Moon, Matthew R. Davis [websites to read books for free TXT] 📗

last hour. And that was several miles away.”
Elva extended her mind and brushed up against the consciousness to. Then her features turned into a grim expression. “Thats a dragon Pen. Its strange for a dragon to be here. They usually stay toward Egypt and hotter places like that.”
“Can we contact it?” Pen asked.
She looked at the ground. The sunlight filtering through the trees made her look even more beautiful than he remembered. Her slim figure, smooth hair, and her beautiful eyes. She looked back at him and he felt his face get hot with embarrassment. “We shouldn’t, but i will. It feels frightened and angry. Maybe we can help it.” Pen nodded. Elva pushed her mind towards the dragons and forced her way into its mind. The dragons mind was much more massive and complex than a humans. She was having a hard time keeping her own mind from being smothered by its.
Then she heard a deep voice say “Are you the insects that have using MY energy without my permission?” She shuttered. The voice was powerful and intimidating. She was thankful that they were not standing in front of the great beast. “We meant you no harm. We simply are trying to get home.”
A growl rushed through their connection. “If i could find you, you surely would not lie to me. You have other reasons of contacting me. What might they be?” Elva chose her words carefully before speaking again. “I sensed that you were hurt and upset. I thought i might try to help you in some way.”
“I was wrongly accused and attacked by the two-legs-no-winged-humans. They have wounded my right hind leg. But i can mend it with my own magic. I do not need your assistance.” With that the dragon severed their connection and forced Elva back into her own mind.
She opened her eyes and told Pen what had happened. “what was he like?” He asked her. She answered right away "Powerful, terrifying, and intimidating. I wasn't sure if he was in need of help or if he wasn't. But I'm glad we weren't there. He was fully aware of you using his power and he wasn't happy about it." Pen smiled. "I guess i should be more careful about who i sap energy from then."

Apophis considered re contacting the two-leg that contacted him. His pride wouldn't allow him to accept help from such inferior beings. However, he had always found it difficult to use magic for anything which angered him further. He looked up at the moon. Its dull white light bathed the land in a soft glow that to the two-legs, was to dark to see in. Apophis could see easily as if it where day. His sensitive senses where extremely fine tunes and could he could see in almost complete darkness. His black scales shimmered as he shook off a chill. He re-heated the ground around him and tried to drift back off into sleep. But every time he tried, a cricket, or something else would make noise and wake him.
It was as if the universe didn't want him to sleep. He laid there restless for hours, tossing and turning. Trying to find the perfect sleeping position. But every time he ended up not being able to drift off. "This is hopeless." He closed his eyes again and imagined he was flying high in the clouds on a bright and sunny summer afternoon.He smiled and breathed in deeply. The air smelled fresh. The clouds looked as if they where made from clumps of cotton. He wanted to jump into them.Something rustled in the bushes behind him, which snapped him out of his daydream. Apophis whipped around and growled. A large group of men darted into the clearing stabbing at Apophis with sharp-metal-talons. He jumped out of their range and landed on the outside of the clearing. Shouts of the men echoed through the forest. Apophis flapped his wings and took to the air. It was the only safe place from his pursuers.
“I need there help.” If there was one thing Apophis was good at, it was persuasion.

