Bound - Chapter 1- The Ledge

The cold morning air whipped around my body when I stood at the edge of the stone ledge, peering down at the scenary below.

I had seen it all from the safety of my room before. The sharp tops of the orange and yellow trees pointing upwards like needles, the glistening black water of the winding river that sparkled in the distance and twined towards the mountaintops bordering the awakening horizon.

It all looked so beautiful when I was above it. And being right on the edge made me feel like I was soaring above it all.

And I was going to soon too. I was going to fly.

I backed up into my room to get a running start for the ledge that beckoned for me. There was no thrill in just plunging off; I wanted to feel the adrenaline pumping through me when I threw myself from it.

The stone floor froze the souls of my feet that slapped against it. My pile of soft toys I hoarded in the corner were my only witness when I reached the door and focused on the colours blooming into the sky.

It was time.

I took off running with a smile split on my face. My feet pushed off from the ledge and I was airbourne for a fraction as I sailed outwards.

Then gravity tugged me down cruelly towards the tops of the trees bristling in the wind howling through my ears.

I was laughing on the way down towards the bone-breaking branches. I didn't fear anything below those treetops because I knew I would not meet it.

I felt the sharp points scrape my belly when I finally unfurled my wings and glided upwards at the last possible moment when they buffered my speed.

I looked down and laughed again at the thrill of it all, dropping from the sky once more to spiral down and flirt with danger.

I had nothing to fear when I was so free. My wings could carry me anywhere I wanted to go; to those tiny mountains in the distance if I wanted to.

But I was not going to leave what was familiar for the taste of adventure. I was young enough for it, just turning twenty, but wasn't going to leave what I already had here.

I had silence in the secluded landscape that welcomed me with fresh breeze and warm sunshine each morning. There was no noise from the towns, only the sound of nature as it too woke around me.

I had darkness in my stone room built many centaries ago. It was wide enough to fit my whole body and tall enough for me to stretch upwards in, wings and all. There was no other place that I could feel that comfortable or safe in with my horde of soft toys and nest of old blankets. Plus, the place had an amazing view off the ledge I could throw myself from whenever I got the urge to fly.

I also had my children. They weren't mine by blood but by a silent promise I had taken to keep them out of harms way. I had given up the dream of having my own since there were no others like me around here.

One dragon was enough for the townspeople anyway. But for me, the dream of a mate and several babies to fill my room of lifeless dolls was just that; a dream.

I was lucky they chose me to be the protector of thier own children. The room I lived out of was connected to an old mansion that had been abandoned for many years. After leaving my nest, I found it and took it as my own sanctuary, despite never venturing past the door connecting me to the rest of the house.

Soon though, people started showing up. At first, they roughed it out in one of the many rooms around the mansion. But when I was discovered by a fleeing group, they came up with the plan to use me to thier advantage.

I wasn't just an empty-nester anymore. I was the unseen guardian that kept whoever entered those walls safe. The only way I knew who I was protecting was from a small photograph that would be slid beneath the door and into my room.

The eyes were always scribbled over with marker though. There was a superstition that the eyes were the windows to the soul, and by inking them out, a beast like me could not take those souls.

I had no abilities like that anyway for them to be worried about. But they carried on thier superstitions and I kept to my job as thier dragon-mother.

They didn't know that though. To them, I was just something behind the door they couldn't open. To me, each one of those eyeless children were my precious babies I couldn't even hold.

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My babies never lasted long. They were always rotating and being replaced with new ones. Whenever more arrived, they were branded with a dragon tattoo into thier backs. I used to think it was so I could recognize them if I ever saw them on my flights, but I soon found out it was to keep them separated from everyone else.

They were always from families fleeing danger. The mansion was the safest place to hide since no-one wanted to tempt the fate of a protective dragon in its own lair.

I liked it that way. The silence I had managed to maintain for so long was blissful. Even with children running through the halls or exploring the rooms, I was never disturbed by them.

It was a peaceful co-existance that I wouldn't trade for anything.

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The cold stones still hadn't warmed to the sunlight when I returned to the ledge and shook off the tension around my wings I stretched upwards.

My claws tapped the surface when I went to the door to check the ground around it for new photographs.

It was still early. They would be here later when they were ready to make thier long journey here in thier noisy car that always spilled vile fumes into the clean air.

The humans that drove it were always the same. One skinny man in his thirties with brown hair combed down neatly above his tanned face; and the other older man in his fifties with black hair speckled with grey on the edges that was much too pale compared to the other.

The young one called himself Bee. The old one was Maitson. They were odd names, but they were the ones who decided to name me Scala when I was a young baby a few months out of the nest and seeing them for the first time.

It hadn't been a pleasent meeting. I thought they had been there to chase me from what I had discovered, and I wasn't going to let them just take it from me.

Even though I was still so small, I had the advantage over them. They were more afraid of the fire-breath they believed I had rather than my appearance.

