Hodos Chapter 8

Gim looked over Dakota’s shoulder, and kept his eyes on Evi as they flew away. A tear slide down his young smooth skin as she was soon out of his sight. Many thoughts raced through his head as Dakota flew swift and fast through the open sky. He quickly brought his focus back to the matter at hand; the group was now separated and being on quick on his feet was what he had to do.

“Are we being followed, or did they go after Evi and Trickster?!” Dakota asked loudly as they were almost up into the clouds. With all the wind hitting his ears, Gim was barely able to hear but still made out what was said.

After a quick glance he turned back and shouted. “They aren’t following us!”

After hearing Gim’s response he nodded and continued going his fast speed. In the distance a kingdom on the side of a large mountain that was somewhat shaped like a giant dragon. It appeared that the shape started to get jagged and worn out over the years. As they approached even closer Gim saw a sight he never thought he would see. Many dragons in their full form flew around the ancient carved mountain through caves and such that were built into the mountain. It seemed that the full dragons lived in the mountain, but who lived in the kingdom down below.

Dakota slowed down as they headed to the dragon mountain and landed in front of a cave near the chest area. As soon as Dakota’s feet touched the ground he let Gim jump out of his arms.

“Wow, this is a huge mountain!” Gim exclaimed as Dakota’s wings vanished into his back. “You live here?!” Gim turned to face him as Dakota walked inside the cave.

“I did, a long time ago before I left.” The cave was huge, it was obviously built for a full size dragon to enter, but why was Dakota the only one in human form?

“Why did you leave?” Gim asked as he followed closely behind Dakota through the unlit cave. Dakota didn’t respond, he simply sighed and continued walking.

The more they walked the brighter it became, and soon they found themselves in a dragon’s lair. This lair wasn’t an ordinary, it was decorated to suit a human’s needs rather than a dragons for the most part. In one corner lay a huge pile of furs and on the furs lay a silver sleeping dragon.

Gim gasped lightly at the sight of the dragon and covered his mouth. Were they intruding in someone else’s home? Dakota turned to Gim with his finger on his own lips to signal to him to stay quiet. With each step he did his best to sneak by and stay quiet. When they got into the middle of the large lair the dragon in the corner opened her eyes slightly then turned over on her side to face the wall.

“Five more minutes please...” She muttered with a sleepy British accent. Dakota and Gim froze with fear as they stared at the dragon. After a few seconds the dragon began to sniff the air, as if a familiar scent hit her nose. Suddenly her head shot up, and now fully alert she rolled back over to face them. As she approached them she slowly leaned forward, her eyes narrowing and her cold icy breath hitting their faces.

“What have you done now?” She said coldly as Dakota stared right back at her into her stern eyes. Gim tried his best to hide behind Dakota, but the female dragon caught sight of him and turned her focus on the boy. “Oh please tell me you slept with a dragon and not a human.”

“I didn’t bang anybody, and he isn’t mine.” Dakota said seriously and without raising his voice.

She let out a large sigh of relief then turned her attention to the boy again. “Human or Dragon?”

Gim stumbled and stuttered nervously, as he stepped away from behind Dakota. “H-human...”

“Ah, a human.” With those words she sighed and changed into her human form. Standing before the two where the large silver dragon once stood was now a small girl. It was obvious that it was still the dragon because her hair was long and untamed but the same color of silver, her eyes were grey. Human wise, she looked about the age of nine or ten and wore a beautiful white dress fit for a noble.

“I see you haven’t changed the place much, Twin-Blade. Except I don’t see the punishment hole.”

“Well if I hadn’t turned the hole into a pantry you’d be in there right now! What kind of trouble are you into now?!”

“No trouble! What trouble?” He said, lying through his teeth. Twin-Blade wasn’t going to take that as an answer, and while she stared into his eyes he felt as if she was staring into his very being.

Dakota grunted and began to tell the entire story of his meeting with Trickster, and Specter’s tantrum and everything else leading up to where he was now.

“So you decided to bring him here when you’re on the run?”

“It’s not like I had a choice, it was either him or the incubus!” Twin-Blade jumped up and tackled Dakota to the hard ground of her lair. While sitting on his chest she slapped his face continuously. “There is always a choice you little fuck!”

“Ah! Fine!” He sat up with her on his lap. “If I had left him with Evi and ran away they would have gotten caught and possibly killed.”

“Well glad to see you’ve stopped running away from your problems. Now come on, we’ve got business to take care of.” After hopping off his lap her dragon wings extended out from her human form, ready to take off.

“What kind of business?” Dakota brought out his wings also then let Gim grab onto him.

