Draconic Amnesty

Chapter 19 - Revelations

Warmth. A beach of fur in lieu of sand. The smell of charred wood. The rolling sound of a subdued conflagration, as if the sun itself had projected its innermost rumblings onto the Earth.

Elias jerked awake. Greeted by utter darkness, he found himself sandwiched between textures of fur and leather. But he could feel and move, the latter limited only by the pressure of his mysterious prison.

He rolled to the right and bumped against a scaly, unmovable mass that expanded and contracted like the lungs of a sleeping giant.

Undeterred, he rolled in the opposite direction and slid out from underneath what appeared to be the wing of a crimson dragon, presumably the same dragon he’d named Red earlier. Her sleep appeared undisturbed by his movement. Nevertheless, he made as little noise as possible when rising to his feet to survey his surroundings.

A brown pelt layered half of the cave’s floor, specifically the rear half where Red curled up against the rocky wall. Daylight streamed through the entrance as did the cold air. The closer he walked toward the opening, the more he remembered the frostbite that almost killed him last night.

Behind him, Red pumped heat like a radiator, her mere existence inside the cave like an unquenchable fire. Though part of him wanted to return to her warmth, a larger part wanted to resume his journey, testing his luck and fortitude against the forces of mother nature once again.

His stomach growled and his body reeled from the early symptoms of drasp withdrawal: the shakes and the sweats. Although his recent entrapment under Red’s wing likely had something to do with the latter, it would only get worse with time. Unable to afford perspiration freezing to his body, he reached for his vials.

But came away empty-handed.

Shit. Even his syringe, the one he carried in the front pocket of his jacket, had disappeared. What happened to them? Why would Red and Blue save his life, yet steal his most precious possessions? It didn’t make sense.

Intent on getting answers, he turned toward Red when a screech resounded from the entrance. He ran to the cave opening and looked out.

Blue sailed through the air with something large and round clasped in its front ‘hands’. After taking another step forward, he paused. He stood at the edge of a steep cliff, several stories above the snowcovered ground. As if upset at being ignored during the skydive yesterday, his fear of heights attacked; he stumbled backward and fell onto his butt.

But not before he’d noticed Blue’s shadow,  and not before he experienced an odd sense of déjà vu.

It reminded him of a time long ago, perhaps during his childhood. The glare of the sun had reflected off the snow at that time too. He had been running with...with Jimmy. A similar shadow had darkened the surroundings, and then —

Blue swooped into the cave and landed on its hind legs. After dropping its lifeless cargo, it turned to him and cocked its head to the side.

As Elias rose to his feet. The color drained from the area. Blue became gray and the thing on the ground, whatever it was, changed from umber to ash in hue. Each step toward the dragon kindled his memories. His mind teetered upon an volatile revelation, but he persisted, like poking a charcoal grill with a stick of dynamite.

He tripped over the disfigured animal, torn flesh and fur jiggling from where he’d kicked it. As the heels of his hands hit the ground, the fuse of cerebral dynamite ignited. The puzzle pieces came together like fragments of a delicate vase, reversing through time and reforming.

They killed his sister. One way or another, his sister’s death had been caused by a dragon. Which one didn’t matter; he’d kill them all.

Starting with Blue.