Malik
10-17-2021, 09:01 PM
The snow below him grows shallower as he drifts south, and by the time he hovers above the Forest there is nothing but fallen leaves to litter the spaces between the dark trunks. Malik lands in a spray of red and orange leaves, shifting from a long-crested eagle to a young black stallion with the ease of much practice, and slowing from a gallop to a steady walk.
Some feathers still remain around his neck and chest, blending with the dark wings that tuck tightly to his sides. They hide most of his glowing markings, leaving only the stripes along his legs to glow on the cloudy autumn day. He picks his way through the woods, making his way out of the more well-travelled areas. Despite his clear adolescence, the boy with mismatched eyes moves confidently between the dark trunks.
He’s hunting, says the way his eyes dart ahead, the tension in his stride. He can’t take a fully grown dragon on his own, but the one he’d seen from overhead had looked small. Young maybe, perhaps small enough that Malik could capture it. Or at least keep it still long enough to take a trophy from its body.
He sees movement ahead, a pair of dark wings, and shifts to a leopard in the space between heartbeats. Forgetting his shorter stride, he breaks a twig, and the noise alerts his prey.
The dragon-winged colt - not a dragon after all - calls out ‘Who’s there?’ and Malik knows he’s lost the element of surprise.
“It was me,” he says, transitioning back to a horse from the feline he’d been for so short a time. “I saw your wings from overhead. Thought you were a dragon.”
The black wings are impressive, but the lanky young horse is clearly disappointed to have found a boy instead of a fire-breathing monster. Could he just take those wings, he wonders? Or would the fairies sense the foul play, and send him after a true dragon instead? Disappointed, Malik looks over his shoulder, knowing he’s running short on daylight and time for a continued hunt.
When he sees no one, he looks back down at the colt. “You haven’t seen any real dragons around here, have you?”
@aldous
Some feathers still remain around his neck and chest, blending with the dark wings that tuck tightly to his sides. They hide most of his glowing markings, leaving only the stripes along his legs to glow on the cloudy autumn day. He picks his way through the woods, making his way out of the more well-travelled areas. Despite his clear adolescence, the boy with mismatched eyes moves confidently between the dark trunks.
He’s hunting, says the way his eyes dart ahead, the tension in his stride. He can’t take a fully grown dragon on his own, but the one he’d seen from overhead had looked small. Young maybe, perhaps small enough that Malik could capture it. Or at least keep it still long enough to take a trophy from its body.
He sees movement ahead, a pair of dark wings, and shifts to a leopard in the space between heartbeats. Forgetting his shorter stride, he breaks a twig, and the noise alerts his prey.
The dragon-winged colt - not a dragon after all - calls out ‘Who’s there?’ and Malik knows he’s lost the element of surprise.
“It was me,” he says, transitioning back to a horse from the feline he’d been for so short a time. “I saw your wings from overhead. Thought you were a dragon.”
The black wings are impressive, but the lanky young horse is clearly disappointed to have found a boy instead of a fire-breathing monster. Could he just take those wings, he wonders? Or would the fairies sense the foul play, and send him after a true dragon instead? Disappointed, Malik looks over his shoulder, knowing he’s running short on daylight and time for a continued hunt.
When he sees no one, he looks back down at the colt. “You haven’t seen any real dragons around here, have you?”
@aldous