Broken Wings

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The flight back to Anea's cave took just under two hours. As we came in for a landing right back where I'd started, my good spirits faded into a kind of resigned disgust. Four solid days of hard work. Gone. And I doubted we'd been in any real rush to get back. And then Anea's actual landing sent me right back to fearing for my life.

She circled over the long, wide clearing at the base of her cliff a few times before approaching from the south. As she neared the ground, she backpedaled hard with huge sweeps of her wings in an attempt to slow down right before landing. She overdid it. She stalled out and dropped to the ground from over ten feet in the air. She had to roll onto her right side to avoid crushing me, and the impact still knocked me nearly senseless. We laid there for a moment, panting, then Anea let go of my chest and allowed me to slide off of her and onto my feet.

"You were right," I began, unable to project the scathing tone I wanted. I was too shaken from the close shave in which I'd been powerless to help myself. "That had to be way safer than just letting me ride on your back."

"Sorry," she muttered, actually sounding chastened as she got to her feet. She licked the wrist of her right wing several times while she furled her left. "That didn't happen last time I carried you. The headwind I was using to slow down died right when I really needed it. I'll admit you have a point about using all four legs to land. Gentle point landings are always tricky, and I'd trip landing at a run on three legs. I just worry you won't be able to hold on while I take off. I can't do that gently." She shook her right wing and tucked it back against her side, then began to walk further south. I followed, searching for the cave entrance.

The jagged cliff side cast multitudes of pitch black shadows in the stark afternoon light, and I only spotted the opening a few seconds before Anea turned to head into it. With this kind of lighting, she almost seemed to vanish straight into the bare rock face of the cliff. The sight was off-putting, causing me to shudder as I followed into the passage. The inside was pitch black to my daylight soaked eyes. I moved my feet cautiously, alert for any invisible obstacles that could trip me, and ran a hand along the right wall to guide me until light reappeared ahead. Soon after, the passage opened into the all too familiar cavern.

Anea was already sorting through a dwindling pile of branches for fuel to feed to her fire, which had smoldered down to a glowing bed of coals. I paused at the threshold, trying to decide how I felt about being back here. It was a mixed bag. On the one hand, this cave was warm, dry, and defensible. After spending so much miserable time out in the open, it would be a long time before I took shelter for granted again. On the other hand, if I'd had my way from the beginning, I'd never even have known this place existed. Was I looking into a refuge, or a prison cell? That was ultimately up to Anea. My only way out of here was persuading her to release me.

The dragon stacked almost all of the branches she'd saved onto her fire, then she turned to me. "Well, are you just going to stand there all day then?"

"Sorry. It's just..." I sighed and walked over to the corner where I preferred to stack my stuff. "I meant to never see the inside of this cave again. It's weird being back here." It kind of threw my failure back in my own face, if I was honest with myself. Sure, now I knew that if I'd managed to get away, I'd have probably immolated myself and maybe even an innocent bystander or three within the week. That didn't change the fact that I'd never have returned if Anea hadn't run me down.

"You're unhappy," she observed as I dropped my gear into a disorganized pile and sat down beside it.

"Yeah, I guess I am," I sighed, reaching down to untie my boots. That might have been the best way to describe how I felt. Not angry or resentful; just displeased, thoroughly dissatisfied with how things had gone.