Chapter 4
Fercius couldn’t think of the pain, he ignored the damage, and the fact that he couldn’t even completely open his right eye anymore. Who was he to know that Vulcan tails were so sharp and jagged? Blood dripped from his multiple wounds, splattering against the ground several seconds later. They were pretty high up, and he must have looked horrible, almost as red as his opponent. She seemed to be taking a break as well, gasping every time she had to beat her wings. Fercius tried to see her wounds, but her dark skin kept him from distinguishing them from her camouflage. He wasn’t even sure if he had torn any flesh. Maybe she was just tired; maybe he hadn’t done any damage to her and had merely given her exercise. Although they had exchanged profanities earlier, everything was now relatively silent. Was she biding her strength, getting ready for the killing blow? Was she waiting for a command? Fercius glanced back at Darko, who had also been bloodied from the battle, but was still holding his sword, whereas the remnants of Wei’s sword glinted several meters behind them.
“Kill him!” yelled Xiu Wei.
Rin’Tsu stopped gasping every time she beat her wings, and looked straight at Fercius.
At least for a second.
A second later she crashed against the pillar and she began to fall.
I didn’t do anything. Fercius thought, I won’t do anything, either. He watched her start to fall, trying to use her claws to slow her descent by anchoring them in the pillar. It wasn’t working, and she had completely let go of the pillar, falling back-first to the hard marble-floor below her. Fercius felt something about her; a strange feeling – other than pain – began to run through his body. His exhaustion was assuaged, his fear mitigated.
He seemed to be entranced.
Do something!
“Save her!” yelled Darko.
Right!
He tucked in his wings and darted after her, in three seconds it would be over, but seconds seemed like minutes now, and he carefully swooped below her. Once he felt her weight on his back, he tried to glide down towards the ground, but instead crashed into it head first, leaving a trail of blood, sweat, and ploughed marble in his wake. Rin’Tsu was lying on top of him, slumped over him like a carpet. She groaned and rolled off of him, collapsing beside him. They were finally face to face, both too exhausted to say anything. They just watched each other. Fercius found it strange how blue her eyes were, considering how dark the rest of her body was, but then again, she must have been thinking the same thing, wondering why his eyes were tinted red.
He had scarred her, there were bruises all along her face, her neck, her back, but Fercius didn’t feel victorious.
He worried.
Will she be alright?
Did I kill her?
Did she kill me?
Does she care?
He woke up to the sounds of crickets.
At least I woke up. Fercius thought.
He looked over at Rin’Tsu, who was still lying exactly where she had been before, her eyes closed.
Is she dead?
She opened his eyes, and Fercius let out an internal sigh of relief. For a moment her eyes were wide open, but as she comprehended what she saw before him, she transitioned to a glare and hissed at him, getting up on all fours and backing away, farther towards the corner of the great hall. She tripped on a piece of debris.
Fercius laughed.
Rin’Tsu changed her stance, ready to lunge, pumping her hind legs, her ears far back.
This won’t be good. Fercius thought, bracing himself as much as he could.
They were on the ground again, this time Fercius on his back and Rin’Tsu standing over him.
She smiled, “Ha! I win!”
“What?”
“I made you submit, didn’t I? I mean I could do anything to you now, it’s not like you have the energy to put up a fight anymore.”
“I don’t?”
She growled, showing her razor sharp teeth.
“I saved your life!” he cried.
She laughed and rolled off of him.
“No. You were following orders.” she said, getting ready for another lunge.
God this Vulcan’s like a cat. Fercius thought.
“It’s time for me to follow mine.”
Defending himself was not an option, and for some awkward reason he enjoyed having this female dragon on top of him, even if she had the sharpest nails of any dragon he’d seen.
“So do you prefer talking in this position?” Fercius asked, knocked on his back again, “Is it a superiority complex you have?”
“This is how I usually kill my prey. It lets me see the look in their eyes as I get ready to bite.”
“You know I’m not really trapped… I can still move my front leg – “
And then she shifted her position to compensate, pinning his legs under hers.
