AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stepped out of the side hall and found my ‘host’ standing in the downstairs hall. His arms were folded over his chest and his brow was furrowed in deep thought. He must have moved at some point because he now wore a heavy coat.
“Penny for your thoughts?” I spoke up as I made my way down the stairs.
He started and whipped his head up. His troubled expression changed when a smile appeared on his lips. “Are you ready for a flight?”
My face twisted with apprehension as I reached him. “That depends on how you do it.”
He swept his arm toward the front doors. “Let me show you.”
We stepped outside and the cool morning frost bit my nose. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. The dragon lord frowned. “Is the air bothering you?”
I gave him a sheepish grin. “It’s my wimpy skin. Give me a warm summer’s day and I would be perfectly happy, but those nippy fall mornings leave me a quivering mess.”
He drew off his coat and draped it over my shoulders. It was large enough that the two sides overlapped over the front of me.
I shook my head. “I can’t accept this.”
“You should. I wore it for you,” he countered.
I tried to continue my protest, but he swept me into his arms. His wings burst out of his back and enveloped us in their filmy beauty. I couldn’t help but gape at them as he spread them wide on either side of us.
The lord paused and furrowed his brow before he looked down at me. “I have forgotten to ask if you’re afraid of heights.”
I used one hand to grasp both ends of the coat and another to clutch onto his front. “Only if I’m dropped from them.”
He smiled. “I won’t drop you. I swear it.”
He pumped his wings and leapt into the air. I gasped and clung tighter to him as we left the ground far behind. We sailed up for some one hundred yards before he flew forward. I dared look at the ground and watched it roll away in fast clips of trees and fields.
The western horizon was brightening as we reached the glistening pools he had mentioned. They dotted the landscape like mirrors and reflected the soft clouds that floated overhead. Small patches of trees and marshland bordered their white-sand banks and a mess of small green hills lay to the far southwest. Their backs were against steeper mountains, and I noticed a small dirt road wound its way down through the hills and to the south of the ponds where it disappeared into the trees.
My escort took me in the direction of those hills and I saw something sparkling among the trees that climbed one of those hills. I realized it was the glistening of a waterfall as its waters dropped from a hill and into one of the ponds. The dragon landed us on the white shores of the large pond. A few boulders accented the bank with green moss over their white surfaces. Fish scurried away at our coming and a thick mess of trees surrounded us.
The area around us was completely silent except for the soft drop of the ten-foot-high waterfall some hundred feet away. The gentle scent of the water mixed with the woods to create an aroma of wilderness that thrilled me.
The dragon lord studied me with a curious look. “How do you like it?”
I smiled up at him. “It’s beautiful. The water looks too pretty to touch.”
He chuckled. “Fortunately for us, its beauty doesn’t extend that far. In fact, the pool is quite comfortable for a wade or a swim.”
I nodded. “A wade sounds nice.”
He almost looked disappointed, but hid it gallantly behind a low bow of the waist. “Then shall we?”
I plopped myself by the edge of the pool and removed my shoes. My loose pants happily rolled up to above my calves and in a moment I stood ready for my little stroll through the water.
My companion had done the same, and I couldn’t help but notice that his feet were strangely formed. The toes were a little thinner and longer than they should have been.
He noticed my staring. “My other flaw. I have difficulty forming toes.”
I pointed at his hands. “But not hands?”
He raised one hand and studied the slender fingers. “These were also difficult, but their constant presence and use demanded I learn to shape them. Toes, however, are only made for balance and can be hidden inside boots.”
A very naughty thought slipped into my mind that made me blush. “Is there, um, anything else of you that’s dragon?”
A lecherous grin appeared on his lips. “After last night, I am a little surprised by your question.”
