"Human."
Leonidas's eyes snap wide open, his head whipping around to look directly at the dragon prince above him, his terror momentarily forgotten. The prince's lips have relaxed a little, allowing only the tips of his teeth to show. His eyes are intense, glaring down at the boy with an unreadable gaze. And that voice… there is no mistaking it. The dragon prince spoke.
"Human," the dragon repeats. His voice is not as deep as Leo would have imagined, but rather is more silky, nearly the voice Leo would associate with a handsome human prince with nothing better to do than court ladies. It does not scratch or catch and is rich in tone, definitely fitting of a prince. "You could have killed me." The dragon pauses for a moment in his speech, his eyes flickering over the human's body. He then returns his eyes to Leo's own. He asks, "Why did you not?"
Leo blinks, shocked. He is aware of his mouth, agape, but can do nothing to make it shut. Out of all the things he imagined the dragon doing, this was not it.
"Are you mute?" the prince snaps, leaning forward, his teeth growing ever bigger in Leo's vision. The digits of the dragon's foot curl together, one digging into Leo's skin as he is hauled closer to the beast.
With a squeak, the boy recoils, terror renewed. The hot breath of the dragon smells a good deal like a fireplace. Not at all how he expected, but still very intimidating. For a moment, the human says nothing, scrambling with the fact that the dragon not only can speak but is bothering to speak to him. Eventually, however, it registers with him that annoying the dragon now might lead to the quick removal of his head.
He gulps, swallows once, twice, and manages to croak, "No."
"Then why have you not answered me? Why did you not take the life that was rightfully yours?" He almost sounds irritated with the boy, although Leo can still read nothing in the dragon's eyes.
Leo gulps again, and stutters, "B-because it wasn't mine. It��s y-yours."
Immediately, the dragon tilts his head, very predatory and bird-like in motion. The purple gaze turns from unreadable and severe to curious. "Explain," the dragon orders.
"I-I just… I couldn't take y-your life. It's y-yours. You d-don't belong to me," Leo whispers, hating the way terror makes his voice catch and stutter. His mind is struggling to focus on anything other than the fact that he is still, remarkably, alive.
"But why could you not? What stopped you? You could have killed me. Why did you stay your blade? Surely you knew I would attempt to kill you."
"I j-just couldn't. I'm a c-coward," Leo whispers, staring at the dragon in bewilderment. Why has he not simply killed the human already? Why prolong his death? He is suddenly stuck with the lunacy of the moment. He is having a conversation with a dragon.
The prince is silent for a short moment, scrutinizing the pinned boy, before finally murmuring, "No, human, what you did was not cowardly. A coward would not have bothered to engage. And if he had engaged, he would have run. And a coward would have taken my life when he had the chance, if only to save his own. A coward certainly would not have given up his own life for that of an enemy. Mercy is not cowardice."
The dragon's voice drops off into silence, and for a very long time, the dragon simply stares at the human pinned below his paw. Leo, having no other option, stares back, trying desperately to read the emotion in the beast's eyes. For a moment, there is nothing but the two of them, staring at each other, each trying to understand the other. Eventually, the prince breaks the silence asking once more, "Why did you spare my life?"
This time, Leo pauses, letting his mind wander back to his reasoning in the moment. After much consideration, he finally answers, "I just… y-you were doing what I was. You w-were just trying to protect your country and your family. How could I kill you for that?"
Silence stretches between them, the dragon watching Leo with a contemplative gaze. Then, slowly, the dragon removes his foot, letting the human up.
Leo gasps, a sudden and visceral reaction that comes simply with the release of weight from his chest. With a soft groan, the boy rolls over, pushing himself up on weak arms.
The dragon didn't kill him. Unbelievable. Completely and totally inconceivable.
Realization slams down on Leo, and he catapults to his feet, casting a fearful glance over his shoulder. Just because the prince spared his life this once does not mean he won't strike him down out of annoyance later. If the history books are any judge, dragons are fickle and angry things. However, in that brief glance, Leo catches the prince's eye. Staring at him forlornly, eyes wide and filled with a mixture of surprise and sadness, the dragon simply watches the human scramble away.
