Chapter 18: Chapter 17: Scales of a Dragon

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Audra

         Audra held her ribs, trying to dull the pain, but the boot on her back was making the pain so much worse. She wanted nothing more than to scream out in pain but fear kept her tongue behind her teeth. Audra watched helplessly as the tip of the spear slowly edged its way to Vasuki’s throat.
         “Calm down, Cella.” A calm man said. The woman turned to look at a tall thin man leaning back against a tree. His slicked back hair and his eyes were the exact same color as the woman’s, “I think it’s obvious they aren’t the king’s dogs. If they were, they'd have put up much more of a fight.”
         “Yeah...I guess you’re right.” She sounded full of guilt for a moment before looking back at the man, “I hate your fucking magic, Kayd.” Cella complained, Kayd let out a gutty chuckle.
“Let’em go.” Cella ordered taking the spear from Vasuki’s throat. “Now tell us who you are without a spear to your throat.” She demanded.

         Audra breathed a sigh of relief when Vasuki stood up and began to help her up. She groaned from the pain as her body moved.
         “I’m Vasuki Odol from Nevenal.” Vasuki said, holding Audra’s shoulders to help stabilize her.
         “I’m Audra Sandalious from Kiaveen.” Kayd and Cella gave her a look then looked at each other.
         “Kiaveen used to be goblin territory. Sorry you had to grow up in that mess.” Cella said.
“Oh it’s fine, and we’ll completely forgive you guys if I could just get some kind of help for my ribs.” Audra winced.
         “We got some field aid.” Kayd said as he waved her into a large tent. “I’ll show Vasuki around while Mari gets you fixed up.”

         Audra winced as the medic wrapped bandages around her abdomen.
         “I don’t know what hit you but you’re lucky it wasn’t worse. I’ve seen injuries from demons better than this.” Mari claimed. That made Audra’s fear of Felix grow so much more, “Unfortunately we can’t really do much about ribs besides bandages and something that can dull out some of the pain. I think they’re just bruised but the bandages are for safety in case they’re broken. Can you breathe fine?” She asked. Audra nodded her head after testing the tightness by breathing in and out deeply a few times. “Good, you can put your shirt back on and take this.” Mari handed her a small vial. “It’s distilled willow bark, just a few drops should work to help with the pain. You can mix it with food or water, as long as you ingest it.” She claimed.
         “Thank you.” Audra said, giving her a quick wave.

         Walking out of the tent she met back up with Kayd and Cella, who bowed her head.
         “I apologize for my actions earlier, our group of merry men aren’t very welcoming.”
         “Yeah, welcoming wasn’t really the word I was thinking of when you had a spear up to my friend's throat.” Audra pointed out.
         “My magic saved your ass. I can send signals to peoples brain and get them to feel certain ways. Really helps with the ladies.” He pointed out.
“Don’t make me kick your ass Kayd.” Cella said. “Come with me I’ll show you around.”

         Audra followed Cella as she pointed out each of the tents and what the purpose of the layout was. The camp was in a large circle of trees with a clearing where the faculty of the group had set up their own shop. The tents inside the thick of the forest acted as housing for people to keep their belongings. Cella showed her where the black smith was, he brought his anvil and blueprints with him on a wagon so he could still work. Where she could find food, three meals a day per person. And a tent that acted as a public bath house for women, the men’s being across the campsite.
“And last but not least another pair that stumbled their way into our camp. Though the guy that first threatened them didn’t make it out so lucky.” She warned, “I can still hear the snap of his arm.” She mentioned. Audra looked at her with worry. They approached a pair of tents that were a bit out of the way compared to the rest of the group. Vasuki sat on a log across from a toned man sitting next to an equally, if not more. toned woman.

         The woman had long black hair, orange eyes, and a long single scar went up her neck from her collar. The scent of strawberries escaped from her. She wore a beige tunic and brown pants. The man wore a dark brown tunic with a royal blue stripe going down from his neck line. On the shoulders was a family crest of a golden diamond with noble flowing designs filling the inside and creating a shield in the middle from blank space. He looked at her as they approached, glanced at the girl next to him then to Vasuki then back to her before the girl started waving at her.
         “Over here! Over here!” Her voice was high and excited.
         “Fuck there’s actually another one.” The man said in an undertone. “Not just any ass but a noble one...perfect.” Audra thought. She walked to the group and they bid Cella farewell before she sat on the grass. The girl scooted next to her, invading her personal space a bit, the smell of strawberries was way too strong at this point.
“Hi, I’m Selene Silivius. It’s nice to meet you!” She said putting her hand out.

“I’m…Audra Sandalious. It’s nice to meet you too.” Audra replied, nervously taking her hand.
“Forgive my acquaintance, she's a bit slow when it comes to social standards.” The man said.
“You still call me that, we’ve known each other for over two full months now!” She complained.
“Not by choice.” He pointed out before taking a sip from a waterskin, “Name’s Noel Chiryn. It’s a...a...pleasure to meet the two of you.” It seemed like he had a hard time saying that.
“Chiryn? I feel like I’ve heard that name before.” Audra claimed.
         “He told me about it already, he’s a noble of the Chiryn warrior family.” Vasuki pointed out.
“Just another person that knows about a family that lives on a fucking thread.” Noel complained.
“No wonder she’s so happy to meet other people, traveling with you must be a pain.” Audra pointed out.
“Sweetie, you two have no fucking clue. I don’t know what his deal is! I have been following him around and his personality has gotten better by this much.” She then put her index finger and thumb really close together but not quite touching.
“So Selene, what’s your family like?” Audra asked. She immediately got really shy.
“I’d rather not talk about it. It’s kind of complicated. What about you two, what’s your story.” Audra and Vasuki looked at each other.
“Well…” Vasuki began. Noel put his hand in his hands.
“Are you two camping away from us?” He asked before Vasuki could start. Selene rammed her elbow hard into his side, he doubled over and groaned.
“You owe me from Starendale, play nice for fucks sake!” Selene ordered.
“Yes Ma’am. I hope you two are sleeping nearby, maybe you could squeeze her in there so that I could have my tent.” Selene rolled her eyes.

