The Land of Angels

Part 9

Tons of signs were planted in the ground, all telling us to go back. We keep walking and the path disappears completely. We keep walking. But I feel like things are watching me. We start walking uphill. I'm puffed out WAY too soon.

There's a stream going down the mountain, Damien and I drink some water from it. 

"How much further." I complain for the first time this whole trip, my legs burn and I just want to sit down.

"Took you long enough to complain." He murmurs, "After this mountain we'll walk through a valley then up another hill, we'll camp there, then tomorrow we're heading through the forest."

I nod groaning internally but I push through. 

My legs give out and I fall to my knees, "I'm done, I can't do anymore."

"What happened to not slowing me down?" He asks amused.

"Just leave me here," I say dramatically, "I can't go on."

He rolls his eyes and picks me up firefighter style. He starts moving at a much faster pace then before. "I feel useless." I groan.

"Are you getting your period or something?" He asks, referring to my dramaticness.

"Oh I don't get a period." I say casually.

That makes him frown and his brow crease with concern, "You're 16 getting close to 17, shouldn't you have one by now?"

"I just don't have one, I won't ever." I say just knowing internally that I won't, it's weird just being 100 percent sure about something with no evidence, it's like knowing that when I close my eyes it's going to be dark.

"And how do you know that?" He asks.

I shrug not really, "I don't know, I just know I guess."

He keeps frowning but doesn't ask any further questions which is good because I can't really explain how I know. Around lunch time we get to the top of the mountain. The view is breathtaking. Forests and mountains covered in greenery with a frosty bite to the wind. The green reminds me of Damien's eyes. 

It's not too steep going down and there are breaks here and there. The mountain is covered in grass. I smile an idea popping into my head. I lie down and Damien asks, "What on earth are you doing?"

I start rolling down. I squeal in excitement. I stop about halfway through on a flat part of the mountain side. Damien is looking at me like I'm crazy. 

"Come on!" I call out. He shakes his head firmly, "Please?!" I yell at him. Yes I do realise we're in the mountains of monsters but I don't feel that unsafe right now.

I watch him sigh deeply and lie on his side rolling down. When he stops he's next to me, "A strange but effective way to get down." He says standing up brushing the dirt off of him.

"Plus it's fun." I add hooking my arm in his and walking down the mountain with him.

"Debatable." He mutters. I pretend not to notice that he doesn't pull my arm out of his. 

Up the top of the next mountain, which he also had to carry me up. It's snowing lightly up here, "Look a cave." I say pointing to a HUGE cave entrance only a few hundred yards away. 

I'm already walking as he says, "Bad idea, we don't know what lived in there."

"Well let's find out." I say.

"Mountains of MONSTERS Lyra, not mountain of friendly creatures that would be fine with you walking into their homes." He says following me despite it.

I walk inside ignoring him, curiosity getting the best of me, "Why am I following you?" I hear him ask himself.

"You can't help yourself." I say smirking at him.

He rolls his eyes at me. There's a HUGE gaping hole in the ground. Like by huge I mean GINORMOUS.

"Whatever lives in that hole is not going to be good Lyra, let's just leave before anything bad happens." Damien says to me looking concerned. 

I hear something down from deep in the hole. Huge gusts of wind come up from the hole. Then slowly but gracefully a dragon comes up. Gorgeous, green and purple shiny scales run along it's body with the biggest wings even imaginable. It's tail is long and spiked. 

We both quickly step back from the hole so the dragon can land on the spot where we were standing. I only then realise how tall and wide this case is, enough so it can stand on two of it's legs. He slowly leans forward placing his front two talons near us lowering his head which is attached to his long neck down to be face height with us.

"Ok i think it's time to run." I hear Damien whisper in shock. I do something not even I thought it's do and step forward towards the creature, "What are you doing,? Let's go."

I put a hand forward and it brings the spot in between his eyes and nose. Purple and black metalic eyes stare into mine. His skin is scaly but also soft and smooth. His long neck extends an enormous amount and he grabs something in his mouth from a side path of the cave. His head retracts into itself. He's holding a big stack of hay in his mouth, he puts them down against the wall in the cave. He pats it down with his chin and his head goes back to wherever it got the hall from and returns with two large blankets in his mouth. He places them down on the hay as best he can. 

He gestures with his head from us towards the bed type thing he just made. 

"Thank you." I say softly giving him a gentle kiss. 

He slowly flies across the other side of the hole and lies down, he's in the darkness but you can see his outline.

"What was that?" Damien asks. 

I shrug not sure myself and suggest, "My people skills?"

"Do you realise you're the first person to see a dragon in hundred of years, the first HUMAN to ever see one and probably the only thing apart from the angels to befriend one?" He asks gobsmacked. Even his normally stone cold face is showing it.

"Well we should be grateful shouldn't we?" I ask, "We just got a place to stay for the night."

He silently walks towards the bed still in shock. He pulls out some food from his bag and passes it to me and eats some himself. We're not eating like kings and queens but we'll live on the amount we're having.

"What are you?" He whispers staring at me through the dark. The only light in the cave is the dim lighting the moon is providing. I look a him, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight, I just shrug in response. "You're not human are you?" He asks.

"I'm not sure." I whisper back not really knowing who I am anymore. My whole I've tried to convince myself nothing was weird about me. I'm probably being ridiculous, my teachers used to tell me none of us were special and we'd be dead in less than a hundred years. That didn't always feel right. 

I lie down in the bed next to him and close my eyes a warm tingly feeling inside makes me feel safe. It's happened every time we touch.