“You have a visitor. Come on.” Twin-Blade flew off through the cave with Dakota and Gim behind her. As Dakota’s followed her, he noticed something was off about his home. There seemed to be less dragons flying around the mountain than their used to be. Where did everyone else go?

“Any idea where they are now?” Dakota finally spoke after distracting himself.

“No idea, but she shouldn’t be hard to spot.”

“Oh? How so?”

Twin-Blade grinned from ear to ear as she turned her head back to face him while flying. “Oh you’ll see.”

Twin-Blade landed slowly on the stone path inside the castle walls near some shops with people starting to crowd the streets. Dakota hovered over the people walking under him. Looks like they wouldn’t move so he flew over to a nearby church and landed on the roof. After making sure Gim was safe on one of the dragon statues on the church roof, Dakota flew up to the top of the bell tower of the church. When his wings vanished, his yellow eyes glowed as he naturally zoomed in on the action below.

“You little shit, you left me in that horrible smelling crowd!” Twin-Blade hovered next to him then looked down at the streets below also.

“Twin-Blade, it looks like they are arresting someone.” Dakota focused even harder and saw they were putting shackles on a brunette woman with hair not even to her shoulders, and large breasts. His face turned immediately red when he got a good look at her, he was so flustered that he fell back slightly but caught his balance.

“It’s a woman. A very... gifted, woman.” He felt like they should go help her but he had a sudden lack in curiosity. “Let’s just leave it, it’s probably no big deal.”

Twin-Blade raised an eyebrow at Dakota’s sudden change in interest. Before thinking more on it, she turned to see if Gim was alright but he was nowhere to be found. With a sigh she flew back to Dakota and crossed her arms. With a sarcastic tone she began to speak.

“Well aren’t you just a great guardian, you little shit.” Dakota sighed and looked at her. “What are you going on about now?”

As she swung her arm to point where Gim was, Twin-Blade back handed Dakota then pointed at the dragon statue where Gim was sitting.

After grunting in pain from the back hand, Dakota’s eyes widened when he realized that Gim wasn’t there.

“Oh no. Where is he?” Dakota began to panic as he flew over the church then around the grounds of the church. Still no sign of him. “I have to find him, he could be in danger. Oh my god.” Before he could continue, Twin-Blade appeared in front of him, jumped up and grabbed his head then slammed it down to the ground.

“Calm down, panicking solves nothing you idiot.”

“Ow! Really?!”

After she turned and walked away she stopped and turned around. “Are you coming or not? We better hurry.”

Meanwhile, Gim was now following the guards who were escorting the woman through the city. He kept calm and just walked casually through the crowd of people who were now starting to scatter. He made sure to follow the ones who were going his way, he was practically invisible.

As he followed them to the direction of the castle dungeons, he got a quick look at something on her back. A single wing on her back, with feathers a golden brown color. What happened to her other wing, he wondered.

Gim stopped to pretend to tie his shoe when the woman was taking inside the dungeon. Two of the guards who escorted her parted and entered a small building, which looked like the barracks for the guards.

After making sure no one was around he walked around to the side of the barracks which had trees and a training area nearby. No one was around to see him so he jumped up onto a tree branch and sat near an open window. He closed his eyes and focused on who was inside as they spoke.

“Why is she being imprisoned again?” A fat guard asked as he sat down with a loud sigh on a chair in what sounded like a dining hall.

A much smaller guard sat down next to him and leaned back with his hands behind his head. “The king ordered us to arrest her because she’s apparently some sort of wanted criminal wanted for murder. Makes no sense because I’ve never heard of her, and I study up on all crime in our allied kingdoms. Oh well.” He shrugged.

“Oh, what is she? She ain’t no dragon like us.”

“She’s a Valkyrie, she was on her way to the church. Don’t know much about her kind though.”

Before they could continue their conversation, another guard walked in. “New orders from the king. She is to be executed tomorrow, along with an incubus who is being brought here for an execution also.”

“An incubus?! They are still around?” The smaller guard jumped to his feet to hear more.

“Yes, he was caught with a pink haired girl in his arms. They say he’s the brother of the black cat and was probably going for a new victim. He’s been wanted for years.”

Gim gasped then jumped from the tree. Unaware that he was standing in front of another open window, another guard walked into the room after hearing a noise. It couldn’t have been a squirrel, because squirrels aren’t that loud when they jump to the ground.

Suddenly a hand covered Gim’s mouth and pulled him to the ground under the window where the guard was now looking out of. Luckily he didn’t look down, or else he would have spotted a small Twin-Blade on the ground with Gim.