Page 21 of The Exiled Dragon

To appease the elders, my stepfather told my mother I couldn't go to the primary gathering school held a few days a week to learn history and writing. My mother, being a stubborn woman and wanting me to learn, taught me completely different symbols but had the same sounds.

"What I am teaching you cannot be repeated, do you understand, Creed?" My mother hovered over the parchment, several letters were written in significant, bold type. It was different from what Adam would come home with. This seemed much more straightforward, and easier to understand.

"Yes, Mother." I picked up my quill, dipping it into the darkened ink.

"Not even my mate, do you understand?" I nodded my head again, concentrating heavily. I wanted to please my mother, and she deemed this important. Not only reading but numbers, hunting, making things from scratch such as baskets, and scraping leathers to make cloth. I enjoyed every moment with her and completed my duties with a happy song. Mother always gave me the attention I wanted; she was the only person in the entire tribe who cared for me. Not because I was just her son, but because I was innocent in all the terrible things that had happened to her. It was just an unfortunate outcome. Mother made it known it was not my fault, that I was just the product of something terrible, but I was a blessing from the gods themselves. She conceived me even though she was not the mate of her attacker. It was infrequent for such an occurrence to happen.

Even with Mother’s blessing to learn everyday activities that the women usually partook in, I was made fun of when Adam came home from his studies. He even asked when I was to lay my first egg. Anger would fill me; the 'non-existent' Dragon hiding in my soul would even stir. I dared not tell a single Dragon, even Mother, that I felt him for fear I would cast out even further than I already was.

Mother hummed and rubbed my back once I created my first word after listening to all the sounds each 'letter' made.

Creed.

"This is perfect, Creed. You just wrote your name in writing called 'English.' It is from another realm but has the same sounds as we do in our Dragon tongue. Just different symbols."

My eyes grew wide. "Another realm? What is it like there?" My curiosity became the best of me as I listened intently. My hand gripped the quill causing it to break.

"Long ago, Dragons used to live in a place called Earth," my mother began. "These Dragons were eventually hunted, killed for the hide and their hordes of treasure. Humans didn't understand that we were just like them, had families, loved, and cared for one another. We were seen as monsters. Until one day, the gods made this realm, Bergarian. Our land is cared for here, the sky is clear, the world is untarnished by the wicked ways some humans abuse their world."

"Mother, why did the gods let the humans live if they are so evil?" Mother tutted, picking up a clean piece of parchment.

"Not all humans are evil; one evil human can outshine even the purest of souls. One day, I believe that humans will be able to step over to this world, step over the barrier that Witches and Warlocks have shielded to protect us. One day we will be in harmony; the purest of humans will be granted entrance and be gifted with something special." Mother's hand patted my unruly black hair. "That is why I think it is important that you learn this. I feel like you need this." Mother clutched her chest to her dress tunic. Tears welled in her eyes.

Smiling at my mother, I continued my studies with her. Each day we practiced 'English writing.' In contrast, Adam and Dragons my age practiced the Dragon's symbols, history, and ways of the elders. I wanted to please my mother, but more importantly, I had hoped to use this language one day and see if my mother said it was true. That humans would come here, the purest ones, and mingle with the supernaturals that didn't fit in at all. Writing to them if they could not hear well from one of the many ailments humans could catch with their weak bodies.

Little did I know, it would be me that could not use my voice.

Once my mother died, I stopped practicing. I began to lose what I had learned—losing hope that I would ever have a companion Dragon or some other creature. Now that Odessa was here, I could understand why my mother wanted me to learn. She knew something I didn't; maybe she saw I needed a skill like this in a dream. This was how I would communicate with Odessa until I could fix my voice, so she could hear me and not the strain of my Dragon's cords on my own ruined ones.

"And that's the whole Alphabet!" Odessa smiled, holding up the long piece of old leather. Her handwriting was perfect, more so than my mother's. Many letters looked familiar to me, and I knew the sounds. Odessa would find me intelligent since I had told her I never learned to read or write. I didn't learn to read or write in Dragon symbols, but she didn't need to know that. Not yet anyway.

