Four of them had their entire legs bare to the world. I could see their thigh muscles flex with each step. The yellow one wore pants, but that was it. All of them had bare chests. None of them had shoes. All of them had those strange feet that made it look as if they were walking on their toes, and all of them were much taller than me because of it.
Yet as the air grew hotter and my shadow got shorter, my steps became slower. Beside me, the Wyvern looked over a few times, but he didn't complain. Instead, it was the tan one.
"Ats gouna deik ous du deiz agi baek ut das peis. Kaent tu meik ar vok eni thasdar?"
The Wyvern huffed in annoyance but didn't respond. Instead, it was the yellow one who reached over for my chain. His orange fingers touched the metal, lifted it slightly, and then paused. When I looked at him, the Dragon tilted his head almost like he was making a request, but since I had no clue what it was about, I had no idea how to respond.
He seemed to take my silence as consent, though. Gently, he lifted the chain up and over my head, settling the weight of the chain on my shoulders. Like this, I could relax my arms.
Blood began to rush to my fingers, making them tingle as soon as I did. Shaking my hands, I tried to get feeling back into them, but it was as if the Dragons didn't notice. The Wyvern said something to the yellow one. The yellow one called words forward to the pair up ahead. The brown one behind me just chuckled.
But the reprieve from holding the heavy chain? It was enough to let me walk again. Thankful for the relief, I leaned my head back, stretching the aching parts of my neck and back just as we passed under a thicker portion of trees.
The light dimmed. My eyes felt like they could finally open without a struggle. Unwilling to waste the chance, I looked around, blinking furiously to force out the last of the moisture. What I saw? It was absolutely amazing.
On either side of the dirt path were trees. Massive ones, even bigger than where I'd been chained up. The trunks were so big, I was sure three of these Dragons couldn't reach around them. And tall! The leaves and needles went up and up and up! It was as if the tips of them must be all the way up in Heaven!
Underneath them were even more plants. Vines, bushes, and more. We kept walking, and I kept looking, but I didn't have words for all the things I could see. Some had flowers. Some had thorns. I recognized briars from a book, but little else. Among all of that, there was movement. Tiny things, which I could only assume were insects, flitting among the plants.
A smile began to grow on my face. Colors were everywhere. Bright ones, like the shades of green. Even the many tones of brown were more intense than I'd expected. I saw red berries and pink flowers. When a bird flew across the trail we were on, I gasped, shocked to see yellow under its quickly moving wings.
Beside me, the Wyvern chuckled. Then he made an announcement. The four others made agreeable sounds, and all of them simply stopped walking. As I tried to figure out what was happening, most of the men shrugged off their packs and dropped them to the ground, easing themselves down right after.
The Wyvern, however, reached over to lightly touch my shoulder. "Orin?" he asked, gesturing to the side.
I didn't want to go. I really didn't want to be alone with him. I also wasn't quite brave enough to refuse. If the slap from the green one had hurt that much, what would this man's punishment feel like?
So dropping my head, I allowed him to steer me off the hard dirt and under the trees. On the third step, I found something sharp and winced. Immediately, the Wyvern caught my waist, steadying me. I tensed, but he merely guided me a little further forward, and then helped me to sit down at the trunk of one of those massive trees, joining me a second later.
With a heavy sigh, the most terrifying of the Dragons leaned back to let the tree hold him up. Then he pointed. "Arioul."
Following his finger, I saw a small bird with a dark back and blindingly yellow belly. Sucking in a breath, I leaned forward to see better - not that it helped. My reaction made the Wyvern chuckle.
Then he pointed to something else. "Boudderthlai."
It took me longer to see that, but when I did, I found an insect with wide black wings with white spots on them. Confused, I looked over at the Wyvern.
"A butterfly?"
He just murmured and began pulling off his pack. Clearly, he didn't understand my words any better than I did his, yet I'd noticed the similarities in those names. I wanted to ask, but I had no clue how.
Then he thrust the bottle of water at me and nodded. I didn't need him to offer twice this time. My throat was parched and my skin felt like it was on fire. Hopefully, a few gulps of something would help to cool me off.
