Black Shudder Chapter Three

Chapter Three

My eyes fluttered open as soon as I was conscience enough to tell which way was up. For a moment, I just lied there on my back, and looked at the dark blue sky, littered with stars, and swaying tree tops lipping my vision of the clear sky. Closing my eyes, I wondered if I had indeed died. I would've thought that heaven was brighter than this dark haven.

Slowly, all of my senses came into the picture, feeling the crinkly material under my fingertips, the smell of a fire, the sound of water gurgling over small pebbles, and the taste of a faint metallic taste, almost like blood, plagued my mouth.

I also felt the pain pin-pricking in my shoulder and torso, reminding me of my encounter with death.

I opened my eyes again, realizing the pain was more pronounced than I would have first thought. "Ow," I whispered,moving my hand away from my side and up to my left shoulder. I glanced around, recalling that these trees were indeed the ones that surrounded my small pond, and the bubbling of the water was vaguely familiar. It was night, so all I could see was shadows.

But dancing on those shadows was a warm light that was projected from somewhere off to my left. I let my head loll to that side, and I focused on the bright, orange flame flickering and cracking in the air. Beside it was a man, who looked about 19, way older than I was.

He wasn't facing me; I could only see half of his face. He had a perfect nose, and his lips were darkened by the flickering flame. His body was arched slightly, his elbows resting on his knees, which jutted out farther than any other mans legs I had seen. I let my eyes scan his legs, starting at his seat on the rock that he was resting on to the bare heel that dug into the dirt. He had his eyes on the fire, and it made his eyes seem almost golden. His hair was dark black, black as the charcoal left from a dieing fire, but it was also slightly lightened by the fires light. The tips around his face stopped just below his breath-taking eyes, while the hair at the back of his head reach the the middle of his neck and gradually grew spikier as it went up the back of his head. His skin looked dark, tanned from the sun. He almost looked like a prince, like the ones in the fairy tales Daiken would tell me.

But his clothes spoke differently. The boy wore farmers breeches, stopping at his knee. He had on a dirty and torn tunic, tied at the waist with a frayed rope, knotted lazily at an angle. As mentioned before, he wore no shoes, not even the leather kind that even I had owned. His hands, gathered together between his knees, were gloved, but the gloves had finger holes so his fingers could wriggle freely.

Who was he? Where had he come from? And anyway, where had Zero gone?

Zero was able to come and save me from the mountain lion, so maybe he was well enough to leave. So maybe this man had just been walking through the forest and found me dieing...but, then again, why would Zero just leave me half dead? I knew that I didn't have much meat on me, but I was still food.

I pushed away the thought of Zero eating me; I had come to a conclusion that, even if he bit at me, he didn't want to kill me.

I tried to think up something to say to the young man as I stared at him, but nothing came to mind. A 'hello' seemed too simple, but a 'who are you' seemed too innapropiate, since he probably did save my life.

Almost as if on cue, he suddenly turned and looked at me.

I gasped at the intensity of his stare, and I realized that it wasn't just the fire that had made his eyes look golden; they were literally golden. Dark eyelashes brimmed the narrowed eyes, contrasting all the hues within the iris. His face was narrow, thin, but somewhat sturdy for a boy his age. His lips were less full looking now that he was facing me, but they still arched angelically.

It only took me a moment to study him, but apparently a moment was too much for him.

"Stop staring at me," he murmured, his mouth in a straight line. His voice was dark and deep. Everything about him screamed 'danger' at me, but for some odd reason, I wasn't afraid.

I decided being impolite wasn't going to be a problem. "Who are you?" I asked, quickly looking away from him just to appease him. From the corner of my eye, I noticed he slightly shook his head, and looked back at the fire.

"My name Selendrile," he said, staring into the flame.

Selendrile? What a strange name for such a handsome man.

It was only until he looked back at me that I realized that I had began to stare at him again. Scared that he was going to be upset again, I looked quickly away.

"But," he continued in the same tone, "you know me by Zero."

I slightly jumped at the name. Shocked, I stared at the boy, trying to use my eyes to pry into his head.

"What?" I asked in a tone that let me know that I was indeed being rude.

He only smiled lightly at me, and even if it was small, it made my heart skip a beat. "Well, you were brave enough to name me, Alys."

I sat up at fast as I could. "How do you know my name!" I screamed, then, after riding a wave of vertigo, fell back down on my back. The pain in my back, which was just barely subsiding, had re-awakened.

"Don't move so fast." He was so calm as he stood up and walked over to me, seeing in the light of the fire that his toes curled around the rocks. "You've reopened your wound again, silly little girl."

I stared at him in disbelief and shook my head. "Who are you!?" I squeaked as he knelt beside me.

