The Divine Apprentice (The Divine Series) (3 page)

             
The dragon’s eyes appeared to clear just a little.  It flexed its neck slightly and even tested its wing.  Although mended to a great degree, Kade knew the calling had its limits.  He slowly backed away with his hands out to the side.  When he was about two strides away, he, again, considered leaving.  Something was nagging at him, but he could not quite put his finger on what it was.  He was missing something else, but what?

             
The dragon seemed to let some of its tension go as it watched him curiously.  Kade could see that it was also trying to consider what to do.  It looked at him, back at its wounds and then back to him. 

             
Was it actually going to realize that I posed it no threat?
Kade asked himself incredulously
.  Is there a chance that it is really intelligent enough to know I mean it no harm?  It must be.  It just has to be!

             
Kade felt his heart start to pound as the depth of what was happening hit him.  He was here with a real, live dragon, and it was not going to eat him.  It was actually interacting with him…in a sort of way.  It slowly moved forward as best as it could on its injured leg.  It looked at its leg and then back to Kade.  It gave a sort of huff and looked at its leg again.  Flecks of blood formed on its lips 

             
“How could you have survived with all those injuries?” Kade whispered out loud.  The dragon’s ears swiveled at the sound of his voice.  “You are listening to me?” he asked in awe.  The dragon’s ears twitched, then it edged closer and again looked at its leg and then back to him.  Kade‘s eyes widened in understanding. “Okay, let me see if I can do something with that,” he said as he approached the wounded leg.  The dragon was fighting its internal instinct to kill as its lips parted.  Kade was waiting for the guttural sounds of a verbal threat, but it never came.  The twitching of its lips, however, continued.

             
Ignoring the dragon’s teeth that were flashing in and out of view, Kade moved closer.  Not really knowing why, he was certain it was not going to attack.  There was a feather light caress on his mind again for just a moment, and then it was gone.  Finding it hard to ignore the whites of its teeth that kept flashing into view, he edged even closer.  Although Kade was certain the dragon knew he was no threat, he could not ignore the fact that it might just decide to eat him when he was done.  He hoped with all his heart the giant, magnificent beast was no danger to him, but all he could do was hope there was, indeed, intelligence in there.

             
He slid up to the dragon, in awe of its size and marveled at what a killing machine it was.  The smell of blood and sweat assaulted him the closer he got.  His fear start to well up as he approached, but he forced himself to continue.  His stomach felt as though it were full of bats fluttering wildly.  He tried to stay wide of the dragon’s head, but every time he went to pass, the dragon would shift, causing him to approach from the direction of those deadly teeth.  Kade steeled himself the best he could, and holding his breath, slowly edged by those massive jaws.  He could feel its hot breath on his arm every time it breathed.  Its big, golden eyes watched him closely as he reached toward the badly damaged leg.  The Divine calling leapt from his hand and melted into the dragon’s hide.  Again, the dragon flinched and its lips shot up, revealing dangerously sharp, dagger-like teeth that were made for rending.

             
Kade held his breath and felt his head start to swim.  His life depended on his instincts, and he knew it.  At least, he hoped his instincts were right, but it was more like a guess.  But, that was not right either.  Something was telling him the dragon would not attack. 

It breathed into his face and inhaled several times to get his scent.  Kade’s hair fluffed every time the dragon exhaled.  He almost gagged as he struggled to breathe.  He backed away slightly and stopped as he noticed the sleek back, the supple neck and the graceful way the dragon moved.  It was an absolutely beautiful work of nature, and he was right here next to it.  It was exhilarating, and he was scared to death.  He then looked down at its ten-inch long claws and realized he was crazy not to have run for his life.

