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Felix clenched his fist and stood in front of Olympia, swallowing his fear. The dragon loomed over them, at least twice as tall. It roared, and took a deep breath, preparing to breath flames upon the two very flammable people before it.
Fella crawled from the hidden pocket in Felix’s cloak, and onto his shoulder. She spread her wings and roared right back at the dragon. Olympia grabbed Felix’s arm scarred at the scene that was unfolding in front of them
The dragon stared down at them for a moment. It growled. Fella made a chirp-like sound then growled. It seemed as if the two were talking. Felix looked at Olympia for a moment, confusion clear on his face. After a moment, he back at the huge beast before them.
“Fenicc.” A deep feminine voice said with a growl. Felix jumped, and stared at the dragon in wonder. Had it just… “Return the hatchling you’ve stolen.” The dragon said. It was definitely speaking. Felix just stared at the dragon, dumbfounded.
“Umm..everything ok?” Olympia asked. Felix stuttered for something to say, his eyes still on the dragon. “Speak, Fenicc.” The dragon commanded. “I-I didn’t steal h-her.” He stuttered. “Then where is her thunder?” The dragon growled. “T-They-“ Fella interrupted him with several chirps and growls. The dragon narrowed it’s eyes.
“You saved her?” The dragon asked. Felix nodded. The dragon and Fella spoke again. “No human had bonded with a dragon in over fifty years. Why should I believe the words of this hatchling?” The dragon asked. Felix had no answer.
“You can speak to a dragon!?” She said surprise. Olympia looked at the dragon who was staring straight at Felix. Before she could even think she was saying something to the dragon “Excuse me.” It’s eyes flicked to her for a moment then back to Felix. “Well?” It growled. “S-She c-could have left me a-at any t-time.” Felix stuttered.
“Do you understand the rarity of the creature on your shoulder?” The dragon asked. “S-She’s a dragon. O-of course.” Felix replied. “Do you understand the rarity of her breed?” The dragon asked. Felix looked confused. “F-Fire dragons… aren’t rare…” Felix said, hesitantly.
The dragon breathed out a stream of flame right in front of Felix. He stumbled back. Unlike Fella, the flames were red-orange like normal fire, only there was gold in the mix as well. “That is fire dragon flame.” It growled. Felix tried to hide that he was scared, but he was shaking slightly.
Olympia helds Felix’s arm tighter, seeing what the dragon did. She wanted to say something but the fear she had was too much. “The creature on your shoulder is a galaxy dragon. The rarest of all the breeds. When she reaches her full power, she will be stronger than even I.” The dragon growled.
Felix was quiet. “Is it something bad?” Olympia asked Felix. “N-No.” Felix strutted. He didn’t look at her. His eyes were still locked on the dragon. “Are you prepared to care for such power? Are you prepared to protect her? Are you prepared to defend yourself from her?” It questioned.
Felix still said nothing. Fella growled something, and the dragon growled back. “No then? Then you're not deserving to care for her. I will take her.” The dragon stated.
Fella growled and moved so she was pressed against Felix’s neck. Felix took a step back, and shook his head. The dragon growled and took a step forward. Olympia stepped in front of Felix and looked up at the dragon.
“You can’t just take her like that!” She said, a bit frustrated. “He can not care for her, and she must be protected. He can not do that either. I have every right.” The dragon stated, growling at her.
“Then why didn’t you take care of her from the start!?” Olympia said. She was now even more frustrated than scared. “She wasn’t my hatchling. Her thunder is dead, and because of that, I have the right to claim her.” The dragon stated. It stared down at Olympia.
“I don’t know how you dragons do your thing, but I think it would be better if Fella decided who she wants to go with.” Olympia sighed. “The hatchling would choose the Fenicc. She is my kind and therefore under our rules.” The dragon stated, taking another step forward.
“W-what about the D-dragon Rider c-code?” Felix asked, uncertainty. “What?” The dragon hissed. Olympia looked at Felix knowing what he was talking about. “You can’t separate a dragon from it’s person.” She said to the dragon.
“The Order no longer exists.” The dragon snapped. “B-but that’s only b-because nobody has b-bonded with a d-dragon.” Felix stuttered. The dragon narrowed it’s eyes and growled. Felix was worried it would come and take her anyway.
