Chereads / Through Fear and Darkness in the Highlands / Chapter 7 - A Night in the Forest

Chapter 7 - A Night in the Forest

"Night is not something to endure until dawn. It is an element like wind or fire. Darkness is its own kingdom; it moves to its own laws, and many living things dwell in it"

-Imperium Genesis Vol. 3 – On Fauna.

The young priestess kept weeping loudly against the shoulder of the estrange creature for a few more minutes until she ran out of tears, unable to stop on her own. This night has been a traumatic mess of so many raw emotions that she was sure she would remember for the rest of her life. However, she was well aware that her life could very well end that same night if she was not careful.

Nina took a deep breath to try to recover at least some of her composure. The young girl felt overwhelmed by a sudden burst of a mixture of so many emotions: she felt pity and sadness for the poor villagers that were killed by the raiders; profound grief for her mentor and friend that sacrificed himself to gave her time to escape; anger and helplessness towards the northmen for their crimes; shame at herself for the indignity she almost went through; and immense relief for being saved from a horrible fate in the nick of the time, and that at least some of the evildoers received comeuppance.

It was just at this point after she calmed down that she could snap back to reality. The young teenage girl took another deep breath and retracted her arms a little bit to take a better look at her savior. Nina slowly raised her head to meet the creature that was still awkwardly holding her in his arms, expecting to meet his face, only to find a prominent muzzle with big and scary-looking fangs protruding from the sides of his mouth.

-"Are you okay?" the creature asked in a concerned tone.

-"I am! Thanks to you!" the poor girl replied out loud after a few seconds of hesitation, still taken aback by the creature's question or the very fact that it could talk at all. Let alone the same language.

-"You can let go of me now" the creature reminded her.

-"Yeah, sorry!" the young replied, feeling a bit embarrassed.

The creature took both of her hands then gently pulled her onto her feet. He noticed the girl was still reluctant to let go but did so to quickly try to cover herself with what was left of her clothes that had been torn to shreds by the northmen that attempted to rape her.

Nina used her torn shirt underneath to wipe her hands and face clean, which were now a mess soaked with tears, sweat, blood, and small pieces of flesh and bone from the previous ordeal. She tied what was left of her clothes and buttoned up her leather cloak that luckily was undamaged. The young girl wished however that she had clean water at hand to wash herself completely clean.

It was now that she was somewhat clean and it has calmed down a bit that the young priestess could see in detail exactly what her savior was. She stood right in front of him, perplexed and in awe. The girl couldn't help but stare at his muscular body; even though the dragon looked just like an athletic young boy, he somehow possessed an unnatural amount of strength and speed; that was capable of shattering bones and dent through plate armor with nothing but the sheer force of his hands and feet.

Although it was difficult to see in the dark, the creature's green skin immediately drew her attention. Nina took a look at the dragon's face for the first time, and besides the long muzzle and fearsome fangs that she noticed previously, the girl was able to see his large triangularly-shaped eyes glowing in the dark with a yellowish gleam, staring at her with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

Looking at it in detail, the girl could see that the dragon's head had no hair whatsoever. It had what she thought was a crest of quills instead that ran towards the back of his head. It set him apart from anything she knew or read about; it was not a monster, nor a beast, and certainly not a man. Was this thing some kind of hybrid between dragon and man? A chimera, as they call it, from the old myths?

The creature reached out at her since she has been staring at him in complete silence for more than a full minute. She watched the beast extending one of its arms towards her, which had a robust build. One of his hands was clenched into a large fist while the other waved gently in front of her. Looking down, Nina could see his long and muscular legs that ended in rather large feet with sharp claws in place of toes that she recognized immediately from the tracks that left back in the village.

The poor girl was still trying to assimilate what has transpired just minutes ago. She remembered having read the stories of Imperial Knights fighting against countless tribes of dragons that resembled men in faraway lands during the First Conquests. Savage beasts from times past that walked the old world in two feet and wielded primitive weapons. Nina always thought that those fables and folk tales belonged to the realm of fantasy; the kind that people tell their children to impress them so they don't misbehave.

-"You should leave, there is a town not too far from here, you can go there, they don't seem bad" the creature spoke, waking her from her trance.

Time to snap back to reality.

Nina shacked her head side to side. She just came from that very town and now the dragon was telling her to go back? Perhaps he didn't know that the town has been razed and the townspeople killed.

