Heatstroke Happens

Chapter 3

In the morning, I shrink the campsite, put it in my pouch, and continue my journey. Eventually, I get hungry, and as I wince, I realize that I haven't eaten since I ate the small camel yesterday. I glance around, spot a giant bear, and pounce on it. I land hard on its frail neck, and I feel it snap under my talons. I devour the bear, put the hide in my bag, wipe off my talons on the grass, and continue flying. Suddenly, someone tackles me in mid-air. I find myself suddenly falling towards the ground, and I growl and flip myself onto the other dragon's back so that I have the advantage and he gets pummeled into the ground. The other dragon lands hard on the ground, and I hop off his back and glance at him for the first time. He looks almost my age, maybe a little older. He has huge wings like a SkyWing, but his coloring's all wrong. He's really dark red, almost black, and I think, NightWing/SkyWing hybrid, maybe? But what would his name be? Surely not a NightWing name or a SkyWing name, but maybe a bit of both? He groans, and I decide to play the part of the tough guy. I growl, "Who are you? What do you want with me?" He gets to his feet, opens his eyes, and I think, Oh, wow. He has one blue eye and one green eye. He replies, "Um, I'm Everest." He staggers around for a moment, and finally, his two-colored gaze settles on me. I don't realize that I'm staring until he asks, "Why are you staring at me?" I stop staring and bark, "I'm asking the questions here! After all, you're the one that attacked me!" He looks confused. "Attacked you? You're trespassing in SkyWing territory!" I snort, "Yeah, no dip! I'm trying to pass through here, and I don't need stupid dragons attacking me!" I take off, but before I can continue, he grabs me by the back leg and asks, "Wait, what's your name?" I reply in a growl, "Heatstroke, and if you don't let go RIGHT NOW, I'll stab you with my tail barb." Everest lets go, holds up his talons, and tells me, "Alright, you don't need to be so grumpy!" I huff and continue flying, but I soon find myself glancing back at him, and he looks lonely and sad. A selfless part of my mind tells me, Heatstroke, I know you don't want to bring him along, but it's the right thing to do. A more selfish part of my mind argues, No, the RIGHT thing to do is to find your mother. The selfless says, Which is better, possibly fall in love, or find your mother who you don't even remember anything about? The selfish part of my mind goes silent, and the selfless part thinks smugly, See? As Everest walks away, I call, "You know, I could use a sidekick on my journey." He brightens and looks my way and asks, "Really?" I nod with a small smirk, and he gathers up stuff in a bag that he has in his talons, then flies up to me and states, "I'm ready." I pull out my map and look at it and see that we need to continue northeastward. I put it back and tell Everest, who is currently picking his teeth with a stick, "C'mon, we're goin' northeast." As the day progresses, I get more and more used to Everest, whose gentle demeanor is almost normal now. As it is night, Everest calls, "Alright, we'd better land and set up for the night." We land in another small clearing and Everest starts picking up sticks. I roll my eyes, tell him to get out of the way, and set the small structures on the ground. Everest starts to open his mouth, but I gesture for silence and spread my talons apart. The structures grow, and as usual, there's the campfire, but this time, there's two lean-to's. Everest is gaping like a fish, and as I walk by to pick out my lean-to, I close his jaw for him. He shakes his head and lays down in the other lean-to, and we just stare at the fire. After a while, I ask, "So, what's up with that dark red?" He replies, "Hybrid." I frown, and he explains, "My mother was a SkyWing and my father was a NightWing." I nod and look at the fire, feeling almost embarassed that I hadn't realized before. I think, How didn't I notice before? He replies, "I don't know either." I freeze and stare at him and ask, "How did you know what I was thinking?" He replies, "Your face said it loud and clear." I think, Not like you have NightWing powers? He sighs, "Hybrids don't usually have powers, but I am an exception." I think, So you can read minds? He replies, "Yes." I nod and think, I want to kiss you SO BAD right now because you have powers like me, but I'm not going to. He looks at me weird, and I think, Did you hear that? He nods guiltily, and I fantasize about bashing my head into the nearest boulder or running away. I think, You know that I'm an animus, then? He falls backwards off of the log he's sitting on, and before I can stop myself, I giggle. His head pops up and he grins widely at me. I stop giggling and smiling and scowl at him. He gets back on his log and tells me, "You know, you don't have to be so serious." I sigh heavily and think, We're going northeast because I need to find my mom, who's been captured by the SeaWings when she was living with the RainWings, so I need to be serious, because she could be in big trouble. He asks, "Really? The lazy Rain - " I glare at him, and he shuts up immediately. I glance around, see that it's midnight, and growl, "Go to sleep, we can talk in the morning." Everest snuggles down and tells me, "Good night, Heatstroke." I don't reply, but I think softly, Good night, Everest. He smiles and we fall asleep.