Chapter 2
Drakeal landed on the ledge of his Hideout and sat down. He took out the necklace and held the ruby cupped in his hand, stroking it with his thumb, in deep thought. He heard a loud Caw.
“What the-” he said, seeing a flock of crows attacking a basket of fruit, “Hey, shoo!!! Get away!!” he picked up the basket and looked at the fruit. “Not much left…” he said, annoyed at the crows, “A note?” he added, picking up a pick paper, folded up neatly. He opened it and read what it said:
Drakeal,
Meet me on the hill near the outskirts of the city.
-Rose
Drakeal sighed. He didn’t want to go, but he knew it was the only way he could apologize. He scratched his bad arm.
“God, this thing itches!!!” he said, “What’d they make this thing out of, wool?!!”
Rose looked around worried.
“Did he get it?” she said to herself, out loud.
“Yes, he got it!” a familiar voice said behind her. Rose spun around, nearly bumping into Drakeal.
“Oh!” She fell backwards, startled.
“Careful.” Drakeal laughed, helping her up, “So… umm, why did you want me to meet you here?”
There was an awkward silence.
“I’m sorry!” both said simultaneously.
You first,” Drakeal said.
“No, you,”
“Fine…” Drakeal took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for what I said a couple weeks back, I was just a little distressed about my wing, ya know?” He suddenly looked like he remembered something, “In fact.” His tail snaked up and began ripped the splints off his bad wing.
“But-”
“Don’t worry,” Drakeal said, stretching his wings, looking grateful for the freedom once more, “I’m a fast healer. Okay. Now I’ve said my sorry’s, now it’s your turn.”
“I’m sorry,” Rose said, sounding sad, “for being so harsh to you. I don’t get out much ‘cause my father keeps me inside because… well, you know…”
“Yeah…” Drakeal said, smashing the cast around his arm, stretching his now free fingers, “I know…”
He suddenly belched, fire jetting from his mouth. “Wow,” he said, “That’s never happened before.”
“Really?” Rose said, getting up. She had ducked to avoid the fire. The fire was a vivid red. “I think I know what that is!!! It’s Dragon Fire!!”
“I know.” Drakeal said.
“So you’re a Dragon?”
“What is this? Some kind of interrogation??” Drakeal joked, “I can’t give away all my secrets.”
“Then, I’ll have to get them out of you,” Rose said, smiling. She tackled Drakeal and began tickling him.
“Stop!” Drakeal said, between laughs.
“Not until you tell me.”
“I’m serious!” Drakeal managed to crawl away, his face pale.
“What’s wrong now?”
Drakeal’s stomach spasmed, making him retch. Inside the contents of his stomach, was a black pearl, the size of a golf ball.
“Wow…” Rose said, mesmerized, “It’s beautiful…”
The pearl suddenly lifted into the air and flew at Drakeal, embedding itself into his forehead. It began glowing. Drakeal’s body shifted, growing larger and more reptilian. Black scales covered his body and claws grew from his fingers. His nose and mouth shot out into a snout. When it stopped, what had replaced Drakeal, was a Dragon, panting from the major change in body.
“D…Drakeal?” Rose said, sounding scared. Drakeal craned his neck to face her and roared loudly, making her fall backwards. He beat his large wings and took off, away from Rose and the City.
Drakeal landed on a cliff edge not very gracefully. There was a cave. Drakeal padded in and curled up into a tight ball deep within the cave. He couldn’t go out now, not like the way he was. He closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
Everyone in the city heard the roar. They dropped what they had and ran, screaming, thinking that they were going to die. Cherry, curious, went in the direction of the roar, occasionally pausing to grab the bag of coins from some unlucky persons. When she got to the hill, she saw a girl standing at the top, staring at the mountains in the distance.
“Drakeal…” Cherry heard the girl say. She paused, why does that name sound so familiar?!! She thought.
“Is everything alright?” she asked, startling the girl.
“Drakeal’s gone!!” the girl cried.
“Who?”
“Oh, sorry. Drakeal’s a guy with wings and a tail.
“I’ve met him!!” Cheery said, recalling her encounter with him, “By the way, I’m Cherry.”
“I’m Rose,” she said in between gasps for air from, crying.
“Oh,” Cherry said, “Can I help??”
“Umm… sure,” Rose said, “He went that way.” She pointed in the direction of the mountains. Vines suddenly surrounded her, attaching to her back to form a set of wings.
“Cool,” Cherry said, impressed.
“Thanks.” Rose said, “Grab onto me and I’ll fly there.”
Drakeal heard rocks clinking together and lifted his head to see a man standing at the mouth of the cave.
“Who are you?!!” Drakeal demanded, “And what do you want?!!”