Chapter Fifteen

Odessa

“Wewillleaveitright here!” I took two large pins, attached thicker pieces of leather to make clothes, and pinned the row of letters next to the table. Once you looked up from the table, it sat nicely on the cave wall. I smiled. It was the first thing I’d been proud of since entering this dank world. Soon I could read Creed’s writing and have more of a conversation with him rather than me talking one-sidedly. It only took Creed a few hours to go through every letter, listening to me make the sound. He listened contentedly, one hand on my leg as he watched me move my lips.

Fluffy nuzzled my leg; now that I had been with him several days, his face was less scary than when I first met him. His little mushroom type of nose was dark, damp, and warm. He laid his head right in my lap, and I petted the unruly hair between his eyes. “What is this animal?” I wondered aloud. There are so many animals here that I do not know what they are. Fluffy looks like a cross between a cat and a dog from where I am from. One animal is independent, and the other is bent on pleasing you, making you the center of its world. “So, what is it? What kind of animal is this? Cat?” Creed shook his head, his hand messing with the string tying a small rope around a sharpened arrowhead. “A dog?” Creed shook his head again; the slight slip of a smile took his compelling face. He really was handsome.

I scratched my cheek, looking at Fluffy again. Its tail wagged in a cat-like fashion, swaying slowly. My brow furrowed, wondering until Creed took a loose piece of leather and scratched a name. My mouth opened wide, him looking at the different letters that I had created on the side of the cave wall. “W-A-L-O-W,” I spoke aloud. Did he just spell a word? Brawn and brains? I hit the motherload!

“Walow?” Creed nodded. My nose rubbed with the walow’s. I pronounced the creature’s name again under my breath. Creed was learning so fast; I was so proud. It was either my excellent teaching skills, or he had had some sort of teaching before some time ago. I spent many years tutoring children online, and he knew as much as a fourth or fifth grader in a short amount of time.

“Aren’t you a cute little walow!” I cooed as it nuzzled back into my cheek while I laughed. I heard the growling in Creed’s chest across the table. I stopped rubbing Fluffy to hear him moving out of his large chair. Creed then stood up and scooped me up in his arms. “Hey, what’s wrong!?” Purring in his chest tickled my body.

Creed, cradling me like a baby, took me behind the cloth where my ‘old room’ was. “No, no! I won’t play with the Walow anymore!” He would not put me in time out, would he?

My mind raced until he had me stand, leaning next to the wall near the steaming water. Creed’s vest came off first, his pants following; I covered my eyes and let a squeal escape. Fluffy came in and was quickly shooed out by Creed. A large growl echoed into the cave while Fluffy stood near the makeshift door. He whined, running out with a tail between his legs. The growl ceased, and Creed’s small scowl softened. Looking at me, he pointed to the water and made a washing motion with his hands in his hair.

Oh boy, a bath?

Creed had stripped his clothes; I’m pretty sure he had muscles on top of muscles because his backside was not that bad to look at. Before he caught me, I covered my eyes again, only to peek through my thin fingers. He saw me. The sly Dragon saw me; the rumble in his chest was the confirmation as he stepped into the water. Was he expecting me to bathe now? With him?

Creed’s hand was held out, and the other pointed to my clothes to be removed. I was not undressing in front of him. He may have seen me naked once, but that was unavoidable; he couldn’t see me like this! Being unconscious and naked was different from being conscious and naked. Oh, they both sound bad.

“No!” I crossed my arms, leaning on the cave wall. His mouth pursed into a thin line. “You will see me naked!” His shoulders shrugged, and his arms reached behind his head, only showing off his biceps and chest muscles. He was slightly hairy, not grossly so; he had that rough look that I really liked. I may or may not have dreamed of running my fingers through his long hair, not to mention his beard, while we slept.

For shame, I thought about my rescuer in such a way.

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