This chapter may be changed a little bit, small stuff only, but I felt I finally had something worth posting, and was growing impatient. Again, it’s working up towards some better stuff, so bear with me. Please read and review.

Thanks,

Andrea

Chapter Two

The sun slowly sank into the horizon as Melianthe flew on for a few more hours, keeping one eye on Ja’er and their belongings on the ground as she flew. Not, however, that it was their pile of goods she worried about during such flights. Ja’er, with his infinite wisdom and companionship, was much more valuable to her than anything she owned sitting down there on the ground. Or anything secreted away in her lair, for that matter. Of all the jewels, coins, various sculptures and tapestries, and expensive magical artifacts she had amassed over the years, she’d trade them all in a hummingbird’s heartbeat if Ja’er were ever in danger.

His granddame, Havanthe, had done it for Melianthe- willingly laid down her life when the wraiths had attacked them. Her mind flashed back to that horrible day; Havanthe, raked with claw marks from belly to neck, lay bleeding in her draconic arms as she tried to fly her to safety. Melianthe shouldn’t have been able to carry her; she was still too young to be that strong, but she’d somehow managed to summon the phenomenal strength needed. Still, she’d been too late to save Havanthe..

Melianthe shook her head as a tear formed at the corner of her eye, immediately freezing and solidifying into a perfect white diamond as it fell away. Melianthe would gladly repay that debt, if it ever came down to it, to honor her beloved Havanthe. If it happened now, though, she would sacrifice everything…

She closed her eyes and took one last windswept dive to clear her head. Leveling out as she neared where Ja’er was grazing, she backwinged to lightly land near their pile of combined supplies. She changed back to her assumed form, the human paladin, and scratched behind Ja’er’s ears.

“Did you enjoy your graze?” she asked. He neighed softly and pushed his nose into her other hand. She nodded. “My flight was wonderful.. I flew just high enough to where you can see your breath.” She scratched his ear one last time then patted his neck. “Well, I hope it was enough to keep us both satisfied for a few weeks. We’ve got to ride into the village tomorrow,” and face what will undoubtedly lie before me, she thought, but didn’t voice.

She stole a glance at the horizon- the sun was gone and the sky was melting into shades of violet now- and strode over to their pile of equipment, picked up her underclothes and dug through a bag tied to Ja’er’s saddle. From it, she removed a pair of loose-fitting tan pants and quickly dressed. Dragons were not shy about their appearance, but for some unexplainable reason, humans, elves, and many other beings were extremely inhibited about their natural form. It would not be wise to be seen as bare as the scales on her draconic chest, should someone happen across them tonight.

She picked up both ends of the leather cord that, though still threaded through her pendant, now hung loosely on her neck and re-knotted them. The silvery pendant that appeared to be made of mother-of-pearl lay stationary on her chest. Even if the leather strips had come unthreaded and fell to the ground during her flight, the pendant would not have fallen off.

She’d learned as a wyrmling, when she had first attempted to don a humanoid form, that one scale on her chest would never fully change. It would always start to change shape and shrink, but went no further. As a dragon, this was not a setback, but since she wanted to explore the world as a human and travel among them, this quickly posed a problem.

It had taken her almost eleven years to find a solution. She had tried everything; having older, more powerful silver dragons attempt to use any magical items they had in their horde to shrink it, remove it, replace it, she had asked wizards to try potions on it and as a result once spent an uncomfortable night stuck in the form of a frog. She had even tried to claw it off herself, but it was all to no avail.

Eventually, it came to her: the solution wasn’t to somehow get rid of the offending scale, but to simply work it into her guise. In the end, she’d asked an older dragon to carefully bore a hole through the top of the scale with a claw tip, then she’d simply strung the leather cording through it. She’d taught herself a quick-release type of knot, so that if she had to change from her human form to her dragon form in a hurry, she would not break the leather or strangle herself. The knot simply undid itself. When she changed back, she simply had to retie the knot.

She dug around in another saddlebag and pulled out a bedroll. She was a silver dragon, and in that form, loved colder weather, but in human guise, this is apparently what one did. They seemed to be a bit more vulnerable to weather than other animals. Maybe it was their lack of fur or scales…

She curled up on one side of the material and pulled the other half over her body. On colder nights, the saddle blanket could be employed as well, but tonight anyways, it was not needed. While most travelers seemed to prefer sleeping with their light armor kept on, she did not. If, by some slim chance, both her and Ja’er did not sense someone approaching them, and she needed to fight, she would simply change to her natural dragon form. Doing so would ruin any clothing she was wearing, but at least she would only be out a pair of pants and some undergarments.

“Ssifisv, eraussir thurirl,” rest, my white friend, she as she called Ja’er to her. “We’ll need the sleep.”

Ja’er kneeled a foot or two away from her, and placed his chin on her hip. He nickered once, quietly, and Melianthe listened to his breathing slow as he fell asleep. Finally, she closed her eyes, and let sleep take her.

Melianthe woke before dawn the next morning. Ja’er was on the ground a few feet away, rolling on his back., feet splayed in the air, scratching his back. He stood up, shook his head, and whinnied. About time, he seemed to say.

She stood up and stretched in the pre-dawn darkness, laughing at his antics. “Come here, horsey-face.” Ja’er sauntered over and bumped his head against her. She scratched behind his ears for a bit, then turned and picked up the saddle blanket. She quickly saddled him, then had to admonish him.

“Ja’er, don’t you dare puff up your belly when I’m trying to saddle you!” Ja’er exhaled the breath he’d been holding, and whinnied again, seemingly laughing. “You’re horrible, you know that? You got me fooled once that way- and do you remember what happened? I fell off!” Ja’er shook his head, tossing his mane. “I know you were playing, but I’m on to you now…” She pulled the straps a bit tighter just in case.

She quickly looped the saddlebags back on, then slung her leather armor over the back of the saddle, and threw her bedroll over it to conceal it. She did not want to stride into town armed to the teeth, but she had no were else to put it and wanted it with her. She picked up the last saddlebag and opened it. Pulling a long, white hooded cloak out, she quickly put it on and jumped up into the saddle.

She looked to the horizon- the sun was just starting to come up. “Are we ready?” she asked Ja’er, her voice suddenly serious. He looked towards the sun, and dipped his head once. She pulled her hood up over her head, obscuring her face, and urged him on.

“Shafaer, ervorel aussir thurirl.”

Ja’er turned, and started up over the last hill of the plains. At the crest, Melianthe saw the small city nestled in the valley below, and the rocky, well-worn trail that led to the city gates. Turning their backs on the lush grasses that moved in waves, they started down the trail.