The man walked in, carrying some sort of weapon that crackled with energy. Drakeal unfurled his wings and growled, baring his teeth. The man faltered, but continued to draw closer. He raised the weapon above his head and struck at Drakeal.
His vision went blurry as some of his energy was drained. The man stuck at Drakeal again and again, slowly whittling at his energy, until Drakeal passed out, on the brink of death. The man raised the weapon once more to strike the final blow when Rose and Cherry appeared at the mouth of the cave.
“Drakeal!!!” Rose screamed. Cherry rushed forward, her long, jagged-toothed knife in her hand. She swung the blade, its teeth biting into the man’s arm, forcing him to drop the weapon. Cherry spun around and slashed the blade across the man’s neck.
He fell to the floor, dead.
“Who was he?” Rose asked.
“One of Ragott’s men, by the looks of his clothes,” Cheery replied, “but we need to help Drakeal out before we do anything else.”
“What is this?” Rose said, picking up the weapon. It was a long staff that glowed with stolen energy.
“It looks like an energy staff, “Cherry said, “You see imitations everywhere in the black market and the occasional real one. They’re supposed to be able to steal some of the victim’s Life Energy with each blow, but they’re only good for one person.”
“So how do we get the energy out?”
“Simple.” Cherry took the staff and smashed it against the cave wall, “You break it.” Balls of energy rose from the shattered remains of the energy staff and flew at Drakeal, his body momentarily glowing. He didn’t move.
“And now,” Cherry said, “We wait for him to wake up. It takes a while for them to wake up after nearly dying.” So they waited.
Drakeal groaned. He lifted his head and hit the ceiling, forgetting that he was in his Dragon Form. “Oww…” he said, rubbing his head with a clawed, scaly hand.
“Drakeal!!!!” Rose shouted, rushing at him, “You’re okay!!!”
“I’m not now that I know you’re here…”
“You’re welcome,” Rose giggled. Drakeal noticed Cherry.
“You’re that girl that tried stealing my mother’s necklace!” he said, “What are you doing here?”
“She helped me save you from this evil man that was trying to kill you!”
“Really?!!” Drakeal exclaimed, “I thought thieves were incapable of helping anyone but themselves. After all, I’m one of them.”
Cherry snorted. “Fine,” she said, “see if I ever help you again.”
“Sorry,” Drakeal said. He saw the dead body of the man and the shattered remains of the energy staff, “So uhh… who is he?”
“He’s a worker of Ragott,” Cherry said, “One of the most powerful men in the world. He’s said to hate all kinds of creatures that aren’t natural to this world, and apparently, that includes you.”
Drakeal hissed loudly, startling Rose and Cherry. “That suntalem!!” he said.
“Drakeal!!” Rose said, stunned by his use of one the forbidden words.
“What?!!” he said.
“You know that use of that word is forbidden to anyone in the city!!”
“We aren’t in the city.” Drakeal stated.
“Ah-” Rose began, “good point.” Cherry chuckled.
“What’s so funny??” Rose asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Cherry said. She sat down, leaned her back against the cave wall, closed her eyes and fell asleep.
“So uhh…” Drakeal whispered as best as his large body could manage, which wasn’t really quiet, “What exactly happened?? All I can remember is that man hitting me with the staff.”
“Oh,” Rose said, “You had passed out and the man was about to kill you when Cherry and I had found you. Cherry killed the man before he could, though. We broke the staff that stole your life energy and it returned to you, but we’ve been here for about 3 weeks, waiting for you to wake up.”
“Three weeks?!!” Drakeal exclaimed.
“Yeah,” Rose said, smiling.
“Did uhh… I say anything in my sleep??”
“You’d have to ask Cherry. I was at home to make sure that no one grew suspicious,” Rose said, “but you’d have to ask when she wakes up.”
“Sure…”
Rose laughed. Drakeal sighed, smoke jetting out of his nostrils. Rose began coughing.
“Sorry…” Drakeal beat his wings gently to push the smoke out, but not hard enough to blow Rose and Cherry off the cliff.
A man kneeled before Ragott. “I’m sorry, sir, but the agent that we sent was killed.”
Ragott growled. “How annoying…” he said.
“Please forgive me. I promise that it will not happen again.”
“No…” Ragott said calmly, “It won’t.” He raised his hand, outward at the man kneeling.
“No, please!!!!” A black flame engulfed him. His screams sounded throughout the throne room. When the flames died, the man’s shriveled, smoking black husk was curled up on the floor. A man ran up and swept the husk away.
Cherry screamed. She was having a nightmare about one of her worst memories.
Drakeal’s head shot up, slamming into the ceiling again. He shook his head, disoriented. “What’s wrong?!!” he said.
“Nothing…” Cherry replied, “Just a bad dream.” She looked outside. It was nighttime. “Where’s Rose?”