-"I can't go back! They killed everyone there!" Nina replied.

-"What do you mean with 'they'?" the dragon asked back.

-"The northmen! There are many more out there! I'm not sure how many!" the poor girl replied in distress.

-"We have to keep moving, they are still looking for me!" the girl pleaded.

-"W-what do you mean 'WE'? I don't know you!" the beast brutally replied.

The creature's reply visibly hurt her, but he was in the right. The dragon has just killed three of the northmen on her behalf and saved her life already. Nina was extremely grateful for that, but after her recent encounter with the raiders, she was now incredibly hesitant of continuing on her own. Perhaps she could ask or beg at him and persuade the creature to help her out. Wouldn't it be too much? She thought. But what options did she have at this point anyway?

-"Please! I need your help! They are after me! Those people are still looking for me and if they caught me they will…"

Nina stopped herself right before she could finish the sentence. The girl shed a tear at just the thought of what those raiders almost did to her. She silently thanked the Gods once again for how lucky she has been to get away alive and with her purity still intact.

-"I thought those men were looking for me. Why would they be after a little girl?" the creature asked.

Apparently, the dragon is; or at least he thinks he is, wanted for something. She went through all the possibilities in her head. After taking another look at his feet again, Nina recognized the creature's footprints from earlier in the morning, there was no doubt about it; this creature was the one behind the theft of the food back in the town.

The dragon just looked intensely at her as if contemplating a deep abysm for a short moment. He then leaned closer towards her, which frightened the poor girl to no end. The beast then began to sniff up and down at different areas of her body as if something was wrong with her.

-"You are a girl, right?" the dragon asked again, incredulously.

-"Excuse me?!" the young teenager replied, feeling deeply insulted and at the same time, completely dumbfounded.

-"You don't smell like a girl" the creature commented after another quick sniff at her.

-"You smell like pee" he added.

At any other time that would be it. Any trace of fear, sadness, and uncertainty left on the poor girl vanished almost instantly, leaving only righteous indignation behind. The young priestess was, however, very well aware of her savior's unnatural strength and her own predicament. She thought it wise to remain on his good graces otherwise than face his wrath. If the unfortunate girl wasn't in such a dire position, she would have put the impertinent creature in its place and remind him of his own case of very bad smell.

And to add salt to the injury, the creature was actually right again. Nina was deeply ashamed to admit it but she couldn't help herself and inadvertently wet her pants when she was caught by one of the raiders back in the village. The young girl mentally chastised herself for it and had to give props to the creature and his keen sense of smell.

The young priestess took yet another deep breath to calm herself down from her sudden mental outburst before speaking again. But what was with the dragon that was distracting her from her bigger problems? "Perhaps is not that bad to be angry" she thought.

-"I am a girl, even if I don't smell like one right now" Nina replied.

-"Why are they after you?" the creature asked.

-"I don't know! They just appeared out of nowhere! They killed everyone and burned the village! I thought they wanted to kill me but after they finally caught me they tried to... they tried to..." the girl found herself unable to finish the sentence again, she felt agitated and her eyes began to tear up again at the mere thought of the northmen. She fought back the tears and tried to remain as collected as possible.

-"I hate when people do that" the creature remarked angrily.

-"You do?" the girl dared to ask. The creature didn't reply but gave her a look that she interpreted as disgust. Nina found it very difficult to read the dragon's face since he didn't have any noticeable facial features like eyebrows or even lips.

-"You're not going to hurt me, won't you?" Nina asked fearfully but wanted to hear again his response, just to be sure.

-"I told you I wouldn't! I'm not evil!" the dragon lashed out angrily.

-"Do you really mean that?" the unsure priestess asked again.

-"I do" the beast replied sincerely.

-"Will you… will you help me then? I don't have anything with me but if you help me, I can pay you back with anything you want!" Nina pleaded once again.

The creature looked troubled, undecided. It was as if part of him didn't want to get involved in someone else's problems. But also at the same time, the other part didn't want to leave this frightened little girl all alone in the forest, and completely at the mercy of the northmen.

Meanwhile, in the creature's mind, a very unfamiliar feeling of concern triggered memories from not too long ago that played over and over in his mind. The young dragon boy has seen firsthand what the evil in the hearts of men could do; making them capable of acts of immeasurable cruelty towards their own kind that he has been powerless to stop back then and has been forced to watch, helplessly, from beginning to end. It has happened to countless others before her and could very well happen to this very little girl that was pleading for his help right now.