I took a long drink, paused to catch my breath, and then another. When I finally lowered the bottle and leaned back again, the man beside me shifted a bit so he was partially facing me.
"Orin?" he asked, slowly reaching his arm towards me.
I didn't move. Was this when he grabbed me and tried to have his way with me? Was I leading him on by sitting here? Did he think pointing at a bird and an insect was enough to convince me to let him use my body?
I almost slapped his hand away, but hesitated for a second too long. The Wyvern's finger pressed softly into my forearm, and that was all. Confused, I looked down, only for him to do it again. The pressure turned my skin white, but when he removed the touch, it quickly flared back to a very angry pink color.
Lifting my arm, I looked closer at it. With my other hand, I pressed the same way, aware my flesh was hot. Not only on the inside, it seemed, but also on the outside. Had it been the tuber I'd eaten? Was I allergic to it? Or maybe it was just the heat in the air slowly cooking me?
Making another one of those wordless sounds, the Wyvern pulled a cloth from his bag. Gently taking the water from my hand, he poured some over the cloth, and then pressed the damp fabric to my skin.
The relief was immediate. Wanting more, I tried to wipe the wet spot across my arm, but there wasn't enough of it. The Wyvern simply made another noise, and took the cloth back. This time, he soaked the thing completely before giving it back.
Desperately, I wiped myself down all over. I didn't even care about the abrasive feel of it. The coolness was such a relief. Once I was done, the Wyvern carefully plucked the cloth from my fingers and then slowly moved it around behind my neck. There, he squeezed, allowing all the excess water to trickle down my neck and back.
It didn't make it any less hot in the world, but oddly it did make me feel like I might be able to deal with it. But the Wyvern's kindness wasn't done yet. With another of those noises, he dug in his pack and pulled out a pair of tubers. They weren't as big as the one from this morning, but otherwise looked the same. Proudly, he offered me one.
My eyes narrowed, wondering if I should refuse, but what else could I eat? Even if I was allergic to this, the reaction didn't seem to be too bad, and starving would prevent me from escaping if I ever had the chance. So, cautiously, I bit into the end.
Beside me, the monster who was supposed to be my enemy did the same, leaning back and closing his eyes. The sound of our crunching was our only conversation, but as far as I cared, that was perfectly fine.
Because while I might have no clue why, it seemed the Dragons weren't trying to kill me. At least not yet.
EighteenAyla
From there, the world continued to warm up, and once again we walked. It didn't take long before every step was sheer misery. My feet hurt so bad, but I didn't dare stop. The others were walking like it was no big deal, but I had never traveled this far in my life. My back was sore, my skin was burning, and the glare had caused my eyes to weep long enough that they now felt dry and raw.
Even worse, the Wyvern stayed right at my side. The man was gigantic. Not just tall, but also broad. His lack of clothing made it easy to see the massive muscles in his arms and chest. I stole peeks from the corner of my eyes, thinking about the stories I'd heard. Mr. Cassidy said this beast could pull apart a man with his bare hands. Seeing him, I could believe it. Not even the strongest hunters had arms as big as his.
But his stripes were actually beautiful. In the dappled light along the road, I could watch his skin change colors. In the shade, it was black, with nearly white stripes that ran from his head to his toes. When the sun hit him, he turned dark green and the stripes shifted to rainbow pastels. The sheen reminded me of cooking oil on water. The stripes were like a prism.
On his face, the pale lines shimmered in orange. By the time they reached his dark hair, they turned to a pale yellow. Along his back, they were cream, changing to lime green about halfway down. The base of his tail was turquoise, with the stripes only one shade lighter until they blended in about halfway down. Most of his tail was solid blue, but the tip? Just before the barb, the color verged on violet. It was a blue-purple shade I didn't know the name for.
A rainbow of colors teased my eyes, but they weren't really there. It was as if a reflection of color was laid on top of the cream I saw in the shade. Iridescence, I thought it was called, though I'd never seen such a thing in real life. It was surprisingly beautiful.
