Of Dragons and Riders IC

Kitty, far more awake and aware, wasn't far in to the woods when she encountered the dragon again. The great beast had its head down to her level and she could feel the hot breath breaking across her face. Kitty cocked her head to the side and considered the the great shadow before her. She had thought it was all a daydream, something that she wished was real but knew that it was not. Yet here in front of her stood the object of her dreams.

"I had thought you were merely a dream. Dragons are creatures of legends and myths, beings that never existed. And yet here you are. Why? Are there more like you?" Kitty asked curious about the answers. She couldn't see much of the dragon, its black hide blending in well with the night.
 
She snorted, amused. I would not know if there are other draogons. And I am here because my parents mated and birthed me. Silly human girl. She said, and her growling laughter could be heard. The great dragon blinked lazily. She lifted a paw and proceeded to lick clean one of her claws, her expression thoughtful. What would you think of being my rider? Onixa asked suddenly, still cleaning her claw.
 
Kitty started at the dragon -no, Onixa's- last question. The others were somewhat expected Kitty reasoned. But the last one? She didn't really know what to think of that! To ride a dragon, to be near the stars,it was like a dream come true to her! But what about her parents? A little voice nagged in the back of her mind. Could she leave them?

"What about my parents?" Kitty asked frowning in thought. She would love to see her dreams come true, but at what cost? Could she convince her parents to leave with her? Would Onixa even allow that?
 
Onixa stopped cleaning her claw and moved to clean another one, her only reaction was to be flicking the tip of her black tail impatiently. How do you mean? She thought, confused a little by the question. She lowered her paw to the ground and then her huge head, starring at Kitty with one great big black eye.
 
Elizabeth squealed in surprise as Einarth suddenly dropped, shifting her position automatically. She leaned down against him and the wind just seemed to slide over her, her hair whipping behind her like a short banner. Her stomach was left far behind as they plummeted, but it was a sensation that she loved. She threw up her hands and cheered as they did loops, keeping her balance and laughing with pure joy as they played. Hearing Einarth laugh, she looked over and saw the ducks. His reaction to the duck made her start laughing all over again and she mimicked the movement that he gave, attempting to keep her expression calm and 'cool'. She, of course, ruined the image by laughing a mere second later.


"This is incredible!" she exclaimed delightedly, waving goodbye to the duck as they shifted to head downward. They weren't that far from where they started, she realized. She'd be able to walk back to the Faire from here. The landing was gentler than she expected and she slid down easily. She bowed back to him and smiled, still thrilled beyond belief that all of this had happened.


"What does Yolaan mean?" she asked curiously with a slight tilt of her head. She was about to comment on him calling her master when she froze. Bryce's voice echoed through the trees, hollering her name. She'd been gone too long, apparently. That was when she remembered that he had sent her off to kill a rabbit. Maybe now he was taking her words to heart. She laughed quietly and shook her head. "Thank you for taking me up there. I'd really like to do it again someday," she said before Bryce yelled again, sounding closer this time. She didn't think it'd be a good idea for him to spot a myth, so she gave the massive dragon an affectionate pat and smiled. "Goodbye!" she whispered secretly, then ran off to meet Bryce before he could make it to the clearing.
 
He had gone back. Why? He had no idea himself. Roth had taken his keys again and drove along the city streets for a time before changing course and returning to that close-enough Renaissance Faire. He still held to the tiniest of sparks that maybe that dragon had gone back. Even as he waited outside one of the tents he couldn't help but pace back and forth. 'That blonde girl works here. I am completely sure of that. You don't wear those clothes daily...wel, you did in my times, though.' He kept his breathing as steady as he could, a scowl neatly adorned his face. Unconsciously he raised his left hand to rub his growing beard and had to stared at it.

A sword in hand. The yelling of orders all over the battlefield. His ultimate yell of vistory as the dragons recoiled from them. And just out of the complete blue, a great fire that passed over his head, wrapping his hand in flames as hot as hell itself. Then his yelled turned into a scream of pain and it ended as he dropped exhausted on the ground. A great whail and the biggest of thuds being heard almost next to him.

Roth huffed angrily and got his hand covered in a glove. He always remembered how he got that scar. The scar that made him more than angry, because a filthy dragon had done it to him. Roth pushed the thoughts away from his mind and continued his pacing, ignoring the stares of the people that went about in their respective tents.
 