“At least you have no spikes on your belly, this is quite comfortable.” Fercius smiled. “How’d you get those streaks of red on your belly anyways? They seem to look an awful lot like the blood from my back when I broke your fall!”
Fercius growled and pushed her back, on top of her this time.
“Oh I’m sorry I couldn’t see you, you blended in with the color of the floor blueboy!” Rin’Tsu retorted, firing a small puff of flame at him.
Fercius shrugged it off and roared at her, making her ears vibrate from the force of his roar. She opened her eyes again once he finished.
“I was expecting a flame burst, my bad; I forgot you’re a defective dragon.”
That hurt Fercius the most, so he didn’t say anything. His expression gave him away though, and he expected to be on his back again, but the expression on her face seemed to melt away. Knowing she wouldn’t try anything anymore, Fercius stepped back and off of her, turning around and walking towards the door.
“I’m sorry!” Rin’Tsu called after him, lunging in front of him and blocking his path. She had to use her wings to sprint that fast and grunted from the pain of doing so. Her right wing seemed terribly bruised from having crashed against the pillar. “Uh…”
“What?” Fercius asked, more hurt by her words than he knew he should be.
“I – I’ll say I misinterpreted his order. That I thought he said kiss.”
“Kiss?” Fercius asked, skeptical. “Really?”
He was still expecting a physical attack.
“Yeah, and the thought made me waver and crash against the pillar.”
But got a mental attack instead.
“Funny…” Fercius said, faking a laugh and taking another step towards the door.
“I’m lonely.” Rin’Tsu said, sounding more pleading this time, following closely behind him as he walked.
“Not my problem.” Fercius replied.
“Be glad I’m not killing you!”
“I’m eternally grateful.”
He was right in front of the door now.
“Fercy…” Rin’Tsu pleaded.
He looked back at her… into those blue eyes, and he got that feeling again, as if he were lying back at that temple, or sleeping in the ice caps.
He felt like home.
But he wasn’t.
“What do you want?!” Fercius snapped.
“Let me show you around… spend some time with me. I’m terribly bored – I haven’t seen another dragon since… since forever.”
“Of course, and the first dragon you meet you try to kill.”
“I was following orders! He gave me the order while you and Darko were talking!” she got no response, so she kept talking, “You know you’d never disobey an order… maybe misinterpret it – but that’s pretty much it!”
Rin’Tsu walked a bit quicker now, going between him and the last few steps towards the door.
“Come on.” Rin’Tsu asked again. “Pleeasse?”
Fercius waited for a moment, he had two options.
1. Spend the remainder of the night outside, flying to god knows where, searching for god knows what. or
2. Spend the night inside, with a lonely female Vulcan dragon.
A lonely female Vulcan dragon that tried to kill him.
“Bye!” Fercius said, pushing the door open just enough to get outside.
He heard the door shut behind him, and looked ahead.
The path before him led to a small town called Seleene. It was the only town on the summit of the mountain. It was deathly quiet out here, with the wind rustling the coniferous trees that were off in the forest quite a distance away. He began to walk down the snowy path towards the city, but heard footsteps behind him.
He stopped.
The footsteps stopped.
“I know you’re behind me.”
Silence.
“If I turn around and you’re behind me, I’ll kill you.” Fercius said, truly irritated.
Still no response.
So he turned around, and there she was, a black and red dragon, shivering in the cold, completely out of place in this cold, white environment.
“How can you see me? I blend in much better here than on marble.” Fercius replied wittily, laughing at his joke.
But then she collapsed, sprawled out on the cold snow.
Emergency mode kicked in and Fercius immediately rushed up against her, terrified.
“Wake up!” Fercius demanded, nudging his face against hers. “Do you hear me?”
She has terribly long ears, you’d think they work?
But this wasn’t a funny situation, Fercius began pushing her towards the castle, inch by inch, they slowly made it there. Knowing that every second he spent trying to get her there could be her last, he went faster, expending as much energy as possible towards pushing her in the direction of the castle.
“Don’t die.” Now Fercius wasn’t an expert when it came to love, but if this was it, he didn’t want his lover to die out in the snow. So he kept pushing, finally getting to the castle entrance.