Unlike the last time, however, he was no longer powerless, and there was no way in hell that he would let that happen. Not again.

-"Fine! I will help you, 'pee girl', but only if you give me food!" the young dragon replied harshly.

-"I-I can get you the food... will you help me?" Nina pleaded again.

-"Nice food like the other day?" the creature asked back with no small amount of curiosity.

-"Yeah! Like the other day! Do we have a deal then?" the young girl countered, trying her best to look calm but desperately wanting to hear a positive confirmation.

The dragon contemplated his response for a moment, making Nina feeling all the more desperate to hear it. The creature has just made up his mind; he was very wary of the trouble that would come with it but decided to help the poor girl anyway. In fact, he had decided to help her the very moment he saw her being chased by the northmen. But he didn't want to get out of this empty-handed, so he came up with this negotiation thing as he had heard the village people call it. "I give you this and you give me that, very simple" he thought.

-"We have a deal, pee girl" the beast replied eagerly.

Nina left out a sigh of relief and her heart was filled with hope once again. The dragon then took a mouthful full of saliva and spat on his oversized hand that he then extended towards her in a very strange sign of goodwill, much to her utter horror and disgust. Where in oblivion did he learn that?

-"A spit shake means you never break your word" the dragon told the very confused girl.

-"This is how they do it in the village" the creature explained in a calm tone.

"Of course, the highlanders and their strange ways" she thought. Not wanting to upset her savior and newest ally, the girl extended her hand with a bit of hesitation but shook the creature's hand firmly. Her own petite hand felt incredibly awkward against the dragon's giant and slimy grip. Since she was wearing leather gloves she didn't pay too much attention to it, but certainly, the girl never felt gladder of wearing said gloves.

-"Thank you! Thank you so much! Now what should we do?" the young girl replied sincerely and asked the creature their next course of action.

-"We'll wait until dawn. There is a hidden place near the cliff, nobody will find you there" the dragon replied, signaling with one of his hands the direction of the spot he was talking about.

-"Okay, lead the way" Nina replied.

-"Follow me" the beast commanded and began to jog at a fast pace.

The girl quickly followed suit. The creature navigated through the dark and dense forest with surprising agility. Even though it was a full moon the visibility was poor, as most of the moonlight could not pass the dense clouds, the thick forest threes, and make its way down. Nina struggled but could still see him; the dragon was running slow enough for her to follow. She tripped a couple of times due to the darkness, but he waited for her to catch up each time. Judging by the way the creature was gracefully leaping through the difficult terrain, she thought he must have had some sort of natural night vision, as some animals are known to have.

The young teenage girl was no slouch either; she was in very good shape. Constant hiking through the years gave her a shapely figure and enough stamina to make a long trek with ease. She was able to outrun her pursuers for a while until fatigue took its toll, but now adrenaline was giving her body enough strength and energy to carry on. Even though the night was young, she knew they would probably have to stop to rest at some point. The odd pair was making a few good miles already surprisingly fast and Nina wanted to make the distance between her and her pursuers as great as possible before dawn.

They reached a part with a very steep wall of mountain granite of at least several dozen feet tall at the edge of the mountains which the dragon jumped without much difficulty, leaving Nina dumbfounded in awe at the breathtaking physical prowess of the creature. But that being said, how in the world was she supposed to climb that?

The dragon descended back where Nina was left standing after watching her unable to climb the almost vertical wall, so he offered his back for her to climb to. The girl sat hesitantly over the creature's muscular tail and has just fastened her arms around him when the beast took off violently, taking the poor girl completely by surprise. The pair made it back to the ledge the dragon had previously jumped from in a single powerful leap.

The ledge they landed upon was actually a gigantic rift on the face of the mountain that offered a small amount of protection from the elements. The mountain itself extended a few hundred feet above them before disappearing inside the clouds. Apparently, the dragon has made its resting place inside one of the cracks that was wide enough for him to fit with relative comfort. The place was covered by a filthy and smelly piece of cloth that only the Gods know how many times was used to sleep on and several bones that belonged to many small animals.

