Among Dragons (Editing)

Chapter 15

A buzz of noise filled my ears slowly, leaking from one ear to the next with a murkiness. Hot, humid air laid down on my body. It made me feel trapped, enclosed in my own skin. I shifted uncomfortably, soon after flinching in discomfort as some kind of fabric seemed to stick against my sweat and move with me. 

My senses came back to me slowly but surely. I felt the reassuring and familiar presence of Niram far before I opened my eyes to see that I was in fact on his back. It was hard not to make a face of disgust as I carefully peeled off the fabric of his shirt that stuck to my sweat. 

The city was just as crowded as it had been earlier, only this time the heat and humidity was amplified at least twice as much. My hair stuck to my neck with sweat and even without doing any physical labor myself, my skin was covered with perspiration.

"Niram," I called, my voice impossibly small and weak over the loud chatter of merchants and villagers.

Surprisingly enough, he heard me. "How are you feeling?" He asked while shifting my body to better his grip.

"I'm good, don't worry," I said, resting my head down onto his shoulder. I didn't want to admit that my limbs felt like stone, and that I'd rather just stay exactly how I was, with my head on his shoulder and his scent filling my lungs. So instead, I added, "You don't have to carry me anymore. I'm okay to walk."

Niram hesitated in his stride. From my position, I could hear his deep breaths of contemplation before he finally came to a full stop and gently let me down to the floor. Even though it was far too hot to even think about being close to someone, for some reason, I still wanted to feel his warmth against my cheek.

Holding his now open green gaze was almost impossible to do without blushing. "The dragon of ice is next, right?"

Niram gently took my wrist in order to lead me out of the village without losing me, and then nodded. Just like earlier, his dark hair was dampened at the tips. "Yeah. Polaris is next  and then all we have is Kiran. Polaris's kingdom isn't that far from here, we should reach it by nightfall. Will you be okay to go right in to talk to him?" His gaze was full of a wavering worry. "We are running short on time, and we need to be finished by tomorrow."

I nodded, even though my stomach was still churning with dread and shock from the event that happened the night before. No matter where I looked, paranoia seemed to follow and make things appear in my vision. The fear was so endless and so tiring that all I wanted to do was curl up in a safe place and just hide.

"Yeah, I'm ready to get this journey over with. We can't waste anymore time, especially if Rhaegos's people are so desperate in their attacks."

Niram's expression darkened slightly as he looked back and forth between me and the path in front of him. "Don't worry, I promise you that I'll keep you safe from here on out." The outline of his jaw hardened. "It was stupid of me to even think that there would be no danger out there. I just-I should have known better Eris, I'm sorry."

His eyes were filled with such a  powerful remorse that it sent a pang of sympathy to ease the focus of my dread. I swallowed down the sudden impulse to pull him back to be close to me.

"You did what you could, Niram. It was one mistake out of all the times that you've protected me this entire journey. It's fine, you're fine."

Niram's expression wavered before he gave way and nodded hesitantly. "Okay," He said. "Okay.

~

I tried my hardest to try and sleep on the way over to Polaris's kingdom. I wasn't sure if it was the fact that Niram's hands were wrapped around my waist protectively, and my back rested in a perfect fit against his chest, or if it was the dread of visiting the last two dragons.