The Light Fury and the Archeologist

Hurt

The next day, Lara was out in the woods again, in the clearing, seated on a tree stump, waiting to see if the white dragon would reappear again. After her encounter with the dragon yesterday, she had become increasingly curious about the dragon.

A loud roar suddenly pierced the silence of the woods, making Lara jump to her feet. It sounded like a bear, only it was real angry! Another roar sounded, this one more louder and full of anger. Lara took off into the trees, running along the path as the sounds grew louder. She skidded to a stop in the trees, unable to believe her eyes!

A massive brown bear was fighting the white dragon, swiping its claws and roaring in anger. The dragon was dodging the blows, but her wings were vulnerable and the bear latched onto her right wing with his powerful jaws. The dragon screeched in pain, a thunderous crack sounded as the bone broke clean in half. The dragon fired two plasma blasts at the bear, trying to get it to let go! It's claws raked at the bears soft hind and the creature roared in pain, finally releasing the dragon's wing, it hung limply at its side as the dragon once again fired three more shots, managing to drive the bear away. (I'm not good when it come to animal fighting, so just bare with me.)

Lara was shocked right down to her core as the dragon looked at its broken wing, cooing in sadness at the thought of never flying again for a good couple of months. The wind in its scales as it soared high above the clouds. Footsteps were heard and the dragon turned, its eyes narrowing into slits as it saw the human female from yesterday! Why was she here?

Lara held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. "Easy. Easy. I'm not here to harm you. I promise." she stopped a few feet in front of the white dragon. It hissed at her, crouched low to the ground. It couldn't fly with its wing broken the way it was.

Lara's eyes moved to the wing, it was obviously broken and at a bad angle, the bone snapped in half. It needed to be set or the dragon would never fly again. "I'm going to help you with your wing. Will you allow me to get close to you?"

The dragon eyed her warily. She knew the woman was just trying to help, but she did not trust her! She growled more as the woman got closer, taking slow steps. Stopping just a few feet in front of the dragon, Lara slowly extended her hand out for the dragon to sniff. The white dragon 's growls softened and it sniffed the woman's hand, it smelt no metal on the woman and growled softly, allowing the woman to gently brush her fingers over its snout. The woman's hand was warm and soft.

Deeming the woman no threat, but still wary, the dragon begrudgingly allowed the woman to examine it wing. Lara gently ran her hand over the wing, feeling where the bone was broken. It was one of the main bones that extended the wing. Lara looked around, her eyes searching for something to bind the wind with. She found a few decent sized tree limbs she could use as a splint for the wing. Walking over, she easily snapped the trees in half, making sure they all were the same length before disposing them on the ground, walking back to grab some strong vines to serve as the binding.

Once she had what she needed, she returned to the dragon's side. "Alright, I'll need you to slightly extend your wing for me. This will be painful, so please don't roast me." Lara said, wincing slightly as the dragon gave her a 'I'll try not too, but don't expect me to thank you after' look.

Slowly extending its broken wing, the dragon growled softly in pain as the movement sent pain jolting through it's wing. Lara gently grasped the wing were it was broken and looked into the dragon's blue eyes. "Are you ready?"

The dragon huffed in confirmation and Lara took that as her answer. She took a deep breath before she snapped the wing back into it's proper place, causing the dragon to roar in agony. With the wing set, she gently folded it against the dragon's side before getting the splint ready. She put the tree branches where they needed to go and bound the wing tightly to the dragon's side, the vines going all around it's middle to keep the splint in place.

Wiping her hands, Lara stepped back and admired her work. The splint looked strong and the wing was in the right position, all it needed to do was heal up and then the dragon could fly once more. "What do you think?"

The dragon looked at the woman's handiwork, despite everything, she had done a really good job binding its wing tightly to its side. It looked from the splint to the woman, stepping forward two steps. Its pupils widened to round orbs as it stared at the woman. Maybe some humans weren't so greedy after all. The dragon cooed in thanks and the woman smiled. "Your very welcome. Glad I could help."

The dragon turned and started to walk away, but looked over it shoulder, cooing at the woman and gesturing to follow it. Lara was rather shocked it wanted her to follow, but she walked after it, keeping her distance as the dragon was still wary of her. As they walked, Lara began to think of where the dragon was leading her. Wherever it was, she hoped it wasn't to her death. She may have helped the dragon, but there was a chance of it turning on her and killing her where she stood.

The white Night Fury led the brunette through the trees before it came to a large cove in the woods. Butterfly's took flight into the air, birds nested in the trees with a gorgeous lake in the middle of it all. Lara had never seen something so beautiful before. The dragon huffed at her, gesturing for her to go down with its head. Lara peered over the edge, she could climb down, provided she was careful and didn't slip and fall. Slowly, she made her way down as the white dragon hopped down using the large boulders as stairs, reaching the ground in no time. It sat down like how a cat would, watching her climb down. Finally, Lara made it to the bottom and looked around, the cove truely was beautiful, with its lush green grass and trees encasing the cove, it was like their own little hideaway!

"Why did you bring me here?" Lara questioned, looking at the dragon, who turned and headed for the lake, leaning down, it drank the water, lapping it up with its pink tongue. Lara watched form a few feet away. She noticed fish in the lake and saw the white dragon lunge it's head into the water, trying to catch some fish, but it failed and grumbled in disappointment, it's ears falling in defeat. Lara felt her heart pang in guilt for the poor dragon.

"I could fish for you?" she offered, the dragon turned to face her, head tilted slightly to the side, curious. Lara walked over to where a small cluster of trees stood and broke off a relatively small, but strong one. She searched around for a sharp stone and found one near the waters edge. Heading over, she grabbed the stone and went back to the branch. Using the stone, she began to sharpen the end of the stick, slowly shaping it into a sharp enough point. She showed it to the dragon, who tilted its head once more. It deemed the human woman safe, but that didn't mean it was going to let its guard down anytime soon.

It watched as the human walked to the edge of the lake, knelt down and waited, shoving the sharp end of the stick into the water, she pulled it back out with a fish wiggling on the end. The dragon's pupils widened even more, first this human helped set it wing, not it was hunting fish! A soft purr rumbled from its throat at the thought of fresh fish. The human removed the now limp fish from the sharp end and dropped it to the ground in front of the white dragon. The human went back to fishing again and again.

Soon a small pile of fish sat in front of the white dragon as the human disposed of the sharp stick, sitting down on a smooth rock not far away. The white dragon cooed it's thanks once more before digging into its meal, feeling the hunger pains that plagued its stomach fade as the fish filled its empty belly.

Finished with its meal, it turned to look at the human, who was on her feet and heading for the exit. "I have to head back to my home, but I'll come visit you soon,okay?" the dragon warbled softly in agreement before the woman left the cove, heading back to her home.

The dragon walked over to a small cave and curled up, its head resting on its paws as it thought about the events that had transpired. It let a human treat its injuries, a human! The dragon was distrustful of humans after what happened last time it trusted a human. It was nearly killed! Yet this human was different, she showed no signs of wanting to harm the dragon, was kind and very gently. The human even fished for food! But what could the dragon do if the human decided to visit again?

It looked up at the walls of the cove, cooing sadly. It wanted to fly once again. It would, but the wing would take time to heal.

Second chapter done. Enjoying it so far?