The Bonded

The Bonded Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Thrax grew, and he grew some more. In a week he doubled in size, and was able to lift himself almost a foot above the ground. In two weeks, he had tripled in size, and could fly at least as high as I was tall into the air, and I wasn't a very short girl. As he grew bigger and bigger, he also turned somewhat yellow. I decided at first that he must have been a yellow dragon. As Thrax continued to grow, I only left him twice.

The first time I left Thrax, I went to the village the day after I had found him. I had gone to tell Mein that I wouldn't be able to escort her, because I would be readying myself for a long journey. That much was true, because I would be going on a journey. I just didn't know where I would be going yet. While in town, I also sold the pelts of two rabbits, my dinner from the night before and my breakfast from that morning, and the hide of a deer, which was Thrax's breakfast. I didn't buy much, since I would need any of my extra coins for our trip. I did, however, buy a few thick woolen blankets, to use as a saddle for Thrax when he was big enough to ride.

I planned to leave the area as soon as Thrax was old enough to carry me away from it. It didn't seem safe to stay there, not with a village less than a league away. I had no idea where I would take us, I just knew that we had to be a pretty large distance away from people.

The trip into the village was very short, since I was so worried about Thrax being left alone. I wouldn't have left him at all, had he not made me. He had forced me out of the cave using his tail. He'd said that I needed to tell Mein that I couldn't help her, so that she had enough time to find someone else. The truth was though, I also needed to get some more coins.

After that trip, I stayed with Thrax even longer, right up until he was so large he no longer fit into the cave. He was able to fly well above the clouds, and stay there for as long as he wished. He could also take me with him, although I had to put all of the wool blankets underneath me. His scales were so tough and sharp that they rubbed holes in my clothes. I had a horrible feeling that once we started flying for long periods of time, the blankets wouldn't last long.

When we were about ready to start our journey, I left for the village once again. That time, I took a large number of animal pelts. With the coins I go from those, I bought enough supplies to last us for a few weeks at the most. I bought canteens for myself, a large pack to keep the supplies in, and a pair of cheap gloves for myself. I would have to be able to hold onto Thrax when we flew, and I needed some kind of traction. I also bought some dried food, and things that I knew would keep well for a while.

When I wasn't in the village, I practiced fighting. I knew that by becoming Bonded with Thrax, I would have to be able to fight, and well. Sure, I could wield a sword pretty well, but I could do so much better. There was very little power behind any of my strokes, due to very little practice. I also only knew the most basic of moves, and I had no one to teach me. That's where Thrax came in, as best he could.

Thrax would tell me to break off a strong branch, and use it as a sword. Once I did that, he would start attacking me lightly with his tail, and tell me to defend. It wasn't a very fair fight, but most fights weren't.

"You have to protect your legs." Thrax said, as his dark yellow head looked down at me. I was laying flat on my back in the dirt, after he had knocked my feet out from under me with his tail. "Anyone could do this, and with a sword it would be a lot worse."

"I know." I said as I pulled myself back up. Thrax let out a little dragon chuckle and swished his tail around in amusement. Spending all of the time together that we had, I had learned to read his expressions and movements.

"You ready to go again?" He asked, nuzzling my arm as I pulled myself up with his neck. When I stood tall, I reached the top of one of Thrax's legs. For me to sit on his back, Thrax had to almost lay on his belly and allow me to climb up him.

"Sure, why not. We still have a few more days before we go. I can get rid of all of my fresh bruises before then, surely." I said dryly, knocking the dust from my breeches. Thrax let out another of his dragon laughs, which made me smile lightly.

"You're getting better you know." He said, moving into a fighting position.

"Yeah?" I asked, moving into a standard position that would allow for better defense. I had already learned the hard way that defense was much better when one was fighting a dragon with a wooden sword.

"Sure, just learn to block the right way." Thrax informed me as he swung his tail out to knock my feet out from under me once again. This time, I countered by swinging my sword up and pushing his tail away. He growled lightly and swung it up toward my chest. I jumped out of the way, and swung my sword back at his tail. It missed, and he hit me square in the chest before I could even react. Again, I hit the ground. Hard. I groaned and forced myself back onto my feet. Once again, Thrax let out a strange dragon laugh.

"Reaya are you alright?" He asked, licking the side of my face. Even though he had grown up a lot, he was still very childish, which was kind of nice. He was very strong, and was a huge hulking thing, but he was still very sweet to me and very protective.

"I'm great. Sore, but I'm great. I think we're done for the day though." I told him, sitting down with a thump. Thrax followed with an even louder thunk that shook the ground and had me going up in the air a few inches. By then, it was such a normal occurrence with us that I just smiled and laughed. Thrax laughed as well, sliding over next to me and wrapping his tail around my body.

"We're leaving tomorrow, right?" He asked, looking at me with his big blue eyes. Although most of the things I had noticed about him when he hatched had changed, his beautiful bright blue eyes had stayed the same.

"Yeah, as long as you're sure that you can fly with me on your back." I said, looking at his wings skeptically. He scoffed, if you could call what he did scoffing.

"Of course I can. We've already done it before." He said, spreading his wings out as if to show me how big and powerful they were.

"Whatever you say, oh mighty dragon." I said with a laugh. Thrax growled softly and lightly hit my back with his tail. I turned and grinned at him, and he shot me a toothy dragon grin right back.

"Be quiet." Thrax said, swishing his tail around. He used it to pull me a little bit closer to him. "Let's go to sleep. We'll need the rest tomorrow." I nodded, curling up beside him. I used a couple of the blankets as a pillow, and another I actually used as a blanket.

After I settled myself, Thrax spread a wing over me, covering myself from view. Not that a ridiculously huge dragon was hiding well. So, we settled down to sleep for the night.