Dragonsong Book 1

Chapter Nine

From Fajiro's eyes...

Gone. Just like that. If I had paid more attention... no, I must not focus on such things. I needed to find her. Where would he take her? If I had been more careful... Victoria knew he would come for her, but I didn't listen. Ravager would not hurt her! I was flying so fast I almost passed the small cave mouth with a peculiar aura about it. I flew down and took a step into the cave. There were no lights, no booby traps, nothing. Still, it was odd... what was giving it that magical signature if it weren't a dragon cave? I decided to continue through the narrow tunnel. It was a dead end. Though I was a smaller dragon, the passage was too small for me to squeeze through. I raked my claw against the wall, leaving a neat scrape. Then I remember the supplies in the potion master's hut. A human would fit through there with no difficulty, so I had to become human. Again. Unfortunately. I needed a few ingredients that were pretty rare, but I would be able to find them easily, being a dragon. Our sixth sense was to sense valuables. I marked the cave using a large I at it's mouth and flew over the field. Sage grass.... ooh! Jewel weed! Kahari sap over there... I went through the list of ingredients in my head and flew down to collect them. By the time I reached the camp, I had everything I needed. I ran into the apothecary tent and started the potion. After the ingredients were in, I waited for them to simmer. It was agony. A kept shredding the corner of the tent without realizing it until Victoria gave me a piece of unused animal hide, which was gone in a matter of minutes. After deciding not to shred the tent, I started pacing outside until the apothecary werewolf came and gave me the word.
"It, whatever it is, is ready." The old werewolf croaked. I dashed inside and spooned a bit into a cup. I borrowed some clothes from Vincent's son that I thought would fit. I ran into the woods and drank the potion. Again, I felt the tingly sensation in my scales as I shrunk in size. The tingling sensation subsided, and I rapidly changed into Nathan the mysterious human. I pulled on the clothes, which were slightly too big. I stood there feeling cold, tiny, and awkward for a few minutes. I then stumbled through the woods and into the camp. Victoria was standing over me holding a dagger.
"Who are you, and how did you find our base?" She said. Her eyes were glowing amber, a sign that she was going to transform any minute.
"Wha... oh! I am Fajiro!" I said.
"Sure. Go ahead, your lies only make me more angry!" She said, putting her foot on my chest.
"How can I possibly prove to you that I am Fajiro?" I asked.
"You could repeat what I had said to you right before Ravager attacked. " she said.
"You said that Isabell had a huge target on her back, and to accomplish our mission, we would need to have decent disguises." I said. I remembered it word for word. She stepped off of me and helped me up.
"Nerdy, but cute." She said, looking me over.
"Hey!" I assumed that was a bad thing, though I had no idea what she meant by cute, and I had no idea nerdy was even a word. I tried to stand up. I stood for a few seconds, before falling flat on my face.
"Ow..." I said.
"Yeah, you need to work on that." Victoria said, helping me up.
"How do you do this?" I asked her.
"Ya just do it." She said sarcastically.
"Gee, thanks." I said, grabbing a sword.
"Yeah I don't think you should be carrying pointy things around." She said, snatching the sword and putting it back.
"Stop, I may be bad at this but not that bad!" She was a lot taller than me, so I had a hard time looking her in the eye.
"I will let you have a dagger, but that's it." She said.
"Thanks." I said dejectedly as I accepted the dagger. I strapped it to my belt and started into the woods before tripping and falling again. The pants were too long, and kept tripping me.
"You might want some decent clothes." Vincent said, throwing me an outfit.
"What is your name, son?" He said. I forgot he hadn't seen the exchange with Victoria. She was about to answer for me when I suddenly said,
"M-my name is Nathan, sir! Th-thanks for your g-g-gener-os-osity!" I said and scampered away. I glanced back and winked at Victoria as I fled. I changed into the new clothes and set off towards the cave.
.~*~.
I reached the cave by noon time. It was a difficult journey, but I was prepared to get into that cave and save Isabell. I climbed up to the cave and sprinted through. I reached the narrow passage and began to walk. For the most part, I could fit through. At one terrifying instance, I got stuck in a bottleneck, but I squeezed my way through. Eventually I reached a huge room open to the sky. A blue dragon with black horns and a red outline on his wings. Ravager. I considered confronting him until I realized I was a defenseless human. Instead I snuck around him, silently creeping up to his throat. I stabbed the knife through his soft scales, cutting off his air and leaving him to die. But Ravager would recover in a matter of hours. He was forged of black magic, making him impossible to kill without the use of magic. He looked at me with bewildered eyes and collapsed into unconsciousness. Feeling better, I found Isabell unconscious and chained to the wall. She was badly bruised and several deep cuts glistened red on her back. She sensed my presence and lifted her head.
"Who's there?" She asked. I suddenly felt hot. And uncomfortable. Another human emotion I was not familiar with.
"Fajiro." I answered a little awkwardly.
"By Fajiro, do you mean Nathan?" She asked wearily.
"Yup." I answered, fiddling with the lock.
"What did he want?" I asked, the emotion subsiding.
"I don't know. He seemed...." she trailed off. I checked her pulse. Still alive, but barely. I needed to get her to camp. Could I lift her? I unlocked the chains and hoisted her over my shoulder. She was surprisingly light. I started to run straight for the camp. I only hoped I would make it in time.