Broken Wings

Days and Nightmares

The next day, I didn't wake up until close to midday. I didn't usually sleep in that late, even on a weekend back home. But despite sleeping several hours more than normal, I felt like I'd been up all night. My eyelids were heavy, my mind felt foggy and slow, and my movements were weak and jerky. I would have just closed my eyes and gone right back to sleep if not for the hunger gnawing away at my stomach. I needed to eat. Then I'd go back to bed. So, I forced my eyes open and looked around for the deer meat I'd cooked last night. "Ah, you're finally awake." I turned toward the voice and saw Anea lying beside her fire.

"Sorry," I rasped, "Something feels off. I shouldn't be sleeping so long. I'm really tired for some reason." Anea bobbed her head once in a decent impression of a nod.

"Yes, that makes sense. I decided to speed up your healing even more last night. It's going to take a lot of your energy, but you can't do much besides laying around until your legs are healed. Maybe now you can at least sleep through most of it." More sleep sounded like a fantastic idea right then. But I needed to eat first. I was pretty sure my stomach was what woke me up in the first place.

"OK. That sounds like a good plan," I spotted the strips of meat I'd laid out near my cooking fire and started crawling toward them. "I'm in favor of anything that gets me back on my feet sooner."

"Of course, I realize that once you're healed, you will probably be tempted to try running away from me." A nervous pit formed in my gut, then passed as Anea continued. "But that won't be an issue for many days yet. And perhaps, if everything goes well, I'll be ready to let you go by then anyway."

"So, you're starting to trust me?" I asked hopefully as I reached my leftovers. I sniffed a piece, then took a bite when I didn't detect any hint of decay.

"Perhaps, somewhat," she admitted. "I trust that you don't mean me any harm, and that you are being honest with me. But I'm not ready to trust you to keep everything you've seen out here and everything you've learned from me secret for the rest of your life."

Huh. Now that she'd brought it up, I considered what it would be like to keep this entire experience to myself forever. I'd already known I'd have to guarantee my secrecy to get Anea to release me, but the thought of not sharing what I'd found out here seemed almost sinful. Then again, even if I did try to tell others about dragons and magic, who'd ever believe me? Hey, guess what! The world is filled with invisible creatures that only I can see! The rest of you are blinded by a titanic magical spell that I'm immune to! I'd be a laughing stalk. If I was lucky, I might even earn a free vacation to a nuthouse! One way or another, I couldn't ever tell anyone. I'd discovered a huge, fantastic world hiding right under our collective noses, and I'd probably be the only one who ever knew. Hell, I might even stop believing it myself before the end.

I swallowed my mouthful of deer jerky and shook my head, trying to drive these thoughts away. It didn't matter right now, and it wouldn't ever if I couldn't get away from this dragon. Planning for the future was fine, but this was just worrying. Besides, I'd just realized that Anea didn't stop talking while my thoughts wandered. "...slyvan blood deep in your ancestry." What?! "It's probably not the case since most two-leg half-breeds cannot bear offspring, but if it did happen, you wouldn't be completely human. That would have to weaken the Veil's hold on you since the spell only affects humans. What do you think? Do you know if any of your ancestors had pointed ears or were magically inclined?" In the future, I need to make more of an effort to avoid daydreaming whenever this dragon's feeling chatty.

I shook my head as I answered. "No, Anea. Just, no. I'm pretty sure I'd have heard if any of my ancestors was into witchcraft or had pointy ears. That sounds like the kind of thing that would become family legend. And I've never heard anyone tell those kinds of stories." I yawned, then tore into another strip of the tough deer meat. More like deer leather than jerky. "I guess," I mused through a full mouth, "It's possible that it could have happened and I just don't know about it. But I really doubt that's the case."