The Dragon's Eyes Read Online Free Page A

the
creature’s mouth. Their ears were pointed and sitting above their heads (much
like a draxuni’s) but they currently leaned flat in anger. They had large,
leathery black wings that were similar to the dragon’s, but somehow creepier on
these creatures.
    One of them was trying to get a good grip in the
dragon’s neck with its teeth while the other was tearing at the dragon’s
injured wing. The dragon faithfully tried to cover us, even though Dylan was
now trying to get in the fight. The creatures forced the dragon to his back to
tear at his belly. In an instant, the air went from warm and humid to cold and
dry. First one, then the other creature fell over to writhe in pain. Dylan had
fierce concentration on his face.
    “What are you doing?” I asked.
    He winced. “Don’t talk.”
    The dragon let out a cry and Dylan shuddered. The two
creatures stopped writhing, gained their footing, and quickly disappeared into
the forest. Dylan slumped against the dragon, reaching for the dragon’s torn
neck, but a faint green glow was all Dylan could manage.
    “Come here,” he panted.
    When I did, he took my hand with his free one.
Instantly I felt exhausted, like I had been the one to fight in battle. Even
though the encounter had lasted mere minutes, it had felt like it lasted hours.
The green glow burst into an eerie fire and the dragon sighed, relaxing. The
wounds on the dragon began to close as I grew more and more dizzy. Dylan and
the dragon passed out and I had enough time to sit down before I did too.
     
    *          *          *
     
    I woke up very comfortable with the sound of a
crackling fire and the smell of food.
    “Wake up,” Dylan said insistently.
    I would have grumbled at him if my stomach hadn’t
taken that moment to growl loudly. I snuggled into the warmth and opened my
eyes. I didn’t know dragons were cuddly creatures, but this one was wrapped
around me with his front leg over me. Big eyes blinked at me as if wondering
when I was getting up. I snuggled deeper under his limb.
    “Oh, get up. You need to eat and then we need to wash
the dragon blood off us before we attract attention.”
    I shifted the dragon’s paw off me to see that I was
indeed covered in blood. It was appalling. “How did that happen?” I demanded.
The dragon shrugged his paw back over me and laid his head down.
    “The creatures attacked him over us and he lost a lot
of blood. He needs to drink some water so hurry and eat.” Dylan handed me a
stick with cooked meat on it. I took a bite and froze, not sure whether to chew
or spit it out. “I know it’s weird. I have no idea what the little mammal was,
just eat it,” he demanded.
    I ate the meat with a weird, reptilian texture,
crustacean flavor, and mollusk smell.
    “Any idea what those creatures were?” I asked.
    Dylan shook his head. “Never seen nor heard of
anything like them. I know there are many creatures in this forest that are
undiscovered, but those guys seemed a little mythological.”
    The dragon snorted.
    After choking down the food, we headed for the sound
of running water. The dragon appeared to be healed and ambled along gracefully.
His wings folded safely against his back, but twitched nervously every time we
heard a particularly loud noise. We made it to the water without losing any
body parts, minus a little blood when Dylan mistook a thesper tree for an
innocent one.
    “If it’s blood colored, you should probably avoid
it,” I advised.
    “It’s a little more blood colored now,” he moaned.
“I’m sorry if my losing blood is inconvenient for you, but trees don’t attack
you with thorns on Earth.”
    The river was calm and didn’t look too deep. Dylan
and I stripped as the dragon pounced into the creek. Since it was midday and
the clearing had plenty of sun, it was warm enough. I hated cold baths.
    “Hey, when did you get a tattoo?” Dylan asked.
    “A what?”
    “A skin picture.”
    “I know what a tattoo is. I just don’t