Chosen to Protect

Chapter 8

"Well, let's head back." Alex said, standing up.

"But we just walked out here..." Leslie complained.

Alex glared at her and she fell silent.

Desta saw and raised an eyebrow at Alex. He frowned and walked away.

Desta ran to catch up. "Alex! Why did you glare at Leslie?" she reprimanded.

"A Dragon Warrior must never complain but just keep going." Alex said, without looking at her.

She crossed her arms and glanced back at Leslie meaningfully.

"No." Alex said shortly.

"Alex..." Desta said dangerously.

"No, I said no, Desta!" he yelled at her, flickering between dragon and human for a minute.

Desta jerked away in shock and Alex noticed. He bit his lip, "I-I'm sorry, Desta." he said sadly, then he turned and walked away quickly.

Desta moved to go after him but felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Aaliyah. "Let him think." Aaliyah told Desta softly.

Desta frowned and looked after Alex, then back at Aaliyah and nodded. "Alright. Let's head back to the fortress."

They all changed into dragons and flew back to the fortress, since Leslie had been complaining about how much walking she had to do.

Desta waited at the gate for Alex to come back for two hours, then decided to go after him.

Changing into dragon, she kicked off the ground and pumped her wings steadily, turning her head, looking from side to side for Alex.

Finally she saw him. He was sitting, leaning against a tree, with his head in his hands.

She landed and snorted to make her presence known.

"Leslie reminds me of my sister." Alex said, without looking up.

Desta lay down, not really wanting to change out of her dragon form, and waited for him to continue.

"My sister...she...she was happy and fun-loving and she had unlocked her dragon too. She would fly above the clouds and she was so carefree. Then she was seen."

Now Desta changed back to her human form. She sat beside him, "What happened?" she asked softly.

"They found her." he said, sadness and regret heard in his voice, "They tried to take her in her human form, but she turned....she turned into a dragon and fought."

Desta nodded slowly, "So they stunned her?" she guessed.

Alex shook his head slowly, "They killed her. She wasn't strong enough. I don't want another person like that to die." he stood up, "I don't like to talk about it." he said shortly, and he jumped off the ground, changing into a dragon.

He flew off, leaving Desta there.

Desta didn't move. She sat and thought about what Alex had said. That must have been what made him so secretive and grumpy, she realized.

She slowly got up and changed into a dragon. Kicking off, she hovered for a minute, unsure which way the fortress was.

A red dragon appeared from the north-west and she huffed, some smoke coming out of her mouth.

She flew over that way, zipping past Alex. He snorted and turned around, following her back to the fortress.

Once there they landed. Alex changed into a human and said, "Now that we have time, we can train you a bit more thoroughly."

Desta changed into a human and groaned, "Seriously?"

He gave her a 'don't argue' look and she pouted, "Fine."

"But...before we do that..." Alex said, "I need to pay a visit to someone."

"Who?" Desta asked curiously.

Alex frowned at her and she sighed, nodding. "Don't wanna talk about it. Ok."

He shifted into his dragon and took off. Soon he was just a speck in the distance.