Page 25 of The Exiled Dragon

Creed pulled my hand in the other direction, passing by large rock formations and a few trees that looked like willows that were completely out of place until we reached the bottom. A wide area with no trees stood before us. The grass-like vegetation was waist high with bursts of blue light jumping up and out to hover in midair. As we came closer, they would fall back into the grasses, never to be seen again.

I continued to watch as they jumped and fell. How could I have missed this while running? The heat of Creed’s stare was on my face until my eyes met his. The one side of his face that would smile showed a hint of fangs. I squealed, pointing. “Are you going to turn into the Dragon!?” My hood dipped lower on my face, covering it completely. The growling laugh tugged at my heart.

Creed pushed my hood back on my cloak. Backing up, he removed his vest and extra leathers until just his loincloth surrounded his waist. I blushed, putting my hands in front of my face. I’d seen him naked before, but just thinking about it gave me warm feelings in certain places.

I wasn’t completely naïve here. I knew my body reacted to him. The question was, did he want to react back to me one day? Could that even happen? He was like… a Dragon.

Creed walked paces away. Turning around, he pointed to his eyes, allowing me to watch him. I kept my eyes on him all right; who wouldn’t want to keep watching a muscle man standing out here in the middle of a meadow with little blue lights jumping up and down in the grass? It was a fantasy, a fantasy I would have never dreamed of. It was better than any scenario I could write, and I was the protagonist in the middle of it.

Taking a large breath, I continued to watch. He crouched lower, almost getting on one knee until large plumes of black smoke circled his body. Inside, sparks of lightning and glitter-like dust continued to form around him, getting larger and higher by the second. The dust was no longer forming, fading away quickly until a large head burst through the tallest plume.

An enormous roar came from rows and rows of sharp teeth. The top and bottom two stuck out from its face, sharp enough to rip any prey apart. Black scales swam over the Dragon’s entire body. When he moved, the scales shuffled, showing a crimson red underneath. The scales, black as onyx, sucked the light from the two suns. Nothing reflected off of this matte black Dragon.

Not only did the Dragon stand on four legs, but his wings had a set of three-fingered claws on its bat-like wings. This Dragon was fierce. I could never imagine another Dragon sizing up to Creed. Maybe that was why he was no longer with his tribe.

The gigantic Dragon’s head leaned forward, its snake-like neck curving majestically so one side of its eye could meet mine. Creed’s natural dark eyes with a hint of amber flickered back and forth from his dark fired ones.

Only one word could describe this Dragon, the same as Creed. Beautiful.

“Wow,” I muttered. One would only think to whisper in a face of a Dragon such as this. He could bite your head off in one clean bite. “You are huge!” was the statement I burst with. Slapping my hand over my mouth in embarrassment, the Dragon wielded his head back, blowing smoke and fire into the air. His laugh shook the ground, causing all the blue lights to flee from the area.

“I didn’t mean it like that! Just wow. I never thought I would see an actual Dragon, and not only that, the fiercest one I think I will ever see!” The Dragon purred, slithering its head down in front of mine, it tapped its forehead to my face, or tried to. He kind of just foreheaded my face.

“Such a majestic Dragon,” I cooed, rubbing underneath its jaw. More growls, purrs, and nudges for me to continue lasted several minutes. Not really minding giving the big animal attention, he backed away slowly. The massive claws scraped the ground, causing large lines into the now darkened soil.

The shorter legs backed up and lay on the ground. The Dragon’s face looked at me and the back of its neck. Not understanding, I cocked my head to the left. Snuffing out smoke onto its back, he looked at me again.

“You want me to get on?” I panicked. His long neck curved around my body, pulling me forward, nodding again. Finally touching his scales, they were warm, slick like silk. “I don’t know about this.” Humming came from his throat, urging me on. “Won’t drop me, will you?” Smoke blew in my face. I coughed, waving the smoke away.

“Yeah, yeah, I know you will protect me, Prince Charming.” I smiled, giving the Dragon a peck with my lips just under its eye. His eyes closed, and they took a moment to open. When they opened, Creed’s eyes stared back at me. “Do I get on now?” I whispered. The eyes flipped back to the Dragon, and without another word, I climbed on top.

Chapter Eighteen

Odessa

Mylegsgrippedtightlybetween the Dragon’s neck and shoulders, my arms wrapped around the base until he stood up at full height. I had never flown in a plane or been in a hot-air balloon, but surely it can’t be that different, right?

I was wrong, so wrong.

His leathery wings behind me moved up and down gracefully, pushing the air between him and the ground. Within a few thrusts of his wings, we were in the air as if we didn’t weigh anything.

Oh, and I screamed. I screamed a lot. My grip became enduringly tighter, and vibrations filled where my body was latched. A wave of calmness filled my body with those vibrations. This was Creed and his Dragon. Creed was in there too, and he would never let me fall. Soon my screams calmed down, noticing we had barely left the ground. We hovered a few more seconds until finally, he climbed into the sky.

The air was warmer here in the grasses at the base of the mountains. The stark difference between terrains here was unfathomable. The mountains were cold, ready for snow any day, while the fields were warm as spring. Taking flight, my hands unwrapped around the thick neck, sitting back with my palms against the scales, the heat beaming on my shoulders.

We reached high into the cloudless sky. I could see for miles around. The land seemed to go on forever. Who knew such a world like this could exist? That I could be stuck here with a magical Dragon? What would people on Earth say about this place? The air was pure; the land was clean from any garbage. Your life could be as simple as living in a cave or be like the Duke and live in a mansion.

I would pick the cave every time.

What other creatures lived here? Were there Werewolves, Mermaids, or Unicorns? I laughed out loud at that one.

Every girl’s fantasy novel was here, and it was here for me to revel in it. I could write stories upon stories of a place like this and not have to imagine one bit of scenery. My fingers itched to get back to a keyboard, but that was long gone. With my fingers tracing a Dragon’s scales, I didn’t seem to mind.

The Dragon continued to fly in one direction until a faint line of a tower and spire came into view in the distance. The haze sitting around the tallest bit of structure disappeared as we grew closer. A castle, it was a castle! I laughed. Of course, there would be a castle here. Why wouldn’t there be?

Flying lower, many creatures were running on the ground; many were animals, but what I saw made me hold my breath. Fairies, or larger things of the not-a-Fairy, ran through the trees until finally taking flight and flying near us. They were curious but not curious enough to come very close.

Their hair came in crazy colors and mostly worn long except for the two males. They were barely wearing anything, just enough to cover their nakedness. The women had long dresses, their wings were transparent, yet dark enough around their edges. Facial features, from afar at least, were pointed, small, and dainty.

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