Everything was happening too fast. I stood there, paralyzed, trying to comprehend what was happening. Just seconds ago, I had almost been impaled on the tail spike of my own best friend.

Great, add that to your list of sad ways to die, Hazel.

The wind from the two Dragons' powerful wingbeats washed over me. My hair flew out behind me and I was forced onto my back.

In an instant, the two Dragons were gone, winging away towards the west. I almost forgot where I was.

Another Dragon just burst out of the woods, I thought, my mind going a million miles an hour. How could that be possible? How is there another Dragon? I mean, I probably wouldn't know if there was another one near Pira, thats not exactly how we introduce ourselves to people. "Hey! I'm a Dragon! Care to ship me off to a volcano and torture me? Great!"

It was said that the Zorg killed all the Dragons. Obviously a lie.

I began to worry about Remi, sure she could take care of herself no problem, that was one of the things I loved about her, but that other Dragon... I didn't know what they were capable of.

I remembered when I met Remi, I remembered that I used to think she was just another rude, rather secluded person I wasn't terribly interested in talking to, until the day I figured out her secret.

I was in class five years ago, when I was seven, at Pira elementary. My teacher, Mr. Gorvan was bouncing around the room, explaining something about letters or whatnot.

All of a sudden, a girl in the front row, had shoved her hand into the air. She had pretty, flaming red hair.

"Mr. Gorvan!" She said frantically before he called on her. "I need to go to the nurse."

"Now, Remi?" Mr. Gorvan had said, exasperated.

"Please," the girl said, "my stomach hurts."

"Fine," Mr. Gorvan said, then addressed the class, "does anyone want to walk her to the nurse?"

"No, no" Remi had answered, "I'll be fine."

"Alright, I hope you feel better," Mr. Gorvan said.

Remi leaped to her feet and speed-walked out of class. As she left, I noticed she did look rather sick. Weird, didn't she do that a couple of weeks ago? And a couple of weeks before that in Mrs. Bradley's class? I thought.

I decided to follow.

"Mr. Gorvan?" I said, shoving my own hand into the air.

He sighed. "Yes, Miss Icelyn."

"I just remembered," I said, "My mom was going to come by the school about now to, um, drop off my lunch." The lie just sprang into my head of its own accord. I could be good at lying if I had to be.

He rubbed his temples, "Fine, you may go."

"Thank you," I said and walked out.

I had jogged through the halls, looking for red hair. I just saw it whip out of sight around a corner, but not going towards the nurses.

I crept silently after her and watched as she rounded another corner.

Could she be lost? I wondered.

I peeked around the stairs and watched as Remi stepped outside. Outside? Why? I thought.

I jogged over to the front door and glanced around to make sure no one was watching. No one was, so I slipped out.

I saw her sprinting for the woods, so I ran after her. I didn't know why I followed her, if she was trying to skip school or something, why was it my business?

She forged into the trees, running full tilt. It took all my speed and endurance to keep up with her. I did my best to keep my footfalls as light as possible, so she wouldn't realize she was being followed.

Then, I noticed that we were slowing down significantly. She was beginning to stumble slightly with every other step.

We slowed to a slow jog and kept up that pace for a while, I didn't know how long, ten minutes? Twenty? My small legs began to ache and it took all my effort to not fall over and gasp for breath like a fish out of water.

Then, very suddenly, the girl let out a cry and pitched forward.

I rushed to her side without thinking. She wasn't injured, as far as I could tell, but I had to make sure.

I rolled her onto her back and stifled a scream. Her face was dark green.

I scrambled away from her, my heart beating furiously. Another Dragon.

***

I shook the flashback away. It felt like shaking off a large amount of wet sand. When I had come to my senses, I scanned my surroundings. First priority was Gen. I didn't know who she was but she was hurt badly, and unconscious.

Which reminded me. Where on earth is Nick? I had last seen her on the other side of the clearing, Remi scuffling around in the trees for her, but I had been busy with Gen.

Oh no, why didn't I help Nick first... ok, don't panic. Deep breaths. I'm going to do what I can for Gen first, and then find Nick. It's going to be alright.

