Traitor

Americans (almost) never compromise with Terrorists

Well... I take that back. 

I'd been staring at the monstrosity for five minutes and still could not believe it. Avery wasn't much better. Her expression looked like a mixture of anger, terror, and sorrow. You could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she struggled to process the sheer size of this dragon. 

This dragon wasn't the kind you just look at and take in all at one like- woah. No, this was the kind of dragon that you had to turn your head and keep turning it and keep turning it and find more and more dragon as you do. And when you think there couldn't possibly be any more dragon, you got a look at the tail and felt like passing out. 

Not only was this thing enormous, but it was built like a tank. He looked almost like a sort of quadruped dinosaur of old, huge and hulking with a long, stiff tail that soared over the skyline and a barrel shaped rib cage supporting thousands of spikes that seemed as sharp as they were tall. The spikes covered most of its body except for its underbelly and the the leather skin that allowed its arms and legs to move without impaling itself. Now he was just standing there, still as a statue, perhaps just acting as an intimidation factor. Perhaps he wasn't moving because if he did, the earth might just crack in two and swallow him and his Rider whole. In any case, I still couldn't believe my eyes. 

After a few more minutes I finally found my voice. "I.... I left him at the mall." I whispered softly. 

That was weird enough to make Avery blink in surprise. "What?" She asked, stepping back.

For a moment I didn't reply. I just couldn't believe it. The tall but silent giant... the man who had taken me out shopping and, and who I had left stuck in a lighter in Hot Topic.... this beast was him. It was him. 

"He's my great Uncle," I said suddenly. 

She blinked. "Did you hit your head or something?" she asked. "Because you're not making a lick of sense."

"Okay, it's kind of hard to explain but the blond is my Great Uncle and this is his dragon so that must mean he's my great uncle dragon, right?"

She looked too shocked to even respond to that. She blinked. 

"I don't think it works like that," Caedmon said softly. I ignored him. "Well one time I left him in the mall in a lighter... long story but anyway you'd think a big dude like this would like.. smite me or something but he didn't! Because he's my Great Uncle Dragon!" I said as if I had come up with a brilliant idea. 

She put her hands together as if in prayer and held them up to just under her nose as if she were trying to deduce what the heck I was saying like Sherlock. Finally she inhaled slowly. "I have so many questions." She said softly. "But the first one is... you know this freakin giant dragon!?"

I blinked at how loud the whisper yell was and looked over at Blaize as if expecting one of his deer ears to twitch and that massive pick-ax shaped head to swing over, spot us, and incinerate us on the spot. But he still stayed there, so still he might have been a part of the earth itself, a monument made by some god long ago. "I know him." I whispered in return, completely in awe. "He won't hurt me. I'm family."

She blinked. "He's- you know what? I'm not going to ask anymore. So... you spent some time with him. You know his weakness? Does he die if you poke him in a certain spot? Like an Achilles heel?" she asked hopefully. 

"Uh... I don't know." I said before raising a finger. "But I do know.... his favorite food is tacos."

She groaned and facepalmed. "Ugh! Useless!" 

"We could go for his eye. He only has one left," I piped up.

She looked at me like I was an idiot. "His eyes are literally right next to his gaping inferno of a mouth and besides if he's really a.. level five dragon... he's gonna have three eyelids, one of which would crush a bullet and bend a sword. It's not worth the try."