The sight and smell of the place gave poor Nina the creeps. "So the dragon rests and feeds in this place" she thought. One good thing, however, was that she was able to see the woods above the threes. The clouds let through enough moonlight to see the forest extending miles away.

But the girl's heart sank in uneasiness when she saw clearly many blinking lights moving slowly through the trees. Nina could count at least a dozen lights moving. She immediately knew that those were the northmen and those lights their torches, that were still looking for her. Now that the girl was in the somewhat hidden and secure place, she could think more calmly.

The group that attacked her and Verkan in the hallways, back in the village was of four northmen. The other group that chased her through the forest and that the dragon fought against was also of four northmen. If each light meant a group of four, then there were at least forty-eight. That is without counting the four that her mentor killed, and the four that faced the creature, and maybe some others.

This isn't an ordinary raid. Something is wrong. Very wrong.

For the first time since all this started, the girl finally began to fully comprehend the magnitude of what was happening. On one hand, Nina was glad that she met the dragon and found a place to hide; but on the other hand, she was completely at a loss on what she should do next. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't hide forever.

-"Stay here" the creature spoke, interrupting her thoughts.

-"I'll get something to eat" the dragon told her in a soft tone and jumped down the cliff, much to the young girl's dismay.

-"Please don't leave me alone!" the priestess pleaded in vain. The dragon was gone before she could speak.

The girl approached the edge of the cliff and looked down but didn't see anything; the beast had disappeared into the forest. Nina felt a little dizzy from the height alone; she looked down again taking special care not to fall headfirst on the abysm. Looking from where the girl was, the fall looked much more deeper than when she looked up from below. And to think that the dragon jumped it like it was nothing.

Maybe it was the fact that the northmen were looking for her, or because she had no other choice but to put her trust in the creature because of it, but Nina hated the idea of being left alone. There was a tiny amount of hope on her heart that the poor girl was clinging onto to avoid falling prey to despair. The image of her close encounter with the raiders was still fresh on her mind and she allowed herself to cry in silence once again.

Nina mentally chastised herself for her weakness; her mentor and the stupid dragon for leaving her alone. She cursed the raiders for their unspeakable cruelty and the Clan warriors for not being there where they were needed the most. She knew she was being childish but she couldn't help it. The girl was feeling righteous anger for the first time in her life. The cold and rational part of her mind was telling her that this was way better and more productive than helplessness and despair. This way she could think with a cool head later on.

She was going to need it.

-"I'm back!" the creature spoke suddenly, landing in front of her out of nowhere and startling the poor girl to no end. Nina stopped crying almost immediately after, wiping the tears off with her sleeves.

-"Please don't leave me alone again!" Nina lashed out visibly angry. Even though the dragon was away just for a few minutes, she didn't want to be left alone like that again. Even if the beast was a complete stranger, it was the only company she had left.

-"I just went for some food!" the creature replied, showing her a pair of rather large vermin he had found.

-"I'm not hungry!" the girl countered, although she was immediately betrayed by the growling sound of her stomach. You picked the worse night to dine lightly, Nina she mentally chastised herself.

-"But I am!" the dragon replied defensively.

-"Sorry" the priestess apologized, lowering her head. It wasn't in her best interests to start a fight with the dragon that had just saved her, especially not over something as silly as the food. Nina felt bad for getting angry with the creature that probably only meant well.

The beast didn't reply. He just gave the young girl a confused look before sitting right next to her. The dragon then handed her one of the dead vermin that he had just obtained that Nina accepted hesitantly. The creature was inspecting his share and began sniffing at it when Nina interrupted.

For such a fearsome beast, he seemed to have a soft side.

-"Thank you" the girl thanked the dragon for the unusual gift.

The creature didn't reply again, it was as if he was completely unaware of what he should say or do. Simple everyday things like saying thanks or sorry or even basic manners. Perhaps it was one of the few times that he actually had the chance to interact with people. That wouldn't be surprising since there were no other dragons like him and he probably had to live constantly hiding from people.

-"You are not the kind of dragon that eats people, right?" the young girl asked in part jokingly and in part really wanting to make it sure once and for all.

-"No! People's flesh tastes horrible, pee girl" the creature replied what the young girl interpreted and dearly hoped was just a joke.

-"Err… that's good to know!" Nina replied nervously, half relieved and half horrified. The dragon just nodded in response.