“You know that he’s right.” Olympia stated. The dragon said nothing for a moment. It growled at them and shot a stream of flame at their feet before taking off. Olympia backed up, pulling Felix with her.
Felix didn’t move till the dragon was well in the distance. He let himself fall down to his knees, breathing hard. Fella looked at him confused and rubbed against his cheek.
“Are you ok?” Olympia asked, kneeling down to him. “Y-yeah, I’m fine.” Felix said quietly, looking away.
“What about you Fella?” She asked. The small dragon chirped in response, then looked back to Felix. Olympia looked back at Felix. “Should we get going then? We kinda wasted time.” She said to him. Felix nodded and stood.
“Yeah. We probably won’t get there when I planned, but that’s fine.” Felix said. He wouldn’t meet Olympia’s gaze. He turned and headed back in the direction they had come. He hesitated for a moment where the dragon’s fire had scorched the ground then continued on.
“Fella, I want to tell you something.” Olympia said, signaling her to go to her. Fella jumped over to Olympia, spreading her wings to glide to her arm then climbing up to perch on the edge of her shoulder.
“I think Felix is still a bit scared.” She whispered not wanting him to hear. Fella nodded in agreement.
“I feel like I could talk to you and you won’t judge me.” Olympia said, rubbing under Fella’s chin. Fella made a purr-like sound, and leaned into Olympia’s finger.
A moment later, she jumped back to Felix and rubbed against his cheek. He ran a finger along her back, and Fella wrapped her tail around his finger. He opened is hand and Fella climbed onto it, her tail still around his finger. Felix ran his other hand along the trees they passed. Without realizing it, he left claw marks on some of them.
By the time they stopped for the day, Olympia’s legs were burning and sore. Felix seemed fine. He picked a shaded clearing in the forest for them to sleep in. He gathered branches to build a fire as the sun began to descend.
After Felix and Fella had built up the fire, he laid down near it within the glow, Fella curled up on his chest. He looked up at the stars above them, seemingly not bothered with the sounds of the night. Olympia rested her back against a tree and quickly fell asleep.
When Olympia woke up the next morning, Felix was poking the fire with a stick to get it to come back to life. Fella poked him with her claw as he started to doze off. He sat upright again, and got the fire going.
“Felix, did you even sleep?” Olympia asked him. “Yeah, I’m just not a morning person.” Felix replied. Fella poked him again and growled. “I know.” Felix muttered. Olympia looked at both of them “Everything ok?”
Felix glanced at Fella. She nodded her head to Olympia and growled. Felix sighed. “Yeah, I just had some bad dreams. Nothing really worth mentioning though.” He said. He kept his eyes on the fire.
Olympia let a sigh and went to sit next to him. “I know that we don’t know each other very well, but I can tell that it’s bothering you.” She said to him. “Well I don’t want to talk about it.” Felix snapped. A moment later, he sighed and relaxed his shoulders. He wanted to apologize, but his pride wouldn’t let him.
“I’ll go see if I could find a river or something.” Olympia said, getting up. Felix nodded. “Might as well go with you. No use in you getting lost.” He said. He stood and kicked out the fire. He made sure the wood was spread far enough apart that it seemed natural, and they started off through the woods together.
Felix's ear twitched as a blue jay flew over them, calling out into the trees. Without realizing it, he hummed the bird’s call, making it sound like part of a song. Olympia listened to Felix humm. Fella swayed slightly to the song.
After a minute, he stopped and glanced back at Olympia as if he had forgotten she was there. His tail twitched slightly. “Yes?” She asked, a bit confused. “N-nothing.” He said quickly, and looked forward again.
A couple minutes of long silence later, Felix paused, his ears rotating to one side. Olympia stopped beside him. “Everything ok?” She asked looking around. “Yeah. I think I hear a river actually.” Felix told her.
They began heading in that direction. After a few moments, Olympia heard it too. A smile appeared on her face as the river came into view. It was slow-moving and wide. The shore was smooth stones and sand. It seemed mostly shallow. It blended just a few feet upstream and out of sight because of the trees.
“Finally!” Olympia yelled, running towards it. Felix watched her for a moment, amused. “I’ll be around the bend washing off my clothes. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He said, already moving in that direction.
Olympia watched as Felix walked away. She washed off the blood on the sword, then took off her shirt to wash off the blood as well. She laid her shirt on a rock, and made her way into the river.
