Rin

 

 

 

The morning finally comes and I excitedly get dressed and run out onto the landing. The sky is clear today, which makes me happy because we’re going to need every advantage we can get in order to find the girls. I can tell by the position of the sun that it is still early in the day, so we should have plenty of time to search. My mind is already racing with thoughts of seeing them again, and for the first time since we were separated I feel optimistic that everything is going to be okay. Having them with me is going to make life here so much more bearable. I run back inside and wake Targon, anxious to get going.

I’m up, I’m up, he says, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

I grab as many of the furs from the floor as I can carry, and start looking for something to wrap around last night’s dinner. I’m sure the girls were able to figure out a way to get food and water, but I doubt they’ve had anything substantial like meat, so I want to bring some to eat on the way back up here. Speaking of which—

Targon is finally on his feet, scratching his cute little bum and yawning as he stumbles outside the cave to relieve himself.

“How are we going to get all the girls up here?” I say. “Hopefully they’re not so far away it requires multiple trips. I’d hate to leave them again.” I’m able to speak to him with my thoughts a little better now, but I still prefer to speak out loud if I can. Old habit I suppose. And I want him to learn the language so he can communicate with the girls once we find them.

I try to imagine all six ladies up here with him. It’s going to be a little cramped for a while. I might need to put Targon and his razor sharp claws to work digging out some new rooms for our house guests. They have been through so much and I want more than anything to make them feel welcome and comfortable.

Targon interrupts my thoughts. You and the others won’t be coming back here.

That’s news to me. I scrunch up my eyebrows and walk over to the landing, peering through the door at him while he pees over the ledge.

“Where else would we go?” I ask. There’s no doubt in my mind that we must all stay together, at least for the short term. It’s going to be hard enough for the ladies to accept the fact that there are dragon-man shifters on this planet, let alone that one of them is sexually involved with me. When they see me flying in on a dragon they are going to flip out. I try to imagine it from their perspective. It makes me giddy imagining their faces.

Then another thought hits me: That’s nothing though compared to how they’re going to react when I tell them we’ve been sleeping together. I exhale deeply. That’s going to be an interesting conversation. It’ll take time for them wrap their heads around all the craziness of this planet—hopefully they don’t think I’ve lost my mind.

Targon’s voice returns to me. It is not safe here for your kind. We are high up near a volcano, far removed from hunting grounds and too close to the Vikon tribes. I will take all of you to the land of the Elders. You will be safe there while I’m gone.

“What do you mean while you’re gone? I thought we would all be together.”

He finishes his business and walks back inside. Once we’ve found your friends, I will seek the help of the Elders and then return to free my kindred. I have put it off for far too long.

“Because of me?” I say. I feel guilty all of a sudden, and hope I haven’t been too much of a distraction to him. I’ve felt his pain and seen some of the images that flash through his mind. They are frightening, full of despair. I wish there was a way for me to help him.

He sighs and rests his hand on my hip. The night I rescued you from the Vikon, I was searching for the tunnels of the Other-Worlders. They live deep below the ground in huge complexes they built from old lava tubes. There they keep the surviving members of my clan. Now that you have gathered your bearings here, it will finally be safe for me to continue my search. He kisses my forehead and heads off into the other room.

A nervous tension builds in my stomach. I know that Targon had a life before I arrived, and that he must do what he can for his kind, but I feel apprehensive about being left alone with other dragon-men—especially after seeing how aggressive Targon can be. Are they all like that? Because if so, it might be a little much for the other girls. I try to placate my mind with good thoughts—after all, if Targon says it’s safe, then I’m going to trust him on that. And they are Elder dragons. Something about that title makes me think of my grandpa, which is reassuring. I’m sure it will be fine. But one other concern remains.

“Will you be in danger?” I ask, already knowing the answer. My heart aches at the thought of something happening to him. I know he is strong, and obviously very capable. He’s proven that to me time and again in the short time we’ve known each other. But he’s talking about confronting beings that have killed or imprisoned the rest of his clan. They’re obviously capable of killing dragons. My hands tremble even thinking about it.

But he only smiles, sending warm images into my head.

All will be well.

I must trust him in this.

I’ve gathered everything I think might be useful: food and furs, a couple spears and some water, and piled them by the door. A moment later Targon comes outside and walks over to me, pulling me close. I can sense his passion for me. He kisses me and then takes his dragon form, clutching the food and furs in his claws. He ducks down low, moving his wing aside and gesturing with his head for me to climb onto his back. I climb up, using his spikes and scales as steps, and take a seat between his broad shoulder blades.

