The Girl With A Dragon

Young Lovers

Alina

Emily and I worked overtime to settle little Ava down. It took large amounts of sweets, chamomile tea, and a sleep over in my room to get her to sleep. It is now past midnight, if things had gone well, then Elric should have been back by now….shouldn’t he?...

 My mother is still alive. At least for now, but at what cost? I can’t shake this feeling that if Elric is dead.. then it's my fault. It was our relationship that spurred him to risk his life. If we were simply friends, would he have done the same thing? What were we exactly? We are too comfortable with each other to call each other friends. Too many letters. Too many flowers and small gifts had been sent to simply call us friends, but neither he, nor I have made moves to make us an official relationship. Why would he risk his life for someone that he barely knows?

I shake my head and decide to get out of bed. I can’t sleep. I grab my robe and pull it over my nightgown. I decide to go for a walk around the castle. The night is cooler and I pull my robe closer around me. I start to feel overly nervous, it doesn’t quite feel like my own feelings. Maybe my dragon? Am I feeling her feelings? I decide to go check on her. I start to walk across the large courtyard and that’s when I see it. My dragon is laying next to a dragon..

Elric’s dragon.

He is laying on his side and not moving. On the ground next to him is Elric himself. Laying on his back and covered in blood. So much blood. I sprint towards him.

A guard sees me running and comes to investigate. I reach Elric before the guard and confirm that he is still breathing. He has cuts all over him…...Cuts from swords.

The guard examines Elric, and decides that he can move him, without causing further harm. As soon as the guard lifts Elric, Elric lets out a cry of pain. His stormy blue eyes look at me as I run next to the guard who is carrying him.

“I couldn't save you…...and I’ll never forgive myself for that, …….but I was able to save your mother’s dragon. Maybe now you’ll be able to forgive me”  This is the last thing that he says before his eyes roll shut.

What the hell? Forgive him what? Save me from what?

“Elric no...you need to stay awake!” I try to tell him, but he has already passed out. Another guard sees us coming and runs to fetch the doctor. The guard runs into Elric’s room and puts him gently on his bed. No less than a minute later, the doctor comes bursting through with Elric’s parents behind him.

I watch in horror as the doctor starts to give Elric CPR.

“He’s lost too much blood!” says the doctor.

King Hugh sits next to Elric and the nurse starts to set up a blood transfusion.

I feel that external nervousness gets worse. My dragon is getting more nervous.

Wait, Elric’s dragon! He needs to stay alive too! I sprint out of Elric’s room and back out to the courtyard. I sit on the ground and pull Elric’s dragon’s head onto my lap and start scratching behind his ears.

“You can’t die Landon. You need to live. Your owner needs you.”

Landon lets out a long sigh. I look and I see that he has a large gash on his side and it’s bleeding. Dragon skin is too tough to be sewn shut, but maybe it can be burnt shut? I gently put Landon’s head back on the grass and walk over to Sapphire. She quickly puts her head near my hand to encourage attention. I guide her nose to the gash and hope that she understands what I need her to do.

She sniffs the blood and looks back at me. I step further away and she blows a small fire over the large cut. I didn’t realize how large the cut was, it went from his neck, down his side, and almost to his tail.

Landon didn’t react to the fire until it got to the deeper part of the gash, near his ribs. He let out a loud screech of pain, but didn't retaliate.

Saffire finishes and nudges her head under Landon’s. Almost to say sorrying for causing him pain. Landon let out a long breath, but he seemed to be breathing easier now that his wound was closed and not exposed to the cold night air. I run and find the dragon keeper and ask him to bring food and water out for Landon.

I walk past the large barn structure for their dragons and I see that Ava’s dragon is pulling at her chain. Her gold eyes look frantic. She keeps looking from me to Landon. I understand. She wants to see if he is okay. I unchain her and watch as she flys over to Landon. She points her body away from him, almost in a protective stance. She wants to protect him while he is wounded.

I walk back inside and I see Elric’s parents leaving his room. Both of them looked exhausted.

“Will he...Will he make it?” I ask.

His mother sighs, “The doctor got his heart beating again. He has a chance of living. That’s all we can hope for.”.

I nod and realize how exhausted I am. I decided to sleep in Emily’s room. It’s not far from Elric’s room and I doubt that she will mind.

I quickly bathe the blood and frustration from me and barrow one of Emily’s nightgowns. I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the soft pillow.

I wake in a dream. I’m chasing after Elric again, but this time he is older. He looks to be in his teens. His hair is longer and he smiles even more than he does now. We run down a narrow path to a large cave. He puts his hand on a rock and it starts to move. A large dragon size hole appears after the stone moves on its own accord.

Elric grabs my hand and kisses the top of my fingers. I can feel my younger self blushing as he leads me into this cave. Once we’re in it, I can see that it is covered in shells. Shells of all sizes and colors. There’s even large nests made from shells that have been smoothed by fire. This must be where their family dragons hide their eggs until hatching. 

“This place is beautiful.” I say.

I pick up a beautiful dark blue shell and put it into the pocket of my dress. My current mind then recognizes that shell. I have a vase full of shells in my room and this one is at the very top.

I turn back to Elric and I notice that he is watching me.

He steps closer to me as he says “ I want to try something.”

He brushes some hair behind my shoulder and puts his other hand on my waist. I can feel little nervous butterflies building in my stomach as his head tilts and he starts to bring his face closer to mine. I feel my hands start to sweat and my heart rate goes up. I close my eyes, expecting him to kiss me.

He pauses and asks “Are you okay with this?”. I nod and he continues. His lips brush mine lightly and I wake.

I f****** knew it.