A Dragon Slayer's Heart: Chapter 8 -Flowing Memories-
#8 of A Dragon Slayer's Heart
Chapter 8!!!!! =D
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Chapter 8 - Flowing Memories-
That night, James could not sleep. Images of the woman on the back of the dragon that had just saved their lives seemed all too familiar, the beauty of her hair....her slender figure... were his eyes deceiving him? Or was it only an elf who was passing by, noticing travelers in trouble? No...he couldn't believe any of the other ideas...but they were just too tempting. And what of the other dragons? They had seemed to have scattered after his and Alex's intrusion.
This image replayed over and over in his head. Even though he was unable to see her face, he somehow knew deep inside that it was her...but he dared not tease himself with such fantasies. If he believed it...hoping for the best...it would only end up in more complications. His heart belonged to Alex now....and nothing could change that.
He shook his head free of these thoughts. He felt a strong affection....no....love...for her now...and nothing could shake that feeling away from him. He had watched his past love perish in the airship battle high above the clouds...it coulnt be her...no...it just couldn't be...or was it...?
Such ideas tormented his mind relentlessly, denying him a single second of sleep. In the cave they were in, Alex was sleeping next to the large black steel cage, the snow white wind dragon sleeping within it peacefully. She appeared to be under some sleeping spell or draught that prevented her from awakening, even in the heat of battle as they had seen before. Though the battle was short, his wings felt as if they were still on fire from the bash of the hammer. As he tried to move them, he find it surprisingly easy, but the pain was still there like an undying memento of the battle before.
He reached back, feeling them with his scaled hands. He noticed a distinct slickness to them, and a leafy sheathe around both of them. As he brought his arm back around, the aroma of strong herbs filled his nose. He sighed happily, realizing that Alex had worked overnight to find him suitable salves and herbs to help his body recover.
Then he remembered... The guard had mentioned something about a princess...could the dragon be a female...and even more...a princess? The idea of it made his heart race. If she really was, this could be an EXCELLENT way to form and alliance with the wind dragons! But what of the golden scaled dragon that had helped them before?
He though for several long moments, still unable to find an ounce of sleep. As he looked out of the cave entrance, the moon had already begun to fall back over the horizon, its ethereal glow still illuminating the night sky beautifully. A fresh breeze flowed from the mouth of the cave to his face, a soft whistling sound audible in the wind.
It was a truly beautiful night, and it didn't take him long to decide to stand up and go out for a walk, his body denying him sleep. Maybe a long walk would wear his mind and body down a bit.
As he exited the cave, he remembered once again the knights that had almost captured him, one of them sounding so familiar...
"Great...Another mystery..." he said softly, rubbing the area between his horns in frustration. "They also said that they had never seen anything like me before...that just adds another couple of thousand coins on my head..."
He knew in the back of his mind that Alex would never approve of what he was doing. She had been overprotective from the start, and he knew in his current condition that she would agree even less. This was another reason why he loved her so, the thought making his heart swell up with even more warmth, a smile spreading upon his muzzle.
He clutched his sword that was resting at his side. There was so much that he did not know about himself now...everything he once knew seemed alien to his newfound capabilities. Even in the cave before arriving here, he slew the evil that had manifested itself with minimal difficulty.
He walked for several more hours, watching the moon settle down over the hills even more, his body slowly beginning to grind gears. He felt relieved...he just could not find any rest...he sat down on a stump laying on it like a bed, spread eagle.
James had finally found what he wanted all night, the feeling of encroaching slumber, his eyelids growing heavier by the second. Then he felt something, something much like a presence he could not spot.
"Great...there goes my sleep again..." he said, yawning a bit exasperatedly.
He continued to feel it...but he couldn't find what was exactly going on. It was like something was weighing his head down, growing stronger by the second, but what was it?! Whatever it was...it was growing closer...
"Maybe its Alex... out looking for me again..." James said reassuringly to himself.
"James!!!! Make haste!!!!" he heard a voice say loudly in his head. "You cannot win!!"
"What the!?" James cried, his eyes widening. "What? Who are you?!"
"James!!!! Flee!" The voice said persistently. "You must!!! There are too many!!"
James looked around in confusion. His hearing was becoming quite hazy now...he couldn't tell if it was a female or male voice speaking to him...it sounded just so distant.
At that moment, a rock fell down next to him from above, and he could also swear he saw golden scaled tail retreating over the top of a high cliff.
"It that...." James began to say but he was quickly silenced, the whiz of an arrow speeding past his face.
"Idiot!! We need him alive!!! You have blown our cover! TO ARMS!!!" a gruff voice shouted.
"ALEX!!!!!!!!!!" James cried, but was forced to return his gaze to the combat. What he saw was indeed disturbing. A large platoon of soldiers had attempted to ambush him. How long had they been following him...and...what of Alex?! Had they found the cave too?! He could only hope that they had not...
The symbol of the dragon slayers was emblazoned on their chain mail tunics as they ran towards him with great ferocity. He was doomed...he couldn't possibly fight them all off at once...it was too much for him...his body beginning to regret having walked so long.
He drew his holy blade, growling ferociously at his oncoming attackers. "ALEX!!!!!!" he screamed out again, only to have no response once again. He felt his heartbeat rising rapidly now... he was cornered and had nowhere to run against the oncoming army of people that he had once called allies and friends.
"Leave me alone or face the consequences! I have no quarrel with you...not yet..." James shouted out. "Leave me in peace!"
"You really expect us to listen to a dragon?" A knight called out in a mocking tone, "we are dragon slayers!"
