Chapter 53: Roads & Arrival

Chapter 53: Roads & Arrival I nodded thoughtfully to myself then packed the jar into the backpack. I finished off the bit of food I’d put together, drank some water, then put them both back through the tent then packed it all away. When I was just down to the tent and backpack again, I went to check on you. It had become a compulsive habit for me now, and I was very aware of it. But I wasn’t going to do anything about it, at least right now. Watching your evenly rising and falling chest and seeing your eyelashes quiver as you dreamt was almost calming now to me, or as close to calming as anything was going to get. I brushed a lock of hair from your ear then leaned forward to press my forehead against yours, checking for fever. There wasn’t one but the impulse to kiss you burst to the foreground. I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Maybe this would be the end of me and this quiet time now would be the last I’d get to look at you. Was that justification enough? I hesitated, then finally leaned closer and kissed you on the cheek. I’d feel too guilty if I went for lips, but I couldn’t deny the serious possibility that I could be dead in the next few minutes. Heart racing in my chest, I straightened, turned, then stripped off all my clothes, dropping them to the ground by you and the backpack. The only thing I kept were my jeans which I tied very loosely around his neck. "I know you’re there!" I shouted. "I know that all this is just an illusion, so just come out and get this over with!" There was no echo after my shout, the lush forest having devoured up my voice. I took a deep breath then shouted again. "This is a forest without much light, so why is there grass growing right under the trees?! And the rocks! They should be covered with lichen and grime but they look more like river rocks!" This time there was a slight echo and I caught sight of a brief sparkle in the darkness of the trees. I grit my teeth and continued my critique. I initially felt quite embarrassed just shouting to myself in the middle of nowhere but after a while I got rather into it, though I can’t remember what I said. What I do remember was how quickly the first arrow shot out of the dark at me. I was able to safely dodge it, but it still surprised me how quick it was, and I decided not to take any chances and transformed right away. Three more arrows came from the dark but each missed their mark by a large margin as I cut a large circle away from you and towards the source of the arrows. I didn’t want to get you in the line of fire but I also wanted to keep an eye on you in case the Coil guardian wanted to take you hostage or something. Another arrow shot out and I leapt up in the air, taking flight, then immediately plunged down where the shot had come from. I felt something crunch under my claws. But before I had a chance to pat myself on the back, another volley of arrows sprang out at me from the dark, this time from a different direction. Had I missed? I rolled to the side and glanced where I’d landed. The thing had been made of a white stone, maybe marble, and though it was rather smashed up from my attack, I could still see the guardian’s arms holding a broken bow and a helmeted head a few feet away. There was more than one guardian. Had I been human, a cold chill of desperation would have probably bucketed down on me, but I was a dragon and the thought of difficult odds... energised me. I snarled and leapt up into flight again, spiraling up through the leaves of the trees then darting down again at my new enemy. The marble archer rotated like an artillery machine and shot again, but my momentum kept me safe and I smashed through it. Without waiting, I leapt up into the air again and as I did, a fresh volley of arrows found their mark right where I’d been. The intervals were getting shorter and the shorts were getting more accurate. Was it safe to assume that these archers were part of some kind of hivemind, or at least that they were sharing information? At this rate, if this dragged out too long I was guaranteed to get skewered. I decided that I’d better utilise a wise tactic I’d learned from playing online FPS games far too much as a youth: run. I arced in the air and sped back towards you, thinking through a preliminary plan. I hadn’t asked you back then whether Coil guardians have a maximum roaming range or at least an aggro-range, but I knew that, based on my short experience right now, I could out speed them which meant hit-and-run tactics were on the menu. Make some distance between us and them, then pick them off one-by-one. But even as I thought that, an arrow shot out from the bushes. It looked the same and flew the same as all the others, but there was one fundamental difference: it was aimed at you. "Graahhh!" I didn’t think before thrusting my body between it and you and it was only the pain of the arrow cutting into me that made me realise what had happened. But I didn’t regret it. I stood over you and turned, snarling and snapping at the archer slowly emerging from the dark. And another. And another. Before I’d even had a chance to assess just how badly I’d been injured, we were surrounded by at least a dozen of the helmeted things. I realised as they raised their bows, their arrows glinting, that there was one thing that I regretted: coming back for you just then. If I’d flown somewhere else, then all them would have probably gone after me alone. Then, you’d have had a chance to wake up on your own, then maybe... I crouched lower, trying to cover you as much as I could. I could take a few arrows, I was sure of that, but just how many was too many...? "Halt!" The voice was commanding and even I froze for a moment before whipping around to see who had arrived. All the archers had also stopped and from between their frozen forms a woman slowly threaded between them and out into the small clearing where you and I were. She was middle aged, a little rounder in the middle, and dressed in cheap clothes you’d find in any street market in the city, but I knew exactly who she was from that greying braid falling over one shoulder. My immediate impulse was to speak, but of course I couldn’t do that, so next I went to transform into a human. Pain shot through my side where the arrow was still imbedded in me and I whimpered and fell to the ground. I felt my consciousness slip but I desperately tried to hold on. I had to talk to her, explain that she had to help you... I had to... -- Misha wanted to sleep more, but the dull throbbing at his side forced him to wakefulness and he opened his eyes to stare up at an unfamiliar ceiling. It was made of wood, rather pretty wood with interlocking joints, and his eyes slowly traced along them until he was looking to his side. "How do you feel? You’ve been asleep for three days after the healing." Misha felt completely numb as he stared up at the person sitting by him. "Bran..." He tried to rise but Bran quickly pressed him back. "Careful. It took ages to get the blood to stop flowing." Misha, feeling Bran’s hands on him and finally willing to believe what he was seeing, obeyed and laid back down though he managed to grasp Bran’s hand and he held it tightly. "Are you okay?" he asked. He could hear his own voice crack. Bran hesitated and Misha could see the indecision in his eyes as he wondered if and how to lie to Misha. But in the end, he didn’t need to. "He’s better but not well," came that authoritative voice. A door at the other end of the room slid open and Bran’s aunt strode in. Bran immediately tried to stealthily pull his hand away but Misha was having none of that and even sat up to grab on more securely. He wasn’t going to lose Bran, not after all that. Bran’s aunt’s eyebrow went up a little and Bran gave up his struggle, quickly looking away. Misha on the other hand, renewed his grip and smiled at the woman. "You must be Bran’s aunt," he said. "Bran’s said a lot about you." "All positive, I’m sure," the woman replied. "Oh, definitely."