Leah (II)

Part II of Leah's Story

I was well aware that Jenz cared about me. I didn’t understand it, or really have a clue about how it happened considering the amount of trouble I had been for him, but he cared about me anyway.
I did not know that he cared about me enough to keep me right next to him that night while we all tried to get a few hours sleep. His arm was wrapped around me, his heat keeping the night chill away. I curled up next to him, trying to ignore the aches and pains that riddled all along my body. I also tried to ignore the feeling of his eyes upon me.
Nobody wanted the dragon boy anywhere near our camp, but he had refused to leave. Faye had been about to run him through when he’d reminded them that if he died, then I would die too. Faye looked like that might have given her extra incentive, but one look in Jenz’s direction ended it. The dragon would stay, as far away as possible, but he would stay.
He’d stared at me the entire night. I felt examined and exposed. But I was also strangely defiant. I didn’t want to let him know that he was getting to me.
“You shouldn’t be afraid of me,” Daryl called softly. I stiffened, curling up closer to Jenz. “I won’t hurt you.”
My arm throbbed in a steady reminder. Yeah right he wouldn’t hurt me.
“You interest me,” he continued, “You’re not like the others.” Well that was obvious. The other’s carried themselves with a grace that betrayed just how dangerous they were. They walked with confidence and straight backs, they knew they would be able to take whatever came. I had no such assurances.
And yet I had decided to follow anyway. . .
“Are you never going to speak to me?”
“You’ll wake the others up,” I grumbled into Jenz’s shirt.
“They’re very tired. No we won’t.” A hand brushed my shoulder. I flinched and pulled away, looking up for the first time. He was there, of course. His hand stretched out to help me to my feet. “I can explain if you want,” he said, “I promise we won’t leave beyond the firelight.” curiosity burned in the back of my throat. I knew what Jenz would say. He would kill me for even thinking about leaving the crook of his arm. But he was asleep. . . and. . .
“I won’t explain to anyone else,” Daryl whispered, “It’ll just be a few moments.” I slowly unwound myself from Jenz’s side. It was very cold without him.
“What do you want with me?” I said coldly, trying to keep my expression void. He chuckled and began to walk, not too far, but a little ways away from the campsite. I cautiously followed. Screaming at myself that I was being stupid, but I couldn’t help myself.
I was just so tired of being left out of the loop. I was the weak one, the weak link, the person that wasn’t supposed to be there. I was only a human, and a fool human at that. I was no use to anybody and I was a useless addition to the group.
I’m not being self critical, bagging myself to make me feel better if someone happened to give me a compliment. I’d heard them all say it. I’d heard Faye snarl the worlds at Jenz under her breath, even Pheobe glared at me when she thought Jenz wasn’t looking. It was annoying, being the only one who didn’t belong.
Maybe I was selfish and stupid enough to want something to be about me for a change. It was ridiculous, but there you are. Sometimes you can’t help what you feel, even if you know what you feel is ridiculous.
Daryl turned to me, his coal like eyes winking in the night sky, “You’re a human,” he said softly.
“And here I thought I was a squirrel.”
He smiled, his eyes still sparkling in excitement. “I haven’t seen a human in my entire lifetime. Neither have any of the others. You’re blood. . .your flesh. It’s so weak, so refreshing. I’ve never tasted anything like it. And then you’re will. . . you truly are human. You’re desire to live is so very strong.” I almost laughed. My desire to live? If I’d had one of those I would not have been stupid enough to be here now.
Why was it that no matter what I told myself, I couldn’t regret the decision I’d made to come? Everything was so confusing. My emotions clashed against each other, raging in my stomach. I closed my eyes and breathed in slowly, trying to force myself to stay calm.
“This isn’t a place where humans are normally,” I finally said, “How do you even know what I am?”
“I saw it in your mind.” Great. Just bloody brilliant. I glared at him.
“Stay out of my head,” I growled.
“I can’t. You see, you’ve done something that I’ve only ever heard of being done in legends. You’re will, it’s enslaved me. I’m yours. And you’re mine. If I die, my poison will filter through you and destroy you. And yet. . .” he grinned, “You’ll live as long as I want you to.”
“Why don’t you kill me and get it over with?”