He shook his head in mockery."I've told you already; Zero."

"Zero was a dragon," I argued back, although I noticed, as he got closer, that it was impossible for me not to notice how unhuman he looked.

He took a hold of my shoulder and rolled me over onto my side, so my cheek was pressed against the crinkly material, which smelt like a animal pelt. "Zero is a mythical creature. Zero can change into anything he wants with a little magic," the boy, who called himself Zero, replied smugly.

"I don't believe you," I added firmly.

"Dragon's do lie all the time." I felt his warm hand brush against my side, and I glanced down. I was wrapped up in bandages, like my swimming ones, except these were covered in dried blood. I looked away, death not able to fight off my queasiness for blood this time.

"You can't be Zero," I murmured, watching the water flow through my pond. "Zero hated that name."

"I didn't hate it," he mused, unwinding the bandages from around my torso, lifting me up as necessary when the material wrapped under me. "It was simply inconvenient."

"Why'd you bite me then?" I snapped, exaggerating the 'bite'. He didn't answer, and didn't answer. I finally looked at him, and it didn't look like he was going to answer. Stubborn; yes, he was Zero, I decided. I sighed, looked away, then asked another. "How'd you know my name was Alys?"

"Easy; Jasslee and Daiken call you it."

It took me moment to let that sink in. "How do you know their names?"

"Also easy; I followed you home last night."

With one snap of my head, I was looking straight into his eyes. "Why?"I squeaked in shock.

He shrugged, totally at ease. "You said that I could follow you home if I wanted."

"But you laughed at me when I offered!"

"I did," he admitted with a grin, as if remembering. "But, after a hour or so, I took you up on your offer, and went to your village."

We both fell silent after that, the only noises were the rushing water and the crackling fire. He stood up and went to the fire to pick up some bandages that he conveniently had ready.

"They know, I hope you know," he said as he sat back down, placing the end of the bandage on my stomach.

"Will you laugh if I say no?" I asked focusing on the trees across the pond.

He didn't reply to my question with a direct 'yes' or 'no'. "They know you've been going to see me, a dragon."

I felt my body tense at his words, but I couldn't believe him. How could they have figured it out?

"How?" I asked, totally at ease.

"The pastor told them that I had taken refuge in the nearby woods, to bleed myself out before I shuddered, and--"

"What's a shudder?" I interrupted, more interested in this story than the other.

"--when you came home with blood all over you," he continued as if I hadn't even spoken, " they knew that you had ran into me and even took care of me since you weren't dead."

I decided to let him get this out. "Well, then why did they let me leave today?"

He finished wrapping my torso with bandages and rolled me back over gently. "They thought for sure that I would have left by morning."

I tilted my head. "Why didn't you?"

Zero shrugged. "I guess I wanted to see if you'd really come back."

"And I did." I smiled at him.

He smiled back. "You did," he murmured with a tone I didn't recognize. It was a strange tone, and it made my stomach tighten.

"So," I mused uncomfortably, trying to change the subject," what's a shudder?"

Zero, smiling, looked back at the fire, but didn't say anything. "Are you not going to tell me?" I asked, leaning forward to get a better look of his face.

"No," he replied, still smiling. "I don't want you to worry about that right now."

"Sooo," I dragged out," you will tell me?"

He sighed, shaking his head, still smiling. "Yes. Someday, but not today."

I wanted to ask why, but for some reason, I kept my mouth shut. Instead, I also sighed, and looked at the sky.

"They're going to be worried," I said, realizing that Daiken and the Mistress had no idea where I was at the moment. "They probably think that you ate me or something."

"Most likely," he agreed with ease. "We don't need to worry about that, either. I've got a plan."

"A plan?" I turned my head to look at him. "A plan like what?"

He glanced at me, then back at the fire. "I'll take you home and say that I found you being attacked by a mountain lion. Once I frightened it away, I was so afraid that you were too hurt to move, so I took care of you until I knew you were absolutely okay to move."

I stared at him until he looked at me again. I made a swishing movement with my hand. "What, that's it?"

"We can think up of smaller details when the time comes,"he added, keeping his face straight. "It would be bad if they figured out I can change."

"Why's that?"

He was suddenly taken aback, like he was shocked I had asked such a question. He uncomfortably looked away, into the dark murkiness of the trees.

He hesitated, then let his words spill out all too quickly for me to even understand.

"What?"I asked. "You talk too fast; I can't understand you."

He slowly looked at me, no emotion on his face now. "Then you don't need to know."

"Excuse me, but I believe I do!" I replied back in a snide tone.

His eyes flashed at me, making me freeze. "Don't be sneer with me, girl," he warned in a dark voice. "Must I remind you that I did save your life."

