Two Minds

by Thethhron

Boots - What's Next

First Escape

Morning rose over the badlands. Green-scaled and irritated, a dragon flew in a search pattern over the land. With every flap of his wings, his eyes zoomed in on the surroundings, looking for any sign of the dragon who had fled the previous day. Muttered curses escaped his lips as he went, a result of his anger at having to leave his whores in the midst of the act. ‘Why did it have to be me?’ or ‘Stupid slaves, doing whatever they want.’ He was more worried about the time spent away from the mountain; the capture itself should be relatively simple. It was only one dragon, an adolescent at that.

The dragon snorted as he remembered her. She was one of the better workers in her sector of the mine, due to her exceptional strength. It was good she had never realized it. Otherwise, she might have attempted this escape from inside the mountain. Sure, she would have been contained, but she would have gotten far enough to give others ideas. A peasant revolt was the last thing they needed. A blur of motion brought him out of his thoughts.

Looping back to what he had seen brought a smile to his face. There, near some cliff-like rock formations wandered two specks - one of them was clearly a dragon. Quickly, the pursuing dragon made his descent.

---

In the morning, our breakfast consisted of the meat from the day before. We hadn’t spoken much after getting up, as Aurora still seemed tired from the day previous. Although I couldn’t be sure, I had a feeling we’d actually slept in fairly late. I estimated two hours passed before it was midday. By that time, Aurora had woken up completely, just as we stopped for lunch.

“You’re awake now?

“Mmm, yeah. I haven’t slept that well in a long time.”

I fidgeted before asking her what was at the forefront of my mind. “So, I never actually asked. Where… are we, exactly? Like, what’s the name of the country or whatever?”

Aurora frowned. “Well, the mountain was called Coldfire. I think what you mean is the Dragon Badlands though. That’s what my parents called it.”

“The Badlands being all these hills and stuff?”

“Yeah. My parents said it’s where dragons have always lived.”

“But there’s not really a government?”

She screwed up her face in concentration. “I think I’ve heard that word before. Dad said we had an... an oligarchy? But that was a very long time ago.”

I frowned. “If you had that back then, what do you have now?”

“We don’t have anything, I think. Mom said dragons just do whatever they want now. It’s why Foecruncher can have slaves.”

That sounds pretty terrible. I opened my mouth to ask something else, when a shadow caught my attention. A moving shadow. Looking up, a speck was just barely visible in the sky.

I pointed at the dot. “Hey, Aurora, what do you reckon that is?”

A look of dread overtook her face. “That’s….!” The speck was moving at incredible speeds; in fact, it wasn’t really a speck anymore.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

My hands jumped to my ears as what was most assuredly a dragon roared from his dive. Even after my hands came away, the ringing in my ears did not stop. We began running immediately, heading for some cliff-like formations nearby. Keep it up and you’ll be an olympic meda- NOW IS NOT THE TIME, BRAIN!

I looked back to see where he was, only to find him not 500 feet above me in his dive. I scrambled up a short mound as he landed and whirled to face me and Aurora, who had stayed by me while I ran.

“Give up, little dragons, and I won’t maim you before we go back.”

Despite my fear at the 60 foot dragon before me, I stood my ground. “We aren’t going anywhere. Just leave and go elsewhere. We can leave each other be. “ He’s not going to take that bait. What can I do?

“Haha, foolish dragonling. Why would I give up the riches my lord gifted me, for the life of a nomad?” His face turned to rage. “Now, you shall come with me.” He reached out to grab us. I moved back, extending my arm over Aurora.

“I said no.”

“Then you shall burn!” He opened his mouth, and I could see the fire building in his gut. A burst of blue flame flew over my shoulder, scalding the inside of his mouth. My head jerked in surprise to look at Aurora, as he reared back, closing his mouth on the fire he had built up. She smiled at me sheepishly. A hacking noise, brought me back, and I tugged at my friend to began running again, leaving the coughing dragon behind. We only got a couple of hills away before another roar erupted behind us, though much more subdued. Probably fried his own vocal chords or something. “Thank you. I didn’t know what I was going to do.” Her smile brightened just a bit.

“You’re welcome!”

I looked back over my shoulder to find the dragon glaring at me. Shit.”We need to split up.”

There went the smile. “What!?”

“He can only chase one of us. You go hide somewhere and I’ll see if I can do… something.”

“But-”

“No buts! Go!” She split off from me and I kept running. Behind me, I could hear the dragon flap it’s wings to get off the ground. Peeking over my shoulder confirmed my suspicions - he was attempting to dive for me. I always have been good at drawing the aggro. I only passed one more hill before he had caught up with me. I jumped to the side but wasn’t fast enough. His right claw barely caught my chest, but that was enough. The very tip of his claw ripped an opening straight across the pectoral muscles in my chest. “Rrrrmmmm!” I stumbled back against the mound as his body whooshed past. It seemed superficial and actually didn’t hurt to bad but I didn’t have time to look over the wound. I resumed my run to the cliffs. They were only a few hundred feet away and a small opening looked just big enough for me to get in without the dragon following.

