Among Dragons (Editing)

Chapter 12

The early morning air was refreshingly cool on my skin. It seemed like it had rained the night before, as nearly everything was coated with a thin layer of water. The damp earth was a rich scent that gave off a feel of freshness.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with a yawn before my gaze caught onto Niram's backpack as it swayed with each of his steps. We hadn't talked much that morning. Breakfast had been eaten in silence, conversations from other people drowning out the tense awkwardness between us so that it wasn't as noticeable.

Regret from overstepping my boundaries the night before plagued my brain with the steady incessantness of a metronome. The weight of the backpack, full of the new supplies the King had insisted we take, now felt ten times heavier on my body.

Raiden's form came into view as we rounded a corner, his form still huddled up in the damp grass. With every breath he took the blue sheen on his scales danced around in the early morning light.

"Shouldn't we call out to him before we get too close?" I asked Niram nervously. He stopped and looked back at me, his eyes meeting mine for the first time since the night before. "I mean, he is sleeping. I don't want him to lash out at us from a startle."

Niram opened his mouth to respond, but he didn't get the chance. A vibrating growl radiated from Raiden's throat all the way into the Earth. The dragon stood and flexed out his wings, the movement sending a wave of air over to rustle my hair and clothes.

I looked back over to Niram before I approached Raiden, still apprehensive of what expression he wore towards me. Instead of a look of distrust or annoyance like I expected, his face was flushed with a sheepishness.

Was he embarrassed of what he had told me what he really thought of his father last night?

"I think he's a pretty light sleeper," Niram shrugged. He held my gaze for a little longer before, for the first time since I met him, he broke away like my gaze had become too intense for him to handle.

I watched him turn and continue walking towards Raiden again. I had to have embarrassed him somehow, or made him feel improper or disrespectful for speaking so badly of his father. As much as I wanted to go up and tell him that I didn't think that way, I just wanted to listen and be let in, I just decided to drop it. It was better to leave all of the worrying for the ongoing journey.

My boots squeaked in the wet grass and their soles sunk down into the soft, damp earth. The dusty brown color of them darkened from the dew drops of water that broke on their surfaces.

Raiden shifted to look at me, his gaze settling down onto mine with such a heavy pressure that felt like it was boring me even further down into the dirt. It took a second for me to realize what he was doing, but as soon as my legs began to give out, realization rushed up at me just as fast as the ground did.

The last thing I felt before I was swarmed with a numb unconsciousness was the wet feel of the grass against my skin.

 

~

 

"What do you want, Raiden," I said as soon as I was able to open my eyes again.

I looked around the dark, stormy cloud around us. Like before, Raiden was still dressed in a gray shirt and black shorts, only this time they lacked the little flashes of electricity that snapped through them.

"Well good morning to you too, Seer." He threw me a sideways smirk.

"You know we don't have time for this. It's bad enough we had to stay the night at the castle.",.