Bug
Above is Bug's whole outfit, just add goggles on their head, a messenger bag, a sword on their hip, and an olive green bandana around their neck.
Bug walked to the outskirts of her village, gripping the strap to her messenger bag. She glanced over her shoulder at the village, the children running around, chasing each other. The families watching them. The old folks sitting outside their huts, smiling kindly.
She turned her attention to the desert. Bug walked over to a bush, crouching behind it so no one would see her. Or the dragon that was hiding in it.
"Psst! Cactus!" Bug whispered in dragon. She'd picked it up after having Cactus since she was eight. Well she technically didn't own him, since she found his egg one night.
A moment later, a sand-dragon with splotches of brown around his scales appeared. He was clearly shorter than the sand-dragons Bug had seen fly over her village. He was four feet taller than her, but the other sand-dragons were way taller than Cactus.
Cactus bent his neck so Bug could touch her forehead with his. She did that to reassure it was her, since no one else would touch foreheads with a dragon.
"Here." Bug reached into her messenger bag, and pulled out a cooked lizard. After watching what Cactus ate and did, he didn't need to eat too often, but when he did, it was usually a lizard or some other form of meat.
Cactus carefully grabbed it with his teeth out of Bug's hands, careful not to bite her.
"C'mon, I've got everything, we're leaving." Bug said in a cheerful but fierce voice. Which was easy, since the dragons language was mainly roars and growls.
Cactus crouched low enough for Bug to get on his back. She'd tied a rope around his neck so she wouldn't fall off when he flew or ran. It was tight enough so it wouldn't come undone, but loose enough so he wouldn't feel choked.
He looked over his shoulder at Bug to tell him where to go.
"Fly over the desert," Bug pointed to the sky. "We'll decide where to go from the on."
Cactus flew off into the sky, Bug pulling her bandana over her mouth. It was now just a thirteen-year-old girl who wanted to know more about dragons, and a sand-dragon who was around the same age as her.
Bug looked down the sand, there was an occasional palm tree here and there, a few sand-dragons flying lower than them. It was more peaceful than her village ever was. Imagine that, a dragon was more calm than a village with people.
"And the say all dragons are man-eaters . . ." Bug shook her head with a smile. Cactus was more understanding than Bug's grandmother. He didn't judge her for anything. There wasn't a thing Bug missed already. Her grandfather was an alcoholic, and her grandmother wasn't always around, since she was somehow a dragonmancer. But when she was, she was distant.
Bug inhaled the fresh air, looking up at the two crescent moons in the sky. She glanced back to see her village getting further and further from them.
Goodbye forever! Bug thought happily. She was off to live her dream to see real dragons. Not study like dragonmancer's did. She'd only ever seen drawings of the dragons, but those could look nothing like the real ones. The only one they got half right was the sand-dragon.
Bug spotted a hut down in the sand, surrounded by palm trees.
"Down there." Bug pointed down at the hut.
Cactus dived down, careful to keep Bug safe on his back. He landed beside the hut, lifting his head to look through a hole.
Bug stood on his back to see inside. No one was in it? There was a fire pit, surrounded by rocks with wood in the center. A bed on the floor. And bookshelf beside a table. Bug jumped off Cactus' back, creeping inside the hut. The fire pit looked as though it'd been out for awhile.
"It's safe?" Cactus asked in human as he stood behind Bug.
Bug realized it looked like whoever lived here before, left in a hurry. There were a few papers around the table. The bookshelf was empty, unless the one book on the floor next to it counted. The blanket on the bed was pushed back.
Bug shrugged. "It looks like no one's been here for awhile . . ." She picked up one of the papers, which happened to be blank. "We'll stay for the night." She added in dragon.
She lay on the bed, taking off her goggles as Cactus lay behind her, putting his wing around her at her feet. She couldn't ask for a better dragon. She was glad she ended up with the yellow-and-brown sand-dragon than any other kind. Though, one thing she still couldn't figure out, was why was he so small?
Bug shook her head, Cactus was perfect in her eyes. Not some man-eating, village-destroying, family-wrecking, monster. But, she'd prove not all dragons were bad.
I count on it. Was her last thought before drifting off to sleep.
Bug was jolted awake by someone prodding her side. She squinted, adjusting her eyes to the sunrise peeking through the window. She realized it was Cactus who was trying to wake her.
"Huh . . . ?" Bug murmured, sitting up.
Cactus pointed his wing at a group of sand-dragons, standing not far from the hut. As Bug squinted, she realized there were two sky-dragons in armor.
Bug raised her finger slowly to her lips, climbing onto Cactus' back. He crept to the other side of the hut before taking off into the sky. She pulled her bandana over her mouth, glancing back to see the dragons now making their way towards the hut. She glanced back again, letting out the breath she didn't know she was holding as she realized they hadn't seen them yet.
"Thanks for waking me up, we didn't get caught." Bug praised. "Let's see if we can get to The Indestructible City, eh?" They flew for hours and hours, taking breaks here and there for Cactus to rest as Bug examined the map, adding any details around them she could onto it.
