Dragon Wing

Chapter Nine

The air had chilled over the course of the night. Staring at the sky, I looked up to see the sun in the middle of its course across the bright blue heavens. Great! We slept in!

"Get up Sabrina," I said, my voice having a bit of an edge. Sleep had been hard to come by, although that had become a common trend with me lately.

"What?" she responded sleepily.

"We're going to have to pick up the pace a bit today. There's a lot of ground to cover," I replied, although with a kinder tone. I shouldn't lash out on her because of my insomnia. She wasn't much of a morning person.

Sabrina gave me a tired look, but slowly got up and started rummaging through the small pack she had brought. Bringing out the leftovers from the night before, we began to eat.

Choosing a piece of bread , I started thinking about faster traveling routes. Sabrina was quiet as well, deep in her own thoughts. It wasn't an awkward silence, but a comfortable one. I took a sip from my canteen of water, then screwed on the lid and put it in my bag.

After Sabrina finished breakfast, we headed North to continue the journey. Every step took me one step closer to my destiny.

* > * < *

We had walked for over an hour. The trees blurred together in a mix of dark and light greens, with splashes of brown, as we got deeper into the forest. The only way to tell where one tree started and ended was by the small pockets of space between them.

It was suffocating.

Occasionally, a bird would sing its beautiful song or a wolf would howl, but otherwise the woods were still and quiet. If it weren't for a slight breeze blowing, I would have thought that we were lost in time, frozen in this one spot.

I looked up towards the sky, which was obscured by leaves, and felt a pang of sadness. I could be flying up there with the dragons. I wonder how they are...maybe they're looking for me...

I tore my gaze away and cleared the strands of thought. There's no time for that. Remember, it's for the best. I seemed to say those four words all the time, but I didn't know who I was reassuring anymore. Certainly not myself.

I decided to turn my attention to my friend instead of memories. Sabrina, surprisingly, wasn't struggling with the trip. The look in her eyes was similar to mine; she had a purpose. I wonder what it is...

* > * < *

"Alright. According to this map, the waterfall should be around here somewhere," I said, peering at said map.

"That's strange," Sabrina cupped her hand to her ear, "I don't hear anything."

"Me neither..." I murmured. As I did, I felt some sort of...instinct, tugging me in another direction. I followed it's lead, heading onward to who-knows-where.

I heard Sabrina call out to me, but I kept walking. I gazed around, trying to find what I was looking for, but all I could see for miles were trees. Trees that would be haunting me in my sleep.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Wait."

Turning around, I met Sabrina's confused face. "Where are you going?" she asked.

I simply shrugged. "I have no idea. Something's telling me to go this way."

Her eyes swam with unasked questions, but she merely nodded and removed her hand from my shoulder. I continued to walk forward, brushing aside ferns as I went.

Pushing away a huge bush, I stood face to face with a gaping ravine. The bottom was a calm, deep river.

"What now?" Sabrina asked.

I looked at her. "Isn't it obvious? We jump."

"WHAT?!" she exclaimed. "That's like a gazillion feet! Plus our bags will get wet!"

"The river doesn't look shallow," I said. "As for the bags..." I thought about it for a minute. There were many things I didn't want getting wet inside of there, but I couldn't leave it up here...

The red-head pondered the idea. "That could work...but you still don't go jumping into gorges!"

I sighed. "Welp. Here goes nothing."

I found Sabrina's hand and gripped it tight. Her eyes, pupils tiny from fear, locked with mine. I gave her a trusting smile, at least I hope it was, and jumped.  My weight pulled Sabrina with me, and we started plummeting down the ravine at breakneck speed.

Someone was screaming. Maybe it was me, but I doubt it. I was used to speeds like this. Down we went, the scenery a blur and the river becoming dangerously close with each passing second.

I started to wonder if I misjudged the water's depth. What if it was too shallow? I closed my eyes and prepared for impact.

Three, two, one...

I plunged into the icy water feet first in what I thought was a pretty decent landing. Due to the speed of our fall, it stung a bit, but nothing I couldn't handle. I popped up, breaking the surface of the water, and started looking for Sabrina. We had let go of  each other's hands before we landed in the river.

I saw her a few feet away, treading water confidently. Her now wet orange hair stuck to the sides of her face, her bangs starting to cover her eyes. "Who knew you could swim?" I laughed. She just glared at me, an angry glint in her eyes, and swam to the stone bank. I followed after her, apologizing.

I heaved myself up on the ledge as she sat up. I reached my hand around to my back to get a blanket to dry off with, but I only grasped empty air.

"We left the bags."

Sabrina's violet eyes widened, then closed as she sighed in exasperation. She fell back again, arms spread out. Despite the situation, I laughed at her actions.

    "Don't hurt yourself," I giggled. I stood, and took on a serious demeanor once more. "We gotta figure out how to get the bags down..." I murmured. I stood and started to pace. Multiple ideas formed in my mind, but logic and reality shot all of them down.

    My concentration was so deep that I didn't hear the sound of flapping wings until two bags fell at my feet with a thud.

    Sabrina pushed herself into a sitting position, then froze. Her mouth opened slightly, shock and terror washing over her features. I slowly turned around, meeting a pair of emerald green eyes.

* > * < *

Hey guys, 

I'm not dead!

Sorry about the short chapter. And cliffhanger. And huge gap between chapters. I'm just screwing everything up, aren't I? The next chapters will probably come out sooner.

Hopefully.

Until the next chapter!
Lexi~Chan