              The dragon’s large, golden eyes continued to study him as he studied it.  Its breathing was still a little ragged, and there were flecks of blood on its lips.  Kade tiled his head to the side and narrowed his eyes as if to listen to a far off sound.  His eyes lost focus as he realized what he was listening for was inside his head.  Kade threw all caution to the wind and confidently walked back to the dragon.  He placed his hand on its neck.  The dragon’s neck muscles turned rock hard at that touch but it still held.  The rough skin felt strong and soft at the same time.  He called on the healing, and placed his hand on the dragon’s chest, letting the Divine Power flow into this wondrous creation. 

             
The dragon seemed to ease under his touch.  It took several deep breaths as it drank in clean air.  It flexed its muscles and shifted its wings as though it was preparing for flight.  Then, without warning, its wings shot out and it leaped into the air.  It pumped hard one time before bellowing in pain and then came crashing, very ungracefully, back to the ground.  The wing had snapped.  Kade dove to the side to avoid being crushed under the massive weight.  He rolled several times and came to a stop, panting.  When he looked up, the dragon was just regaining its feet.

             
“No, you cannot fly yet,” Kade called out to the dragon, throwing his hands up in an attempt to signal it to stop.

Calming himself from what he thought was his end by a falling dragon, he tried to see how much it had re-injured itself.  It opened its wings again and winced in pain as it flexed them.  It gave out a pathetic yearning sound as it looked up to the sky.  Kade’s heart went out to it.  Suddenly, that nagging feeling that he was missing something returned, causing him to stop.  He cast a casual glance around and then, once again, pushed it from his mind.

              The dragon folded one wing back while the other dragged on the ground.  As it struggled to use its damaged wing, it made sure to keep Kade where it could see him.  It might realize that Kade was no threat, but its years of instinct and survival would not allow it to completely turn its back on something unfamiliar to it, especially when it knew he had power.

Kade slowly edged up to the dragon.  Placing his hands on its wing, he sent the healing power to do its work once more.  The dragon eased a little.  Kade was pleased with the results, even if it was still going to take a while to completely mend. 

Maybe a few months, or maybe weeks, if the dragon was lucky
, he thought as he considered the injury.  The more he thought about it, the more he began to realize how lucky he was he had stumbled upon an injured dragon instead of a healthy one.  He always considered dragons to be monsters and for good reason; they eat people and animals…or so the stories say.

             
The nagging feeling returned, but this time it was so strong that he was unable to ignore it.  Kade looked around as his chest started to tighten.  “What?” he asked himself, unsure why he was feeling tension.  He narrowed his eyes and scanned the area; for what, he was not sure.

             
Kade found himself looking into the dragon’s eyes as if the reason for his unease could be found there.  Its giant, golden discs the size of a dinner plate definitely held a level of intelligence as it regarded him.  Its eyes appeared to shine as though they were made of pure gold.

             
Giving a short, quick laugh, he realized that the dragon was doing the exact same thing he was doing and chided himself for being paranoid.  His discomfort had to be coming from standing so close to such a massive killing machine.  It was examining him, looking at his dark brown hair, his medium build, his dark brown eyes and his light skin. He was athletic and stood just short of six feet tall.  He was not full of muscles, but he was very fit.  He had good posture, for the most part.  His hair was cut short, making it easy to keep clean.  His eyes had a seductive quality that women found almost irresistible.  He was even told once that he had bedroom eyes.

             
Kade knew he was a good challenge for any man with his two hundred pounds.  He was stronger than he looked, but even at ten times his strength, he would not have been a challenge for the dragon, even with it being injured.  He knew this was one fight he would have lost and there would be no seeing a town healer or anyone ever again, for that matter.  He swallowed and wondered what it was thinking of him.

             
The dragon snorted uncomfortably.  Kade realized he was daydreaming again.  He mentally told himself he would have to do less of that since it’s what got him into this trouble in the first place.  Had he just stayed on the protected path, nothing could have threatened him.  No animal was able to pass the barrier unless Zayle allowed it.