A torrent of flame passed above me. Behind me already!? I spun as I went, intending to move out of the way again, but tripped over myself instead, landing on my back. His left claw grazed up my stomach, leaving a long cut all the way to just below my neck. This one hurt a lot more than the other, especially at the intersection of the two slices. Breathing heavily, I pushed myself off the ground. The dragon was still circling above, so I began a half walk, half jog to the opening. It was only a little further away. The dragon began a third dive, barrelling down at me. It hurt to walk. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to move. Only 20 more feet. “RAAAAAAAAA!” 10 feet. Flames on my neck. 5 feet. A burst of speed got me inside the cave.

*BOOM*

I looked up as I fell against a wall. The green-scaled brute flopped to the ground in a daze. He had been so focused on me, he had run headlong into the cliff face. I sat panting as the cuts bled out. Taking my hand away, revealed it covered in blood. Nothing hanging out at least. Good. Would hate to die with my intestines everywhere. There is no way I am moving anytime soon, and the moment he recovers- A rumbling throughout the mountain snapped me back to reality. The dragon’s head wobbled as he twisted to look up above the cave mouth. Something he saw shocked him, and he tried to move; his muscles didn’t respond like he wanted, and he only succeeded in tangling himself up. I couldn’t help but laugh slightly.

He glared at me as best he could. “If I am going to die, then you will die with me.” His mouth opened again, and once more the fire built-up. I tried to move away, but my injuries had caught up to me. The rumbling grew louder. The fire blasted out at me, searing my wounds shut as I let out a short scream.

*CRUNCH*

The flame stopped abruptly. I lay on the ground, panting harder than before. Twisting my head, I was able to see a boulder, his head and- Oh, that amount of blood can’t be healthy. And is that…? Yep, that’s a stomach or something. I quickly let my head fall back to rest. I did not want to see anymore. And sleep was sounding like a very good idea right then…

---

Aurora heard a boom echo from the mountain. She had done as Boots said as he had drawn the dragon away. Scurrying to the top of a mound, she gasped. A tail marked where the dragon lay front of a cave. Boots was nowhere to be seen. There was only a mound of rock and what looked like blood.

Making a disgruntled face, the dragoness slowly made her way towards the cliffs.

“B-Boots?” She all but whispered, slightly scared of the chance that the dragon was the victor. A morbid thought raced through Aurora’s head and she nearly collapsed. What if they were both crushed?

“Nononono.” She repeated quietly to herself. Where would she go now? She didn’t know anything about the badlands! She didn’t know how to hunt, how to hide, how to do anything. She wasn’t even sure where the mountain was anymore! If he was dead-

“Nnnnnn…”

“Boots!?” Pushing some large rocks out of the way, she found a gap to squeeze through. There on the ground, Boots lay, dry blood smeared underneath him. He released another groan and she sighed in relief. He was alive. She bit into his leg as lightly as possible and began dragging him out of the cave. She had to move a few more rocks to create space but in the end, she got him into the sunlight.

Looking over him again, the burned flesh on his chest gave her pause. He hadn’t had that before. Unsure of what to do, she chose a direction and kept dragging him. However, she encountered a problem. When dragging him and facing forward, he bounced against her forelegs, causing him to grunt each time. When she turned around to drag him, she couldn’t see where she was going. She sat down to think. What if he was on her back? She looked around at herself. Drawing up to sit on her back legs, she picked up Boots and reached her neck under him, pushing across the ground and then gently laying him down on her back. He slumped against her neck as the rest of his body lay against the soft spines.

Even though he was unconscious, she felt just a little bit safer with him nearby. It felt… nice having him lay there. She stumbled a bit while she got used to the new center of gravity, but quickly grew used to the light load. She continued walking in her chosen direction, silently hoping it to be the same as the one they had been traveling.

The day wore on, with not even half as much excitement as the morning had provided. Every so often, Aurora stopped to readjust Boots so he didn’t fall off. Occasionally, she passed a small stream, hardly big enough to dip her claws into. Slowly, the sun approached the horizon behind her. Finding a cave to stop in for the night, Aurora pulled the makeshift sack Boots had created using the pelts from the day before to her and untied the knot at the top. Inside was the meat they had leftover from the leopard bodies. They probably enough for the night and the following morning. Setting Boots against the wall, she portioned his meal out and set it to the side.

He had not woken up once, the entire time she had carried him. Even now, he did little other than groan. She watched him as she ate, looking for any sign of consciousness. His brow creased every so often, as though he was in pain. This was often accompanied by a hitch in his breathing, and the muscles around the newly destroyed flesh would twitch.

