Danylene's Flight

     

Danylene’s Flight

         Danylene looked frustrated and upset as she yelled at Tom, “Don’t change the subject, Tom! I'm going with you whether you like it or not!”

         Tom visibly shuddered and spoke with great sadness, “Honey, I love you so much, but what you want to do is dangerous. It's not going to be a walk in the park. We will be dodging bullets, and I don’t want to take the love of my life into that hell hole. It’s bad enough I risk losing you to the enemy over running us every day, but to deliberately take you into the battle field . . ..”

         Danylene stood up, determination burning in her eyes as she clenched her fists and cried, "Tom, my love, you can't stop me. It's time I joined the war!"

         Tom, looking down at the ground, with his head held in submission, softly spoke, ”Oh, honey, we've been saving you as our last defense; to expose you now, we lose our advantage, and possibly your life as well.”

         Danylene easing up on her rage, looked at Tom with love in her eyes and slowly spoke in a controlled voice, "Tom, there are only five of us left. We're down to our last defense. It's time we either use me or surrender to those murdering bastards and accept defeat."

         Tom looked up and his eyes glittered with love. A slow smile lit his face as he quietly asked, “Will you allow me to fly with you? So if you go down I will go with you. That I may join you in death.”

         Danylene's face lit up and a smile showed as her anger abated. Lovingly, she said, "I'd be honored to have you with me, Tom, my dearest love."

         They both kept quiet as they hiked up to the staging area of the last battle field.  Tom was carrying a large saddle with him as they walked. She had to help him carry it up several steep parts of the worn trail. When they arrived at the staging area, Danylene looked over the protecting wall out into the maze of trenches that so many had fought in and died. A bullet bounced off the wall close to where her head was looking.

         This reminded her that the war and the hatred had to stop. It was time she became her true self. Danylene changed from her human form into her birth form—that of a very large red dragon. After her change she knelt down to help Tom put on her saddle. She waited while he climbed up into the saddle. Once he had strapped himself in, it didn’t matter how she twisted or turned he would be safely held in place on her back.

         Gently he rubbed her scales letting her know he was ready. She backed up to the edge of the trail, with a short run, and a big jump she took off. Shots rang out as she flapped her giant red wings. She shot forward out over a large park with trees bushes and deep trenches had been dug. It split a once large city in half. One half was the dreaded enemies' side. The other half was what what remains of their last bastion of hope for their side.

         Dodging bullets she continued gaining altitude until she had enough height in the air to circle around the battle field, out of gunshot range. She continued pumped her large wings hard and gathered speed. She studied the field and trenches below. She looked at the size of the battle area and felt her fire sac and flame glands react to her demand of fire. She felt she had enough to cover the whole field.

         She hoped the winds would continue to hold out. She gathered up more speed. She pointed down for Tom to hang on.Then she dived down in a long strafing run using a spiral she sprayed the whole battle field in dragon fire. She kept flying low trying to draw fire, but nothing moved and no shots were fired. The air had that distinct smell of cooked meat that red dragons loved to eat. Her enemies had once been friends. She loathed the thought of food right now she was not about to eat them no matter how much she hated them.

         The war started because people learned that dragons were returning. They thought that real dragons ate people and virgins. The people formed two groups those who were dragons and their friends and those who feared dragons and were afraid of being eaten. They started fighting among themselves until now only these two cities remained inside a radiation proof dome. It was also bullet proof so the war could continue.

         It was strange that the last few survivors of the war came together and built this double city with a park like battle ground so they could continue the fight. Danylene still shakes her head at such hatred. She still has a hard time thinking humans were that stupid to believe that dragons who lived as humans were cannibals. She had a hard enough time eating meat from food animals. Why in this world would she want to eat people? She knew if she felt this way then all the other dragons had felt the same.

         The thermals in the dome finally allowed her to land back in the staging area. They continued waiting for the fire to die down. That was the blessing and the curse of dragon fire. It burns long and deep and is not easy to put out. Once the ground cooled enough they could search the field. They found two fried crispy bodies. When they explored the enemy city no one was found alive there. Her side had finally won the war. When the remaining five people looked over the cost of the war, there used to be over two billion people. Now the winners were reduced to five. Their last hope of survival was Danylene's clutch of twenty-seven dragon eggs.


Word count: 755