I knew that he was right, but I didn't want to admit it.

"Well, I didn't ask to be saved, now did I?"

Zero temporarily became even angrier, then his face went blank. "But," he murmured,"you did."

Not sure if I was telling the truth or if he was, I played back the mountain lion scene in my head--the parts I could remember, at least.

"I did not," I declared finally. "You're just trying to embarrass me."

"Crying, asking; there just not that much of a difference to dragons." He smirked when my hand immediately went to my eye as if to wipe a tear away.

"Stop it," I demanded childishly. "Don't say things like that; it makes me scared."

His eyebrows arched upwards. "Scared?" He smiled larger. "Scared of what? Me?"

Yes. Of course of him, but I couldn't let him know that.

"N-no!" I said over loudly. "You just make me sound so fragile."

He sighed lowly and stood up in one fluid motion. Obviously, dragons had the ability to be graceful, despite how unholy they were.

"But you arefragile, Alys," he mused in a tone that made her think he was treating her like a child. "That small, feisty cat almost ripped you to shreds without much of a fight."

"It's not my fault I'm soft-skinned!" I argued back with a small pout. "I'm not born with an armor of scales and talons."

Laughing, he walked to the fire and stared into the flames, his eyes shining brightly with the light. "Would you believe me if I said that dragon's aren't either?"

My stomach clenched as I tried to keep my anger in tact, but curiosity got the best of me. "You weren't?" I asked, trying to set a hard foundation for my calm words.

Zero only shook his head this time, the black tips of his hair swaying gently with every movement he made.

"So," I continued, "you're born bald like humans?"

A deep chuckle erupted from somewhere in his chest. "No, not like humans," he explained. "There are scales and talons; but they're soft and flimsy, just like human skin."

I thought about that for a minute, a smile slowly breaking out on my face. "I want to see one," I declared, looking up through the trees at the stars. "I bet they're adorable."

He didn't say anything for a minute. "You probably won't be able to," he finally said in a whisper. "They don't leave the nest until they're older."

"Oh." I felt a wave of disappointment flood over me. "That's too bad."

"Hm." He turned towards me again, staring down at me. "We should get you home."

"Right." I tried to sit up, but found it difficult and rather painful. Not wanting to ask for help, I tried again, grunting in effort.

He chuckled lightly at my struggle before kneeling before me and picking me up into his arms. His body was warm, too warm to be human body temperature, and his hands were spread out along the small of my back and around the curve of my knee.

"Stop," I demanded, blushing. "I can walk myself!"

"Maybe so," he allowed, "but my way is faster."

He muscles tensed through-out his arms and chest through his shirt, and his eyes darkened. Sudden terror overthrew my body, making me whimper and throw my arms around his neck. "What are you doing?" I asked, the fear lacing my words.

He might have replied, but I wasn't sure. The sound of ripping fabric echoed in my ears. A small grunt came from his lips. Then, there was the sound of stretching leather, the sound of muscles quivering.

Then, there was wind, the forest suddenly below us, and the moon light over-casting us. I screamed, realizing we were high up in the sky, over the forest and my village about a mile away.

"How-I-What-" I couldn't find my words, and they were being ripped away by the wind fluttering around my face.

"Look behind." Was all he said, and almost instantly, I looked.

I gasped, bringing my arms back around from his neck, holding them to my stomach to stop the fear.

Huge, black wings were spread behind him, stretching against the wind. The tendons were pronounced by the moons light. Where did they come from? Curiously, I scrambled more upright in his arms, looking over his shoulder. I was surprised to see that the back of his shirt was ripped, frayed. The wings were attacked to the skin that showed through the rips, lots of tendons and veins sticking out around the base where the skin and leathery skin met. They twitched as the wings flapped again, rousing a whirlwind of air around me, tousling my hair.

Nausea suddenly swept over me, and I quickly nestled back against his chest. I looked up at him, expecting an explanation. But my wonder was dissolved when I realized how much darker his face had gotten; a look of struggle played with his facial structures, the rims under his eyes black with anger, and his eyes were a more brilliant gold than ever. His dark brows were pulled together, and his lips were pulled down into a slight frown.

The more I looked at him, the more I realized how unhuman he was.

We didn't say anything as he hovered down to the ground, a short distance away from the village.

"What if someone saw you?" I whispered once we were on the ground, aware of the problems that would arise if someone had.

Emotionless, he replied. "No one did."

He was so sure of himself that I felt like I could believe him as well. "Okay, if you say so."

He flashed a look at me, already gone by the time I tried to find out what it ment.

"I know so," he said darkly. "Don't doubt that."

I nodded. "Right."

He looked up at the sky for a brief moment, sitting me more upright in his arms, then started walking into the sleeping village.