I mean, what are the odds? A dragon wearing the colors of my nightmares that reminds me of home… that has to mean something. Fercius pondered about that as he set her against the inner castle wall, pushing the door closed behind them.
“Wake up!” Fercius begged. Thinking of life without Rin’Tsu in his future scared him. They had so many possibilities. He was so stupid, how could he let this happen? How could he be so ignorant? He should have seen it in her eyes. She wasn’t making a mockery of him like how some other dragons would. She wasn’t joking. She really wanted to spend time with him…
Or maybe she really just wanted to spend time with another dragon. Maybe that’s the only way any dragon would ever like him, if she were trapped in a castle for years. Rin’Tsu began to stir.
“Are you okay?” Fercius asked.
“Cold…” she muttered, “let’s go to some place warmer.”
She slowly hauled herself up on all fours, using her tail and wings to right herself. She began to veer too far to the left but Fercius instinctively nudged up against her, catching her and letting her regain her balance. Feeling another body so close to his felt strangely awkward, and he had to fight the urge to shy away and apologize. Once she finally regained her balance, they walked through a maze of corridors, stopping several times along the way to rest. Fercius felt something up ahead.
“Do you feel that?” Rin’Tsu asked.
“What is it?”
“Heat. Ever wonder how you know exactly when your prey is dead?”
“No.”
“Well I like to think about things, and Wei has taught me to use my HV effectively.”
“Your what?”
“Heat vision, all dragons have it, some more than others. How do you think you jumped clear of my flame burst?”
Fercius didn’t have to think about it, he knew there was something behind him and he jumped clear of it.
“I didn’t have to think about it.”
“Yes, it was instinctive, wasn’t it?” Rin’Tsu asked, grinning.
“I guess it was.”
Rin’Tsu sighed and said, “Dragons do a lot of things on instinct. But instinct can get you killed. It’s what trapped me up in these mountains to begin with.”
“You thought it was a volcano?”
“I was young! Scared.” Rin’Tsu sighed, looking towards the heat barrier. “Let’s go, I’m freezing, aren’t you?”
“Nope, in fact, I’m starting to sweat.” Fercius replied, his instinct told him to stay away from that heat barrier, but as Rin’Tsu walked through it, another instinct told him to follow her.
“Well, I got this far, might as well keep going.” Fercius muttered, walking through the heat barrier.
It burned, but he began to adjust, getting used to the sudden rush of heat.
“Why is that barrier there?”
“It isn’t, we just think it is. We’re in what was your world back there. This is my world.”
The corridor was dark now, and Fercius’ night vision had trouble adjusting.
“Follow me.” Rin’Tsu said.
“It’s too dark.”
“I’ll stay next to you so my wings can guide you.” said Rin’Tsu, bringing her wings slightly over his, giving him a point of interest as he followed Rin’Tsu into a dark room.
She nudged up against something and Fercius heard the door seal behind them. He got antsy.
“What are you doing?” he asked, getting away from under Rin’Tsu’s wing and trying to look around.
“Calm down.” she replied, nudging against another section of the wall.
A red light cut through the window on each wall, and since this was a square room, that meant that the four red sources of light lit up the entire chamber, giving it an eerie red glow.
“What is this forsaken place?” Fercius asked.
Rin’Tsu couldn’t help but laugh.
“Forsaken? This is where I sleep!” Rin’Tsu explained.
“Oh.” he felt stupid.
“I eat my meals here too.” Rin’Tsu said, glaring.
Fercius backed away, but Rin’Tsu smiled and started laughing.
“Not funny, Rin’Tsu.”
“Call me Rinny.”
“Rinny?”
“What’s wrong with Rinny!”
“Nothing! Nothing’s wrong with Rinny.” Fercius said, lying down on his stomach, tucking his legs, feet, and wings in before resting his head between his front legs.
Rin’Tsu scooted over next to Fercius, resting her head against the back of his neck. Fercius felt strangely honored.
“Be glad I don’t have spikes!” For lack of something better to say.
“I’m eternally grateful…” Rinny replied, falling asleep.