Freed Wings

Chapter Five

Pine?  What’s going on, where are they taking you? voices chorused around me from the main link as my entire cage was once again wheeled out, but this time, a pile of things were following along behind it.

I glanced around worriedly.  I was scared, and I didn’t like this new outcome.

Why did I have to try to attack her, why was I so stupid? I thought to myself as more and more dragonets were unsettled by my leaving.

One mind voice stuck out from the rest.  William.

Pine!  Don’t leave me, Pine, no!

I whined in distress and pain as my wing throbbed.  The pain from my wing, combined with the pain of leaving my closest friend behind was gut wrenching for me.

William.... I whispered to him sadly.

A heart wrenching shriek was heard, and I glanced towards Williams cage.  The look on his face was so heartbreaking, I had to turn away…

William...you’re going to get yourself killed!  Man up! She will be back, I’m sure! hissed Drake.

I promise I will be back. I said to him.

William didn’t answer, and instead curled up into a tight ball under the heat lamp, and tucked his nose under his wing.  I could feel my eyes stinging, and I growled sadly. The scientists noticed the uproar, and one recorded the sounds the dragonets were making, while one spoke into a recording device.

“The flock of dragonets know one of them is leaving.  Instinctively they are trying to get us to stop taking specimen C2514 away.”

The cart was wheeled out of the big room, and the door shut with an ominous click.  I suddenly had the apprehensive feeling that I would not see the rest of the flock, much less William for a long, long time.  Then, one of the scientists opened the top of the cage, and poked his gloved hand inside of it, and sprayed something at me. I began to feel woozy, as if it were a tranquilizer spray.  I fought to stay in consciousness, but I couldn’t. My eyes drifted shut and I could no longer see. The last thing I heard before going unconscious was a loud mournful cry that echoed off the walls like a funeral lament.

____

When the effects of the tranquilizer spray began to wear off, I could begin to flicker my eyelids open.  I tried to shift both of my wings and stretch, but my right wing was heavy and pain laced up through it into my wing joint.  I woozily turned my long neck to see why it was so heavy, and saw there was a cast on it. A big, thick, cast, that would most likely mean more than eight weeks trapped here.  For the first time, I glanced around at my surroundings.

I was in a nice house, although it had a cozy log cabin feel with a faint cedar smell that would go unnoticed by humans, but to my dragonet nose, I could smell it.  The floor was hardwood, and there was nice, lush furniture, and a wolf skin rug on the floor. A fireplace was set into a stone wall, and was flickering with the embers of a dying fire.  But, what I noticed almost immediately, was that I was not in a cage…

No.  In fact, I was in a sand tray, with a heat lamp, but there was no...cage.  I was on some sort of ledge, but it was not so far down that I could not leap down or up if I wanted to.  And the fact that the wood it sat upon was still fresh, and not furnished like the rest of the house, meant that it had recently been installed.

I let out a confused trill, and realized I was not the only one in the room when I heard the burbling giggle of a young child.  A girl of about four years came tottering over to the ledge on sturdy little legs and she looked at me in curiosity.

“Again!  Do it again please!” she giggled, her cheeks turning a rosy red as she clapped her little hands in delight.

I tilted my head at her, and trilled again, softer and more musical this time, partly out of curiosity, and partly to see her reaction.

Her giggle was like the clear ring of a bell, and I snorted in surprise when she stood up on her tiptoes, and reached out her hand to pet me.  I was no longer going to be her amusement. I may have been a child once like her, curios and unwise, but I was not going to let her pet me. I growled lowly, warning her not to come any closer.  She froze and her clear, emerald green eyes peered at me, though she withdrew her hand.

That is when I heard footsteps approaching the room, and I bristled.  The woman scientist who had injured me walked into the room with two bowls.  I could tell it was my favorite fruit, even though I could not see it, I could smell it.  She gasped slightly when she saw her child so close to me.

“Crystal!  Step away from that animal, now!” she said sternly to her, as she came closer to me.

She grabbed her daughter by the arm and pulled her away, before reaching into a cabinet beside my little ledge and pulling out the gloves made of hawking material.  She put them on, and then put the fruit and water bowl beside me in the sand tray.

She stepped away and grabbed her daughters hand.  She sat on the couch with Crystal and began talking to her.

“Crystal, listen to me.  We are going to be harboring this animal here in our home for awhile.  She is a dangerous creature, and you must never tell anyone of her existence, if you do, you and Daddy will die.  I don’t want either of you to die. And you must stay away from her, do you understand?”

“Yes, Mommy.  She’s so pretty!  She’s green. Like the trees outside!  What are they called again?” she asked.

I was surprised at her wisdom.  She looked to be four, but I learned right then and there to not let looks fool, because she was one wise little girl.

“Pine trees, Crystal, they’re called pine trees.”

“Can we name her Pine?” she asked.

I snorted, which earned some curious looks, but I soon covered it with a hacking cough to get them off of my tracks.  How in the world had this turn of events came to be? This little girl seemed to know what my name was!

“I don’t see why not, but it may take her awhile to get used to it.” she said.

I turned my attention to the fruit, though I kept my ears listening for any crucial information, but none came.  When I got done with the fruit, I decided to jump down and examine the surroundings. I had no idea how the two would react, but I kept my ear tufts pricked for any sound of trouble.  I bunched up my back legs and leapt. It was as I was just about to hit the ground that I wondered how I was going to land without jarring my wing.

Oh shit… I thought to myself.

I landed on the ground with a sharp pain in my wing.  I wailed loudly as the dull throbbing pain was reawakened into a red hot river of lava.  Crystal and her mother turned their heads over in my direction then her mother grabbed the gloves and put them on.  She walked over to me slowly. I quickly backed up, hissing. No way in hell was that woman ever touching me again!

She stopped, and went and sat back down.  I high timed it back to the heat lamp, and jumped into the tray, this time being careful to keep my wing steady.  I curled up, exhausted from dragging the cast around, even if it were for a couple of minutes. I spread my good wing out, and tried to relax, but I couldn’t with the woman continuously sneaking glances my way.  I hissed at her, and turned the other way. I finally sank into an uneasy rest, though I could still hear.

What have I gotten myself into… I thought to myself.