“Because I want you alive for now. I want you here, I want to train with you, to become powerful when I finally get to eat you and consume your strength. Do not fear, I promise it will be painless.”
“Are you kidding me?” I snarled. He was threatening to kill and eat me! “That’s what this is all about? Get away from me,” I turned back to the campsite, my hands in fists. It seemed obvious now. I wasn’t going to be some dragon’s pet before he decided I was better suited for dinner.
“Leah, stop,” Daryl called, grabbing my arm. I tried to jerk away from him, but his grip was solid. I snarled in frustration, I couldn’t even free myself!
“Let go of me,” I hissed.
“Or what?” Daryl snarled back, “What could you possibly do to me? I can see it in your mind. You’re hopeless, completely useless to the group and to their mission. With me, you might actually be of some worth.”
“Shut up,”
“You know it’s true. Just train with me, discover how to use my skills. You won’t slow them down anymore, you won’t be baggage. I’ll babysit you so they won’t have to.”
“Shut UP!” I yelled, finally jerking my arm free. Instantly, the others stirred. Jenz was up and alert in moments, his eyes zeroing in on us, and then he was there. A knife appeared in his hand, as quickly as he had moved across the desert sand. The blade pressed flat against Daryl’s throat, but the dragon boy didn’t even look phased.
“You know she’ll die,” he said softly to Jenz, “If you kill me.”
“Who ever said I was going to kill you?” Jenz whispered back, then sliced the knife across the creature’s collarbone. Daryl hissed in shock, jerking backwards. Black blood oozed out of the wound staining the white shirt he’d been wearing. He swore viciously, his black eyes sparkling in the faint light. Jenz turned to me, his eyes angry. I swallowed and looked away. He opened his mouth but was interrupted.
“Could you guys keep it down?” Caleb asked, his voice irritated, “Some of us would like to sleep for a few hours.” Jenz scowled, then nodded, his face weary. Andof course I felt bad all over again. They hardly ever slept, and when they did it was often uneasy and light. Now not only was I wasting their waking hours, but I was interrupting their sleeping hours as well.
Figures.
“Come on, Lee,” Jenz sighed, “You need to sleep too.” Dang right I needed to sleep. I wasn’t like them, able to go off two and a half hours for days at a time. That was one of the big reasons I only slowed them down. I could try to stay on my feet and keep walking after nearly forty eight hours of travel and little to no food, but eventually I always collapsed, and then we’d have to stop. I hated that. Why couldn’t I be useful?
Was Daryl right? Could I be more useful if I trained with him? No. . . that was stupid. Besides, Jenz would never allow it. His favorite word was ‘no’. He didn’t let me do undangerous things, let alone play with dragons.
“Goodnight Leah,” Daryl whispered, “Think about what I said,” Jenz shot him a look, then glanced down at me. I didn’t look at him, I didn’t want to. He never answered my questions, why should I answer his?
Was it immature, the fact that I was so petty and self centered?
Yes, yes it was. I didn’t care enough at the moment though, I was too tired. I laid down next to the fire, hoping Jenz would lie down next to me. He didn’t, but I wasn’t too surprised. The boy could be a little bipolar.
I turned away from the light of the fire, my face hidden from the group. I was hoping that if my eyes acted up and started leaking unwanted tears that they at least wouldn’t see.
Unfortunately the only direction I could look was directly toward Daryl.
***
“Are you ready to move yet?” Faye asked angrily, I ignored her. That was usually the best policy in regards to Faye. It throughly ticked her off, but since she hated me anyway, I might as well get some revenge by ignoring her. The sun was only barely beginning to crest over the desert horizon, shining brilliantly already. Everyone was packing up camp, scattering the fire and hiding any and all evidence that we had ever been there.
I should have been helping, but the process was hampered by the fact that my feet were bleeding. Heavily. Blast.
The blisters that had been forming over the past few days had finally decided they’d had enough. They’d burst during the night, and a few of them looked infected. How was I going to keep up now? I grit my teeth, forcing myself not to think the swear words that wanted to leak out of me. I wasn’t going to swear.
I mostly didn’t want to swear just because the others did it all the time. If I didn’t swear, then maybe that was one thing I could be better then them at.
The ONLY thing I could be better then them that.