Then she realized she was staring and went back to her meal with a blush. He had just risked his life for her. He’d showed her how to hunt. He’d offered her the chance to escape, even when they had first met, when all she had wanted was to take him back to the mountain. And the attempt he made to kiss her…

Aurora buried her head in her claws at the memory. He had apologized for that! She didn’t need to be embarrassed about something that shouldn’t mean anything. Yet, the heat that filled her cheeks told a clearly different story. No dragon had ever taking interest in her like that. Groaning, she rolled onto her back, head facing his limp form. With her meal finished, all she had now were her thoughts. And her thoughts were refusing to let her concentrate on anything other than-

“Boots!”

Her blue friend began to stir, raising his head. “Guh…”

Aurora scrambled back to her feet “You’re awake! Are you alright?”

“Ugh… Could be better.” He looked around. “So, where are we?”

“I don’t really know. After I found you, I just picked a direction and started walking.”

“I guess that works.” He tried to sit straighter and hissed in pain. “Oooo, that’s going to need stretching while it heals.” Unsure of what he meant, she took his meat and began cooking it. He slowly pushed himself upright. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome” She allowed herself a smile as she passed him his food. He grunted as he moved, reaching for the meat just out of his reach. “Um, I can help you if you want.”

He seemed surprised by her statement. “No, thank you. While I appreciate the offer, I need to keep the skin moving while it heals. If I don’t, the new skin will be very stiff and hard to move.” He reached again for the meat. “Gah!” He lay back against the wall.

“Are you sure?”

He sighed. “I guess I do need help. I did only get the injury today. It’s probably a little early to be worried about scar tissue.”

“Yeah, and about that… what happened?”

“I got lucky. He sliced me a couple times and then ran into the cliff. Suddenly, rocks.” He flinched again as he instinctively moved to illustrate his point.

“Does it still hurt?”

“Yeah, but it’s nothing big. It’ll hurt for a while. Just gotta get used to it.” He scooted back, taking care to not use his arms. “Alright, let’s get this over with.” He opened his mouth for the first bite.

Aurora blinked at him curiously, then nodded in realization. “Oh, right…. um, here.” She grabbed some more of the leftover meat and ripped it into some small chunks.

“You want me to just… shove it in?”

Boots groaned and dropped his head back against the wall. “Yeah, basically. Just, please don’t say it like that.”

With that request blowing over her head, she shrugged and slowly shoved a claw full of meat into his mouth, being careful not to cut him as she did. The rest of his meal passed in silence. She could almost taste the awkwardness permeating the air. Boots wasn’t all that thrilled to have someone invade his personal mouth space, and Aurora just fumbled with what to say next.

“So, um… what’s the plan?”

“I guess we just keep going. East is as good a direction as any.”

“How do you know we’re traveling east?”

“Well, supposing the sun works the same here as it does at home, the sun sets in the west. We’ve been traveling in the opposite direction.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” A loud yawn escaped her mouth. The sun had already set, stars twinkling in the sky above.

“Sounds like it’s time to sleep.”

“Do you want to lie down?”

“Naw, this is fine.”

She made herself comfortable, circling her chosen spot three times before lying down on the ground. Boots wore and odd expression but it disappeared quickly. For a time, she was left to her thoughts. On the verge of sleep, she heard Boots speak, but not to her. She listened.

“Lord, I don’t know why you brought me here or where I am. All I can ask is that you watch over me and guide my path, as you have always done. Help me to trust in you, that I may better serve your purpose. And help me to keep her safe, even as she has protected me. Amen.”

Her mind faded to sleep. She would have time for questions in the morning.

Author's Note:

Oof.

Thanks to all my IRL pre-readers. This wouldn't be half as good without them.

ATTENTION: Next Cheese chapters contains ridiculous amount of exposition. You have been warned.

Comments

[Lunar Sword]

Poor Aurora now all she has is Boots. But on a better note, yay Boots did something useful... Kinda.

[Thethhron]

2801381

Useful? Well, no worries. He'll be useless for a while yet.

I'm glad the interesting character is the one I made up. That makes me feel better about this

[OPAL]

you kinda messed up the song, unless it's a version I haven't heard before...

it reminded me of a scratched CD

[Thethhron]

2994916

I couldn't find the CD version, so I had to make do with a live one.

[the monkey ninja]

Shadow of the Colossus, much?

I await the next chapter.

[Thethhron]

3022733

I see the parallel but I've never actually had the chance to play it. I own the game and, as with many I own, have yet to actually play it. This bothers me from time to time.

As for the next chapter, it is in pre-reading process.

[the monkey ninja]

3022737
Honesty, I haven't played it either. However, of the limited knowladge of the game I have, you have to defeat the Colossus' by climbing up their bodies and attacking their weak points, which may-or-may-not be on top of their heads. Sound familiar?

[Thethhron]

3022902

Oh I does have the knowing. It certainly wasn't in my head when i wrote the scene though.

[Black--Soul]

To bad this story was never finished... I will enjoy it anyway