He has a row of horns down the back of his neck, sort of like the mane of a horse but spikier, and I grab onto them. I adjust myself a bit, makings sure I’m secure, and it feels pretty good. My legs hang down near his shoulders, and his wings offer me support on either side. Also, I have a way better view from up high like this. He turns his head back, his brilliant red eyes gleaning in the sunlight.

Where shall we begin?

We zip through the sky and I keep my eyes alert, searching for a red outcropping of rock in the distance. I’m way more comfortable riding on Targon’s back, and I feel like Atreyu riding Falcor in The Never Ending Story as we soar through clouds, over mountain peaks and great swaths of jungle. I’m feeling very hopeful and optimistic. How far could we possibly be from them anyway? We were definitely able to see the volcano from the crash site—Jess was the person to point it out to us. So I have it in my mind that by nightfall, we should all be happily reunited.

We search ever hill, slope, ridge, and bluff we find, but the morning passes without any sign of the girls or the helicopter wreckage. We search some more and the afternoon is gone, and as the sun sets behind the distant mountains Targon lands on a small peak and sets up a makeshift camp.

“This isn’t as easy as I hoped it would be,” I say, suddenly feeling the full weight of this task on my shoulders. When I was back at the lair, it seemed a simple thing to come out here and fly around a bit, spot the girls and take them to safety. But as I sit on this hill, preparing a spot to sleep tonight, the realization dawns on me that this planet is a lot bigger than I’d imagined. Targon does his best to keep my spirits up, and I’m grateful to have him. None of this would even be possible without him by my side.

After dinner I curl up beside Targon, cuddling under his wing. He insists on staying in dragon form tonight, in case he has to defend me. And he has forbidden me from lighting any fires. He fears it might draw the attention of the Vikon. It’s fine by me. I’m a lot warmer these days, and our food is already cooked. I feel perfectly safe beside a twelve foot tall dragon, and when I scoot in under his wing like this I’m protected from all sides by his enormous body. I wrap my arms around his leg and smile.

“Targon, would you tell me about your clan?”

What would you like to know?

“What are the other dragons like? Are they all sexy hunks like you?”

Targon laughs. They are great hunters, but every one of them is different in some way. Me and my brother, for example, are the only two surviving gold dragons. The others are—

“Oh my god, you have a brother?” I interrupt, genuinely excited. It brings joy to my heart to know he has family out there somewhere.

Yes, he replies, his name is Aedan. When he speaks his brother’s name I feel a great swell of pride inside of him, but there’s also a longing sadness. We lived together on my clan’s ancestral lands until only a few weeks ago. That’s when the Vikon came using Other-Worlder tricks. They took him and the others while I was out hunting near the waterfalls. When I returned home, they were gone, but I know from my dreams what happened. Just as you and I share a link between our minds, my clan members and I share one as well. Especially me and my brother. It is not as powerful as the bond between mates, but it still causes me to see images and feel when they are in trouble. I was too far away the day they were captured to know what was going on, or I would’ve returned immediately to help them.

I squeeze my arms around his leg, feeling regretful that I brought the issue up. I’m partly to blame for this, after all. I mean, I didn’t do anything to get them captured, but when Targon rescued me he’d been hoping to find his brother and the rest of the clan. I’ve been a distraction for him finding them. I just hope he doesn’t regret rescuing me that night. I would never want to be the cause of pain in his life—not after everything he’s done for me.

“We don’t have to talk about this right now,” I say, fighting back the intrusion of negative thoughts. I breathe deep and force a smile as I run my hand along his smooth scales, hoping my closeness and my touch bring him some comfort. “In fact we don’t need to talk about anything if you don’t want to. It’s enough for me to be here by your side underneath the stars.”

Targon relaxes his body and swings his head around to nuzzle with me.

Do you think we can see your home star from here, he asks me. I’m staring up at a patch of sky no bigger that a full moon back on Earth, and it is incredible how many stars there are. I’ve been out in the middle of the desert, and deep in the woods, far away from the light pollution of the cities back home, but I have never seen as many stars as I do now. It’s beautiful, captivating, awe-inspiring, and at the same time disheartening.

This universe is such a big place, and I can only imagine how many other worlds are out there, teaming with life, just waiting to be discovered. Maybe somewhere up there amongst the stars is planet Earth. Everyone is going about their lives. Maybe my mom and dad are looking up at the sky right now, seeing the star of this planet and wondering where I’ve gone off to. Maybe there are places with other dragons, and worlds with creatures so different from anything I’ve ever witnessed that it’s impossible for me to even imagine them.