A strange feeling pulled relentlessly at the back of Enfyra's mind, distracting him from his hunt. Just as alarming was the sensation that he was being watched by an invisible set of eyes shortly after landing. This annoying was becoming a real thorn in his side. With narrowed eyes he swept his neck from side to side, looking for any sign of someone spying on him. With no recent trace of humans, he turned to face the gentle breeze and took in a deep breath. Surely where vision failed, his sense of smell would alert him to the presence of whoever was watching him and he would have the pleasure of turning them into his meal.

Nothing... no recent trace of humans.

Enfyra snarled in disappointment and confusion. If nobody was there... what the hell was with this feeling? In an attempt to clear his mind, he shook his head from side to side for a second time. It seemed to have worked this time around, the feeling of having eyes cast upon him vanished shortly after his head came to a stop. Enfyra wasted no time with his reprieve, again smelling the air for signs of prey. This time he was rewarded with the scent of a deer carried by the wind. A fine lunch indeed.

The hunt did not take long. The deer had been spooked by the sudden disappearance of all of the birds and had made a run for it, but it was already close to where he was. Enfyra moved with surprising speed, even on the ground for a creature that was thirty feet long. The sound of running water reached his ears even before he spotted his prey. The deer had taken to crossing a wide stream, not realizing the predator chasing it could fly. With a running start Enfyra spread his wings, closing in on the deer and before it knew what hit it his head bent down and his powerful jaws grabbed the poor creature, plucking it up into the air. The force it was hit with killed it instantly. He had his lunch, carrying it in his mouth as a cat might carry a mouse it had captured.

Enfyra carried the deer back to the clearing he had landed in earlier, the treetops too thick to land anywhere else. He unceremoniously dropped it to the ground and began eating. In the middle of his meal the irksome tugging in his mind returned. The human woman was again plaguing his subconscious. Growling, he took one last mouthful of meat. That bothersome girl... why can't I just forget her? The visions seemed meaningless to him.

Tired of the persistence, Enfyra left what remained of the deer carcass on the ground and flew out of the opening in the canopy and straight towards her small house. One way or another, he was determined to see what made her so special. Flying just above the treetops to avoid being spotted from far off, he waiting until he could see the roofs of human homes come into view. It didn't take long, he had grown impatient and flew swiftly. He heedlessly dropped down into the trees, not caring just how many branches he broke through to reach the ground. As a matter of fact, he was relying on the sound of so many snapping at once to draw her attention. Come and find me, human. Let's see just what makes you stand out.
 
"You can call me Boone."

She smiled and slid back to solid ground. Honestly it just wasn't the same now. Walking when she had just flown, it left Boone feeling empty knowing she was leaving now. Boone's clothes were soaked in an unsatisfactory heap where she had left them before her jump. She sighed and decided that everything was now unsatisfactory. Her wet clothes, her yellow Jeep, her small apartment, her morning runs, her mediochre writing career. It was all just pitiful now that she knew a dragon.

"Can I help you?"

Boone blurted out.

"Can I help you...whoever you are, look for the other dragons?"
 
Kitty thought for a bit before answering. "I care deeply for my parents. To leave them would hurt. I would have to come up with an explanation as to why I want to leave all of a sudden." She sighed and sat down at Onixa's feet, looking up into the night sky thoughtfully. "If I go with you, can we come back and visit my parents?"
 
The dragon was quite for a moment, considering the girl's request. Yes. I would like to meet the ones who made you someday. Onixa agreed, and laid her great huge black head down next to the girl. Onixa felt right and sure about making this girl her rider. Someone else who was like her. Loved the stars at night, to be up close to them, almost like you could reach out a hand and touch one.
 
"Yolaan means--" he was cut off from a voice in the distance calling for Elizabeth. And just when things were getting fun. Einarth looked to her and made a small smile and a huff, he didn't want to watch his rider disappear. But as he remembered earlier, she had somewhere else to be. As she greeted him farewell for now he nodded in agreement, although he was planning something else in mind. She wondered off and went back to her Faire, leaving Einarth to plan his actions.

He looked to his left, then his right, and last in front of him. She wasn't watching. He grinned and lifted off the ground into the skies, cutting halfway into the clouds and flying over the valley. Down below he could see the Faire, Elizabeth, and... a clown? The lizard's intentions were to watch from a far as he always did. It was his duty as the Shadow Wing of the town of course. Einarth flew to a nearby mountain that gave a view of the faire. He landed at the very top of the monument, his wings held out, spread wide and held high.

Down below he could see someone giving Elizabeth quite the earfull. If he wasn't worried about being spotted by the wrong eyes, he'd swoop down and clutch the bastard in his talons. For now he'd wait however. His job was to be her guardian until the days of battle would call upon them.
 
