Wings and flames

Chapter 38

Sam had spent an anxious hour or two in this strange smelling room that was a struggle to get into. Quite a climb. The subtle scent of cedarwood didn't help. He'd been teaching Aeck the basics of combat and that fighting with Viri wouldn't help his self esteem. And then, out of nowhere, Aeck had gotten alert and started to get Sam into this room. He'd asked him to stay hidden until someone came. He said some of the Blacks were coming. What for, Sam had no clue.

"Hey" the shapeshifter said, in his human form, out of nowhere.

Sam almost jolted out of his body at the sight of him. Somehow that seemed to change the general arrogance in the man.

"Hey...didn't mean to startle you. They're gone. You can come out now."

Sam slowly wiggled out from under a very low bed.

Sam : No I was just, I wasn't expecting you.

Jade : You weren't expecting me in my room?

Sam : *wide eyed* this is your room? Why'd anybody hide me here?!

Jade : Because nobody expects a shapeshifter to have a room.

That definitely had a sad tone to it. Sam's eyes let the wall down. He knew the people of Athoms had their prejudices.

Sam : Well, people can be pricks.

Jade : well, isn't that ironic.

Sam : what is?

Jade : Aren't all full dragons full of themselves and ready to put down everybody?

Sam was dumbfounded. He's spent ages perfecting his personality. He's never been the rude guy, scary looking yes but never rude. Definitely not prejudiced. This dude seemed like he was offended by him.

Sam : Um...no? Is there a problem? I notice we haven't gotten along that well. You're always staring at me...have I offended you Jade?

Jade, who now had a lot of blood rush into his face, was also a master of slipping out of situations, responded quickly with "Can you carry a buffalo?"

Sam : Whaaa...I mean, yeah, I can do that.

Jade : Great. Then there's one a couple of miles from here. Get it to near Sedra, I'll get the knives to clean it.

And that's it. The shapeshifter stormed out. Either Sam made him super angry or he was blushing. The former seemed to be the case. Either way, Sam headed out and was happy to spread his wings. He was waiting for Jade and in the meantime, decided to take a dip in the water. What else is a water dragon to do?

***

Jade came in with a bag of knives. Hunting was easy, but cleaning out the animal and taking the good parts to eat? That's the tricky bit. one he'd taught himself to be good at. One he had to do as a human. As he walked up to the river bank, he couldn't find Sam. He felt relaxed, the last thing he wanted was some loud distracting, full of himself full dragon. And just as that thought completed in his head, he found Sam's clothes neatly dropped nearby.

A pretty boy's head broke the surface of the water. Sam's white hair was lovely but when he was in water, it somehow...glowed. His blue eyes seemed recharged, he'd washed away the anxiety from a while ago. Sam's face was enticing enough for Jade, which is why it took him a while to understand that Sam was now coming out of the water, completely naked, heading towards the pile, to clothe himself, all at a really calm pace.

"Why the fuck are you naked?"
Jade turned a full 180 and said it as angrily as he could. The humiliating blush was coming back up again.

"Oh, I just changed back, took a swim." Sam said, super casually because it wasn't an odd thing to do. Jade for whatever reason had his back to him. "The buffalo is behind you, shapeshifter" Sam urged.

"Oh I know. Are you dressed yet?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, why?"

Jade just shook his head disapprovingly and bent down to clean the buffalo. Sam could not understand this guy.

"Can I help?"

"No."

"Okay." Sam sat for two minutes. Watched this man do things and then realised there were no utensils to get the meat back. He walked into the cave to get some. He saw Viri come out of her room.

"What was all that about?" He asked.

"Sam, two Blacks came. To check if Aeck had recovered from the previous attack." Viri reported.

"They'd already told the general it would take 2 weeks. Why check now?"

"Not sure, maybe to keep track? They treat him like shit, if the people here believed in gods, why be cruel?"

Sam saw the concern in Viri's eyes. This was getting stranger with every minute. They had to get some answers. There were too many gaps. Sam pulled Viri in for a small hug, god or not, his friend was upset and that erased all of that irrational fear.

Just as Viri's breathing became calm, Aeck's voice cut in response to her question.

"Because everybody likes to play god."