Faye crouched down next to me, her face in a scowl. She inspected the injuries with a practiced eye-how often did she get blisters? The woman was indestructible!- Her eyebrows drew down even further over her eyes. “You are not going to be able to keep up on those,” she sighed, sounding resigned, “Why on Earth did you follow us?” her words were like a slap.
“Doesn’t really matter, since we’re not on Earth, now does it?” I whispered the words. I was a push over, but sometimes I couldn’t help my mouth. She just glared and stood up, turning toward Jenz.
“You’re whore is broken again,” she complained, pointing to me, “You’d better fix it fast or we really will have to leave her.”
Jenz frowned, moving toward us. I felt a moment of panic, I was so tired of feeling weak in front of Jenz. It would be nice, if just once, I was able to do something that would maybe gain back a little respect. But no, my feet had to blister out.
“How long have you had those blisters?” he demanded. I bit my lip.
“I dunno. . .a few days?” I hedged. They’d been there nearly since the first few days, but there was no way I was going to tell him that.
“How long?”
“Can’t I just get a bandage and keep going? I’m fine.” Please, please, let me be fine. We couldn’t be delayed anymore. And no matter how fond of me Jenz was, if it came down to it, he would choose their mission over me. He had no choice.
Not that I even knew what the PURPOSE of the mission was, or what he was supposed to do. But whatever. I breathed slowly through my nose, trying to stay calm and not let the frustration seep out of me. I didn’t need them knowing that I was just as annoyed at my situation as they were. They didn’t need another reason to criticize me.
“We could drag her,” Pheobe suggested. Her light red-brown hair was pulled back in a pony tail, it was shorter then Miriah’s, but still beautiful and well kept. Despite having been traveling for who knew how long.
How did they do that?
All of Jenz’s group looked prim and fresh, despite only having snagged maybe three hours of sleep. I knew I looked like I had spent the past five days traveling in a desert at break neck paces trying to keep up with a bunch of superhumans.
Oh wait. . .
Don’t swear, I silently begged, please don’t swear.
“I can walk,” I said, pushing my feet under me, pain shot through them, I needed my socks. Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, I silently pled with myself, trying to pull the scraps of cloth over the bloody stumps. Ew.
“We need to wrap them Leah,” Jenz said dryly. I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Hold still,” Caleb sighed, bringing over some cloth. I reluctantly held my feet out to him. He dropped to his knees and began bandaging them up quickly. At least he didn’t gloat too much. Maybe they were all just bored, and it was a fun game to play, “pick on Leah”.
“You people still here?” a now familiar irritating voice drifted over to us. I was sure my face was going to get stuck in a scowl like Faye’s. Daryl walked over with a strut. He looked like the others, prim and ready for a long day. He glanced at me and laughed. “What did you do to your feet, girl?”
“Shut up.” those words seemed to be said a lot around here.
“Sure thing,” he laughed, looking at the others.
“Is he really coming with us?” Miriah sighed, “he’s irritating.”
“I have ears,” he pointed out.
“I don’t speak to animals.”
Daryl grinned, his teeth looking rather sharp in the morning light, “Do you scream at them?”
“Enough,” Jenz ordered, “We’ve wasted enough time already.” I tried to hold back a flinch. Don’t take it personally, I ordered myself. I just had to do the best I could. . . even if that wasn’t nearly good enough.
“She can’t walk on those feet,” Daryl remarked. Jenz threw him a look.
“She’s going to have to,” he sighed, “We can’t stop now.” Caleb finished bandaging them up and I slipped my socks over the top. I tried to breath through my nose and keep the grimace off my face when I put my worn sneakers back on and stood. This was a hundred times worse then band camp.
And trust me, that was impressive.
I took a few hesitant steps, feeling the blood squish in my bandages. This was going to be a long day.
“I could carry her,” Daryl said conversationally, “She could ride on my back,”
“Stop talking like I can’t understand you,” I hissed through clenched teeth. Clenched teeth only because if they hadn’t been I would have been crying, “I can walk just fine.”
“Well oh fearless leader? Are you going to let the poor, fragile human break herself trying to prove she’s not a poor, fragile human?” If I’d had a rock, I would have chucked it at the dragon boy.
“Leah. . .” Jenz sighed, shaking his head. Why didn’t that boy ever get jealous? He was a man of practicality I guessed. He’d probably let someone take full advantage of me if there was a good enough reason for it. His rules were a little different then mine. Curse him.
