other dragons.

Soon enough I stumbled upon an empty trail. It was a dirt path through the forest, most likely beaten down by dragon tails to keep it clean and flat. On either side, rainbow-colored flowers loomed over their edges. I squatted to examine the ombre petals and that’s when I noticed the mushies growing around the stems of the flowers. They were just as brightly colored as the flowers as if they developed a matching color scheme to camouflage against predators. I grabbed a few and dropped them into one of the specimen jars and made a few quick notes on the label about where they came from before wandering further down the path. Soon the flowers that loomed and leaned over the path gave way to what could only be described as their version of a sunflower. They were as purple as those back home on Earthside were yellow. The mushies were sparser around their stems. Still, I collected a few before the sunflowers gave way to the tall trees that seemed to have been planted youngest to oldest as the beaten dirt path led on.

I stopped to watch a chipmunk looking creature with purple streaks down its back shove seeds into his stretchy cheeks until he looked comically chonky. He glanced up and a second later a shadow passed over us. A shadow falling from the sky wasn’t an unfamiliar experience on Starscale 1. The dragons here took to the skies more than life ever allowed for on Earthside. Flying was the most convenient form of transportation and kept everyone active. It was healer approved, even by this healer.

I glanced up, squinting against the bright afternoon sunlight. The dragon flying overhead was probably around a hundred years old given their size. I couldn’t make out all their features, but they had dark belly scales. When my gaze fell back to the ground, the chipmunk, his purple stripes, and his seeds were gone. It was just as well. No hunting was allowed in themushie forest, and it was best not to tempt my dragon with an already stuffed dish.

Following the winding path, I collected whatever mushrooms looked the most interesting, keeping my eyes and nose open for any wild dragons my mere presence might tick off. Eventually the beaten path ended at a cliff wall, forcing me to venture deeper into the forest if I wanted to keep tracking them down.

The cliff wall was as good a spot as any to stop for a snack before my inner beast really decided to chow down on some poor unsuspecting rodent. I found a nice flat sunning rock and after sniffing around for company, I sat down and pulled my sandwich out of my bag.

Another shadow crossed overhead. At a quick glance, I was almost positive that it was the same dragon as before. I took a bite of my sandwich, ‘pig and cheese’ as they called it here, and watched the dragon in the sky circle lower. He flew in loops as if surveying a territory. For a second, I wondered if he were the wildling but wild dragons did that too. They were not always welcoming to those passing through their territories.

“Can’t tell either,”my inner beast chimed into my thoughts.“Could be either. If he gets much closer, let’s go, unless you want to fight him.”

I didn’t want to fight any wild dragon. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of the laws here, but morally I was opposed to harming any wild thing you didn’t plan to eat unless it was one hundred percent necessary. We all came from wild dragons in the Other World after all. Who knew what ways the future was irreversibly altered when someone slew a wild dragon. What sort of karmic justice followed such an act? That wasn’t a question I’d answer in this lifetime, but I chewed it over as I ate my sandwich and kept an eye on the circling dragon.

A splashing sounded to my right, in the distance. I sniffed the air. There was definitely a body of water nearby. There had to be in these woods – so lush and blooming. Only water and sunlight made plants grow as thick and luxurious as the ones I’d encountered in the mushie forest so far.

“Maybe he’s fishing,”my dragon chuckled, but the wild beast was nowhere in sight.

Curious to discover more of the native wildlife, I packed away my half-eaten sandwich and headed into the trees. Not counting the wild dragons there wasn’t much to be cautious of. The leaves rubbed against my bare arms and chest. They were so green they nearly matched the star-shaped scale of my chest perfectly or maybe I was the one who matched them. The fly-by dragon was nowhere in sight and the canopy grew thicker and lower as I inched my way toward the sound of splashing. It was hard not to step on the mushies that seemed to grow in thick, dense patches the closer I walked toward the water.

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