A Spontaneous Story

Chapter 14: Are They Alive?

He saw a flash of light, and then felt a hard impact right on his forehead. Everything turned into a rainbow of colors, then black.

When he opened his eyes again he saw the ground, the ground that was thousands of feet below him. He started to panic, but much to his surprise it didn't feel like he was falling. He looked around and saw a scaly foot around his hips, Rex had caught him. He looked forward and saw Rex looking back at him, smiling, "Are you okay? You looked a little startled when you woke up. Just be glad you had your helmet on," the dragon reached up as Rin crawled back into the saddle and hooked his feet in, making sure that they were tight.

He took off his helmet and inspected the front of it. There's no dent. This really is hard metal. One thing was still on his mind though, "Where did those two go?"

"They ran off after they saw that you had fell, probably thinking that they killed you and ran off to their leader."

"Well that's a relief." Rin said with a sigh. It was almost noon, the sun was shining right above them as they flew across the wide plains and dense forests. Rex's flapping was starting to slow, he was running out of energy.

"Why don't we stop for a little while? I think you need it."

"Alright I'll land in this opening in the forest."

He descended into a large circle of grass and landed with a loud thud. Rin jumped off of his back and onto the ground. He took the pack off of Rex's back and set it on the forest grass that was still damp from the morning dew, taking out a loaf of bread and a few slices of meat. Rex reached for the much larger pack on his back—which Rin had somehow completely neglected to see during the entire trip—and took out a chunk of cooked meat and shoved it in his mouth. Rin was surprised at how flexible dragons could be. "We shouldn't rest here for too long, they most likely have dispatched multiple teams out to look for us."

"Well, let's just hope we can at least finish eating before they find us again." Rin said as he took a bite of a sweet loaf of bread.

Not long after he had said that, a fast moving object—that strangely resembled a large arrow tip—flew overhead. Following it was a white missile. Rin stood up and tried to get another glimpse of it, "Was that a..."

"Yes, that was a dragon being followed by a missile." Rex said in a matter-of-fact voice. "We have to stay low and keep out of sight. If they see us they'll do the same thing. I'm sure they'll survive. They've probably taken worse hits before."

Right after he said that, there was a loud bang and the piercing roar of a dragon in pain. They stayed low in the bushes, not trying to move for fear of being seen. They couldn't tell from which way the sound of footsteps was coming from but one thing they knew was that there were a lot of people, "Most likely a whole platoon of them." Rex said, "They might be out here because they saw us. We have to move and find that dragon."

"But how? There's no way that we can move without being spotted. You can barely hide in these bushes." Rin said as he looked around for some kind of path. "Look. There's a light over there."

They both got up from crouching and slowly walked toward whatever was causing the shine, Rex trying not to stomp too loudly. As he got closer, Rin noticed that the light was actually a glint from a piece of metal. It was moving.

They found the dragon.

In the magic tower...

"It has come to my attention that the boy has been seen. Is that correct?" A man dressed in a brown robe, sitting in a wooden chair around a circular table said.

"Yes, that is correct. It seems he is currently making his way here with a dragon companion. His whereabouts are yet to be confirmed, however," another man said. There was a quick murmur among the fifteen of them, speaking about where they could be possible. "What of the general?"

"Esdeath? I have not heard from him or his men. I thought he was presumed to be dead and a new man took over."

"No. A leader that strong is not easily killed." It was Frozif talking this time. He was dressed the same as all of the others, but had a small white spear pinned to his heart. "He is most likely in hiding, ordering the men from a distance. Without him the army would surely crumble."

"How can we possibly find him then?" Another man asked.

"We don't. We must wait for the dragon-boy to find us and test him to see if he is truly worthy of his destiny. We also need to know if the dragon with him is the right one." Frozif said. "They will be the ones to find him and kill him."

"I don't agree with this. Why can't we just kill him ourselves? I mean how strong could he be, really?"

"Do you really want to know?" asked Frozif, leaning over the table.

"I would like to, yes."

"Well, as you know, he was the leader of the human army in the Old War. He carried the sword, Espada, and slayed countless dragons himself. He was the most feared man of the time. Some of the townsfolk back then even said that his armor glowed a dark red from all of the blood soaked into it. Though I have rarely seen it myself, I know that I still wouldn't get too close to him, even today."

"Oh, please. He doesn't have the sword anymore, right? What real harm could he do now?"

"Boy, are you new here?" Frozif said with an annoyed expression on his face.

"I've been part of the council for the past 500 years."

"Ah, I see you haven't been around for the war then... Anyways, are we done here?" he asked, getting out of his chair.

"Yes.The meeting is adjourned, thank you for attending, goodbye." And with that theyall flashed away, except for Frozif, walking towards the window that led outinto a white flat of snow. "Where are you, child? You need to hurry and gethere. The human army is starting to get out of hand, we desperately needsupport."