Behind the Eyes

Tain jerked me onto land, and though my legs were shaking, he continued to pull me as we ran.
“Try not to trip,” Tain ordered as we zoomed down the steep hill. I was constantly giving reflexive tugs to get him to be cautious but I was just as careless and eager to get down.
The dragon gave another ear splitting screech behind us. Though in a second, he was in front of us. I screamed in surprise and gripped Tain’s arm.
“Did you bring a weapon?” I asked him as we backed up with the dragon advancing slowly toward us.
“You didn’t tell me to,” Tain said. I gave his arm a tight squeeze in annoyance at his reply.
“What do we do?” I demanded. “I’m not sure,” Tain replying, running a hand through his sweaty hair.
“We’re going to die,” I said, stamping my foot in anxiousness. “Shut up,” he snapped. “We’re not going to die-”
The dragon suddenly lunged forward, his drooling fangs snapping at us. I screamed again in fear while Tain pushed me back to keep me away from the creature’s mouth.
The dragon growled its protest, then his tail snapped around and swept Tain off his feet.
I jumped and suppressed a scream as Tain knocked his head against a rock. I bent to grab him, but I was stopped by a clawed, scaly, foot that wrapped around my waist.
I would have screamed but the claw gripped me so tightly, I hardly had the breath.
I’ve always dreamed of flying, but never in such a manner. I had no idea where we were going and I was terrified of being dropped. For extra measure, I held the scaly foot for dear life.
I was so far up from the ground, I felt sick looking down so I closed my eyes. The dragon flew fast and swift, which made my stomach twist and lurch at the slightest movement.
And suddenly, I felt my stomach drop. Along with the rest of me. I was falling from the claw that had just a second ago held me tight.
But then I was caught again, but not by a red scaled claw as before. But a black. I snapped my head up to see a different dragon holding me. A screech behind me assured me that the red dragon was following.
If anyone would have told me that two dragons were going to be fighting over me for a late night snack, I would have simply laughed and thought it interesting. But now, I just feel plain sick.
The black dragon landed on the mountain, moving me in his back foot and deciding to hold me in his front right hand.
Now that we were on the ground, I struggled to get free. I pushed against the scales and tried to squirm out, but to no avail.
The black dragon holding me snapped his head toward the screech of the red dragon that had lost our trail. Like a lizard who had caught the eye of a human, the dragon practically slithered into a hole in that mountain that I would have never noticed in a million years.
The hole in the wall led into a cave filled with sparkling gold and jewels…and bones.
My heart raced as the dragon dropped me onto the floor and walked toward a spot on the ground that had been burned and was surrounded by piles of gold. I backed against the far wall and sat down, staring terrified at the dragon.
But something a bit more interesting caught my eye. I noticed a table with one chair near the other wall. On it was a bottle and three candles, which I realized was the source of light in the cavern. This usually wouldn’t seem so bizarre if I wasn’t in a dragon’s cave where something like a chair shouldn’t even be.
I began to imagine the dragon making it seem as if he was hospitable and just liked making his visitors comfortable.
Like I was falling for that.
I may not be stressing how much I’m actually surprised and frightened right now. Sure I was coming here to search for a dragon, a half one anyway, but as if I actually intended to find one!
I brought my knees to my chest and hugged them tightly, burying my face into my dress. Tears squeezed past my tightly shut eyelids and my breathing became fast and irregular. The sickly heat I created in the cloth of my dress made it hard and uncomfortable to breathe at all, but I dared not take my face away from its hiding place.
I heard the grumbling of the dragon somewhere in the cave and I merely clung tighter to myself. I didn’t even want to hear the rumbling of its tummy, if that was the sound at all. I tried telling myself it was probably just him shifting around.
I jumped as I felt something poke my side roughly. The black scaly tail of the dragon was beside me.
I snapped my head to see the body of the dragon glaring dangerously at me as he sat down across the cave.
Shakily, I slid away from the tail. A glint passed through the red irises, as his ear twitched. I felt his tail once again touch my side. And once again, I looked at him and scooted over.
A low rumble emitted from the dark creature as both of his ears twitched. I caught his tail move this time and my hand shot out to stop it.
