A Tale of Dragons

Chapter 08 - Missing

"The dragon's close, George." Nigel whispered trying to keep upright whilst leaning on George's shoulder.

"How much further?" George asked.

"Not much."

The wind started to pick up a bit making the night feel even colder than it was. What little body heat the two had managed to produce was quickly swept away by the breeze. The night has gotten very dark and it was getting increasingly harder to see what was in front of them. The small fireflies danced around them as George dragged Nigel through plants that scraped against their arms and legs.

"It's close." Nigel mumbled. "It's close."

The sound of multiple branches breaking alerted the pair to look up and see that the emerald coloured dragon was a mere arms length in front of them.

"There it is!" Nigel beamed relaxing a bit knowing that one of the three dragons had been found.

The dragon bent down to Nigel's height and nuzzled against his body.

"Hey now," Nigel joked. "Be careful!"

Something much smaller began to rustle in the brush behind the dragon. Almost as it it was a person.

Nigel called out hoping it was who he thought it was.

"Max?"

----

Just as he thought, Max had heard Nigel's voice. He stumbled forward through the brush and nearly fell into Nigel who had slung his arm over George's shoulder.

"Oh my God! Nigel are you hurt?!" Max exclaimed seeing how banged up he looked.

"I'm alright, I'm alright." He assured Max. "I just got a little tossed around on the way down. Are you okay? Where's Alyssa?" Nigel coughed suddenly.

"I left her back in a clearing. She's okay. She's safe." Max continued.

"How do you know she's safe?" George asked, wondering how Max could be so sure of something.

"I left her with the dragons, that's how I know."

George smiled and Max looked up at the emerald dragon that had wandered with him, leading him to George and Nigel.

Nigel started to cough again.

"Are you sure you're okay Nigel?" Max pressed harder, beginning to think that he was hurt more than just a little.

Nigel nodded his head as George began to realise that Nigel was pulling him down more than he had been a few seconds ago.

"No he's not." George said quickly lowering Nigel down to the moss-grown ground. "He's living on some borrowed time is what it seems."

"No..." Nigel started. "I'm okay really. I'm just...just a little tired."

"You were dead Nigel. You're not fine, you never were. Stop pretending to be okay."

Max looked up, thinking he hadn't heard properly.

"Y-You mean to say a-as if, Nigel had died?"

Not taking his eyes off of Nigel who was now laying down wheezing, George nodded his head.

"Something gave him a second chance," he began. "And now, I think he's used up that chance. We've got to get him to a hospital Max, and fast."

George motioned for Max to help lift Nigel up. They were going to put him on the dragon, find Alyssa with the other two dragons, then get the hell out of the forest.

----

With George riding behind Nigel to make sure he would be kept steady, Max guided the dragon back through the forest to Alyssa. The path wasn't hard to find considering the dragon had stomped through the plants and trees half the way. The other half, Max remembered from memory.

They had to hurry. Nigel's condition was worsening. Although they didn't know it, it was becoming substantially harder for Nigel to breathe. The few broken ribs that he had sustained were pressing hard on his lungs. Not only was this causing Nigel to wheeze, it also had supplied him with an enormous amount of pain. Every step the dragon took shook Nigel and George. Not a lot, but just enough to hurt Nigel more and more the further along they went.

By the time they even reached the clearing, Nigel's body had decided that the pain he was experiencing was too much, and had ultimately resulted him into unconsciousness. George held Nigel steady on the dragon, fighting back tears in his eyes that were sure to flow very soon. His best friend, the one person in the world that could make him feel better was laying limp in his arms. And the worst part of it all was that George couldn't do a thing too help.

Max pushed through the weeds into the clearing first.

"Oh, sh-" he almost cursed.

"What?" George asked thinking that they had had somehow gone off course and ended up in a completely wrong clearing.

The dragon followed Max through the tree-line into an empty clearing. George saw Max standing in the middle with his hands on either side of his head.

"Let's just retrace our steps!" George shouted from on top of the dragon.

"We-We can't do that George."

George let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Why not?" He asked knowing Nigel needed to get medical attention soon.

"Because George. We are in the right place. Alyssa and the dragons just aren't here anymore."