Birth of a Dragoon

Encounter

"Cearúil?"

I called out as I carefully traversed through the forest. It had been four nights since our last, strange meeting. When he had begged me to leave him alone in our clearing. I, nor anyone else, had seen him since. Could something have happened to him? I hoped not, I had actually begun enjoying our training sessions every night. I closed my eyes for a moment, before squinting up at the lunar eclipse. Please let him be ok, if he wasn't I would never forgive myself for leaving him alone that night.

Entering the clearing I've become so accustomed to, I stopped again and peered around at the darkness. 'Wait, what is that?' I thought at noticing a shredded strip of blue cloth. Worry filled me further as I knelt beside it and lifted it from the ground with a shaky hand. Dread consumed me when I noticed more and more shredded clothing littering the clearing. It was the outfit Cearúil had been wearing the night I left him here…all alone. To deal with whatever happened by himself, without even attempting to argue and stay beside him.

My head lowered as I brought the cloth I was holding up to my chest. "Cearúil, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left here and forced you to face whatever happened alone."

I quickly jerked to my feet and whipped around at a rustling in the forest behind me. My heartbeat erupted into a rapid pace, had the being that attacked Cearúil come back? My eyes widened and a small cry got trapped in my throat at watching an extremely large, black and silver reptilian head appearing out from the shadows of the trees, as if it was made of the shadows itself. Its gaping jaws and rows and rows of forearm length teeth, was a sight straight out of my worst nightmares.

I admit, it wasn't the smartest thing I have ever allowed to happen to myself, but I stood immobile for several shock-filled moments watching the creature's approach, before ungracefully fainting and tumbling to the ground.

Cearúil rushed forward the instant Gwen fell. Instinctively, he reached forward to make certain she was ok, before instantly stilling when his extremely sharp nails were barely an inch away from her unprotected skin. He cursed himself an i***t as he dropped his clawed hand back down and instead lowered his snout to gently nuzzle her. Relief swamped him, she moved. Barely, but she did. Further relief filled him when he nuzzled her again and her eyes began to slowly open.

A scream erupted out of Gwen's throat, piercing him straight through the heart. Cearúil backed away sadly as she rolled to the side and brought a hand up to her chest. He should have just stayed hidden in the forest instead of coming out at the sorrow in her voice. Because of this newest folly, he had just flushed their friendship straight down the toilet.

"What the hell? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Gwen gasped out, before rising to a sitting position and staring up at him. She seemed better now, but Cearúil knew everything would be different now. Gwen wasn't screaming anymore nor running away, perhaps it wasn't as bad as he originally thought? Yeah right, she was most likely suffering from shock.

'Gwen, are you okay?'

I started at the voice within my mind, it sounded very familiar. My head tilted to the side as I stared up at the creature before me. After a few moments of stunned silence, I finally figured out what the large beast was.

"You are a…you're a dragon." I stated in wonder. A second later, I quickly held up my hands in supplication. "I'm sorry, I mean Draco."

I remembered hearing once that the Draco species despised being called dragon, they thought of it as being a curse. Hopefully I had not just offended it with my slip.

'I do not mind you calling me dragon, if that is your desire.'

My eyes widened when the large head lowered towards me once more and I recognized the voice in my head as well as the yellow-green eyes. "Cearúil?"

The silver streaked head stopped several inches from mine and tilted to the right, so the bright yellow-green eye could stare down at me curiously, but he didn't confirm or deny he was Cearúil. There was no way, however, I could ever mistake those beautiful eyes that belonged only to one being.

"Oh my god. Cearúil, it is you, isn't it?"

There was a couple moments of silence, before that green eye closed. 'Yes. Are you afraid, Gwen?'

Unwilling, a fierce rage rose within me and before I knew what I was doing, I slapped his snout as hard as I could. He reared back and shook his head a couple times, more out of surprise than my actually hurting him.

"You couldn't have told me that in the beginning? I thought something had happened to you when I found your shredded clothing. Do you enjoy making me worry? You have been missing for the past week!"

To my horror, tears rose in my eyes. Causing me to quickly turn away so he could not see them tumbling down my cheeks. That was just what I needed, to have him witness me crying for no reason at all. I bowed my head and buried my face in my hands, but couldn't stop the shivers from racking me.

'Gwen?'

I ignored him and the gentle nudge to my back as I wept uncontrollably. So much for him not knowing I was crying; Draco had excellent hearing to begin with, though he really didn't need it. My sobs were loud enough to wake the dead. Humiliation, that's me.

Cearúil felt like a complete ass. Not only had he made Gwen worry over his safe being, he now made her cry. He really had a way with people, didn't he?

'Gwen?' He tried once more when she ignored him, only to have her ignore him again.

Cearúil cursed the eclipse and his inability to change because of it. The one time Gwen really needed to be comforted and he couldn't even attempt it without running risk of injuring her. To make matters worse, a storm was getting ready to open up. Deciding 'screw it', he wrapped a wing around Gwen's small frame and gently dragged her against his side. Cearúil then curled around her like a cat. He caused this misery within her, the least he could do was keep her warm and protected during the raging storm about to erupt.