A Dragon's Rider (Edited)

Chapter 14

As my vision wavers in and out, I begin to wake up and see a face hovering over me. It looks like John though I can't be sure. John is saying something but I cannot hear him. His face is panicked and it looks like his words are urgent. My eyes start to clear up more and more and my ears start to hear again.

"Liora! Liora! Can you hear me? What happened? Are you okay?" His words are coming out in a loud slur and his babbling makes no sense whatsoever. My muscles refuse to move and so I'm stuck staring up at him.

"Liora?!? Can you hear me?"

I muster all my strength and blink slowly at John who seems to sigh with relief. The feeling is coming back to my body a bit as I try to move my wrists. Then my elbows, then my shoulder; until I can move most of my body again. Sure, it hurt like being hit by a brick, but I can still move!

"W-Wh-Where am I?" I ask John. Guess my mouth is still a bit numb.

"You're in the infirmary," John says. "I was walking back when I found you lying on the ground with claw marks on you." He looks worried "What happened?"

"Some dragon attacked me on my way back from training," I reply. His mouth turns down in an ugly grimace.

"Why would someone want to hurt you?" he asks.

"Maybe it was the idiot..." His face looks confused so I say, "Never mind. Just a thought."

"Well..." He doesn't seem to want to let it go but he does. "Maybe it was a rogue dragon?"

"Rogue dragons don't just appear and attack random students," I mutter, I mean, why me? Was I just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

For the first time, I look around at my surroundings. Everything is stark white and clean. Except for me. I am still dirty though some of my wounds are slightly less painful than I remember. As I'm looking around, a tall woman comes in. Her hair is a dark, chocolatey brown with eyes to match.

"Hi!" She says cheerfully, holding a clipboard in her hand "I'm Kyla, the healer in this place. Even though I don't have magic, I can still make a heck of a medicine.!" She smiles at me before consulting her clipboard. "Your wounds are coming along nicely and you should be able to start walking in a few days. This being said, I will be putting restrictions on the exercises you can and cannot do."

"Understood," I say. "Do you know who attacked me?" The nurse winces before responding. I also notice that John is tensing up.

"No honey. There was no residue that could be used to find who attacked you. There are no fragments of scales or hairs." She puts a slim hand on my shoulder and squeezes reassuringly. "If we catch whoever did this, Hunter will kick their butt so far out that he will have to put two stamps on any letters he sends."

That makes me feel a bit better and I realize just how sleepy I am. The nurse notices and gently ushers John out. She smiles at me and closes the door to the room. The cool silence lulls me to sleep and my eyes close. The next few days will be boring and sleep-filled.

Finally! The nurse lets me go, though she did give strict instructions to never ever let her see me in this condition again. I agreed with a laugh and she sent me on my way. She also threatened to amputate my head if I hurt myself in the next 5 days. She gave Hunter, Berian and John instructions to only let me exercise for 3 hours a day and never to strenuously. Each day, my body starts to hurt less and less until it is just the occasional twinge from my shoulders and knees. I slowly start to amp up my training until I am almost doing the full routines. John complains loudly about two things multiple times a day,

1: I am apparently exercising too hard and he doesn't want to have to carry my body through the woods again.

2: His dragon broke an ankle and has to wear a boot thing for two weeks.

Today is a day where John's whining is getting on my nerves.

"Oh." I snap; cutting him off when he is complaining about his dragon. "You forgot to mention the part where he has to wear a boot for two weeks." John's eyes go wide and he looks like a scared deer. "Suck it up. I bet if you hadn't pushed your dragon so hard, he would have been just peachy right now!" John was known for pushing Balerion as hard and fast as possible. It makes sense that he would be hurt! I slam my hands on the table and stand up, intent on giving him a lecture.

"If you would just listen to your trainer, I bet Balerion wouldn't be hurt right now! You should have known better than to push him to extremes!" What was his problem?! I was the one who had gotten mauled by a dragon! What's his excuse for being whiny? I turned to leave but he stopped me by grabbing my arm.

"Wait!" I stop short and turn, intent on giving him a piece of my mind.

"Let go." He flinches at my icy command.

No, wait-" Okay. Now I was getting angry.

"LET GO!" I shouted at him. Airre stirred from her place next to the table and growled at John, seeing the situation. Finally getting the message, John released my arm and I stormed out, not once looking back. The hallways blurred by me as I walked to my room. I slammed the door and sat down on my bed. Why did this have to happen, why did I have to get chosen? Why couldn't I have a normal life, one without any complications? I've been isolated from all my peer and now I've alienated myself from my only friend here. Water started to blur my vision and Airre whimpered next to me; saddened by my tears. She crawled toward me and put her head in my lap. She was growing at a startling rate and was now the size of a great dane. I reached down and pet her head, glad that at least one person got my pain.

"Cheer up." Airre murmured in my head. "Tomorrow is a new day."

"Yeah." I responded, "I guess it is."

Sometime after, I woke with a creeping sense that someone was watching me. Airre had moved to her nest as I started to drift off.

I shiver in worry and reach over to light a candle next to my bed. Am I just hyped up because of the fight with John; or is it something else? Just as I'm contemplating whether or not to check outside my door and behind the shower for serial killers, the light goes out.

Okay. I coach myself. Just breathe. It was the wind. The dragon won't come back, I'm safe in the school. Yeah. That's it. Nothing to worry about.

And then, the window explodes.

Obviously I scream. Airre wakes up as pieces of glass slice open her flank. She shrieks and streaks towards me. The force of her flight pushes me back onto the bed, the glass cutting deep into my skin. I cry out though it does no good.

Licks of fire start to crawl through the window, bringing a dense, acrid-smelling, smoke into the room with it. The smoke quickly fills the room, starting at the top and I start to crawl towards the door, Airre cradled to my chest with one hand. The glass shards dice up my knees until I can feel the shards digging into my bone. I whimper as I get to the door and press my hand against it. The wood is burning hot and I'm surprised it hasn't caught on fire yet. I crawl towards the bathroom, thinking that I will close the door and keep the fire at bay for at least a little bit. The glass starts to thin until there is barely any. I'm next to the bathroom and I stagger to my feet, blood dripping from my numerous cuts and lacerations. Stumbling drunkenly around, I carefully place Airre in the bath and grab the pitcher of water. I lurch to the cabinet and grab 4 towels, two small and two extra large.

Upon wetting said towels, I cover Airre's snout with one small one and the rest of her body with the large. I repeat the actions with myself and crawl into the tub next to my dragon. The acrid smell of the smoke and fire burn my nostrils, even through the towel; I involuntarily cough and sputter. The room is fading and Airre claws feebly at my chest; I can sense her energy fading and with my last bit of strength, I press my cloth to her snout, hoping that she will survive long enough for someone to find her. The world fades in and out. I hear a familiar.

The world starts to fade and I think one last thing 'Two times? Who's trying to kill me?' Then the world turns completely dark.