I went into the hut that Remi and I had built over the years. Its main purpose was to have somewhere for Remi and I to stay and be safe, but it was useful in other ways too.

I grabbed some reeds that I kept in a makeshift cupboard. I also grabbed a knife that I smuggled here from the village and slit the reed down the middle so it fell in my lap, cut in half.

I dug my fingers under the sticky layer on the top of one reed and carefully peeled it back and set the strip on the ground. Then I did the same thing again to the other reed. This was a thing I had learned from my grandmother when I was small. She would do this when I scraped my knees, or cut myself. She would tie the bandage around my wound and say "Nature. It always heals best."

I ducked back under the woven flap, taking the reed pieces with me.

I raced over to Gen who twitched in pain, her whole body rigid and her face in what looked like a permanent grimace. This was no any ordinary wound.

I took some water from our stores, washed the cut, and then wrapped the reed piece around her shoulder to stop the bleeding. The only thing was, it wasn't going to stop the poison, which I could see was already making its way into her body, like little green snakes under her skin. I had no medicine here that would possibly cure this type of poison. That was the part that worried me, if we were to take Gen back to Pira, what would we tell the healers? That she was bitten by a dog and it got infected? No, a dog would not be able to make a cut in a straight line, nor do dogs have venom. The healers would talk, then Pira would be flooded with Zorg who heard the story and the Zorg would know. Know that a Venomtail Dragon had caused it. We wouldn't last a week if that happened. The question was, would I have to risk all our lives to save Gen?

Soon, I was done and had somewhat stanched the bleeding. I knew I would have to do more for her later, maybe smuggle some medicines from my grandparents house back to her, but I couldn't do anything more at that moment.

I turned to the second priority, Nick. I didn't see what Remi did to her, if anything, hopefully nothing, but she was nowhere in sight. The panic that I had been holding in started rising. What if Remi had gotten Nick too? Did I have another innocent life on my hands?

I got up and went over to the clawed up area where Nick had disappeared. Overturned dirt, leaves, splintered bark, smashed sticks, dirt, claw marks, scorched bark, and dirt. No Nicholina.

My foot hit something that felt softer than it should have been, I looked down, bile rising in my throat and my heart beating like a drum. Please, Nick, don't be dead. But I didn't see Nick, I saw something dark green, which wasn't a surprise at first because most of the forest was green, but when I looked closer, I realized it was rough fabric.

I picked it up and I realized I was looking at Nicholina's backpack, a little clawed up, like everything was around me, but still intact.

I was relieved that I hadn't found Nick's body, but the world still felt like it was crumbling. Where was Nicholina? She couldn't be gone. I wouldn't be able to handle myself if someone died and I could have saved them. Maybe her backpack had fallen off and she had hightailed it back to school. Hopefully that was the case and she never spoke of these events again.

I went back over to Gen and sat on the ground for a while. I knew I should have gotten Gen inside until something else happened, but I was terrified that nothing would happen. Remi had flown off with the strange new blue dragon, which was a mystery I wasn't even going to try and figure out yet, and she could have been anywhere. Maybe the blue dragon had hurt her, or drew her away to desert her once she changed back into a human to die alone in the wild. The other dragon could have done anything. I just had to hope that the other Dragon had good intentions and would bring Remi back to me. And if Remi didn't come back, I would tear apart the world to find her.

Nick was another problem. I had to figure out if she was alive, dead, or back in Pira, blabbing about the Dragon she'd seen in the woods.

I finally decided on a plan of action. I couldn't sit there forever. If Remi wasn't back by the morning, I would go looking for her. I was skeptical that it would do any good, but it was the only thing I could do at the moment.

Please, by all the Dragon gods. Please let Nick be somehow ok, please let Remi come back, please give me the answers.

I got up and dragged Gen slowly to the hut. I got her situated on one of the mats piled in the corner. I wove them out of long pond grass years ago with Remi at my side. I then made a fire in the pit in the middle of the hut. The only thing I could do was sit and wait.

I hated it.

Thank you for reading!
Vote, comment, share!

Written by justasnarky_sandwing on WATTPAD