Search

"We are acting as scouts," Goliath started striding forward again, "If we find them alive, and holed up somewhere, we do our best to get them back alive. If we find bodies we bury them, and bring back their tags."

"If we find something else?" I started following him again.

"Depends," Goliath clenched his teeth for a few minutes while we walked in silence, "If we find something more dangerous then we can handle than we run, and we radio in to warn the settlement as soon as possible. They'll send an entire battalion our way if we don't return."

"Hey," I put on a sarcastic happy tone, "You're dead now so we came to help."

We both fell into silence after that. Goliath led the way for the most part, and I kept my head on a swivel as we slowly surveyed the area. I switched forms when we got far enough away that not even I could see the settlement. I found it kind of funny that I was taller than him now, but the somber attitude stopped me from lingering on that funny thought for very long. My wings twitched as I scanned the area again.

Goliath was keeping us on a grid search pattern. The first day seemed to drag on forever, but we didn't pick up so much. What we did find was pretty much useless. Goliath set out a tent for himself, and I opted to just sleep outside. We each took a four hour watch splitting the night.

Surprisingly it got really cold at night on this desert planet. It didn't bother me. Goliath's tent had some sort of temperature regulation device within that kept him warm enough to survive. It felt like the temperature was in the negatives. The ice that formed around my nostrils was evidence of that frigid cold.

"I guess that's why he didn't want to travel at night," I huffed out a plum of warm air.

I started manipulating the sand in front of me. It was actually more difficult for me to move the sand. It felt like it was slipping through my fingers. Earth really wasn't my element. My body tensed as I got more, and more irritated with the sand around me.

I couldn't manipulate more than a handful at a time. What a pain? I growled quietly to myself. Goliath took his turn around midnight. By then the only thing keeping me awake was the irritation from failing to manipulate the sand.

I fell asleep as soon as Goliath took his turn. Goliath woke me at first light to my irritation.

"I didn't get enough sleep for this," I stretched slowly.

Extending my wings as I did.

"I got just as much sleep as you did," Goliath stretched slowly, "And in full armor. I think it's safe to say you had it better."

I huffed to myself as I stuffed any other complaints I might have had down. Goliath had slept in full armor last night so what little sleep I did get was probably better. I shook my wings out as I folded them in close to my back. We'd finished about half of the search grid Goliath had set up. We'd spent another half a day wandering along his search grid as I scanned the surroundings.

I froze when I spotted something that looked odd.

"What's that?" I pointed in the direction of what I'd seen.

"I don't have your eyes," Goliath looked the direction I was pointing, "What does it look like?"

"A tarp," I cocked my head, "Whatever it is, it's been shredded. Should we go check it out?"

"Yes," Goliath strode forward.

I let him lead the way. Only nudging him the correct direction when he started going off coarse. He tensed when he spotted it as well.

"That's not a tarp," Goliath drew a sword.

I wasn't sure where he got the sword from, but I wasn't about to push for an answer. Goliath being tense was definitely a warning sign. My wings pulled in even tighter to my body as the stench of old blood, and rot reached my nose. I stopped, and grabbed the back of Goliath's armor.

"They're dead," I whispered.

My chest started to feel like it was getting tighter as my heart pounded against my ribs. My instincts screamed danger as I took a step back. Goliath glance over to me. My scales rose, and my teeth were bared.

"What is it?" Goliath asked quietly.

"Something deadly is waiting here for us," I crouched down as that feeling of doom slowly got worse, "I don't think we can run from it now."

"Run from what?" Goliath's grip tensed on his blade.

"That," I growled as a rift opened up in front of us.

A creature that looked like a man with pointed ears, and big leathery wings coming out of his back stepped out. He wore a tight black shirt that resembled a t-shirt, and tight fitting pants that looked almost like they were bandaged onto him. He looked at us with a smirk.

"A military man," he chuckled, "And his contracted pet."

"Contracted pet?" I growled forgetting my fear for a bit, "I'm no pet."

"Oh," his brows went up, "It speaks the primal language. What species are you?"

"None of your business," I mumbled as I remembered how dangerous this guy felt.

"It matters not," he waved his hand, and a wave of fire was sent our way.

The intensity of the heat was enough to make me feel like my scales were being burned off without it even touching us yet. I formed slammed my hands into the ground, and formed an ice wall between us, and the flames. The flames almost instantly vaporized the ice wall I'd created as the flames continued on to hit us anyways. The intensity of the flames had been lowered enough that they just scorched us a little when they hit us. Rage pounded through my veins.

"How dare you?" I snarled as my dragon pride boiled to the surface with my rage.