Moonlit Scales [rewriting]

Moonlit Scales: Ten

M O O N L I T   S C A L E S :
Chapter Ten

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THE FIRST THING to go were the feathers. It wasn't all of them, but I had lost quite a bit in the first three minutes. Granted, they'd all be replaced by tomorrow night, healthy and white like nothing had ever happened to them, but it was just sort of unnerving for me to see my own feathers stripped from my wings, torn off by the pointed teeth and claws and arrows that came too close.

The rough skin covering my left hip was shredded to the bone when a giant golden dragon, larger than I was, took a swipe at my eye, and I had ducked, too caught up in the moment's danger to realize only my neck was out of the way and I had left the other half of my body in range.

The wound stung as I shoved my attacker's back into the trunk of a somewhat sturdy tree and sank my teeth into its shoulder. We were a growling ball of opposing monsters, rolling back and forth like playful toddlers wrestling each other over a toy.

Its neck was thinner and longer than mine, which was, thankfully, easier to snap than mine. I didn't even get a chance to breathe before another dragon, black as the charred ground under my webbed feet, had me pinned down with its sharp talons digging into my ribcage. The only thing that kept me going was that I'd have to be in the forest, well hidden, when I changed back. I would never survive if I morphed in the middle of a scrimmage with a huge beast. I had a good forty minutes over my head, leaving me with less than a half hour to fight off what I could and escape into the cover of trees without any pursuers.

After I had taken care of the coal black dragon, I had a moment's respite. I had located neither Ambrose nor Phoenix after returning to the battlefield, which was overcome with flying arrows and columns of flame.

I regulated my breathing and examined my body, which had faded to an ugly, dim grey. I drew less attention this way, but I couldn't help but gag at the thought that I was covered in ashes that once made up a living thing, whether it was the green grass that Casim missed so much or another noble soldier who had lost his life against a monster. A monster just like I was.

I was faring well, I supposed, given what I'd been through and all of the other possible consequences. My leg was still bleeding pretty badly, and I had a nasty wound at my shoulder where a stray arrow had been embedded too far deep in my flesh to be taken out with care. Surprisingly enough, none of the men who had fought alongside me in training aimed for me now, and I only wondered if Luna had anything to do with that.

Glancing up at the moon, a full circle of light and the only source of hope in this wasteland, I decided I should slip away now, while no one paid me attention. I poised my neck over my shoulder, on the constant lookout while I crept to the boundary where the trees began. After I assured myself that I was not being followed, I leaped into the temporary safety of the forest.

I did not have to wait long for one o'clock to have its effect on me, and I was already bounding back towards the war before all of my scales had flaked off. I froze just before the tree line ended. My wounds had healed in the process, but I was in a loose dress and the nearest weapon in sight was slung over the fallen body of a man yards away from where I stood. I bit the inside of my cheek as I debated whether I should give up for the night.

It was then that the blow of relentless fighting hit my body, taking its toll on my weary limbs. If I believed I had been exhausted before the battle started, it was nothing compared to the fatigue that flooded throughout me now.

I stumbled to the tree that Ambrose and I had been using as our interim refuge from the impact of day-long training, the tree that I had dropped from when the Lutheran beasts embarked. Before slipping into the tired void that marked the edges of my vision black, I called for Phoenix. There was no response, and again there was nothing after I whistled a second time. My heart sank, devastated that something might have happened to my loyal pet. Hoping for the best, because really, all that was left now was hope, I curled up against the dry, chipping bark, and quietly hummed myself to sleep. I was out within seconds.