“No.” I stated firmly. I had no idea what possessed me to say something like that. Maybe my bossy princess instincts are kicking in.
The dragon gave a quick snort and forced against my hand. I just pushed back with both of my hands.
“No, please,” I demanded just as firmly, but I added the please to be polite.
The dragon snorted again but retracted his long tail back to curve around his seated form.
As he watched me, I analyzed the appearance of this creature. He was, needless to say, very large. But mostly tall as I noted he was a somewhat skinny…for a dragon anyway. He was black all over, and his dark curved spikes along his back glistened in the candle light.
The only thing that would give him away in the shadows would be his eyes. The irises were red and the sclera was orange, instead of white. And his pupil, I could tell, was not circled, but a long, skinny rhombus, like a cat eye, right through the middle.
They were entrancing yet frightening, as if they could swallow you up at any second.
I tilted my head as a thought suddenly struck me. “Hello,” I spoke loudly. The ear twitch motion again.
“I-I’m Ori,” I continued, feeling just a little silly. “I…I like your cave.” The dragon snorted but did not respond. I decided that he could not talk, but could understand what I was saying.
I decided that maybe by talking, he’d get sleepy and go to sleep. Mother used to tell me I had a knack for boring people with my stories. Maybe that can finally come in handy.
“I don’t really like gold that much,” I commented, flicking a gold coin away from me absently. His lip gave a jump, but he didn’t move.
“I like silver though,” I said, trying not to think about the glint of sharp teeth I had just seen. “And emeralds, and diamonds sometimes…I don’t really like jewelry actually.”
I stopped when I suddenly noticed the dragon was stretching to lay down. His eyes bore straight through me. But…call me crazy, he seemed, dare I say, interested.
I know that sounds silly, since I really wasn’t talking about anything. But I felt my heart give a jump at the thought. No one, besides Louisa and Tain, had ever really cared about what I had to say.
But just as my heart was lifted, it dropped and stopped as I was suddenly brought right up to the dragon’s form by his tail. I held my breath as I stared into the huge eyes of the dragon.
But his head laid lazily on his forefeet as his tail twitched to curl around him once again. His cat like eyes merely blinked in expectation.
I gulped down saliva to dry my suddenly scratchy throat. “Umm, I like books,” I said hoarsely, hoping this is what the dragon was expecting.
I decided speaking was what he had wanted as his eyes glinted with peaked interest.
“Especially adventure ones,” I continued. “I like the heroes and adventures they tell about. My favorite might be the History of Failynn.”
The dragon folded his ears suddenly. “Well,” I said quickly, “it’s not the real history. Just little moral fiction stories based on true events and rulers.” I smiled as I thought about them.
“I like the part of the dragon boy the most, though.” I gave the dragon a perplexed look when he snorted. “Don’t laugh,” I said. “It’s interesting, is all.”
I began to enjoy myself a bit as I criss-crossed my legs and put my hands in my lap. “I like that whole idea of curses and enchantments. True, I’d never wish that upon myself or anyone else, but it’s entertaining to think about.”
I actually laughed when the dragon rolled his eyes. “Tain does the same thing,” I commented. And just like that…I was crying.
My best friend was still out there. That other dragon circling the mountain, probably searching for him. I remember I had left him bloodied and unconscious.
“Poor Tain,” I wept into my hands. “I hope he’s okay…”
I flinched when I felt a gust of sudden wind and a clinging of jewels. When I opened my eyes, the dragon was gone.
I looked around the cave, but he was no where to be seen. I jumped to my feet and ran to find an opening. But strangely, I couldn’t find one.
I felt all along the wall I thought we’d come in, but I didn’t feel, nor find the exit. Stomping my foot in frustration, I went to the table that held the candle and began to realize how tired I was.
Suppressing a yawn, I decided I’d sleep under the table. Mostly because I can’t have light right in my eyes when I slept, and under the table seemed to have the only shade in the cave.
I crawled under the small wooden table and laid down, clutching my knees to my chest once again to keep warm.
With one last tear, I fell asleep, my last conscious thought being of Tain safely home.