At any moment, the beast could open his jaws and incinerate the pest before him. And yet he holds back. "Why?" Leo asks himself, pausing and whirling around so his back is not to the beast. "He had every reason to kill me and he did not. Is it because I spared him? Why not just kill me?"
Softly, the dragon sighs, turning his attention from the human to the trees on which he crashed. Their branches, torn and broken, are trailing the ground, stuck in mud and caked with snow. Instinct has Leo retreating toward the trees behind him, skipping backwards lightly. Every motion and movement the dragon makes creates a sharp tang of fear in Leo's mouth. Every blink and twitch is answered with a surge of adrenaline. The boy backs up slowly, suddenly remembering that his sword was flung away when the dragon struck. Carefully locating the sword in his periphery, the boy pivots toward it, never failing to face the prince.
Bending down carefully, Leo grabs the sword where it fell, and continues to back away.
The prince returns his gaze to Leo, but makes no move to attack. Silently, he simply watches. He does not move, barely even breathes… just observes.
The boy then realizes: The dragon knows that it is going to die. The prince is grounded, unable to fly, and will either be hunted by Leo's compatriots or die of natural causes. Whether those causes be starvation, dehydration, or blood loss, Leo can only guess. Perhaps all of them.
Holding the sword in a trembling hand, Leo croaks, "Why… why didn't you kill me?"
"What right do I have to take the life of the one who spared my own?" the prince replies softly, lowering his head slightly to peer at the human more closely.
Leo pauses for a moment, considering. Then, he feels a pang of extreme guilt… what good does it do to spare a life and leave them to die? Or, worse, to be hunted down, unable to flee -- to watch the enemy approach in utter helplessness, knowing you will be momentarily executed?? The human cannot, in his right mind, leave the dragon to a fate at the hands of his brother.
"I… w-what's your name?" the boy stutters.
At this, the dragon's head tilts to the side, his eyes opening a little farther. Slowly, he replies, "My name is Ausren. I am named after my father's father, a title that means Pathfinder. Who are you?"
"Leonidas…" the human whispers. Then, nearly as an after-thought he adds, "For no particular reason."
"Why have you asked my name, Leonidas?" Ausren questions softly, his voice nearly a purr. He is obviously confused and intrigued.
"I… I can't in my right mind leave you here to die. Or to be butchered. And, I thought, if I'm going to be helping you, I should know your name," Leo replies softly, holding the dragon's gaze with no small amount of effort.
At that, Ausren's head comes up, tilting to the left sharply, not unlike a curious dog. "Help me?" He questions. "There is no need for you to help me."
"Yes, there is," Leo replies firmly, his confidence boosted by the fact that he is holding casual conversation with the dragon. "If I leave you here, you will die."
"So you are going to help me… for no other reason than to save my life?" Ausren murmurs.
"Yes."
Slowly, the dragon lifts his head further, turning it to the side to fix the human with a stare. "You are a very… unorthodox human."
Silently, Leo sheathes the sword on his back and approaches. Despite every nerve in his body, trained over years of hearing horror stories, screaming at him to run, Leo manages a smooth gait. The slush made by Ausren's fire is slick, squishing under the human's boots and threatening to leak through the oiled leather to his feet. "Hopefully I will be able to make this quick, and get back to the fort before night fall," Leo thinks. However, it is only a brief flash of thought, and he quickly turns his attention back to the dragon lying in front of him. Not until the boy is within four feet of the prince's face does he stop. Then, he murmurs, "You're not the only one who thinks that, trust me."
The dragon blinks once, and slowly. Before the prince can respond, Leo ducks around Ausren's head and neck, making his way toward the injured shoulder. The dragon shifts slightly, his head following the boy. The movement startles Leo, whose instinct is to leap away. The human does not get far, however, before he masters himself, barely keeping his footing in the slick snow. "There is nothing to fear," Leo reminds himself. "Not from Ausren. Not anymore."