-"And could you please stop calling me pee girl?" the girl asked in a soft tone, as nicely as she could after gathering some courage to speak up.

-"But you smell like pee" the dragon replied, matter of factly.

-"I know! I just… I couldn't help it, ok?!" the priestess replied still a bit embarrassed.

-"How you want me to call you then?" the dragon asked.

-"By my name of course!" Nina replied, slightly irritated.

-"Well, I don't know your name, pee girl!" the dragon countered.

It was only at this point that Nina recalled none of them has introduced themselves yet. The young teenage girl felt a little dumb for demanding being called by her name. But this was a step forward she thought. If they were going to trust each other, it would be nice if they at least know each other names.

Right?

-"Oh, sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Nina, Nina Valdir! Nice to meet you!" the young girl introduced herself to her new ally.

-"Well, nice to meet you too, Ninaninavaldir" the creature replied sincerely, much to the girl's annoyance.

-"It's Nina, just Nina, Valdir is my family name" the girl explained to the dragon.

-"Alright then Nina" the creature replied, finally learning her name correctly, although Nina was not amused.

-"You're supposed to tell me your name too" the priestess told the dragon that apparently had no idea about what he should say.

-"My name? I don't have a name!" the dragon replied honestly.

-"You really don't have a name? How did your parents call you then?" the girl asked surprised.

-"What is a parents?" the beast asked back, looking at her confused.

-"Your mother or father" Nina explained. But after the dragon looked even more confused, she had to explain further.

-"Your mom or dad. You really don't know?" the girl asked again, incredulously.

-"Oooh, that! I never have any of those either" the creature replied.

Nina immediately felt sorry for the poor thing, even though the dragon apparently didn't seem to care. He was probably so used to being alone that it didn't bother him and most probably wouldn't want to be pitied.

-"I see, how did you learn to talk then?" the girl asked curiously. He has to have learned somewhere.

-"The False Gods taught me how to talk" the beast replied calmly as if what he just said was nothing important.

The young priestess paused for a moment to carefully analyze what exactly the dragon meant by that. What the creature said was not only an affront to her faith, it was outright heresy. But Nina had to remember that she was not exactly in the best position to call him out.

Nina herself was guilty of what could be considered "heresy". It was her father who indulged her from an early age with all those forbidden books and that her mentor turned a blind eye to. She would let it pass as the dragon just being ignorant, and the fact that he was referring to something belonging to a fantasy book.

-"Err... right! How did people call you then?" the girl asked again.

-"They called me 'dog' but I hate it! Don't call me that!" the beast lashed out angrily.

-"I won't, I promise!" Nina replied a bit frightened.

-"Good! You're not mean" the creature replied in a friendly tone.

-"I have to come up with a name for you" the young girl told him in a friendly manner. Although they both barely knew each other, Nina felt she could trust the creature.

-"That can wait! Now is time to eat! I'm starving! I got these rabbits, you want some?" the dragon spoke in an excited tone. It was obvious to Nina that he was hungry.

The girl took a look at the furry dead vermin in her hands that was obviously not a rabbit, but felt it wouldn't be nice of her to try to correct the creature. She was also hungry and in need to replenish her energies. Nina looked at her surroundings to see if there was something to lit a fire and cook their dinner.

-"Yeah! I've heard rabbit meat is deli-" but to the poor girl's horror, she was interrupted mid-sentence when the dragon tore off a large chunk out of the dead rodent with his fangs.

The creature introduced his large hand inside the animal's carcass and ripped the guts off with amazing ease. Nina watched him swallow one of the many internal organs he ripped off and then extended his arm full of gore towards her, offering the rest.

-"Take all you want" the dragon offered.

The sight of the gory mess was too much for the young girl to handle that immediately turned away and began to throw up what little contents her stomach had, much to the creature's concern.

-"Are you okay?!" the dragon asked concerned.

-"Yeah, I'm just not hungry anymore" Nina replied, wiping the vomit from her mouth with her gloves.

Nina watched the dragon feed from the corner of her eye, unable to look at the gory spectacle as the dragon ate the carcass completely clean, dropping the bones and the parts that didn't like down the cliff. The girl could only sit there next to him, looking away and hugging her legs in front of her.

The girl put aside the remaining rodent, she knew she would need to eat it by the morning to get enough energy to continue but wanted to cook it properly and show the creature how it's done, since that judging by the way he devoured the vermin probably was completely clueless on how to cook.