******

Chapter 5:
A Dragon’s Desperate Move

The sun was just above the horizon, coloring the sky different hues of orange and yellow, when Pen and Elva walked into a small town called Harton. It was over forty miles from where Pen’s house use to be. He was amazed at how far he had already traveled. The building in the town where nothing more than small wooden huts, all lined up in neat rows. Pen counted six building on the main street and on either side of him where columns of seven. There were only three rows though. The streets where practically empty, aside from a few children playing on porches or in yards. But they didn’t seem to even notice Pen or Elva.
“Lets see if we can find a place to stay for the night. I could use a hot bath and a warm bed.” Elva said suddenly. Pen agreed and the two of them decided to part ways.Elva walked down the main street and Pen went down the back street on the left. Elva stood in front of the fourth building down on the left side. She couldn’t make the words out that were on the sign above it. They were to badly faded. She walked in and went up to the man behind the counter. He was a short man with a scruffy beard and was slightly round.
“What can I do for ya miss?” he asked Elva. His voice was coated heavily with a western accent that almost made Elva laugh. She managed to push aside her laughter “I was hoping to find a room for me and my friend.” The man picked up a glass and shoved his plump had into it and cleaned it with a rag. Then said “You two together? Cause if ya aint, you’ll have to buy separate rooms. Gotta keep the men and women separate in these parts. Hell, we don’t hardly get any around here. All the damn women are to old, and yer mighty pretty.”
Elva’s cheeks turned red with anger and embarrassment. “He is my betrothed.” The bar tender look her in the eyes, as if trying to catch her lie. He was unable to though. It hadn’t been the first time she had deceived some one in this manor. “Well alrighty, that’ll be five copper pieces miss.” Elva reached into her pack and dug out her coin bag. From it she counted out the five pieces needed to rent a room for the night. “You all come back down here later on, well be having some fun.” the man said as she left the hotel feeling disgusted. Elva pushed her mind forward in search of Pen. She found him on the opposite side of the little town. “I found us a room. We will have to share a bed though. I hope thats alright with you.” For a few seconds, she didn’t hear anything. Then, “That’s just fine with me. But if you want I’m sure we can talk the owner into giving us an extra blanket and pillow and I’ll just sleep on the floor.”
Elva laughed and shook her head. “How are you to get a good night sleep on a cold hard floor Pen?” He chuckled and didn’t respond. She walked out onto the street and started exploring the town.

Apophis’s wings were sore from flying non-stop all night. He longed to land and rest. But the two-legs had found a way to keep up with him. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to uphold the dragons pact with the humans. Then a thought occurred to him. “The humans have attacked me wrongly. Even if they think it to be out of justice. They have no proof to uphold their case against me. So maybe its time i stopped running and time that i ended this feud.” He growled and rocketed towards the ground.
He was ready for them. They would regret ever attacking him. For there was no way and man could take down a dragon. Apophis roared and allowed a large jet of flames sprout out of his mouth. He was going to eat good tonight.

Pen sat down at the bar and watched the people inside the hotel laughing and drinking. He wished Elva was there with him to at least talk to him. Then he had an idea. He reached out with his mind and found a cricket in one of the rooms above him. The cricket conscious was small and not very strong, but was capable of complex thought, much to Pen’s surprise. “Um, hello there...cricket.” The cricket didn’t respond in the manor Pen had expected but instead screamed. He sighed rested his elbows on the bar and examined the room.
It was fairly bare and bland. The most exciting thing he found was the shattered window in the front of the building. He knew there was a story behind it, but didn’t feel like asking. Expanding his mind again he searched for Elva. He wasn’t as skilled as she was and he accidentally rubbed up against the minds of the people in the bar. Most of them were to groggy and dizzying for him to get anything coming from them. But he managed to find her three buildings down. “Elva, are you going to come back to the hotel? Or should i just come down there?” There was no response. He pushed on her mind harder. Whatever she was doing, she was so wrapped up in it, she didn’t even realize that Pen was pushing on her conscious.

A man charged Apophis sword draw and ready to stab the dragon through the heart. Apophis dodged the blade and stabbed the man in the throat with the spikes on his tail. The next two men he crushed with his feet. Apophis felt a small splinter of pain tingle in his left side as a man smashed several of his rock hard scales with a war hammer. He whipped his head around and shot hot fire at the man. The man burst into flame as the liquid fire spilled over his body. The smell of burnt fleshed was thick in the air as Apophis used his fire to down seven more soldiers. The last soldier to challenge Apophis was a Prane. They stood a towering eight feet tall. Their skulls were harder than most armor and there bodies were ripped with muscle. The prane charged at Apophis with extreme speed .
It used its massive hands to lift Apophis off the ground. He growled and shot a jet of fire into the monsters face. The prane didn’t seem to notice and in one motion, threw Apophis several feet. He landed on his hind legs and fell backwards onto his back. Apophis twisted and turned his body to set himself upright. The prane was already upon his again, using its fists to smash Apophis’s scales. Unlike when the man used his hammer to do so, the prane shattered the scales and left Apophis’s side bleeding and exposed. He roared an explosive roar and picked the prane up in his maw and crushed its arm with his powerful jaws.
The prane struggled to free itself from Apophis’s grip, flailing its legs and hitting him with its good arm. Each blow cause Apophis to only tighten his grip, until the prane yelled out in pain and his arm disconnected from his body. The prane fell to the ground and grasped the bloody stump of his arm. Apophis leaped forward and pined the beast to the ground with his fore legs. The prane could do nothing