The water was cold, but it wasn’t freezing. If only it had been summer, it would have been refreshing. Still, the cold soothed her aching legs which were sore from walking all day yesterday.
After a while she got out and put her shirt on. Olympia went to look for Felix and Fella. She found him muttering complaints as he used his shirt to try and get all the water off his fur. Fella was sitting on a rock, watching him. It was clear she had already gone in the water, but she was already dry. Felix didn’t notice Olympia because his back was to her.
Olympia turned her backs towards him. “You know complaining isn’t going to help.” She told him. Felix jumped and looked over at her. “H-how long have you been standing there?” He stuttered.
“Just got here.” She said. “Good.” He said. He hastily pulled his shirt on. “Okay, I’m going to be wet all day. We should probably get going. We’ll reach the town before the sun sets if we’re lucky.” Felix told her.
Olympia turned to face him. “Let's get going then.” She said. His fur was soaked, clinging to his skin in clumps. His ear twitched and a water droplet flew off. He was clearly not happy about this. Olympia wanted to say something but didn’t, noticing that Felix looked a bit annoyed.
She followed quietly behind him. Fella sat on Felix’s head. He held his cloak in hopes that his fur would dry faster in the sun. Within an hour they reached the open fields again. Felix seemed to get a little less annoyed, but he kept fidgeting with his fur as if uncomfortable in his own skin. He probably was.
Olympia put her hair over her shoulder trying to squeeze the water out her hair. She did the same with her shirt. Within the next couple hours of complete silence, her hair had dried. Felix was still wet. His fur was spiking now, and he kept having to smooth it over so that it didn’t completely puff out.
Olympia let out a few giggles as she saw Felix smooth out his fur. It clearly wasn’t working. Felix glanced back at her for a moment. He obviously didn’t see it as funny as she did. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself.” She said giggling. Felix sighed and looked forwards again, still trying to get his fur to smooth over.
“Do you want help?” Olympia asked. “No.” Felix replied. Olympia left it alone, knowing it would be better to give him some space. They walked in silence for several more hours, the sun moving slowly across the sky.
By the time the sun was setting, Olympia’s legs were more sore than the day before, and she was exhausted. Felix seemed a little tired himself. Both were hungry, Felix more so than Olympia, but Olympia, found the new pain worse than he did. They crested the next hill, and the town was stretched out before them.
It was smaller than the capital city. There was no wall around it, and there were several farms surrounding it. They could see a decently-sized market towards the middle, and a clock tower in the center of it all. Most of the inner buildings were two stories, but they got smaller as they reached the edge of the town. The forest was closer to the town than it had in the capital.
“Well it’s about time. Hopefully there will be a good place to hole up for the night.” Felix said. His fur was nearly dry now, and it was still puffing out.
“Do you think we could get a cloak for me?” Olympia asked him, running her fingers through her hair. “Why? Oh. Yeah, I don’t think a cloak will do much to hide your hair as much as you want, but if you want to hide it, I could go down and steal one for you.” Felix said with a shrug.
“I think it would be better to say that you’re going to borrow one. If a cloak won’t hide much what do you suggest.” She asked. Felix shrugged. The only thing he had ever needed to hide was Fella, and she fit in his pocket.
“Maybe I should just stay here, I’m not very good with people.” Olympia said taking a step back.”If you want to live in the woods, be my guest. Better learn how to hunt and fight predators.” Felix replied. Fella nudged Felix. “What? I’m not her bodyguard.” He said to her. Fella looked at him pointedly.
“Look, I don’t know what your deal is but I don’t need someone to protect me. I know how to do that myself.” Olympia said, a bit annoyed. She was getting tired of his attitude since the morning. “I never said I was. I never said you had to come back to my barn in the first place. All I did was get you out of there. You can do whatever you want, princess.” He stated, then started down the hill towards the town.
Olympia decided that it was best not to argue with him. She stood there watching them head towards town. Maybe it was for the best that she went her own way. Felix didn’t turn. He didn’t stop. He had Fell and that’s all he needed. He knew she wouldn’t last even a week on her own without her grand meals and bodyguards. She had probably never hunted in her life, or built a shelter, or fought a predator.
She had no idea how hard she would have it. He wouldn’t be surprised if he saw her starving of the street side begging for food in a few days. Or her soldiers would find her and take her to one of her other palaces. She would never understand how hard things were on the streets.
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