But Nina's share of surprises didn't end with that, much to her dismay. Soon after finishing his gory meal, the creature crossed his arms and leaned against her, frightening the poor girl to no end.

-"W-wa-wa-what are you doing?" the scared girl asked, stuttering.

-"Sharing" the dragon replied nonchalantly.

-"Sh-sh-sharing what?" Nina asked again, trying in vain to distance herself away from him.

-"Heat, we used to pack together in the mines to share heat" the beast clarified.

-"The mines? What mines?" the young girl asked confused.

-"In the Badlands, that's way down under here" the dragon replied while signaling downwards with his thumb.

-"That's Imperial domain. Are you a slave?" Nina asked surprised.

-"Not anymore! I killed all the slavers so I'm free now!" the dragon lashed out angrily.

-"But that doesn't make you free! It just makes you a runaway slave!" the girl tried to explain.

-"Any problem with that?" the creature replied.

Nina paused for a moment; the girl realized she was making the dragon unnecessarily angry. It was obvious that the subject was of a very sensitive nature for the creature so she thought it would be better to deescalate things a bit.

-"No, not at all, but other people might" she tried to explain again.

-"I don't care! I won't be a slave again!" the beast replied bitterly. Nina only nodded her head in approval.

-"And you Nina? You don't look like any of the town people" it was now the creature's turn to ask.

-"I'm not from the town, I'm a priestess" the young girl replied.

-"A priest-ess? And what's that?" the dragon asked intrigued.

-"A priestess is someone who helps people and prays for them" Nina explained calmly.

-"Pray? That sounds like a priest" the creature replied.

-"Exactly! A Priestess is a way to say a Priest but that is a girl" the girl replied smiling.

Her response made the dragon stop leaning against her and sit upright. He slowly turned to face her which frightened the girl quite a bit. Nina could feel her heart skip a beat. She didn't know what exactly pissed him off but she knew she was in trouble.

-"You said you helped people" the creature spoke in a calmed tone but with a menacing look.

-"That's what priests do, we help people" Nina replied, fighting hard to keep her composure in front of such a frightening creature.

-"Not the one at the mines! I hate him! I hate priests!" the dragon lashed out angrily.

-"Why?" Nina asked on the verge of tears.

-"Because he did nothing to stop the slavers! He kept saying that we should just accept our fate!" the beast replied harshly.

-"That's terrible!" the girl replied, empathizing with the creature.

-"But the False Gods gave me a vision! I saw the truth and then I could see through their lies!" the dragon explained.

-"I proved the priest wrong! He said it was the will of the Gods but now I do what I want!" he continued.

-"Why would the Gods speak to a lowly slave? What did they show you then?" the young girl asked.

-"They showed me how to tell apart machine from magic!" the dragon responded.

-"And you can?" Nina asked again, incredulously.

-"I can! I won't believe their lies again! Now nobody orders me around anymore, not even the Gods!" the creature replied loudly.

-"That's unbelievable! I can't believe you!" Nina countered fiercely.

-"I don't care if you don't believe it! I know what I saw!" the beast replied angrily.

-"Shut up dragon! You know nothing!" the girl yelled out in a rage.

The girl felt an immense need to stand against the creature's hostility. Rightful anger flooded her and she unloaded all of her pent-up feelings on him.

-"Even if one priest was mean to you, that doesn't mean every priest is bad!" Nina lashed out in anguish while crying profusely.

-"A priest taught me how to write and read! A priest taught me math and science! A priest taught me everything I know! He showed me what is good and what is wrong!" the girl continued her tirade despite knowing full well what the creature was capable of.

-"He was not only my teacher! He was my friend! And when those bastards attacked the village he held them off to give me time to escape!" the anguished girl continued.

-"He was nice! And he was good! You shouldn't blame all the priests just because one was mean to you!" she added.

-"You have no right to speak of him like that!" Nina finished her tirade, crying out loudly.

The creature was left speechless. He looked away from the sight of the poor crying girl but had to admit bitterly that she was right. Even though she was angry, and rightfully so, the dragon could not smell any hate on her. He slowly calmed down and relented, much to the girl's surprise who expected some sort of retribution.

-"If he did that to protect you, then he was not a bad person" the beast spoke in a calmed tone.

