Battle Scars | Book 1 (DISCONTINUED)

Ch. 4: Light of the Flightmare

Inside her small tent, which was only slightly more comfortable than the small beds back on the ship, Alice lied curled up in furs and her head resting on a small pile of cloth she was supposed to use as a pillow. Dark circles surrounded her eyes from not being able to get a minute of sleep that night. Ever since that afternoon when she helped that dragon, she'd been mentally yelling at herself for daring to do such a thing. She was helping the enemy. She was basically committing treason to her tribe.

Of course, she hadn't said a word about it. No one who lived in Alryne would if they'd done the same, with how strict the rules were. Simply insulting someone higher than you could be punishable by death, depending on the person you insulted. But that only made the guilt worse. So did the fact that she just spared the life of a creature that killed her mother and sister.

It's not the exact same dragon that killed them, she thought, then immediately questioned herself for trying to justify her actions. Groaning, she buried her face in her pillow. This war she was having with herself in her own head was starting to make her sick. Why did ideas contradicting everything she'd been taught and known her whole life began to suddenly pop up in her mind? She knew dragons were the enemy, they were murderers. They took everything away from her...

But that dragon I helped wasn't the one that took Oliver, nor the one that killed mom.

"Alright, at this point I'm sure I'm going mad." she grumbled, lifting her head off her pillow. She was pretty certain arguing with yourself like you were two different people trapped in the same body wasn't normal. She couldn't just keep this to herself, but then again she had no one to talk to. Brenna would probably kill her the minute she heard the words "I helped a dragon" without even asking for the context, and that dragon rider would probably say something cheesy and dramatic about peace between both sides. Plus talking to him like he was a normal human being would probably also be considered an act of treason.

The only way she could find the answers was to visit that dragon again, she felt that then her mind would decide which was right and which was wrong. And that's what she did the next morning after breakfast, Brenna thankfully didn't have anything for her to do so she went back into the forest and made her way to the clearing where the dragon was hiding. She also made sure to pack a few books that had info on different dragon species so she could hopefully find out whatever species of dragon it was. She also brought a piece of mutton too, in case it was hungry and hadn't managed to catch its own food yet.

"Uh... Hello?" Alice called as she climbed down into the clearing. Confusingly, there was no sign of the giant bright red creature.

"Weird..." Alice murmured as she took a few steps towards the lake, wondering if it was hiding up in the tree or behind the giant boulder. Suddenly, the dragon's head popped up out of the water, startling Alice and making her drop her bag. She picked it back up and looked towards the dragon, who was slamming its paw down in the water and biting at it. Curious, Alice trudged through the shallow water to see what the dragon was looking at, until something silver brushed past her leg. She looked down, seeing a small fish swimming around by her feet. The dragon lunged its head into the water to grab it, accidentally knocking Alice over. She yelped and held her bag over her head as she fell so the things inside wouldn't get ruined. Grunting as she got back up, she pulled out the mutton she had brought with her and held it out to the red dragon, who backed away in surprise. "Calm down! I brought you food!"

Sniffing the food in her hand, the dragon took a step closer, electric blue eyes filled with curiosity. It stood still for a minute, looking up at Alice. Then in the blink of an eye it snatched the mutton right out of her hand and threw it up in the air, before grabbing it in its jaws and swallowing it whole. Instinctively, Alice stumbled back in surprise.