Bryce met her in the woods and was at first seemingly relieved to find her, but then he proceeded to give her the scolding of her life. Elizabeth listened in silence, a bit hurt that he was more interested in yelling at her than asking where she had been - but her mind wasn't really on Bryce. She was thinking of Einarth and the absolute joy that had filled her when they flew. It had felt just.. right. As if it were natural. Sighing contentedly, she caught Bryce's attention and he saw her smile, which initiated a whole new round of scoldings as he told her that she didn't take anything seriously and that she might as well give up on the sword lessons because she couldn't commit to anything.


Well, that made her upset, so she walked away from him the second they got back to the Faire. Her tent was set on the outer ring since she preferred being out of the middle of the noise for painting. She stalked over to her tent and went inside without even glancing around to see if any of her other friends were about. Plopping on her cot moodily, she just looked at the ground and started daydreaming all over again.
 
The albino dragoness nodded in response to the woman's name: Boone. To Felle's knowledge, a boon was a blessing- something valuable and precious. She stared curiously down at the human; perhaps this Boone, this tiny woman, was a blessing. An absurd request bubbled into the beast's maw -come with me come see the world help me find them- but before she could ask it, the human voiced a similar plea of her own.

Felle was taken aback by Boone's straightforwardness; the human spoke again. "Can I help you...whoever you are, look for the other dragons?" The alabaster beast hesitated, unsure of what to respond with. Instinct told her to take Boone along with a resounding YES, but sense told her to stop and think. After a moment or two, Felle lowered her head to the human's level and said gently, "Felle. My name is Felle." She continued, more hesitantly, "Don't you have a family-a home, Lady Boone, that you would miss?" The white drago knew the importance of family, now more than ever. She waited politely for a response, despite yearning for a quick, short NO.
 
Roth leaned on a tree, carefully inspecting the blades in his coat and being asked a question or two by some of the Faire workers. His only reply to them was 'I'm here on bussiness...the blades are just a gift from someone'. He truly was only on bussiness of his own, and the blades, well that's another story of his past. Even from his spot, he had heard some yelling. He could recognize the voice, it was a man that had gone from his tent, saying something about going to look out for someone else in the Faire. He waited as patiently as he could, waiting for the man and whoever it was to return. 'Why are you waiting Herrmann? Who do you expect it to be? The girl you saw is gone...maybe that dragon already took her to his refuge. He saw you coming--' Roth shooked his head. Arguing with himself was no good at the moment. Still, he held to a tiny piece of hope that was left to him. Maybe it was the blonde girl he had seen who was returning, maybe not. Either way he would find her and asked her where that dragon went, with a promise of not harming her. He smirked and closed his coat, digging his hands in the pockets of his dark jeans and following a girl with blonde hair to one of the many tents in the place.
 
Elizabeth thought that she heard somebody outside, but when she glanced over at her tent flaps, she didn't see anybody in the little slit. Shrugging it off, she turned back around and settled on the cot with her back to the door. After rummaging around a bit in a big bag, she pulled out a blank canvas that was about a foot square. She pulled out paints and a few brushes as well, soon forgetting her irritated mood with Bryce as she started to paint an image of herself riding on Einarth's back. It was soothing, especially since she drew them with the clouds at the bottom and all of the stars up above.

[I do apologize for shortness]
 
How Einarth viewed time passing by was seconds when it was merely minutes. He wasn't growing impatient, but he was easing into worry. For those of a hero's stature will always attract their enemy, anonimous or not. That is what frightened a dragon to it's core, losing their rider. A rider is like your life long companion bonded to you at birth, if possible, apart of you really. Even now Einarth could hear Elizabeth's thoughts and feel the danger surrounding them. So far she didn't seem happy with her friend.... Bryce was it?

He looked across the field, scanning the ground of the faire for anything new to see. He's only seen so much of the new modern world, and all of it interested him. In the massive tent entrance to the cebter of the field, he spotted a clown and a bear rolling around on a wheel. To the left of that was a midget with a banana riding a horse in his boxers, while playing the flute. This was the craziest circus he's seen in... Lets leave it at the craziest....

And his favorite spotting was Elizabeth entering her tent and taking a seat, beginning to paint. A dragon's eye was the sharpest of all creature's, truely a force to be reckoned with. He was seconds away from turning his gaze before he caught a scent. Him! he was near, close but where, and how? Looking down below he saw his source, it was Elizabeth being followed by him! Most likely he was looking for Einarth and had forgotten the first rule to hunting. Dragons come to you...

He leaped off his balcony and started crawling his way into a gallop across the forest. He was appromiximately two miles out from the faire. He began tearing down trees and knocking them over in a haste to find Elizabeth before he does..
 