Bug folded the map back into her messenger bag. She was sitting with her back against the sleeping Cactus. About an hour flight until The Indestructible City. With an added thirty or forty minute break for Cactus.
She ran her hand against his scales, one of them falling into her hand. She held it up to her eye, it was the same sandy color, but with a few speckles of brown. Odd. She shrugged, carefully placing it in her pocket. She honestly thought it looked to neat to get rid of.
"C'mon big guy," Bug stood up, dusting the sand off her trousers and hands. "We wanna get there before moonrise."
Cactus lifted his head, shaking the sand off his jaw before standing up. He crouched down for Bug to get on, then looked back at her for her to tell him where to go.
"Straight ahead." Bug pointed in front of them. Cactus nodded, lunging into the sky. He seemed to understand they were pretty close, since he was flying faster than usual, which was helpful for the both of them. Since Bug needed more food and water, and maybe she could find something to feed to Cactus.
An hour'd passed, and Bug had guided Cactus down in a forest to hide him. Since APPARENTLY, people would go into a terrified frenzy if they saw a dragon.
"Alright, stay here." Bug explained, hopping off of Cactus' back. She glanced over her shoulder as she walked over to the dome, seeing Cactus hide himself behind a few thick trees and bushes.
She looked back and was met with a crowd of people in a long line. Maybe there's a way to sneak in without waiting. Bug crossed her arms, shifting her weight to her left foot. There was a family of what looked like five, each wearing dark and torn clothing. But they'd surely notice a sixth kid, who was shorter than the rest.
I'll just check and see how long the line really is. Bug decided, walking past everyone towards the front, earning a few glares from the people who'd looked like they waited for months.
"Sorry, sorry, just seeing how long the wait is." Bug apologized, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. It was about thirty minutes of passing families bigger than her own, people in tents, and one girl arguing with a young-looking boy with a cat the size of a tiger cub. She wasn't looking where she was going, and bumped into someone an inch taller.
"Moons above . . ." Bug whispered, standing upright to see a girl around Bug's age. She had shoulder length brown hair, dyed into spruce at the end. Wearing a grey tunic and black pants, with a green backpack on.
"Never seen you before." The girl said, turning around to face Bug. "Have you ever lived anywhere around here?"
"I don't . . . Want to tell you that." Bug grumbled. "I'm just seeing how long the line is." She pointed to the front of the line. "And I'll head to the back if I want to go in and get food and water."
"It's easier if you just traded here if you wanted to get something." She pointed out. "But it doesn't look like you've got much."
Bug reached under her poncho and into her messenger, fishing around until she grabbed a pouch of silver coins. She threw it up a short height as if to show it off in a "see? I'm not some random kid who didn't think out her running away plan. So shove that up your nose" way.
"I saw a family of four down there somewhere," The girl pointed around Bug. "They're living in a tent at the moment, and they have things for trade."
Bug nodded, turning around to find the family. She passed the girl and the boy with the massive cat, chuckling again. Though, she realized the kid had two guards with spiky armor, like thorns almost.
Either rich or extremely bratty and they're trying to get him away. Bug shrugged. Or both. She stopped at the family the girl had told her about.
"Come for trading, I hope?" A woman asked, peeking her head out of her tent. She stood up to her full height, looking expectantly at Bug. A boy who looked no older than ten was sitting in front of the tent, she hadn't realized since he was wearing the same green as the tent.
"Yes, do you have any food, and a canteen?" Bug thought for a moment. "And maybe a box of matches?" She watched as the woman ducked inside the tent, another woman coming back from the end of the line, carrying a small pouch that jingled.
The woman returned, holding out the items Bug asked for. "What do you have for trade?"
Bug held up her pouch of silver coins. "Would this be enough? There's about sixty or so in this."
The woman thought for a moment. "How about forty for all of this?" She suggested. Bug handed the woman forty of the silver coins, as the woman handed bug her items.
"I already added some fresh water in case you wouldn't be able to find any." The woman added as she went back inside the tent, the other woman and the boy following.
"Thank you." Bug murmured, putting the items in her messenger bag. That was all she really needed. She head back to where Cactus was.
Hopefully I wasn't gone too long. But thought, jogging to where Cactus was hiding. "Hey buddy." Bug greeted, scratching behind Cactus' ear. "I didn't need to go in, but I got food, water, and a box of matches."
"What for?" Cactus asked, tilting his head. Bug realized he was talking about the box of matches.
"Just in case." Bug shrugged. "Never know when they'll come in handy." She climbed onto Cactus' back, taking the map out of her messenger bag. She'd gotten the map from her older brother Paw before he left their village. He was a wingwatcher who traveled. So the map was more detailed than having "Here be dragons" in random spots of the continent.
Mudlands . . . Bug traced her finger to where they were, deciphering how long it would take to get there. She folded the map before putting it in her messenger bag. She pulled her bandana over her mouth, pointing to the right as Cactus flew off. It wasn't as hot as it was when they flew in the desert, so it was more bearable for Bug. Though, she wasn't sure if sand-dragons needed constant heat on their scales, since her village was in the desert, with an oasis nearby.
Here I come, mud-dragons. Bug thought, pulling her goggles down to help block the sun.
2190 words.
