A Tale of Dragons

Chapter 6

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Ethan drifted back to consciousness slowly. He was lying on his back and there was a warm weight draped across half his chest. He smiled.

"Morning Terry." He mumbled.

The weight on his chest stirred and a sleepy feminine voice said. "Who's Terry?"

Ethan was momentarily confused, and then the previous day came back to him in a rush. His eyes snapped open and the weight abruptly disappeared from his chest.

"Ow." Alana moaned. She had wrenched herself off him so fast she hit her head on the low roof of the earthen dugout. Her chocolate brown hair was a complete mess, but she actually looked good that way. She was rubbing the sleep from her almond-shaped eyes.

"Morning." He repeated.

"Morning." Alana yawned a reply. "Who's Terry?"

"She's... Well, she was my... Uh, never mind." He trailed off and looked away from her. He didn't want to think about his ex at all, so he looked out of the dugout to distract himself instead. The sun was clearly up, but judging from the shadows on the creek bed it was shortly after sunrise. Ethan listened for a moment, but didn't hear any sign of the soldiers pursuing them.

"I'm going to stretch my legs, back in a minute." He said, rolling onto his legs -- all four of them. As he walked about, he marveled at just how natural if felt to be walking on all fours. He felt as if he'd been doing it for a lifetime, not a day. He walked over to the creek and looked into a puddle of water.

The face staring back at him didn't look at all familiar.

His face didn't seem particularly reptilian, looking more like a cross between a wolf and a large cat, but with steel gray scales covering everything. His nostrils were slits and his ears where smaller, but otherwise he didn't look much like any reptile he'd seen. Growing out of the back of his head were two horns that gently spiraled like an African antelope -- a kudu -- only straighter.

Taking care not to step in the water and disturb his reflection, Ethan moved so he could see the rest of his body. Except for the scales, he was again reminded more of a large cat or wolf than a reptile. His tail was another story. It was almost as long as his body, though it felt quite light and flexible, ending parallel to the ground in a flat diamond shape.

His wings had all but disappeared against his back. He opened them to get a better look and wasn't disappointed. They looked almost exactly like bat wings, although the 'arm' part was also covered in scales. The membrane of the wings looked just like skin, the top a steel gray color and underneath a much lighter gray-blue. The membrane stretched from his shoulders down to just below his hip.

The 'arm' part of the wing terminated in a single 'finger' that ended in a hooked claw. He remembered seeing bats at the zoo using their wing claws and feet to climb upside-down along tree branches and vines. Glancing at his hind legs, he realized they were almost the same as his front legs and could grab things. He wondered if he could climb upside down along branches too.

His hands and feet had three forward facing claws and one facing back, similar to those of an eagle, although he had discovered that his claws were retractable. He flexed his hands and two-inch claws slid out of their sheaths, each ending in a wicked looking point which almost scared him just looking at them.

"If you hadn't just got that body, I'd say you were pretty vain." Alana chuckled.

"I never had the chance to examine a dragon up close before." He replied. "I didn't want to waste it."

Alana laughed. "Well, I need to water the forest; back in a few moments."

"Good idea." He replied, realizing his bladder was full too. He walked around the nearest large tree and out of habit stood up to relieve himself.

When he looked down, he realized his 'equipment' was missing. He was about to get worried when -- almost by instinct -- he felt something shift. He could feel some internal muscles contract and the scales around his groin area pulled back to let his c**k and balls meet the air.

What shocked Ethan wasn't that they were protected -- although he approved of that idea -- but rather the size. His c**k was at least six inches long and quite thick even while flaccid. He found himself wondering how large it would be fully aroused. After he'd finished relieving himself, his c**k and balls retracted themselves to once again be hidden by his scales.

He got back to the creek bed before his companion and started thinking about his situation while he waited. The longer he thought, the more concerned he became.

"Let's get some breakfast before heading out." Alana suggested after returning and fetching her bundle of staves from the dugout. She pulled some dried strips of meat and a few vegetables from her bag and offered some to him.

"Thank you. Where are we going?"

"Away from the men who are trying to kill us." Alana said with a twinkle in her eye. "They shot you last night remember?"

"I remember." Ethan rolled his eyes. "But I meant long term. I literally have nothing here and no idea where we are or where I should go. They destroyed your farm, although I assume you'll want to rebuild it."

"I don't know." She said as she finished chewing, and then hastily clarified. "If I want to rebuild that is. I loved that house because I shared it with my parents and had many happy times; but they're not there anymore. I always assumed I would grow staves because it's all I've ever known. But now..."

She trailed off.

"So, what do you want to do?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. I know almost every tree in this forest, but I've only ever visited one city. I don't even know what's out there."

"Me neither." Ethan said. "Well, how about the immediate future? Have any good ideas where to go?"

"Gralden."

"Gesundheit."

"Where's that?" Alana asked. "Is it closer?"

He suppressed a chuckle. "I'm being silly. What's Gralden?"

"It's a city, and home to one of the largest banks in the entire land. It's a three day walk from here, but most of that is over open road. We're only about a few hours' walk from the edge of the forest."

"I don't fancy our chances out in the open." He said. "Any other options?"

"Not without a map." She replied. "How's your mana?"

Ethan closed his eyes to check. He had used up most of his slushy mana cloud healing the previous night and it had shrunk to a mere fraction of its original size. It hadn't regenerated overnight much, if at all. It was still a mostly gaseous cloud with little substance at all.

"It's about the same as last night." Ethan replied "I thought you said magic users could pick up residual magic from the air."

"All magic users except dragons." She explained. "Dragons can't pull magic directly from the Ether. Instead, they collect gold and make it resonate. When the gold resonates, it pulls Ether through the barrier."

"What barrier?"

"There's a barrier between the Ether and our world." Alana explained. "Think of it like a very fine mesh that only allows tiny amounts of Ether to go through. When the gold resonates, it's like shaking a strainer to let more water through. Dragons collect this magic, and it's almost impossible for them to get it any other way."

"So I need gold to use collect magic." He said. "And I only have a tiny bit of gold in my little dragon crop thingy, which is why I can't recharge my mana very fast."

"Exactly, that's why dragons collect and hoard gold." She said, taking another bite.

"Wow." Ethan said. "I didn't realize that dragons had such a raw deal."

"They don't." She replied. "Remember when I said you can't enchant living things, because the flow of mana makes it impossible to get the enchantment to stick?"

"Yeah. You said it was like trying to build a house in the middle of a raging river."

Alana smiled. "You were paying attention. And yes, but dragons aren't like that. Because dragons don't pull magic directly from the Ether, they don't have that constant flow."

"So, you can enchant a Dragon?"

"I can't, but a dragon can enchant himself. Meaning you can use magic to directly augment almost any part of your body. You can make yourself stronger, faster, improve your senses and reflexes, make your scales harder, your claws sharper, your body lighter, and so much more. The possibilities are almost limitless."

"Nice!" Ethan exclaimed. "I guess that's not such a raw deal after all."

Alana shook her head. "Not one bit. Most dragons just use this magic to increase their size though, instead of going for the enchantments."

"Why?"

"It's way easier. You experienced how hard healing two small wounds was and how much magic it took. Magic is incredibly hard when you start and most young dragons don't want to put in the effort."

"It sounds like it would be worth it though." He said. "Drousin was big, but I imagine he's pretty slow."

"Well, Drousin is absolutely huge for a dragon. I met Drousin's son before and he just recently hit maturity. Drousin was complaining about him lately and was ready to kick him out of the cave."