As swiftly as he could, and as quietly, too, Roth positioned himself outside the tent of the blonde girl he was following. He knew people were going to be suspicious about it, so he only stayed there, between two trees and sliting a small hole with a blade to look into the tent. So far he was all right. 'She's a Rider' he reminded himself 'You can't harm them. Just wait until that good-for-nothing lizard comes to you...and then attack'. It was a truth, though; Roth couldn't harm Dragons that had Riders. It would just make his years stand-out and make him weaker. But it was also a trap. He would never harm any human, unless it was enemy of his, but in this case it was different, the girl had willingly taken her place on top of that Dragon, a creature that had no place in this century. 'Therefore she is an enemy. May God forgive after I do this'. Kill the girl when the Dragon gets here; then kill the Dragon. His plan was that simple and insolent. The tiniest of smirks formed on his lips. 'This is the price one has to pay when they want to stop living forever'. Behind him something seemed to come closer, like the sound of a bulldozer making its way through the forest. "Come and get your girl, lizard" he whispered under his breath.
 
Taking a brush with a tiny tip, Elizabeth began doing the more detailed scale work on Einarth, taking her time to ensure that it was going to look true to life. Luckily her memory was excellent and she had no problem recalling what the giant dragon looked like. She hummed to herself and added a tiny line, then paused. Something felt.. wrong. It was like she felt worried, but she knew that she wasn't worried. She looked around in confusion, but everything seemed normal in her tent. There was no reason to be worried.


"Odd.." she murmured to herself, unable to shake the strange feeling. She shrugged a little and returned her attention to the painting, soon forgetting the unfamiliar anxiety as she focused instead on the detail of the brush strokes. Outside, Bryce and the others were looking around at the approaching sound of something. They assumed that maybe customers were showing up even though it was their day off, so they weren't too concerned.. yet.
 
Still trying to remain unseen, Roth tried to hide his impatience. Everyone else seemed to feel what was already coming towards them, but seemed to be mistaking it for people and not an unknown creature to them. The blonde girl was making a painting, the brush moving swiftly here and there and making the perfect curves for the Dragon she was painting. 'She has talent, I have do have to say that. What a pity it will be wasted'. He hid again as the girl looked around her tent, holding his breath and staying as still as ever and only returning his gaze to the hole he had made when he knew it was safe to look again. The huffing of the approaching beast sounded closer now, he felt the ground vibrate under him and could almost feel the heat rediating from it, or maybe it was just him getting excited for the moment to finally come. Roth chuckled lowly, taking out a blade from his coat and running his fingers over it, thinking of where it would find its target.
 
She knew that her grandfather was going to snap if she didn't get into that house quick to tend to the roast that was most likely burning in the oven, but something did not allow her to move. It was an invisible force, almost like a rope, that was binding her in place. Stranger even, her senses did not leave the forest area. Her eyes burned into the threes, and even as sharp as they have become over the years, she still had no idea what was so interesting about the bunch of trees. The birds had taken off into a spooked flight for a reason; she just knew it. Problem was, she had no inner conscious to tell her not to observe any further.

Finally dropping the utensils on the ground, Xeri took one look at the house and frowned. Her grandfather would be deeply mad at her for disobeying his beckoning calls, but she just had to know! She just had to know what was in that clearing! What had scared those birds! Her fingers gathered tiny beads of sweat, green eyes darting from the cottage to the forest to the cottage again.

"XERI! HAVE YOU HEARD ME?!" came the angry voice of the old man inside. Xeri opened her mouth to let him know that she was on her way, but, as she bent over to grab the items again, a deep, far-off voice waved inside her head.

Come and find me, human. Let's see just what makes you stand out.

Her entire mobility system shut down that instant, green eyes wide as they were going to go as her head snapped into the direction of the forest. She hadn't heard the voice with her ears at all. It was almost as if the voice had been in her head the entire time.

"What...?" she whispered with her pale pink lips set in a confused line. The cabin next to her was left forgotten as she turned her full attention to the forest ahead of her. Her bow and arrow were always where she kept them, in the troughs of the tree next to her house. Whatever the voice was, it did not sound happy or friendly at all. If anything, it sound challenging. Xeri rushed to the tree, jumping twice on her tip toes until her fingers wrapped around the slender, beige bow and the quiver of arrows that were attached to them. All the while, her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she thought over and over about the sentence. Come and find me, human. Let's see just what makes you stand out. Human? The forest loomed before her almost as if a magnetic force was pulling her towards it. Whatever it was, Xeri was ready. Wiping her palms on her pants, she gave a apologetic frown at the cottage before sprinting off to the forest.
 
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