             
Kade dismissed his thoughts and regarded the dragon.  It was looking at him while tilting its head back and forth.  He realized the dragon was waiting for him to do something.  But, what?  Zayle had never thought to teach him what to do with a dragon.  Why would he?  No one has ever encountered one and lived to tell or brag about it.  At least, not like this.  It was said in the days of old that dragons were more abundant, but that was a long time ago when the Ancients still walked the land.

             
Without warning, the dragon flexed its mighty haunches and launched itself directly at Kade with a deafening roar.  The look in its eyes was of killing as it came at him.  The fear lanced through Kade‘s body as he threw himself down, waiting for the crushing weight to drive him into the ground.  The dragon sailed just over his head.  And then the nagging feeling exploded in his mind as he heard the dragon collide with something just behind him.

             
Kade mentally kicked himself for not realizing whatever had caused the injuries on the dragon could still be in the area.  As he was regaining his feet, he heard a shriek so loud and penetrating that it stood the hairs up on the back of his neck, setting every nerve in his body on fire.  There came a second crash as the dragon, and whatever it was fighting, landed just behind him.  The ground shook, causing Kade to stumble before catching his balance.  He forced himself to run, but after just a few steps, he turned, hoping he would not regret his decision. 

What could really threaten a dragon?
he thought, but he knew, after seeing the injuries on the dragon, it had to be at least as large.

             
His heart leapt into his throat as he focused on the two combatants.  He was very wrong.  The beast was not only as large as the dragon but larger by quite a bit.  Kade considered turning and running again but quickly felt shame for the thought.  That thing must have been in mid-leap, coming directly at him when the dragon had intercepted it.  He could not live with himself if he left the dragon to die when it had just risked its life to save him.  Maybe it was not specifically for him, but if it had not intercepted the creature, the outcome would have been the same.

             
Looking on in horror at one of the few fabled beast reported to actually be able to kill a dragon, Kade fought to control his panic.  Here, standing directly in front of him was a grimalkin.  It was not as he had seen in the books he used to read.  This thing looked wrong.  It was not the cat-like image he would expect.  No.  It was a grotesquely twisted form of what looked to have been feline at one time but now was something completely different.  It had wings with feathers that looked dirty and decaying.  It had a hooked beak that was brown and jagged with chips broken out of it.  Its eyes were sunken and shallow.  But one thing was certain; this creature was meant for killing, and it meant to kill the dragon.  At half again as large, it was clear that the grimalkin had the advantage.

             
The dragon was fighting furiously and even caused a deep gouge in the monsters chest, causing blood to flow.  But, it was not slowing the massive animal, and Kade knew the dragon was not going to win this fight.  It only had a few new wounds, but it was obvious which one was going to parish and which one was going to survive.

             
His indecision was tearing him apart.  He knew if he tried to help the dragon, he would draw the monster’s attention, and that would mean death.  He also knew if the dragon lost, he was most likely the next target.  But, one thing he was certain of; if he attacked the grimalkin, he was next, if he did nothing, the dragon was doomed.

He considered turning and running again but immediately felt shame for the second time.  Anger flared in him so strong that he shook.  Nothing else mattered now.  All he could see was the deadly battle being waged in front of him.  All concern for his own life evaporated and was instantly replaced with fury.  He accepted that he was going to die, and now he was going to do it fighting.  Kade felt his heart pound hard as adrenalin raged through his system.

              The dragon tried several times to leap back and draw on its dragon’s breath only to have the grimalkin close the distance rapidly.  The dragon tried over and over to get distance to use its fire, but the grimalkin always charged in, giving the dragon no chance to use its natural weapon.  They were tangled once more in their deadly embrace.  The dragon was taking injuries quickly.  It staggered and barely dodged a killing snap of the grimalkin’s beak.  The creature was going for the dragon’s neck with almost every lunge now.  Again, it launched, and this time, it nicked the dragon, drawing a small amount of blood.  If not for its lightning quick reflexes, the dragon would already be dead.  Time was running out.