I didn't gain that until I was fourteen and laying my first blank eggs.

I had three more in my nest now for then to collect. Every single one had been, and will continue to be, blank. But they still collected them like I was laying literal gold.

I don't know what they did with them though. The scales covering each one could have made some sort of armour for thier little bodies that they never wore.

With the assortments of blacks, blues, purples, and reds I produced, they could have had a whole wardrobe they were hording away.

Humans were odd creatures.

I curled up next to my empty brood and felt the scales heating up from the fire swirling inside my stomach I pressed to them. The scales there were translucent so the warmth of the fire could illuminate any area suitable for nesting. Apparently it was also used for impressive mating displays, but I was yet to see one.

Maybe one day.

I tucked my head against the eggs to protect them from the breeze flitting in around them. The humans always liked it when they collected them already heated. They seemed to praise me more when they held them close to thier bodies.

Perhaps they also seeked the heat, like a baby dragon would?

I would have to grab the youngest one when they arrived to see if that was true.

I smiled to myself at the thought of him nuzzled in my arms and let the thought lull me to sleep until the sound of thin plastic scraping the stone stirred me.

I looked over to see the newest set of eyeless children staring up at the roof before the sound of metal keys hitting the unlocking door alerted me to my two favourite humans carefully making thier way into my lair to greet me with food and high expectations.

I smiled at them and instantly snapped up Bee's arm to pull him towards me. The container of food he had been holding clattered and spilled across the ground as he screamed out in shock.

Maitson reacted immediently when I forced Bee against my burning scales. He didn't snuggle into it like I had hoped, but panicked and reached for Maitson who was looking up at me with fear as he tried to drag him from under my nudging head.

He wasn't taking to this at all. He was a terrible substitute.

I snorted and shoved Bee away in irritation. Maitson clutched him as he sobbed and babbled to the older man. He was determined on leaving as soon as possible without his prizes, while Maitson wanted to tempt fate.

I didn't have the patience for his games. A stern growl put him in his place and made him turn back for the door that they both quickly locked behind them, leaving me to my brood.

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Again, I wasn't able to sleep when the door re-opened once again only a few minutes later. I huffed at it and didn't even bother to rise up to greet the men who had returned with renewed courage.

I only scrambled to my feet when they both raised guns at me and forced me toward the ledge to give them the most distance between ourselves.

They had never pulled weapons on me before. I had never tried to drag one towards me before either, but it had only been for his own good. He had to understand that.

Neither of them were going to listen though. As soon as I opened my mouth, Bee panicked and shot.

The bullet lodged straight into my front leg and forced a scream from me that petrified both men.

Before they could shoot again, I leapt from the ledge and hurtled down the side of the mansion to peel back into the sky, screaming out in frustration and agony that pulsed and burned through me.

I wasn't going to return to my nest though. Not while they were still there.

I curved around to glide to the side of the mansion that I scanned frantically.

I had to protect my babies. That was the only job I was here to do.

If Bee and Maitson were already taking shots at me, who knew what they would do to them?

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My body staggered when it landed on a massive balcony pulling from a main room connected to it. The tables here were all empty, and shattered under my weight when I stormed over them towards the windows towering before me.

I saw my babies all scattered inside the massive room and barrelled towards them to send glass crashing downward.

My wings buffered the shards aimed at them, who were cowering in fear at the sight of me.

I saw the double doors at the opposite end of the room and placed myself between them and my children huddling together behind me as I spread my wings to shield them from Bee and Maitson bursting into the room with thier weapons drawn at me again.

I wasn't going to let them come any further. They could take my eggs, but they couldn't take my babies from me.

Bee and Maitson knew it too. They were no match against something like me now that innocents were involved.

They were smart enough not to take the risk. But things could change like they did in my lair.

"Leave" I hissed at them and drew myself up over them "now."

They couldn't understand a word I said; neither of them could. Apparently, dragon speech sounded like aggressive hissing and snarling to those who couldn't understand it. It sent fear through anyone unlucky enough to hear it.

"THEY'RE MINE!" I roared at them when they didn't move, fanning my wings out now.

Bee and Maitland dropped thier guns immediately and raced out the doors. I watched them leave with satisfaction until I turned to see my babies whimpering and sobbing together.

Some cried out when I quickly wrapped my tail around the group to keep them together. My body replaced my tail that released them to guard my exposed front I used to warm up thier shivering bodies. My wings wrapped over me to create a coccoon they peered up at, thier sobs slowly disappearing as the realised I wasn't the threat.

Such beautiful eyes they all had that looked up at me in wonder. They were like shining gemstones under a waterfall of tears I tried to lick away from thier soft faces.

They were too precious to keep hidden. I felt like I had been robbed of thier beauty for my whole life. I could marvel at every inch of my babies now that there was no-one to take it from me.

I was going to enjoy it all until the humans returned with thier re-enforcements.

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