“She went back home.” Drakeal said, “I had to…” he paused, “…‘persuade’ her to go home to sleep. She was awake when I woke up. The moon had already risen then.”
“Okay.”
“What’s the matter?” Drakeal asked.
“Nothing…”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Cherry said, starting to sound annoyed.
“Okay, just asking,” Drakeal said, “After all, you did save my life.”
“Oh, yeah,” Cherry said. In truth, she had forgotten about that. “No problem.”
“Hey, umm…” Drakeal said, “Did I say anything in my sleep?? You know, like anything strange.”
“Nothing strange,” Cherry said. Drakeal sighed with relief. “But.” Drakeal inhaled sharply. “You did say something like, “Don’t leave me, Mommy” and stuff like that. What was that all about??”
“Oh…” Drakeal said, cursing under his breathe, “Let’s just say I had what you would call and traumatic childhood. You see… my mother was killed when I was a child. That’s why I’m a thief, trying to find my way in the world.”
“Oh,” Cherry said, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Drakeal said, “I’ve learned to deal with the pain.” He rested his head on his paws, and closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
Cherry got up and sat down next to Drakeal, laid her back against his large lower foreleg, and fell asleep. She knew how it felt to lose a loved one. Drakeal opened his eyes. His dinner plate eye revolved to see who it was.
He smiled when he saw it was Cherry. He fell asleep again.
Rose woke up. She got out of bed and got dressed. She ate breakfast and prepared to go see Drakeal. She bumped into her father.
“Father!” she said, trying to mask her surprise.
“Rose, what are you doing out!” her father said.
“I needed to get out.” Rose said, “It gets so boring having to stay in my room all day.”
“Well, get back in there. You know you are not supposed to let yourself be seen.”
“But-”
“Now, young lady!”
“Yes, Father…” Rose sighed, heading back to her room. Her father watched as she rounded the corner. Rose quickly ran to the back of the house. She tried to climb up, but was stopped by her father again.
“I thought I told you to go back to your room!”
“Yeah, but-”
“NOW!!”
Rose sighed. “I’m sorry, Father, but no”
“What?!!”
“I’ve met someone who’s more different than I! He’s a Dragon!”
“A D-D-Dr-Dragon?!!”
“Yes, Father!”
“Y-y-you must never see this… Dragon.” Rose’s father said this last word with a strange kind of loathing.
“I’m not a child anymore, Father!!” Rose protested, “I can take care of myself!! In fact, I helped save this Dragon’s life.”
“Even so!” her father said, “You must never see that monster again! That thing is nothing but trouble!!”
“He is not!!”
“You are not to leave the house!! Understand?!!” Rose said nothing. “Rose!”
Rose sighed, “Yes, Father…” Her father smiled.
“Good girl.”
Drakeal poked his scaly head out of the cave, looking anxious. “Where is she?” he said out loud to himself.
“Relax,” Cherry said, “I’m sure she’s on her way.”
“She told me she’d be back at sun’s highest point!!” Drakeal protested, pulling his head back in, “And it’s well past!!”
“Like I said,” Cherry said, “relax.” She rested her back against the cave wall, her arms crossed behind her head.
Drakeal snorted. He squeezed his eyes shut in another attempt to force his way back to his previous form. Nothing happened. He sighed, frustrated. He shook his head and rested it onto his paws. He continued to watch the cave entrance. The tip of his tail twitched occasionally.
Cherry laughed.
Rose paced her room. “I feel like I’m going crazy!!” she cried. She sighed, sinking into her bed. “I need to get out of here!!!” There was a knock at the door.
“Sweetie?” Rose’s father said. He opened the door. “Rose??”
“What.” Rose said, sounding irritated.
“I’m sorry that I’m doing this to you,” he said, “but it’s for your own good.”
“No! It’s for your own good!” Rose retorted, “You keep me in here because you don’t want to look bad, to be seen having a monster for a daughter!!!”
“Now listen here!” her father exclaimed, “I do no such thing! Ragott wants to kill off all those that are not “natural”!!! I’m trying to protect you!”
“I can take care of myself!!!” Rose said, “I can use my powers to help people and defend myself!!! And I’m going to leave here whether you want me to or not!!”
“You will not leave this house!”
“You can’t control me anymore, Father!!! I’m 19 and I can take care of myself!!!” Rose pushed passed her father and ran off, heading in the direction of Drakeal. The Vine Wings appeared on her back once more and she was off.
A speck appeared in the distance, quickly growing larger and more defined.
“It’s Rose!!!’ Cherry exclaimed once Rose got close enough to be identified.
Drakeal lifted his scaly head from his paws, previously enjoying a Dragon-nap. “Really?!!” he said, sticking his head out the mouth of the cave.
“Yeah!!!” Cherry replied, watching Drakeal’s reaction with interest.