Returning to Ausren's side, the boy peers at the bolt sticking out from the dragon's skin. Blood is welling from the wound, seeping around the cruel, serrated head. The bleeding needs to be stopped and, for that to happen, the bolt will need to be removed. The weapon struck a muscle in the dragon's shoulder, beneath the junction of Ausren's wing and body, destroying a large amount of tissue.
Laying his hand on Ausren's neck, Leo ducks farther underneath the dragon's injured wing, attempting to get a better look at the wound. Avoiding the wooden shaft and Ausren's wing membrane, the boy manages to wriggle his way back far enough to view the site from another angle. His examination reveals no new evidence. Although big, the bolt's head is sharp, so the puncture is relatively clean. Hypothetically, he should be able to remove the bolt, clean the wound, stop the bleeding, and allow it to heal.
In theory, it should be relatively easy.
Turning away from the wound, Leo ducks back out from under the dragon's wing, steadying himself on Ausren's neck as his foot slips beneath him. It is very weird, being this close to the dragon. It's strange how Ausren allows the human so close to him. For a moment, Leo is captivated by the texture of the scales beneath his touch. They are silky, smooth and cold under his fingers. Only when he runs his hand against the grain do the scales take on a more rigid, sharp texture.
Stepping forward far enough that he can turn to face the dragon once again, Leo looks up. The prince meets his gaze, the massive eye -- nearly three-finger widths wide -- so close that the boy can see each little speck of detail in the iris. It takes every ounce of self control Leo has to keep himself from recoiling once again. The proximity of Ausren's head is frightening… the teeth nearly a knuckle's length long, so incredibly close to his head...
Calmly taking another step away from the dragon to calm his nerves, Leo brushes the blood off his hands. Then, he turns back to Ausren. Speaking softly, he murmurs, "I'm going to need to remove the bolt."
A slow, calculating blink from the prince. Then, "How do you intend to do that, Leonidas? Ripping it out will cause more damage."
Leo returns the dragon's gaze and pulls the long dagger from its sheath on his hip. "I'll use this to tease the muscle away from the serrated head and slowly work the bolt free. Then I'll pack the wound until it stops bleeding. It should, hypothetically, heal on its own after that, if you can keep it clean and rested," the boy replies.
Ausren blinks again, studying the human for a very long time, before saying, "And after you help me?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you intend to do after you help me, Leonidas?" Ausren asks. "Where will you go?"
"Back to the fort you attacked today," Leo replies softly. "I still have a family I need to protect."
"Will they take you?" The prince questions. "After knowing you have helped an enemy?"
"They won't know," the boy mutters. "I'm not going to run back to them and shout from the turrets that I helped the dragon I was sent to kill. I'll make up some sort of cover story." Ducking around the massive, scaled head once again, Leo steps up to the bolt. Holding the gaze of those palm-sized eyes was beginning to get hard.
"You were sent to kill me?" the dragon questions, shifting slightly. "I thought perhaps you volunteered."
"Not exactly. My older brother volunteered me. I didn't want to come, particularly," Leo murmurs, stepping onto the dragon's front leg to get a better angle on the bolt. For a moment, he pauses, realizing that he is not only next to a dragon, but quite literally standing on one… touching one. And the creature is not raging or angry, not irrational or wild but instead quite calm, intelligent, and sensible. He doubts if he bothered to tell anyone about his discovery that they'd take it very well. Dragons have always been enemies. They've always been "evil." The notion that one might be good just might blow up the ground on which the High King of Nayanamh stands. No, if he tells anyone… he'll lose his life… or at least be put away for insanity. "He convinced me that I'd be famous… I'd have all the money I needed and I'd stand by his side, which would be an honor for me amongst my people.
Leo leans his weight on the dragon's thick shoulder. Then he slides the knife down the edge of the broad head, preparing to start the bolt removal process. There is a momentary silence as Ausren cranes his neck around to watch the human. "Your brother was not wrong. Killing me would have brought you much fortune and fame. And if you so wished, resources to provide for your family. Or, quite possibly, the step which the humans needed to bring my own people down and forever end this war."
Leo pauses, the tip of the knife touching Ausren's skin. Then, bowing his head, the human breathes, "I know." and slides the blade into the wound.