Mark Of The Dragon

Chapter 2

Question, would you rather me name the chapters or not?

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When I finally fell, asleep I began to feel relaxed, I guess the sound of the wilderness around me gave me a little peace of mind. Then, I began to dream, I saw a little boy, it was me as a kid, playing with my friends in the plains near our village. We were running after each other with sticks pretending they were swords, acting as if we were knights, and shouting "Holt criminal, in the name of the king." Looking back at it, we were just a bunch of naïve kids. But then as we ran in the direction of the village, all we could see was smoke, and ash. The screams of our loved ones echoed in our ears as they were slaughtered and burned, it was then I thought to myself "Huuuh, mom and dad." So, I ran towards my house, in search of my parents, I had found them, but we all know how that story goes.

I fell to my knees with tears running down my face, it was even worse the second time, not that I had expected it to be any better. I began to get angry as I thought to myself "Why!!!, why!!!, why!!! Why did this have to happen to me?? To us, of all people, we never did anything, all we wanted was to be treated fairly. Was that so wrong?" Crying hysterically and pounding the floor, didn't make things any better, in fact, it only made me angrier, angry to the point where I wanted to rip that solider apart. But, just when I had made up my mind to attack the solider, a black winged shadow arose from behind the him. I thought to myself "could this be another dragon", so I asked the shadow " Who are you? And why are you here?" The shadow laughed, it was so maniacal that is sent shivers down my spine. Then it replied "How can you be angry, WHEN ITS ALL YOUR FAULT!" At that very moment the shadow engulfed me darkness, "guhahuh." I awoke gasping for air, touching my body, and pinching myself to make sure I was truly awake, and that, that nightmare, wasn't reality.

When I awoke, the sun had just begun to rise, so I decided to take a bath in the lake not too far from camp, I made sure that the coast was clear before I undressed, then striped and hopped in. The water was nice and warm, so I decide to soak for a while, but that did little to clear my conscience. Of course, that nightmare was still on my mind, it had me thinking. "What was that shadow? And what was it talking about when it said it was all my fault."

"Was it all my fault, no it couldn't be" I thought to myself, as I continued to soak and sulk deeper into the water. "ahhhhhh" I sighed with relief, as the warm water, relaxed my muscles, and relieved me of my tension.

"Wow your up early, are you that excited about going into town, or would it have something to do with all that tossing and turning you did in your sleep last night" said Titus, as he made his way into the clearing. I had no idea that I was fussing in my sleep, but given the dream I was having it shouldn't really come off as a surprise.

"It was nothing, just a bad dream is all" I replied while turning my head to avoid his gaze. His face was that of disbelief, I wanted to tell him, its just that I didn't know how. I mean first it was the statue and then it was the dream, no calling it a dream would defile the sanctity of dreams, that was definitely a nightmare. But either way I wouldn't know how to explain it all to him.

"Hey, Arthur" said Titus, as he slowly descended into the water across from me, I hadn't even notice when he undressed, let alone get in. There was something about Titus, something that allowed him to always do things so nonchalant, and still go unnoticed, but what.

" Do you believe in dragons" he said as he sat down, and stretched his shoulders on the shore.

My eyes opened wide with Shock, why did he ask me that out of the blue?

"Theyre just a myth. Right?" I replied, with curiosity and anticipation written all over my face, hoping that he would get straight to the point and not leave me in suspense any longer. I knew that Titus knew a lot about the history of these lands, I mean as a former royal guard how could he not. But he always kept them to himself, and even if Adina knew anything, there was no way!!! I was going to get anything from her.