Dragons

A Nomad and a Hybrid

Fog so thick you could almost squeeze clung to the air around her.  She breathed in, goosebumps spread throughout her skin. She shuddered, spread her wings and with one mighty beat she was up in the air.  She silently glided and weaved through the gigantic trees. The snap of a twig shot adrenaline through her body, she panicked and gripped the closest tree with her claws. She swung around onto it and held her breath. She searched for whatever snapped that twig, spinning her head from left to right looking over her wings.  All she could hear was her own breathing.  She calmed down. She hoped that whatever snapped that twig was gone and hadn't spotted her.  She slowly looked around, scanning the area for anything, or anyone.  As far as she could tell there was no one but her. 

She shuddered and spread her wings, stripes and blotches of different shades of brown decorated her wings, tail, arms and legs. She jumped off the tree and slowly rose, making sure to not make noise. Everything was calm again, it was no longer an eerie silence that filled the forest around her but a peaceful one. She flew, with long gliding strokes of her wings. She glided through the forest until something caught her eye. She went in for a closer look, as silently as she could she peeked around a tree. 

There was a man, probably around her age.  She perched on a branch to get a clear look. He carried a pack on his back and around his waist was a sword, around his shins, two daggers.  He was crouching down, and scanning the area around him. She did nothing to hide. He slowly rose and sucked in a deep breath, and then let out a sigh. 

He put his hands on his hips "Jeezus! That couldda sucked!" he ran a hand through his long dark hair. He looked around and started walking. She silently followed from above. He kept walking, not having a care in the world, but occasionally looking around for possible danger. She followed him, going from tree to tree, taking to to not be spotted.   Suddenly he was gone. She flew down to where she saw him last, looked around and sniffed the air. Nothing.  

She looked around, "now what am I gunna do?" She sat down on a fallen tree, and pondered what to do next.  She didn't hear the footsteps behind her. He snuck up behind her, "why were you following me?" he growled and held up his sword.  "Nyaahh!" she turned quickly and fell backwards. 

Scrambling to her feet she stood up.  Her mouth dried up, she stared up at the sword, and then at him. He looked at her and slowly dropped his sword and sighed. 

"What are you doing all alone?" He put sheathed his sword and tilted his head to one side.  Wide eyed, she swallowed her fear. 

"I was juh-just...bored" she took a small step back. He sat down on the fallen tree, "so you stalk people when you're bored?" he smiled, looking up at her. 

She half smiled, "no, us'ally I hang out with my friends" she sat down beside him. He turned to face her, "so..." he looked around, "where are they?" 

Her wings sagged "they're...nn-not around an-anymore" her shouldered slumped and she looked down at her hands. 

He had no words, they sat in silence for a while. She sniffled "have you heard of Open Pugilist?" she looked up at him. 

His heart dropped, "...yeah...I have" it  had suddenly hit him as to why she was alone. She looked down at her hands again, "yeah."  

He looked at her hands, they were scarred. He then looked up her arms, around her neck and face, there were many scars. Some had faded and some were pretty recent.  He put a hand on her head. 

She looked up at him, "what was that for?" he brought her in for a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and her wings, she was still for a moment and then wrapped her arms around his torso. Her eyes stung and streams of tears flowed down her face.  

They stayed like that for a while. She had stopped crying.

 He looked at her "feeling  better now?" she looked up at him, wiping her tears she smiled "yeah, a lot better." 

He took in a deep breath, "well I need to get going, the sun will set in a while and I need to not be eaten" he smiled.  He started to walk away, he stopped and turned around, "do you- do you want to come with?"  She looked up at him and smiled wide, "yeah, that'd be great" she flew up and landed next to him. 

They beamed at each other, she noticed scars up and down his arms, and a big one on his jaw going down his neck.