Nina took a deep breath to also calm down. She didn't mean to lash out like that towards the creature that saved her some hours ago. He has been let down by a priest and probably wronged too, and had all the right to hate the priests and the Church. She felt it was her responsibility to make it up to him, on behalf of her fellow priests.

-"I will show you that priests can be good!" the young priestess told the dragon in a more jovial tone.

-"Would you let me prove that to you?" the girl asked, gathering the courage to look at the dragon straight into his eyes.

-"Fine! I'll believe in you! But only if you believe in me!" the beast replied.

-"As long as you give me a chance" the priestess replied.

-"I'll give you a chance, but save those stupid Gods for yourself! I'm done with that stuff!" the creature replied visibly irritated.

-"If you are so done with that, why did you save me then?" the young priestess asked indignantly.

-"Because that's the right thing!" the dragon replied loudly, leaving Nina speechless for a moment.

-"Wouldn't you do the same?" he asked again.

-"I hate priests! But I hate those who hurt girls even more!" the beast finished and crossed his arms again, looking away.

Nina felt like she just dodged an arrow, the girl could only stare at him in awe and no small amount of admiration. She couldn't help but smile, her heart was moved by the creature's simple, almost childish resolve. Her eyes began to tear up again, but this time for a different reason, although she tried her best to fight the tears back. Who would have thought that this thing, this beast, despite all that he went through, could still be so righteous? So decent.

So human.

-"I see, at least your heart is in the right place" Nina commented smiling warmly at the dragon, which looked confused.

The creature looked down at his own chest, confused by the girl's remark, checking with his hand if the pumping organ was indeed in the right spot. The teenage girl could only laugh in response; she didn't mean it in the literal sense.

Nina could not help but laugh a little more at the confused creature's expense. Since the two of them met, the dragon made her feel terrified, then relieved, then safe, then angry, then disgusted, then nervous, then angry again, then threatened, then frightened, then comfortable and now it was making her laugh. The fact that she didn't know anything about him didn't help either.

But anyway, what was he doing, keeping her horrible thoughts at bay, making her forget the fact that she was almost raped just a few hours ago, making her feel this wide array of intense emotions, and distracting her from her larger problems anyway?

That might not be such a bad thing, you know…

But what really puzzled her was the fact that he was still there. Nina thought the creature would ditch her after their heated argument. She wanted to be sure.

-"Are you... still going to help me? Even after knowing that I'm a priestess?" the young girl asked hesitantly.

-"Yeah, I said I would! A spit shake means you never break your word, remember?" the creature replied, as a matter of fact, repeating his previous words when he had agreed to help her.

-"And you don't seem a bad priest" he finished.

-"You are one strange creature, dragon" the girl replied, smiling.

-"But I'm glad we've met" Nina added.

-"That priest you talked about, what was his name?" the creature asked curiously out of the blue.

-"His name was Verkan, but he actually had two names" the girl replied then a sudden spark of inspiration for her own words hit her.

-"That's it! I think I came up with the perfect name for you!" she commented excitedly about her newest idea to name the dragon.

-"Really?" the dragon asked.

-"It was his real name before he became a priest" the young girl replied delighted at the thought of the perfect name for him.

-"How about Rudo?" Nina asked him.

-"Rudo?" the creature asked back, confused.

-"Yes, Rudo! He was a great hero! His name means 'strength and courage' in an ancient language!" the girl replied enthusiastically.

-"A hero, and what's that?" the dragon asked again.

-"A hero is someone who is brave and strong that helps people and fights evil" the girl responded.

-"Just like you" Nina added a bit timidly.

-"Really? I like this hero thing you said" the beast replied eagerly.

-"It's a short but powerful name! Fitting of someone as brave and strong as you are!" the young girl commented.

-"What do you think?" she asked him.

-"Rudo, huh? I kinda like it!" the newly named creature replied.

-"Then it's settled!" Nina spoke happily.

Nina felt pleased to defuse the argument between the two and come up with a suitable name for her newest ally. The pair sat silently for the rest of the night, and even though the dragon quickly fell asleep resting against her shoulder, she didn't mind. The night got colder as the time passed so the girl allowed this sharing he talked about previously, at least for tonight. Nina felt a little more hopeful for tomorrow but didn't want to delude herself.

She was sure that tomorrow would be a difficult day.