Firewind

Chapter 18-Zander

I woke up to a snout in my face. I sat up and was immediately pushed back by two little claws. Scymitar had pounced on my chest.

"Hey!" I said. "Get off Scymitar."

Sorry, sorry. He said scrambling off. I'm just so happy that you're alive.

"What happened?"

Ummmm....

"Scymitar. You promised."

My voice was raspy and my throat was dry. My tongue felt like sandpaper. I looked around. Where was I? There were palm trees all around and in the center, there was a small lake. I got up and quickly hurried over. I drank the water greedily.

"Are you alright?" I turned at the sound of a girl's voice.

She had dark wavy brown hair and intense emerald eyes. Running my fingers through my hair, I stood up and brushed the sand off my clothes.

"Yes," I answered. "Thanks."

She nodded and turned to the dragon.

"If it wasn't for this little guy, you could've died," she said reaching to scratch his head. He puffed out his chest and smiled innocently.

"If it wasn't for this little guy, I wouldn't have been in that situation," I glared at Scym as he hid behind the girl.

"Don't be too hard on him. He still doesn't understand much. He's just a helpless baby dragon."

"Helpless. Right."

I rolled my eyes as he winked at me and scampered up Althaea's back to perch on her shoulders. She walked towards the hut near the lake. Scymitar stuck his tongue out at me.

I shook my head. That dragon was special. He already had developed quite the personality for such a young one. I was too hungry to bother confronting him yet. Not sure what else to do, I followed the girl into the hut, hoping there'd be food inside. There was a boy, well a young man in the hut as well. He tossed me a fruit I didn't recognize. It had a red stem and a pale blue skin. It was about the size of an apple and perfectly round.

"What?" the boy asked. "Never seen a mendid fruit before?"

"No," I said, still looking at the strange fruit.

"It's not poisonous. Except for the seed."

I bit in. The inside was blood red and tasted delicious. It was sweet and felt like eating fizzy bubbles. I finished it quickly.

"Care for another one?" the boy raised his eyebrow.

He tossed me another one and it was also quickly finished.

"So what's your name, kid?" he asked.

"Zander. You?"

"I'm Enialis, this is Althaea." He nodded his head towards the girl. She was tickling Scymitar's stomach. She waved and fed the dragon a bunch of berries. Well if Scym was looking for someone to do everything for him he could go ask her then.

"What on Usnae are you doing out here in the desert?" he asked.

"I-I was running away," I stammered.

"From what?"

"None of your business."

"Fair. But don't try telling that to Althaea."

She rolled her eyes.

"What brings you guys out in the desert?"

"Heading east."

"Ah. I was planning on heading north. Try to get through the Tallio mountains."

"Do you think you'll last the other half of the desert with that little bugger eating all of your food?"

Hey! Scymitar screeched indignantly.

"He's got a point," I glared at the scaly beast that had almost killed me.

"Leave him alone you two!" Althaea exclaimed. "He's had a rough couple of days!"

"What about us?" Enialis and I yelled back at the same time. I threw my hands up, exasperated and Enialis stood up furiously.

She rolled her eyes at us and picked up Scymitar.

"If you don't enjoy our company then we'll just leave."

Scymitar stuck his tongue out at us over her shoulder.

"I'm going to cut that dragon's tongue out if he does that again," Enialis muttered under his breath.

I coughed to hide my laugh. I don't blame him. I felt like doing the same. I would only threaten to do it though but Enialis sounded like he meant it.

"Is she always like that?" I asked Enialis.

"Stubborn and headstrong? Definitely," he smiled.

We followed Althaea outside and sat at the edge of the lake in the shade of some palm trees. Scymitar was resting beside her with his tail over his snout. Althaea was stroking his back idly. A gentle breeze blew her hair in her face and she brushed it back to tuck it behind her ear. Enialis sat down beside her and held out his hands.

"Let me see your burns," he said.

It was then that I realized her hands were bandaged. Enialis carefully, gently removed the wrap to reveal angry red blisters and puffy purple skin. I winced at how painful it looked. Enialis lightly touched her hand. She flinched and drew her hand away.

"It's too bad we didn't have any eresiela," he sighed, covering the wounds again.

"Why would you want the flower of death?" I asked.

Eresiela was a type of flower that could put you in a deep sleep for so long you would starve to death before you woke up if consumed or inhaled. People used it for assassinations. Putting the poison in people's drinks and food. I don't know if there is any way to revive the person once they've fallen asleep. I do know that if they regurgitate it before it gets into their bloodstream they could survive.

"If you mix it with the seed of a mendid fruit, it can cure burns," Enialis stated with a shrug. "Funny how you can mix two poisons and end up with a cure. The only problem is that I've searched the whole oasis. There aren't any of the pale purple flowers in sight."

He stood up.

"I'm going for a walk," and with that, he strode off into the trees.

Althaea also stood up and left for the hut, mumbling something about taking a nap. Scymitar opened one eye peeking at me.

Where did she go? He snapped.

I glared down at him.

"What were you thinking?" I asked. "You could have killed me. You promised me you wouldn't control my mind. It wasn't as if I was starving you!"

Where did that girl go? He yawned.

He wasn't even listening to me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I couldn't wait until I brought him to the mountains and left him there for good.

Could you scratch my back? He asked.

I sighed and sat down beside him.

"What am I going to do with you?" I asked shaking my head.