I sigh. “Even if it were, I wouldn’t know where to begin looking. All the stars look the same from this distance. I don’t even recognize any of the constellations.”

Constellations?

“Yes, they are groups of stars that make up imaginary pictures. People like to make up shapes in the stars and talk about it over camp fires.” I kiss Targon’s neck. “There’s even a constellation called Draco, named after a mythological dragon of the same name.”

He sits up straight, nearly knocking me over. Talk about curious—jeeze. I thought I was bad. He looks down at me, his eyes burning as he studies my face. Dragons? In your world?

“No silly,” I laugh. “There are no dragons where I come from. They only exist in old stories called myths. It’s how my people used to understand the world before more scientific viewpoints took hold.”

And they thought the stars were dragons? Now he’s the one laughing. You humans are a funny species. It’s a rare sight to see him hemming and hawing, and it makes me happy despite the fact he’s making fun of me.

“Let me show you.” I look around the night sky, trying to connect the dots and show him an example. There’s a bright cluster that stands out directly overhead, seven blue and red stars that twinkle brightly against the darkness. Targon follows the path of my hand as I point up toward them.

“See right up there. The way that brightest star is in line with the others.” I trace the imaginary lines with my fingertip. “If you connect that one to there, and that one over there, you can almost see a tail, and two big red eyes.” I stroke the back of his neck. “I’m going to call that one the constellation Targon.”

I’m not seeing it

I snort air from my nose. He’s such a bummer sometimes. “Well, perhaps you’re taking this a little too literally. You have to use your imagination.”

He scans the skies—looks of confusion then ah-ha moments and then back to a curious state of not quite grasping the concept. But he’s a good sport. Ahh, yes. Now I see it, he says. He pulls me in close with his wing. The constellation Targon. he says. Of course I’m not buying it. He seems to forget that I can read his feeling, and right now all I’m reading is him bullshitting me. But despite his lack of imagination he’s trying to please me and his heart is good, so I let it slide. I know he wouldn’t fib to me on anything that actually matters. A moment later he points out another cluster of stars.

Can you see those ones there? He asks. I do—a group of bright blue stars near the horizon.

I see legs and a shapely body that I could just nibble right up. Two arms reaching toward the heavens, and if you look closely enough, you can almost see a smile on her face.

I’m trying really hard to see what he’s seeing, but to me it just looks like a giant squash. Or maybe a bucket. “What constellation is that?” I say, confusion in my voice.

It is the constellation Rin from planet Earth. I believe your home planet makes up one of those stars, and your kindred there are smiling up at you right now as we speak.

I punch him playfully in the ribs. “There’s no way you could possibly know that. You’re just making fun of me now, aren’t you?”

You told me constellations are stories people tell to explain the world they live in, he says. He bends down and kisses the top of my head. I want to live in a world where Rin is always up there in the sky watching over me.

My throat tightens as I hear his words. It’s seriously the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me, and I can’t help but get choked up a bit. My eyes mist over and I cuddle my dragon’s big scaly leg, grateful beyond words to have found him in this vast, vast universe. We’re getting pretty tired and start to settle in for the evening. We’ve got another long day ahead of us in the morning and both Targon and I want to get into the air as early as possible.

I lie down and close my eyes and almost immediately a bright blue flash appears on the horizon, followed by lightning bolts that streak up from the ground into the darkness overhead. A few seconds later we hear muffled booms, sounds like a plane breaking the sound barrier. Targon’s head pops up and he scans the horizon. I jump to my feet and try to see what’s going on, straining my eyes toward the lights, but I can’t really make out anything.

It’s the Other-Worlders, Targon says. There’s anger in his voice, I can feel his rage burning inside. Images flash into his mind: his brother Aedan and the other dragons, a whole handful of them in varying colors. Targon puffs up his chest and a low rumbling emits from deep inside him. Tension fills the air.

“Those lights—they were exactly what I saw at the Egyptian pyramids before our helicopter crashed.”

We must travel to that site in the morning. There’s only a few of those conduits around the planet. The Other-Worlders periodically use them to travel between planets—for what I don’t know. If you are correct that this is the area you arrived at, there’s a good chance your friends will be close by.

A lump forms in my throat as imagine the Other-Worlders. I don’t know if I’m ready to face them, and I hope my friends are safe. I try to lie down but sleep won’t to be easy tonight. There are so many questions on my mind. And even fewer answers.