“Course, I wouldn’t be carrying her on the ground,” Daryl grinned. Jenz’s eyes widened, but I looked up.
“Do you mean. . .flying?” I asked, trying to keep the sudden interest out of my voice. Daryl grinned at me.
“No,” Jenz said instantly.
“I wanna fly,” Miriah said absently.
“It’s really not that much fun,” Pheobe told her.
“No,” Jenz repeated, “There is no way,”
“Why not Jenz? It can’t hurt,” Faye said looking up at the clear sky, “It would get her out of our hair for a while.” I decided to ignore that comment. Flying on the back of a dragon?! Part of me wanted to be strong and prove that I could go on just like all of them, but the more realistic part (yes, I do have one, I just don’t listen to it often) knew that I wouldn’t last an hour, let alone twenty. I needed a break and I might as well fly on the back of a freaking Dragon while I did it!
“Please Jenz?” I tried to not beg, but that’s probably what I was doing, “I don’t want to slow you guys down anymore.”
“You’ll fall,” he said simply, looking directly at me. I opened my mouth to deny it, then closed it. With my luck, I probably would.
“I’m not going to let her fall,” Daryl said in annoyance, “Have some faith.”
“In you? Why should I?” Jenz frowned, I knew he was warring with the risks of me falling vs. the risks of me slowing them down. And the fact that I might actually have fun while being on the back of a dragon. He was always anti-me doing anything enjoyable. He thought it would make me think that his world wasn’t horrible.
And there were horrible things about it, but as far as I was concerned, his world totally rocked mine.
“There’s no other choice,” Zack suddenly spoke up. His black hair was ruffled, and it still looked fantastic. He pulled his pack over one shoulder, stretching lazily, “Sorry mate, but that’s just the way it is. Let her do something entertaining for a change.” Yay Zack!
Jenz obviously didn’t like it, but like the other’s had already said, there was no other choice. Daryl walked over to me and gripped my elbow. I scowled at him, but he ignored me.
“Hold on tight girlie.” he whispered in my ear. I tried to jerk free, but he took off running.
PAIN!
My feet! They moved without me fully realizing what I was doing. Daryl was running so fast I couldn’t help but try to keep up. I was sure my feet were about to fly off and be left in the desert dust when he jumped into the air.
I felt a surge of muscles in the hand gripping my forearm. I was thrown up into the air, his hand releasing me as I soared above him. For a moment I was horror struck, feeling my stomach flapping around my ears, and then I landed.
On the back of a great big black and red beast.
Daryl had transformed in less then a second, I was seated on his neck, resting between the neck and the shoulder ridge that was a dragon’s only real vulnerable point. I noticed there was a faint reddish mark along his chest, and I had to smile. Dragon’s may heal fast, but Jenz had still left a mark.
Now that I was actually up in the air, my pained feet were forgotten as I felt a momentary feeling of utter panic when I looked below me and saw just how high we already were.
“Oh crap,” I whispered, “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.” We were high. Really, really high.
Enjoying yourself?
“Stay out of my head!” I yelled, but my words were whipped away in the wind. A low rumble spread through his neck vibrating my entire body. I glared when I realized he was laughing at me. It was going to be a long day.
His body jerked and pulsed with powerful muscles as his strong wings beat the air, pushing us onward. I felt like that at any moment I was going to fly off, unseated by an unsteady current. But after a while I felt more secure. It even felt natural.
Way below us, on the desert floor, the others were running. Really running. It was only then that I realized just how much they had been forced to hold back when I’d been with them. “How fast are they going?” I whispered.
At least forty five miles per hour, Daryl responded in my head. I swallowed. The fastest I could run was nine, maybe ten. And then only for a short distance. I leaned my head against Daryl’s neck, feeling the rough scales against my forehead. My feet were buzzing, revealing in the fact that they weren’t being forced to hold my weight. Daryl didn’t say anything as I cried. I didn’t care if he thought I was weak, he was a random dragon that was hoping to eat me by the time this was over. I almost expected him to try and comfort me, but then I realized that in the few hours that I had known him, he had never lied to me.
Trying to comfort me by saying I wasn’t as useless as I felt would be a lie.