The Titan and the dragonriders

8. the night

After Tymdek had set off into the coming darkness, John collected some larger and smaller branches for the fire. However, before the great dragon had set off, he had contacted the human again and made it clear that he would find and kill him if John did anything to his daughter. Titan took the warning very seriously and had promised Tymdek not to do anything like that.

So now he sat together with Feyth and Keno at the campfire, which he had ignited with the help of a stone and his knife. The little dragon girl lay rolled up next to the injured dragon rider and looked at John over the fire. Her scales let small points of light wander over the meanwhile darkened clearing and long shadows crawled behind her, John and Keno in the light of the flames on the ground.

*So, where are you from, John? You said there are no dragons where you come from. What are you doing here?* Feyth finally broke the silence that had laid over the small group. The soldier looked lost into the fire and fingered his helmet lying on his lap. "I come from far away Feyth, my home probably won't even be listed in your biggest maps anymore. And no, there are neither dragons nor magic," he replied, but left her second question unanswered. The dragon girl, however, remained persistent: *But then why are you here when your land is so far away? You said earlier that you were a soldier, did you come here because of the imminent war?*

John frowned. "A war? No, I had no idea that this country was on the brink of war. To be honest, until about a week ago I didn't even know that Nidhan existed. I ended up here purely by chance." *That means you don't have a job at all? Then why are you on the way to the Dragon Riders?* He had to smile involuntarily, Feyth was obviously not easy to dissuade from her topic. John reached for a larger piece of wood, threw it on the fire and cleared his throat before responding: "In the village not far from my landing site, I was told about the Dragon Riders and that they might be able to help me. Since I had no other way to get back home, I thought they were my only chance. That's why I went to them." *Oh, I see...* meant the dragon girl and he could hear a quiet disappointment in her voice.

However, before she could ask another question, he came before her: "Why did you help me find my way back? Your father tried to kill me on our first encounter, but you helped me, why?" *You looked very lost and since I had nothing to do at the time anyway, I just helped you.* She answered quickly, but her tone of voice and the fact that she was looking away from him led John to believe there had to be another reason. He didn't want to force Feyth, though, because apparently she was very uncomfortable with the subject, so he turned around. "I understand. There is one question I would like to ask you. How do you know Keno? Do you wild dragons visit the dragon riders from time to time or have you ever met him here in the forest?

She looked him in the eyes again and said: *I met him when my mother came to visit us with her rider and her students. He was one of the disciples, just like his dragon Shad.* "Ah, so your mother is the dragon of a rider. That explains a lot," John replied in surprise and threw a short side glance at Keno, who had moaned quietly in his sleep. "Do you think it would be possible for her to show up here in the near future and take me and Keno with her?" *Mother and father don't get along very well, she probably won't show up here for quite a while. Why should she? The dragon girl answered and seemed strangely depressed. John got clairaudient. "Why not? You are her daughter, aren't you?" *Just that's the problem,* she sighed and confused him all the more. "I don't understand. A mother should love her daughter, shouldn't she?" *I am not worthy in her eyes to be her daughter, if it were up to her, I would have been dead long ago. I am much too small and weak for my age John! I can't even breathe fire, although I'm over two years old! The only one who accepts me as I am is father. He is the one who stands up for me against mother and still tolerates me in his district, although I should have my own long ago * she called angrily in his head.

It took the Titan a moment to understand what she had just said, but when he understood it, burning hatred spread throughout him. The hatred was so strong that Feyth on the other side of the fire gave a short howl and stared at him in awe. "So your mother loathes you just because you're different from the others? You look healthy to me," he growled and crushed a small branch he had actually wanted to throw into the fire into dust in his fist. *John?* the little dragon asked carefully, still overwhelmed by the feeling of hatred he radiated. Still clenching his hand to his fist, the soldier closed his eyes and breathed deeply several times. It wasn't easy to relax his thoughts, but after a while he opened his eyes again and looked at Feyth apologetically.

"Please forgive me, they are only memories of days long gone. I'm sorry about your mother. I despise such people". he said and she replied: *It' s all right. You must have been through a lot yourself. I have never felt such strong feelings before.* "Believe me, you don't want to know that at all" he muttered and looked lost into the flames again. The dragon girl joined him and said while they both stared at fire: *I usually ignore my mother, that's what my father always says. But what would interest me more is how old are you John? I have never seen such a strong person before. Not even a dragon rider would have made it against father without magic.* When he made no effort to answer her, she added teasingly: *I told you my age too. So don't be afraid to embarrass you.

John sighed softly and looked up to her. "How old would you appreciate me?" *I don't know. Your mind feels very experienced, as if you had experienced a lot, but your face shows me a young man. You might have changed your appearance with magic, but on the other hand you said that you have no magic abilities. How about about twenty-five? * He laughed dryly. "That would be nice. Try it with a zero behind the five." *That would be -* she fell silent and her eyes widened. Unbelieving, she looked at him and had to shake her head involuntarily. John smiled boldly and began to poke around in the fire with a long branch. Turning to Feyth, he said, "No, I'm not lying to you." *But how?* she stammered and he replied: "How young do I look? How did I survive the battle against your father? Well, it's hard to explain that to you. You could best call it a curse, yes, I think that's the best way to describe it." *A curse? yes. The shamans of my tribe cursed me to make me a stronger warrior. But they didn't think about the consequences." The dragon girl seemed tense and curious at the same time. *What a curse? she wanted to know, but John shook his head slowly. "It's this one thing I hate to talk about."

Actually, he had wanted to avoid talking about this subject, but having the explanation cursed by shamans seemed to him an extremely ironic account of the modifications made to his body by the scientists. However, he did not want to scare Feyth too much, which is why he left it at that. She seemed a little angry not to hear from him anymore, but she accepted it and said: *Well at least that explains the difference between your appearance and your mind. But at some point I want to hear the whole story, John!* The soldier gave her a smile.

It was strange to him that he understood a person he had only known for a few hours better than some of his friends in his dimension with whom he had been in contact for years without really knowing each other. The conversation with Feyth seemed as natural to him as if they had been together for some time. On the one hand he found it uncanny and strange, but on the other hand he enjoyed it, like the villagers before him, that he was accepted just like that, without any attention being paid to his frightening appearance. John was about to ask if she was hungry when a loud moan demanded his full attention.

He and Feyth both jumped up in surprise and looked at Keno, who slowly opened his eyes.