         The four received a pack of rations from the canteen and began to eat, the food was unseasoned and tasted like Noel’s personality. But it was better than using up one of the rations that Cabana had packed for them.

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         “So what are you two doing here?” Audra asked.
         “Heading to Metaledge to visit my sister. We happened to stroll into the campsite like you two did. But a bit away from the clearing so not everyone was around us so soon.”
         “A guy put a sword up to Noel’s back, and he ended up breaking the poor guy’s arm. I’m just glad they don’t have their iron out.” Selene pointed out. Noel looked at her and lightly slapped her shoulder with the back of his hand and looked like he was trying to communicate something with his eyes. She rolled her eyes and shifted her lips around before nodding then mouthed something.
“We need to get to sleep, it’s getting late. Hope you sleep well without that accursed dragon flying around.” Noel said as he walked into the tent, Selene smiled and waved at the two of them before closing the tent.

         After the dragons finished their meals they decided to follow suit and also head to bed. Closing the tent behind her Audra turned and immediately laid on the blanket that was laid out.
         “I am exhausted.” She claimed.

         “I never thought I’d meet a noble way out here.” Vasuki joked as he laid next to her.
“They sure are an odd couple. Wonder how they’ve dealt with each other for so long.”
“Not a fucking clue...your side feeling okay?” Vasuki asked.
“Yeah, they gave me willow bark for the pain, put some in my food to help.” Audra pointed out. Vasuki grabbed her hand in his, in a comforting manner.
“I’m really glad you’re...okay.” Vasuki said, their scales rubbing against each other. Both of their eyes went wide and she felt heat in her ears. He let go of her hand and the two rolled away from each other.
“Y-you didn’t mean to do that did you?” Audra asked.
“N-no. Th-that was an accident.” He claimed. Audra thought to herself for a moment, realizing she didn’t really know what another dragon’s scales felt.
“Can I touch them?” he asked, stealing the words from her mouth. She rolled onto her back and put her arm onto his side. “What the hell am I doing!?” she asked herself. Vasuki rolled onto his back, he was breathing heavily and was a little jittery.
“I-I’m going to rub your scales, okay?” He tried to make it seem like a statement but it was clearly a question. She nodded her head, giving him permission. Vasuki slowly put his hand on her arm and rubbed a few of the scales, after some time his hand became a bit more steady and he rubbed up her arm going with the direction of the diamond shaped scales.
“They’re really smooth.” He said shyly, before clearing his throat. Audra took her arm away and looked at the ceiling of the tent. “Thanks...can I?” She asked, pointing at his arm, unable to get all the words out.
“O-of course. It’s not like touching scales with skin is the same as scales on scales.” He said. As he gave his arm to her.
“R-right touching the scales is just curiosity, rubbing them with your own is...something different. Like something only people who really like each other would do.” She said as she began rubbing his scales. They were silver rain drops that bent back from the center.
“They’re really nice.” Audra claimed, making sure she didn’t rub her scales against his again as she pulled her hand away.
“W-we should get to sleep.” Vasuki claimed, taking his arm away. “G-good night Audra.” He said.
“Good night Vasuki.” She replied rolling on to her side facing away from him.

         Time went by at a snail's pace. She couldn’t tell if Vasuki was awake or not but sleep was avoiding her. She slowly sat up and began to rummage in her bag, before finding the pocket mirror that Cabana had given her.
         “Hey you there?” She whispered, popping it open and looking within it at her reflection. Nothing at first but soon a hand went up to her reflection’s face and pinched the bridge of her nose.
         “What do you want?” Her reflection asked.
“Are you going to tell me your name yet?” Audra asked.
“That’s not my job. My job is to train you to be able to ascend and as of right now you are nowhere near ready. You were captured without a single problem. As soon as you reach Daemerall I will put you through hell to get you ready, until then I’ll share my memories with you to help you as much as I can.”
“Thanks for the warning, I think?”

“Yeah, you’re welcome. Now get some sleep, something tells me you’re going to need it.”
“You too Lu…” Audra trailed off. “What was I about to say?” She thought to herself. It was as if she knew the word just a fraction of a second before it escaped her. When she broke from her reverie her reflection was back to normal, her Ascender was gone. 

         Closing the pocket mirror she laid on her back next to Vasuki. She ran her fingers through her hair and let out a long sigh.
         “Get some sleep, Audra.” Vasuki said.
         “Can’t sleep either?” She asked. He shook his head as he rolled onto his back.
“Can’t stop my mind. Worried about tomorrow. The dragon that was flying around earlier. I don’t know if Cabana’s alive. What Felix may have done to the village. There’s just a lot that I don’t know.” Vasuki said, putting his hand up to his forehead.
“I’m sure Cabana’s okay, you saw Felix. He was beaten to hell and back. And I’m sure the dragon won’t be a problem. Didn’t Cabana say that dragon’s didn’t bother people, that they were smart enough to know that it would create more problems for them in the future if they went around burning cities to the ground?” Audra asked.
“Yeah I guess you’re right. I just have this odd feeling something’s going to happen soon.” Vasuki pointed out.

         Audra and Vasuki sat up as soon as a bell began to ring. They could hear men and women screaming and metal clinging as weapons were hastily readied.
         “DEMONS!” A man yelled out, followed by a long and spine chilling howl.
         “You had to jinx it didn’t you?” Audra asked.

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