Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Fantasy

                Chapter 6

As a few hours passed Zee stopped, giving Shadow and Mist a break. I got out of the carriage stretching my legs. It was clear as it had been but with a few clouds floating by. I took out the book that Zee had given me. I read while he went to the creek with the two horses. 

"Dragons are one of the most ferocious creatures but also the most gentle. They share every element possible with nature which made them quite formidable. The most common Dragons were the Wind Dragons and the most rarest was the Harmony Dragon which was only seen in the most peaceful of places such as fields and forests." Pictures of a Wind Dragon were on the opposite page. It was white like a cloud and had huge beautiful feathered wings like that of a bird. It's eyes were the color of the sky. The rest of the body was scaled. It also had short black main all the way from the head to the tail. The tail though was beautiful it had tiny wings at the end. It had no legs as far as I could tell from the picture. There was no picture of the Harmony Dragon though so I read on.

"Elemental Dragons were wind, fire, water, ice, earth, storm, lightning, lava, spirit, and dark." I finish reading as I try to look for the pictures of the other dragons. The fire dragon and lava dragon looked almost identical. They were both red and had double tails but the fire dragon had a flame at each end while the Lava dragon had mane. They both had scales, and the wings were the same bat looking shape. They had 4 legs and huge claws on each of them. The lava dragon had no mane where the fire dragon did. It  was an orange color that stopped at the neck. Both of their eyes were an amber type color.
The book didn't give much information about them or the rest of the dragons just the type of dragons that were out here in the world and the only pictures they had were of the Wind Dragon, fire dragon, lava dragon and water dragon oddly. 

I look at the water dragon which was on the next page. It was a pretty light aqua color and it's eyes kind of looked like diamonds. It had fur though instead of scales. It had six legs that were kind of short compared to its size and instead of all five toes being at the bottom of its foot its fifth toe was a bit higher on the insides of the feet kind of like a dew claw but the dragon over all was quite elegant and looked soft. It had mane as well that was a little bit darker from the rest of its body and ran from head to tail. It's face also had what looked like a mustache? But was as long as it's body. It was beautiful and by far the most visually appealing dragon. 
I put the book back in my satchel which was getting cramped with all my medicine and other things in it. I didn't want to waste money on a new one though. 

"I see you've been reading by yourself." Zee says unexpectedly from behind the tree I was propped up against.

"Yes the dragon section is interesting though it doesnt doesn't give much details about them other than each one possessed an element." I say disappointed.

"There's a continuation to that book but it was banned. Anyone caught with it is prosecuted on the spot." Zee says with a gruff tone.

"Why is that?" I ask.

"No one knows or remembers. It's been like that for a long time since before I was born." He sounded as though this was a sore subject for him.

"Alright." I say simply not wanting to pry.

"So which dragon is your favorite?" He asks in a happy curious tune.

"The water dragon looks pretty but id of liked to have seen what a spirit and harmony dragon looked like." I say honestly. 

"I see. Water dragons are the most civilized. At least that's what my great granddad used to tell my Pops who told me when i was younger." Zee said this with a smile and sounded amused by my choice. 

"Which one do you like?" I ask in a hurt manor feeling like he was picking on me.

"The Spirit Dragon. A little detail about them; they protect life that lives in the forest and fields.  They create the flowers that we see and fruit that we eat from trees. They're like the forest God. Another thing grandad told pops who passed it down to me. Grandad would swear that he saw one who healed his injured leg he got from a landslide one day when he went hiking in the forest. No one believed him though. I was lucky enough to have met him and hear that story before he died." He says in a grave manor.

"You loved him?" U asked stupidly.

"Yeah. I did kid. Only met him once but he was my best friend for that whole day." He spoke fondly of him and was rather saddened by the memory.

"I'm sorry for bringing such a painful memory up." I apologize to him not fully looking up to see his face. 

Zee bent down and I could see his face still as gruff and stony looking as every as he smiles. 

"One of my best memories I have as a child kid. Don't apologize." He says cheerful as he ruffles my matted hair.

"Ouch!" I blurt.

"You havent been combing your hair again." He scolds and takes out the comb from his back pocket. Before I could run away he grabs my shoulders and starts combing my hair. 

This was the worst torture ever I thought to myself as i bit down each yank and pull of my hair that Zee made.

After about a good twenty minutes Zee was pulling my hair back into a ponytail. 

"There all done. That wasn't so bad was it?" He asked as he looked at my face which was covered in tears. 

"That hurt!" I yell at him

"It wouldn't hurt so much if you would just comb your hair." He argued back.

I huffed at him staring him down in a hurt manor. 

"You'll live kid." He says as he starts to brush the horses with a clunky looking brush. I load ny satchel back into the carriage when I hear a horse galloping towards us from somewhere.

"Zee I hear a horse coming." I tell him but he had heard it too and was looking at the direction we were heading. Not long we saw a brown speckled horse carrying a wagon behind him with two people sitting at the reigns.

"Kid go hide behind that tree and don't make a sound." Zee said in an awfuly tense voice. I grab my satchel and run behind the closest tree which was across from Shadow and Mist who were drinking by the creek.

The people stop at our carriage which Zee was standing by.

"Evening traveler." The two men greet.

"Evening. Anything I can help you with?" Zee says in his usual gruff tone.

"We're traders on our way to Siften village. We were wondering if you knew the way." He asks simply unaffected by Zee's gruff tone.

"I see. Keep going straight about another weeks worth of travel. Stay away from the farm house to your left people aren't very friendly. Shoot you on sight." Zee says though he lied about the farm house but I didn't blame him. I wouldn't want to go back there any time soon. 

"Thank you kindly sir." The man tosses a coin to Zee who gladly accepts and they ride off. 

I come out of hiding once I could no longer see the traders.

"Zee why do I always need to hide?" I ask confused.

"Well for one your hair it'll cause quite a ruckess its not natural and a lot of people are superstitious about anything especially silver or white hair. The colors stand for witchcraft or demon worshipper now a days. Second people won't think twice about kidnapping you and selling you off if I wasn't paying attention for some reason so better for no one to know that I have a child with me especially traders. Thirdly if a fight breaks out I don't want you in the middle of it." He tells me but I felt like he wasn't tell me everything I figured though if he didn't tell me it was to protect me. 

"I see. Thank you for protecting me Zee." I tell him sincerely. 

He just sighs and starts packing up the horses to continue our journey. As I started to get into the carriage something catches my eye in the forest on the other side of the creek. The horses saw it too as they panicked in Zee's grip. 

"Easy guys. Easy." Zee tells them and they did.

The figure seemed to be pacing back and forth but all I could make out was a figure it felt ominous but it didn't feel dangerous. I take off my shoes and feel something rumbling under my feet.

"Zee! Something it coming from infront of us. Either big or a lot of something." I say kind of panicky though I didn't know why. Was it because of the figure's presence? I ask myself but when the earth shook or rumbled like it was right now it was never good.
    
              
               Chapter 6 end