"I will not go down quietly..." he said, attempting to open his wings, but he couldn't, they were still bound in the leafy sheathe that Alex had made for him during the night. The only air he was able to gain was a feeble upward spiral, followed by a loud crash as he hit the ground face first.
"Hah! A flightless dragon at that!" another said, causing an eruption of laughter to roar out in the night.
James growled, eyeing the soldiers as he got back onto his feet, rubbing the dirt from his face. "Remember James...us guardians only strike out in protection...not anger..." he thought to himself.
"What!? Too afraid to fight us little whelp? Have you no spine?" The knight roared again in laughter, "come on boys, lets bag him!"
The second they reached out to grab him, he quickly thrust back into the soldiers with his weapon, piercing their armor easily with the aid of the holy light that had been infused into it as a gift from Aegis.
In that second, the light emitted from the blade was darkened with that of a stream of crimson, the knight falling back in agony, his chest spewing a river of blood.
He barely had enough time to dodge a large ball and chain that was aimed for his head, the large ball swirling around and hitting a knight beside him accidentally.
The soldier's helmet fell off, revealing an old, gruff face missing several teeth, his mouth in a wide grin as he fell to the ground.
Baffled, the other soldier looked down at his unconscious comrade, rubbing his chin in confusion, but not before he too was sent flying with a powerful high kick from James, his foot talons sinking into his flesh through the chain mail.
"ALEX!!!!!!!!" James cried out again, this time he felt her waking up, their minds connected once again. "ALEX!!!!!"
"JAMES!!!!" a voice called back in his mind, but it was very distant. He could however, sense the rapid beating of her heart.
In his delay, he felt the loud pang of hammer against skull, knocking him to the ground in a bright flash of light. For a few seconds, his vision was blurred, and small little lights were dancing all over his vision. To his luck, he rolled out of the way before a net came down upon him, landing feebly in the dust next to him, giving him an opportunity to perform his rising slash.
As he did so, he cut down three soldiers at once, their bodies spraying blood all over his blue scales, slowly beginning to paint him red. He could feel a flow of blood running down the side of his head, the coppery smell strong in his extra sensitive nose. He did not know how much longer he would be able to stay out here...his body was beginning to feel very fatigued.
"James! I'm coming!!!!" Alex cried into his mind, he could feel her presence now...but it was still rather distant, but she was closing in fast now.
He dodged another attack, this time however, they have formed a half-circle around him, preventing him from escape, he was backed up against a wall, and their numbers only added to the wall of uniformed soldiers.
He growled menacingly at the large group, their piercing weapons all put away, and their bludgeoning tools at the ready in an attempt to subdue him...
"Lay down your weapon and we will not harm you any further...resist and face the consequences..." a Knight in a rather long black cape said, stepping forward.
Then it came to him... "Captain... You're alive?"
"I survived the attack...hacked and slashed my way out of that infernal dragon's gullet aye did!" he said, "And did you just call me captain...?"
"Don't let this wretched beast fool you! He is playing with your mind milord! We must take him to our headquarters for questioning! This dragon may hold valuable knowledge that we can use..." the soldier beside him said.
"Indeed...capture him...and we will take him. Use force if needed..." the captain replied, turning his back on James.
"I wont go this easily!!!!" James shouted, his wings suddenly bursting free of the protective barriers that had once protected them. Now, his wings were glowing with a bright light, as well as his eyes and blade.
In confusion and anger, the soldiers charged toward their prisoner, determined that it was now time to use brute force. To their misfortune however, that was a terrible idea...
James lost himself in frenzy of slashing and stabbing, his vision taking on a red hue as he felt his body go into an uncontrollable rage, he felt as if his entire being was no longer being controlled by his own mind...was Aegis helping him...?
Blood was splattering against him and spraying wildly in all directions as she mutilated and decapitated the soldiers that were brave enough to attempt to attack him, his blade gleaming in the air brilliantly.
"Taste my righteous fury!!!!!!" James shouted, not even his own words seeming not to be his own.
"James!!!!" Alex shouted, this time not from inside of his head.
"Alex!! Help me!!" James shouted, resuming the onslaught.
In his rage, the ground had been painted crimson with the blood and flesh of fallen warriors, their bodies doomed to oblivion known as death. "Fall before me!" he shouted angrily.
Suddenly, he felt every fiber of his being drained of energy, only to see the bearded captain with his outstretched hand aimed not at himself, but at Alex...
"Alex!!!!" James shouted, flying in front of her just in time to absorb a blast of energy that the captain fired upon her, having drawn from her own energy.
James closed his eyes painfully, his body falling from the sky like a crippled butterfly, landing with a thud upon the ground.
"James!!!!!" Alex cried out angrily, "You will all pay for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she shouted, landing down on all fours heavily, causing a fissure in the ground between the groups of soldiers, many of them stumbling over the edge to their demise.
She attempted to grab James in her maw but was frightened away for a few moments by a large spear-wielding soldier, who attempted to stick her with it. Instead, when he thrusted, she pulled on the lance, landing his body in her jaws, crushing him painfully between her fangs.
"Alex...watch...over her...Unite the dragons...Run! Go now!!! You must leave me here!!!! There are too many of them!!!" James shouted to her, then being silenced with a hammer to his chest.
She cried out in horror...but respected her lover's request...flying away from the scene of the battle, constant rivers of tears flowing from her eyes. She had failed him...
"I will come back...for you..." She said through gritted teeth...the agony only rising within her.