Kumav let the tears fall from her eyes as she rushed to the scene. The horse collapse and she continued on foot as quick as she possibly could. Laid against a shield she didn’t recognize and ordering the guards not to fire. A horse ran wild as the guard tried to disobey. Running to her side was Umvi, a wolf she knew well, who eyed her necklace and gave a tail full of joy as she ran alongside her. Running at the dragon and rolling to avoid his fire she continued this process until she could jump onto his back. Doing so, she held his neck and cried.
“Mahal Kita!” She shouted. “Pinagsisisihan!” She repeated. Slamming his tail into her rib cage, she cringed. Roaring and screeching, the dragon spewed fire in the air in anger. In agony, Kumav felt her grip loosen sending her flying in the next hit.
Running to her side Umvi growled and barked at the dragon. Taking a step forward, the dragon bared his teeth. Seeing an opening, Gashvon retrieved his sword and unsheathed it.
“Hindî!” She shouted and forced herself to drag her body on the opposite side of her injury. She had at least two ribs broken but she wasn’t going to lose him. She already lost one companion, she couldn’t lose another, especially to the one she lost.
In desperation, Kumav reached out but let out a cough and clenched her hand into a fist. The pain in her right side wouldn’t let her go on. Instead, Umvi darted at her master, ramming herself him into his arm to release the sword. Spotting them, the dragon unhinged his jaw and sucked in a breath.
“Maligaya!” Kumav yelled. “Mangyaring, hindî.” She said, this time softer and with a hint of pain.
Using her as a distraction, Gashvon grabbed Umvi and rolled away, grabbing his sword in the process. In seeing this Umvi bit down on the hilt and tore it out of his grasp, running towards Kumav in rebellion. Cursing under his breath, Gashvon ran out of distance and held a guard’s shield in place. He could always count on his wolf companion until it came to her. It was always her. She always took that woman’s side and he never understood it. He hissed, if she loved the woman so much why not be her companion instead of his? Eyes lighting up, Gashvon dropped the shield. That was it, she couldn’t tame the dragon, he had to do it.
Looking over at his wolf companion he watched as she nuzzled Kumav in assurance. The short breaths that Kumav took indicated that her injury could be fatal if he didn’t hurry. His heart twisted. He couldn’t lose her. If he did, he wouldn’t know how the dragon would react to him next. Sternly, he made eye contact with the dragon. Forcing down his aggravation and reluctance, he made his steps a rhythm. A rhythm he remembered when he first encountered the dragon.
It was the path she had taken. Although he knew that the feeling between the two would not be the same, he still held her in his heart and that was enough to get the dragon’s attention. Only he could save the dragon now. All the fear he had gone through the first time the two met was gone. The battles that they lead in the war together, even though the two were not directly in contact, held fast in his heart. His gaze was real, the dragon was mesmerizing.
Through her eyes, he could see. He never appreciated the dragon from what it really was. The golden scales gleamed and the dragon’s red eyes were realized to be a red orange. Not that it mattered to him, but it matter to her. The strong connection between the two was remarkable. He could understand why she tried as persistent as she did to defy him when it came to this dragon, because it was her dragon.
Umvi’s rebellion was clear, the wolf knew and that’s why it went to the level of hostility to stop him from interfering the first time and even now, Gashvon smiled. When he found his wolf he knew he’d never live another day without her being at her side. It was abrupt for Kumav at first but she grew to like the wolf fast and the two became good friends, even when he went to the castle after the war.
He didn’t realize how much love and compassion had passed between the dragon and Kumav. Almost as much if not more than what they had given each other except in different ways. Gashvon felt his strength return and all his worries wash away. Standing snout to nose, the dragon looked into Gashvon’s eyes and was reminded of the companionship.
As he remembered the first time, Gashvno didn’t want to see it twice, but then again, it was necessary. Seeing the eyes of the dragon’s locked with his he took a step back, and the dragon followed. Taking a step to the side, the dragon followed. The guards watched in astonishment, Kuva gave a small laugh and held Umvi in comfort, almost completely forgetting about her pain.
Stepping in, Gashvon took his hand to the dragon’s snout and slid it to the side. “Kaibigan.” He said sternly, almost reverting back to his old self. Feeling the fear crawl up in side of him he took the change to close his eyes.
“Maligaya.” He said calmly, the snout of the dragon touched his face. “Kaibigan.” He said again.
He never imagined himself speaking his native tongue to a dragon but Kumav did it so often that he didn’t doubt for a moment that the dragon understood the words and recognized his name.
“Maligaya, Kaibigan.” He said at a rhythmic repeat. Feeling assured, Gashvon opened his eyes again and faced the dragon. Looking back at him were amazed eyes. Gashvon and Maligaya were never close, Gashvon was only close to Kumav and Umvi. Umvi made good friends with the dragon and Kumav got along perfectly with his wolf but he had never attempted to reach out the creature.
Letting out a sigh, Gashvon smiled. “Maligaya?” He asked.
A silent stare looked back at him. “…Kaibigan?” He questioned again.
The dragon’s eyes lit up, giving a nod. Gashvon smiled but was quickly distracted by the cry of pain.
Kumav let out a slow breath and looked at the dragon with a sly grin. Eye’s in alarm the dragon flew to her side with an abrupt rumble of a landing and touched his snout her hand giving a small nod to Umvi. Licking his snout, Umvi ran to her companion who caught her in his arms and set her down. Walking to Kumav, he shouted at the guards to get her medical treatment and for another apple for the horse, then to return it to its owner. In defiance, the horse ran from the guards and joined Gashvon’s side. Smiling, he ran his hand through the horses mane as it trotted next to him.
