Dragon

Slowly, I came around to the feeling of something poking me.

"Is she dead?" A high-pitched, childlike voice sounded next to me. The poking continued.

"She's breathing isn't she? It'll take a lot more than a dimension skip to end her." Alexandre's voice sounded close by. She sounded as disoriented and groggy as I felt. 

"Is she supposed to be  a dragon?" My eyes shot open at the question. A gasp came from beside me. Slowly, I raised my head, blinking as a blur of colors soon came into focus. Why is the ground so far away, and why do I feel so heavy? Something feels off. A heat sparked in my chest, radiating hotter and brighter with each intake of breath. Soon it spread from my chest, through my veins and to the rest of my body. 

"Alex, she's waking up!" A patter of feet drew my attention to the left. Alexandre laid across the grassy knoll where we rested, curled up on her side, facing me. A small child, who looked no older than five, peeked from behind her to glance in my direction. Once viridian eyes met mine, the child squeaked and ducked down behind Alexandre, leaving only a mop of chestnut hair as a tell tale sign of his hiding spot.

"Five more minutes." She groaned while stretching out, rolling onto her stomach, covering her head with her arms. The child squeaked again, terrified to be exposed.

I chuckled, shocked to feel the ground rumble as I did so. Slowly, Alexandre removed her arms and sat up. Her eyes widen. She stiffened. Her mouth moved, but no sounds came out. "What?" My voice came out in a rumble. I tried to stand up, but it wasn't working. Something is wrong, I shouldn't be so high up! Why do I feel so heavy?

"Corin, don't panic, but I think something happened in the dimension vortex. I know this will be a lot to take in, but the dimension isn't the only thing that changed." Alexandre arose to her feet, her hands splayed out in front of her like she was trying to calm a spooked animal.

"Subtly is a lost art for you, isn’t it. Quit dancing around and tell me what’s wrong!" She winced. Panic cracked through her mask of calm.

"You're a dragon." Before I could respond properly, the boy peered from around Alexandre.

"You mean she wasn't a dragon before?" Alexandre glanced back at the boy.

"No. She looked like us before." The boy's expression turned from one of terror to surprise, then curiosity.

"Was she pretty?" Alexandre blushed at his question before mumbling out, "I thought she was."

The boy crept from behind Alexandre and slowly came closer until he stood a few feet in front of me.

"She's pretty as a dragon too. It’s been a while since I've met a nice dragon. Jonathan is mean. He tries to eat me." Heat pooled around my armored cheeks and I ducked my head. The boy laughed, quickly overcoming any remaining fear and scampered up to my shoulder and onto my neck. "You're warm! My name's Forest. Alex is my big sister. She's my favorite. She's pretty too. Like you!"

Alexandre's cheeks darkened. "You better not let Jake hear that. He might not let you go traveling with him." Forest whined and wrapped his small arms around the base of my neck as far as they would go as he perched there.

"Careful Corin, if you leave him there, he might fall asleep on you." I chuckled, still shocked to feel the air quiver around me.

"He'll be fine."

 Alexandre looked at her brother wistfully. "We better get back before the others miss us."

I looked up at her, surprised. "The others?"

Alexandre's mouth quirked. "You can’t honestly believe it's just us two? Come. I'll show you our city." I rumbled in response. She stretched, then winced as the joints in her body popped.

"You sound old," Forest mumbled. "Like an aged sepia tree." I chuckled as Alexandre shot her sibling a dirty look. "Corin? Where are you from?"

I inwardly smiled at his sleepy curiosity. "I'm from a small port town. It's called Safe Harbor."

"What's a port town?" Forest nestled closer to my neck.

"A port town is where ships stop to resupply themselves and rest. Some sailors have their ships repaired from the fierce winter storms. The sea can be quite unforgiving this time of year. Between the sirens and hurricanes, few sailors who brave the winter waves survive."

"Oh." Alexandre smiled up at her brother.

"He wasn't kidding when he mentioned that you were nicer than Jonathan. He would have incinerated Forest by now if he was you." Alexandre's smile gave way to a frown. "Forest is too trusting. It'll get him killed."

I cocked my head to look down at her. "He's a child. It's in their nature to be trusting." Alexandre hummed at my response. It was quiet as we walked through the forest. The trees loomed large overhead, dappling the forest floor with light and shadow. We passed a lake. Waterfowl glided serenly across. We soon came across a large dirt road.

"Are you ready for this? I'm not sure how my people will react to you. It’s been too long since we've had a dragon in this land. Not since she left us here." I looked at Alexandre in surprise. Her shoulders slumped in defeat as tears pricked her eyes.

"Alexandre?" Alexandre quickly wiped her eyes. She forced a smile in place of the frown, but the frown threatened to come through.

"Do not worry. That was a long time ago. We have rebuilt ourselves stronger than how she left us. There is no use in reopening old wounds.”

We continued down the path until the sun set deep in the sky. I marveled at the vibrancy of the colors.

“We’ll came here tonight. I doubt the nightmares will come close with a dragon with us, but we shall kindle a fire for extra precautions.” Alexandre looked worn from the day. Forrest appeared to be no different. A quick dinner of honey bread and rabbit was prepared before the stars came peeking through. Unlike the stars back home, it was if someone had lit the sky with brilliant, multicolored balls of fires. I had not seen such a spectrum of colors. Lying myself down, sleep came on guided wings.