Kumav held the dragon’s snout, rubbing her face against it and crying tears of job Kissing its snout, the dragon swung its head back, rolling her over. Giving a screech, Gashvon attended Kumav, putting her in a position she could withstand and then tended the dragon.
“Maligaya.” He said with a stern command. The Dragon roared and thrashed. She had to tame him again, Gashvon realized and looked glanced back at her to see if she could make the hold. Raising an eyebrow, he looked down at the paw print necklace around her neck. Looking at Umvi, he narrowed his eyes. In response she gave a delightful bark and then tore it off of Kumav’s neck to hand to him. Still looking at it in surprise, Maligaya clawed the ground to try and step away from Kumav and his new friend. Noticing, Gashvon took a step forward.
The dragon had to be tames. This was the only way. Reaching out with the necklace Gashvon forced himself to avoid the tail swatting and the claw snatching. Reaching the dragon’s neck, Gashvon touched the necklace to the dragon’s chest and hoped that it would be enough to sooth the creature.
Sure enough, the brown marks burned back into place, this time, they burned a black, and then a white, and then back to brown. Taking a step back, Gashvon was greeted with a friendly puff of steam and a tail swat.
Gashvon grinned. “Kaibigan.” He nodded and the dragon nodded too. In the distance, Kumav was being carried with delicate attention into the castle. Before she entered, the dragon touched his snout to her cheek and then faced Gashvon Nudging him, he lowered.
Gashvon looked at the dragon in amusement and fear. He didn’t find a dragon companion for a reason. He didn’t find anything flying for a reason. He wouldn’t have controlled who his companion would have been anyway but this was a challenge far more than he had ever been offered in his life. Gashvon stepped away and the horse nudged him towards the dragon, cheerfully, Umvi barked and he glared. If anyone knew about his fear of heights it was his wolf companion and Kumav. Kumav never forced him to get to know the dragon.
She knew that he was afraid of height and accepted it. Although, she did joke and tell him that the only way to get rid of a fear was face it. Gashvon narrowed his eyes at the dragon, the dragon was practically bowing at his feet. It was an honor to be a rider. But he had no such honor.
Aggravated, Umvi snapped at Gashvon’s pant leg and began to drag him towards the back of the dragon. Gashvon hated heights. That’s why he was more than happy to lead the army on foot not in the skies. Kumav did a fine job in the skies as the only dragon rider with other mythical creatures following in her lead. He did fine with the mortals, horses, wolf, and land creatures.
Ramming her head into his leg, Umvi barked happily and Gashvon held his breath as Maligaya lifted his tail to set him on his back. Being the distance off the ground already made him cringe. Even if he was a dragon rider, he’d at least get a saddle but the only dragon rider he had known of was Kumav and she didn’t believe in safety. If she fell, Maligaya would catch her but she never fell. She was also not afraid of heights. Gashvon hissed. He couldn’t come to believe that Kumav was afraid of anything. She faced a dragon, a war, stood in between his army and him to protect him and defy him, multiple times. She’d do anything as long as it meant putting herself in the line of fire and that’s why he couldn’t be around her anymore.
She was everything he wasn’t. All except a leader. They both were able to lead but when came to battle cries and persuasion he’d fear his army into battle and she would fight alongside them, ready to die for the cause. If the risk was too high, he would retreat. The higher the risk, the more power she had with her army.
As Maligaya lifted off, Gashvon clutched the dragon’s neck. The dragon lifted off slower than it normally did but still felt too fast for Gashvon. Holding tight and squeezing his eyes shut, he felt a snap on his shoulder and he turned to face it, the dragon’s tail returned to the back and he grunted.
He was defiantly not a flyer. Below, Gashvon could see Kumav, the horse, and his wolf. Kumav headed for the medical section of the castle and he wanted to follow but the dragon had other plans. Holding on tight he looked forward.
Looking forward seemed to help him when he rode horses. To his surprise, it also helped as he rode Maligaya. Picking up speed, Gashvon’s eyes widened. He was not ready for any tricks that he saw Kumav and her winged companion did in the past. Taking him past the castle, the dragon took him down to another cave that was far from both the castle and the village. As they came closer to the stop, Gashvon recognized the cave as Maliagya’s first settlement and followed the dragon inside. Once inside the cave, he dragon lead Gashvon down a deep route. Finally, Maligaya stopped and Gashvon came from behind the dragon to see what he was being shown. Gashvon gawked. Before him were thousands an thousands of massive eggs. No one had seen a dragon egg before, until him. Looking up at the dragon, he talked to him in the comfortable tongue that he had used for the past couple of years.
“You left them?” He questioned and the dragon shook his head.
Pointing to another side of the enormous room were different entrances. Gashvon turned to the dragon in amazement.
“You protected them, now you protect us.”
Maligaya nodded and wrapped his tail around Gashvon without warning, setting him back on his back. As the dragon exited the room, Gashvon could hear screeches and roars. Letting out a sigh, he grinned.
“Salamat.” He said laying against the dragon’s neck.
Swiping his tail, the dragon took the skies and this time, Gashvon didn’t fear the flight.
—
Mahal Kita - I love you Pinagsisisihan - I’m sorry Hindî - No Maligaya - Happy
Mangyaring - Please Kaibigan - Friend Salamat - (Shorter) Thanks
(Feel free to correct my Tagalog lol)
<—Prevous Part
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